Calvin woke up on a plush velvet sofa in a private lounge off the main ballroom. A dull ache throbbed in his neck. He sat up abruptly, the memory of the last few minutes crashing back into him like a physical blow.
Amberly sat in an armchair across from him, swirling a glass of champagne. She looked as serene as if she'd just finished a yoga class.
"Amberly Carson," he growled, the words tearing from his throat. "You're insane. What did you do to me?"
"I helped you calm down," she said, her voice smooth as silk. She took a small sip from her glass.
He struggled to his feet, his body still feeling disconnected. "I have to go. Faith needs me."
Amberly didn't move to stop him. She simply slid a tablet across the polished coffee table between them. "Watch this first. Then you can decide where you need to be."
He shot a contemptuous look at the device. The screen showed a hospital hallway, the timestamp in the corner indicating it was from less than an hour ago.
Faith Townsend was on the screen, a thin white bandage wrapped loosely around one wrist. She was laughing with her mother, Deanne.
Calvin froze. This wasn't the image of a woman hovering near death.
"You were brilliant, darling," Deanne said, patting her daughter's cheek. "That scream when you called his assistant? I almost believed it myself."
Faith preened, fluffing her hair. "Of course. Poor Calvin. He's probably losing his mind right now. He's such a fool. He believes anything I tell him."
"Exactly," Deanne added with a smug smile. "Once he's completely ruined things with that bitch Amberly, the Henry Group will be ours for the taking."
Faith's laugh was like a silver bell, a sound Calvin once found enchanting. Now it was poison. "He thinks I love him? I love the name 'Henry.' The man himself is a crashing bore."
Every word from the tablet was a shard of glass working its way into Calvin's heart. The color drained from his face, replaced by a sick, profound shame. His hands clenched into fists, his body trembling with the force of his own stupidity.
Amberly's voice cut through his shock, devoid of any warmth. "So? Still want to go be her hero?"
He squeezed his eyes shut, the image of their smiling, mocking faces burned into his mind. He had been played. Utterly and completely.
"How..." he choked out, his voice hoarse. "How did you get this?"
"I've had my suspicions about the Townsends for weeks," Amberly said simply, a plausible lie to cover an impossible truth. "I had someone keeping an eye on them, just in case they tried to pull something today."
Meanwhile, in a secure office in Washington D.C., a man named K. Stone stood before a large mahogany desk.
"Sir, we have some interesting news out of New York."
Hollis Walker didn't look up from the file he was reading. The man exuded an aura of quiet, immense power.
"The Henry Group engagement party was a complete disaster," Stone continued. "The heir, Calvin Henry, publicly broke it off for another woman. Then his fiancée knocked him unconscious with a single blow."
Hollis's hand stilled for a fraction of a second.
"The fiancée," Stone added, checking his notes, "is named Amberly Carson. Of the Carson family."
At the name "Carson," Hollis Walker finally looked up. His eyes were deep and intense, and for the first time, a flicker of light appeared in their depths.
"Carson," he repeated, his voice a low baritone. "As in, Lillian Carson's family?"
"The very same, sir," Stone confirmed. "The family of the woman who wrote the research notes."
Hollis rose from his chair and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over the lights of the capital. The city was a map of power, and he was one of its uncrowned kings.
He stood in silence for a long moment.
"Get the jet ready," he commanded, his voice leaving no room for argument. "We're going to New York."
The thing he needed, the one thing his power and money had so far failed to secure, was suddenly connected to a girl who had just become very, very interesting.
