Page 27 of Forever His Favorite
Emily, her voice calm but sharp as a blade, repeated, “Let go of my hand. There is no relationship between us.”
The moment she said it, Sebastian ripped Lucas’s hand off her arm and roughly shoved it aside. Wrapping his arm firmly around Emily’s shoulders, he led her away.
As she walked away with him, Lucas’s furious voice echoed from behind.
“How do you knowhe’sthe right man for you?! You’ve barely known him for weeks and you married him! Do you even know his family—how rich they are, where they stand, whereyoustand?!” His voice roared, raw and cutting. “What if they don’t accept you? What if he leaves you for them? Then what, Emily?”
His voice cracked as he roared, “At least I was with you through it all, no matter what! I stood by you! I never said I would leave you!”
Emily slowly turned back to face him, anger blazing in her eyes.
“I knew everything about you, Lucas. Yet what did you do to me?”
Her eyes met his, unflinching. Dark, unemotional. Cold.
“Even when you promised me the world, you never accepted me. You never even thought of marrying me. So believe me when I say this, Lucas Cantrell: even if there’s an abyss in front of me, I’d rather fall into it than go back to you and suffer again!”
Her words made Lucas stiffen, as if she had ripped the ground out from beneath him. Slowly, his anger cracked, his voice softening.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, his eyes burning. “I didn’t mean what I said. I was out of my mind. Agitated.”
He stepped closer, his tone desperate yet gentler now. “Emily, I just want to talk. Just give me a chance to explain. I’ll do anything… please. I want to be with you, no matter what it takes.”
Emily immediately recoiled, stepping closer to Sebastian. “No.”
The single word made Lucas freeze. His eyes went blank—hollow, lifeless—as though something vital had been ripped straight from his chest.
“Please, Emily,” his voice cracked, raw with desperation. “I’m begging you… just one last chance.”
But Emily didn’t falter. She turned to Sebastian instead, clutching his arm with both hands. “There’s nothing to go back to, Lucas. I’ve moved on with my life. And you should too. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
Sebastian tightened his hold on her hand. Together, they began to walk away.
“Please, Emily!” Lucas’s broken cry rang out behind them, jagged with anguish. His voice trembled as he begged, “Give me one chance… that’s all I’m asking.”
Before Emily could react, Sebastian spun. His hand shot out like a vice, clamping down on Lucas’s wrist as it brushed her shoulder. With one brutal twist, he tore it off her.
A heartbeat later, his fist drove into Lucas’s face. The crack echoed through the hall.
Lucas stumbled back, blood spilling from his split lip, his body reeling.
Sebastian’s furious eyes locked onto him, cold and merciless. His voice dropped into a lethal growl.
“Didn’t you hear her?”
Lucas straightened, breathing heavily as he turned toward Emily. But she stood there, indifferent to the blood on his face. Instead, she reached out, grabbing Sebastian’s hand, her worried eyes flicking to his bruised knuckles as if checking for injury.
Sebastian calmly wrapped her hand in his own, then slid his other arm to her waist, pulling her closer against his body.
“Let’s go,” she muttered.
He obeyed without hesitation, stepping toward the stairs and walking out of the cruise with her by his side.
Lucas’s hand brushed over the blood trickling from his mouth. Dillon and Taylor approached him, worry written across their faces.
“Why don’t you go after her?” Taylor asked quietly.
Lucas shook his head, his voice edged with stubborn certainty. “I know the way Emily loves me. She wouldn’t even lift a finger without talking to me about it first. Emily was never that indifferent and cold. I upset her, hurt her. That’s the only reason she’s acting close and sweet to Sebastian. She’s doing it deliberately, just to make me jealous.”
