<b>Chapter </b><b>396 </b>


    Twenty minutes <bter</b><b>, </b><b>fully </b>geared up, Leo strode into the restaurant they’d agreed to meet at.


    Emmitt had arrived just moments before, having only just finished ordering their meal.


    Once the walter <b>had </b>left them in privacy, Leo finally removed his mask, hat, and sses, cing them on the chair beside him.


    “Dúde, every time we grab a bite, you’re dressed like you’re heading into battle. Doesn’t that get exhausting<b>?</b>” Emmitt asked<b>, </b>pouring Leo a ss of iced tea as he spoke.


    Leo took the ss <b>and </b>sipped the refreshing drink. “I’m used to it now. Thanks, Emmitt.”


    “<b>I </b><b>caught </b>that reality show you were on, you know, the one that was live–streamed. You were genuinely funny, man.” Emmitt leaned back, a casual smile on his handsome face.


    Leo fiddled awkwardly with his curly hair atop his head. “You watch that kind of fluff?”


    “I keep up with all your shows,” Emmitt replied, his expression darkening for a moment as if a shadow had crossed his thoughts.


    Catching the shift in mood, Leo nced at Emmitt and said, “Honestly, Mirabe’s got way more camera charm than I do. Most of the new followers I’ve got are there for her. It stings a bit, you know?”


    Emmitt gave a nomittal hum. “She is quite something.” Whenever he saw his siblings interact on the stream with that look of trusting adoration in their eyes, Emmitt felt a pang of envy followed by a deep sense of regret. He, too, had the chance for that once, but he had destroyed it with his own hands.


    “Anyway,” Leo changed the subject, “did you want to talk about something specific today<b>?</b><b>” </b>


    Emmitt snapped out of his reverie and nced at a box resting on a nearby chair but decided against picking it up. “Not really, just thought it’s been a while since we had a meal and caught up.”


    “Right,” Leo murmured, ncing out the window beside them. “Has Summer reached out to you recently?”


    At the mention of Summer, Emmitt’s face clouded over, and after a moment, he looked down, a touch of bitterness in his voice. “Not much contact, no. The sister he once cherished was now a constant reminder of how blind and prejudiced he had been.


    “That’s good,” Leo went on. “Zach and I met her a few days back. I cleaned up some mess for her online, and she said she’d cut ties with us, that we’d be strangers from now on.” As he spoke, Leo shot Emmitt a sidelong nce.


    “Even though she wronged me, neither Zach nor I wanted to ruin her. But she agreed to our proposal so quickly, as if all those years meant nothing to her,” Leo said, his mouth twisting wryly


    Emmitt looked up at his brother, fully aware of the underlying message. In the whole family, Emmitt was the one who always believed Summer, and it was often her offhandments that drove him to push Mirabe further away, to the point of <b>no </b>return. Leo was reminding Emmitt that the family bond he valued so highly meant nothing in the eyes of the sister he’d loved.


    Emmitt’s mouth opened, his voice rough. “I know.”


    The conversation fell into silence, with both men lost in their thoughts and eyes downcast until the <b>quiet </b>was broken by the door opening and the waiter returning to serve their <b>food</b>.


    Leo shielded his face with his hand until the waiter left, then dropped it again just as his phone began to ring from his pocket.