I was an NPC. The kind they could use as a punching bag, threaten, and discard the second I touched their bottom line.
Sentiment was the cheapest currency between us.
They all sucked in a breath.
Terrified I'd do what I always used to do—make a scene over a tiny scratch, blow it out of proportion, all just to make him glance my way.
In the end, I'd been nothing but a clown. He'd sneered that I was no princess anymore, just a spoiled brat faking her wounds, making a scene nobody wanted to clean up.
But all I did was calmly wipe the blood away with a napkin, crack open a bottle of liquor, and press a soaked tissue against the cut.
A sharp sting burrowed from the wound into my bones, then deeper, into my heart.
It felt like rotten flesh being stripped away. A relief.
Everything was finally coming to an end.
"The woman you can't forget. I called her for you. It's your last night. Make it count."
The mocking expression on his face, the one braced for me to lose my mind or beg, froze solid.
No one around us dared breathe.
Victor shot to his feet, ready to demand what kind of stunt I was pulling now.
The next second, the door swung open and Alice Frost rushed in, tears streaming down her face, faint streaks of blood on her arm.
"Don't flatter yourself. I'm not here because I can't get over you. I came to make one thing clear: you're getting married, so stop dragging me into your life. I'm done being a pawn in your rich-people games!"
His expression softened instantly.
His gaze fell to her injured arm, full of anguish.
"What happened to you?!"
She yanked her arm back, fuming.
"None of your business!"
"If I don't look after you, who the hell will? I told you, I'll take care of you for the rest of my life. We're going to the hospital. Now."
He scooped her up and strode toward the door.
When he passed me, his steps faltered for a single beat.
"Don't think playing hard to get and acting generous is going to earn you one shred of guilt or affection from me."
"You brought this on yourself. This is what happens when you cling to something that was never yours."
He walked out without a backward glance.
Yes.
I brought it on myself. I fell for someone I never should have.
But he was hardly innocent.