Page 85 of Thirst Trap

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Remy looked up from her screen with that familiar grin. “Mads, you look…”

“Don’t.” My chair scraped hard. “You sold me out.”

A flicker. Then a scoff. “Penny twist it for you? She’s always hated me.”

“Don’t make this about her,” I said, palm flat on the table. “I saw the emails. The transfers. You leaked the hospital. You put me back in those headlines.”

Her mouth thinned. She didn’t deny it.

“Do you have any idea,” she hissed, “what it’s like to hold your hand through meltdowns and doctors only to watch you tripinto the CEO’s arms? You get the man, the empire, the crown. What do I get? Leftovers.”

I stared. “You were my friend.”

“I was your friend,” she snapped. “And you forgot me the second Lucas looked at you.”

“I didn’t forget,” I said, voice shaking but clear. “I trusted you. And you gutted me.”

“Welcome to the real world. Loyalty doesn’t pay the rent.”

I stood. My whole body trembled; my words did not. “Then you’re dead to me.”

Her laugh cracked. “You don’t mean that.”

I leaned in, voice soft and lethal. “No one survives betraying a Cream. You just betrayed me.”

I walked out into the air sharp enough to cut and didn’t look back.

***

At the penthouse I collapsed onto the sofa, hollow where rage should’ve been. Lucas’s footsteps, then his hand on my knee.

“It was her,” I whispered.

“Don’t you dare believe you don’t deserve this,” he said, lifting my chin. “You’re my partner. My queen. Your worth isn’t up for public vote.”

The sob tore free. He held me until my breathing found his.

Remy chose the headline.

I chose my empire.

Chapter 49

Gone

“Penny? Open up, babe,it’s me.”

Silence.

I knocked harder. Nothing.

I used the key she’d given me. The door swung to still air and the ghost of her perfume.

Couch cushions tossed. A mug shattered in the sink. Her phone on the charger, lighting with missed calls.

No Penny.

“Fuck,” I breathed, the word scraping my throat.

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