Chapter 1 - The Hand in Mid-Air
The ballroom went silent before Vanessa Sterling even realized someone had stopped her.
Her right hand hung inches from Evelyn Beaumont’s face.
But it was no longer moving.
A young maid in a black-and-white uniform had caught Vanessa by the wrist.
Clara Hayes could feel the woman’s pulse hammering beneath her fingers.
She could also feel every eye in the ballroom turning toward her.
Vanessa stared at Clara as if a piece of furniture had suddenly spoken.
“Let go of me.”
Clara did not move.
Evelyn Beaumont sat trembling in her wheelchair beside them.
At seventy-nine, Evelyn looked fragile beneath the chandeliers, but her pale blue eyes were still sharp.
Vanessa twisted her arm.
“I said let go.”
Clara tightened her grip just enough to stop another swing.
“You were going to hit her.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
Not embarrassment.
Not shame.
Rage.
“Do you have any idea who you’re touching?”
Clara swallowed.
She knew exactly who Vanessa Sterling was.
Daughter of Victor Sterling.
Chairwoman of three charity boards.
A permanent name in society magazines.
And according to nearly everyone working tonight’s Beaumont Foundation Gala, the woman expected to become Adrian Beaumont’s wife before the end of the year.
Vanessa leaned closer.
“You’ll never work in this city again.”
Clara’s stomach dropped.
Her mother’s medical bills flashed through her mind.
Her overdue rent.
Her twelve-hour shifts.
The money she had spent repairing the transmission in her brother’s old car.
Everything she could lose stood behind Vanessa’s threat.
But Evelyn’s frightened breathing was right in front of her.
So Clara did not release the wrist.
Vanessa struggled harder.
“Security!”
Nobody came.
“Do you know who runs this event?”
A man’s voice answered from behind her.
“I do.”
Vanessa stopped moving.
Clara saw the color leave her face before she even turned around.
Adrian Beaumont stood at the foot of the marble staircase.
Forty-two years old.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Perfectly still.
He had arrived without announcement.
No photographers.
No entourage.
No warning.
And the expression on his face was colder than anything in the room.
Vanessa slowly lowered her voice.
“Adrian.”
His eyes did not move from her raised hand.
“What were you doing?”
Vanessa immediately smiled.
It was astonishing how quickly she changed.
“She became confused.”
Evelyn stared at her.
Vanessa continued.
“Your mother started shouting at me.”
“She did not,” Clara said.
Vanessa looked at her sharply.
Adrian finally looked at Clara.
“Who are you?”
“Clara Hayes.”
“She’s temporary staff,” Vanessa snapped.
Adrian’s attention returned to Vanessa.
“You were about to strike my mother.”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“Of course not.”
Evelyn suddenly spoke.
“She wanted my signature.”
The silence deepened.
Adrian looked down at his mother.
“What signature?”
Vanessa stepped toward him.
“Adrian, she’s tired.”
Evelyn pointed toward the small leather folder resting beneath Vanessa’s evening bag.
“The papers.”
Vanessa’s smile vanished.
Adrian saw it.
So did Clara.
And for the first time that evening, fear entered Vanessa Sterling’s eyes.
Adrian walked toward the folder.
Vanessa grabbed it first.
“That’s private.”
Adrian stopped.
“This is my house.”
Vanessa clutched the folder to her chest.
“This has nothing to do with tonight.”
Evelyn whispered.
“It has everything to do with tonight.”
Adrian looked at his mother.
Evelyn’s hands were shaking.
Then she said the sentence that changed the entire evening.
“She told me that if I didn’t sign before you arrived, you would lose the palace.”
Vanessa went completely still.
Adrian turned toward her.
“What did you bring into my house?”
And suddenly, Clara understood something terrifying.
The attempted slap had not been the beginning of the confrontation.
May you like
It had been Vanessa’s attempt to end one.
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