The "thrill" of the cliffside had stayed with Elara for a week, humming under her skin like a low-voltage current. It made the walls of her gallery feel smaller, the quiet routine of her life feel like a cage. Julian had a way of making the ordinary feel like a slow death.
When he texted her to meet him at The Velvet Room, a lounge where the lighting was low and the drinks cost more than her monthly car payment, she didn't hesitate. She wore a dress she couldn't afford and a smile she had practiced in the mirror.
She found him at a corner booth, surrounded by three men she didn't recognize. They looked like him—expensive, polished, and bored.
"There she is," Julian announced, his arm sliding around her waist the moment she arrived. He didn't stand up to greet her. He pulled her down beside him, staking his claim. "The girl who saved my sister's wedding from the brink of extinction. My very own saint."
The men laughed. It wasn't a kind sound.
"A saint, Julian?" one of them asked, swirling a dark liquid in his glass. "I thought you preferred the sinners. They're usually much more entertaining."
"Elara is the best of both," Julian said, his fingers tapping a rhythmic beat on her hip. "She has the patience of a martyr and the eyes of a girl who's waiting for the world to end."
Elara felt a flush creep up her neck. She wasn't used to being discussed like a trophy or a character in a play. "I'm just a girl who likes to finish what she starts," she said, trying to regain her footing.
"See?" Julian chuckled, turning his attention back to his friends. He began telling a story about a high-stakes poker game, completely excluding Elara from the conversation.
For the next hour, Elara sat as a decorative shadow. She watched Julian. He was the life of the table, his laughter loud and infectious. But as the night wore on, she noticed the way his eyes darted to the door every time it opened. She noticed the way he downed his third drink in twenty minutes.
Then, the check arrived.
The waiter set the leather folder on the table. Julian's friends didn't move. Julian reached into his pocket, his brow furrowing in a theatrical display of confusion.
"Damn," he muttered, patting his chest. "I must have left my wallet in the car. Elara, darling, do you mind? I'll pay you back the second we get outside."
It was fifteen hundred dollars.
Elara felt the table go quiet. His friends were watching her with a cruel, expectant curiosity. They wanted to see if the "Anchor" would hold. She looked at Julian—his face was a mask of perfect, boyish embarrassment. But his eyes? They weren't embarrassed. They were daring her.
He was testing the weight of the hill.
"Of course," Elara said, her voice steady even as her heart hammered against her ribs. She pulled her credit card from her purse and handed it to the waiter.
"That's my girl," Julian whispered, leaning in to kiss her temple. His breath smelled of expensive bourbon and something cold. "Always seeing it through."
Later, as they walked toward his car, the cool night air felt like a slap. Julian was humming, seemingly having forgotten the fifteen hundred dollars entirely. As he shrugged off his blazer to toss it into the backseat, a small slip of paper fluttered out of the pocket and landed at Elara's feet.
She picked it up.
It wasn't a receipt for the dinner. It was a jeweler's invoice dated yesterday. Diamond pavé earrings. Three thousand dollars.
Elara felt a cold chill wash over her. He had three thousand dollars for diamonds yesterday, but no wallet for dinner tonight? And more importantly—she wasn't wearing any new earrings.
"You coming, Elara?" Julian called from the driver's seat, the engine idling with a growl.
She looked at the paper, then at him. She could ask. She could demand to know who the diamonds were for. She could walk away right now, fifteen hundred dollars poorer but with her dignity intact.
Instead, she crumpled the receipt in her palm and shoved it into her own pocket.
"Coming," she said, stepping into the car.
She wasn't blind. She saw the lie. She saw the game. But as the car sped away into the dark, she realized she wasn't ready to let go of the thrill. Not yet. She would take her pride and she would stand here. She would be the one who stayed until the truth was impossible to ignore.