Page 118 of How to Break My Heart

“Are you and my brother still together?”

Holding back the tears I’ve fought hard this entire time to keep at bay, I shake my head. As the door closes behind Maddy, a sob escapes my throat.

I’d held it together for Billie as she grieved her mother, and we watched her be taken away.

I held on to Maddy as she broke down in my arms and needed her best friend to comfort her.

And I also told the man I love, a man who has consumed all of me, to let me go.

We have nothing.

We arenothing.

As I stand here inside my apartment, my weakened knees finally giving up as I fall to the floor with the world spinning around me, I realize I’m not all alone.

It’s just me and my broken heart.

The worst company any girl could have.

CHAPTER 30Aston

My fingers trace the rim of the glass, slowly gliding against the smooth edge, and I eye the amber liquid with a desperate thirst.

Madelina is still in Cinnamon Springs but apparently drove to see Billie, whose mother passed the night before. The moment Madelina informed me of this news, I desperately wanted to reach out to Everleigh.

But my own pain is too much.

And I’m drowning in this dark abyss, unable to pull myself out.

We ended up on my yacht, away from the small town that is wreaking havoc on everyone’s lives right now, and from my penthouse, which is technically owned by the Beaumont Group.

My mother sits beside me on the deck. Her silence speaks a thousand words as we both stare out into the bay, trying to come to terms with what happened.

All we see is darkness.

And hope that the sun will eventually rise.

I fall asleep on the deck, alone and surrounded by bottles of bourbon.

The sun eventually rises, but it retreats behind dark clouds and threatens an unpredictable storm.

It is a new day, but to my mother, it’s her first day of freedom.

She continues to remain silent, almost as if the shock of walking away from my father has frightened her. At first I worried she would find an excuse to go back, but then I realized my strength was what she used to stand on her own two feet.

As another day passes, and the dark night falls upon us again, she finally releases a sigh as we both sit on the deck with our legs dangling off the side. Our silence over the last few days has spoken volumes, but now we need to talk.

“When I first met Harvey, he was charismatic and incredibly loving,” she says out of nowhere, forcing me to pay attention. “I thought to myself,I’ve found the perfect gentleman. So very handsome and romantic.” A small smile graces her lips as if it happened only yesterday. She takes a breath and then follows with, “Then, the FBI reopened the death of his brother.”

As kids, me and my sister begged my father for a pool, only for him to demand we drop the subject. Then, we found out through the town librarian, Mrs. Glimore, that my father’s twin brother drowned at five years old, leaving my father the only child of my now-deceased grandparents.

I still remember Madelina asking our father what happened and him refusing to answer. Instead, he went on an all-night bender only to come home drunk and fight with our mother. Something smashed in the middle of the night during their argument, and we knew never to bring that subject up again.

I bring the glass to my lips, tasting the bourbon and allowing it to slide down my throat with ease. It no longer burns.

“People spread nasty rumors,” she admits with sadness. “But an old neighbor came forward and said he saw it all with his own eyes—they were playing, and it was all innocent. By then, it was too late. The memories of losing his brother changed him forever.”

She presses her lips together, lost in thought. Slowly, she continues, “I tried my best to help him, but he turned into this cold man, and that’s when I met your father.”