Beside us, Jane and Eric exchanged puzzled glances.
“You think you’re going to get away with this,” Calvin growled. “Well, you’re not. I’ll—”
“Calvin.” Eric’s voice finally piped up when I somehow couldn’t. “Let it go.” He glanced at me as if to ask if I was all right.
Calvin was barely able to hide a sneer. Eric didn’t look away, and I watched with some amount of awe, as they engaged in a stare-off that seemed to last a full five minutes.
And then, finally, Calvin turned away.
I sighed to Jane, like I was merely irritated with Calvin’s presence. “I need a cocktail.”
Calvin scowled. “Now, just wait a minute.”
“No,” I snapped and took off through the crowd, though behind me, I could hear Eric telling Jane he was coming with to make sure Calvin didn’t cause a scene.
Do not get them involved, I told myself. This was Jane’s big night. Her debut as a designer. I didn’t need to ruin that with my ongoing marital crises. I darted around a few tables, eager to lose both my soon-to-be ex-husband and my cousin. Where was security when I needed it?
“Nina,” Calvin chased after me. “I’m not going to leave until you talk to me!”
I glanced into the ballroom. Matthew was nowhere to be seen. From the other side of the room, the girl with the clipboard gave me a thumbs-up. I breathed with relief and hurried inside.
“Senator Wick,” I said, running into a familiar face in front of whom I knew Calvin wouldn’t make a scene. “How lovely to see you again.”
And so it went—me frantically trying to escape Calvin’s grasp, latching myself on to various donors and people he wouldn’t want to lose face in front of, and Calvin tailing me in and out of the party for more than thirty minutes.
Eventually, and partly because I knew that Matthew would come looking for me soon, I ducked out of the ballroom and into a stairwell, where we were still close to the party, but wouldn’t be overheard.
“What?” I demanded when I turned around to find Calvin lumbering after me. “What is it that you want that the lawyers can’t deal with? If the final agreement isn’t to your liking, we can look at it again.”
“Lawyers?” he hissed. “You have ruined me, do you know that?”
“I rather think we ruined each other.” I bristled. “You weren’t the one who ended up spending two weeks in prison, Calvin.”
He cackled lightly to himself.
I squinted. “You’re drunk. Go home. The penthouse is yours. You have everything you want.”
“I will not be embarrassed by you, you fucking bitch!”
I tried to brush past. “I’m getting security.”
“The hell you are,” he said, lunging for me again. “You don’t know what you’ve done. Millions. I owe millions and millions. Can’t you understand that? All I wanted was enough to start over.”
“All you wanted was everything I have!” I yelped as I scampered away. “Your bad investments are not my problem anymore. Honestly, it’s not my fault that you’re such an embarrassing failure!”
“I am not!”
“You’ve lost!” I snapped at him. “I don’t understand why you won’t accept it and let me go!”
“Because why the fuck should I?” he demanded. “I put ten years into this. I should walk away with more than a few lousy million. I should be right on par with you and your goddamn arrogant-as-fuck cousin!”
Suddenly, he grabbed me and shoved me hard against the wall.
“You think you can just walk away,” he sneered. “Did you forget, princess? Did you forget that there is a price to pay for making a fool out of me?”
“Get off me!” I shrieked, trying to escape his iron-tight grip.
But he wouldn’t let go. Faced with the choice of toppling down the stairs or staying in one piece, I followed him until we reached the empty bottom floor. Calvin threw me to the ground, then tripped on his own feet and fell on top of me.
“There’s those legs I remember,” he leered when my dress pooled around my hips. “A little long for my taste, if you want to know the truth, but everyone else always said you were a catch. Who was I to argue, huh?”
His erection pressed between my legs as he fumbled with his zipper. Every one of his stinking smells embraced me in a sickening hug. Alcohol, sweat, cheap men’s deodorant. Some kind of decay that only belonged to him.
“Do you like that, princess?” he asked. “I think you secretly want it just like you always did. Should I do it here? How about in the elevator again, huh?”
The effect was like tinder. Suddenly, the small fire that had been burning inside me all night—no, for the last eighteen months, really—burst into a massive pyre.
“NO!” I shrieked. “YOU WILL NOT DO THIS TO ME ANYMORE!”
I kicked and punched and beat with all my might, wishing I had done more than Pilates and spinning classes that would help me throw off this monster.
And suddenly, he was gone. It took me a second to realize it, but when I finally opened my eyes again, I sat up to find Calvin pinned squarely against the opposite wall, eyes bulging as he looked at his captor. My savior.
Matthew.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Matthew
Calvin Gardner’s throat gave easily under my fingers, with the pasty color and texture of bread dough just after it was done rising, and with the same faint yeasty odor too, thanks to the amount of beer he had consumed. I barely noticed. It took every ounce of self-control I had right now not to strangle the man in his socks and leave him to melt all over the marble.
I’d been wandering back and forth between the ballroom and the Greco Roman exhibit since that twitchy assistant had approached me with Nina’s message. Everywhere I looked, she had just been, leading me on a merry chase around the event.
