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“You know, I’ve seen a lot of women wear expensive clothes.”

I stared at him. “Congratulations.”

He adjusted his jacket while walking toward the door.

“But somehow, you make them look like something I want to rip off you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Please go find something to do.”

“I got plenty to do, ma belle.”

He gave me one more cocky look before following Zay into the hallway.

Once the door closed, I looked around at the racks of clothes, expensive shoes, and jewelry that came with the new life everybody had decided I needed.

Tomorrow my parents would be sitting at Ares’ table pretending we were still some kind of family.

Knowing Zay, dinner was probably the least dangerous thing on the menu.

CHAPTER 21

Emily Fontaine

I Wasn’t Supposed To Be At That Table

I’ve loved Zay since we were kids, back when he was the quiet boy who sat in the back of our history class with headphones around his neck and an expression that told everybody he was already tired of the world.

Most people never understood him, but I did. Zay didn’t talk much, and when he did, he meant whatever came out of his mouth. When he looked at you, you knew whether he was being real with you.

That was why I stayed.

High school turned into college, college turned into real life, and somehow we never stopped choosing each other. Life got messy more than once, and my health made things harder than either of us expected, but he never made me feel like loving me became too much work.

Sometimes my mind still played tricks on me. Anxiety would creep in on the nights when my body felt heavier than my thoughts, and I would convince myself that a man like Zay could easily find somebody without all the shit that came with me.

He never gave me a reason to believe that.

Not once.

Zay didn’t cheat, and he didn’t flirt with other women when I wasn’t looking. For a long time, I thought that had to be some serious discipline, especially when his best friend was Ares and that nigga treated girlfriends like a collection.

When Zay told me he loved me, I believed him.

A lot of men wouldn’t stay with a woman whose disability could change what she was able to do from one day to the next, but Zay never made me question whether he would.

That was why the feeling sitting in my chest tonight didn’t make any sense.

Monaco felt like another planet compared to our life in California. The Delacroix estate looked like something I had only seen in movies, with marble floors, tall windows, and staff who moved through the halls without making much noise.

It was beautiful, but something about tonight felt wrong.

I felt it the minute we entered the dining room.

The table looked as if somebody had prepared it for royalty. Crystal glasses and polished silverware covered it while candles burned down the center.

Azaria sat beside Ares in a Chanel cashmere sweater and leggings. She was trying to look relaxed, but I could tell she wasn’t.

Zay sat beside me, quieter than usual, which told me something serious was coming.