“Her big blond bastard of a boyfriend!” His breath smelled like whiskey.

“Are you drunk?” I asked, taking a step closer to Ezra. Humphrey moved towards the pair of us, too, until there were three of us united against this lunatic.

“I want to know what the fuck he did to me?” Chad rasped, rubbing at his arms.

Ezra looked at me as if I’d have the answers. And an inkling dawned on me, my stomach knotting.

“He’s out of town on business. You can’t talk to him.” I couldn’t keep a tremor out of my voice any longer. If my suspicions were correct …

“I want him to undo it! I don’t want his fucking money, not if … not if I’m gonna feel like this forever!”

“What did he do?” Ezra asked the question I simply couldn’t. Because I knew. I knew what he’d done, and …

… and I wasn’t even sorry. Not one bit.

“I … he said he wanted to buy my collection. That he had a gallery where it would get seen.” Chad’s eyes darted around the room as if he was expecting SJ to just appear out of thin air, like a jump scare. “He offered me a shit-tonne of money—I would have been an idiot to refuse! I couldn’t … it seemed too good to be true. And then he … he told me that there would be a way I could repay him for the favour … and I’d know when that time came.”

Chad scratched up and down his arms, leaving red tracks. “But I can’t … he shook my hand, and since then, I’ve felt … wrong!” Chad surged towards me, but Ezra’s hand shot out, stopping him from getting any closer.

“I know the arsehole did something to me, and I want him to make it stop!”

Ezra reached out and took my hand, squeezing it. I squeezed back.

“Jemma’s already told you, he’s out of town on business. You have no right to come barging in here, abusing her because of some beef you have with her boyfriend. Not after what you did to her.”

Chad’s expression went still. “What the fuck did I ever do to her?” he demanded. I had to give it to him, he sounded convincingly self-righteous. “We dated, and it didn’t work out, that’s no reason to treat me like⁠—”

“That’s enough!” I snapped, gripping Ezra’s hand so tightly that he hissed. “I am done letting you gaslight me, Chad!”

He blanched. “I never⁠—”

“Yes you did. And you still are. I don’t know … maybe you’ve even started to believe your own twisted version of things, but you are not welcome in my home, or my life. So get out.”

Chad’s eyes widened—he definitely hadn’t expected me to stand up for myself—and puffed out his chest.