Dave stepped out of the car first, quietly closing his door before walking around to Bryce’s side. He pulled the door open and stretched a hand toward him.
Bryce didn’t even glance at it.
He remained seated, staring straight ahead through the windshield as though Dave wasn’t standing there waiting.
"We’ve arrived," Dave said.
Like I can’t tell.
The thought drifted through Bryce’s exhausted mind without much emotion. He had no intention of getting out of the car, let alone following Dave into whatever place this was.
Dave let out a quiet sigh.
"Come on, babe. Don’t make me drag you out of the car. The sooner you come inside, the sooner you’ll get the answers you’ve been asking for."
Bryce remained motionless.
He refused to give Dave even that much satisfaction. If he ended up inside, it would only be because Dave had forced him there. Bryce would rather endure that than live with the knowledge that he had willingly walked through those doors.
Several silent seconds slipped by.
Two men dressed in perfectly tailored black suits and dark sunglasses approached from the building entrance.
They stopped several steps away, clearly waiting for instructions while pretending not to watch.
"Are you seriously going to make me do this?" Dave asked, leaning farther into the car. "Everyone here knows we’re together. If I have to pull you out by force, it’s going to look like I’m making you stay with me against your will."
Bryce finally turned his head and looked at him.
"Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing?"
Dave frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"You’re forcing me somewhere I know absolutely nothing about."
Dave blinked, looking genuinely puzzled.
"You called me," he replied calmly. "You asked me to come and get you. You asked me to take you to our new home, and I did exactly that. How is that forcing you?"
Bryce laughed.
It wasn’t a laugh born from amusement.
It carried disbelief.
"You packed my belongings behind my back," he said. "You sold the apartment without asking me. That’s how you forced me into this."
His eyes swept past Dave toward the enormous mansion beyond him.
"And all this time you conveniently forgot to mention this was where you lived."
"We never talked about it."
Dave answered so naturally that it only fueled Bryce’s irritation.
"We never talked about it?" Bryce repeated.
His voice rose despite himself.
"Every single time I asked about your family, you found something else to talk about. Every time I tried asking where you came from, what your parents did, why you never talk about them... somehow the conversation always changed before you answered."
Bryce shook his head.
"I don’t even know who you are anymore, Dave."
His voice grew quieter.
"Everything that’s happened in the last few hours feels like one long nightmare. You cheated on me, and then..."
"You cheated on me too, Bryce!"
Dave’s voice exploded through the car. His chest rose sharply as his gaze shifted to Bryce just in time to see him flinch.
Regret crossed his face almost immediately. He inhaled deeply.
"I..." He rubbed a hand across his forehead before climbing into the seat beside Bryce and quietly closing the door.
"I know," he said after a long silence.
"I started it."
His voice had softened completely.
"I’ve admitted that more than once, and I’ve apologized more times than I can count."
He looked down at his own hands.
"I walked away from her."
His eyes returned to Bryce.
"I chose you. I don’t want to lose you, and that’s why I ended things with her. That’s why I’m here now."
He reached for Bryce’s hand but stopped himself halfway before letting his own hand fall onto his lap.
"My family... my status... where I come from... none of it matters. The only thing that matters is what we have. We love each other. Whatever lies ahead, we should face it together instead of giving up on us and walking away."
His gaze lingered on Bryce’s face.
"So don’t make this any harder than it already is. Come inside with me."
The corner of his mouth lifted into a small smile that barely concealed the exhaustion behind it.
"Let’s walk through that door together... like the couple we’ve always been."
Bryce fell silent, unable to think of a single thing to say. The argument had drained him. After several long seconds, he pushed the door open from the opposite side and climbed out of the car without looking at Dave.
Dave immediately walked toward him and reached for his hand, but Bryce pulled it away before their fingers could even touch.
One of the men in the black suit stepped forward toward Dave.
"Mr. Sinclair Junior," he said respectfully. "Miss Kara, her father, and several of his men are here."
Dave’s expression hardened in an instant.
"What the fuck are they doing here?"
The calm composure he had worn throughout the drive vanished completely, replaced by unmistakable irritation.
Kara.
The name immediately stirred Bryce’s memory.
It belonged to the woman Dave had been caught with.
Before Bryce could dwell on it any further, a section of the massive iron gate began sliding open with mechanical precision.
Dave started walking.
Having little choice, Bryce followed.
The deeper they ventured into the estate, the more his mind seemed to disconnect from everything around him. It wasn’t that he couldn’t see what surrounded him.
It was that his mind refused to believe any of it was real.
An enormous mansion stood proudly at the center of the estate, every window spilling warm golden light into the evening.
The architecture looked less like a family home and more like something reserved for royalty. Guards were stationed across the grounds with disciplined precision, each standing alert as though the slightest mistake would cost them dearly.
Beyond them stretched a swimming pool so vast it resembled a private resort more than something belonging to a single residence.
Everything around Bryce looked unreal.
Like an extravagant set built for a film.
Not somewhere an ordinary person could actually live.
His thoughts drifted somewhere else entirely.
Six years.
For six whole years, Dave had lived beside him as though he were just another ordinary university student struggling to make ends meet.
Every early morning shift at the coffee shop...
Every complaint about being tired after work...
Every conversation about saving money...
Every cheap apartment...
Every ordinary meal they had shared...
Had all of it been nothing more than an act?
The question settled heavily inside Bryce.
Why?
Why would someone with all of this choose to live like that?
He searched for an answer, but none came.
They approached a broad flight of marble steps leading to towering glass doors that reflected the lights of the estate like polished mirrors.
Dave climbed them without hesitation.
Bryce followed several steps behind.
With every step upward, his heartbeat grew heavier.
He had no idea what kind of people waited beyond those doors.
He didn’t even know what kind of man Dave really was anymore.
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