My Great Escape Led Me to You (Emily Blair) novel Chapter 36

Emily Blair had barely stepped through the door when Ethan Lane blocked her way, standing squarely in the entryway.

He glared at her, jaw clenched so tight you could see the tension in his face, his anger barely contained. “Did you hit Amelia and Isabella at the hospital?”

He threw an arm out, barring her path, fist balled so hard the veins stood out starkly along the back of his hand, as if he was one second away from throwing a punch.

Emily slipped the jade ring into her pocket, looked up at him, and replied in a cool, even voice, “Yeah, I did. So what?”

Ethan’s expression darkened instantly.

Smack!

The sharp crack echoed through the hall, louder than the slap Emily had given Amelia back at the hospital.

Emily’s head snapped to the side, a few strands of hair falling across her burning cheek. Her ears rang with the aftershock.

Ethan’s voice was still tight with fury. “Emily Blair, you really are impossible! And to think I once called you my sister.”

Sister.

Emily lowered her eyes, a bitter smile creeping onto her lips.

Ethan Lane was always known for his gentle manners—never losing his temper, always calm and collected. People only ever spoke well of him. And to his sister, Amelia, he was the perfect brother—utterly faultless.

Before Emily ever joined the Lane family, she’d clung to the hope that Ethan would treat her as a sister too. Even a fraction of what he gave Amelia would have been enough.

At the beginning, Ethan really had been warm to her, always looking out for her.

She was utterly taken in by his kindness, always chasing after him, calling him “big brother,” eager to do whatever she could for him.

But no brother would ever let his little sister stand naked in front of a crowd.

No brother would force his sister to stay alone with a middle-aged man in a locked room.

But Ethan Lane would.

Her mind went blank as she clung to her dress, staring out at the sea of faces, many of them holding up their phones to record her humiliation. All she could hear was Ethan’s laughter, mingling with the mocking voices of others.

She turned her head, catching sight of Ethan, laughing into his hand, and Amelia, cackling the loudest of all.

Her grandfather, Kevin, sat in the audience, his expression dark—not with anger at the way she’d been humiliated, but with shame at how she’d disgraced the Lane family.

At the time, she hadn’t understood why everyone was filming her.

She’d thought it was because they liked her. In the end, it was all just a cruel game at her expense.

As she clutched the dress, the ribbon at the back slipped loose, exposing her thin, trembling back to the cold wind.

Once she realized what was happening, she tried to escape, desperate to disappear from sight.

But Ethan blocked her path. “Hey, where do you think you’re going, birthday girl? There’s a whole crowd here—come, let’s take a picture.”