You were there?
The guests heard it too.
A low wave of shocked whispers moved across the ballroom.
Sofia turned toward him so quickly that the train of her gown twisted around her feet.
“Itan.”
He realized what he had admitted.
“I didn’t mean—”
“You meant exactly what you said,” Liam replied.
For the first time, anger appeared beneath my brother’s composure.
He took one step closer.
“You were worried about whether she saw you.
Not whether it happened.”
Itan’s jaw tightened.
“This is between Chloe and me.”
“No,” Liam said.
“You made it between all four of us.”
Sofia reached for Liam’s arm.
He moved away before she touched him.
That small rejection seemed to frighten her more than anything else.
“Liam, please listen to me.
I can explain.”
“Then explain the balcony.”
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
“Explain the restaurant.”
Silence.
“The apartment?”
Her eyes dropped.
“The hotel?”
She finally snapped.
“You followed me?”
Liam looked almost relieved.
“That’s your defense?”
“I’m saying this is humiliating.”
I could not believe the word she chose.
Humiliating.
As if humiliation were something happening to her because the truth had become visible, rather than something she and Itan had deliberately done to Liam and me.
I stepped between them.
“No, Sofia.
Humiliating is smiling at me in your wedding dress after kissing my husband.
Humiliating is letting my brother stand in front of everyone he loves while you know you were betraying him.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
A few hours earlier, those tears would have broken my heart.
Now I simply watched them fall.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen like this,” she whispered.
Itan closed his eyes.
Liam’s hand tightened around the remote.
“What wasn’t supposed to happen?” he asked.
Sofia looked at Itan.
That look told us more than any photograph.
Itan shook his head once, silently warning her.
I saw it.
Liam saw it too.
“Don’t protect him now,” I said.
“I’m not protecting anyone.”
“Then tell the truth.”
