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"It's getting late, Eve," Chloe sang out. "The nice people want to close up. You don't actually have the money, do you?"
"Sad. You know what happens when you can't pay. They hold you. Maybe the NYPD gets called. You did this to me a month ago, remember?"
She fished a slim cigarette out of her clutch, lit it, and blew a long stream of smoke straight into my face.
My hand moved before I thought. I slapped the cigarette out of her mouth and sent a tray of glassware crashing with it. The dining room gasped.
Julian's face went hard. He jerked his chin at the security detail behind him and two men in black suits grabbed me and threw me against a wall.
"Eve. That's enough."
"What, you get to torment people but nobody's allowed to touch you back?"
My eyes stayed locked on his, and while they did, I thought about three years of lies.
Julian had no idea what he'd married. The Harrington Group had climbed from mid-tier to Forbes top-ten in three years for exactly one reason: me. I'd used my family's leverage, my family's board seats, my family's contacts in every quiet room that mattered. Even the more unsavory players who wanted a piece of Harrington had backed off the second they realized who I really was.
I'd planned to tell him tonight. My birthday. A proper confession. That my real name wasn't Eve Mercer. That I was Evangeline Ashford, the only heir of the Ashford dynasty, one of the oldest families on the East Coast.
I was going to take him to meet my father and mother.
Instead I was standing in ruined couture, bleeding into my own mouth, watching him stroke another woman's hair.
I'd misjudged him so completely it was almost funny.
"Julian. You really want me to walk out of here humiliated?"
He laughed. Actually laughed.
"Obviously. What did you think I set all this up for, charity?"
Chloe, emboldened by the muscle around us, lunged forward and punched me in the cheek.
"You worthless bitch. Pick one. Either you don't pay and you get hauled out by NYPD, or you strip naked, take a piece of raw steak in your teeth, and crawl out of here on all fours barking like a dog."
"The difference? Door one, you're clothed. Door two, no clothes, no dignity. Pick. I'm bored."