Chapter 6

Conor' s face, for a brief, terrifying moment, was stripped bare. But then, as quickly as it appeared, the raw emotion vanished, replaced by an unsettling calm. He took a deep breath, his control snapping back into place. "Jacey, please," he said, his voice remarkably steady. "You're ill. That fall, it must have disoriented you. You're hallucinating."

His unwavering denial, his absolute conviction, made a cold doubt pierce through my rage. Had I imagined it? Had the blow to my head, the shock, twisted my perception? My world felt shaky, uncertain. Maybe, just maybe, I was wrong.

But then my hand brushed against my ear. My heart seized. The small, pearl earring Alina had given me, the one I never took off, was gone. I fumbled frantically, my fingers tracing the delicate curve of my earlobe. Nothing. It had to have fallen out when I was pushed, when I fell.

I remembered the music box, the constellations, Alina's signature style. Hillery's fraudulent claim. The memory of Conor's protective ferocity for Hillery earlier, the intimacy of their kiss, flashed in my mind. No. I wasn't wrong. He was just a master of deception, a virtuoso of lies. The earring was just a small, physical proof among a mountain of emotional evidence.

A profound weariness settled over me. There was no point arguing. No point fighting him. He would deny, he would deflect, he would gaslight. He had always been this way, controlled, unreadable, but now I understood the true, sinister nature of his composure. My questions, my accusations, would always bounce off his impenetrable wall of indifference.

"You're right, Conor," I said, my voice flat, hollow. "I'm unwell. Very unwell." I looked at him, truly looked at him, and for the first time, I felt nothing but a vast, empty space where my love for him used to be. The pain was still there, but it was distant, dulled by a chilling sense of acceptance.

A subtle easing of tension in his shoulders, a slight relaxation around his eyes. He must have thought he' d won. He must have thought I was finally falling back into line, accepting his narrative.

"I'm sorry about the music box, Jacey," he said, his voice surprisingly soft. "Hillery... she was feeling overwhelmed. She just wanted to impress Elsworth. She didn't mean any disrespect to Alina's memory." He offered a placating smile, a gesture of hollow comfort.

"She wouldn't have done it without your help," I stated, my voice devoid of emotion. "You gave her the details, didn't you? You told her about Alina. About Eclipse."

He didn't deny it. He just sighed. "She's fragile, Jacey. She needed my support. It was a lapse in judgment, perhaps, but it was for her own good." He paused, then reached into his jacket pocket. "Here. For your troubles." He pulled out a thick envelope, bulging with crisp hundred-dollar bills. "Consider it a gesture of goodwill. For the misunderstanding."

My eyes widened. Money. He was offering me money. To compensate for the theft of my sister's legacy, for the destruction of my marriage, for the shattering of my heart. He truly saw me as a commodity, a problem to be solved with a transaction. I was disgusted. I was enraged.

"So, that's it, then?" I asked, my voice dangerously soft. "You think you can just buy me off? Buy my silence? Buy Alina's memory?"

He frowned, a slight crease between his brows. "It's a generous offer, Jacey. You're not short on funds, I know, but it's a token of... my regret."

"My regret?" I laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. "You regret nothing, Conor. You regret only the inconvenience I'm causing you." I snatched the envelope from his hand, my fingers trembling with contained fury. Then, with a deliberate, slow movement, I tore it in half, then quarters, letting the shredded bills flutter to the floor like confetti.

Conor stared, his eyes widening in genuine surprise. It was the most animated expression I' d seen on his face all night. "Jacey! What are you doing? That's... that's thousands of dollars!"

"I don't need your blood money, Conor," I said, my voice rising, gaining strength. "I have my own money. My family's money. More than enough to leave you and your sordid little secrets behind." I turned my back on him. I wasn't just done talking. I was done existing in his orbit.

The next few days were a strange silence. I went about my routine, packing my belongings, making arrangements. Conor seemed to finally notice my withdrawal, the sudden absence of my incessant chatter. He looked at me with a new, puzzled expression. "Jacey, you've been very quiet lately. What's wrong?"

I didn't answer. My silence was a weapon now, a refusal to engage, a direct contrast to the endless words I had once poured into him. He mistook it for anger, a prolonged tantrum he still believed would eventually blow over. He was convinced I would come around, that my attachment to him was too strong to break.

"Jacey," he said one morning, finding me in the study, surrounded by boxes. "I've been thinking. Perhaps we could look into that art gallery project you mentioned. The one that was having funding issues. I could... invest." A flicker of something, guilt perhaps, in his eyes. He actually offered to support my passion. My passion, which he had dismissed so casually just weeks ago.

I looked at him, a bitter smile playing on my lips. "Too little, too late, Conor."

"Too late for what?" he asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. "For us? Jacey, this is just a phase. You're upset. We'll get through this." He truly believed it, in his arrogant, self-absorbed world. He thought my silence was just a negotiation tactic.

He came to me again later, his voice softer than usual. "Jacey, I've decided to pull out of the hostile takeover bid. The one I was so consumed by. It's too much, too draining. I realized... I need to prioritize what truly matters." He looked at me, a hopeful, almost vulnerable expression on his face. He was offering me his career, his ambition, as a sacrifice. The thing he valued above all else, next to Hillery.

My anger, simmering beneath the surface, finally boiled over. "And you think that will change anything, Conor?" I hissed, my voice trembling with controlled fury. "You think giving up a business deal will fix this? You think it will erase months of indifference, years of lies, a lifetime of being used? You think it will bring Alina back? It's not about the takeover, Conor! It's about you! It's about your silence, your deception, your twisted priorities!" My hands clenched into fists. "It's too late for any of your 'gestures.' This. Is. Over."