He Wouldn't Claim Me — Another Man Did-Chapter 115 - 102: A Favor

These words had once been daggers Shane Sterling plunged into Silas Lockwood’s heart. Now, Silas was returning every last one.

After all, when it came to doing right by Isla Prescott, neither of them had done any better than the other.

The tension in the air was palpable.

Shane Sterling sensed that Silas Lockwood looked ready to throw another punch, so he shoved him away.

"What’s your problem? Want to take another swing at me?"

Before Silas Lockwood could reply, Isla Prescott turned over in bed, a few mumbled words spilling from her lips. "Shane Sterling... Didn’t you say to wait another week...? Why did you lie to me...? Why..."

"You hear that?" Silas Lockwood dragged Shane Sterling over to Isla Prescott’s pillow, grinding his molars so hard he could have started a fire. "Tell me yourself. Don’t you deserve a beating?"

Watching Isla Prescott’s tightly knitted brow and hearing her sleepy accusations, Shane Sterling felt as if a nail had been driven into his heart, a mix of pain and guilt.

"I do deserve a beating." Shane Sterling gave up resisting. "If you’re going to hit me, just do it. But not in the face. I have something important to do tomorrow."

The words had barely left Shane’s mouth when Silas Lockwood, without a moment’s hesitation, swung his fist and punched him right in the face.

With a loud THUD, Shane Sterling saw stars and tasted the coppery tang of blood at the corner of his mouth. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

He touched the blood at the corner of his mouth and flew into a rage. "I fucking told you not to hit my face! Are you deaf?!"

"If I’m going to hit you, I’ll hit you. You think you get to fucking choose where? I hit you in the face. So what?"

Enraged, Shane Sterling shot out a hand to grab Silas Lockwood’s throat. Silas grabbed him right back, and the two collapsed onto the carpet in Isla Prescott’s room, rolling around in a tangled mess of kicks and shoves.

The sleeping Isla Prescott remained blissfully unaware that her room had turned into a veritable crime scene.

In the end, it was unclear who stopped first. The two of them were now sitting side-by-side on the floor, leaning against the edge of the bed and gasping for breath.

"Are you really getting engaged to Genevieve Quincy tomorrow?" Silas Lockwood asked.

"Yeah."

"Then what are you doing here tonight? Trying to have it both ways?" The anger Silas Lockwood had just managed to suppress flared up again. He regretted going easy on him and only landing one punch.

"The engagement is just a formality. Of course I’m not actually going to get engaged to Genevieve Quincy."

"What do you mean?" Silas Lockwood turned to look at him.

"It’s a long story."

"Then give me the short version."

"How about this," Shane Sterling decided on the spot. "You come to the engagement party tomorrow."

"I’m not going," Silas Lockwood refused flatly. "I didn’t even get a proper invitation. Who’d be caught dead at your engagement party?"

’Besides, he knew Isla Prescott was heartbroken over their engagement; there was no way he was going to go and help them celebrate.’

"It’s not just your invitation I missed. I didn’t invite any of my friends," Shane Sterling explained.

’Silas Lockwood knew Shane was telling the truth. He’d run into Ivan Fulton the day before yesterday, and Ivan hadn’t mentioned a peep about Shane’s engagement. Silas might not have fully understood Shane, but he knew Ivan all too well. With a personality like his, Ivan would never have been able to keep his mouth shut if he’d caught the slightest wind of it.’

’This engagement party was definitely unusual in every respect.’

’Could it be... Shane was planning to stir up trouble at his own engagement party?’

’On second thought, it wasn’t impossible. If Shane was the type to be controlled by his family when it came to marriage, the whole affair with Jocelyn Quincy wouldn’t have become the talk of the town. If he wouldn’t let them push him around last time, he definitely wouldn’t this time.’

"What exactly are you planning?" Silas Lockwood asked.

"I need you to do me a favor," Shane Sterling said.

"What kind of favor?"

"Come to the engagement party tomorrow and help me get someone into the venue."