Annelise struggled even more fiercely, but Jett Westgate seemed completely unfazed by her violent protests. He only tightened his arms, afraid she would actually fall.
Carrying her, he walked a few steps to the car, placed her in the back seat, and then got in himself.
"Drive," he ordered.
Inside the car, Annelise was completely enveloped by Jett Westgate's presence. She was exhausted from struggling, and her eyes were rimmed with red—whether from pain or anger, it was hard to say.
She knew that with this man, reasoning, losing her temper, or even getting physical was probably useless.
Going head-to-head with this implacable man, she always seemed to be the one who lost out.
Not wanting to waste any more energy, she pulled her phone out of her small handbag, planning to send a message to Zane Patterson.
Just as she unlocked the screen, Jett Westgate's hand reached over and snatched the phone away before she could react.
"Hey! What are you doing!" Annelise lunged for it instinctively. "Give it back!"
She lurched forward, her upper body leaning in as she reached for the phone in Jett Westgate's hand.
As if expecting this, Jett Westgate leaned toward her as well.
Annelise, focused solely on getting her phone back, didn't notice she had practically thrown herself on top of him.
By the time she realized what was happening, she found herself nose to nose with Jett Westgate. They were only inches apart, so close she could feel his breath on her skin.
The atmosphere inside the car instantly grew charged.
Jett Westgate was handsome. In fact, he was exceptionally handsome.
But seeing his face this close, she was once again struck by it.
'Handsome!'
'So damn handsome!'
It wasn't the refined features of a pretty boy, nor was it the roguish handsomeness of Zane Patterson. His was a more mature, sharper kind of appeal, one that carried an air of nobility and command. It warned people away, yet drew them in irresistibly.
Annelise's heart involuntarily skipped a beat.
Jett Westgate took in her every reaction. "Am I handsome?"
Those three words were like tiny hooks, gently scratching at Annelise's heart, which had only just begun to settle.
'!'
"Wh-Who was looking at you! Don't be so full of yourself!"
He gazed at her flushed ears and evasive eyes, his tone teasing. "Oh? Not looking? Then why are you blushing?"
"I..."
Annelise grew flustered under the stare of his impossibly handsome eyes. She subconsciously touched her cheek. 'It does feel a little hot...'
She felt like steam was about to pour out of her ears. Mortified and furious, she quickly pulled back, trying to create some distance between them.
She quickly changed the subject. "Where are you taking me?"
"To see the skyline, wasn't it?"
The Promenade's skyline? Annelise wanted to roll her eyes.
She'd been looking at that view since she was a toddler; she could sketch its silhouette with her eyes closed.
"I see you're an obedient one," she muttered. "Doesn't Aethelgard have a skyline? Did you really have to come all the way to Veridia to see one?"
Everything about Annelise, from her words to her tone, screamed 'This is pointless' and 'I want to go home'.
"It's different," Jett Westgate replied quickly, his voice certain.
"How is it different?"
"When the person you're with is different, the view is different, too."
Annelise paused, finding his words a bit strange. She mulled them over but couldn't quite grasp his meaning.
Finally, she could only squeeze out sullenly, "Fine, we'll look... Whatever you want."
***
When Chloe Fairchild and Sean Conrad arrived at The Empyrean Palace KTV, several empty bottles were lined up in front of Zane Patterson. Without exception, they were all hard liquor.
He was slumped on the sofa, reeking of alcohol and radiating an air of teetering on the edge of a complete breakdown.
He drank, but he rarely got drunk. Chloe Fairchild and Sean Conrad had never seen him in such a state.
"Zane?" Chloe Fairchild approached cautiously. "What happened?"
Sean Conrad leaned in, looking at the empty bottles and clicking his tongue in disbelief. "Seriously, Zane, what's gotten into you?"
It was as if Zane Patterson either didn't hear them or couldn't be bothered to respond.
His voice was impossibly hoarse. He uttered a single word: "Drink."
"More?!" Sean Conrad exclaimed in shock.
Chloe Fairchild grabbed Zane's wrist as he reached for a new bottle. "Zane! Stop drinking! What on earth is wrong with you?"
"Is it... because of Annelise?"
At the mention of her name, Zane Patterson's body went rigid.
He didn't answer. He wrenched his arm free from Chloe Fairchild's grasp with brute force, picked up the bottle, and began to chug it.
Chloe Fairchild grew frantic. "Zane Patterson! Stop drinking! Do you have a death wish?!"
Sean Conrad reacted instantly, sweeping all the unopened bottles to one side and guarding them protectively.
"Zane! Bro, calm down! There's plenty of booze, you can drink tomorrow! But this... the way you're drinking is terrifying!"
But Zane Patterson was lost in his own world, drinking silently.
Chloe Fairchild and Sean Conrad exchanged a look. They knew why.
The fact that Zane Patterson was in love with Annelise Valentine was an open secret in their little circle.
If Annelise wanted the stars, Zane would never offer her the moon. If Annelise got into trouble, he was always the first to clean up her mess. If Annelise so much as frowned, Zane's mood would turn dark for hours.
The way Zane treated Annelise had long since crossed the line of normal friendship.
But Zane had hidden his feelings too well and kept them to himself for too long. He had never once confessed his heart to Annelise.
He would only appear when she needed him, giving her all the support and freedom she could want.
But Annelise was oblivious when it came to matters of the heart and had never noticed a thing.
She always thought her friends—Zane, Chloe, Sean—were all equally good to her. She had chalked up Zane's special treatment to "brotherly loyalty" and had never considered it could be anything more.
One never spoke, the other never realized. And so, they had muddled along like that for years.
Until now, with Jett Westgate barging in with an arranged marriage.
Zane gripped the bottle, his usually roguish slicked-back hair now limp, a few strands plastered to his forehead with spilled liquor, obscuring his eyes.
'On what grounds... him?'
'On what grounds could he just show up and ruin everything?'
'On what grounds could he claim her so brazenly, all because of some promise made by their parents?'
'On what grounds could he take her away so forcefully, right in front of me?'
'On what grounds... could he get to be her fiancé?'
Seeing him like this, Chloe Fairchild and Sean Conrad's hearts ached for him.
Chloe Fairchild sighed softly. "Things are what they are. What's going to change if you drink yourself into oblivion here, other than making us worry?"
"If you can't let her go, then pull yourself together. At least don't live with regrets. At least let Annelise know how you feel."
Sean Conrad nodded vigorously beside her. "Exactly, Zane! The history you and Annelise have, isn't that more real than some stupid marriage contract? You have to let her know how you feel!"
The two of them supported Zane from the bottom of their hearts. They had seen how he'd treated Annelise all these years.
More than anyone, they hoped these two childhood friends would finally get together.
But...
Both Chloe Fairchild and Sean Conrad understood what he was afraid of.