A sound clawed out of my chest, something like a laugh but warped and bitter. “Fair?Phoenix, you took money to get close to me. I almost understand it then, but not now. You let me believe you chose me. You let me—”Believe you loved me.
Myvoice broke, and that was somehow worse than shouting. Worse than rage. It was a sound that made Phoenix step forward, reaching for me instinctively—like he could fix it if he could just touch me.
“Cole—”
“Don’t touch me.”
He stopped so abruptly he almost stumbled, hand suspended midair. The command wasn’t loud, but it hit him like a blow. I saw it in the way his whole body recoiled.
His eyes filled instantly. “I didn’t know what would happen,” he whispered, words shaking apart. “I didn’t know I’d care about you. I didn’t know you’d—”
“Don’t,” I cut in sharply. “Don’t make this about your feelings now.”
He folded in on himself, shoulders rounding, breath trembling, like he was trying to make himself small enough that my anger wouldn’t find him.
“I never meant to hurt you,” he said, the plea thin and breaking. “Not like this.”
“And yet you did.”
He flinched. Actually flinched—as if I’d struck him physically.
I took another slow step back. The envelope still hung from my fingers, heavy in a way that made it hard to breathe.
“This whole time,” I said softly, “you let me think you wanted me. And all along, you were doing…what? Reporting on me? Feeding information to a stranger about my life? About my dragon? About the things I was terrified to tell anyone?”
Phoenix shook his head violently, eyes wide. “No. God, no. It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t about your dragon—I swear he didn’t know. He just—he just wanted—”
“What?” I snapped. “What did he want?”
Phoenix’s silence said everything.
I inhaled slowly, the breath catching and splintering inside me. “I can’t do this.”
His face twisted with panic. “Cole, please—don’t—”
“I need air.”
“Please don’t walk away,” he begged, stepping toward me like he couldn’t stand still. “Don’t walk away—not like this—” Snarling again, I stuffed the cash into the envelope and slammed it hard into Phoenix's chest. I had my garment bags in hand a second later, and I picked up my suitcase. Phoenix’s breath hitched so sharply he had to grab the doorframe again.
“No,” he whispered. “Don’t go. Not like this. Please—”
I turned to him, finally meeting his eyes fully.
He looked destroyed. Completely undone. Tears running down his face, chest heaving, every inch of him begging without words.
For a heartbeat, the weight of that desperation pulled at me. I almost caved.
But then my gaze dropped to the envelope he was still clutching, to the money that started all of this, and whatever softness remained in me closed off like a slammed door.
“You need to leave,” I said.
His knees wavered. “Cole—”
“You can’t stay here tonight. Not after this.”
“I don’t have…” He choked on the rest, but then he nodded.
I stared at him, at who I thought he was and who he had been all along. The ache in my chest hollowed out, leaving nothing protective behind—nothing but emptiness.
