Chapter 4

Leo was watching the door and didn't even turn around.

"I forgot to tell you. Lena closed that deal she was working on, so I'm promoting her.

"This party is for her.

"You're always saying I never bring you along when I'm out with the guys, so this time I invited you."

His attention was all on the other side of the room. He had no idea how upset I looked.

"Leo, do you remember what today is?"

He gave me a blank look.

I kept my voice calm. "Leo, we're done."

Pop!

"Congratulations to Lena on landing her first deal!"

The poppers and cheers drowned out my words.

Leo rushed over to Lena and pulled her into a one-armed hug.

I took one look at the two of them in each other's arms, dropped my popper, and walked out of the room.

There was a text from my mother, sent half an hour earlier. "Your father and I are on the plane. I'm glad you finally came around, Chiara."

The man my parents wanted me to marry happened to be in the North District too. My mother said he'd already agreed to dinner on Wednesday.

I replied, "Okay," and hurried to the private airfield.

The next day, I took my parents around the North District.

We'd just come out of a shop when Leo called.

He sounded frantic, asking where I was.

I didn't want to deal with him, but it seemed like something had really gone wrong. After a moment, I sent him my location.

He turned up in a hurry not long after, with Lena behind him.

He stopped when he saw my parents behind me, then pulled me aside and lowered his voice. "What are your parents doing here? I told you Wednesday is for Lena. I don't have time to have dinner with them."

I gave him a cool glance. "If you won't join us, why shouldn't I find someone who will?"

He assumed I was just angry and let it go.

He pulled out his phone, opened a post on Instagram, and pointed at one of the comments. "Chiara, did you write this?"

I looked down at the screen.

The post showed a few photos, all taken in that private room the day before.

In the first one, Leo had an arm around Lena.

In the second, he was smearing cake on her face.

In the third, they had their heads together.

The account was Lena's. The caption read, "Celebrating my promotion with my coworkers. Best day ever."

There had been a whole roomful of coworkers, but she'd only posted photos of herself with Leo.

It was obvious why.

I smiled and read the comment he was pointing at. "Just so you know, the man in these photos has had a girlfriend for five years."

Whoever wrote it had also shared a photo that made it clear Leo and I were a couple.

No wonder he thought it came from me.

Leo held my gaze. "Lena's getting flooded with hate. Her DMs are full of insults. If this blows up, it could really hurt her.

"Reply to that comment right now. Tell them you're the girlfriend, that you were there too, and that Lena and I are just good friends."

"And if I say no?"

Leo faltered. Then his voice went low. "Chiara, you didn't use to be like this."

He was looking at me like I'd let him down.

Before I could say anything, Lena broke down sobbing. "Leo and I really are just coworkers... If anyone else from the office sees that post, they'll think I'm a homewrecker who came between the two of you!"

My parents stood a little way off, watching anxiously.

Leo's jaw set.

"Chiara, if you won't do it, I'll ask your parents for help!"

He turned to head over to them.

I didn't want them worrying about me any more than they already were, so I stopped him. "I'll post it."

I opened the post and left a reply.

"I'm the girlfriend mentioned here. The man in these pictures and I have broken up, so whatever they do has nothing to do with me."

Leo frowned.

"You could have cleared things up without putting it like that. You know you're the only person I want to marry."

Now that it was handled, he looked relieved.

He gave me a grateful look.

"Chiara, I'll get back as fast as I can on Wednesday to spend time with your parents."

I didn't answer.

He took the silence as agreement, put an arm around Lena, and left.

On Wednesday, dinner was at six.

At seven, Leo said he'd just dropped Lena off at home and was on his way.

At eight, he said Lena had period cramps and he'd gone out to get her medicine, so he'd be a little late.

At nine, hurried footsteps came down the hall outside the private room.

The door opened and Leo walked in.

"Sorry. I'm late."

But the second he saw who was in the room, the smile froze on his face.