CHAPTER 108: A BITTER TOAST

Sierra’s POV

Too late, I realized I’d handed her ammunition. Jack’s brow had furrowed.

I, his expression darkening.

"Jack, Anna must have her reasons," Lucy continued, her voice dripping with manufactured compassion. "We shouldn’t judge her."

The hypocrisy was too much. "Stop pretending, Lucy," I snapped. "Anna got you sent back to your parents’ house. I don’t believe for a second that you don’t hate her. Why act so virtuous and understanding?"

Lucy’s friend instantly leapt to her defense. "Our Lucy is beautiful inside and out. She doesn’t hold grudges like that."

"Beautiful inside?" I laughed incredulously. "Are we all supposed to have amnesia? When Jack married Anna, who was it crying and manipulating Jack out of their wedding night? Beautiful inside? Please!"

The words hung in the air like smoke.

Jack stood without a word and walked away, leaving his half-eaten meal and all three of us staring after him.

With Jack gone, I felt oddly liberated.

"Your precious Jack has left," I said, turning to Lucy. "Aren’t you going to chase after him?"

The transformation in her face was startling. Her sweet, understanding expression melted away, revealing something cold and calculating underneath.

"You know what?" she said, leaning across the table. "Even if you actually marry Jack, I can still make sure you spend your wedding night alone."

Her naked threat inflamed my anger.

"Dropped the act, have you? Lucy, compared to Anna, you’re the truly shameless one." I laughed bitterly.

"Anna can thrive without a man, building her business empire successfully. But you? You’re like a disgusting leech, impossible to shake off, sucking the Simpson family dry.

You probably don’t realize that you’re a laughingstock in our social circle."

Lucy’s friend slammed her palm on the table. "Who do you think you are to talk to Lucy like that? Lucy’s brother DIED saving Jack Simpson.

The Simpson family owes her a life debt and should take care of her forever!"

I regarded them both with utter contempt. "Well, you’d better keep a close eye on Jack then. In our circle, literally any appropriate daughter from a good family would be a thousand times better than a parasite like you.

Unless the Simpson family decides to make you their daughter-in-law, you’ve got your work cut out for you."

Lucy’s eyes narrowed to slits. "I’m busy, and I like it that way."

I threw my napkin onto the table and stood. The Turner family had its own reputation to maintain, and I refused to be disrespected like this for one more second.

In my car, I immediately dialed Calvin’s number, my hands shaking with rage.

"Calvin, that Jack Simpson is something else," I fumed the moment he answered. "They’re treating our whole family like fools."

My brother sighed heavily. "What happened now? Weren’t you having lunch with Jack?"

"Lunch? Please! We barely started when Lucy Taylor showed up with her insufferable act. Mr. Simpson sure is something-do you know what people say about them? They found a mistress for their son before finding him a proper wife! I haven’t even decided if I want to marry into their family, and I’m already fighting with Jack’s mistress."

"Do you actually like Jack?" Calvin asked, his voice softening. "He’s actually a decent guy."

"What’s decent about him?" I shot back. "He can’t handle his parents or Lucy, no wonder Anna divorced him.

Calling him a people-pleaser would be an insult to people-pleasers. At least they make people happy—he just causes problems for everyone.

Whoever wants to marry him can have him. I certainly won’t."

Jack’s POV

I stood frozen at the restaurant entrance, watching Anna being escorted to her car with Elizabeth and Rachel Wilson hovering protectively around her. My hand was still warm from signing the check I’d hastily settled before rushing out, but I couldn’t bring myself to approach her.

Not anymore.

Since accidentally discovering her pregnancy, I hadn’t contacted her or mentioned it to anyone. But today, at the Paradise Valley Estates groundbreaking ceremony, she’d boldly displayed her baby bump to all of Skyview City’s elite. I knew Anna well enough to understand what this meant —she was going to raise this child alone, completely severing any possibility that might have existed between us.

Lucy caught up to me, her mouth forming words I couldn’t process. I turned away without acknowledging her, heading toward my car. As I reached for my phone to call Luke and Calvin, Calvin’s name lit up my screen first. Perfect timing. If there was ever a moment I needed alcohol, it was now.

The dimly lit bar was already half-full when I arrived. I ordered several bottles of premium whiskey but didn’t pour a single drop, just staring at the amber liquid like it might offer some answers.

"Not drinking yet? What’s going on?" Luke asked, sliding into the booth beside me.

My throat constricted as I forced the words out. "My ex-wife is pregnant.

Not my kid." I laughed bitterly, eyes burning with something I refused to acknowledge. "Though technically, I might still be related to it. Maybe the kid will call me ’uncle?" The thought of Marcus Murphy’s child—if that’s whose it was-created a family connection so twisted it made my head spin.

Luke and Calvin fell silent. Their discomfort was palpable, neither knowing how to console a man who’d lost everything that mattered.

Calvin finally squeezed my shoulder, his voice cautious. "Come on, there are plenty of women better than Anna Shaw out there."

"Really? Where? Show me one." The sarcasm in my voice couldn’t mask the desperation underneath. We all knew there wasn’t anyone like her. That was precisely the problem.

Calvin shook his head. "You’re not making this easy. Look at Anna’s position now. Shaw Corp is thriving under her leadership. Soon we’ll all be addressing her as Ms. Shaw with our tails between our legs."

Luke kicked him under the table. "You call that comforting?"

"Let’s see you do better," Calvin challenged.

I felt a strange mixture of warmth and bitterness watching them argue over how to cheer me up. Luke struggled to find the right words. "Anna’s just a bit prettier, richer, more capable, smarter..." He trailed off awkwardly.

"Look, however great Anna is, she’s pregnant now. Can’t we just move on?"

Calvin twisted the knife further.

"Heard the Phoenix project products are selling like crazy nationwide, even breaking into international markets.

That woman is something else."

A heavy weight settled in my chest.

Phoenix had Simpson Group shares; I knew exactly how successful she was.

But her success only highlighted my failure-she was thriving without me, while I remained stuck in the past, drowning in memories.

Calvin pushed a glass of whiskey into my hand, his tone softening. "I get how you feel, but some things are over when they’re over. Some people, once missed, stay missed. We have to look forward."

"Look forward? To what-marrying your sister Sierra and becoming your brother-in-law?" I scoffed, unable to hide the anger and grief in my voice.

Calvin flinched. "I wouldn’t mind having you as a brother-in-law, but going from Anna Shaw to Sierra Turner is quite the downgrade."

I kicked him under the table. "Fuck off."

Then I sighed deeply, my voice barely audible. "I just keep thinking Anna and I are really done." Pain flashed across my face. "That heartless woman just kept sprinting forward after leaving me. And here 1 am, stuck in place, accomplishing nothing."

The alcohol began working its magic, loosening my control. I threw my arm around Calvin’s shoulders, my voice thick with regret. "Do you think Anna ever really loved me?"

Luke quickly grabbed a bottle, forcing it into a toast with my glass. "Stop thinking about it. Let’s drink."

Soon enough, all three of us were drunk. Under the bar’s muted lights, my consciousness blurred, but my mind still fixated on Anna. Her smile, her tears, her resolute expression when signing our divorce papers, and now her swollen belly-carrying a child that wasn’t mine.