Nia's hand was still clamped around mine when Cade's voice cut through the hallway behind us.
Cade: Wren. Stop.
My lip was bleeding where Brynn's slap split it, and my arm ached where his fingers had dug in, but I did not turn around.
Nia stepped in front of me like a small warm wall.
Nia: She said no. Get out of her way.
Cade: This is between my wife and me.
Nia: She's not your anything tonight, you fucking bastard.
Then Brynn came out of the coat room with something gold swinging from her finger, and my whole chest went cold.
Brynn: Looking for this, Wren? Grandma's necklace.
Brynn: She gave it to me before she died. She knew which granddaughter was actually worth something.
Brynn: Go on. Complain. I dare you.
The pendant caught the light, and I remembered Grandma's hands fastening it around my neck at my college graduation.
Wren: That's mine. She told me it was mine.
Brynn: Prove it. You can't even prove you're a real wife.
Nia's hand was warm and flat against my back, and it was the only thing keeping me upright.
Cade: Enough. The contract doesn't care about a necklace.
Cade: It cares about the audit, the family, and you standing beside me with a smile on your face.
He said the word contract the way other men say weather.
Wren: No.
Cade: You don't get to say no to a contract, Wren. You signed it.
His fingers closed around my elbow and he walked me backward through the curtain, and my heels caught on the velvet hem.
Behind the curtain it was dark and smelled of dust and old perfume, and his mouth came down on mine hard enough to hurt.
I kissed him back. God help me, I kissed him back.
His hand slid up under my dress, rough palm over my stocking, and stopped high on my thigh.
Cade: You're already warm for me. You hate that, don't you.
I did hate it. My legs still parted like they had a mind of their own.
He pressed closer and I felt his cock hard against my hip through his suit, and a hot little noise came out of my throat.
Cade: Quiet. Or the whole gala hears how much you want your husband.
Then I opened my eyes and saw her through the gap in the curtains.
Brynn stood ten feet away with Grandma's necklace around her throat, watching us, smiling like a cat with a bird in its mouth.
That smile did what shame could not. It woke me up.
Wren: Get off me.
I shoved his chest, and he let go, but his hand stayed raised in the air like he had forgotten how to put it down.
Cade: You want to be difficult? Fine. This marriage is a contract, Wren. Nothing more.
Cade: Go back out there and smile. That is the job.
His voice was cold and bored, and I finally heard what lived under it. He expected me to obey.
Wren: Then find another employee.
I said it quiet, and his gray eyes flickered, just once, like a door had opened somewhere he did not own.
Wren: I'll smile when I have a reason. You are not one.
Brynn had been waiting for tears. I could see it in her face when I came out from behind that curtain with my chin up.
Brynn: Where do you think you're going?
Wren: Anywhere you're not.
Her smile got stuck halfway, and it was the best thing I had felt all night.
Nia was at the door with my coat over her arm, and she did not ask one single question.
Nia: Car's out front. I already called it.
Her hand found mine, and it felt like stepping out of a freezer into sun.
The gala noise kept going behind us like nothing had happened. Maybe for them nothing had.
For me, something had. My no had teeth tonight, and I liked the taste of it.
Wren: I'm not going back in there. Not tonight. Not ever like that.
Nia: Good. Then let's go home.