Chapter 6: The Woman Beside Thayer

By breakfast, photographs of the ring were already circulating.

My mother had not leaked them.

My father had not either.

Thayer certainly would not have done it without asking me.

That left one obvious possibility.

Someone had seen us outside the bar.

The first headline appeared before nine.

WILSON HEIRESS ENDS ENGAGEMENT, ACCEPTS SINCLAIR RING THE SAME NIGHT.

The article described me as calculating.

A second called me cold.

A third claimed I had been secretly involved with Thayer for months.

None mentioned Gina under the bed.

None mentioned the recording.

None mentioned Bastian washing her feet.

Public humiliation had happened to me twice, yet somehow the public still believed I was the scandal.

Thayer called as I finished reading.

"I can have the articles removed."

"No."

"Meredith."

"If you threaten every publisher, they will assume the rumors are true."

"They are attacking you."

"Then let them. I know what happened."

There was a pause.

"You sound calmer than I expected."

"I ran out of tears last night."

"That is not the same as being calm."

He knew me too well for a man I had never truly given a chance.

"What happens today?" I asked.

"We attend the Sinclair Foundation luncheon."

"We?"

"You are wearing my ring."

"For thirty days."

"The press does not need that detail."

I heard the smile in his voice.

By noon, I stood beside him in the ballroom of the Sinclair Hotel.

Thayer was exactly as he had always been in public—composed, attentive, impossible to embarrass.

He kept one hand at the small of my back, never possessive, only reassuring.

People noticed.

They also noticed the ring.

Whispers followed us from table to table.

I expected Thayer to ignore them.

Instead, when a board member asked whether the engagement was official, he answered simply.

"Meredith and I are deciding our future together."

The wording protected both of us.

It also made my chest ache.

Halfway through lunch, a woman entered the ballroom.

She was tall, beautiful, and entirely at ease among the city's most powerful families.

Her name reached me in murmurs.

Vivienne Cross.

Daughter of a senator.

Thayer's former fiancée.

She crossed the room directly toward us.

"Thayer," she said, smiling as though they had parted yesterday instead of three years ago.

"Vivienne."

Her gaze moved to me.

"And you must be Meredith."

"I must be."

Her smile widened.

"I've heard so much about you."

"That is unfortunate."

Thayer glanced at me, amused.

Vivienne did not seem offended.

"I heard about the engagement," she said. "Congratulations."

Her eyes dropped to the ring.

Something flickered across her face.

Recognition.

She had seen it before.

Perhaps she had once expected to wear it.

"Thank you," I said.

Vivienne turned to Thayer.

"Your mother asked me to join the foundation board again."

"That decision is hers."

"Of course."

The ease between them unsettled me.

Not because it looked romantic.

Because it looked practiced.

They shared a history I did not understand.

I reminded myself that I had no right to jealousy.

The ring was an agreement.

Thirty days.

Nothing more.

Then Vivienne touched Thayer's sleeve.

"Can we speak privately?"

He looked at me first.

That small act mattered more than it should have.

"Go," I said.

"I will be back in five minutes."

He followed Vivienne toward the terrace.

The moment they were gone, a familiar voice spoke behind me.

"Fast work."

I turned.

Bastian stood there in a wrinkled shirt, dark circles beneath his eyes.

He looked as though he had not slept.

"How did you get in?"

"My family still has friends."

"Your parents disowned you."

His jaw tightened.

"They are angry. They will calm down."

"You always assume everyone will eventually forgive you."

"You did before."

"Not this time."

His gaze dropped to the ring.

"You cannot be serious about him."

"Why not?"

"Because you loved me."

"Past tense."

His expression cracked for the first time.

"You said that too easily."

"You made it easy."

Bastian moved closer.

"Gina was a mistake."

"No. Gina was a choice you made repeatedly."

"She understands me."

"Then go be understood."

He reached for my hand.

I stepped back.

"Do not touch me."

His face hardened again.

"You think Sinclair is better? Look at him. He is already sneaking off with Vivienne."

I glanced toward the terrace.

Thayer and Vivienne stood close together behind the glass doors.

Vivienne appeared upset.

Thayer had one hand on her shoulder.

Bastian followed my gaze and smiled.

"Everyone has a Gina, Meredith."

The cruelty in his voice was deliberate.

Before I could respond, Thayer returned.

He took one look at Bastian and stepped between us.

"You were not invited."

"Neither was your fake fiancée until last night."

The room around us quieted.

Thayer did not flinch.

"Leave."

"Make me."

Security arrived before either man moved.

Bastian laughed as they took his arms.

"Ask him about Vivienne," he called to me. "Ask why she still wears the bracelet he gave her."

Then he was dragged from the ballroom.

I looked at Thayer.

He did not pretend not to understand.

"The bracelet was an engagement gift," he said.

"And she still wears it."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because she never accepted that our engagement ended."

"Did it?"

The question escaped before I could soften it.

Thayer's expression changed.

"Completely."

I wanted to believe him.

Then Vivienne stepped back into the ballroom with tears in her eyes.

She looked directly at me.

"He is telling the truth," she said.

A pause.

"But not all of it."