ia's

suspicion, my phone

link to a live

ed the

n elegant cream suit, dabbing delicately at her tea

agnanimity. "Amelia is young, and the pressure to prove herself got the better of her. Although she took my origi

e stage heaped praise

ter, Channing

s, bent to kiss her cheek, and spoke i

d so this unpleasant episode may be fully laid to rest, our wedding w

tantly flooded with c

mob that had lost all reason du

of vicious private mess

u ungratef

ning in their graves, kn

find a bridge

ing my dead parents, my h

on and dialed Chann

raight to

led a

ect

ch rejection struck my heart like a b

try, the ca

impatient, the din of the press confer

f a press conference. What c

s twelve, when a girl at school f

atened to pull every corporate sponsorship the school received, and forced t

hand tight and told me: As long as I

hard against my ea

shaking, "did you... give m

ng silence fell

red, flat and indiffere

hroat. "That painting was my heart and sou

during your obsessive phase. The intimacy it depicts bears no resemblance to our actual rel

the white walls of my room. "Now everyone thinks I'm a

married, I'll set up a lifetime trust fund for you. You'll never have to work a day in your lif

I let out a dr

cut in. "Stay home and behave until the we

ne wen

e mirror above

nder her eyes, a pale, hollowed face, and dried

recogni

gnized the man who h

platform throttled it as 'unverified content.' My lawyer's letters came back uno

ved me - it was that nobody

gallery would touch the work o

t for six hundred thousand, and my wa

lion short of the fi

who managed VIP staffing for se

g dishes, serving drinks, bussing tables - wha

days, I worked si

rnoon, I washed golf carts and hauled heav

erver's uniform and cleared tables in the private VIP rooms of the Obsidia

hout pause, and the stitches in my ri

ts' trust - released early as a birthday exception -

alance: $

done

at the Obsidian. Tomorrow

d me a silver tray bearing thre

g spenders. Keep your head d

om One's heavy,

ke and expensive pe

lounged around low leather sofas, play

s black tuxedo jacket unbuttoned, one arm

d, slamming his shot glass on the table. "A bet's a bet, Gray! You

cheered an

int indulgent smile

door to signal for mo

the VIP room in a cheap black vest, a white towel slu

ce in an instant, replaced by

?" he b

lent. Every head turn

flickering across her lips before she

ight toward me, foot

, pulled out his gold iPhone, and

here?" he hissed t

" I answered, eyes

st and dragged me to t

gh for every person in the room to hear. "Then go earn your tip

did not

he camera, and raised it with

d the back of her neck, and pulle

us as the crowd began

mi

minu

e mi

y, eyes fixed on the s

race. My stomac

nothing

ndred and eighty seconds, Chann

on one knee on the Persian rug, opened a black velvet

ze flicking for one instant across my face befo

r arms around him. Champagne sprayed,

owd surged forward

one gently on the corner of the bar, untied my apron, tur