Page 140 of Feed Your Fiends

“Your revenge?” He steps closer, eyeing the duffel bag. “The money I would’ve given to you either way. You solved the mystery before I could, and without you and Rin, it would’ve taken so much longer.”

Did he know about Rin this whole time?

“She isn’t as sneaky as she thinks she is. Her Korean contact is also Bae’s.”

Cold water trickles down my spine at the revelation.

“And without you, I wouldn’t have pinned everything on Silas so early. That finger necklace- it didn’t make sense. You had it after you went to the bathroom. We were all outside, but Silas was just pulling into the garage, not in the Packard but his coupe. The garage that’s opposite the powder room. He choked you… Why would he do that unless you had some massive secret on him?”

I swallow, hard.

“What could be the connection? And then…like a lightning bolt, it pierced my heart, stabbing through my bones. The car. Silas’s car. The grey eyes, Sylo’s eyes, his father’s eyes. Where could you have seen them before to jog your memory? Where could you possibly have been to run into real-estate tycoon Silas Parrish when your circles would never overlap if not for me? Another lightning bolt struck. At Beaulieu, at the play. It all started to make sense. You wanted to go to the Parrishs not because you wanted to support me, but because you wanted answers for the reward, for your revenge.For money.Just like they all warned me.”

And I proved them right because I’m leaving with the gold I dug.

Still, does he think calling me out will make me feel guilty given all the shit that he’s done?

“Exactly.Nothing more. Nothing less. You begged me to use you.” I shrug. “And what are rich little boys good for but a payday? Everyone tried to warn you about that. About me.” I lift the duffel bag’s strap even as my heart plummets to the floor. “You didn’t seriously think I gave a fuck about your family reunion, did you? That I gave a fuck about your mother’s killer when she was a raging cunt to me? That I’d actually want you back after you fucked with those pointe shoes whether you slipped them into the theatre or not? After you had your friends and lackeys torment me, spill food on me,burn me.” I point to the scar just visible over the top of my towel that Rin had given me with her scalding hot water from her sparkly cup. “You're so spoiled, you really thought that there was something oh so fucking special about you, that I’d overlook everything foryou?And who the fuck are you to me?No one.”

I break our eye contact and stoop to pick up the three racks that fell out of the bag.

“But I’m not the only person you’re a no one to.” The vitriolic vomit spews from my lips. “You were right about Marisol being in love with her first son and not you. You opened those black, soulless eyes, and she saw you for what you were, another Bart Auclair and who could ever love someone like him?”

Unreadable. His face is still completely unreadable.

I need to shatter him. I need him to feel this inexplicable pain.

Didn’t he say our souls were tied? Then why can’t he feel it? Why isn’t this agony flowing between us?

Because there is no us.

I can’t shatter him because he doesn’t care yet, so I keep going.

“Her giving her baby up for adoption was the best thing she could’ve done. No matter where he is or what he’s doing, he can’t be any worse off than you are.”

Nothing.He gives me nothing.

“The necessary spare.”

Bart laughs hauntingly behind me, though what exactly he finds funny is lost on me.

“Such riveting revelations. Thank you for the reality check,” Gant says dismissively, coldly. Colder than my little speech could've ever been.

I shove the three banded piles at his chest. “That’s payback for Beaulieu’s tuition. I deserve the rest, and you deserve hell with all your demons.” I move toward the doorway, my heart thundering with each step because after what Gant asked Bart to do to me, will they seriously just let me leave?

But he doesn’t reach for me as I slip past him into the hall. There are no footsteps behind me, and for three paces, the longest paces of my life, I think there won’t be.

“Wait.”

I don’t turn around as I quicken my pace. I want to run as fast as I can, and pathetically, I want him to follow. To stop the shattering of my heart before it’s too late.

To tell me that everything I heard was just a cruel lie.

“Stay away from me!” I shriek, my voice cracking as I rush toward the lift.

He overtakes me easily, but he doesn’t reach for my arm. In fact, he’s careful not to touch me at all as he presses the lift’s button.

“Relax. I’m not chasing you.” he grabs something from the bench. Bae’s keys are missing, but the black card’s tossed carelessly on the cushion. “Not any more.” The doors slide open, and he slips it into the slot, presses L for the lobby and steps back.

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