The accusation landed like a stone. Darren’s shoulders sank as if that single line had the weight to crush him. “You—how can you say that? I gave you everything. I—”“You gave me the performance of every desperate, bought man in this city,” she interrupted, and there was a glacial edge to her anger now. “You paraded me like a trophy and then thought you could buy your way into my pity. You thought you were clever, Darren. You thought you could take what belonged to me and hide behind charm.”He tried to find counter arguments, defense, plea. All he could find was baffled, trembling grief. “I didn’t— I didn’t know. I didn’t know you were—” He couldn’t finish. He had no language for the universe in which the woman who had brewed his coffee, slept with her head on his chest, and laughed at zombie movies could also be the architect of his ruin.Krystal’s mouth tightened. She stood, the silk rustling like a promise. She leaned in so close he could see the tiny flecks of gold at the edge of
Last Updated : 2025-09-19 Read more