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"Excuse me?"

"The woman Acheron's secretly dating."

Oh.

Pippi quickly got rid of any expression on her face. "I'm afraid you're quite mistaken."

But this only had the other woman smirking. "You can't fool me, hon, and while the thought of dear beautiful Acheron belonging to someone else makes me jealous as hell..." Her shoulders moved in a philosophical shrug. "Better you than some undeserving bitch, and after today, I can certainly see why he'd fall for you."

"I'm really not what you think I am," Pippi asserted doggedly.

"How very reliably tactful of you," Millie commented with genuine admiration. "In any case, thank you for being my knight in a blue dress, and I do hope you'll remember to invite me to your wedding."

"I'm afraid you're quite mistaken, Ms. Longbourn. I'm truly no one to Mr. Simonides." Or at least she used to be someone to him. But things had changed.

This time, Millicent didn't miss the way Pippi's lips trembled, and her lips pursed in a mixture of surprise and regret.Oh, Acheron. What have you done?

****

PIPPI'S DECISION TOcome to Millicent Longbourn's defense had once again turned her into a hot topic among the employees of Simonides, Inc. and the news eventually found its way to the dining room at Acheron's penthouse, where the billionaire was having lunch with Wickham and Amelia.

"Do you see now," Amelia murmured sadly. "People who love us only end up getting hurt—-"

"Ms. Jones came to someone else's rescue," Wickham couldn't help pointing out irritably. "How does that constitute her being hurt?"

"Because there's always a fallout when things like this happen," Amelia answered complacently. Turning to Acheron, she said softly, "It's the truth. You know it is. Don't you?"

The billionaire didn't answer, but Amelia was unperturbed. The way Acheron's face had hardened was enough to tell Amelia her words had hit its mark.

Back in his hotel, Acheron lay on his back, staring unseeingly in the dark.

People who love us only end up getting hurt.

And even though a part of him didn't want to fucking acknowledge it, he knew that Amelia's words had been the truth. It wasn't in Pippi's nature to interfere in such a way - his little blusher was usually a lot subtler than that - but whatever her reason was, he was damn certain it had something to do with him.

And because of him, she was going to get hurt.

Because he had liked playing fast and loose, Pippi was going to get hurt.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually.

It was only a matter of time - unless he took matters into his own hands and cut her out of his life for good.

The thought of putting a permanent end between them made him feel sick. He didn't want to lose her. He wasn't ready to be free of her. And yet - weren't his actions in the past few weeks already tantamount to breaking up with her?

He had stopped sleeping at her place, stopped calling or talking to her. He had, in not so many words, made it clear that they were over -

And that was how it should be, Acheron told himself savagely.

It was better this way. Having him hurt her would be nothing compared to how the others could and would attack her - and he had a feeling it would be even worse than what Millicent had suffered.

If he really wanted what was best for her, he should simply make a quick, clean break of it.

He should simply tell her it was over.

It was the only thing to do.

And yet—-