Chapter 2

Nico watched me tap the screen with such a calm expression, and an inexplicable tightness gripped his chest.

His hold on Lola’s wrist loosened slightly. He swallowed and asked, “Who are you messaging?”

“Nothing.” I slipped my phone back into my clutch without looking at him and said calmly, “I’m going out for some air. I’ll leave you all to it.”

Nico’s expression darkened instantly.

I had barely taken a few steps when his cold voice came from behind me.

“Stop.”

I stopped and turned around.

“Apologize to Lola.”

Nico stared at me. “I don’t like the way you’ve been acting tonight.”

The ballroom fell completely silent. Everyone strained to hear what would happen next.

I had once been the woman Nico cherished above all others, the one he couldn’t bear to say a harsh word to. Now, he was forcing me to apologize to someone else.

“No, please, Mr. Moretti!” Lola immediately grabbed Nico’s sleeve, tears streaming down her face.

“Miss Mercer hasn’t said anything wrong. I really don’t belong here. I’m the one who ruined your gala. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

Before I could stop her, she dropped to her knees in front of me.

“I’m sorry. Please forgive me for not being good enough to be here.”

Her sudden kneeling put me in an impossible position.

She looked fragile, pitiful, and helpless. I was made to look arrogant, cruel, and utterly unreasonable.

Nico’s expression darkened further.

He pulled Lola to her feet and tenderly wiped away her tears. “You did nothing wrong. I’m the one who spoiled Claire.”

Then he turned to me, his voice growing stern.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

It felt as though something had struck me hard in the chest, leaving a dull, aching pain.

I tightened my grip on my pearl clutch.

Two years ago, our rivals had kidnapped me from my law office and locked me in a basement to force Nico to back down.

Nico had stormed in alone and carried me out, covered in blood.

He had stayed by my hospital bed for three days and three nights, his eyes red with murderous rage. “Anyone who ever makes you suffer will pay with their life.”

Now, the person making me suffer was Nico himself.

“What if I don’t?” I asked, lifting my chin slightly, my gaze defiant.

Nico let out a cold laugh. “Claire, I’ve spoiled you too much.”

He took a step toward me, his presence imposing.

“I’ve spoiled you to the point that you’ve forgotten who you work for. You’re the Moretti family’s legal counsel. Without the Moretti family, do you think you’d be where you are today?”

So that was how he defined our relationship.

I suddenly laughed.

Nico froze. He had never seen me smile like that before, so radiant yet so full of sadness.

“In that case...”

I took the black-diamond-encrusted fountain pen out of my clutch and held it out to Lola.

“Please accept this pen as a token of my apology.”

Lola took a frightened step back and waved her hands frantically. “No! This is far too valuable. I can’t accept it!”

She looked at Nico in alarm.

Nico stared at the pen in my hand, his brows knitting tightly together. “Claire, do you know what you’re giving away?”

It was the birthday gift he had gone out of his way to win for me at Christie’s auction house the previous year. I had carried it with me ever since.

“I know,” I replied, my voice perfectly calm.

“I’m simply expressing my sincere apology.”

Nico’s jaw tightened. He clenched his fist, then slowly relaxed it.

Taking a breath to compose himself, he turned to Lola and softened his voice. “Since she wants you to have it, take it.”

Lola reached out with trembling hands and took the pen. “Thank you.”

I withdrew my hand and looked Nico straight in the eye. “I’ve given her the pen and apologized. Any further instructions, Boss?”

The moment I called him “Boss,” his brow twitched.

He stared at me with a dark expression. I met his gaze without taking back a single word.

He wasn’t wrong. I was the Moretti family’s legal counsel.

He was the Boss, and I was the employee. The distinction was perfectly clear.

His gaze dropped to the hand resting on my clutch, and the displeasure in his eyes deepened.

“That’s all,” he said coldly.

Then he paused before adding stiffly, “I’ll buy you a better one later.”

I smiled faintly. “There’s no need.”

I was leaving soon anyway. It was better to keep the accounts between employer and employee clear.