The ballroom at The St. Regis was a sea of black silk and glittering diamonds.

Crystal chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, casting a harsh, bright glare over everything. Champagne glasses clinked. Soft jazz drifted from a quartet in the corner.

I stood near the heavy double doors, smoothing down the front of the beige dress. The fabric felt stiff and cheap against my skin. It hung loose on my shoulders and hit my calves at an awkward length. Every woman in the room wore designer gowns cut to perfection. I looked like a ghost dressed in cardboard.

As I stepped onto the polished marble, the whispers started.

"Is that Sasha Larson?"

"I heard the wedding was a mess."

"Look at her. She looks terrible."

Heads turned. Eyes flicked over me, sharp and cold. Nobody came over to greet me. Two days ago, these same people had raised their glasses to my future. Now, they parted like I was carrying an infection.

Across the ballroom, I saw them.

Gregory stood beneath the largest chandelier. He wore a custom Tom Ford tuxedo, holding a glass of Scotch. Beside him stood Dior.

She wore a strapless emerald gown that flared at the waist. Her dark hair was pinned up with diamond clips, exposing the delicate curve of her neck. From a distance, she looked so much like me it made my breath hitch. She leaned against Gregory’s arm, laughing softly at something he said.

A few feet away sat Madeleine Austin, Gregory’s grandmother. She wore her signature pearl earrings, sipping from a glass with a calm, bored expression. She saw me. Our eyes met for half a second. Then she looked away, smoothing a napkin over her lap.

My chest tightened. I thought of my mother lying in the ICU at Mount Sinai. I thought of the steady, hollow beep of the heart monitor.

*One apology,* I told myself. *Just say the words, and Robin gets her surgery.*

I tightened my hand into a fist, feeling my fingernails dig into my palm. Then I walked across the room.

The space between us felt endless. With every step, my heels clicked loudly against the floor. Gregory saw me coming. A slow, cruel smile touched the corner of his lips. He didn't move an inch to meet me. He just waited, letting the whole room watch my walk of shame.

I stopped two feet in front of them. The smell of his cologne—expensive sandalwood—hit me like a slap.

Dior tilted her head. Her dark eyes were bright with triumph. "Sasha," she purred. "You came. And in such an... interesting choice of clothing."

Gregory took a slow sip of his Scotch. "You're late, Sasha," he said quietly. "We're waiting."

The room around us grew deathly quiet. Conversations stopped. Manhattan’s wealthiest families turned their backs on the bar to watch.

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. My throat felt dry as sand.

I looked straight at Dior. I kept my chin up, refusing to let my voice tremble.

"I apologize, Dior," I said. The words tasted like ash. "I was out of line when I spoke to you at the penthouse. I am sorry for any disrespect."

The silence in the room stretched. It was done. I had bowed my head. I had given Gregory his victory.

I turned my eyes to Gregory. "Call Dr. Webb. Wire the money."

Gregory didn't move.

Dior let out a tiny gasp. Her eyes went wide with sudden, dramatic terror.

Before I could blink, she took a wild, clumsy step backward. Her heels caught on the edge of her skirt. She stumbled, knocking her elbow against a silver tray on a passing waiter’s arm. Glasses rattled.

Dior dropped to one knee, clutching her left cheek with both hands.

"Why would you do that?" she cried out, her voice echoing off the marble pillars. Tears sprang to her eyes instantly. "I only wanted to welcome you! Why did you hit me?"

I froze. "What?"

"You pushed me!" Dior sobbed, trembling on the floor. "Gregory, she shoved me!"

The room gasped. Murmurs broke out like a wave of static.

"I didn't touch her," I said. My voice rose, sharp with panic. I looked around at the circle of faces staring at me. "I didn't even step closer! She staged that!"

Nobody said a word. Nobody stood up for me. Vivienne Holt, a girl I had known since childhood, quickly looked down at her shoes.

Gregory didn't check the room. He didn't look for cameras. He didn't ask a single question.

His face turned to stone. He set his Scotch down on a nearby table with a loud *crack*.

"That's enough, Sasha," Gregory said. His voice was cold, carrying easily over the stunned crowd.

"Gregory, she’s lying!" I cried, my heart pounding against my ribs. "Look at her! I never laid a hand on her!"

"I told you to show respect," he said, stepping right into my space. "Instead, you bring your jealousy into my family's gala. You act like an animal."

He reached out.

His hand moved fast, grabbing the small jade pendant resting at the base of my throat.

"No!" I gasped, grabbing his wrist. "Gregory, don't! That was my grandmother’s!"

"You don't deserve to wear heirlooms," he whispered.

He didn't hesitate. He jerked his hand back with brutal force.

The thin gold chain snapped. The metal bit sharply into the skin of my neck, leaving a stinging red welt. The pain flared instantly.

I reached out blindly to grab the stone, but Gregory was already turning away.

He bent down beside Dior, offering her his hand. He pulled her up gently, wrapping an arm around her trembling waist.

Then, right in front of two hundred people, Gregory took my grandmother's jade pendant and pressed it into Dior’s open palm.

"Don't cry," Gregory told her, his voice loud and clear for the whole room to hear. "Keep this. Consider it compensation for your distress."

Dior closed her fingers around the jade.

My chest went cold. That pendant was the only piece of my grandmother I had left in this world.

"Give that back," I said.

I lunged forward, reaching for Dior’s hand.

I never touched her. Gregory moved faster.

His palm slammed flat against the center of my chest. He didn't just block me. He shoved me back with full force.

My heels caught on the cheap fabric of my hem. My balance snapped. My arms flailed out, catching nothing but empty air.

Behind me stood the centerpiece of the ballroom—a seven-tier champagne tower made of two hundred crystal flutes.

I crashed straight into it.

The sound was deafening. It sounded like an explosion. Heavy crystal shattered in a violent wave. Hundreds of glasses collapsed around me, raining down in sharp, heavy fragments.

I hit the polished marble floor on my back. My breath left my lungs in a painful gasp.

The wet spray of champagne drenched my hair and soaked through the ugly beige dress. Then came the pain. It hit all at once, sharp and burning.

I tried to push myself up. My palms pressed down directly into jagged piles of broken glass.

Shards sliced deep into my skin. Sliced into my palms. Sliced along my forearms.

Blood welled up instantly, bright and thick, mixing with the spilled alcohol on the floor. It stung so bad it made my vision blur.

The entire ballroom went dead silent.

Music had stopped. The jazz quartet froze. Two hundred of Manhattan’s elite stood frozen in their diamonds and tuxedos, staring down at me.

Nobody stepped forward. Nobody asked if I was okay. A few women pulled their designer skirts back so the champagne wouldn't touch their hems.

Gregory stood over me. He adjusted his cufflink with a flick of his thumb. His face showed nothing. No pity. No remorse. Just cold annoyance.

Beside him, Dior hid a tiny, satisfied smirk behind her manicured hand. She stroked the green stone in her palm.

I turned my head toward the head table.

Madeleine Austin sat there. For two years, I had baked lemon pound cake from scratch for her every single Sunday. I had massaged her swollen feet when her arthritis flared. I had treated her like my own flesh and blood.

Madeleine met my gaze. Her eyes were completely flat.

Slowly, deliberately, she picked up her crystal flute from the linen cloth. She took a tiny sip. Then she set it down and turned her face away, leaning in to whisper a comment to the socialite sitting beside her.

She acted as if I were a spilled drink a waiter would sweep away.

Something inside me broke. It wasn't my heart. It was every lie I had told myself for seven long years.

I pulled my hands out of the glass.

I dragged myself backward across the floor, away from Gregory, until my back hit the base of a marble pillar near the edge of the room. I sat there in the shadows, shaking violently.

A small silver tray lay overturned on a side table nearby. On it was a stack of paper cocktail napkins.

I reached up with trembling fingers and grabbed a handful.

I pressed the thin paper against my left palm. The cut ran deep across the lifeline. Blood soaked through the white napkin immediately, turning it dark, wet crimson. The paper disintegrated in seconds. I grabbed another and pressed harder.

I didn't cry.

My eyes were dry. My throat was tight as a fist. I felt an eerie, hollow stillness take over my bones.

I didn't look at Gregory. I didn't look at Dior. I didn't look at the crowd whispering around the wreckage.

I just watched the red seep through the napkin. I counted my breaths.

*One. Two. Three.*

I had to survive tonight. My mother was waiting at Mount Sinai. I had to stay alive.

Then, the murmurs in the room changed.

The whispers turned low and hurried. People shifted. The crowd parted like water.

A pair of polished black leather shoes stopped two feet in front of me.

I slowly lifted my head.

A man stood above me. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and wore a bespoke charcoal suit that made every other tuxedo in the room look cheap. His jaw was cut like granite, his dark eyes sharp and unreadable.

Kaisen Edwards.

The reclusive CEO of Edwards International. A man whose name alone made the Austin family look like small-town landlords.

He didn't look at Gregory. He didn't look at the broken glass or the curious faces watching from the center of the hall. His gaze stayed entirely on me.

Without a word, Kaisen crouched down.

His tailored trousers touched the wet marble, but he didn't care. He reached out and gently closed his fingers around my left wrist.

His touch was warm. Firm. Incredibly steady.

The moment his skin touched mine, the violent shaking in my hands began to slow.

With his free hand, Kaisen reached into his breast pocket. He pulled out a crisp, folded silk pocket square.

He peeled away the bloody, ruined paper napkins from my palm. He didn't flinch at the sight of the deep cut. With calm, practiced precision, he wrapped the clean silk around my hand, pulling it tight enough to stop the bleeding.

He tied the ends into a neat knot. It was quick and effortless, like he had bandaged wounds a hundred times before.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

His voice was deep, quiet, and steady as an anchor in a storm.

"Yes," I whispered. My voice sounded rough.

Kaisen placed one hand beneath my elbow and offered his other palm.

I gripped his fingers and let him pull me up. My legs wobbled on the slick floor, but his grip held me firmly in place.

Once I was on my feet, he didn't let go.

He stood right in front of me, shielding me from the stares of the entire ballroom. He didn't say anything else.

He just looked into my eyes, seeing every crack, every cut, and every piece of the woman I was about to become.