//Ch 1//

[Isabella Hayes]

I sat in the front row, in view of the cameras, feeling so many things at once. The cameramen seemed to love me because every now and then, a round of clicks would go off in my direction. Something like this would bother a normal person, someone who wasn’t used to being the center of attention.

That used to be me before I married into the Cole Family. I had no choice but to get used to it, and that’s exactly what I’ve done. I still get nervous… who doesn’t? I’ve just gotten better at hiding it. That’s the key. Faking it.

Adrian Cole, my husband, leans closer to me, wanting to get in the shot for the next photo. He plants a kiss on my exposed shoulder, and I turn to look at him. Feeling bashful at the attention. He never cared about who saw him show his affection. That’s the one thing I loved the most about him.

When he loved someone, or something, there wasn’t anything in the world that would stop him from showing it.

“Behave,” I whispered, gently nudging him with my hand.

He latches on to it, linking our fingers together. “You look beautiful, my love. How am I supposed to behave? If I’d known you’d show up in that dress, I would have ditched this event and taken you dancing.”

A giggle escapes before I can stop it. The entire place is buzzing, so the sound didn’t carry all around.

Adrian smirks, his handsome face becoming even more so with that one action. His soft, dark blonde hair falls despite the obscene amount of gel I know he used to keep it together.

We’d decided to come separately because he had a meeting before the event, and I needed to be here to set things up. I thought I’d sit and wait for him after, but turns out he cut his meeting short just to make it in time to surprise me.

Can you tell that I love this man? Because I do. He’s amazing.

“You couldn’t have done that because this is my event.”

This is a charity gala I spent six months working on. Every millionaire in the city of Aurelia is in attendance. There’s not one empty seat. The money raised from this event will go into helping with the research for lung cancer.

Something my father died from.

“Of course. I know that. We can still go dancing after this, right?”

I nodded. “After this, I’m all yours.”

His eyes darken with desire. “All mine… I love that.”

I heard a sound and turned to face the stage. One of the event coordinators was announcing the next speaker. I heard my name before she said it. I made the list, I know who goes on where, and when.

The crowd erupted in applause, and the large screen flickered onto my face. Displaying Adrian and me for everyone to see. My husband pulls away to join the crowd in clapping for me.

My cheeks feel hot as I stand, and my legs almost feel like they might give out. No matter how many of these I attend or host, there’ll always be a moment when I feel overwhelmed.

This is apparently that moment. I’m frozen in place for a split second. I know I have to move, but my body won’t cooperate.

Adrian must have noticed this because he joined me by standing. He places a hand on the base of my spine and pushes gently. My legs start moving, and I feel a fullness in my chest. The touch, even through my black dress, feels warm.

He reaches down as we approach the stairs leading up to the stage, and slowly grabs the bottom of my dress. Revealing my shoes and preventing me from stepping on the cloth, or worse, tripping because of it.

We made it to the podium, and the applause only seemed to get louder.

Adrian stopped just before we reached it. He knelt and dropped the part of my dress that he was holding. Even going out of his way to fluff it back and arrange it properly.

The audience adored this as awe joined the sounds of clapping.

He rose once he was satisfied, and stared at me. His gray eyes filled with love and something close to happiness.

“You’ve got this.” He cheered. I was about to thank him when he leaned in, kissing my cheek softly. He left before I could utter the words.

But I knew it wasn’t necessary. He knows how I feel.

Focus, Isa. This is your time.

I made a mental note to thank him later and got down to business.

The woman who’d been standing there handed me the microphone and the piece of paper I’d given her. It was my speech.

I knew it by memory, but it’s always good to have a piece of paper. It grounds me, reduces my nerves.

The ballroom quieted down at the right moment, and I tightened my fingers around the mic slightly. “I know I’m not usually the one who gives speeches,” I said softly, earning a few polite laughs. “I prefer staying behind the scenes and making a brief appearance. But tonight is different.”

I was just at the beginning when my eyes caught Adrian’s, and my mouth curled upwards. Then his expression changes, his eyebrows deepening into a frown. He patted his jacket, then reached into it.

“I’m sure you know tonight is about meeting a goal for the lung cancer researchers at the Pollen Association. I thought it would take us hours to meet that goal, but you’ve all done an amazing job. So I’m here… here to talk, to thank, to let you know that we hit the goal before the event fully kicked in.” There are hoots and another round of applause. I see familiar faces, people I know who don’t care about the event, but like feeling important. None of that bothers me.

I’m about to continue when a sharp ringtone cuts through the silence. Heads turn instantly, and Adrian glances towards his screen. It’s like he didn’t even notice that the entire room was eyeing him with disdain. That I was eyeing him.

Then he smiled, not a polite, awkward… I’m sorry for the rudeness smile. But a real, genuine smile. The kind directed towards me.

My voice died in my throat.

He stood immediately, swiped at the screen, and brought the phone up to his ears. People shifted uncomfortably as he strode toward the exit, laughing about something I couldn’t catch before the doors even closed behind him.

The doors shut with a loud noise. Then there was silence. A terrible, burning silence.

I remained frozen at the podium for one second too long. Feeling just as confused as the audience of our wealthy peers. Isn’t this my Adrian? The one who just kissed my cheek?

Then someone gave a small, pitying clap, as if to get me back to what I was doing.

Like my husband hadn’t just left after answering a call during what was probably the most important event I’d ever planned in my life. I’ve planned a thousand of these to promote the things he and his friends care about. But this is the one event that means so much to me. The one that I know my father would have been proud of.

My stomach twisted. I forced a smile onto my face, though it felt brittle enough to crack.

“Anyway…” I said quietly. “What I was trying to say was… thank you for being here tonight. And for donating.”

It was shorter, safer, nothing like the speech I’d planned. I walked off the stage this time without applause, just the sound of my heels and the silence of a crowd that didn’t know what to do.