Chapter 212

Nathan staggered back a step. "Explain yourself."

"Not clear enough?" Ethan adjusted his cufflinks. "You thought you'd covered your tracks, but Evelyn saw right through you."

Nathan's pupils constricted violently as he grabbed Ethan's collar. "What did you do to her?!"

"Pathetic." Ethan smirked. "A man who can't even figure out why she left has no right to question me."

"Stop playing games!"

Ethan shoved him away, smoothing his sleeves. "Look at you—more pitiful than a stray mutt."

Dylan stepped between them. "Enough! Must you destroy a decade of friendship?"

"Friends?" Nathan scoffed.

"Hardly." Ethan echoed coldly.

Dylan exhaled sharply.

Nathan jabbed a finger at Ethan's face. "Stay away from Evelyn, or—"

"Or what?" Ethan arched an eyebrow.

"Don't make me end this."

Ethan chuckled darkly. "Empty threats won't work. If it's not me, it'll be someone else. But one thing remains unchanged—"

He leaned in, each word a dagger. "Evelyn will never forgive you."

"Do yourself a favor and let go. Unless..."

The unspoken warning hung in the air as Ethan turned to leave. He clapped Dylan's shoulder. "Keep him in check. We've had enough drama tonight."

His silhouette dissolved into the darkness.

Dylan studied Nathan's frozen form with a quiet sigh.

If only...

"Nate..."

"Come on." Dylan hooked an arm around him. "Let's get you home."

"Why won't she come back this time?" Nathan's voice cracked. "No matter how badly I messed up before, she always forgave me..."

His glassy eyes mirrored a lost child's.

Dylan hesitated. "...A caged bird stays not because it can't escape, but because it chooses to."

"And now?"

"When the heart dies, no cage can hold it."

So she'd spread her wings—never looking back.

"Dead heart..."

The second time he'd heard those words.

The first was from Evelyn herself.

"I'll change," Nathan rasped.

Dylan swallowed hard. "...Some mistakes go beyond apologies."

"What then? Give her my life?!"

Dylan recognized the drunken despair.

The sober Nathan would bleed before showing weakness.

"Rest first. We'll talk tomorrow—"

Nathan wrenched free, stumbling toward the apartment entrance.

"Nate! Where are you going?"