Chapter 23 #2
“Maggie,” Niko warns through clenched teeth, but she doesn’t flinch.
Her eyes spark with something dangerous—something that almost borders on delight.
Then he turns to me, and his expression softens.
“I wasn’t bored with you, Rose,” he says sweetly, the words sliding out like poison dressed as a half apology.
My mom scoffs from her chair, but the sound barely registers.
Maggie laughs mockingly. “Seriously, Niko? You’re still obsessed? How pathetic.” Her smirk deepens. “I’d say, after everything, that ship didn’t just sail—it sank.”
Niko shoots her a piercing glare.
But me? I’m searching for the friend I used to know, instead all I find is hatred.
It burns as if she’s been waiting years for this moment.
Every word, every glance is like a deep cut that won’t heal.
This isn’t my Maggie. That girl is gone.
This is someone darker and colder. Someone who’s enjoying watching me suffer and hurt.
And yes, I want to understand where this is coming from. But also, a part of me doesn’t.
Not anymore.
She continues to spew her venom. “All your perfect little smiles, your good-girl act. God, it made me sick.” She points to herself.
“It was time to take some things for myself. So I thought, why not start with him? But of course, he felt all bad and didn’t want to keep it going.
And once again, I lost. To you.” She breaks into an evil smile.
“But then he broke it off with you anyway, out of guilt, so I was happy.”
Niko’s still trained on me, waiting for me to respond.
I hear my mom’s words from earlier. You need to stay calm. Trust me when I say that you have to stay calm.
So I do. I keep my face impassable, refusing to act hurt or dejected from all this betrayal.
He drops to his knees as if he’s about to beg. Probably for understanding or, worse yet, forgiveness.
He won’t find either.
His shoulders sag as if the words themselves are too heavy. “It meant nothing, Rose. Nothing. It was harmless fun. She was throwing herself at me, and I’m a man! You understand, right? You’re my world, Rose. I love you.”
I’m stunned into silence as I stare, struggling to process what he just said. Those last three words come out as more of a plea than a declaration, as if saying them will change my mind.
They won’t.
“When did it start?” And why do I care? Niko and I aren’t a couple. At this point, I have no idea what I saw in him. I never thought he was capable of this.
He stands as Maggie encircles him with her arms, snuggling into his side, but he doesn’t return the affection. His arms hang limp. “Go ahead. Tell her.” She kisses his cheek.
He flinches away from her touch, eyes dropping to the floor. The movement is small, but it’s enough. The sting hits Maggie’s face before she has a chance to hide it. He won’t look at me, his muscles shifting as if he’s holding something back. Something he doesn’t want to admit.
“Yeah, Niko. Tell me. Please,” I mock. “I’m dying to know.”
Do I want to find out how both my ex-boyfriend and best friend betrayed me while held against my will by those same two people?
Of course not. However, he’s really uncomfortable right now. And I want him to feel every ounce of that unease.
But he doesn’t answer. His mouth opens, then shuts again.
Before he can find the words, Maggie cuts in.
A slow, knowing smile curves on her lips.
She’s savoring this. “I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist. No man could.
You wouldn’t understand,” she purrs, her tone silky and deliberate.
“You didn’t see how he wanted me when you weren’t around. ”
Her gaze sharpens, that smug smile hardening at the edges. I look to him, desperate for denial, but he turns away—guilt written on every line of his face.
“It started small and friendly,” she continues, “a few texts, a drink here and there. You were too busy chasing your perfect life to notice. And by the time you did, it was already too late.”
I want to vomit. “You’re right, Maggie. I don’t understand how you could betray me like that.”
“And I would do it all over again to see you looking the way you do right now.” Her smile borders on sinister. She shrugs while casually examining her nails. “Who knows? Maybe Cal will like what he sees once he meets me.”
His name on her tongue sends rage through every nerve in my body. “Do not even think about him. Don’t say his name!”
She tilts her head to the ceiling. “Oh, I’m thinking about him all right.” She giggles.
Oh, my God. She has lost her mind.
“Enough,” Niko snaps, running a hand through his wet hair.
“Maggie, stop. Your vendetta and this act aren’t helping right now, so would you just keep your head on straight.
And Rose is right. Don’t say his name. I can’t have her thinking about him!
” He says this like I’m not right here. Because, Niko, sir, Cal is all I’m thinking about right now.
As if he can read my thoughts, he shoots me a glare that screams annoyance. If looks could kill, I would be dead.
Maggie rolls her eyes, crosses her arms, and plops down on the bed like a child.
Niko continues. “Besides, the power outage ruined the feeds. They are unstable now, and the remote systems are down.” He points to the hotel room door.
“I have no clue what’s going on out there.
If we don’t get access soon—” His words stop on his tongue as he sits in front of one of the monitors, typing on a keyboard.
Niko is a total computer geek.
The whole time we were together, I knew he worked in IT.
He loved computers, anything tech-related really.
All of it was way too big for my brain, but I loved the nerd it brought out in him.
He would sit at his computer, working away, his glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, tongue jetting out in concentration.
He was impossibly cute and irresistible.
Now, the thought of being attracted to that is making me want to puke.
A few times, he would show me how he could breach certain companies’ servers. It was wrong of course, but I think he liked knowing he could. Being the supportive girlfriend I was, I would ooh and ahh at his skills. He loved the validation. It made him feel in control and important.
“You mean you can’t keep manipulating the hotel’s security,” I cut in, thinking back to when we watched the footage of him taking my mom.
How images of an empty garage would cut in periodically.
“You’ve been watching. Haven’t you? That’s why you showed up in the lobby.
You saw me walk in.” It all makes sense now.
“It was all you. The mix-up with cleaning my mom’s room.
The feed cutting out when you chased her—”
“—the fake security footage so no one would see me taking her, forcing the elevator to stop at the basement so I could confront you,” he continues.
“I have control of the whole system from here. It took a ridiculous amount of planning. Pretty impressive, huh?” he asks, almost as if he craves my praise.
I think he seriously wants to impress me. What a psycho.
“You could see everything.” I draw out the words because I’m far from impressed. I’m disgusted.
Niko’s jaw tightens, a muscle twitching as he slowly turns toward me, shaking with fury.
Gone is the man who was remorseful and saying he’s in love with me.
“Oh, I saw more than enough,” he growls.
“I saw him pin you up against that pillar in the garage. I saw every stare, every touch, every time he couldn’t keep his eyes or hands off you.
You think I didn’t notice the way he watches you?
” His words come faster, sharper. “But then the ball—seeing you with him in person—watching you hold him. You let him touch you!” He laughs, bitter and broken.
“How could you hold another man like that?”
My blood spikes. “Me? Are you kidding? We aren’t dating anymore, Niko,” I snap. “You slept with someone else! Maggie!”
His eyes flash. “I told you that was a mistake!”
Pure disgust twists tighter the more he talks. The thought of him watching me.
Watching us.
It makes my skin crawl. He’s been behind those cameras, taking in every stolen glance, every near touch between Cal and me.
Without warning, a thought sparks, and I grin. If the feeds went down, he didn’t see what happened in the elevator.
I lift my chin, meeting his glare head-on. “So you didn’t see us in the elevator?
He stiffens. “W … what do you mean?”
I smirk. “Hmm … that must have been when the feeds cut out. It’s too bad, really,” I say, steady, defiant. “You would’ve gotten a real show.”
He lunges toward me, fury radiating off him. His face twists as every ounce of restraint disappears. My words hit the mark, and now the possibilities spinning in his imagination are eating him alive. “You slut!” he shouts, trembling with rage. “You think this is funny?!”
He’s towering over me, breathing hard.
I force myself still. “If the truth hurts that much,” I say quietly, “maybe you should’ve thought about that before sleeping with my cousin.”
His jaw locks as his hands curl into fists. There’s a war raging deep inside him. Supposed hurt because of his love for me versus the horror of what he’s become.
He spits out his next words, low and venomous, meant to cut me. “I should have killed your mother in that garage when I had the chance.”
“Then do it,” Mom commands, trembling through the chaos. Fragile and fierce. She hasn’t uttered a word until now. “Kill me and let Rose go. Please.”
“Mom, no!” I plead, sharp and desperate. Pain sears through me, but I don’t have time to breathe before everything shifts.
Maggie turns, her face hardening like stone. “Rose isn’t going anywhere.”