Chapter 23
Julian and Jace stayed on their knees in the cold, slick hallway, staring at the door that would never open for them again, as if someone had pulled the souls straight out of their bodies.
After that night, they collapsed. It was as if their spines had been ripped out.
Julian went back to Mercer Group. He grew even quieter than before, colder to the point of
cruelty.
He worked like a fanatic, sleeping at the office and packing his days with meetings and deals until there wasn’t a minute left to feel anything.
He turned into a relentless machine, making ruthless decisions without hesitation. The business expanded quickly, and the money kept pouring in.
But no one stood beside him. He refused every arranged match and brushed off any woman
who tried to get close.
His life became nothing but cold numbers, documents, and endless battles in business. What was once his heart had become a wasteland. He decided never to marry.
Jace chose the opposite route.
He drowned himself in liquor, parties, and an endless carousel of willing bodies.
He burned through money, fueled endless scandals, and turned his name into a permanent
tabloid headline.
He chased the sharpest thrills to fill the hollowness inside him, and buried his pain and regret at the bottom of a glass.
But no matter how crowded the room or how drunk he got, his eyes stayed empty, and his
smile never reached them.
After the music died, he often sat alone at the window until dawn, watching the city gray out, with nothing left in him but loneliness.
He never found anyone who could stir his heart again, nor did he ever find another night of peaceful sleep.
Years later, a major business summit gathered the biggest names as glasses clinked all around.
As an industry titan, Julian drew every eye in the hall. He moved through the crowd with sharp composure, and no one dared to see what was behind his eyes.
Across the hall, Jace wrapped an arm around a famous actress, laughing and flirting like the playboy he was. But the smile never touched his clouded eyes.
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Then, Jace spotted Julian in the crowd. Their eyes met for a moment before sliding away, cold and distant, as if they were strangers.
All the old grudges had long since turned to ash, burned out by time and their own despair.
Halfway through the summit, Daniel leaned in to give Julian a quiet update. At almost the same moment, one of Jace’s drinking buddies phoned him with the very same news.
Avery had become one of the most respected experts in her field. She led major projects, and her reputation was sterling.
More than that, she was married. Her husband came from a distinguished family. They had met at work, getting to know each other through the course of ordinary days.
It wasn’t a dramatic love story, but it was one built on warmth and respect. Her life was
peaceful, and she was happy.
Time seemed to stop. The noise in the hall faded.
Julian’s fingers clenched around the glass, making it tremble and ripple the amber whiskey
inside.
A crack split his carefully maintained facade. A surge of emotion flickered in his fading into hollow stillness.
eyes before
He could see her in white, turning to another man with a happy smile he had never deserved
and never received.
Meanwhile, Jace’s smile froze. His phone slipped from his hand, hit the floor, and shattered.
The laughter around him suddenly sounded sharp and grating. The world faded into a blur, and all he could feel was the hollow ache in his chest, as well as the dull ringing that followed.
He could see Avery being carefully cherished by another man. All the warmth he had once craved, so badly that he had hurt her to get it, ended up belonging to someone else.
Without speaking, both of them turned in the same direction, as if they could see through walls and miles to where the woman they could never reach again was living the happy life they would never touch.
They stood at the top of the world with more money and power than they could spend, but it felt like they had nothing at all.
All that remained inside was a field of ruins buried by time and a regret that never stopped gnawing at them.
Only then did they truly understand, in the harshest way possible, what it meant to lose a love that would never come back to them.
