Beneath the Glitter
I blinked, my breath catching in my throat. The ache of Liam’s words was still heavy in my chest, but something behind him caught my eye.
Parked just across the street… his car.
Not empty.
The door on the driver’s side opened with a hiss and a thud, and out stepped Malcolm Voss. Tall, imposing, with the tightly wound energy of a man who’d run through too many scenarios in his head and still chose the one with violence.
He didn’t slam the door.
He didn’t raise his voice.
But the second he stepped into the dim spill of light between the buildings, the atmosphere shifted.
Like a storm had been watching us from the edge of the street and finally decided to make landfall.
“Liam,” Malcolm called, voice low but commanding.
Liam turned. His entire frame tightened as if he’d been caught doing something he already knew was wrong.
“Don’t,” Malcolm said. “Not here. Not like this.”
Adrian moved then… subtle, controlled… placing himself slightly in front of me. Just enough to be felt. Not enough to start something. Yet.
Malcolm’s eyes narrowed, shifting between Adrian and Liam with practiced calculation.
“You really want to run this back?” Malcolm asked, stepping closer, his tone now cold steel. “After what happened last night? You want to keep bleeding in front of the girl like that’s gonna fix something?”
“She’s not just ‘the girl,’” Liam shot back. “She’s Cici. And I’m not bleeding. I’m telling her the truth.”
Malcolm’s jaw clenched. “No, you’re unraveling. There’s a difference.”
Adrian didn’t flinch. But his voice came low, even, lethal. “If this is some kind of intervention, do it elsewhere. She’s not a bargaining chip for your redemption arc.”
“I’m not here for you,” Malcolm snapped, eyes locking onto Adrian now. “But you might want to reconsider hiding behind her every time someone calls you out.”
Adrian stepped forward… half a pace, maybe less. “And you might want to learn when to walk away.”
“I did,” Malcolm said, voice curdling with disdain. “But then I saw Liam ready to set himself on fire for a woman who’s already halfway out the door. So here I am again. Cleaning up the ash.”
“Stop it!” I shouted.
The word rang louder than I meant, sharper than I expected. All three men froze. My chest was heaving now, the night air stinging every inch of exposed skin, my fingers clenched so tight I could feel the nail marks in my palms.
“Malcolm, go,” I said, teeth clenched. “You said what you came to say. Go.”
His face tensed for a beat longer. Then, finally, he exhaled sharply and muttered, “This is madness.”
He turned toward his car, voice trailing as he added, “You want me to stick around for the fallout, you know where to find me. But I’m done with this circus.”
The car door slammed harder this time. Tires rolled. The tail lights bled into the shadows as Malcolm peeled away down the street, not looking back once.
A long, tense silence followed.
I could hear Adrian’s breath beside me. Controlled. Still. A man fighting not to break.
Liam, however, looked wrecked.
Like Malcolm’s exit had torn open the last part of him that was still holding it together.
“I didn’t want you to do that!” I fired back suddenly, the rage rising again like a tide breaking through a dam. “I didn’t ask for you to sacrifice yourself on some altar of pageant diplomacy. That was your decision, Liam… not mine!”
He shook his head, stepping forward too. “You didn’t have to ask. You’ve been drifting for weeks, Cici. Looking at me like I was someone you’d already outgrown. And when I saw you last night… when I saw you with him… I knew I’d already lost.”
I swallowed hard. His words felt like cuts along my ribs. Precise. Deep.
“Yet you proved your weakness,” I whispered, my voice lower now, sharper. “You left. You vanished. Without warning. Without even a word to me.”
“I didn’t leave because I was weak,” he snapped. “I left because I thought… maybe if I let you breathe, you’d remember what we were. Who we were.”
I stared at him, chest heaving. “And all you did was make my decision for me.”
Silence fell between us. Not peaceful silence… but the kind that trembled with what hadn’t been said. What couldn’t be unsaid.
“I needed you to fight for me,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “Not disappear. Not surrender to her. I needed you… not your performance.”
Liam’s eyes flickered, softer now, but filled with devastation. “And I needed a sign that I wasn’t already too late.”
I didn’t know who moved first… maybe it was both of us. But the space between us suddenly felt like an ocean. One neither of us could swim across anymore.
And somewhere behind me, I felt Adrian watching.
Silent.
Waiting.
My decision had been made. But the aftermath was only just beginning.
I blinked, my breath catching in my throat. The ache of Liam’s words was still heavy in my chest, but something behind him caught my eye.
Parked just across the street… his car.
Not empty.
Inside… half-visible through the tinted windows… I could see movement. A flash of glossy hair. A swipe of red lipstick stretched into a smile. Laughter… sharp, high-pitched, familiar in the worst way.
And then I recognized them.
Savannah King.
Tiana Gray.
Jada Liu.
Miss New York, Miss Atlanta, Miss California. Three of the most poised and public darlings of last night’s pageant.
All Rivals.
All polished to perfection.
All smiling a little too hard when they came backstage after the crown was placed on my head. Their praise had come in perfectly clipped soundbites… “So proud of you,” “You earned it,” “Your speech gave me chills”… but their eyes had told a different story. Cold. Calculating. Curious.
And now… here they were.
Savannah sat in the front seat… leaned back like she belonged there. Her manicured hand draped lazily over the dashboard, fingers just inches from the steering wheel. The others lounged behind her, legs crossed, laughing like they hadn’t just watched my life implode on live television hours ago.
It didn’t feel like coincidence.
It felt like choreography.
I took a slow step to the side, angling myself to get a clearer view. Liam didn’t block it. Didn’t move.
Didn’t explain.
My voice came out soft… almost gentle. Too gentle. “Which one’s yours?”
He blinked. “What?”
I took another step closer, the ache in my chest turning sharp. “Between Savannah, Tiana, and Jada… which one is yours, Liam?”
His mouth parted, but no sound came out. And in that silence, something inside me went still.
Not shattered…no, not anymore.
Hardened.