“You took her from me,” he said again, more forcefully this time. “The very day I planned to claim her.”
I froze for half a second.
“What?”
“I was five minutes late,” he continued, his voice tight with frustration. “Five damn minutes. That’s all it took.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“Oh, thank goodness you said five minutes,” I said, shaking my head. “Because we all didn’t even know you were in love with her.”
I stepped closer, my voice dropping.
“And who told you I didn’t know Doris long before you ever decided to watch her from a distance?”
That hit him.
I saw it in the way his expression shifted.
“How long have you known her?” he asked, his voice low.
“Long enough, the very day Nana died,” I replied.
The tension snapped tighter.
For a moment, Blade said nothing.
Then he loo
