My Great Escape Led Me to You (Emily Blair) novel Chapter 1037

His father had almost blown up the whole family over a girl from the wrong side of town, nearly running away with her for good. It was Kevin Lane who stepped in, pulling strings behind the scenes until his father gave up and married Andrew’s mother, just like everyone expected.

Andrew knew exactly what happened to that girl.

Now Kevin Lane was starting to pay attention to Emily Blair. That was never a good sign.

Kevin mentioned that with his wedding to Isabella Austin coming up, Isabella’s parents had dug into everyone close to him. Emily Blair, in particular, caught their eye.

Andrew had heard the stories about Isabella’s parents and the way they handled things. There was no way someone like Emily could stand up to pressure from both Kevin Lane and the Austins. Back then, Andrew didn’t have the power to protect her, not really.

So he agreed to everything Kevin asked.

He stood by Isabella’s side and drew a clear line between himself and Emily. No more gray areas.

It happened to be Emily’s birthday. Behind her stood the gift he’d picked out for her: a grand piano shipped in from overseas, the kind of thing that cost more than most people would see in a lifetime.

Right in front of Emily, he gave that piano to Isabella instead.

He could see the pain and self-doubt in Emily’s eyes, raw and impossible to miss. At the time, he told himself he only saw her as a sister, but her expression hit him like a punch to the gut.

Isabella was happy. Her parents were satisfied. Kevin Lane seemed pleased.

Andrew was supposed to be satisfied too. But he couldn’t get Emily’s tears out of his mind. He always thought it was his job as her brother to make things better, to wipe away her tears. But he didn’t. He couldn’t.

After that, Emily seemed done with him. She said all kinds of harsh things, tore up her diary and the letters she’d written about him, swearing she’d never love him again.

He was supposed to be relieved. Instead, he just felt empty, like something inside him had twisted the wrong way.

Still, he told himself that if he was going to marry Isabella, he had to stay away from Emily. Keep things clean.

Still, he kept hoping Emily would wait for him, that she’d give him a chance to repay what he owed Isabella.

He never said it out loud. He didn’t have the right. He couldn’t protect her anyway.

Kevin Lane was watching. Isabella’s parents were watching. He wasn’t strong enough yet to break free.

It wasn’t until Emily decided to leave everything behind that he realized just how much pain he’d caused her.

He ran to the airport, desperate to stop her, but his words came out all wrong. Everything he said just made things worse, pushed her even further away. Deep down, he wanted her to stay, but all he managed to do was drive her off.

In the end, Emily left.

He felt humiliated, heartbroken, a mess of feelings he couldn’t begin to untangle. But he knew one thing for sure. He had no right to ask her to stay. Not anymore.