Ruined By My Brother's Best Friend (by Silverwriter) novel Chapter 239

ARABELLA’S POV

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I forgot how to breathe, my lungs feeling clogged as his words played in my mind over and over again,

He didn’t just say that.

The tension around the table was now impossibly high, and it felt like everyone had frozen, the news sending them into a state of complete shock.

“What?” Tatiana dropped her cutlery with a loud thud against the table. “Why?” She yelled, pushing her chair back and standing, her now-teary eyes darting to Alvise.

His mother was next to speak. “Son.” She said calmly. “What’s going on?”

I also wanted to know, so I glanced at the man, my mind a messy haze.

His words from earlier, when we were in the bathroom, played in my mind, making my mouth hang open

in shock.

I never thought he was actually going to follow through with what he’d said.

In fact, I’d forgotten all about it.

“Relay the message to your family, Tatiana.” Alvise instructed, not bothering to look in her direction.

“You can’t do this!” She yelled, her voice shaking as a sob tore through her and she fell to the floor.

Viktoriya scrambled to get up with her crutches before limping toward her sister and trying to calm her down.

“No!” Tatiana yelled! “Don’t you dare pretend like you’re not happy about this!” She accused, wiping her tears and walking away from her sister to rush toward Alexei.

“Father…” she cried, falling to her knees beside him while he stared straight ahead. “Please… talk to him… this can’t happen!”

“Tatiana.” His wife said firmly. “Calm down.”

“I can’t calm down, Mother.” She said, her voice soft and sickly sweet, a total contrast to how she spoke when there weren’t many eyes on her.

“You can’t call off the engagement.” Alexei said to Alvise. “The marriage must go on.”

Alvise scoffed, tapping a finger against the table. “What I said stands, but if you’re open to taking my place on that day, you can.”

“Do not insult me!” Alexei sneered, his nostrils flaring. “Do you know what you risk by ending the engagement like this?”

“I don’t care what I fucking risk.” Alvise said, unfazed. “I wasn’t stuttering when I spoke.”

12 Mon Sep 14 >

Ruined By My Brother’s Best Friend

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“Please!” Tatiana threw herself at him, touching him everywhere. “What did I do? How can I correct it?” She said desperately. “Tell me… But please… don’t do this…”

“Take your hands off.” He commanded, his voice dangerously low.

Her face fell, and she rubbed her palm against his chest. “Baby, I…”

“Take. Your. Hands. Off.”

She snatched her hand away and took a step back like he’d burned her, her eyes filling with hurt.

I felt bad for her, really bad.

But all that empathy washed away when she snapped her eyes to me and lurched forward, jumping onto the table and throwing the dishes aside as she rushed toward me.

“It’s because of her, isn’t it!” She yelled, reaching for my hair and yanking it.

A sharp pain shot through my scalp, and I hissed, grabbing her hands and trying to pull them off.

“Tatiana.” I heard Alvise’s stone-cold voice call, but she refused to let me go.

“Take her away.” I heard him say, and then some guards came to my rescue, pulling her hands from my hair and dragging her away as she kicked and screamed, with Viktoriya following behind.

“Baby!” She rasped. “Don’t do this! Don’t you dare do this to me!”

Beside me, Rozaliya scoffed. “The drama.” She mumbled under her breath, making me raise my brows.

I felt everyone’s eyes on me as I ran my hands through my aching scalp and sat still with my gaze lowered.

I had no idea what was going on or why Alvise did what he did, but it certainly couldn’t be because of me.

The way his family was staring at me like I was some sort of homewrecker unnerved me.

Alexei stood up violently, the chair behind him crashing onto the marble floor. “You’re about to start a

war.”

Alvise pulled out his phone, completely unbothered. “Thanks for stating the obvious.”

His mother stood too. “You need to rethink this, son. A war is…”

“Have a good night’s rest, Mother.” Alvise muttered, dismissing her.

Alexei gritted his teeth and tried to approach him, but the guards behind Alvise stepped forward, squaring up to him.

He raised his hands in surrender and walked away, mumbling under his breath, “I can’t even talk to my own fucking son anymore.”

Everyone else at the table stood one by one, and they left leaving Alvise, Rozaliya, and I behind.

Rozaliya leaned in to whisper, “I like you, so next time… at least try to wear a dress to dinner.” She advised, “Appearance is everything around here.” And with that, she stood up and walked away.

Ruined By My Brother’s Best Friend

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My chest heaved up and down with each breath I took, and it got increasingly worse with every tense second that passed, so I rose from the chair and attempted to walk away.

“Where are you going?”

I stilled, refusing to look at him. “Upstairs… to the room.”

Alvise took his time before he spoke again. “What is the attitude about?”

I turned to look at him, sucking in a breath when I found his piercing eyes already fixed on me.

He sat with one hand casually resting against his chin, studying me like I was some sort of puzzle he was. trying to solve.

“What attitude?”

I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I just wasn’t going to admit it.

Of course, I was giving him the cold shoulder, not only because of the way he’d dismissed me before leaving the room, but because of the series of events that had led up to this moment.

“Don’t play innocent, Arabella.” He said, “you know what I’m talking about.”

I shook my head and put my hand on my hip. “I fear I don’t.”

Alvise stood up and walked toward me, one hand slipping into his pocket while the other rolled his car keys between his fingers.

He stopped in front of me and tilted his head to the side. “We have somewhere to be.”

My eyes widened. “We?”

He scoffed and walked past me, heading for the door. “That’s exactly what I said.”

12 Mon, Sep 14

Ruined By My Brother’s Best Friend

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