CHAPTER 290: CHAPTER 290 CHARITY DINNER

I checked my reflection one last time in the compact mirror, snapped it shut, and slipped it back into my clutch. Lipstick intact, hair behaving itself. I took a steadying breath and stepped into the grand hall.

The chandeliers overhead gleamed like frozen fireworks. The clink of glasses and the rise and fall of conversation filled the air. This was one of those chamber of commerce charity dinners where a plate of rubbery steak cost a five-figure ‘donation’. Normally, I would have found an excuse to skip it. I hated these events, the false laughter, the posturing, the air thick with perfume and self-importance.

But tonight was different.

Lea’s words still rang in my head. She had said she would do anything for Ashton. Anything. That poisonous little boast had lodged under my skin. It made me ask myself the question I had been avoiding: what about me?

I knew Ashton was buried in problems at LGH. Turning up at his office demanding to know where we stood, distracting him with relationship drama, would only make things worse.

If I couldn’t help him, I should at least stay out of his way.

But maybe I could help, maybe there was something I could do.

Yvaine had pulled strings. Her brother Emmett had passed on what he knew, which was enough to confirm that LGH’s biggest threat right now was a rumoured city ordinance. If it went through, it would strangle the company’s cash flow and choke its projects before they broke ground.

It was still only talk, but that was how such things worked. A whisper became a rumour, the rumour became a certainty, and by the time the vote was cast, it was already too late.

Emmett had given me a name. Gerard Haldane, the Deputy Commissioner of Urban Development. The man who could make or break the ordinance. And according to the guest list, he was supposed to be here tonight.

I didn’t know what exactly I hoped to achieve, but if nothing else, I could at least meet him, test the waters.

The dinner had not yet begun. The crowd was still mingling. I held a glass of wine I had no intention of finishing and scanned the hall, trying to match faces to the photograph I had memorised of Haldane. Silver hair, thick brows, a habit of holding his jaw too high.

Before I could find him, another face loomed into my line of vision.

‘Mira?’

I stiffened.

Rhys.

He had lost weight. The tuxedo hung a little too loosely on his frame. His hair was neatly styled, his jaw freshly shaved, but his eyes were weary, shadows sunk beneath them.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.

‘Business,’ I said coolly.

His gaze flicked to my bare left hand. He noted the absence of a ring the way only an ex-fiancé would.

‘Where’s Ashton?’

‘That’s none of your business.’

His mouth curved in a bitter smile. ‘So it’s true then. He broke up with you.’

‘That’s none of your business either.’

My eyes dropped, almost by reflex, to his own hand. No ring.

Rhys noticed me watching. ‘Cathy and I are over,’ he said flatly.

‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

I wasn’t sorry at all.

I turned back to scanning the room. A man like Haldane would make a late entrance just to be noticed. I didn’t want to miss him.

Rhys, however, was not done with me.

‘I’m single now,’ he said.

‘Congratulations,’ I replied drily.

‘You know I still have feelings for you.’

‘I don’t.’

‘I made a stupid mistake. I want to start over. I want us to start over.’

‘No, thank you.’

‘Is it because of Ashton? But you two are over.’

My patience snapped. ‘I don’t want to talk about this with you.’

I made to move past him, but he blocked my way, his tone turning sly.

‘A man like Ashton Laurent is out of your league, Mira. You know that, don’t you?’

The words struck harder than I wanted to admit. Because they touched on the thought that kept me awake at night. Maybe I wasn’t good enough for Ashton. He had saved me, time and again, while I had nothing to offer when his world tilted into crisis.

I forced the anger down, pressed my voice flat and cold. ‘I’m not here to rehash old times or trade insults. If that’s all you’ve got to say, this conversation is over.’

I tried again to move past him. His hand shot out and closed around my arm.

I was already lifting my other hand, ready to slap him, when a new voice cut in.

‘Let go of her.’

Daniel.

Rhys’s half-brother seized his wrist and wrenched it off me. Rhys stumbled, red with fury.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Daniel snapped at him. ‘Making a scene at a charity event? Pathetic.’

Rhys muttered something under his breath and slunk off into the crowd.

Daniel turned to me, gentler. ‘Are you all right?’

I steadied my breath and nodded. ‘Thank you.’

He smiled faintly. The same smile that had once been warm, even boyish, back when he worked for me at my studio. That was before I knew he was a Granger. Before he started looking at me as if he wanted more than a job.

‘I’ve missed you,’ he said quietly.

My heart sank. Not this again.

‘Thanks for helping me just now,’ I said. ‘But I’m not interested in dating any of the Grangers. Not you, not Rhys.’

I turned to go, but his next words froze me.

‘What if I could help you meet the Deputy Commissioner?’