He Left Me For My Sister Now He Begs For Me Back Chapter 06
The Black family didn’t call the meeting a broken engagement.
They framed it as simply having a different person fulfill the original agreement between our families.
Mrs. Black looked mortified. Mr. Black drank three cups of coffee in quick succession. In the end, it was Sebastian himself who stood and announced that he wanted to marry Victoria.
Tears immediately welled in my sister’s eyes.
She kept shaking her head, whispering that this was wrong, asking what about Adeline, insisting she would rather never marry than take her sister’s engagement.
With every word she spoke, Sebastian’s expression softened with pity.
By the end, he looked as if he might reach for her hand right there in front of everyone.
My mother’s eyes grew misty watching them, and even the stern set of my father’s jaw slowly relaxed.
Only Aunt Rebecca, sitting on the far end of the sofa, remained impassive.
She asked, “Sebastian, you say you love Victoria today. What, then, do the last seven years of promises mean?”
Sebastian’s face went pale.
“I was too young. I didn’t understand what love was. I always thought I liked Adeline, until…”
He glanced at my sister. The rest went unsaid.
I finished the sentence for him.
“Until you truly saw Victoria.”
He didn’t deny it.
My aunt pressed on. “And how do you plan to compensate Adeline?”
Compensate.
The word was almost laughable.
As if I were a pet he’d kept for years and now, having grown tired of me, he needed to find a suitable new owner.
Sebastian was quiet for a moment.
“The Black family will help introduce Adeline to a suitable match.”
I looked up at him.
He rushed to explain, “I know many excellent men. Adeline has a good heart; anyone would like her. If she’s willing, I can even personally—”
“That’s enough.”
My aunt set her coffee cup down on the table with a sharp crack.
She was about to lose her temper, but my mother spoke first.
“Rebecca, you can’t force feelings. Since Sebastian loves Victoria, forcing him to marry Adeline would only make them both miserable. It’s better to…”
She turned to me.
I knew what came after “it’s better to.”
All my life, whenever my mother looked at me that way, I was the one who was about to lose something.
So this time, before she could finish, I spoke first.
“All right.”
Everyone stared at me.
My sister’s quiet sobs grew louder.
“Adeline, don’t be like this. Yell at me. Hit me. Anything. The calmer you are, the more guilty I feel.”
I looked at her and suddenly asked, “Then give Sebastian up. All right?”
Her crying stopped abruptly.
Tears still clung to her lashes, but the color drained from her lips.
The silence in the room became suffocating.
My mother frowned, her voice sharp.
“Adeline! You know they love each other. Why would you say something so cruel?”
I laughed.
So, when my sister said she didn’t want him, it was a sign of her kindness.
But when I actually asked her to give him up, it was coercion.
I finally understood. The rules in this family were never meant to apply fairly to me.
I stood up.
“I was just asking. Since she can’t bear to part with him, let them marry. The original engagement is over. Everything the Black family has given me over the years will be returned, down to the last item.”
Sebastian’s head snapped up.
“Adeline.”
He probably hadn’t expected me to let go so easily.
For an instant, a flicker of unease crossed his eyes, but it vanished as my sister’s fresh tears drew his attention back to her.
As I turned to leave, my aunt called out.
“Adeline, have you thought about what I asked you last night?”
I knew what she meant.
The night before, sitting in my room, she had asked me for the first time, “If this engagement really ends, do you want to leave the Crawford family? Leave this life in the Crown Pack behind?”
At the time, I hadn’t answered.
Now, I said, “Aunt Rebecca, I do.”