Page 144 of Dance of Ruin

“Fuck you!” I scream, my whole body shaking as I gasp for air. “FUCK.YOU!”

He takes a step toward me.

I take one back.

“You didn’t dominate me because yousaw somethingin me,” I say, my voice cracking. “You thought I was something I’m not. You saweasy fucking prey. You saw a fuckingpawnto toy with!”

His face crumples.

And still, I don’t stop.

“I gave you pieces of me I didn’t even know Ihad,” I seethe. “I told you things I never toldanyone.I thought—” I choke. “I thought you fucking SAW ME!”

He moves, as if to take me in his arms. Tell me it’s going to be okay. Kiss me until I believe it. But I put out a hand, stopping him cold.

“Don’t.”

His arms fall to his sides.

The man who once looked like he could destroy the world and feel nothing now looks destroyed himself.

“All that submission,” I say quietly, shaking my head and backing away. “All that power you thought you had over me wasn’t real. Thistoxicfucking power imbalance was based onbullshit!”

My whole body begins to shudder, my vision swimming as I back away from him, my heart breaking.

“You heldmy own assaultover my head and used it to turn me into your little plaything!” I scream.

He flinches like I hit him.

“Naomi—”

I bark out a cold laugh as I whirl away from him and storm to the door.

“Dammit, Naomi!”

I hear him start after me. But before he can reach me I bolt, heading for his jacket by the door, jamming my hand behind it and wrapping my fingers around the cold metal of the gun he keeps in a shoulder holster there.

He stops cold when I whirl on him, gun raised.

“Baby—”

“Donotfucking call me that!” I snarl.

His eyes capture mine, still fierce and throbbing with dark energy even as I keep him at bay.

“I’m walking out that door, Nico.”

He takes a tentative step toward me. “If you think for a second I’m letting?—”

He flinches when I squeeze the trigger. Nico jerks to the side and ducks as two of the whiskey bottles on the bar cart behind him explode in a hail of shattered glass.

The whole scene freezes.

My hand trembles, but I don’t lower the gun.

“I said I’m walking out that door.”

His chest rises and falls. But this time, he doesn’t make a move toward me. Maybe he finally understands this isn’t about power anymore, but aboutme.

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