Chapter 101

I smirked, cutting Jace off. “Don’t tell me you mistook her for me.”

His mouth hung open as he stared.

But I didn’t let him off easily. “Let’s be real—how many times have you actually kissed me?”

His expression turned stormy. We’d been together for over three years. We held hands and hugged, but passionate kissing was almost nonexistent. And when it did happen, it was chaste—a kiss on the hand, cheek, or forehead. If our lips ever touched, it was a quick peck.

My words hit him hard. Frustration boiled over. He let go, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I was an idiot. I got caught up in the moment and kissed her. But it didn’t mean anything.”

“Oh, so it only counts if you sleep with her?” I retorted sarcastically.

Jace was losing it. “Is that what you think of me? If I was that kind of guy, don’t you think I would’ve slept with you long ago? Do you really think we’d be like this now if I had?”

I paused, then laughed. So, he was saying that if we’d slept together, I’d have let him off the hook? What kind of backward thinking was that? Did he really believe we were stuck in some outdated world where a girl’s worth depended on one man?

I bypassed that nonsense. I hit him where it hurt. “But you weren’t into me, were you? That’s why we never slept together.”

His words, once deeply cutting, were now my sharpest weapon.

Jace’s pupils contracted. “Rea, is this really something we can’t move past?”

“We already have,” I reminded him. “We broke up. You’re the one clinging to the past.”

“Broke up?” Jace sneered. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to. You broke up with me so you could run off to that lighting guy. You’ve been involved with him for a while now. You were living together in Chiverton, weren’t you?”

I wasn’t surprised he knew about Chiverton—his mother had mentioned it. But I didn’t expect him to twist it into Hayden and I having a long-term relationship.

“Believe what you want,” I said coolly. “But I met him after we broke up—unlike you, who made a move on your close friend Desmond’s wife while he was still alive.” I wasn’t letting his accusations go unchecked.

Bringing up his affair with Tanya hit a nerve. Whether it was guilt or something else, it rattled him.

“So now you’re defending him, keeping him around because you want to mix business with pleasure, right?”

Jace had a real talent for twisting things.

“Think whatever helps you sleep at night,” I replied, not bothering to deny it.

Jace’s face turned a sickly green. “I can make him disappear from the industry right now. You know that, right?”

“Mm-hmm, I believe you,” I said, locking eyes with him. “But if he goes, I go. If he disappears, I’m disappearing with him.”

“You…” Jace pointed at me.

“Jace, you’re the one who played the betrayal card. You claimed you’d had enough because we knew each other too well. Now that I’m giving you exactly what you wanted, you still pester me. Don’t you think that’s beneath you?” I was done protecting his ego.

“Pester me? I’m trying to stop you from making a huge mistake. You have no idea how twisted men can be,” Jace said, yanking at his collar.

“I don’t need to imagine it. You’ve already shown me,” I shot back, stopping him. His eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t believe I saw him for who he was. I cut through the tension. “Let me make this clear: as long as Hayden Hart’s here, so am I. If you so much as try to harm him, I’ll follow him.”

With that, I turned and walked away, not looking back as Jace’s hand dropped in defeat. I didn’t see the look in his eyes—the one that said he’d just lost everything.

Chapter 102