Isabella's words were sharp, but Brandon Hughes did not look angry.
Instead, he smiled.
That smile was no longer filled with the turbulence of yesterday, nor did it contain any of the complicated emotions he had once shown her. It was calm, cold, and indifferent, as if the person standing in front of him was not the woman he had once loved, but merely an irrelevant stranger.
The kind of smile that could cut people without drawing blood.
Vanessa Cruz stood beside him, and the moment she saw that expression, her heart unconsciously tightened.
She had always known.
Even if she tried her best, even if she stole everything she could steal, she was still only a substitute in Brandon Hughes's eyes.
That smile made her feel both intoxicated and terrified, as if a deer was crashing wildly inside her chest.
Brandon Hughes looked at Isabella, his tone calm and righteous.
"I'm only standing up for my fiancée from a fair point of view. How could I become a joke?"
