<h4>Chapter 23: Chapter 24 The Girlfriend and the Ex</h4>
Violet’s face twitched. She made a futile grab for the phone.
The girl zoomed in obediently. Her eyes went wide. ‘There’s an M,’ she blurted. ‘Tiny, but it’s there!’
A ripple went through the crowd.
‘That’s the designer’s signature, right? The M?’ someone whispered, loud enough to be not-whispering.
‘It says M. Bloody hell, it really is Mirabelle’s design!’
Violet’s face went from ghost-pale to lobster-red in two seconds t. She snatched her phone back and mashed the power button like she was trying to murder it.
Toote. The whispers were already turning into openughter. The kind that bites.
‘If you’re gonna steal,’ I said sweetly, ‘at least do it properly.’
I took two slow steps forward, stopping just short of her personal space, and gave her ne a pointed once-over.
My brow furrowed slightly, like I’d just spotted something nasty in my drink. ‘That piece around your neck shouldn’t even be here. It’s the prototype—the very first design. Andst I checked, that thing was locked behind ss at Nyx Collective’s gship showroom.’
I tilted my head and gave her the kind of look reserved for particrly dumb criminals.
‘Stealing’s really your only talent, huh?’
For half a second, the room froze. You could hear a champagne bubble pop.
Then Yvaine cracked up, loud and savage. ‘So the ne’s stolen too? Damn, is the Lin family that broke? Can’t even afford jewellery anymore?’
Violet looked like she wanted to melt straight through the marble floor. Her face was so red, it practically shed with the lighting. She fidgeted with the ne, probably feeling like it was burning a hole through her skin.
I saw the moment she thought about running. She shifted her weight, nced sideways, just about to bolt—
When the ballroom doors flew open and a fresh wave of noise crashed in.
Rhys Granger had arrived. And right beside him, looking disgustingly smug in bubblegum pink, was Catherine Vance.
Rhys wore a sharp ck suit, cold and expensive like something he’d nicked off a mannequin at Dior. Catherine floated next to him, not holding his arm but close enough that they might as well have been glued together.
Murmurs rippled across the room.
‘God, they look good together. Perfect match.’
‘Told you Rhys never liked Mirabelle. Catherine’s always been his real choice.’
My grin slipped. Just peeled right off my face.
Seeing them side by side in public hit me. It wasn’t heartbreak. It wasn’t rage. It was more like reaching for a ss of champagne and tasting dishwater instead.
I knew Rhys too bloody well. He’d nned this.
Louisa was still in hospital. Which meant she wouldn’t see this. Wouldn’t hear about it until muchter, after the whole social circle had already gotten cosy with the idea of Rhys and Catherine being a thing.
By then, Louisa, who hated Catherine with the passion of a thousand suns, would be trapped. Everyone would expect her to ept it.
After I’d refused to keep ying fiancée with him, this was his n B.
The n was slick, sly, and absolutely filthy.
I thought back to thest public event I’d dragged myself to with Rhys.
We’d arrived together, technically, but he peeled off the second we said hi to the hosts. Left me standing there like a coat rack while he spent the night chatting golf swings and table football with his idiot friends.
I should’ve clocked it then. Rhys Granger was never going to love me the way I wanted.
I got it now. The weird nces his friends kept sneaking me at that party weren’t about my dress or my hair. They were pity.
And God, thinking about it still made my throat burn. Like swallowing ss.
I blinked hard, shoved it down, and dragged Yvaine away.
Yvaine threw a death re over her shoulder. Then she said, real loud, ‘Imagine bringing your side chick to such a party. Some people have thicker skin than a concrete bunker.’
Catherine stomped up to us, blocking my path.
‘Mira,’ she said, shing this tragic, I’m-so-sorry face. ‘I didn’t know you’d be here. Rhys and I just got together to talk about work, and then he said he didn’t have a date, so he asked me toe.’
I stared at her.
‘Right. Total coincidence. That why you’re dressed like a Valentine’s Day massacre?’ I flicked my fingers at her sparkly pink gown. ‘That your usual work outfit now?’
Catherine blinked. It hit her a second toote that I wasn’t ying nice anymore.
She used to have me pegged. Sweet, soft, desperate for Rhys’s approval. I used to eat shit with a smile if it meant he’d look at me twice.
Not tonight.
Catherine clutched her hands so tight I could see the blood leave her knuckles. Her eyes went ssy fast, like she was about to start sobbing on cue.
‘It’s all my fault,’ she said, voice trembling. ‘I shouldn’t havee with Rhys. Please don’t be mad.’
Before I could tell her where to shove her apology, Rhys strolled over. He took one look at Catherine and immediately switched into Knight-in-Shining-Dumbass mode.
His gaze flicked to me. For a split second, something red in his eyes—surprise, maybe even a hint of regret—but he snuffed it out quick, like it was illegal to look impressed by me now.
‘Mira, don’t start,’ he said sharply. ‘I brought her. It’s on me.’
I smirked. ‘I’m not starting anything. She’s the one fake-crying like it’s open-mic night.’
Rhys didn’t believe a word of it. He shot me a warning re, grabbed Catherine’s wrist, and yanked her away.
Yvaine shed his back a very enthusiastic middle finger.
‘Think he’s just unting Catherine to piss me off?’ I said, reaching for a drink I didn’t even want.
Yvaine snorted. ‘Partly, yeah. But mostly? He’s here to sniff around the Laurents. My brother heard half this bloody room’s trying to cosy up to the young heir tonight.’
‘Emmett told you that?’ I asked.
She nodded. ‘Straight from the horse’s mouth. Clive Granger was supposed to show up himself, but he’s stuck at the hospital with Louisa. So he shoved golden boy out the door instead.’
Something Catherine had said earlier kept nagging at me. ‘Wait. Are Catherine and Rhys... working together now?’