"Is it because of her?" Alicia asked, her voice suddenly small, cutting straight through the heat like a knife to the gut.
Adrien's breath hitched. "It's—"
"You were just playing with my feelings, weren't you…" Her words came out strangled, barely above a whisper, but they struck with brutal force. Her eyes shimmered—not with seduction now, but with betrayal. Shattered glass behind glassy pupils. Her body began to retreat from his, inch by inch, like the cold had suddenly seeped into her bones.
Adrien cursed inwardly, rising from the bed, but she was faster.
"No." She shoved against his chest, hard enough to startle him. Her legs swung over the edge of the mattress, and her back was to him. Her voice came quieter this time—like a secret she didn't want to admit. "I should've known better," she whispered, the tears finally breaking free, sliding hot and fast down her cheeks.
And that—that—snapped something deep and dangerous inside Adrien.
