Chapter 2

"Miss Avril, I'm sorry. I was the reason you lost your chance to be the center of attention tonight. Please don't blame Lorenzo. He was only trying to help me..."

Layla leaned against Lorenzo as though she were slightly tipsy and could barely stand. He instinctively put an arm around her, and when he looked back at me, there was already impatience in his eyes.

"It's only one dance. If you want to dance, I'll dance with you now."

He half-carried Layla to a nearby chair and settled her down before turning to me with a frown and holding out his hand.

Unlike the gentlemanly way he had invited Layla to dance, he couldn't even be bothered to bow.

Layla was the woman he had asked to dance and treated with care. I was merely someone he was reluctantly forcing himself to accompany.

The whispers around us were no longer restrained.

"Everyone's been saying the Thorne family doesn't accept her. Now that Lorenzo and Miss Layla are engaged, she's still clinging to him. It's so embarrassing. If I were her, I'd go find a swimming pool and drown myself."

Lorenzo's face darkened. "Shut up."

Layla apologized to me as well. "Miss Avril, I'm sorry. They're usually even harsher to me. As Lorenzo's girlfriend, you've always been surrounded by people fawning over you. I never imagined that just this once, you'd end up being the one who was treated unfairly..."

"I've always had people fawning over me?"

Layla tried to get up from the chair, then once again threw herself into Lorenzo's arms with tears welling in her eyes.

Lorenzo had run out of patience with me. "The opening-dance ceremony is over. Layla is the star of the night. I'm going to take her around to greet the guests. If you're upset, go home and get some rest."

With that, he half-carried Layla into the crowd.

Lorenzo's younger sister, Annie Thorne, approached me with a glass of red wine. Her eyes were full of provocation.

"Oh. Why aren't you dancing, Miss Avril? I suppose I should thank you for helping Lorenzo organize the party."

This was the Thorne family's true attitude toward me. Annie especially disliked me. She thought I'd stolen her spotlight simply because I was Lorenzo's girlfriend.

"Wow. Lorenzo and Layla really do look perfect together.

"My brother is so good to Layla. That ruby set she's wearing was his engagement gift to her. He personally went abroad to an auction and paid a fortune for it."

I stared at her in surprise. Since childhood, she resented me, convinced that I'd stolen her brother from her.

So Lorenzo hadn’t just acted on a whim. He had been preparing for this day all along, while I had foolishly believed right up until the party began that this celebration was meant to be his declaration of love for me.

Annie looked pleased by the shock on my face. Her voice rose with smugness. "Avril, your family still depends on the Thornes. You're not good enough for Lorenzo. Layla will be my sister-in-law."

Annie carefully watched my expression. When she saw that I wasn't heartbroken as she'd expected but remained completely calm, she grew angry.

She wanted to break through my composure. In fact, she was already doing exactly that. She raised her hand high.

But it never reached my face. Someone caught her wrist halfway there.

It was Lorenzo.