- 7.
“Enough!” Nick’s sharp voice cut through the crowd.
The room went silent. Ella flinched, slowly raising her head, her eyes wide and pleading as she looked at me. Her message was unmistakable: he’d broken off my engagement and turned me into the town’s laughingstock, and she felt deeply remorseful about it.
If I didn’t step in, she wouldn’t stop. Perfect.
I lifted an eyebrow and took a leisurely sip of my champagne. Ella clenched her teeth, bowing her head as if she was about to slap herself again.
Then, with a loud smack, Nick strode over an
and slapped the champagne glass from my
hand.
“Camilla Jensen, you’ve gone too far!”
“Camilla, do you even know what decency is anymore?” Nick’s cold eyes narrowed, his voice simmering with anger.
He turned and helped Ella up, gently brushing his hand over her swollen check.
“Camilla, apologize, he commanded. “Do it now in front of everyone, and we’ll call it even. I won’t hold it against you.”
I almost burst out laughing. How naïve I’d been back then.
After uncovering Ella’s scheme, I’d messaged Nick to tell him everything I’d overheard. I even asked him to keep an eye on her.
The next day, Ella took her own life by poisoning–not a staged attempt but the real thing. The media had a field day speculating she’d ended her life over the relentless public pressure. Nick left me a voice message after it happened: “Thanks for the heads–up, Ms. Jensen, Those who betray me will always be punished.”
And that was it. For years, I’d thought he confronted her, forcing her to take real poison. I thought he was the same unforgiving Nick I’d always known. I never realized, not until the end, that when he said, “those who betray me he was talking about.me.
“Camilla Jensen, did you hear me?”
“Ola didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who insisted on marrying her. It’s me, Nick Holt, who’s calling off our engagement.”
I stared at him, and a bitter smile tugged at my lips. I’d really been blind. I’d actually thought he was a clear–headed business genius.
“Rachel, I turned to my assistant, “aren’t all the heads of the Big Four here on the top floor?”
Rachel blinked, stunned, then nodded.
Gathering up my gown, I made my way to the elevator.
Nick followed me.
“What are you trying to do?”
“The old man made a private v visit tonight, he said, clearly nervous. “He didn’t make a big announcement about being here.”
I knew that already. After all, a birthday party for a “rising star” in business like myself wouldn’t usually draw the heads of the four most
powerful families in the city.
