The mall director held the microphone beneath the chandeliers while Aaron stood only a few feet away from me.
For the first time that evening, he had nothing clever to say.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the director repeated, “please welcome the hidden owner of tonight’s collection… Ms.
Emily Carter.”
My name traveled through the lobby like a spark hitting dry paper.
Someone gasped.
Then came the cameras.
Shutters snapped from every direction.
Guests who had been pretending not to listen to Aaron’s insults turned fully toward us.
Several members of the event staff lowered their heads in greeting.
The security team shifted into a protective formation near the showcase.
Aaron stared at me.
Not at my gray uniform.
At me.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Kylie looked from him to the mall director as though she expected somebody to laugh and admit this was a joke.
Nobody did.
The woman in ivory silk stepped beside the opened display and carefully lifted the edge of The Phoenix Flame’s veil.
“Every alteration has been completed,” she told me.
“The final fitting is ready whenever you are.”
I nodded.
“Thank you.”
Aaron finally found his voice.
“Wait.”
The applause had begun, scattered at first, then spreading through the lobby.
He raised his voice over it.
“Wait.
There’s obviously some misunderstanding.”
The mall director lowered the microphone.
“There is no misunderstanding, Mr.
Maddox.”
Aaron blinked at him.
The fact that the director knew his name should have pleased him.
Five minutes earlier, Aaron would have considered that proof that he had finally entered the circle he had been chasing.
Now it frightened him.
He pointed toward me.
“She’s my ex-wife.”
Nobody answered.
Aaron seemed to realize how useless that sounded.
“She was standing here with a mop.”
The director looked at the cleaning cart, then back at Aaron.
“Yes.”
That single word made several people nearby exchange looks.
I rested one hand on the cart.
I had arrived hours before the public portion of the launch because I always inspected the final presentation before an important event.
I preferred coming through the service entrance, without photographers, without an entourage, without anyone treating me differently because of my name on a contract.
A drink had been spilled near the showcase during setup.
One of the cleaning staff had been called away to another floor, so I had taken the mop myself.
It had never occurred to me that helping clean my own launch would become important.
Until Aaron walked in.
He had looked at the uniform and decided he knew my entire life.
Just as he had seven years earlier.
Kylie stepped closer to him.
“You said she was nobody.”
Aaron’s eyes remained on me.
“She was.”
