From Ashes of Scandal to His Embrace novel Chapter 100

“I’m a pretty easygoing guy. I don’t like getting tangled up in all the little mind games some girls play. So when Adah started hanging around me on purpose, I just kept my distance. I never explained anything about us to anyone.”

“One night, Cathleen got drunk and told me she hated seeing me so close to Adah. She said dating me made her miserable and exhausted. She wanted out. She asked me to let her go.”

“Our engagement was a business arrangement between our families. I couldn’t let a girl spend her whole life trapped in a marriage that made her unhappy, so I agreed to end it.”

“Since we were calling things off, I thought we should tell our families right away. So I went to the Main Family myself and asked to break off the engagement.”

“But then the rumors started. Somehow, people said I dumped Cathleen because I didn’t like her.”

“It was humiliating for her. I guess the pressure got to her, because after that she started struggling with depression. She even had thoughts of hurting herself. That’s when Irvin came after me, convinced I’d broken her heart on purpose.”

By the end, Sam just sounded tired. The truth was, he did care about Cathleen. If he hadn’t, he never would have agreed to the engagement in the first place.

But Cathleen was so hard to get close to. Even when he tried to build a connection, she always kept him at arm’s length. Eventually, they didn’t even feel like a couple anymore. They weren’t even as close as normal friends.

“So what does Adah have to do with any of this?” Laurinda asked, resting her chin on her hand as she looked at Sam. She was honestly curious what kind of tricks Adah might have pulled.

“When Adolphus was out of the country, Adah kept trying to get into our social circle, so she’d stick close to me. My family does business with Len’s company, and every time I saw Len’s wife, she’d ask me to keep an eye on Adah. So Adah was always hanging around me, and people started to assume there was something going on between us.”

“Then Adolphus came back. Len’s wife decided to try setting Adah up with him instead. That’s when the gossip started. People said Adah dumped me for Adolphus, and I dumped Cathleen for Adah.”

“Oh, I get it now,” Laurinda said, looking like everything finally made sense. She’d gotten the full story, but she still thought Adah probably did a lot more than Sam was letting on.

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