Chapter 4

Did Lewis really not realize his little performance was what made Fiona look bad?

Everyone nearby turned to stare. Whispers spread through the crowd, and a few guests pointed our way.

Fiona, who had just warned me not to embarrass her, immediately jumped to his defense. She caught his arm and stepped in front of him.

"Joel, are you happy now? I asked you not to cause a scene, and now Lewis has to stand here defending himself in front of everyone!

"Do you think humiliating him will make me cut him out of my life? Let me save you the trouble. You're nowhere near the man he is!"

Her voice carried across the room. Apparently, her concerns about making a scene no longer applied.

I nodded and gave them a round of applause. Such devotion deserved an audience.

"It seems selfish to keep a performance this good to myself. Let's share it."

I pulled out my phone, started a livestream, and aimed the camera at them.

"Sorry, I missed the beginning. Can you run through that again? Come on. Let everyone see what a special relationship you two have."

Comments poured in the second the livestream started.

Lewis drew a slow breath and tightened his jaw, looking like a man doing his best to keep his composure.

"Give him some space. He's upset. I'm not going to hold it against him."

Fiona rested a hand on his arm, then shot me a furious look.

"Stop making excuses for him. He keeps doing this because he knows you'll give him the benefit of the doubt. Now he's filming you at a private gala. What else could he possibly want except to ruin your reputation?"

He played the bigger man while she supplied the accusations. Neither seemed particularly concerned with what actually happened.

The viewers knew only what those two told them, and the comments quickly turned ugly.

Between Lewis's show of restraint and Fiona's indignation, even people who initially held off on taking sides started coming after me.

[Lewis is too kind. Joel treats him like crap, and he still won't hold it against him.]

[Fiona's right. Joel's a bully. Why else would he livestream this unless he wanted to ruin Lewis?]

[Report the stream. Stop giving this jerk a platform!]

[Get lost, creep! How'd this guy even get into a place like that? Did some rich older woman buy him a ticket?]

The comments got uglier by the second.

Lewis glanced my way, barely hiding his satisfaction. Beside him, Fiona lifted her chin, looking entirely too pleased with herself.

"Are you ready to apologize now? Do it here, in front of everyone, and I might consider giving you one last chance. Otherwise, don't expect to find work anywhere in this city. Move to the middle of nowhere if you like. I'll make sure that doesn't help."

I gave a dry laugh and caught the eye of a bodyguard nearby.

One small gesture was all it took. A moment later, the video from my phone filled the enormous screen at the front of the ballroom.

It was the footage I recorded two days earlier.

"Fiona was still my fiancée when I filmed this. That's her getting cozy with another man, right in front of me. Anyone here wanna tell me that's normal?"

I aimed my phone at the screen so everyone on the livestream could enjoy the footage of Fiona and Lewis, too.

"You know it wasn't like that!" Lewis lunged for my phone. "You're twisting things to make us look bad. Nothing happened between Fiona and me!"

I pulled up the photo he sent me of them in bed, then switched back and forth between that and the video.

"Still sticking with that story, huh? Well, if you don't like this, you're really gonna hate what comes next."

I opened another folder on my phone.