This was a high-end private banquet, and Grace had even specially asked them to add extra courses. It shouldn''t have been possible for anyone to leave hungry.


    Ethan didn''t answer her. He kept his head down, his expression unreadable.


    Grace, thinking about the five million dors he had casually handed her earlier, gave a small, awkward smile and tried to smooth things over. "Maybe I could head over to Palm Bay and whip up a few light dishes for you?" she offered.


    The words had barely left her mouth when Damien snorted from the side.


    "Going to Palm Bay to make a midnight snack?" he sneered. "Come on, it''s obvious what you''re really after. You''re not fooling anyone."


    Damien raised an eyebrow, smirking like he was waiting for a thank-you. He hade tonight to shut down whatever ns Grace thought she had. But as he kept smiling, an uneasy feeling crept up inside him.


    Ethan asked coolly, "Where''s Selene tonight?"


    That caught Damienpletely off guard. He had no idea where Selene was. Ever since thest time they slept together, she had been avoiding him like the gue. Even thinking about it twisted something inside him.


    He needed her. She, apparently, didn''t need him. And that brutal truth cut deeper than he wanted to admit.


    Before he could say anything, Grace jumped in. "I think Selene mentioned she''s meeting her boyfriend tonight," she said lightly.


    Damien''s expression darkened instantly. A cold, suffocating air seemed to wrap around him as he pulled out his phone and stormed off to the side to call her.


    Right at that moment, Selene happened to be eating dinner with Vincent at the same restaurant.


    As the door of a nearby private room swung open, Grace found herself face-to- face with Selene. For a second, neither of them spoke. Selene hadn''t seen Damien yet. She was still smiling easily at Grace.


    "No wonder you asked me for restaurant suggestions this morning," Selene said teasingly. "Trying to impress Mr. Henderson, huh?"


    Before Grace could answer, Selene suddenly stiffened. She had caught the heavy, scorching re drilling into her from down the hallway. She turned her head and met Damien''s bloodshot eyes.


    He wasn''t looking at Grace. He


    wasn''t even looking at her. His entire


    focus was locked on Vincent. I


    looks could kill, Vincent would''ve


    dropped dead on the spot.


    Vincent, ever the calm university professor, gave a polite nod, acknowledging him.


    Grace felt like the air pressure in the corridor had dropped ten degrees. Tension practically crackled between them.


    And right then, like sshing gasoline on a fire, Ethan asked a simple, polite question from his wheelchair, "When''s the wedding?"


    It was the kind of small talk you made when you ran into old friends perfectly normal. Except in this case, it hit Damien like a bullet to the chest.


    He stormed forward, his eyes locked on Selene.


    "What do you mean?" He demanded, his voice shaking. "Selene, you''re marrying him?"


    Shock, anger, betrayal-all of it bled out of him at once. He looked wrecked.


    Selene wasn''t nning on marrying Vincent—at least not yet. She didn''t even understand why Ethan asked that question.


    She pressed her lips together and said softly, "Damien, can we talk about thister?"


    But that only made things worse. His eyes turned red with frustration.


    "When, Selene?" he hissed. "When is ter''?


    anymo


    won''t even look at me


    You tell me to wait, but


    you''re already nning a wedding


    behind my back?"


    His voice cracked with something raw. "Are you gonna tell him you were still in my bed not that long ago?"


    The entire hallway seemed to freeze over, and the tension was suffocating.


    Grace swallowed hard. She instinctively pushed Ethan''s wheelchair a little farther away, like trying to move him out of the st zone.


    In her mind, Ethan had only been making small talk. No way he could''ve known he had just thrown a match into a powder keg.