Something tightens in his expression. It’s barely there, but I notice. “That’s true. I don’t know him. But I know this business. And I know what people are saying.”
My fingers curl hard against the bar, pressure biting into my skin. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Leave me the fuck alone.”
For a moment, it looks like he might push back. Then he lifts his hands in mock surrender. “Alright. Forget it.”
His smirk returns as he turns back to his bright green drink. “Just don’t pretend you weren’t warned.”
I stand abruptly, the barstool nearly tipping over. My chest is tight, my throat raw as I fight to stay steady.
“Delphine,” I say, keeping my eyes off Iggy. “Let’s go.”
Her hand closes around my arm, grounding, sure. “Of course. Let’s get out of here.”
I turn before I’ve decided to, already moving toward the back. The noise of the bar dulls as Delphine steers me into a narrow alcove washed in low light. She turns to face me, concern etched across her features.
As soon as we’re alone, everything fractures. “This can’t be true,” I whisper. “Ridge wouldn’t. He couldn’t.”
Delphine’s hands settle on my shoulders, firm but gentle. “Coco. Breathe. Iggy thrives on stirring chaos.”
My vision blurs.
“I thought I could live with his world. I thought he had limits.” My voice breaks. “Fentanyl killed Julian. You know that. It destroyed him. And now the man I love might be tied to the same poison for money.”
Julian, my cousin, my best friend. He was the boy who taught me how to climb trees and sneak out without getting caught.
He was the one everyone believed would escape this life until fentanyl took him apart, piece by piece, and left nothing behind but wreckage.
Delphine’s expression softens, but her tone stays grounded. “You don’t know that Ridge is involved. Iggy is reckless and can be cruel. Especially when he’s trying to show off for a girl.”
“I don’t know, Del. Something in my gut…”
“Coco. Stop.”
“He heard it somewhere,” I say, words splintering. “And even if Ridge isn’t directly involved, it’s his family.His business. How am I supposed to look at him, knowing this is what they trade in?”
She exhales slowly. “You need to talk to him. Before you spiral, before you let someone else decide this for you.”
I step back, shaking my head. “What if my father was right? What if Ridge is exactly what he says?” My chest tightens further. “I can’t do this. I can’t be part of something that destroys people like Julian.”
Delphine reaches for me again, but I turn away. The weight of it presses down, unbearable and immediate. I need space. Distance. Air.
I push past her and head for the door. The shock of night air cuts through the fog in my head. For the first time since I chose Ridge, the certainty I’ve been clinging to begins to fracture.
I pull into my small,gated driveway and ease to a stop in front of the house.
The street is quiet, and the air hangs cool and heavy, pressing in on my skin. I click the button on my fob, and the black wrought iron gate creaks as it slides shut behind me, sealing me in. All I want is to get inside, lock the door, and put this day behind me.
Then I hear the low hum of an engine.
I turn just as Ridge’s black Aston Martin glides to a stop at the curb. The dark body gleams under the streetlight, flawless and remote, like something that belongs to another world entirely.
The windows are tinted so deeply they reveal nothing, the same controlled restraint Ridge wears like armor.
The driver’s window lowers, and he leans out, foldinghis arms on the edge, chin resting on his tattooed forearms. His eyes lock on me and don’t let go.
“Hey, beautiful,” he says, easy as breath.
My throat tightens. Everything inside me pulls in opposite directions. My body responds before my head can catch up, warmth flaring where it has no business being. That pull scares me more than anything Iggy said tonight.
