She Didn’t Fix Her Reputation. She Threw It Away. Chapter 24

She Didn’t Fix Her Reputation. She Threw It Away. Chapter 24

“Beckett Blake.” I said his full name, my voice low and sharp. “Let’s get one thing straight. You are the one who should be begging for forgiveness.”

“I did apologize!” he said, his voice rising. “I sent you over a hundred messages! I had Cartier deliver that necklace you wanted! What more do you want from me?”

He would never understand.

Looking at him now, I felt nothing but a sense of profound, surreal distance.

The things I wanted were not things that could be bought.

I wanted respect.

I wanted loyalty.

I wanted a partner, not an executioner.

“I don’t want anything,” I said. “I just want you out of my life. For good.”

With that, I turned to go back inside the café.

Back to my clean, bright, new world.

He grabbed my wrist, his grip surprisingly strong.

“Daphne, don’t take this too far!”

The veins in his eyes stood out, red and angry. He looked like a cornered animal.

“It was a PR crisis! A few stupid photos! Did you really have to burn our entire lives down over that?”

That same tone.

That same casual dismissal of the pain he’d caused.

I wrenched my arm from his grasp.

He stumbled back a step.

“Yes,” I said, and for the first time, I smiled at him. It was a cold, sharp thing. “It was just a joke. Just a PR crisis.”

I took a step closer, lowering my voice so only he could hear.

“So my disappearing is just a joke, too.”

“Don’t take it so seriously.”

Then I turned, walked back into the café, and let the door swing shut behind me.

I left him, and the entire world he represented, on the other side of the glass.

Zoe looked up, her eyes wide.

“Oh my God, Claire, are you okay? Who was that? He looked like a psycho.”

I sat back down, picked up my now-lukewarm latte, and took a sip.

“I’m fine,” I said, and I smiled at her. “Just someone I used to know.”