Chapter 3
Meanwhile, Finn was busy building a golden staircase for another woman.
Perfect. Just perfect, Finn Grayson.
Slowly, a freezing, hollow smile stretched across my face.
The trembling stopped.
The heartbreak faded, replaced by a bone-chilling numbness.
I watched the golden couple soaking up the spotlight.
I saw the happy smiles on their faces.
I watched Finn's eyes soften exclusively for Selena.
For a second, I felt incredibly out of place.
Maybe I shouldn't have come.
Maybe I should have just stayed in my city, kept my high-powered job, and continued playing pretend in our dead marriage.
But I was here.
And since I had already crashed the party, I wasn't about to slink out the back door.
That would be a massive disservice to the one million dollars I walked away from.
And an even bigger disservice to the lovely gift he had waiting for me.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly stood up.
It wasn't a dramatic movement, but in a room full of seated, buzzing people, it stuck out like a sore thumb.
The moment I got to my feet, heads turned.
They shot me weird, confused looks.
The speeches and announcements were over, and technically it was time for open-floor questions, but nobody ever volunteered to go first.
Yet there I was, standing stiff and tall.
At some point, I had ripped off the gold wire-rimmed glasses and gripped them in my hand.
No more hiding. I put myself fully on display for the entire room to see.
Up on stage, Finn was whispering something to Selena.
He had a completely smitten smile on his face.
He hadn't even noticed the commotion in the back yet.
I smiled.
I raised my hands.
I started clapping.
The sound was sharp and deafening against the low hum of gossip.
Slow, rhythmic claps that cut through the room like a knife.
The whispering died instantly.
Thousands of eyes swiveled around and locked dead onto me.
People looked shocked, curious, and probing.
I ignored them all.
My eyes were glued to the two people standing on that stage.
My smile grew wider, and my clapping got louder and more intense.
I stepped out of the aisle and started walking straight toward the front.
My heels clicked sharply against the polished floor.
Every step felt like a drumbeat echoing over the dead-silent room.
The crowd parted like the Red Sea.
Thousands of gazes tracked me like spotlights.
Finally, Finn noticed.
He stopped laughing with Selena, his brows furrowing in annoyance as he looked out at the audience.
The absolute second his eyes landed on me, his face froze.
The gentleness, the smugness, the relaxed confidence. It all shattered into a million pieces.
Utter panic and sheer disbelief took over.
His eyes blew wide open.
His jaw went slack, but no sound came out.
Instinctively, he dropped Selena's hand like it was on fire.
Selena looked annoyed for a split second before following his gaze.
When she saw me, she flinched.
A complicated flash of emotions crossed her face.
She looked guilty and panicked, but buried underneath it all was a sickeningly smug sense of triumph.
I didn't give her a second glance.
I kept my eyes locked on Finn.
I watched in real time as his perfect reality crumbled into dust.
The untouchable corporate king emperor just turned into a terrified inmate on death row.
I stopped my march about ten feet away from the stage.
I dropped my hands.
The silence in the room was suffocating.
Every single person was holding their breath, glued to this bizarre, high-stakes standoff.
I looked right at him and gave him the brightest, coldest smile of our entire three-year marriage.
My voice wasn't a scream, but it was loud enough to carry through the quiet auditorium. "Surprise, honey?"
The second the words left my mouth, the room practically exploded.