Chapter 4

Tristan's first contact with Chloe started with a "broken laptop."

"Hey, Carter, I heard your girlfriend works in tech. Send me her Snapchat. My laptop crashed, and I have some urgent files to recover."

We had never gotten along, so his sudden friendliness made me feel flattered. Like an idiot, I shared Chloe's contact info.

For the next two weeks, Tristan never brought it up again, so I assumed everything was fine.

Until the three of us met up for dinner one night.

Looking at the menu, I was about to order a peanut butter lava cake when Chloe suddenly grabbed my wrist, blurting out:

"Don't order that. Your brother is severely allergic to peanuts."

I froze. My brain went entirely numb.

I had never told Chloe about Tristan's peanut allergy.

I slowly turned to look at Tristan. He was holding his water glass, a smug little smirk on his lips.

"Oh, Chloe has such a great memory," Tristan chuckled. "I casually mentioned it during our late-night chat the other night, and she actually remembered."

*Late-night chat? The other night?*

I looked at Chloe, my blood running cold.

Behind my back, they had already become close enough to have intimate late-night conversations.

On the drive home, I snapped at Chloe for the first time.

"Why are you talking to my brother privately behind my back?"

Chloe looked completely innocent, her face quickly turning into a mask of annoyance. "Carter, are you seriously paranoid? He's your brother! He just got back to the country and needed some help. What's wrong with me being nice? I'm trying to build a good relationship with your family for our future!"

"But you crossed the line!" I gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"Crossed the line? I helped him fix his laptop and we had a normal chat! How is that crossing the line? Ugh, Beanpole, can you please stop being so insecure? You're making a mountain out of a molehill."

*Beanpole.*

She called me Beanpole again.

The energy drained out of me instantly. I had shown her my deepest scars hoping she would comfort me, but she chose to rub salt right in them.

From that day on, Tristan acted like he had a free pass to disrespect me.

If I asked Chloe to pick up a package for me on her way home, she’d make excuses for three days about being too tired. But if Tristan texted her at midnight saying he wanted taco drive-thru from the other side of town, she’d grab her keys and drive thirty minutes to get it for him.

On Valentine's Day, she bought me a bouquet of cheap clearance roses. But for Tristan’s birthday, she spent half her paycheck on a limited-edition designer watch.

I lost my temper. I went to my parents to confront them.

But do you know what my parents said?

"Tristan is your brother! What's wrong with Chloe helping him out? You’re a grown man, Carter. Keeping your girlfriend on such a tight leash is pathetic. No woman will want to marry a petty man like you!"

"Your brother has always been more successful and charming than you. He's just helping you test her loyalty! Stop being so ungrateful!"

Everyone stood on their moral high ground, pointing fingers at me.

Everyone treated me like a jealous, psychotic lunatic.

Over time, I even started to doubt myself. *Was I really being too narrow-minded? Was something wrong with me?*

I fell into a spiral of self-doubt, checking her phone like a madman, only to be humiliated by her again and again under the excuse of "family bonding."

The final blow that made me cut this toxic cancer out of my life happened last month, on the day of my surgery.