Hurt.
Deep, soul-cutting, world-ending hurt.
“Liz—”
She walked forward slowly, like every step was a decision not to crumble. And then she reached me.
Her hand came up fast. A sharp crack across my cheek.
Everyone around us went still.
She didn’t cry.
She didn’t scream.
She just looked at me, her voice like glass. “You made me think I was finally somethingrealto someone.”
And then she was gone.
Out the door, through the crowd, her dress sweeping behind her like a blade.
“Shit,” Adonis muttered beside me. “I didn’t see her. I didn’t—”
“Don’t,” I said, already moving. “Just—don’t.”
I ran.
Out of the ballroom, down the hall, out into the courtyard where the storm had broken.
Because of course it was raining.
Of course it was.
The rain always came when we shattered.
I saw her ahead, heels in hand now, dress soaked and sticking to her legs, her mask discarded and forgotten in the grass.
“Liz!” I called out.
She didn’t stop.
I caught up anyway, grabbing her arm gently.
“Please—just listen. Let me explain.”
She whirled on me, eyes blazing with betrayal and water. “Explainwhat, Noah? That I was a bet? That everything — the smiles, the kisses, the way youlookedat me — was part of some game?”
“No. Not like that,” I said, desperate, breath heavy. “Itstartedas a bet. Yeah. I won’t lie. We were idiots. I was an idiot. But it changed. I changed. The second I saw you for who you really were, the bet stopped meaning anything.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?” she snapped. “Why let me fall into this? Why let me love you while you carried thatlie?”
“I was scared,” I admitted. “Scared I’d lose you. That the truth would kill everything we had. But Liz—we all broke it off.Me, Liam, Adonis. It meant nothing compared toyou.I swear to God, I haven’t thought of it once since I realized I—”
“Don’t,” she said, stepping back like my words burned. “Don’t say it.”
I swallowed hard. Rain ran down my face like tears I couldn’t shed.
“Please,” I said again, quieter. “You said I made you feel real. Butyou… you made me feel like I had a heart. You made me feel like I could finally behuman.Not just a weapon. Not just a mission. Liz, what we have is—”
