Chapter 169

• ETHAN
• I sat down in my study, listening to the hum of the air conditioning unit overhead. It was the only sound in the room, but it did nothing to ease the heat crawling beneath my skin. My elbows pressed into the polished oak desk as I stared at the wall across from me, not really seeing anything.
• The events from yesterday’s lunch replayed in my head like a highlight reel gone wrong. Elora hadn’t cried. She hadn’t screamed. She hadn’t begged me not to call off the engagement.