Page 175 of Gathered Sparkle

This is the final push. If I don’t get her to admit it now, we’ll still do the show with what we have and leave for Italy. Koen has everything in place—police, lawyers, and backup plans.

But I want this confession.

No, Ineedthis confession.

There’s a part of me that knows I might be pushing too far today. If she catches on, if this goes sideways, I’m the one who’ll pay for it. But it doesn’t matter.

I grab my jacket and head for the door. Every step toward her office feels heavier like I’m walking straight into the lion’s den, but I don’t slow down.

By the time I reach her door, I’m steady again, on the outside, at least.

I step into the office without knocking, and the first thing that hits me is the scent—her perfume, thick like floral poison. But underneath it is something else—musk, sweat, and the unmistakable sounds of skin against skin fill the room.

A low grunt. A breathy moan.

Belmont’s bare ass.

Heat rushes to my face, rage and disgust swirling together in a sickening wave. “Mother!”

They jolt apart like they’ve been shocked. Belmont stumbles back a step and yanks up his pants with a jerk. His shirt hangs untucked while his belt swings as he fumbles with the buckle.

Veronica’s hand shoots to her blouse, pulling it together as she turns, her hair looking fucking disheveled. Her wrinkled skirt clings to her thighs where his hands must have been.

“Nicholas.” She fixes me with a hard, cold glare. “What part ofknockdo you not understand?”

I barely hear her. My pulse pounds in my ears. It’s as if I’m trapped in slow motion, watching them smooth down their clothes.

And then…

… I see red.

She’s always been this way.

If she could treat Belmont like a pawn, if she could wield sex like a weapon, leverage, then what was Oscar to her? The one good thing she ever seemed capable of loving. I’d convinced myself that whatever darkness lived inside her, at least that was real.

Even if she didn’t love me, she at least lovedhim.

Because maybe I wasn’t lovable. But Oscar was. Always had been.

Belmont finishes buckling his belt and adjusts his cuffs. He’s already moved past this, like I’m nothing, and I snap. “Is this what you signed up for? Laundering money for the Harringtons so you can get under her skirt?”

He catches my eye and smirks.

Fucking smirks.

My vision tunnels. I don’t even register the sound of my own breathing. It’s drowned out by the roar in my head.

Veronica waves Belmont off like he’s a dog. “Leave us.”

He hesitates but then grabs his jacket and heads for the door. His shoulder brushes mine on his way out, but I don’t move. I don’t even look at him.

Oscar was just another Belmont. A stepping stone. A convenience. A man too brilliant to see that he’d been played.

Fuck.

When the door clicks shut, it’s only the two of us, and the words are out without thought. “You’re disgusting.”

“Careful,” she warns as if I’m a child stepping too close to the fire. But I’m not a child anymore. And I finally see her for what she is, what she’s always been.

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