Page 3 of Gathered Sparkle

I laugh, sharp and hollow, as my stomach churns. “Fuck.” I drag a hand through my hair, and strands stick to my damp forehead. The lies, the manipulation, the fact that I let her in, that I wanted her here, wanted her so badly that I ignored every single red flag waving in my fucking face.

She’s their cousin. Their assistant.

She wanted me.

“I never wanted to hurt you, Nico.”

But she did. She fucking did, and she knew she would. She played the part so perfectly, down to the way she said my name. I believed it was real.

God, I am such an idiot.

Once more.

“I was that blind again, wasn’t I?” The question isn’t for her. It’s for me. For the fool who thought that, for once, someone might actually wantmeinstead of what I can offer them. Instead of what I’m worth.

She doesn’t answer, but her silence speaks volumes.

“I should have seen it coming,” I spit, bitterness curling around every word. “Someone like you would never want something real with someone like me.”

I don’t miss the way her face twists like she wants to argue. Like she wants to say something that might make me believe her, even now. But it’s too late for that. It was too late the second I walked into this room and saw her for what she really is.

“Did the twins send you?”

Her eyes widen, I know I’ve hit the mark.

A crack splinters through me, fracturing a part of me I didn’t even know was holding me together. I force myself to nod, swallowing the bile rising in my throat. “Go.”

She stares at me, her expression a tangle of shock and an emotion I can’t quite name. “You’re not…” She sounds so small, so fucking fragile. “You’re not calling security?”

I probably should. It would be the smart thing to do, therightthing. But I can’t bring myself to say the words, let alone act on them.

Besides, it looks like she didn’t get what she came here for. And honestly? I’d rather eat glass than have to explain this disaster to Veronica. To stand there while she picks me apart, smirking as she reminds me just how naïve I am. How easily I let someone likeherfool me. How I proved, yet again, that I’m exactly as dense as she’s always said I am.

I shake my head. “Just go,” I command again, my voice colder than I’ve ever heard it. I watch the way she shivers, how she takes a step back like she’s afraid of me now.

Good. Let her be afraid.

Let her feel a fraction of what I do right now.

Her footsteps echo in my ears as she stumbles out of the room, and I can’t bring myself to move. My body is frozen, rooted to the spot, as the weight of what happened settles over me.

When I finally step into the hallway, the air has been sucked out of the space. I see her ahead of me, already inside the elevator, fumbling with the buttons like she can’t get out of here fast enough. Her hands are shaking so badly that I almost feel sorry for her.

Almost.

The elevator doors start to close, but not before she looks up, and her green eyes meet mine. For a split second, I see something there. Not guilt. Not panic.

Regret.

But it doesn’t matter.

Not anymore.

The doors close, and she’s gone. My chest heaves, and the suffocating silence presses in around me. I lean my back against the wall, sliding down until I’m sitting on the cold marble floor, my head falling into my hands.

I let her in…

… and she broke me.

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