Chapter 124. I Fucking Love You

Hermes POV

I step onto the podium, the lights stabbing into my eyes, the applause pounding against my skull.

Twice again, I wish I could be anywhere else.

I stand beside Natalya, my expression tight and practiced as the cameras flashes endlessly as though trying to peel my skin off. Every fake smile I’m forced to give today feels like a new form of torture.

Natalya flashes that same dazzling, disgusting smile. The one that always looked like victory— the one that makes my blood boil.

Six months.

For six fucking months, I have to put up with this charade — with her smiles, with her perfume, with her pretending she hasn’t destroyed me before.

My jaw flex. I take a slow breath, forcing composure as the crowd quiets.

I can’t look down. I can’t look for her, but every fiber of me aches for her name. June.

I shut my eyes briefly. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. After I rejected her, I wanted to disappear. Let her finish