11. Hallie #3
"You are!" The words rip out of me, jagged and desperate. "Tell him the truth. Tell him you love me. Tell him about the baby photos and the barn and the library and?—"
Ryan's fist connects with Caius's jaw, a brutal, sudden impact that cuts through my desperate plea, before I can even finish forming the sentence, before the words have fully left my lips, before I can tell him about how Caius promised me forever in the dark safety of his workshop.
The crack of bone on bone echoes across the patio. Caius's head snaps to the side, and he staggers back a step but doesn't go down. Doesn't even raise his hands to defend himself.
"Ryan!" The scream tears from my throat, raw and desperate, as I lunge forward and wrap both hands around my brother's arm, my fingers digging into the fabric of his suit jacket, trying with everything in me to hold him back before he can swing again, before he can add more violence to this nightmare that's already spiraling completely out of my control.
He shakes me off with barely any effort at all, his arm flexing beneath my grip as he pulls away from me like I'm nothing more than an annoying insect.
I stumble backward, nearly losing my balance in these ridiculous heels.
His chest is heaving with barely contained rage, his eyes wild and unfocused in a way I've never seen before—not even when we were kids fighting over toys or bathroom time.
"Stay out of this, Hallie." His voice is low, dangerous, each word bitten off with surgical precision.
He doesn't even look at me when he says it, his gaze locked entirely on Caius, who still hasn't moved to defend himself, who's just standing there accepting this punishment like he thinks he deserves it.
Caius touches his jaw, works it back and forth experimentally. When he pulls his hand away, there's blood on his knuckles from where his teeth cut into his cheek.
"Feel better?" he asks Ryan, his voice still that awful flat monotone.
"Not even close." Ryan's breathing hard, violence still coiled in every line of his body. "I trusted you. With everything. And you did this."
"I know."
"Get out."
Caius nods once, like he expected this. Like he planned for it. He turns without another word, without looking at me, and walks toward the exit.
I chase after him, my heels clicking frantically on the stone patio. "Caius, wait!"
He doesn't stop. Doesn't slow down. Just keeps walking toward the parking lot with his shoulders hunched and his hands shoved in his pockets.
"Please!" I grab his arm, force him to turn and face me. Up close, I can see the bruise already forming along his jaw, the split in his lip, the complete and utter emptiness in his eyes. "Why did you do that? Why did you let him think it was fake?"
"Because it's easier this way."
"Easier for who?" Tears spill down my cheeks now, hot and humiliating. "You just stood there and made me sound pathetic. Made it sound like you were doing me a pity favor."
His jaw clenches, and for a second I see pain. But then it's gone, locked down tight behind that blank mask. "Go back inside, Hallie."
"No. Not until you tell me what's happening. Last night you chose me. You said you'd always choose me."
"I lied."
The words are so blunt, so brutal, they actually make me flinch. I drop his arm like it burned me, take a stumbling step backward.
"You don't mean that."
"Don't I?" He finally looks at me. "Your brother is my family, Hal. The only real family I've ever had besides my mom. What did you think was going to happen here? That we'd ride off into the sunset and Ryan would throw rice at our wedding?"
"I thought you loved me enough to fight for us!"
"Well maybe you thought wrong."
Each word lands like a slap. I stand there in my borrowed dress and my too-high heels, mascara probably running down my face, watching the man I love destroy everything we built with surgical precision.
"You're a coward," I whisper.
Something flashes in his eyes, there and gone too quick to name. "Yeah. I am."
He turns and walks away, and this time I don't follow. I just stand there in the parking lot, wrapped in fairy lights and the sound of the river, and watch his taillights disappear into the dark.
Behind me, I hear footsteps. Feel a hand on my shoulder.
"Hallie, honey." My mother's voice, soft and pitying in a way that makes everything worse. "Come back inside. Let's get you cleaned up."
I let her lead me back toward the restaurant, my legs moving on autopilot.
Through the windows, I can see everyone pretending nothing happened, the rehearsal dinner continuing without missing a beat.
Kyle's back in his seat, looking satisfied.
Ryan's pacing near the bar, my sister trying to calm him down.
This was supposed to be when everything got better. When we stopped hiding and started living.
Instead, it's the moment I realize that loving someone isn't always enough. Sometimes the wound goes too deep. Sometimes the fear wins.
And sometimes the boy you've loved since you were sixteen walks away, and all you can do is watch him go.