After My Ex Cheated, I Choose His Billionaire Brother

Chapter 3: The Ex's Delusion

The morning sun aggressively filtered through my cheap blinds, dragging me back from a restless, dream-filled sleep. I groaned, burying my face into my pillow. Every time I had closed my eyes last night, I had seen him. Alexander Thorne. I felt the phantom heat of his mouth on mine, the crushing weight of his gaze, the terrifying promise he had made before I finally managed to break away and run into the night.

You kissed the wrong brother, Chloe. And now, I'm never going to let you go.

I sat up, dragging a hand through my tangled hair. It felt like a fever dream. Billionaires didn't wait in the shadows for ordinary college girls. Men like Alexander Thorne, who commanded empires and destroyed rivals with a flick of a pen, didn't obsess over their younger brother's ex-girlfriends.

It had to be a game. A cruel, twisted game he was playing, perhaps to punish Julian for some perceived slight, or maybe just because he was bored.

Whatever it was, I wanted no part of it. I had survived the wreckage of my relationship with Julian, and I absolutely refused to be drawn back into the toxic orbit of the Thorne family. I just had to avoid them. Both of them.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand. I grabbed it, expecting a barrage of texts from Sarah demanding details about my abrupt disappearance from the party. Instead, the name flashing on the screen made my stomach drop.

Julian.

I stared at the name, a mixture of annoyance and dread pooling in my gut. He had ignored me for three weeks, parading around campus with his new fling, making sure everyone knew how thoroughly he had moved on. Why was he calling now?

I hit ignore, tossing the phone back onto the mattress. I needed coffee. Strong, black coffee to wash away the lingering taste of bergamot and danger.

I had barely made it to the tiny kitchenette of my apartment when a loud, insistent knock rattled the front door.

I froze, the coffee filter halfway to the machine. Sarah usually just let herself in, and the landlord only came around on the first of the month.

The knock came again, louder this time. "Chloe! I know you're in there. Open the door."

My blood ran cold. It was Julian.

Anger, hot and sudden, flared in my chest. How dare he? How dare he show up at my apartment after everything he had done, demanding my attention like he still had a right to it?

I marched to the door, unlocking it and throwing it open. "What do you want, Julian?"

He stood in the hallway, looking exactly as he always did—effortlessly handsome, carelessly dressed in expensive designer casual wear, and exuding an aura of arrogant entitlement. His blond hair was perfectly tousled, a stark contrast to his older brother's dark intensity. Looking at him now, I couldn't believe I had ever thought they looked alike. Julian was a boy playing at being a man; Alexander was a force of nature.

Julian leaned against the doorframe, a smug, self-assured smirk playing on his lips. "Good morning to you too, babe. You look... tired. Rough night?"

I crossed my arms over my oversized sleep shirt, my jaw tightening at the pet name. "Don't call me that. We broke up, Julian. You made that very clear when you slept with Madison."

He rolled his eyes, pushing past me into the apartment as if he owned the place. "God, Chloe, are you still harping on that? It was a mistake. A momentary lapse in judgment. It meant nothing."

"It meant you cheated on me," I snapped, turning to face him. "And then you spent the last three weeks flaunting her in my face. So, tell me again why you're in my apartment?"

He threw himself onto my small, worn sofa, spreading his arms across the backrest. "Because I decided it's time we stop this silly little fight. I miss you, you miss me. I'm ready to forgive you for being so stubborn, and we can get back together."

I stared at him, genuinely speechless. The sheer, breathtaking audacity of the man was almost impressive. He genuinely believed that he could just snap his fingers and I would come running back, grateful for the scraps of his attention.

"You're ready to forgive me?" I asked, my voice rising in disbelief. "Julian, you are delusional. I don't miss you. I'm over you. I want you to leave."

His smirk faltered slightly, but he quickly recovered, standing up and walking slowly toward me. "Come on, Chloe. Don't play hard to get. I know you're hurting, but you don't have to pretend anymore. Everyone knows you're just sitting in this dingy apartment, crying over me."

"I am not crying over you," I said firmly, taking a step back as he approached. "I am moving on. In fact, I went out last night."

Julian laughed, a harsh, dismissive sound. "Right. You went to the Alpha Delta party. I heard you were standing by the punch bowl all night looking miserable. Probably hoping I would show up and save you."

My heart gave a sudden, traitorous lurch. He didn't know. He hadn't heard about the blindfolded kiss. He had no idea that while he was busy thinking I was pining for him, I was pressed against a wall in a dark hallway, surrendering to the overwhelming power of his older brother.

"I wasn't looking for you," I said, my voice hardening. "I don't need saving, Julian. Especially not by you."

He reached out, trying to grab my hand, but I snatched it away before he could make contact. A flash of genuine annoyance crossed his face. He wasn't used to being rejected, especially not by me.

"Stop acting like this, Chloe," he demanded, his tone dropping the playful edge, replacing it with an entitled whine. "You know we belong together. You're never going to find anyone better than me. Who else is going to put up with your boring, vanilla attitude?"

I recoiled as if he had slapped me. The cruel words stung, but more than that, they solidified the absolute certainty that I was making the right choice. He had never loved me. He had only loved the way I adored him, the way I fed his fragile ego.

"Get out," I said, my voice cold and steady, pointing toward the door. "Get out of my apartment, Julian. We are done. We have been done for weeks, and we are never getting back together."

Julian's face flushed an ugly shade of red. His fists clenched at his sides, and for a terrifying second, I thought he might actually hit me. But Julian was a coward at heart. He preferred psychological warfare to physical confrontation.

"Fine," he spat, his voice dripping with venom. "If you want to throw away the best thing that ever happened to you, go ahead. But don't come crawling back to me when you realize no one else wants you. You're nothing without me, Chloe."

He turned on his heel and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door so hard the flimsy walls shook.

I stood there for a long moment, my chest heaving, the echo of his cruel words ringing in my ears. I felt a sudden, overwhelming wave of exhaustion wash over me. I just wanted to be left alone. I wanted to go to class, graduate, and leave the Thorne brothers far behind.

I walked over to the small window that overlooked the street, taking a deep breath to steady my frayed nerves. Julian was probably already halfway down the block, marching back to his fraternity house to complain about my 'unreasonable' behavior.

I looked down at the street below.

My breath caught in my throat.

Parked directly across from my apartment building, looking utterly out of place on the rundown street, was a sleek, black Maybach. The engine was purring softly, the tinted windows hiding whoever was inside.

But I didn't need to see the driver to know who it was. The aura of the car alone was enough. It was dominant, expensive, and completely predatory.

Just as I was about to step back from the window, the rear passenger window slowly rolled down.

Alexander Thorne sat in the back seat, dressed impeccably in a dark suit, his phone pressed to his ear. But he wasn't looking at his phone. He was looking up.

Straight at my window. Straight at me.

Even from this distance, I could feel the weight of his obsidian gaze. He didn't wave. He didn't smile. He just watched me, a silent, terrifying predator tracking his prey.

Julian thought I was nothing without him. He thought no one else wanted me.

If only he knew that the most dangerous man in the city was currently parked outside my apartment, waiting to prove him entirely, catastrophically wrong.