Page 31 of Saint Céline

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I went rigid.

Vincent smiled.

“Relax. Chad is exhausted.”

The fury that moved through me then was so clean it almost felt good.

“His name isThad.”

“I know.”

“Then say it.”

“No.”

I stared at him, breathing hard through my nose.

He straightened.

For a moment, the man everyone loved at Bellamont was gone completely. No warm professor. No charming smile. No soft voice that made crying students feel seen.

“You think he is safe,” Vincent said. “He is not. He is in a room with expensive furniture and weak locks.”

My skin prickled.

“You broke into his apartment to prove a point?”

“No.”

“Then why are you here?”

His gaze held mine.

“To see if you would still pretend.”

I swallowed.

The words struck somewhere I did not want him to reach. Pretend that Thad loved me properly. Pretend that I wanted thislife because it made me happy. Pretend that lying beside a rich man in clean sheets felt different from lying inside any other kind of bargain.

“I’m not pretending,” I said.

Vincent looked at me for a long moment.

Then his eyes softened.

“Selena,” he said, almost gently. “You are always pretending.”

The room seemed to tilt around me. Behind him, rain slid down the window in silver lines. Beyond it, the marina lights blurred and trembled in the dark.

I hated him. I hated that he had come here. I hated that he was right.

Vincent stepped back.

“Sleep,” he said.

A laugh broke from me, quiet and breathless. “Are you insane?”

“You asked me that yesterday.”

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