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“What?”

Lana deepens the furrow between her brows and scans the sizable crowd around us. “Yeah, definitely weird. I didn’t put two and two together before, but…”

“Stop talking in riddles. What’s going on?”

She turns to me, a sharpness in her eyes. “Bree said she wasn’t going offshore today, which isn’t strange, considering she rarely leaves the ship. But earlier, I saw a waitress who looked just like her, but when I called her name, she scurried away. I thought I must’ve been seeing things. And now Rex isn’t here, and he and Bree are good friends. The Shadow King isn’t here either, and that man is everywhere.”

The Shadow King? Oh, Elias.

The image of him talking to Bree on the sky deck the other day flashes into my mind. All these seemingly random puzzle pieces floating in the air—perhaps they form the same image all along.

I stiffen. “Lana, I saw something the other day on the sky deck.”

I tell her about what I saw, the heated discussion and panic on Bree’s face, how Elias calmed her down. I left out the part about the man giving Lana his jacket. That didn’t seem relevant here.

“Something has to be going on with the three of them.” I tick my fingers. “Rex isn’t with Bree, and he’s close to Elias. Elias has connections to Bree. And now, they’re missing. They must be planning something.”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, the orchestra suddenly stops playing. A clamor rises in the crowd as rapid staccato flashes bathe the room in bright light.

The devil himself strides in, a model on each arm. He lifts their hands in the air, and the ladies spin as the press gathers around them. Then he kisses their cheeks.

I can’t stop the sharp hiss from escaping my lips, and Lana looks at me.

I turn away, not wanting her pity.

I know this is bound to happen—the playboy prince will resume his normal life because I’m not his forever, despite what he says, despite that fresh tattoo he claimed he got for me.

But these actions, him flirting, holding, kissing other women, speak louder than his pretty words and that beautiful tattoo.

I just didn’t expect to see the fallout before the cruise is over.

His words from the note appear in my mind.Don’t believe what I see. Trust him.

Is this what he meant? But how can he ask me to trust him when he doesn’t trust me with whatever he’s planning? And he hasn’t really promised me anything beyond this trip.

His temporary forever. Maybe we’ve come to an end.

I take a deep breath, the raw pain radiating from my heart, the organ pulverized from a mere moment.

“I’m going to kill him,” Lana seethes. She takes a step toward her man whore of a brother.

I grab her arm to stop her. “Don’t make a scene. This is your family’s cruise. The press is here. And i-it’s not like we were anything to e-each other. Just a vacation…fling.”

The last word tastes bitter on my tongue. I drag my gaze away from the happy trio, trying to stop my eyes from tearing up.

Because it isn’t worth it to cry over this maddening man.

Because any man lucky enough to have me will know my worth and treat me well.

Because a true spotlight isn’t only for a moment, but should be enduring.

“Always the beautiful ladies around you, Mr. Anderson,” someone hollers, and the crowd laughs.

“I never disappoint. Then again, with a face and body like mine, can we expect less? It’d be a shame not to share it with the world.”

More guffaws and flashes, the crowd growing larger, clearly drawn to him like kids to an ice cream truck.

“What about your doctor friend, Rex? She’s looking awfully lonely over there.”