Chapter 1 - THE GLASS
The champagne hit Ava Knox square in the chest.
Cold liquid soaked through the front of her black dress, ran down her stomach, and dripped from the hem onto the marble floor.
For one stunned second, the ballroom went silent.
Then Damian Cross laughed.
Not an embarrassed laugh.
Not the nervous laugh of a man who had made a mistake.
A loud, delighted laugh.
Around him, several people joined in.
Victoria Langford covered her mouth, but the cruel little smile in her eyes gave her away.
“Oh my God,” she said. “Damian.”
Damian still held the empty champagne flute.
“What?” He shrugged. “She said she was working. I figured she could clean something.”
More laughter.
Ava stood perfectly still.
Forty wealthy strangers watched champagne drip down a dress she had bought on sale three years ago.
Her cheeks burned.
Her throat tightened.
Six months earlier, Damian had ended their four-year relationship with a text message at 3:17 in the morning.
Now apparently breaking her heart hadn’t been enough.
He needed to humiliate her too.
Victoria leaned closer.
“Are you going to cry?”
Ava looked at her.
“No.”
Damian grinned.
“That’s new.”
Ava’s hand tightened around the floral shears she was carrying.
Not enough to threaten him.
Just enough to keep herself grounded.
She could hear her supervisor somewhere behind the crowd calling her name.
“Ava?”
She ignored it.
Damian stepped closer.
“Come on. Don’t make that face.”
“What face?”
“The one where you pretend you’re better than everybody.”
Ava gave a quiet laugh.
“I worked two jobs while you went to business school, Damian. Trust me, I never thought I was better than anybody.”
His smile twitched.
Victoria looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Damian’s expression hardened.
“Nothing.”
“It means,” Ava said, “I paid bills he told people he paid himself.”
Damian lowered his voice.
“Be careful.”
Ava stared at him.
There it was.
The voice he used during the last year of their relationship.
The warning voice.
The one that meant, Don’t embarrass me.
Don’t correct me.
Don’t remind people who I used to be.
Ava almost laughed.
“You poured champagne on me in front of half of Manhattan, and you’re telling me to be careful?”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
Then a voice behind him said:
“She should be.”
The crowd shifted.
Ava looked toward the ballroom entrance.
And every conversation around her died.
Elias Vane had walked into the room.
Six-foot-three.
Black tuxedo.
No entourage except one silver-haired man several steps behind him.
At forty, Elias Vane owned Vane Global Holdings, a private investment empire stretching across technology, logistics, commercial real estate, and infrastructure.
Business magazines called him ruthless.
Competitors called him worse.
Three years earlier, he had taken over a failing shipping company in eleven days and replaced its entire executive board before lunch on the twelfth.
He rarely attended galas.
He almost never gave interviews.
And people who normally made presidents wait suddenly moved out of his way.
Damian’s face changed instantly.
The arrogance disappeared.
“Mr. Vane.”
Elias didn’t look at him.
His eyes went directly to Ava.
To the champagne soaking her dress.
To the empty glass in Damian’s hand.
Something cold passed over his face.
He crossed the ballroom.
Damian attempted a smile.
“I didn’t realize you were attending tonight.”
Elias stopped beside Ava.
“Clearly.”
Victoria straightened.
“Mr. Vane, this is just a misunderstanding.”
Elias finally looked at Damian.
“A misunderstanding?”
Damian laughed weakly.
“An old joke between friends.”
Ava almost spoke.
Elias beat her to it.
“You pour drinks over all your friends?”
Damian swallowed.
“No, sir.”
“Then she must be special.”
Elias removed his tuxedo jacket.
Without asking, he placed it gently around Ava’s shoulders.
The room went so quiet Ava could hear the quartet playing on the opposite side of the ballroom.
Then Elias looked at Damian.
“You’re standing very close to my fiancée.”
Ava’s heart stopped.
Victoria’s smile vanished.
Damian stared at him.
“Your… what?”
Elias slid one arm lightly around Ava’s waist.
“My fiancée.”
Ava turned her head sharply.
Elias looked down at her.
His expression didn’t change.
But his fingers pressed once against her side.
Trust me.
Damian went pale.
May you like
And Ava realized the night had just become much more dangerous than spilled champagne.
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