"Don't tell me you can't even afford to pay!"
"What a shame that would be. Getting detained and hauled off to the police station for skipping out on a bill—isn't that exactly what you did to me once?"
Silvia pulled out a slender cigarette, placed it between her lips, and lit up. She blew the smoke directly in my face, her expression dripping with arrogance.
I couldn't stop myself. My hand shot up and slapped her hard across the face.
The table went flying. Chaos erupted.
Harry rushed to Silvia's side, then snapped at his bodyguards. Before I could react, they grabbed me and threw me to the ground.
"Celeste, that's enough!"
"Oh, so you can torment people all you want, but no one's allowed to fight back?"
I glared at Harry, my eyes burning. The Gilbert family's meteoric rise to the top of Cresthaven's wealth rankings in just three years? That was me. I'd leveraged every connection my family had to clear their path. Even the underground players who wanted to cause trouble for the Gilberts backed off—because of who I was.
Tonight, on my birthday, I'd planned to finally tell Harry the truth. That I wasn't some nobody. That I was the heir to the most powerful of Southport's four great families.
I was going to bring him home to meet my parents.
I never imagined his heart could change this fast.
I'd misjudged him. Overestimated his character.
"Harry, are you really going to make me walk out of here humiliated?"
Harry let out a cold laugh. "What else? You think I arranged all this just for show?"
Silvia, emboldened by the bodyguards, swung her fist into my face. "You worthless tramp. Here are your options: get arrested for not paying, or strip naked, hold this steak in your teeth, and crawl out of here on all fours like a dog."
She grinned. "Oh, and the difference? Option one, you keep your clothes. Option two, you lose your clothes and your dignity. So hurry up and pick—I'm getting impatient."
Dozens of eyes watched me like I was tonight's entertainment.
I clenched my fists until my knuckles went white, staring at Harry without a shred of emotion.
"Fine. If this is what you've chosen, then when the Gilbert family goes bankrupt, that's on you."
The moment the words left my mouth, Silvia burst out laughing.
"Ha! Did you hear that?"
"Does she think she's living in a romance novel? Playing the secret heiress?"
"She's clearly lost her mind."
Harry's eyes flashed with anger. He thought I was bluffing too.
He grabbed a plate of food and hurled it at me. "Stop talking nonsense. You're going to bankrupt the Gilberts? Who do you think you are?"
"Worry about your own problems first."
"Manager!"
The manager caught his cue and approached with security flanking him. His tone was cold but professional. "Ms. Henson, will you be paying in cash, or is someone coming to cover the bill?"
I scanned the room and spotted a woman I'd worked with before—a business contact I'd met while negotiating deals on behalf of the Gilberts.
I started walking toward her.
The second she saw me coming, she scrambled out of her seat and backed away.
"Celeste, stay back—I can't pay for you—"
"Relax. I'm not asking you to pay. I just need to borrow your phone."
"Please?"
"I'm calling a friend to bring money."
Silvia's laughter cut through the room. "Oh, this is rich! Who in all of Cresthaven would dare come bail you out?"
She waved dismissively. "Fine, let her make her little call. We'll give her thirty minutes. If nobody shows up with the cash by then—" She gestured at the overweight businessmen leering nearby. "—these gentlemen can strip her themselves. A woman who's been with the city's richest man must be worth sampling, right?"
