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“Hey yourself,” Natalia greets, eyeing me up and down. “You look fire in that dress.”

“Thanks,” I mutter, glancing down at my semi-see-through gown. It hugs my curves just the way I know he used to like.

“I’m surprised you actually agreed to come tonight.” Alisa raises a brow. “You’ve turned us down the last few times. What changed?”

“Maybe I’m finally ready to move on.” I attempt to sound convincing.

It’s a half-truth. Maybe part of me wants to move on, but most of me still aches with the memory of him.

“Right,” Alisa giggles. “You say that, and then you’re staring at his photos when we’re out to dinner.”

“That wasonce,” I protest.

“Twice, actually.” Natalia smirks.

I shrug, forcing a nonchalant smile.

“What can I say? The heart wants what it wants,” I repeat the words Konstantin once said to me.

“Tell your heart to stop,” Natalia fires. “He doesn’t want you back.”

Her words hit like a punch to the gut, but there’s no denying the truth in them. He doesn’t. And I wish to God I could just forget him. But it’s proven impossible.

“Leave her alone,” Alisa says softly, glancing at me sympathetically.

Alisa’s been through it herself, dating someone recently who turned out to be a liar and a cheater. I don’t know if she’s ever truly moved on from that.

As for Natalia, she’s made of something stronger. She doesn’t crumble like the rest of us peasants. Sometimes I wish I could be more like her.

If she knew the real reason I was going to Rzvrt tonight, the real reason I put on this dress and stepped into this limo, she’d throw a fit.

I’m not going to have fun. I’m just hoping to see him again, even if it’s just one last time.

He’s probably with someone else by now. Someone classy and elegant. Someone who hasn’t wrecked his life the way my family destroyed his. But I have to know if he’s still going to the club. If he’s with someone else.

The thought is like a knife to my chest.

As the limo rolls up to a secluded mansion in the woods, an unsettling awareness washes over me. It’s like the air itself shifts—thicker, charged, electric.

I feel him. He’s here. I just know it.

The question now is, what am I going to do about it?

* * *

CILLIAN

Reading her texts has its advantages, the biggest being knowing her every move.

I haven’t stepped foot in this club since the last time I saw her here, but after seeing the messages with her cousin and knowing she’ll be here tonight, I couldn’t stay away.

Fionn knows why I agreed to come. He knows the game.

And do I care that she’ll see me here? No.

I want to know if she’ll do something with someone else. Because I’ll always be there to fuck it right up. I’m just a savage in a suit who can’t let go of the one woman who mattered.

“Are you just going to watch her all night, or are you going to say something?” Fionn smirks, taking a swig of his whiskey.