The Forbidden Throb (Emma and Daniel) novel Chapter 175

Chapter 175

Nicholas’s POV:

3 Y

Her voice carrying that same maddening gentleness-like she was talking to a stranger who’d asked for directions. Indifferent. Distant.

anger. No tears. No defensiveness.

st… nothing.

I felt something hot and sharp twist in my chest.

“What, you’re not even going to defend yourself?” The words came out harsher than I’d intended, edged with something that felt uncomfortably close to desperation. “Not going to explain where that ring came from? Who bought it for you?”

Emma’s blue-green eyes like looking into shallow Caribbean water-held mine for a long moment. Then she took a slow breath, and I watched her shoulders settle, watched her spine straighten just a fraction more.

“I don’t owe you an explanation

The calm finality in those

e a slap.

I took a step closer

changed in

“I do

faint scent of her perfume. More expensive. Sophisticated. Another reminder of how much had

as the most obvious thing in the world. “We broke up, Nicholas. What I do, who I see, what I wear-none

ow diamond on her finger as she shifted her weight, sending fractured rainbows.

eone with serious money. Old money, probably.

to find Emma watching me, and something in her expression made my throat tight.

on came out rougher than I’d meant it to. “Your… whatever he is.”

my name like a sigh, like she was tired. “You should leave. Really. Before-

I cut her off, taking another step for

Imost immediately, somethin

She though

and gets jealous?”

who couldn’t take a hint, who couldn’t accept that she’d moved

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Chapter 175

The rage that had been simmering in my gut suddenly boiled over, hat and acidic and desperate

“No,” I said flatly. I’m not leaving. Not until I meet him.”

alt

“I want to look this guy in the eye and understand what he has that I don’t. What makes him so fucking special:

I pulled out the chair at her table, the one with a man’s cashmere coat draped over the back Loro Piana, I noticed with a spike of jealers recognition-and

“Because I’m not going anywhere until I get some answers.”

Emma

g moment, and when she opened them again, there was something in her expression 1d never seen before.

Emma asked, and there was genuine curiosity in her voice now, like she honestly couldn’t imagine what I thought re going to fight him? Threaten him? Try to convince him I’m not worth the trouble?

actually worth showing off,” I said, and even I could hear the ugly edge in my voice. ‘I want to stand next to him and let If who comes out looking better.”

sion shifted to something wary. “Nicholas, don’t be ridiculous-”

?” I let out a sharp laugh. “You want to talk about victim when we both know-

t’s talk about how you’re standing there acting like some

what?” Her voice was quiet, but there was st

you were probably already fucking hin

sy and wounded pride churning meal ticket?”

ected her to flinch. T

d, Emma la

The words came out harsh and raw, fueled by the toxic mix of

so eager to break up, right? Because you’d already found your upgrade?

g that proved I’d landed a hit.

that sounded almost… bewildered. Like she’d just witnessed something so absurd she

seen before. Like she was seeing me clearly for the first time and couldn’t quite believe what she

1. “You really think that’s what happened.”

wn, to insist I was right, but something in her eyes stopped me. Made the words die in my throat.

her too. Really seeing her.

ty-I’d never denied that.

my roommate

9:22 am P p pp

Chapter 175

But I’d also spent two years noticing everything that was wrong with her. The way h** *

nervous at the country club, unsure which fork to use. The way she’d blush and tumble over hung o

drop references she didn’t understand.

Id loved her, in my way. But I’d also been… embarrassed by her. Just a little, bust enough that id vet her pres life.

Introduced her as my “friend” to people I wanted to impress. Made excuses when she couldn’t quite keep up

houses in the Hamptons or skiing in Gstaad.

The only thing she’d really had going for her, I’d told myself, was her face.

But now, standing here looking at her-at the way she held herself with quiet confidence, at the light in her eyes that had

at the way she seemed to glow from the inside out-I realized something that made my chest tight.

She’d been beautiful with me.

But now she was radiant.

Like a flower that had been kept in a too-small pot, roots bound and growth stunted, finally transplanted into rich soil with room to spread and sunlight to drink in.

And I had been the pot.

The realization hit me like a physical blow, and for a moment I couldn’t breathe.

“Nicholas,” Emma said, and her voice was gentle now. Almost kind. “I’m going to say this once, and I need you to really hear me.”

I stared at her, unable to form words.

“The person who cheated in our relationship,” she said clearly, “was you. Not me. You. And the fact that you’re standing here trying to rewrite history to make yourself feel better about that? It’s sad. It’s really, really sad.*

Each word landed with devastating precision, and I felt my face burn with shame and rage and something else I couldn’t quite name.

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The Forbidden Throb