After Dumping My Uncle, I Married His Rival

Chapter 4

Susie was the first to snap out of it. She rushed over in a panic to check on me.

Julian belatedly reached his hand out toward me, but I pulled away before he could touch me.

"Scarlett, I didn't mean to. The situation was too urgent, and Vivian had no experience. I had to save her. I thought you'd be able to look out for yourself."

Julian's words struck me as almost laughable.

He'd failed to protect me, and somehow, it had become my fault.

I got up in silence, refused help from Susie and every last one of his friends, and left the equestrian club alone.

I hadn't taken more than a few steps before Julian's furious voice rang out from behind me.

"Enough with the princess tantrums! I'm not going to baby you this time."

I didn't acknowledge Julian. I didn't even look back.

Halfway home, it suddenly hit me—I had followed Julian's private i********: account a month ago.

When I told him I wanted to follow him, he'd looked utterly annoyed, saying I was acting like a child.

"This way, when we're old, and we look back, we'll remember our younger selves and the one we loved. How romantic that is."

I sat down on the side of the road and tried password after password on my phone, just desperate to prove whether the thought gnawing at my heart was real.

I tried his birthday. Wrong password.

I tried my birthday, then our anniversary. Still wrong.

Finally, I tracked down Vivian's birthday.

My fingers trembling, I entered those digits.

In the next instant, the account page opened before my eyes.

Julian's private account only followed one person—me.

But when I opened his hidden photo album, a wave of utter helplessness washed over me.

It was filled with photos of Vivian, along with a chronicle of their love story dating all the way back to their university days, the timeline stretching right up to the eve of her departure abroad.

So I really had been nothing but a complete and absolute joke.

The realization hit me so hard I laughed until tears streamed down my face.

It was a long while before I finally picked myself up and headed home.

That walk took forever—long enough for me to let go of everything that had happened over the past seven years.

By the time my dad opened the door for me, I had finally shed every last layer of armor I'd been holding up.

Before I collapsed, I asked him to pull out my phone and call my mom for me.

"Mom, set up that meeting with Grayson for me as soon as you can. No need to wait until next week."

With those words, I sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When I woke again, I was lying in a hospital bed. Julian and Vivian were standing right across from me.

A smile spread across Julian's face. Then, as if remembering himself, he pressed his lips back down into a stern line.

"Scarlett, it was entirely my fault yesterday. If I hadn't been there, Julian would have been able to protect you for sure."

Vivian stood in front of Julian, and when her eyes met mine, they gleamed with nothing but smug satisfaction.

I found it almost amusing. So this was the kind of woman Julian had been holding in his heart for all these years.

"It's fine. I wish you both a lifetime of happiness." The moment the words left my mouth, Julian's face darkened like a thundercloud.

"How can you still be angry? Can't you just be a little more mature about this?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Vivian murmured a quiet "I'm sorry" beside him, then burst into tears and fled from the room.

"Well? Aren't you going to go after her?"

The door slammed shut with a violent bang.

Julian stormed out, but not before throwing one last vicious remark over his shoulder.

"You are utterly impossible. Scarlett Hawthorne, don't you dare think I'll ever come crawling back to you!"

*****

That very night, I packed my bags.

By now, everyone knew what had happened between Julian and me. When my dad first found out about our relationship, he had exploded with fury—though every ounce of it was directed squarely at Julian.

He had given Julian a brutal, blistering scolding.

"You're my daughter, his niece! How dare he lay a hand on you? He got together with you and then treated you like this? I swear, I wish I'd never had a brother like him! If your grandfather were still alive, he would never let Julian get away with this!"

But toward me—when he saw how heartbroken I was—he couldn't bear to say a single word of reproach. "Be careful on the road. Once you get to your mom's, make sure you let me know you're safe."

I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. I turned and boarded the flight to Savietor City.

I might have lost Julian, but I still had a family who loved me.

My days ahead would surely be better without the people I was leaving behind.