The slap landed with enough force to snap my head toward the tiers of sparkling champagne glasses. For a single heartbeat, my vision was filled with golden sparks from the overhead fixtures and the shimmering reflection of the mirrored walls.crsaid
The skin below my eye began to throb with a hot and stinging pulse that made my vision blur. I heard a woman gasp somewhere in the crowd, while a few guests started to chuckle behind their silk napkins.
The laughter grew until it filled the ballroom, which was far worse than if they had been cruel on purpose. It was the sound of wealthy people finding better entertainment in my pain than they did in the expensive wedding band.
Tessa stood directly in front of me with her hand still raised in the air as if she was shocked by how satisfying it felt to strike me. You do not belong in a place like this, she said in a voice that was loud enough for every guest to hear.
She had always known how to command a room, even when she was a teenager who could cry on command to get her way. Now she was thirty one years old and wearing a gown that cost more than my first year of rent, but she still had that same talent for making her own nastiness look like my shame.
I did not touch my face or take a single step back from her. I simply remained silent, which was the one thing that had always made her feel exposed and truly seen.
The music from the string quartet began to fade into a series of awkward notes before stopping completely. Even the waiters stopped moving because they realized they were witnessing a story they would be telling for years to come.
Tessa took a step closer while the diamonds at her ears caught the light and a flush of anger began to show through her heavy makeup. Look at you, she said with a sneer, do you really think you can stand here with people of our status?
A few guests near the dance floor laughed again because they assumed I had already been judged as someone worthless. I held my glass of water with a steady hand and realized that people find it very easy to be cruel when the bride is leading the way.
Then a deep voice cut through the noise like a sharp blade. Do you even have the slightest idea who she is?
The room fell silent instantly as Dominic Rhodes, her fiancé, stepped forward with a look of total shock on his face. He did not look like the happy man who had been hugging relatives an hour ago, but instead looked like someone who had just realized his entire life was a lie.
He stared at me with an intensity that ignored everyone else in the crowded ballroom. Miss Thorne, he said in a voice that was quiet but carried a dangerous edge.
