I blink, once, twice, as if that might clear it away. As if I didn’t just hear what I think I did.
I should say something. Laugh it off. Demand the truth. Scream, maybe.
Or, I could turn around, lose myself in the sea of strangers and noise, and pretend this moment never happened.
Pretend I never cared.
My fingers slip from his and his warmth is gone in an instant, like it was never really mine to hold. A chill slips underneath my skin, curling around my spine, sinking into the hollows of my chest.
I don’t take the woman’s outstretched hand. I can’t.
Hallie’svoice still lingers in the space between us, sweetas venom, daring me to react. My heart stutters, then slams into a breakneck speed, each beat rattling through me like a warning.
Something breaks inside me, and it’s not a clean snap. No, it’s a messy, splintering pain that fractures through my chest, like my ribs are being pried apart, making room for the heartache threatening to consume me.
And still, I stand here shaking as the swell rises, slow and cruel, threatening to drag me under.
Sadness. Anger. Humiliation.
They slam into me in one brutal, tangled wave, scraping me raw from the inside out.
I can’t breathe.
Tears sting, hot and fast, but I dig my teeth into the soft flesh of my cheek, hard enough to taste blood. I won’t giveherthe satisfaction. I won’t fall apart. Not here. Not in front of him.
I need to escape this suffocating space before it swallows me whole.
Knox’s eyes find mine, and there’s a flicker of panic amidst the storm.
I can’t look at him. Not when the ground’s cracked open beneath me, not when everything I thought I knew has turned to dust. My body moves before my brain catches up, one shaky step back, just enough to break the invisible thread still tying us together.
I need space. Air. Anything that isn’t thick with this wreckage. I don’t want an explanation. Don’t want excuses or half truths wrapped in pretty words.
His wife.
I was going to leave the life I know behind for him.
I was ready to uproot everything—my routines, my safety, my little corner of the world—because I thought what we werebuilding was real. I gave him the fragile parts of me that should have been kept locked away.
And all this time, he was hiding her.
How many times did he look me in the eye and choose silence?
God, I feel stupid. I feelused.
I thought he would be the one who wasn’t like James. The one who didn’t twist the truth into something unrecognizable. Who wouldn’t play games with my trust or make me question what was real.
I let myself believe Knox was different. That maybe he was the safe place I’ve been missing.
But this? This is everything I ran from. The half truths. The secrets. The gut punch betrayal dressed up in charm and gentle touches.
His hand shoots out, desperate to catch what’s already slipping through his fingers.
I rip my arm back like it burns. And maybe it does, because that touch feels poisonous now.
“No.” The word slips from my lips, low and unwavering. Though inside, I am anything but steady. “You don’t get to touch me.”
I want it to sound strong. Ineedit to sound like I have control. But even as I say it, more cracks form.
