Dolly, leaning heavily against Kadyn's side, walked slowly back into the center of the ballroom. She held a microphone handed to her by the event coordinator. She looked out at the crowd, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
"I want to apologize to everyone," Dolly said, her voice trembling perfectly. "What just happened was a terrible misunderstanding. Please, don't let my clumsiness ruin this beautiful night. Enjoy yourselves."
The crowd immediately erupted into polite applause and murmurs of sympathy. Her fake grace made the woman standing alone by the bar look even more like a bitter, unreasonable villain.
After handing the microphone back, Dolly didn't return to the lounge to rest. Instead, she grabbed Kadyn's hand and walked purposefully toward the bar, aiming straight for Dorene.
Vivian saw them coming. She grabbed Dorene's wrist, muttered a vicious curse under her breath, and squared her shoulders, ready for war.
Dolly stopped in front of them. She looked at Dorene with sickeningly sweet pity. "Dorene, I know you're hurting. I don't blame you for what you did. I still consider you my best friend."
Dorene stared at her, her face completely expressionless. She didn't even blink. She looked at Dolly as if she were looking at a stain on the floor.
When Dorene didn't react, Dolly turned her head toward the crowd and waved her hand. "Chuck? Could you come over here for a second?" she called out sweetly.
A man stepped out of the crowd. Chuck Vance. He was wearing a loud, patterned suit, his hair slicked back with too much gel. He was notorious in the New York social scene-a trust-fund playboy with a reputation for sleeping around and treating women like garbage.
Chuck swaggered over, holding a glass of scotch. His greasy eyes immediately locked onto Dorene's bare back and the tight fit of her red dress, roaming over her body with zero respect.
Dolly smiled and looped her arm through Chuck's. She turned back to Dorene. "Dorene, Chuck has always admired you. I think you two would be a perfect match. Maybe a new romance is exactly what you need to move on from... the past."
A few people standing nearby let out muffled snickers.
It was the ultimate insult. Offering a proud, high-society heiress to the biggest scumbag in the room was a public execution of her dignity.
Kadyn frowned. He shifted his weight, clearly uncomfortable with the setup. But he glanced down at Dolly's "weak" posture and decided to keep his mouth shut.
Chuck whistled lowly. He took a step forward, reaching out a hand covered in tacky gold rings, aiming straight for Dorene's cheek. "She's right, babe. Let me show you a good time."
Before his greasy fingers could even graze Dorene's skin, Vivian snapped.
Vivian swung her heavy, studded Hermès Birkin bag like a baseball bat. The heavy metal hardware of the bag cut through the air and smashed violently into the back of Chuck's outstretched hand.
Smack!
Chuck let out a high-pitched scream of agony. He stumbled backward, clutching his rapidly swelling hand to his chest, his face twisting in pain.
The entire ballroom went dead silent. Everyone stared in shock at the sudden burst of physical violence.
Vivian stood in front of Dorene like a furious war god. She pointed a shaking finger right at Chuck's face. "Keep your filthy hands off her! A pig digging through the trash doesn't get to touch a swan!"
Chuck's face turned bright red with humiliation and rage. He raised his uninjured hand, stepping forward as if to strike Vivian. But Vivian didn't flinch. She raised the heavy bag again, her eyes burning with such psychotic fury that Chuck froze in his tracks.
Dolly let out a terrified shriek and hid behind Kadyn's back. "Vivian! Are you crazy? How can you hit someone at our engagement party? !" she cried out.
Vivian whipped her head around, locking her crosshairs on Dolly. She let out a harsh, barking laugh. "Are you playing blind, you little bitch? You drag a dog in heat over here to humiliate her, and you expect me not to beat the dog?"
The crude, brutal words ripped right through Dolly's "matchmaker" facade. Dolly's face turned a sickly shade of green.
Kadyn couldn't take it anymore. He stepped forward, shielding Dolly. "Shut your mouth, Vivian!" he barked. "Stop causing a scene, or I will have security throw you out onto the street!"
Vivian stepped right up to Kadyn, tilting her head back to glare into his eyes. "Who the hell do you think you are? You're just a pathetic idiot being played by a cheap manipulator. Don't you dare bark at me."
Being called an idiot in front of the entire New York elite made the veins in Kadyn's forehead bulge. He raised his arm, his temper completely overriding his manners.
Just as the situation was about to turn into a physical brawl, Dorene finally moved.
She reached out, grabbed the back of Vivian's dress, and yanked her friend firmly behind her. Dorene stepped forward, putting herself directly in the line of fire, standing toe-to-toe with Kadyn.
Dorene's eyes were as cold as a Siberian winter. She didn't look at Dolly. She didn't look at the whimpering Chuck. She locked her gaze entirely on Kadyn.
She took one more step forward, her overwhelming presence forcing Kadyn to instinctively step back.
The silence in the room was deafening. Dorene was ready to ask the man she once loved the final question.
