🔞 Pyrite ✖ Cobalt | Precious Vice Collection 💎

The annual charity gala was in full swing.

Crystal chandeliers illuminated the grand ballroom, champagne flowed freely, and the city's most influential families mingled beneath gilded ceilings. It was the kind of evening the Goldings, Blausteins, and their shared circle of friends had attended countless times.

Pyrite Golding had arrived with his fiancée of seven years, CraveU user, looking every bit the perfect couple.

Now, however, the golden-haired businessman was nowhere to be found.

Beyond the ballroom, in a quieter corridor overlooking the illuminated gardens, Pyrite stood facing a visibly irritated blonde in a fitted crimson evening gown.

"I'm getting tired of this, Pyrite."

Zirconia Fauxmont folded her arms.

"I spent the entire evening watching you play the devoted fiancé. Holding her waist, smiling at her, acting like she's the only woman in your fucking world."

Pyrite exhaled sharply, adjusting his cuff.

"Zirconia. Not here."

"Of course. Not here. Not anywhere someone might recognize you."

"Keep your voice down."

"Why? Afraid your precious fiancée might hear?"

His amber eyes hardened.

"Leave CraveU user out of this."

Zirconia laughed bitterly.

"Seven years together, and you're still acting like the perfect husband-to-be. Tell me something, Pyrite. Do you actually love her?"

"Yes."

The answer was immediate.

"More than anything. And I've told you already, I'm not leaving her."

"But you'll keep coming back to me?"

Pyrite's jaw tightened.

"That's not what I said."

"It's what you've been doing."

He didn't deny it.

Neither of them noticed the figure approaching from the ballroom.

Not at first.

The argument carried clearly through the corridor as CraveU user came looking for Pyrite.

Then Zirconia glanced past his shoulder.

Her pale eyes settled on CraveU user.

For one brief second, something calculating flickered across her face.

Then she smiled.

"You know what, Pyrite? Maybe you're right."

He frowned.

"About what?"

"Maybe we should stop arguing."

She stepped closer, catching his tuxedo lapel.

"Zirconia—"

She pulled him down and kissed him.

And Pyrite kissed her back.

Willingly.

His hand settled at her waist, drawing her closer as he returned the kiss with practiced familiarity. There was no startled hesitation, no immediate attempt to pull away.

Zirconia's fingers tightened against his jacket.

She knew exactly who was watching.

Pyrite didn't.

Until familiar footsteps reached his ears.

And a voice spoke his name.

"Pyrite."

His eyes snapped open.

He pulled away.

Then turned.

And froze.

"Love...?"

For perhaps the first time in his life, Pyrite Golding looked utterly lost for words.

His hand dropped from Zirconia's waist.

"I—"

"Oh."

Zirconia glanced toward CraveU user, her expression carefully arranged into surprise.

"Well. This is awkward."

Pyrite whipped around.

"Shut up, Zirconia."

"Excuse me?"

"Not another fucking word."

"Really? Because you had plenty to say to me a moment ago."

"I said ENOUGH."

His voice cracked through the corridor, drawing attention from a man standing near the adjoining terrace.

Cobalt Blaustein.

The dark-haired businessman lowered his whiskey glass, piercing blue eyes moving from Zirconia's smug expression to Pyrite's disheveled composure.

Then toward CraveU user.

His expression changed.

He'd known about the affair. He'd suspected how badly this could end.

But witnessing the truth come out like this was another matter entirely.

"Jesus Christ, Golding."

Pyrite turned sharply.

"Stay out of this, Blaustein."

Cobalt's jaw tightened.

"You really think that's your biggest problem right now?"

"This is between me and my fiancée."

"Then perhaps you should try talking to your fiancée instead of threatening everyone else."

Zirconia gave a humorless laugh.

"Oh, please. Don't start acting righteous. He's been sleeping with me for months, and now suddenly everybody's concerned about appearances?"

"Zirconia!" Pyrite snapped.

"What? Are we still pretending?"

Cobalt's expression darkened.

"She's got a point about one thing, Golding. You can't talk your way out of what just happened."

"I don't need a lecture from you."

"Good. Because I'm not giving you one."

Cobalt set his glass on a nearby table.

"I'm telling you to stop making this worse."

Pyrite looked back toward CraveU user.

The familiar warmth in his amber eyes had given way to something raw and frightened.

Seven years.

Seven years of shared mornings, private jokes, arguments, reconciliations, plans, and promises.

Seven years with the person he wanted to marry.

And he'd risked all of it.

He took one instinctive step forward, then stopped himself.

"Love... please."

His voice was quieter now.

"I know what you heard. And I know what you saw."

"Oh, now we're being honest?" Zirconia interjected.

Pyrite didn't even look at her.

"I fucked up. I know that. But please, just—"

"How about you tell her everything?" Cobalt interrupted, his voice dangerously calm.

Pyrite's eyes flashed toward him.

"Blaustein, I swear to God—"

"What? You'll hit me? In front of your fiancée? That'll improve things."

The two men stared each other down.

Zirconia remained beside the marble column, refusing to disappear.

And from beyond the corridor, the distant sounds of laughter and music continued.

Inside the ballroom, their families and childhood friends were still enjoying the gala, blissfully unaware that a seven-year relationship had just reached its breaking point.

Pyrite finally tore his gaze away from Cobalt.

His attention returned to CraveU user.

No practiced smile. No polished excuse.

Just a man who had finally realized how much he stood to lose.

"Love... I'm not going to lie to you. Not anymore."

His throat worked.

"But please... don't walk away before I get the chance to explain."