When Love Breaks by Jack

It was around this time that life seemed to finally be going my way.

Mentioning Bryant Ferguson made me pause-a momentary lapse that felt like a lifetime had passed.

These days, it felt like the struggling, pain-ridden Jane of the past had been cleaved in two, leaving a new me in her place.

Gregory pinched my cheek, “Daydreaming?”

“No, not really.”

I shook my head, unable to pin down my feelings, and followed his lead, “Is this about Bryant?”

I knew Bryant’s influence had been creeping towards Vista Town again.

But his helping Gregory seemed both unexpected and somehow anticipated.

He wasn’t a bad person, not really.

You could even say he was good a great boss, a dutiful grandson, a loving adoptive son, a caring step-brother… just not a great husband.

The world where I was the only one hurt somehow felt justified.

that belied his upbringing. Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he said, “It’s a bit complicated, but in short,

that means your

remembering it was his father we were talking about, and corrected, “He won’t be giving you

one way to

“That man married my mother for her wealth, and suppressed me to maintain his grip on power. He doesn’t want a son; he wants a puppet.” Hearing this, I felt a

wasn’t surprising. In these powerful families, fights for control

the sole heir

taking

in the privileges

ho one, and he grew old. The

a

His illegitimate siblings didn’t even qualify for

relationship had been strained since he betrayed Gregory’s mother, and with Gregory in power,

Confronted with fatherly affection,

could easily list

indiscretions. Hanson’s support

Palmer, an illegitimate son,

compliant heir, a “filial

and Palmer make a move, don’t