Chapter 2 - THE LIE
“My fiancée?”
Ava whispered the words the second Elias guided her away from the crowd.
They stopped behind a velvet curtain near one of the ballroom’s private service corridors.
Elias released her immediately.
“Yes.”
“You couldn’t have said friend?”
“No.”
“Employee?”
“You don’t work for me.”
“Person you vaguely know?”
“That wouldn’t have stopped him.”
Ava stared.
Elias Vane was even more intimidating up close.
Not because he was loud.
He wasn’t.
Everything about him was controlled.
Voice.
Movement.
Expression.
He looked like a man who had learned a long time ago that he never needed to raise his voice to be obeyed.
Ava pulled his jacket tighter around herself.
“Why did you do that?”
“Because Cross was enjoying himself.”
“That still doesn’t explain why one of the richest men in America just announced that I’m marrying him.”
“New York,” Elias corrected.
“What?”
“One of the richest men in New York. There are several people ahead of me nationally.”
Ava stared at him.
Was that a joke?
His face remained completely serious.
She almost laughed.
Almost.
Then embarrassment crashed back over her.
She looked down at the wet dress.
“I need to change.”
“I arranged it.”
“You arranged what?”
A woman appeared at the end of the hall carrying a garment bag.
Ava blinked.
Elias nodded.
“Clara will take you upstairs.”
“You just had a dress waiting?”
“No.”
“Then how—”
“I made a call.”
“You’ve known me for thirty seconds.”
“Longer.”
Ava froze.
“What?”
Elias seemed to realize he had said too much.
Before he could answer, Damian pushed through the curtain.
“There you are.”
Ava stiffened.
Elias turned.
Damian stopped two feet away.
The difference between the two men was almost painful.
Damian’s confidence required an audience.
Elias seemed to create silence simply by entering a room.
Damian forced a smile.
“Mr. Vane, I think Ava may have given you the wrong impression.”
“I haven’t given him any impression,” Ava said.
Damian ignored her.
“We dated years ago.”
“Six months,” Ava corrected.
“Whatever.”
Elias’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Damian continued.
“She can be emotional.”
Ava felt something hot move through her chest.
Emotional.
That was Damian’s favorite word whenever Ava remembered something he wished she would forget.
“You poured champagne on her.”
“It slipped.”
“You said you figured she could clean it.”
Damian stopped.
Someone had heard.
Elias apparently had too.
Damian’s face tightened.
“It was a joke.”
“I’m not laughing.”
Neither was anyone else.
Elias stepped closer.
“You work for Sterling North Capital, don’t you?”
Damian blinked.
“Yes.”
“Vice president?”
A little pride returned.
“Recently promoted.”
“Interesting.”
Damian waited.
Elias said nothing else.
But somehow that single word terrified him.
Damian glanced at Ava.
“Ava, can we talk privately?”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
His smile cracked.
“Ava.”
The tone changed.
That old warning again.
Elias noticed.
“Mr. Cross,” he said quietly, “she answered you.”
Damian looked at him, then back at Ava.
Something ugly flashed through his eyes.
“This isn’t over.”
He walked away.
Ava let out a breath.
Elias’s phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“What?” Ava asked.
He locked the phone.
“Nothing.”
“That didn’t look like nothing.”
Elias studied her for a long moment.
Then he handed her the phone.
On the screen was a message from his chief of security.
CROSS JUST CALLED SOMEONE AT LANGFORD DEVELOPMENT.
HE SAID: “FIND OUT HOW MUCH SHE TOLD VANE.”
Ava read it twice.
Her hands went cold.
“How much I told you about what?”
Elias looked toward the ballroom.
May you like
“That,” he said, “is exactly what I’d like to know.”
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