by K. A. Linde
Ugh! I couldn’t think about that. There was too much riding on tonight. I’d have to figure out what to do about my friendship with Jane later.
* * *
“Are you ready in there?” Penn called down the hallway.
I bit my lip as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Was I ready? Maybe this was all a horrible mistake. Maybe I didn’t need to do any of this. But I did. I knew that I did. To survive in this world, I had to come out on top. I had to make myself untouchable. Make it so that no one could ever hurt me again. And then, when I secured that tonight, Penn and I could ride off into the sunset for the summer in Paris.
I took another deep breath and then opened the door to the bedroom. “Ready.”
“Wow,” he breathed as I stepped toward him in my soft green princess dress with a lace sweetheart neck that plunged in the front.
We’d decided to do a romantic novel theme for the event to coincide with the literacy charity we’d partnered with. So, tonight was a night of Happily Ever After. The dress that Elizabeth had created for me was the biggest, most incredible thing I’d ever stepped into. Normally, we went for fitted sleek attire. But tonight was all about embracing the magical fairy tale princess of your dreams.
“You look…incredible. Oh, how I can’t wait to get under all the layers of that skirt,” he said with a laugh.
“And you…my Prince Charming,” I joked, “sexy in a tuxedo as ever.”
“I’m happy to oblige. Shall we?” he asked, offering me his arm.
I stepped toward him on Cinderella slippers and let him whisk me downstairs, into a limo, and all the way into Midtown to Trinity. The red carpet was rolled out, anticipating the affluent crowd about to descend upon it.
Penn stepped out first to a sea of camera flashes. I took one more deep breath. Cameras rolling. And action. I took his hand and steadied myself against him for a brief moment. Then, I turned toward the cameras and began. I walked the walk and talked the talk. Answering questions about the charity and how much money I anticipated raising for the event and how pleased I was with the turnout. On and on. With a smile on my face. And pain in my mile-high heels. Playing a role that actually wasn’t a role with a Kensington at my side and the world at my feet.
It was glorious. And then I stepped inside.
Even though I’d seen mock-ups of what the interior of Trinity would transform into, it was nothing compared to seeing it in reality. Gregory had really outdone himself. I’d had no reason to fear what would happen because this was a masterpiece. The club had become a seventeenth-century ballroom, resplendent, sumptuous, and palatial. Candles filled the low-lit room, chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, and cherubs adorned the walls.
Penn brought my hand to his lips. “I’m impressed. You did all of this.”
My eyes were full of stars when I looked back at him. “It’s better than I ever could have imagined.”
A waitress appeared then and offered us champagne.
Penn took two for us and passed one to me. He held it up. “To your official debut.”
I chuckled softly. “It’s like being a debutante all over again.”
“Except we make the rules.”
I held my glass up and clinked against his. “To making our own rules then.”
He grinned and then tilted his drink back. I sipped at mine, happy to have the bubbles whizzing through my system. Tonight was incredible. And it had only just begun. The best was yet to come.
I circled the room with Penn at my side. We spoke to Harmony and the lackeys, passed Jane and Court, and thanked everyone else for showing up, speaking to the people who had gone above and beyond on their donations and generally schmoozing like I’d never done before in my life. I was actually thankful to have Penn there. He knew everyone. And though I’d spent an inordinate amount of time staring at names and faces so that I could remember each person, he helped when the name just would not come to me. We were a pair. And it worked.
Penn had gone to get us drinks when a pair of bombshells appeared before me. Seeing Charlotte and Etta at my event made me tense even though I had known they planned to be here. But after my last interaction with Charlotte at Fashion Week, I wasn’t looking forward to repeating it. But neither of them looked like they were about to attack me. In fact, Etta pulled me into a hug.
“Natalie, it’s so good to see you,” Etta said. She’d recently shaved off her hair on one side and left the other side at a sharp bob. Her black dress made her look more like a curvy villain than a princess, but edgy had always worked for her. “We’ve missed having you around.”
Charlie nodded. Her black hair long and pin-straight to her waist. Gold makeup accenting her dark brown skin and the gold princess dress on her tall, thin figure. “We did. I hated how our last conversation ended.”
“I miss you, too,” I admitted.
They might be Lewis’s sisters. They might have taken his side after the breakup, but I still wanted them as my friends. They were too fun.
“With everything going on in our family, we’ve hardly even been out,” Etta said with an eye roll. “Ava hasn’t even been allowed to the house.” Etta hooked her finger at Charlotte. “Neither of her boyfriends either.”
Charlotte glared at her sister. “I really hate you sometimes.”
A smile twitched on my lips. “You two are the best.”
Etta flipped her hair. “Well, obviously.”
“Any news on what’s going on with your mom?” I asked softly. That was the part I hated the most about the whole thing.
Charlie shook her head. “She thinks it’ll drag out through the summer.”
“That’s awful,” I whispered.
“Mom’s taken to baking nonstop,” Etta said. “Which is only good for me. Charlie can’t handle another pound.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I model! It’s not actually about the weight. It’s my job.”
“You’re getting a business degree from Harvard.”
“Yeah, and look at how well that’s worked out for Lewis.”
Both girls fell silent at the argument they must have had over and over. My stomach pinched as the aftermath of what I’d done sank in more fully. He deserved it. But…they didn’t.
I frowned and was glad that Penn appeared then.
“Charlie, Etta,” Penn said with a nod. He cleared this throat as he turned back to me. “There’s been a, uh…development.”
“What development?” I asked. Nothing could go wrong tonight! Nothing!
And then I saw the “development” as Lewis Warren strode toward us on the arm of Addison Rowe.
“Brother,” Etta began, “what the fuck?”
I would have laughed if my blood wasn’t boiling at his uninvited presence at my event. But at least Etta had said the thing I wanted to say.
“Don’t hate him,” Addie said, holding up her hands. “I invited him. He was my plus-one.”
I would have burned through Rowe’s twin sister with death glares if I could. She’d done this on purpose. She’d hated that Lewis and I had been together. She’d tried to break us up. Then when all had gone wrong with us and he purposely hadn’t been invited, she’d brought him here to…what, flaunt him in front of me? I was way past Lewis Warren, but I was not past the bruises he’d left on my arm or the restraining order I’d never received. And seeing his pretty face standing there, as if everything was okay, nearly set me off.
“Look, Addie and I are…” Lewis began.
But I held my hand up. “Don’t want to know.”
“Nat,” he groaned, “I’m sorry.”
I glared harder. “Don’t call me that. And I don’t care.”
“I just…we need to talk.”
“We really don’t,” I warned him.
Penn stepped between us. “Now is not the time. If you want to talk, you can do it in a place she chooses and not as an ambush.”
Lewis deflated and tightened his grip on Addie’s hand. “Fine,” he agreed. “Then le
t’s figure out a time. We have a lot to discuss.”
I had nothing to say to him. And I was about to tell him to go shove it when there was a ripple of a disturbance in the crowd. I turned away from Lewis, leaving that problem for later, to figure out what was going on. And that was when I saw what had caused the commotion.
The devil herself had made her appearance.
Chapter 33
Katherine
All heads turned toward me.
Just as I’d planned, I stood out among the sea of bullshit fairy-tale attire in my signature blood red. I hadn’t been able to secure a designer for the event and had been horrified to have to dip down to a B-list design team, but the guy had pulled it off. My dress was silky to their frilly, sleek to their poofy, and sensual to their dreamy.
It was me. And I wasn’t going to stay away just because I was being pushed to the side. I was still Katherine Van Pelt. I was married to the heir to the Percy throne. Who needed friends or designers or a socialite status or, fuck…everything I’d had?
People feared me. That was clear in their expressions as I stepped into Trinity and proved that I would not fucking back down. That was all I needed.
A waitress offered me champagne, and I took the glass with a smile. When I turned it on the woman, I took a step back. My spine straightened in surprise.
“Melissa?”
She smirked at me. “Katherine.”
Then she walked away. As if I hadn’t just seen a ghost.
Melissa hadn’t lived on the Upper East Side for a half-dozen years. After her modeling career had gone up in flames. I shuddered. So bizarre.
I shook off the strangeness of that interaction and moved into the crowd. I was determined to find Camden and prove that nothing could bother me. But as I passed another group of girls, I had to do a double take at the trio dancing. Kassidy, Margaret, and Kayla. They’d been inseparable when we were coordinating the debutante ball in high school. The committee had deemed them unfit after a sex scandal spread. I’d been made president and run the thing myself. What the hell were they doing here?
With slightly more haste, I hurried past them and took a rather large gulp of my champagne to steady me.
“Everything all right?” a girl asked, touching my elbow.
“Fine,” I spat and nearly jumped when I saw who it was. “Lydia? Lydia…Hamilton?”
“That’s right. Surprised you remember,” she said, grinning at the woman next to her that I recognized immediately as the designer Trihn.
She hadn’t accepted my invitation to design for me either.
“You’re…Trihn. Dating Damon Stone.”
Trihn nodded and held out her left hand. “Married actually.”
My eyes flicked back to Lydia. Something didn’t sit right. Lydia had gone to our prep school freshman year on scholarship. She’d been a weird, artsy type. We’d laughed her out of the school, and she’d transferred elsewhere sophomore year.
“I’m glad that you could make it. Is Damon with you?” I asked Trihn as if I knew him.
“He’s busy, but I wanted to be here for my sister,” Trihn said. “Me and my girls”—she gestured to two Hollywood-esque blondes behind her—“we wanted to make sure that you stayed in your place.”
My eyebrows rose. “Excuse me?”
Trihn just winked at me. “Have a good time.”
Lydia patted my elbow. “Enjoy the trip down memory lane.”
They sauntered off, and I felt like my world was spinning. There were too many of them. My eyes traveled the room, and I saw more. Harmony, who I’d always competed with Penn for. Maria, who I’d ostracized at Harvard. Patricia, whose boyfriend I’d slept with. Kendra, Kaitlin, Haley, Autumn, Misty…on and on. Every girl that I’d ever known. Every girl that I’d ever…hurt. Tortured. Destroyed. Pushed aside in the name of my own popularity. In the name of what I stood for and who I was and what I fucking wanted. No, demanded.
They were all here. They were all looking at me.
My heart hammered in my chest. An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. Something I’d never let myself experience. Dread. Fear. My hands sweat, and while I kept my head high, I couldn’t keep the slight waver in my breathing. The hitch that gave me away.
The only one who was missing was…Hanna.
I closed my eyes and turned away from that name. I didn’t think about her. Or what we’d done. Or how horrible we’d been.
No. I wouldn’t. Not here.
I swallowed back the fear and went in search of the one name I hadn’t mentioned. The bitch who had set this whole thing up. Who had orchestrated this entire event and then unleashed these people on me. As if I’d back down from that!
Then I found her. Natalie. Standing with Penn in an enormous green dress, looking like she had no cares in the world.
I took one step toward her, prepared give her a piece of my mind when I felt another hand on my arm. I whipped around, ready to unleash a torrent of vitriol on the unwitting person, but it was Lark.
I took a breath. “Hey.”
She looked worried. “Katherine, check your phone.”
“Why?”
“Uh…there are some…images circulating right now.”
“Images?” I asked, reaching into my clutch for my phone. I opened it to find a message from Fiona. I looked at the first and thought I would be sick. “Oh.”
Oh no. It was picture after picture of Fiona and Camden together. Fiona and Camden in missionary. Fiona and Camden doggy-style. Fiona giving Camden a blow job. Fiona and Camden. Fiona and Camden. Fiona and Camden.
My jaw clenched. I wanted to yell and scream at the world for this. But for some reason, I couldn’t grasp it. Instead, what came out was a whimper. A pathetic, stupid whimper. My phone slipped from my hands and fell to the ground. Lark gasped and then reached for it. People were still looking at us. Staring at me and the strange noise that had come out of my mouth.
“Lark,” I whispered. My throat tight.
“Come on. Let’s…let’s get out of here,” Lark said.
“I can’t,” I gasped out. “I can’t leave. They’ll know.”
“Katherine,” she pleaded.
Then we heard it. Snickers. Laughter. Gasps.
Others were looking at the message. Others were looking at me. They knew that this meant Camden had been cheating on me. Still was, for all I knew. That he was humiliating me like this in front of everyone.
My eyes finally landed on Camden. We never showed up to places together. It made it more fun to find him there, waiting for me. Except, this time, he was with Fiona. In deep conversation with Fiona. His hand on her arm.
I took a few steps toward them like I was going to say something, but what could I say? Something was breaking in my chest. What the hell was this sensation? It was fucking awful. How could people live with this?
“Camden, stop!” Fiona shrieked. Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard to me. He must have responded, but all she did was get louder. “I won’t be quiet. People deserve to know the truth! It’s just a fucking arranged marriage! It’s not like she loves you. She married you for your money!”
My cheeks heated the color of my dress. More eyes. All eyes.
Mortification hit me. And now, everyone knew the truth. Because why would I get embarrassed if it was just a lie? Oh god. Everything I’d worked to keep hidden. Everything that we’d worked for together.
Something wet landed on my cheek. Something foreign.
Lark was speaking to me. But I couldn’t hear her over the buzzing in my head.
I touched my hand to my cheek and found tears. Tears? Christ!
I couldn’t…
I couldn’t let them see.
They couldn’t know that I wasn’t strong.
That I was broken.
I couldn’t take it a second longer.
I rushed from the room, ignoring the tittering from the crowd and chorus of, “She had it coming,” and found a private place to cry for the first time sinc
e my dad had been sent to prison. Before the walls had been closing in. And I’d learned that no one was ever going to save me but myself. There just…was no way out of this one. I’d dug my grave. I might as well lie in it.
Chapter 34
Penn
We’d all heard. We’d heard everything.
Natalie frowned down at her phone.
“Delete those,” I told her. “I can’t believe Fiona sent them.”
I found Lark across the room, following after Katherine.
“Fuck,” I grumbled. I couldn’t just let her go. I couldn’t let Katherine break down in front of everyone and not care. It was like when I’d called Lewis the day I found out about the investigation. Katherine was fucked up, but she was still my friend. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” Natalie asked.
“I’m going to go check on Katherine.”
“Shouldn’t her husband do that?”
Yes, the bastard should. But he was still dealing with Fiona. And I wasn’t going to just let her walk off.
“I won’t be long.” I kissed the top of her head. “Enjoy the party. I’ll be back.”
“Penn, really?” she asked.
“It’s the crew,” I said with a shrug, as if it was an explanation.
She sighed. “All right.”
I knew this event was important to her. I wanted to be there for her, but Katherine was a mess. I’d never seen her like that before. I couldn’t imagine why she would be freaking out about this thing with Fiona. She’d known that Camden was sleeping around. She had been sleeping around, too, after all. Not that anyone had known it was arranged until now. Embarrassing, sure, but not enough to break Katherine. It had to be something much deeper.
I walked down the hallway that I’d seen Lark hurry into a minute earlier and found her standing in front of an emergency exit. “Did she leave?”
Lark shook her head. “She stepped outside and told me to fuck off.”
“You?” I asked in surprise.
She shrugged. “She’s a total wreck. I wish that I were around more to see what the hell was going on with her. But I’ve been so busy with the campaign and Sam…”
