Page 143 of The Encore’s Crown

“How are you?” I ask, more carefully.

“I mean, fine. Beyond, you know, hating all men.”

She crosses her arms and leans back against the door. Her eyes narrow.

“How’s Radhika? Did she get home okay?”

I swallow.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, okay isn’t exactly how I’d describe it, but she’s Radhika. Even when—”

“That’s nice.”

I take one step toward her.

“No, Nat. Let me finish—”

“I don’t see why I should.” She pushes away from the door. “I told you on the phone that was your last chance. But here you are.”

Another step, then another. She stalks toward me with every word, fury carrying her across the marble until the space between us begins disappearing.

“And then, on top of it, you decided hurting me wasn’t enough. No, let’s add humiliation to the rejection. Let’s add going back to your ex within, what, a week? Yeah, let's add that to the bingo card.”

“Nat—”

“You know, the beautiful one. The successful one that everyone loves, who’s everything I wish I was.”

Her voice cracks at the edges.

“Did you pay the photographers at the Meridian? Because they did an awesome job.”

She gives me an exaggerated thumbs-up. The gesture would be funny if her eyes weren’t beginning to shine.

“Then, when it somehow can’t get any worse, my sister and Rafe invite me here because they think—”

She stops. Her hand drops. Natalia shakes her head.

“They think the reason I’ve been miserable is because I miss all this.”

She gestures toward the penthouse, the city beyond the windows, the kind of night built from money and access and people who never have to stand in line.

“The rich life. The spectacle and parties. They think I came home and got depressed because normal life wasn’t shiny enough anymore.”

Her laugh is brittle.

“They don’t know that I just miss—”

She cuts herself off again. By now, we’re barely a step apart. I’ve moved toward her without realizing it. So has she.

“You just miss what?” I ask, even though I already know. I’ve never wanted to hear an answer more in my life.

Her eyes lift to mine. The anger in them is still there, but it’s breaking apart under everything else.

“I just miss a palant (idiot), that I shouldn't miss at all.”

The words hit me square in the chest.

“But then tonight,” she continues, voice rising again, “he decides to punch someone who, according to Rafe, is more powerful than God at your label, just to protect me. And now that idiot is standing in front of me, so what the fuck am I supposed to think, Kiri?” Her breath shakes.