“You knew something like that and didn’t tell me?” I asked, a little hurt.
Flynn let out a slow breath and nodded. “I regret that now,obviously. He warned me to mind my own fucking business. I wanted to tell you, but we hadn’t spoken for years, and I wasn’t sure you would even believe me. So, I left without saying anything. I thought telling you would end your relationship with him, and I’d cop the blame.”
I frowned, torn between being grateful to him and annoyed. But I understood.
“If you felt pressured, why didn’t you say that? Why make up all that other bullshit?” Ellis asked.
Flynn swore under his breath, and I heaved a heavy sigh and ran my fingers through my hair.
“It wasn’t a lie, Ellis. You and I were wrong together; we always were. I meant what I said that night. And none of it even matters anymore, because it was over a freaking decade ago!”
Silence fell as he took that in, and I could see him battling with himself. He honestly couldn’t fathom me breaking up with him because I wasn’t in love with him.
“And as for us,” Sofia began softly, stepping beside me, her eyes red-rimmed. “Your obsession with Chiara played a big role in why we’re not getting married.”
Ellis stiffened and shook his head. “I’m not—I don’t care about her anymore. I just never understood. I didn’t knowwhyshe ended it,” he tried to defend.
Sofia shook her head, her expression drawn, her energy low. “No, you just wouldn’t accept it. You always wanted her because she was unattainable, and she still never really gave herself over to you, making her something to conquer. I knew I was your second choice when we got together, and I was okay with that when I thought you actually loved me. But now I wonder how much of our relationship was you trying to punish Chiara by marrying her best friend.”
I pulled in a sharp breath, hating the pain I heard in her voice, and hating the fact that she was right on the money.
“Come on, honey,” Kate whispered to Sofia, and I moved back to my friends, feeling guilty even though it wasn’t my fault. I couldn’t help Ellis’s feelings, but I’d thought he was over me, damn it. If I’d thought even once over the years that he still had feelings for me, I would have told Sofia before this point.
“I’ll call Chloe, and handle all the wedding stuff,” I told her. Sofia spared me a small smile and we pushed past the three men in the hall.
My head was still reeling as I tried to process everything that had happened in the last half an hour, but it was going to take some time and many,manydrinks.
Chapter Eighteen
Flynn
I knocked gently on the open hotel room door and all eyes turned to me.
Sofia sat in the center of Kate’s bed, her knees drawn up and eyes red from crying. Kate sat beside her with Sophia’s mother on the other side. Chiara was handing out hot cups of coffee.
Sofia’s dad was ranting about how he was going to kill Ellis, and Chloe was back on the laptop screen trying to calm him down.
What a shit show.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt. Chiara, do you have a moment?” I asked.
Sofia spared her a small smile and a nod, and Chiara promised to come right back. I waited in the hallway for her, and when she came out beside me, I took my first real look at her. Her eyes were tired, her expression drawn. She looked like she’d been awake for days, and I wished there was something I could do to help her.
Unfortunately, I was pretty sure I’d already done more than enough here, and none of it was good.
She looked up at me, gray eyes searching before she ducked her head.
“You’re leaving,” she guessed.
“I think it’s probably for the best. I haven’t made things easy around here, and now more than ever no one needs me here to piss Ellis off,” I answered.
“When?” she asked, crossing her arms over her stomach.
“I couldn’t get a plane until late tonight, but I’ll make myself scarce and wait at the airport. I just didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”
She sighed and nodded. “Are you going to be okay?”
I frowned at her, incredulous. “AmIgoing to be okay? Angel, you were in the middle of a catastrophe today.”
