Essex dragged Harmony through the heavy glass doors and out onto the private, open-air terrace.
He shoved her forward and immediately turned around, throwing the deadbolt on the glass door. The loud click sealed them outside.
The biting winter wind whipped across the balcony, instantly stripping away the warmth of the club. Harmony stumbled slightly but caught her balance. She violently wrenched her arm out of his grip, her fingers instinctively rubbing the red, throbbing marks he had left on her wrist.
Essex leaned his back against the iron railing. He pulled a silver case from his pocket, extracted a thick cigar, and lit it. He took a long drag, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke into the freezing air, desperately trying to reassert his dominance over the situation.
He looked at her through the gray haze, his eyes narrowing. He deployed his favorite weapon: gaslighting.
"Look at yourself," Essex sneered, his voice dripping with fake disappointment. "You are completely hysterical. This entire disappearing act is just a pathetic cry for my attention. It's exhausting, Harmony."
Harmony stood frozen in the center of the terrace. She stared at the man in front of her. The sharp angles of his face, the arrogant tilt of his chin, the smell of the burning tobacco.
Suddenly, her vision doubled.
The present reality violently collided with the memory of her nightmare. In that other life, they had stood on this exact same terrace. Essex had stood in that exact same spot, smoking that exact same cigar, when he coldly informed her that he had leaked all of her private design portfolios to the press, framing her for corporate espionage and plagiarism.
The phantom sensation of her reputation being slaughtered, the suffocating despair of his ultimate betrayal, crashed into her chest like a physical blow.
All the air rushed out of Harmony's lungs. Her stomach violently contracted. Her skin turned a sickly, translucent white, and a violent, uncontrollable tremor shook her entire body.
Essex's sharp eyes immediately caught her trembling. He saw the blood drain from her face.
But his massive ego completely misinterpreted her trauma.
He smiled. A slow, deeply satisfied smile. He thought she was finally breaking down. He thought the reality of losing him, combined with the jealousy over Fallon getting the dress, was finally crushing her.
He tossed the cigar over the railing and took a slow step toward her. The cruel edge in his voice softened into a sickening, patronizing purr.
"You are the official fiancée of the Joyce family," Essex murmured, stepping into her personal space. "You don't need to lower yourself to compete with a charity case orphan over a dress. You have me."
He raised his hand, reaching out to stroke her hair in a gesture of absolute, degrading ownership.
The moment his fingertips grazed the air near her cheek, Harmony's body reacted on pure instinct.
She violently jerked her head back. A wave of intense, physiological nausea hit the back of her throat. She looked at his hand, and then up at his face, with a look of such profound, visceral disgust it was as if a rotting corpse had just tried to touch her.
Essex's hand froze in mid-air.
The smile was wiped off his face. The disgust in her eyes was so raw, so undeniable, it pierced straight through his armor of narcissism.
He slowly lowered his hand. The muscles in his jaw tightened until they looked like they might snap. The patronizing mask shattered, revealing the vicious, controlling monster underneath.
"Don't push your luck, Harmony," Essex warned, his voice dropping an octave, vibrating with dark malice. "My patience is gone."
Harmony took a deep, jagged breath. The freezing wind filled her lungs, pushing the nightmare back into the recesses of her mind. She grounded herself in the present.
She looked at his furious face and realized how utterly pointless it was to argue with a narcissist.
Instead of defending herself, she tilted her head, her voice devoid of any emotion.
"If I am so hysterical and exhausting," Harmony asked coldly, "why did you spend three days turning the city upside down to find me?"
Essex's jaw clenched tighter. He needed her submission to feed his ego, but he would rather die than admit it.
"Optics," Essex spat out quickly. "Our families have a business arrangement. I am protecting my investments."
Harmony slowly nodded her head. The final piece of the puzzle locked into place.
She lifted her chin. The lingering shadows of fear and trauma vanished from her eyes, replaced by a terrifying, crystalline clarity.
"If optics and business are all you care about," Harmony said, her voice as calm and flat as a frozen lake, "then we really do need to talk."
Essex let out a short, arrogant breath. He thought she was finally surrendering. He thought she was about to negotiate the terms of her return to the penthouse.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned back on his heels, adopting a posture of supreme, untouchable superiority.
"I'm listening," Essex mocked. "Let's hear your apology."
Harmony stared at his smug face. Her lips parted, ready to deliver the strike that would shatter his world.
