Page 68 of His Little Secret in Discretion
“I’m hearing every goddamn word. And I’m telling you they’re wrong.” His hand slid into my hair, his grip firm enough to anchor me in place. Looking up at him, my heart skipped a beat as my breath shuddered. His lips hovered dangerously close to mine.
“If I have to spend every day undoing what he did to you, I will. But don’t you ever—” his grip tightened in my hair “—think you’re less than what I see when I look at you.”
I swallowed hard, my throat still feeling raw. “And what is that, Blaine?”
His thumb brushed my cheek, slow and cautious, like he wanted to hold me together but was scared he’d break me. “Mine. My fucking everything.”
Chapter twenty-five
Maia
Irushed from the window, waiting impatiently by the penthouse elevator, my hands wringing one another in an attempt to calm my growing nerves. The doors opened, and he walked out, effectively ignoring me as he stepped to the side of me.
“Where have you been?” I asked in a panic, but Felix didn’t answer. Just walked past me as he tossed his jacket and briefcase onto the floor. “I saw her,” I said, my voice sounding small in the thick air between us. “You didn’t even bother to hide it.”
His smirk was lazy, practiced. “And?”
“I want to leave.” The words trembled, even in my dream.
Maybe because I’d never actually gotten them out back then, he poured himself a glass of whiskey over ice before he took a sip.
Suddenly, we were in his office, my memory of the moments between us blurring in and out.
He leaned back in the chair he was now sitting in, swirling his drink like I’d just told him the weather. “Leave?” His chuckle was sharp enough to cut. “You think you can?”
I said nothing, just stared at the condensation sliding down his glass. I seemed more focused on it this time around.
“You think you’re worth it?” His voice dipped lower, the way it always did before his words sank deep enough to bruise. “Without me, you and that washed-up uncle of yours are nothing. You wouldn’t last a month on your own. You’re only here because I let you be here. Don’t forget that.”
I was sitting across from him now. My hands curled feebly in my lap, my nails digging into my palm. I wanted to scream, to throw the drink in his face, to run until I couldn’t feel my legs. But all I did was sit there.
“You’re not special, Maia.” He smiled, slow and cruel. “You’re a whore. I dressed up nice enough to fool myself for a while. Cleaned you up, made you look expensive… but deep down? You’re still the same desperate little thing I found in that shitty bar begging me to save your uncle because you couldn’t even save yourself.”
You’re different, Maia,he used to say.Smarter than the rest. Not like the others.
I used to believe him. I used to think he meant it.
But now—
“The only difference between you and any other no-good whores is that they knew exactly what they were. You’re still pretending you’re not.”
I jolted awake, breath catching, the echo of his words still burning in my ears. Blaine’s slow breathing was warm against my shoulder, but it didn’t ground me. It didn’t feel real. My chest was still tight, my mind still trapped somewhere I swore I’d never go back to.
Careful not to wake him, I slid from the bed. The carpet was cold under my feet as I crossed to the dresser, my bag already waiting there. My fingers found the black card, cool and weightless in my hand. I turned it over once, tracing the raised numbers, thinking of the freedom it gave me. Thinking of the short-lived happiness it brought me.
It was my lifeline, my way out of the hole I was in. But it was also my leash. My proof that Felix had been right all along. I couldn’t do any of this without someone else saving me. Couldn’t pay the rent, couldn’t breathe without asking.
God, what a joke. I traded one man’s pocket for another’s and called it survival.
I set it on the nightstand beside his phone, the faintest click as it touched the wood.
Then, I left the room, left him behind, because I couldn’t be his everything.
Blaine
The first thing I noticed when I woke was the quiet, the utter silence.
Her side of the bed was cold. The sheets still held her scent, faint and sweet, but she wasn’t there. My eyes drifted around the room in search of her belongings, but they landed on thenightstand. My gut fucking twisted. The black card I’d given my little Sunshine was staring back at me like this was all some sick fucking joke. A small note was beside it, a piece of paper she probably ripped off the edge of a book in a hurry.
