Page 3 of The Burnt Heart

When Logan had scheduled lunch today, I thought it signaled something else. The next step forward. Foolish, stupid girl. They wanted to break up, to date other people. How could I have missed this? Glaring details leaped out at me, their chewed nails, the dark smudges beneath their eyes. I winced at the evidence I’d willfully disregarded. This moment reminded me of the calm before a bullet was fired. Loaded in the chamber, a split second of silence before chaos.

Then Logan said something that made pain sear through my gut.

“You know, you’re not the girl we fell in love with.” He waved a hand up and down, raising his eyebrows. A chill ran through me, and I jerked upright, as if electrocuted. I heard his words, but I didn’t believe them. He was staring at my body with a cruel tilt to his lips.

“You think I’m too fat for you?” I choked out, closing my stunned mouth with an audible click. Jesse and Briar both turned to look at Logan with horrified expressions.

“What? No, princess, you’re perf—” Jesse hastened to say, making a shushing gesture at Logan.

“Yes,” Logan interrupted, despite Jesse’s widening eyes, “You’ve let yourself go, and we deserve better.” His bright blue eyes froze me. The hurt turned violent in my stomach. But it blistered away under the rising heat of rage. It wasn’t the breakup, or the pitying way in which they were staring at me. Logan’s words jarred against me. Setting off an alarm that cut through the agony.

There was no way in hell that Logan would say he hated my body. Yes, I was curvy, but it had never been something I let rule my life. Not when my hips were the first thing Logan went for, gripping them like handles. They all adored my curves andthickness, but Logan was ravenous. He called me his siren. The only woman whose touch he could endure. The girl he would fall overboard for every time, to slam against the rocks for one tiny taste. For him to suggest this? I didn’t believe it and the flicker of remorse as he looked at his watch again confirmed it for me. There was something going on and I was determined to dig it out. But first, I had to get out of this house. My knees shook as I stood from the lounge. We’d picked out the huge sectional together. White and fluffy like a cloud. I’d thought we’d spend years cuddling there, but I was wrong. I could manage small breaths. Little pants, as I systematically retrieved the hurt feelings and shoved them into a box. Compartmentalizing was a skill I had cultivated since I was a child.

You didn’t grow up the daughter of a crime lord without learning this necessary skill. As I wrenched down my suitcase, I was grateful for it. My mind went blank as I hauled clothing from my closet. I was only taking things I had bought myself. Another pile I made with clothes the boys had gifted me. I paused longingly at a blue summer dress that Logan had got me when we visited Italy before throwing it on the reject pile.

“Adelaide?” Briar hovered in the doorway. The tension and distance between us made my chest ache. I threw him a cursory glance before returning to the decimation of my closet.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be out of here within the next half hour.” I noted Jesse and even Logan had followed me down and were staring at me wordlessly. I heard Jesse sigh and thump his fist on the door frame.

“No, princess, you stay here, we’ll go somewhere else,” he insisted, and I leveled a scathing glare at him.

“Don’t call me that. I’m not your princess. I’m your fat girlfriend who you’re tired of sharing, right?” As I moved to my lingerie, I was pleased to hear their chorus of chokes. Gone was the green strappy set that Briar had gifted for me. A pang ofregret hitting me. It was one of my favorites that he’d bought me for Valentine’s Day. The silk slipped through my hands, tainted forever. What did they gain from this charade? I was busy sifting through my memories to find clues I had missed.

“Sire—Adelaide, stay here, where you’re comfortable. We’re the ones who should go,” Logan coaxed. His voice was low and strained. I couldn’t look at them, I wouldn’t. My eyes rolled to the ceiling. I hid all the savaged parts of my heart, but the pain pressed against its confines. Determined to flood my body and turn me immobile. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me break.

“Comfortable.” The word tasted bitter as it hit the back of my tongue. “What makes you think I’m comfortable here? I thought this place held our love, like a temple, but it turns out that was a lie. I don’t want to spend another second here. It’s a tomb of dead, rotting hopes and promises.”

My suitcase was close to overflowing. The last item I claimed was the dress bag containing the custom garment I’d designed for the Greenich Bay Awards Night tomorrow. I draped it over the bed with a soft sigh. I had been so excited to surprise my men tomorrow. Now that was ruined for me, too. Heat prickled against my back as one of them tried to reach around, to help me close the suitcase.

“Get out.” I spat through my teeth, ashamed of how my stomach quivered at the nearness of someone I had considered my soulmate. I craved their comfort and was met with blinding pain at the realization that it was no longer an option for me. But as I heard their footsteps retreating, I couldn’t help but sob. My fingers tangled in the bedcovers that had once held such joy and contentedness. I steeled my gaze through the haze of tears, hefting my weight onto the suitcase to zip it closed. With trembling fingers, I fished my phone out of my pocket and brought it to my ear.

“Should I say congratulations?” Lara’s voice brimmed with excitement.

“Lara,” I managed, voice thick with hurt.

“Oh my god, Adelaide? What happened?” My best friend switched, hearing the distress through the phone.

“I need somewhere to stay. Can I crash in your spare room?” My begs were raw.

I needed a place to re-group, and plot. I wouldn’t rest until I knew the truth, but first I had to put myself back together. She agreed, and I tugged the suitcase off the bed with a grunt. The slow drag was agony passing through a myriad of memories that suffused this apartment.

Five years together ended in the space of a sentence.

A chance meeting that had changed the trajectory of my life. Yesterday, I would have considered them my greatest blessing. Now it was all tarnished. Nausea churned my stomach as I burst out the front door, desperate to escape the place that had been my haven.

“Alright boss?” Jonah raised an eyebrow. He peeled off the wall, alert, when he noticed the enormous suitcase and dress bag I was carting behind me. I stalked past him to the elevator. My throat contracted for a moment, choking on the words that wanted to come out. Jonah had been my bodyguard since I was eighteen. He was my shadow, seeing a side of me that barely anyone ever had. That didn’t mean I was going to burst into tears in front of him. I hadn’t lost my self-discipline that much.

“Change of plans. We’re heading to Lara’s.” I managed the cool, unaffected facade until Briar burst out of the apartment. He called my name urgently. Jonah made a motion with his hand, as if to stop the elevator doors from closing, and I shook my head. His beefy arm dropped, but it didn’t stop Briar from sliding in after us, wheezing.

“Adelaide,” he breathed my name.

I focused on the gray steel of the elevator. The warped reflection of his anguished stare facing me.

“What?” Morbid curiosity controlled my tongue as I looked at the man who had broken my heart. Jonah shuffled in the back, not wanting to be privy to this awkward moment.

“I’m sorry, Adelaide. We never wanted to hurt you like this.” His fingers reached out to me. I jerked away, curling my lip like a rabid wolf. I’d tear off his arm with my teeth rather than accept his pitying touch again.

“What was this supposed to accomplish? Did you chase me down to soothe your conscience?” I dolled each word out like a blow, and it was gratifying to see him flinch. His hazel eyes shuttered, likehewas the one in pain. I watched the floors light up and begged them to go faster. I needed to get away from him. Briar was my sweetheart, best with words and empathetic to a fault. His nature wouldn’t have allowed me to leave upset. His moral compass would have screamed at him to follow me. Give me some misguided solace.

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