Chapter 4

That year was the poorest, hardest stretch of my life.

I worked myself to the bone to get Damian the best brand-name drugs, to keep him going until a kidney came through.

For money, I'd kneel at a party to pick up a check somebody threw on the floor. I'd take work pouring drinks at an underground bar, wearing see-through stockings, drinking until my stomach bled.

I thought that party was probably the last time Adrian and I would ever see each other.

Until, a few days later, that girl Charlotte came looking for me.

Charlotte's friends must have kept hearing people say she looked like me.

She wanted to see me for herself.

She came to the bar's private room with a few socialite friends, and those girls asked for me by name.

One of them looked me up and down, open contempt in her eyes. "So you're Eve? The Don's first love?"

"First love, please. I heard she sold Vance secrets for a few grand and got thrown out by the old Don. She's a traitor."

Something in me went bleak.

So that was the story Adrian's father had put out.

Charlotte looked at my heavy makeup, her expression saying plainly that she found me filthy.

I clenched my fists and held my temper.

I didn't want trouble. I just asked if they wanted to buy drinks.

If not, they were only wasting my time, and I still had money to make.

The girl took it as disrespect and sneered. "What's with the attitude? Pouring drinks in a dirty little place like this, and you're acting high and mighty?"

She slammed a thick stack of bills on the table in front of me, pointed at a row of cheap hard liquor, and said, "Fine, Eve. You like money? Drink all of these down in one go and I'll give you a hundred grand."

Drink all of that and I'd be in the hospital getting my stomach pumped.

Charlotte put on a flustered little act and gently talked the girl down. "We agreed, didn't we? We'd just come take a look, we wouldn't put Eve in a hard spot."

"Everyone says she's good at seducing men, tells me to watch out for her. Even Adrian says I'm too naive, worries she'll walk all over me."

"But I'm fine. Adrian's heart is completely mine."

I listened quietly, and I understood well enough. She was telling me how much Adrian loved her, and how much he despised me.

I smiled and said nothing. I just asked her friend, "So we're agreed? I drink all of this, you give me a hundred grand?"

Then I picked up a bottle and started pouring it down my throat.

Everyone sucked in a breath. They hadn't expected me to throw away my own life for money.

Charlotte grabbed my hand, wrenched the bottle away, and murmured, "Eve, how can you ruin yourself like this over money?"

"As women we have to know shame. I wasn't going to say this, I didn't want to upset you. But you know what? Adrian can't stand women like you, women who'd risk their lives for a little cash—"

I cut her off through the burn in my stomach and asked, "Where's the money?"

"What he likes now, what he hates, what's it to me? I just want the hundred grand you promised."

Charlotte looked down at me, her eyes full of arrogance and scorn. "Eve, a hundred grand isn't even enough to get my jewelry serviced. I'd sooner toss it to a beggar on the street than give it to you."

She stepped closer in her heels, mockery plain in her voice. "Look at the state of you. Where's the backbone the eldest Ashford daughter used to have? The Ashfords are gone, Adrian threw you away, and now you're just a stray scrounging in the mud. You're too pathetic to even be worth my amusement."

Her friend gave me a hard shove and jeered. "Get it now? Miss Charlotte's toying with you. She's not giving you a dime. What's a stray dog like you going to do about it?"

I looked at them coldly, and then I started to laugh too.

The next second I brought my arm down and smashed the bottle against the corner of the table.

Glass exploded with a sharp crack, and a jagged edge caught Charlotte's arm, opening a thin, bleeding line.

"I'll say it one more time. Give me the money."

The room dropped to freezing in an instant.

Charlotte glanced down at the blood on her arm, her eyes turning vicious, and said coldly, "Ruin that hand of hers."

But the next second the door slammed open, kicked in. Adrian stood in the doorway against the light, staring at me, ice cold.

"Eve, you hurt my fiancée on my own turf. You looking to die? Apologize."

Charlotte's bodyguards, hearing Adrian's order, could only pull back the knives they'd drawn.

They'd been that close to taking my hand off.

I sneered. "Your fiancée broke her word first. A hundred grand. Hand it over."

Adrian ground his teeth and said, one word at a time, "The Vances play fair. You want money? Fine. Apologize to Charlotte first."

I watched Adrian shield Charlotte, and I remembered how, long ago, he'd once thrown everything away for me too, even gone to war with his entire family.

I knew what he wanted. He wanted me to smooth things over, to make Charlotte happy.

Fine. For Damian's medical bills, I'd do anything.

That vicious face of Charlotte's finally curved into a smile.

"Miss Eve, since my fiancé's spoken, a verbal apology won't do. I've bled, after all."

I looked at the cut on Charlotte's arm, picked a sharp shard off the floor, and dragged it hard across my own wrist.

Then I held out my bleeding hand and said calmly to Adrian, "Give it to me. The hundred grand."

Adrian looked at me, and all at once his eyes went red.

Watching Adrian's clenched jaw and trembling pupils, the smile on Charlotte's face froze.

She pulled a check from the inside of Adrian's jacket and put it in my hand, her voice soft. "Eve, I'm not giving you this because I owe you. It's because I don't want to be like you, someone who cares so little about her own life over a bit of money."

I couldn't be bothered with her fake face any longer. I took the check and started to leave, but Adrian grabbed my wrist.

He said my name and cursed at me through his teeth. "Eve, does it not hurt? Would being broke kill you?"

The way his brows knotted, it almost looked like it pained him.

I wrenched my hand free, turned back, and said with a cold smile, "I've always been a woman who'd do anything for money, Adrian. You knew that five years ago, didn't you?"

"Mind your own business, and keep your woman in line. Stop coming after me."