2

The bodyguards dumped Arthur and me at the foot of the crystal auction stage.

Isabella lifted the hem of her gown, swept onto the stage, and snatched the microphone from the emcee.

A shrill squeal of feedback tore through the ballroom.

The guests fell silent, every eye in the room turning toward us.

Isabella snapped her fingers.

The giant screen behind her lit up.

It showed a grainy photo taken at night.

The woman in it wore a white vintage dress covered in pearls. She was ducking into a black Rolls-Royce.

Isabella jabbed a finger at the screen, her voice sharp.

"This is the shameless whore who seduced my fiancé!

"She's married, and she's still selling herself. She even brought her idiot husband along as cover!

"Everyone, take a good look. That dress, that hair. Isn't it her?"

I was, in fact, wearing a white vintage dress that night.

But anyone who looked closely could see they weren't the same dress at all.

Mine was made from Icelandic siren silk, which hadn't been produced in years, and it had been cut by the best couturier in Paris. Leon had paid seven figures at auction for the fabric alone.

The one in the photo was a cheap knockoff.

But everyone in the ballroom was looking out for themselves. No one would cross an heiress for the sake of two strangers.

"They look identical from behind. It has to be her."

"Call girls these days really know how to work an angle. She sells herself and drags her disabled husband along."

"It's the idiot I feel sorry for. His wife's sleeping around, and he's still fighting to protect her."

The vicious whispers came at us from every direction.

Arthur was extremely sensitive to bright light and noise.

The glaring screen, overlapping voices, and microphone feedback sent him into a full meltdown.

He curled up on the floor with both hands clamped over his ears.

"Olivia... it's so loud..."

His lips turned grayish-purple, and his body started to jerk uncontrollably.

I threw my arms around him and used my body to shield him from the light.

"Arthur, look at me!

"Close your eyes. Breathe with me!"

My hands shaking, I reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

That was where he kept the emergency spray Chloe had made especially for him.

My fingers had barely touched the metal canister when a high heel slammed into my wrist.

The canister went rolling across the floor.

Isabella strolled down the steps and picked it up.

"You want this so you can save him?"

She toyed with it, her smile full of venom.

"Then beg me.

"Take off your dress, kneel on the broken glass, and admit in front of every camera here that you're a whore.

"Make me happy, and I'll toss the idiot his medicine."

Arthur forced his eyes open. They were already losing focus.

He caught the hem of my dress and gave a weak shake of his head.

"Olivia... don't kneel..."

My head snapped up.

"Isabella, Vito Corsetti is my brother!

"If you destroy his medicine tonight, the Corsetti family will never let you get away with it!"

For a moment, the ballroom went quiet.

Then Isabella laughed even harder.

"Don Corsetti?

"The Vito Corsetti who runs half the North American underworld?"

She was laughing so hard she was almost in tears.

"Have you been watching too many mob movies?

"If you're his sister, then I'm the president!

"Take a look at yourself before you start lying! The Corsetti family wouldn't be caught dead at a party like this!"

That part, at least, was true.

Vito never went to these phony charity galas.

I'd only agreed to come because I'd heard this gala had the best caviar in New York, so I brought Arthur along for the fun of it.

When I didn't argue, Isabella's smile turned even smugger.

"What, run out of lies?

"Why don't you have that all-powerful mob boss you call a brother send a helicopter to save you?"

As Arthur's breathing grew weaker by the second, the hotel manager couldn't stay silent any longer.

"Ms. Harrington, I think he's really about to stop breathing...

"We can't wait any longer!"

The smile vanished from Isabella's face.

"I told you, if he dies, he deserves it!"

She hurled the canister into an ice bucket, grabbed an unopened bottle of liquor, and smashed it down on the canister.

There was a loud crash.

Shards of glass and chunks of ice scattered across the floor as liquor splashed everywhere.

"No!"

I lunged like a madwoman, but two bodyguards pinned me down.

Isabella grabbed a fistful of my hair and forced my face up.

"Breaks your heart, doesn't it?

"Too late!

"Even if you licked the soles of my shoes clean right now, he'd still die right here!"

Arthur lay nearby. His eyes were sliding shut, but he was still shaking his head at me.

"Don't... kneel..."

But if it would save him, I'd do far more than kneel. I'd die right there.

I clenched my jaw and slowly started to bend my knees.

Just as my knees were about to touch the broken glass, something slammed into the ballroom's closed doors from outside.