<h4>Chapter 301: Chapter 301 Past Faces</h4>


    Genevieve looked stricken.


    She lunged for Ashton’s arm.


    ‘That’s impossible! How could you be married? You—’


    Ashton pulled his arm free of her grasp. ‘Yes, I’m married. And my wife,’ he nced at me with a smile in his eyes, ‘is the jealous type. Best if you keep your distance.’


    As if that weren’t enough of a blow, he added, ‘Miss Crawford.’


    ‘You used to call me Vivi...’ Genevieve’s face went pale.


    I shuddered as goosebumps prickled across my skin. I arched a brow at Ashton. Vivi, seriously?


    Genevieve’s hand clenched into a fist, her long painted nails biting into her palm, though she didn’t seem to notice.


    ‘Mr Laurent!’ A tuxedoed man in histe twenties strolled over with the tallest, most willowy woman I’d ever seen hanging off his arm. ‘What a pleasant surprise!’


    He gave me a quick once-over. ‘I see you’ve brought a date. That’s rare for you. You usually show up alone, so I even prepared a date for you. Shame to let her go to waste.’


    The woman fluttered hershes right on cue.


    I scoffed inwardly. The man was dressed like a businessman but talked like a pimp.


    ‘She’s my wife,’ Ashton said, his tone t.


    ‘Wife?’ The man looked at me again, more closely this time.


    ‘Legally married,’ Ashton added, as if there were any doubt.


    Repeating my earlier move, he lifted our joined hands to show the rings.


    Was he gloating?


    ‘Oh, wow, congrattions. What a surprise.’ The man managed, after faltering for half a minute. The news had clearly rattled him. ‘I’m disappointed I wasn’t invited to the wedding.’


    He turned to me, his smile less oily now and almost genuine. ‘Mrs Laurent, a pleasure to meet you. I’m Oscar Lindgren. Mypany does some business with your husband’s.’


    ‘Nice to meet you. I’m Mirabelle Vance.’ I would have shaken his hand, but my right arm was still linked with Ashton’s and he showed no sign of letting go.


    ‘Mirabelle Laurent,’ Ashton corrected.


    Oscar chuckled, thenunched into business talk with Ashton, while the willowy woman remainedtched to his arm like an essory. When neither man was looking, she waggled her brows at me, then rolled her eyes at the two of them.


    I smiled back. I felt the same—bored out of my skull.


    Genevieve hovered on the edges of the group the entire time and showed no signs of leaving.


    When Ashton finished chatting with Oscar, he strode off so quickly, Genevieve had no chance to catch up.


    He steered me into a quiet corner out of sight. ‘Sit. I’ll get you something to eat. What do you want?’


    I wanted women to stop throwing themselves at him.


    Out loud, I said, ‘I’lle with you.’


    ‘You’re in heels.’ He pressed me into the chair. ‘I’ll do it.’


    Couldn’t he have phrased those caring words in a less icy,manding tone? If I didn’t know him better, I’d have thought he was scolding me.


    I shrugged. ‘Fine. No preference. Just nothing that drips.’


    He nodded and left.


    By the time I’d scrolled through my first short video, he was back with his arms full of tes. ‘Help yourself. I need to talk to a few associates who’ve just arrived.’


    ‘Go.’


    ‘Want toe with?’


    ‘Nope.’


    I picked up a crostini.


    One bite in, my appetite vanished at the sound of a voice I thought I’d never hear again.


    ‘Mira.’


    I set the crostini down and rose to leave.


    Rhys blocked my path, reaching for my arm.


    I was tempted to flip him over my shoulder, but this was a public setting.


    Instead, I swatted his hand away. ‘Don’t touch me.’


    ‘I’ve missed you,’ Rhys went on, as if my sharp swat hadn’t happened. ‘I went to your studio, but you were never there. Where’ve you been?’


    I’d been working myself to the bone in Paris, betrayed and swindled by a business partner I once admired, saddled with apany teetering on bankruptcy, then stranded on a desert ind with Ashton, which made me realise I could lose my jewellery design work, but I couldn’t lose Ashton. So I proposed to him.


    But none of that was any of Rhys’s business.


    ‘I’m married now.’ I shed my ring for the third time that evening. ‘Stay away from me.’


    Another face I’d rather never see again appeared.


    ‘Married for real? Or is this just another one of your fake contract marriages?’


    Serenna Oakley, my cousin, was poured into a dress so short that another inch would’ve broken decencyws.


    What on earth was she doing here?


    ‘As real as the D-grade ten-carat solitaire diamond on my ring,’ I shot back.


    I looked between her and Rhys. ‘You two came together?’


    She linked her arm with his and tilted her chin. ‘Yeah. So what? You jealous?’


    I almostughed. ‘Jealous of what? Just keep your man on a short leash. Not everyone is as dirty-minded as you, always scheming to seduce someone else’s husband. Do me a favour and rein him in. Don’t let him harass me again.’


    I walked away before either of them could get another word in.


    Serenna ending up with Rhys shouldn’t have surprised me. She’d always had a thing for him, even back when he was with Catherine.


    Now that Rhys and Catherine were divorced, maybe she thought it was her chance to pounce and bag herself a rich husband.


    What did surprise me was that she’d chosen Rhys instead of Daniel. Didn’t she know Rhys was practically disowned by his father, while Daniel had taken control of most of the Granger fortune?


    But that wasn’t my problem.


    The party was in full swing now, the noise cranked up another two notches. Crystal clinked,ughter spilled over the band’s symphony, and there was plenty of ‘what an honour’ and ‘so d to meet you’.


    The air was heavy with wine, champagne, cologne, and too much perfume.


    I followed the signs out to the yard for a breath of fresh air.


    Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with that brilliant idea.


    I ducked behind a boxwood the moment I heard Genevieve’s voice.


    She was talking to a man who had his back to me.


    A very broad, muscr, very familiar back.