Chapter 6
Chloe's POV
My heart gave a hard lurch when I saw the message on the screen.
Six years had passed. I wasn't sure how many people still remembered the name K, let alone a track that had never seen an official release. Yet this person remembered. And they had reached out at the exact moment I was considering a comeback.
Lucas, is that you?
I typed the words carefully into the reply field, then sat with my finger hovering over the send button for a long moment before thinking better of it. I deleted what I'd written and responded with something safer instead.
I'm sorry — it means a great deal to me personally, so it's not for sale.
If this really was Lucas, I hadn't decided how I wanted to handle that. There was also the matter of how things had ended between us — badly, and largely because of me. He had stood in front of me with that rare, deliberate seriousness of his and said, If you insist on going with him, I won't come after you. You'll regret this. I had chosen to believe in Vincent anyway. Now every word of that warning had come true, and I had no one to blame but myself. Even if Lucas had found his way back, there was no reason to think he'd be willing to help me the way he once had.
The phone screen lit up again beside me.
If you change your mind, you know where to find me.
I didn't reply. I didn't trust myself not to ask the question I was trying not to ask.
While sorting through my personal belongings, I came across several items that belonged to the Sterling family — things that had been set aside for the future Mrs. Sterling. Since the engagement was dissolved, they needed to go back. I gathered them together and drove out to the Sterling estate, arriving just as the evening light was fading. The circular drive was lined with luxury cars, and the family's head butler was standing at the entrance with his customary composure, though when he saw me approaching he gave me a brief, measuring look from head to toe.
"Miss Chloe," he said, "this is a private family dinner, and I should mention that your attire may not be entirely appropriate for the occasion. Once you're inside, I'd advise keeping a low profile."
He gestured for someone to escort me in before I could respond. It was only then that I remembered — Vincent had mentioned the Sterling family was hosting a dinner these past few days, and that he had invited Selina as his companion for the evening. I was here now as well. I found myself mildly curious what expression would cross his face when he saw me.
I had my answer almost immediately after stepping into the main hall.
"Chloe."
I hadn't even located a seat when his voice came from just behind my shoulder. I turned to find Vincent standing beside me, impeccably dressed in a tailored suit, his manner as polished as ever — and his expression distinctly displeased.
"So after all this drama," he said, his voice pitched low, "you came here tonight just to force my hand. Is that it?" He didn't wait for me to answer. "Once we're married, I'll announce your position publicly. You don't need to pull stunts like this. The family elders have taken a long time to warm up to you — if you cause any trouble tonight, don't expect me to cover for you."
He had decided, apparently, that my presence was a calculated move to pressure him into acknowledging me in front of his family. I met his eyes directly. "Vincent, I'll say it once more — I don't love you anymore. And you've already signed the dissolution papers. That's final."
His brow tightened, and he looked as though he was about to say something further, when a ripple of attention moved through the room behind us. Selina had arrived. She was wearing an elaborate gown that showed off the long, precise lines of a dancer's body, and the crowd parted and turned for her the way crowds tend to do for people who understand how to enter a room. The only thing missing was an escort on her arm.
Vincent glanced toward her, and something in his expression softened. When he turned back to me, what replaced it was impatience.
"Enough, Chloe. I'm not interested in playing along with whatever this is." He kept his voice level, almost bored. "The only reason I asked Selina tonight was because of your behavior. Don't make this worse by going after her."
He turned and walked toward her without waiting for a response.
I stayed where I was and watched them, and what I felt wasn't quite hurt — it had cured past hurt into something harder and more sardonic. He had invited Selina entirely on his own initiative, and he had just managed to make it my fault.
I was a remarkably convenient shield.
With Vincent at her side, Selina drew the evening's attention effortlessly. When the family matriarch, Aurelia Sterling, made her entrance, Selina moved forward to greet her with a practiced warmth that had the older woman visibly pleased. The guests around them, whatever they privately thought of Selina's family background, followed Aurelia's lead and offered their compliments.
"She's beautiful and charming — no wonder Vincent brought her. Miles better than Chloe."
"If it had been Selina from the beginning, we wouldn't have spent six years trying to train someone up. All that effort, and she's still common. No real breeding."
"Vincent, have you ever considered simply — switching?"
Selina received their admiration with a becoming show of modesty. Vincent positioned himself to shield her from the more pointed teasing, and said, easily, "Selina is exceptional. Married or not, I intend to look after her for the rest of her life."
I was sitting in a corner of the room, and I became aware that my fingers had curled tight in my lap. Six years. I had spent six years working to earn this family's approval, pouring everything I had into becoming someone they could accept — and what I had to show for it was no real breeding, said in the same room where I was sitting, by people who didn't even bother to lower their voices.
I didn't believe Vincent hadn't heard them. He had heard every word, and his response had been to defend Selina. The silence where my name should have been was its own kind of answer.
"Boss." Vincent's personal assistant came in at a near-run, too urgent to observe the usual discretion about the company he was in. "The final processing stage on the product line — the supplier just backed out of the contract. Every order is frozen."
Vincent's expression went still in the particular way it did when he was containing something. He glanced at me, almost involuntarily.
I recognized the project the moment the assistant described it. I had managed that line myself. I turned it over in my mind for a few seconds, then said, "There are several smaller suppliers in the south. Their capacity is limited, so they wouldn't be a long-term solution, but they can cover the material shortage in the short term."
Vincent hesitated.
"I reached out to them before we finalized the current contract," I said, keeping my voice even. "They met all our specifications — the only reason I didn't proceed was because they couldn't commit to long-term volume. For a stopgap, they'll work."
He gave the assistant a nod, and the man left immediately. A number of the guests had turned to look at me, something recalibrating behind their eyes. I didn't pay it much attention. I reached for my glass and looked down at the table.
From across the room, Aurelia's voice carried clearly. "Chloe works for the company? I wasn't aware. It sounds as though she holds a significant position."
"She handled a few minor projects," Vincent said. "Nothing important."
I pulled my mouth into something that wasn't quite a smile.
Aurelia's tone didn't change — it had the particular quality of someone who has never needed to raise her voice to make herself felt. "If it's nothing important, then there's no need for her to continue. As your future wife, her responsibilities should be to you and to this household. Not to be out representing the Sterling name in public. Who knows what sort of embarrassment she might cause."
Vincent agreed without a moment's hesitation.
I pressed my lips together. He knew — he knew exactly what I had contributed to that company over six years, the revenue, the client relationships, the projects that had quietly held things together. And he had just erased all of it with the ease of someone brushing crumbs off a table.
Selina looked over at me with an expression arranged into sympathy. "Don't be upset, Chloe. Mrs. Sterling is right — the company has Vincent, and that's what matters. He works so hard. He really does need someone at home to take care of things properly."
I looked at her for a moment. "I think a housekeeper would handle that more efficiently," I said. "Since you're so concerned about his domestic comfort, Selina, perhaps you'd like to apply for the position."
She hadn't expected that. The sympathy dissolved and her eyes went bright with the beginning of tears, and she turned instinctively toward Vincent.
"I'm sorry, Chloe," she said softly, her voice already wavering. "I was only trying to be kind."
Vincent's face had gone cold. He turned to me in front of the entire room. "That was completely out of line. Apologize to Selina. Now."
The guests were watching. He was standing there in public, defending another woman and issuing commands to his own fiancée, and the looks coming my way had the particular quality of people watching something unfortunate unfold — not unkind exactly, just satisfied that it wasn't happening to them.
Each one landed like a flat, open-handed slap.
I pressed my nails into my palm. "The person who owes an apology," I said quietly, "is not me." If an apology were owed in this room, it was owed to me — by everyone in it, for six years I would never get back.
Selina pushed back her chair and left the room in tears. Vincent shot me one hard look and followed her.
The guests began talking among themselves, unhurried, as though I weren't still sitting there.
"Whatever Selina said, humiliating her in front of everyone like that — it's simply not done."
"Vincent must regret it. That Selina isn't the one he's engaged to."
I sat with my hands folded in my lap and said nothing, and the room went on around me as though I were already gone.
