The Burnt Heart (Toxic Hearts Book 1)

by Mae Pierce

Breaking my heart was clearly cutting into the time they needed to get their new project started.

“You know, you’re not the girl we fell in love with.” He waved a hand up and down, raising his eyebrows. A chill ran through me, and I jerked upright, as if electrocuted. I heard his words, but I didn’t believe them. He was staring at my body with a cruel tilt to his lips.

“What? No, princess, you’re perf—” Jesse hastened to say, making a shushing gesture at Logan. “Yes,” Logan interrupted, despite Jesse’s widening eyes, “You’ve let yourself go, and we deserve better.”

“Don’t call me that. I’m not your princess. I’m your fat girlfriend who you’re tired of sharing, right?”

There was a reason Adelaide was the queen of the Greenich Bay underworld. She forgot no transgression. She hadn’t cried because she wasn’t mourning, she was plotting how to destroy us. I would let her crush me beneath her boot, beg her for it even. But I wouldn’t let her go.

I knew my worth. Just as I knew what I had to do. Ensure these men knew they were dead to me. My heart shriveled in my chest, poisoned by deceit.

“These men are not to get close to me. They are a threat to my life. Understood?”

“Last month was our anniversary. We were supposed to celebrate at Reds. Do you remember what happened?”