Chapter 220
~ Navine ~
I felt a burning sensation in my chest as Nathaniel spoke, sharp and persistent, like something raw had been exposed beneath my ribs. It wasn’t the familiar sting of jealousy or the bitter edge of competition that had always existed between us. This was something else entirely. Something heavier.
Pain. Hurt. And an uncomfortable, humbling kind of gratitude.
It must have taken everything for Nathaniel to say those words out loud. To sit across from me and admit — without bravado, without manipulation—that he loved Hailey. Not casually. Not selfishly. But deeply. In a way that stripped him of his usual arrogance and left him frighteningly sincere.
And the worst part?
I believed him.
I knew my brother better than anyone. Knew his patterns, his excesses, his reckl
