Chapter 5: Have You No Shame Left At All?

He was the man who'd taken her to the hospital last night.

And he was a Sterling.

Lily closed the distance in two quick steps.

A bodyguard moved to block her immediately.

"Mr. Sterling, please wait!" she called out.

The man turned his head toward her voice.

His dark eyes held a cold unfamiliarity as they landed on her, sharp and indifferent.

He lifted a hand slightly.

The bodyguard stepped back, releasing her.

Relief and gratitude flickered across Lily's face as she hurried closer.

Standing in his shadow, she realized for the first time that he was even taller than Nathan.

Her breath came lighter. "Thank you for taking me to the hospital last night."

He glanced at her, unmoved. "It was nothing."

Lily's fists tightened.

This was her last shot.

She steadied herself and asked carefully, "Would you consider selling me the necklace you won tonight?"

The moment the words left her mouth, her fingertips clenched white, terrified of overstepping, more terrified of being turned down flat.

Then, without warning, a small velvet box appeared in his hand.

His fingers brushed briefly against the embossed pattern on the lid before he placed it directly into her palm.

Lily froze, stunned.

The thing she'd wanted so desperately was sitting in her hands and she didn't dare accept it.

The man glanced sideways at his assistant.

Trevor Chase stepped forward and offered her a card. "Miss Ashford, this is my employer's card."

Lily took it, eyes lowering.

The card was made of heavy, charcoal-black stock, cool to the touch, the lettering foil-stamped so that it caught the light in shifting fragments more like a piece of art than a business card.

Centered at the top, a single name: Adrian Sterling.

"Mr. Sterling, I'll contact you soon and transfer the payment," Lily said quickly.

Adrian's gaze lingered on her, on the faint tremble of her lashes.

Then, low and even: "Lily Ashford."

She startled. How does he know my name?

His voice came again, deep and unhurried. "Jonathan Ford was my brother. Bring Toby to the address on the back of that card tomorrow morning. We need to discuss custody."

Adrian Sterling is Jonathan's brother.

He's here to take Toby from me.

Lily thrust the box back toward him. "I won't trade him for a necklace."

Before she could say another word

The door to VIP Room Three swung open, and Nathan walked out with Melissa beside him.

Melissa blinked at Lily in surprise. "Sister what are you doing up here?"

Nathan hadn't expected to find Lily here at all. His brow furrowed as his gaze moved between her and Adrian, and only after noticing the hearing aid in her ear did he speak. "Lily, why are you talking to Mr. Sterling?"

Lily went still.

He'd actually stoop this low for Melissa's sake?

Wasn't Nathan the one who hated asking anyone for favors? It was exactly that pride that had once left her no choice but to marry him to give him a foothold into the Pierce family without ever having to beg for it.

She looked at him evenly. "The same reason you're talking to him, apparently."

Nathan's expression darkened. He stepped forward, reaching for her hand she pulled away before he could touch her.

His hand closed on empty air.

He caught Adrian's faintly mocking look instead, straightened his tie, and cleared his throat. "Mr. Sterling. Nathan Pierce, of Pierce Group."

Adrian regarded him briefly.

His eyes carried the weight of someone who looked down on the entire room without effort cold, aloof, and unmistakably born into it.

When Adrian said nothing, Nathan pushed on. "About that black jade necklace you just won I'd like to buy it from you, name your price."

Adrian's gaze slid from Nathan to Melissa, standing close beside him, and a thin, cold smile touched his mouth. "Quite the devoted couple, you two."

Nathan's face darkened. "You've misunderstood, Mr. Sterling. She's my sister. This is my wife." He gestured toward Lily.

Adrian's expression flickered with mock realization. "My apologies. The Sterling family holds strict customs grown siblings keep their distance from each other."

Nathan's face went pale, then red, caught somewhere humiliating.

Melissa, misjudging the moment entirely, stepped forward. "Mr. Sterling, Nathan and I were just on our way to"

"Was I speaking to you?" Adrian's voice cut clean through hers, edged with contempt. "Who exactly do you think you are?"

Melissa hadn't expected such open cruelty. She bit her lip, eyes welling on command. "Mr. Sterling, I really do love that necklace..."

"Love it?" Adrian's laugh held no warmth at all. "Unfortunate timing, then. Mr. Pierce is a step too late it already belongs to Miss Ashford."

Lily blinked, caught off guard.

A beat later, she lifted the velvet box slightly, almost taunting, in Melissa's direction.

Melissa's jaw tightened, her fingers twisting into the fabric of her dress.

Adrian slid his hands into the pockets of his coat, every inch the cold aristocrat. "Winning something isn't the hard part. Keeping it is."

With that, he turned and walked away, bodyguards falling into step, without so much as a glance back.

Nathan had heard the rumors that the newly appointed head of the Sterling family was untouchable, arrogant, looked down on everyone beneath him.

Having met the man in person, the rumors didn't come close.

Nathan closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, swallowing the sting of being outmaneuvered twice in one conversation.

Melissa turned to Lily. "Sister, will you give me the necklace?"

Lily's mouth curled, disbelieving. "Do you have any shame left at all?"

"Lily, do you have to make this so difficult?" Nathan said, weary.

Lily tilted her head back, a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You want me to hand this over too?"

Nathan lowered his gaze to meet hers, voice gentling. "Lily. We've been married two years. I've given you hundreds of gifts every one of them worth more than this necklace. A decent man doesn't take what someone else has set her heart on. Since Melissa wants it this badly, give it to her. For me."

Lily lifted her eyes slowly to look at him.

Like looking at a total stranger.

The eyes that had once been full of love for this man were nothing now but dead ash and quiet, bloodless calm.

"Nathan," she said, "this necklace was your only inheritance from your grandmother. You were fourteen, running a fever that turned into pneumonia, and there wasn't a cent in the house to pay for it so she pawned it to save your life. Melissa doesn't even deserve to look at it."

She didn't wait for a response.

She turned, back straight, and walked away down the corridor, step by unhurried step, until she disappeared from sight.

Nathan stood frozen.

Something in his memory had just been torn wide open, laid bare.

Melissa, who'd never seen him go this quiet, tugged gently at his sleeve. "Brother, are you okay?"

He shook her hand off. "I'm heading home."

A flare of jealousy crossed her face. "Are we still on for New Year's Eve?"

"We'll talk later," he said, voice rough.

Melissa threw her arms around his waist. "You told me you didn't care about her anymore. She's already gone and you're still staring at where she disappeared."

"You're reading too much into it," he said, calm again.

She huffed. "Fine. But next time, you're bidding at least two million on jewelry for me."

"Okay."

Emboldened, she pressed further. "And once the company goes public, I want to see the northern lights with you."

Nathan went quiet.

His jaw tightened. He'd promised Lily that exact trip years ago Norway, the aurora, once the company finally went public.

Melissa's fingers traced idle patterns across his chest, eyes turned up at him, pleading. "I don't mind staying out of sight during the day. Just come find me at night. I can't stand being away from you for long."

He wrapped an arm around her. "Okay."

By the time Lily got home, Toby had already been dropped off by old Mrs. Pierce's staff.

Everyone else in the Pierce family looked down on the boy and his late father's memory.

The old woman was the exception. She'd always been kind to him good for the boy, in her own way. She often kept him at her private cottage for a few days at a time.

Lately, those visits had gotten noticeably more frequent.

Lily knew exactly why. The old woman wanted time alone with her great-grandson, and she was quietly engineering the opportunity.

Five and a half years old, hearing aid tucked behind one ear, Toby signed up at her. "Great-grandma's really nice to me. She said tomorrow's New Year's Day, and I said I wanted to spend it with you and Uncle Nathan, so she sent me home."

Lily crouched down and cupped his small face gently. "Tomorrow morning, Mom's going to take you to meet someone, okay?"

Toby nodded obediently.

After tucking him into bed, Lily returned to the master bedroom.

She pulled the divorce agreement and a copy of the prenup from the nightstand drawer and slid them both into a folder.

This was the gift she'd be handing Nathan at the company's listing ceremony.