The Gala (chapter Four)

Crystal chandeliers blazed overhead as I stepped into the gala. My black evening dress hung loosely on my weakened frame. I'd lost at least fifteen pounds since the surgery. Every step sent sharp pain through my body, but I kept my head high and my shoulders back.

I was here. At the Celestial Diamond Annual Gala. Where I belonged.

"You're the famous Roberta!" The secretary's face lit up with recognition as she guided me past security. "Mr. Davis is running late, but he reserved a spot for you in the VIP section. Right this way."

Before I could reach it, iron fingers clamped around my arm and yanked me backward.

Lydia stood before me in blood red silk, her perfect skin glowing under the chandeliers. "What are you doing here, you wretched fool?" she snarled, tightening her grip until my arm burned.

"Let go of me." I pulled back, gritting my teeth against the pain. "I was invited."

"Invited?" Lydia's voice sliced through me like a blade. "You diseased little rat. This gathering isn't for desperate nobodies begging for scraps."

Of course, Lydia would be here. She must have heard the rumors that Roberta Alfred was finally making an appearance after so many years. Little did she know she was staring right at her.

To Lydia, I was just the broken woman whose life she'd systematically destroyed.

"You came here to ruin my chances of meeting Roberta, didn't you?" She dragged me closer, her breath hot against my ear. "I'll make you regret ever setting foot in this place, you jealous, worthless creature!"

Lydia's hands slammed into my chest, pushing me hard. I fell backward onto the cold marble floor. Blood exploded from my wounded palm as the barely healed cuts split open against the hard surface.

Her lips curved into that familiar, cruel smile as she towered over me. All eyes turned toward us. Conversations stopped. Whispers began.

"Who is that poor woman?" someone murmured.

"Obviously, some deranged imposter," another woman's voice drifted over. "She doesn't belong at this kind of gathering."

"Good thing they're teaching her a lesson," someone else added loudly. "This isn't the type of event beggars think they can crash."

The whispers seemed to embolden Lydia. She grabbed a champagne flute from a passing tray. Without warning, golden liquid splashed across my face, burning my eyes and soaking through my dress.

Every stare felt like acid eating through my skin. My heart pounded in my throat. My body trembled.

The looks from the crowd were a mix of pity and disgust, like I was something dirty that had wandered in from the street.

Heavy footsteps thundered across the marble.

Leo.

In that split second, Lydia's face crumpled into fake terror. She grabbed another champagne flute, dumped the entire contents on her own dress, and threw herself to the ground beside me.

"Please don't hurt me, Elena," she pleaded, tears welling in her eyes. "I didn't mean to spill champagne on you. It was an accident!"

"What the hell is going on here?" Leo's voice exploded like a gunshot.

His gaze found me crumpled on the floor, and the disgust that twisted his features made my soul wither.

Without hesitation, he lifted Lydia into his arms as if she were made of glass.

Leo's gentle, affectionate touch toward her was like watching my own funeral.

"You sick, twisted woman." His words hit like physical blows. "Didn't I tell you to stay in the hospital? Attacking Lydia wasn't enough? Now you're stalking us at public events?"

"I... I..." I tried to speak, but the words stuck in my throat.

I bit my lip hard to hold back tears. I stared at the man who had once promised he would treat me better than any woman on earth as he trashed me cruelly in front of everyone.

With every ounce of strength left in me, I pushed myself to my feet.

"I wasn't stalking you," I said, my voice firm even though everything inside me was falling apart. "I was invited to this gala."

"Invited?" Leo's voice was sharp and cold. "By who?"

"What sick fantasy are you living in now?" Lydia interrupted, her voice full of contempt. Her fingers curled around Leo's arm possessively, her eyes gleaming with malice as they met mine.

"Elena is probably too ashamed to admit that she snuck in. She begged me earlier, asking me not to cause a scene but to let her stay." Her voice trembled as tears gathered in her eyes. "I told her to leave quietly, but instead, she attacked me."

"That's a lie!" I shot back. "I can prove I'm here on an invitation."

My fingers shook as I pulled out my phone. Within seconds, I'd called the number. The secretary appeared at my side almost immediately.

"Is everything alright, ma'am?" she asked, concerned in her eyes. Leo's expression shifted, confusion flickering across his face.

"Tell them," I said. "Tell them I was invited."

"Of course you were invited," the secretary confirmed. "Mr. Davis specifically requested your presence tonight for..."

"Stop this charade, Elena." Lydia's voice cracked with fake emotion. Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks as she turned to the secretary. "How much did she pay you to lie for her?"

The secretary's face flushed with indignation. "She didn't pay me anything! I'm telling the tr..."

"Enough!" Lydia cut her off with sharp authority. "Please leave. We don't need to hear more lies."

Leo's eyes darkened. The temperature in the ballroom seemed to drop ten degrees.

"How dare you drag innocent people into your web of lies?" he said to me.

"No, wait." I reached desperately for my phone. "I can call Mr. Davis myself. He'll confirm everything."

Leo lunged forward. His hand closed around my phone and hurled it against the marble wall with devastating force.

The device exploded into a thousand glittering pieces.

Behind him, Lydia's smile was pure poison.

Something cold and deadly shifted inside me. The last thread of hope I'd been clinging to snapped.

I turned away from them and limped toward the house phone near the coat check area. Every eye in the ballroom followed me.

I picked up the receiver with shaking hands and dialed the number I knew by heart.

"Tell Mr. Davis," I said quietly into the phone, "that Roberta Alfred is here. And she needs to see him now."

The words hit the air like a nuclear bomb.

Leo's face went white as fresh snow.

The entire ballroom went silent. Everyone sensed the shift without fully understanding it. They didn't know their offense yet. They had just messed with the wrong woman.