Games 028

Games 028
Hartley POV

The words hit harder than I expected, clean and sharp like glass. For a second, I forgot how to breathe. The gallery lights blurred behind him, and I hated that even now, after everything, his voice could still undo me.

I gave a quiet laugh, the kind that tried to sound careless. “You always were dramatic.”

Knox tilted his head, eyes glinting with that same mixture of warmth and danger he had always carried. “You call it dramatic? Funny how I call it being honest.”

He took another step closer. I could feel the heat coming off him, the faint scent of his cologne wrapping around me like a ghost. It wasn’t fair. He had no right to still smell this good, look this calm, when I felt like my chest was caving in.

“I didn’t come here to fight,” I said finally. “You’re doing fine. I just wanted to see your paintings and everything here, that’s all.”

His smile deepened, just barely. “You came here to see my paintings? Or see me? Or how about saying you came here to make sure I still remember you?”

I stiffened. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Too late,” he murmured. “You were always unforgettable.”

Something in me snapped or maybe it was just the last bit of control I had been pretending to have. “You don’t get to say that,” I said with a low voice. “You don’t get to act like you didn’t walk away too.”

Knox’s gaze darkened. “I didn’t walk away, Hartley. You pushed me.”

The truth in his tone burned. I clenched my jaw, glancing around as if the crowd could somehow shield me. But people were just laughing, sipping champagne, oblivious to the storm cracking open between us.

“I had to,” I said. “Back then, it wasn’t—”

“Convenient?” he cut in. “Acceptable? Safe?”

I exhaled, eyes darting away. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“I understood perfectly,” Knox said. “I just didn’t want to live a lie.”

I turned to face him again. “And I didn’t want to lose everything I had worked for.”

He nodded slowly, his expression unreadable. “So you lost me instead.”

My throat went dry. I wanted to speak, to defend myself, but what was the point? He wasn’t wrong.

The music in the gallery shifted to a low, somber piano piece that filled the silence between us. He looked at me for a long moment, then said softly, “You still have that look, you know.”

“What look?” I asked, though I already knew.

“The one that says you’re pretending not to feel anything.”

I wanted to say something smart, something to end this but instead, all I managed was a quiet, “You should stop looking, then.”

Knox’s eyes softened. “If I could, I would’ve years ago.”

That hit too close. I swallowed hard, turning slightly, pretending to admire a painting just so I wouldn’t have to meet his gaze.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a familiar figure entering the hall. Maddox.

Of course, he was going to come.

He moved through the crowd like he owned it, he was dressed in a sharp suit, his expression was unreadable, and Camille, his secretary at his diamond company was right behind him. His gaze swept across the room and landed on me, then Knox.

His jaw tightened.

Great. Just what I needed.

Knox noticed too, following my gaze. His smile returned, but this time it was sharper. “Well, well. The famous Maddox Ren. Still keeping interesting company, I see.”

“Maddox isn’t—” I started, but Knox raised a hand.

“Relax, I’m not judging. I just remember how he used to glare at me every time I got too close to you, I might think he likes you.”

Maddox was approaching now, slow and deliberate. People stepped aside for him, like the air itself obeyed.

Knox leaned close, his voice barely above a whisper. “Guess we’re about to see how much you’ve really changed, Hart.”

I turned toward him sharply, ready to say something but then Maddox’s voice cut through the hum of the gallery.

“Well, isn’t this cozy.”

The three of us stood there, me caught between past and present, guilt and pride, Knox’s calm stare and Maddox’s looking at Knox with warning.

And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t know which of them scared me more.

Knox smirked. “Evening, Maddox. You clean up well.”

Maddox’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “Can’t say the same for your taste in timing.”

Knox chuckled, unbothered. “Ouch, you are always so territorial.”

I could practically feel the tension tightening around us, thick enough to choke on.

“Maddox,” I said quietly, trying to keep my voice level. “This isn’t—”

He cut me off with a cold and sharp look. “Don’t say a word. Not here.”

I gave him an eye roll.

Knox watched him like a cat watches prey, that faint smile never leaving his face. “Seems like old tim
es, doesn’t it, Hartley?”

I inhaled slowly, forcing a calm I didn’t feel. “Not even close.”