Chapter 4
The whole place went wild.
"Honey?!"
"Did she just call the CEO honey?!"
"No way! Mr. Grayson is married?!"
The tidal wave of gossip completely drowned out all logic.
As for Finn, pale didn't even begin to cover it.
He looked sick, terrified, and completely unraveled.
When he dropped Selena's hand so violently, she actually stumbled and almost wiped out on stage.
She looked frantically between Finn and me, pure panic in her eyes.
My smile didn't waver.
I just stood there, watching Finn's face cycle from shock, to terror, and finally, to a fleeting, pathetic look of begging.
Too bad my heart was already a graveyard.
"Mr. Grayson, who is this woman?" a bold executive near the front finally asked.
Finn was completely paralyzed, avoiding eye contact with me at all costs.
He wanted to say something.
His mouth opened and closed, but his vocal cords were shot.
Selena finally snapped out of her daze.
Slapping on a painfully fake smile, she leaned into her microphone. "Please don't misunderstand, everyone. This woman is..."
She trailed off, clearly trying to spin some lie to cover his tracks.
Too late for that.
"I am Finn Grayson's wife, Lydia Grayson," I announced, enunciating every single syllable so there was zero room for confusion.
My voice wasn't yelling, but it pierced right through the chaos and hit everyone in the gut.
"She's his wife?!"
"I thought his wife lived on the East Coast!"
"No wonder he looks like he's going to throw up. He is so busted."
"Wait, so this new VP Selena is a homewrecker?"
Thousands of judgmental glares instantly aimed like laser beams right at Selena.
All the color drained from her face.
She shot Finn a helpless, teary-eyed look, begging him to fix it.
That finally got Finn moving.
Like someone hit his reset button, he scrambled down the stage steps and closed the gap between us.
He reached out, desperately trying to grab my arm.
My body reacted on pure instinct.
I jerked back, dodging his touch like he was toxic.
His hand hung awkwardly in the empty space between us, making him look even more pathetic.
"Lydia, what are you doing here?" he stammered, his voice shaking with that specific, guilty panic I knew way too well.
"If I wasn't here, how else would I get to see the grand surprise you whipped up for your little girlfriend?" I shot back.
My tone was terrifyingly light. No screaming, no crying. Just a razor-sharp blade sliding right into his ribs.
Finn's face flushed a deep, ugly red.
He glanced nervously at the thousands of employees watching his downfall, then up at Selena, who was still frozen on stage like a deer in headlights.
Then back to me.
His eyes were a chaotic mix of begging, fury, and utter helplessness.
He desperately wanted to drag me out of the room and shut down the circus.
But I wasn't letting him off the hook.
"Mr. Grayson, weren't you right in the middle of introductions?" I asked, flashing him a dangerously sweet smile.
I shifted into my most cutthroat, icy investment banker persona. "Oh, my mistake. You were introducing Ms. Vance.
"Why don't we have Ms. Vance formally introduce me to the room?"
I shifted my gaze to Selena.
She looked completely petrified, shooting desperate SOS signals at Finn.
Finn, however, was useless. He just waved his hands at me frantically.
"Lydia, please, stop making a scene," he whispered, his voice barely audible, laced with frustration and begging.
Making a scene?
My heart literally turned to ice.
To him, I was just throwing a tantrum.
Right here in his own headquarters, in front of thousands of employees, my husband of three years was holding another woman's hand, officially announcing her as the new Vice President.
And me, his actual legal wife? I was just acting crazy.
I didn't even bother hiding my absolute disgust anymore.
"Finn Grayson, tell me right now, am I the one making a scene?" I challenged, my voice rising in volume, dripping with pure sarcasm.
My pushback pissed him off.
He leaned in and hissed, "What exactly are you trying to do right now?!"
His eyes actually flashed with a warning. A threat.
I gave up one million dollars a year.
I flew across the country to bring him a massive surprise.
And I was getting threatened.