By the time the actual ball rolled around, I was delirious from lack of sleep.
I didn’t mind. Busy was good. Busy meant less time agonizing over the shambles of my personal life.
However, despite all my planning, there was one thing I hadn’t prepared for: the effect walking into Valhalla Club would have on me.
Tightness crawled into my chest as I smiled and made small talk with the guests. Tonight, I was the hostess, which meant no running around checking on the food or music. That was my team’s job.
My job was to mingle, look good, pose for photographs…and not spend every second subconsciously searching for Dante.
I’d only visited Valhalla twice, both times with him. I hadn’t seen him yet. He might not show at all. But his presence—dark, magnetic, and omnipresent— permeated the room.
His laughter in the corners. His scent in the air. His touch on my skin. Hot kisses and stolen moments and memories so vivid they were painted all over the walls.
Dante was Valhalla, at least to me. And being here tonight, without him, was like a ship leaving port without an anchor.
“Vivian.” Buffy’s voice pulled me from the edge of a breakdown I couldn’t afford. I’d cried more this past week than I’d cried my entire life, and frankly, I was sick of it. “What a stunning dress.”
She came up beside me, elegant as always in a green brocade gown that paid tasteful homage to the ball’s secret garden theme. Magnificent diamonds draped across her neck and dripped from her wrists.
I blinked back a suspicious prickle and pasted on a smile. “Thank you. Your outfit is lovely, as well.”
Buffy swept a discerning gaze over my dress.
The Yves Dubois piece had turned many heads tonight, and for good reason. It cascaded to the ground in an exquisite sweep of red silk and gold-dipped feathers, so tightly packed they looked like a pile of fallen, gilded leaves. Shimmering gold thread formed an intricate phoenix pattern across the silk, so subtle it was almost invisible unless the embroidery hit the light at a certain angle.
It was clothing, art, and armor all rolled into one. A statement piece bold enough to declare power, but so dazzling few people looked past it to the sadness underneath.
“Yves Dubois couture,” Buffy said. “Dante is a generous fiancé.”
Her gaze coasted to my empty ring finger.
Tingles of unease crystallized beneath my skin. Dante and I hadn’t announced our breakup yet, but my lack of an engagement ring had drawn every person’s notice tonight.
Whispers were already circulating, not only about our relationship status, but about Lau Jewels’s stock market freefall. The negative press coverage had exploded in the past forty-eight hours. Although everyone had been perfectly nice to me so far—I was still the hostess, regardless of my family troubles—their murmurs hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“I bought the gown myself,” I said in response to Buffy’s observation. I smiled at her flicker of surprise. “I’m a Lau.” Even if my father disowned me. “I can afford my own clothes.”
I wasn’t a billionaire, but between my trust fund, investments, and event planning income, I held my own money-wise.
Buffy recovered quickly. “Of course,” she said. “How…modern of you. Speaking of Dante, will he be joining us tonight? It’s your big night. I’m surprised he isn’t here already.”
My smile tightened. She was too refined to ask outright about the ring, but she was clearly fishing.
“He had an emergency at work.” I hoped she couldn’t hear the thumps of my heart over the music piping through the speakers. “He’ll make it if he wraps up the call in time.”
“I certainly hope so. It wouldn’t be a proper Legacy Ball without a Russo in attendance, would it?”
I forced a laugh alongside hers.
Thankfully, Buffy soon excused herself, and I was free to breathe again.
I circulated the room, more aware than ever of the guests’ subtle digs and glances at my hand. I ignored them the best I could. I’d worry about the gossip mill tomorrow.
Tonight was my big night, and I refused to let anyone ruin it.
Dante’s conspicuous absence aside, the ballroom was packed with a who’s who of Manhattan high society. Dominic and Adriana Davenport held court with a group of Wall Street titans; a crop of the season’s “It Girls” flirted with floppy-haired trust fund scions near the bar.
The room itself was a masterpiece. Three dozen trees imported from Europe ringed the space, twined with ethereal strings of light that glittered like jewels against a leafy backdrop. Seventy thousand dollars’ worth of hanging flowers and shrubbery adorned the tables, where vintage key tags hand-calligraphed with each guest’s name delineated their seating assignment.
Everything was perfect—the four-tier cake with textural buttercream, floral garnishes, and edible twenty-four-karat gold leaf keyhole; the pink and white strawberry and rose towers; the mossy wooden arches and oversized Edison bulbs adorning the bar.
And yet, the stares and whispers continued.
I eased a deep breath into my lungs.
It’s fine. No one is going to make a scene in the middle of the Legacy Ball.
I whisked a glass of champagne off a tray in an attempt to drown the self-consciousness pricking my skin.
“The hostess drinking by herself on her big night? That won’t do.”
I smiled at the familiar voice before turning. “I needed a break from…” I gestured around the room. “You know.”
“Oh, I do,” Kai said dryly, handsome as always in a bespoke tuxedo and his signature glasses. “May I have this dance?”
He held out his hand. I took it and let him guide me to the dance floor.
Dozens of pairs of eyes honed in on us like laser-guided missiles seeking their targets.
“Is it just me,” he said. “Or do you also feel like you’re in a giant fishbowl?”
“A nice, expensive one,” I agreed.
Amusement touched his lips before it melted into concern. “How are you doing, Vivian?”
I assumed he was talking about my breakup with Dante. They were friends, but how much did he know about what happened?
I chose a safe, neutral answer. “I’ve been better.”
“I haven’t seen Dante in the ring this week. It’s unlike him. He usually goes straight for violence when he’s upset.”
The joke failed to pull a smile from me. I was too hung up on the mention of Dante. “Maybe he’s not upset.”
We hadn’t spoken to each other since I moved out. I should be upset with him. Most of the blame lay with my father, but Dante wasn’t completely innocent either.
Still, it was hard to summon anything except sadness when I thought about him. There’d been a time when I really thought…
“Maybe.” Kai glanced over my shoulder. His gaze turned speculative. “You know, I didn’t want to say anything while you were engaged, but you’re one of the most beautiful women I know.”
I blinked, startled by the sudden shift in tone and topic. “Thank you.”
“This might be too soon, but since you’re no longer with Dante…” Kai’s hand slid down my back and rested above the curve of my ass. Low enough to be suggestive but high enough to skirt the line of inappropriate. I stiffened. “Perhaps we can go out sometime.”