Chapter 18
As the night weaves on, it becomes clear to me that Danny has absolutely no intention of coming back over to our section. I don't even know if I'm supposed to go up there to him.
Does it look secure if I do?
I'm supposed to be by his side.
But at the same time, he's currently surrounded by a gaggle of hot women.
If I walk over, does it make him look bad? Is he trying to acquire some kind of networking deal with them? I have absolutely no idea how any of this works.
So I just sit there, drinking one glass of wine after another, taking my time nursing them.
"It gets better once you stop paying close attention," someone beside me says.
I close my eyes very slowly, then open them to look at the woman, wondering who the hell she is. She looks like she's in her mid-forties with brownish-red hair, perfectly styled.
"Mary," she says, offering a manicured hand. "Mary Davenport."
Even though I don't really want to, I shake her hand. She speaks with a slight British accent.
"Men and their toys," Mary sighs, looking out over the crowd. "They get a bit of power, and they simply can't help the way they act."
I force a smile for her, even though it's the last thing I feel like doing.
"No, I understand," I say, trying to sound completely unbothered. "My husband does so much for me. I'm just grateful for everything Daniel is doing for our fa—for me."
Mary nods, but her eyes drift over to Danny, watching him as he specifically flirts with one woman in particular.
"Yes," Mary says in a knowing whisper. "Men will say and do anything to justify hiding you in the dark. It’s all for the power they're chasing, yet they try to tell you they're doing it all for you…
even though they leave you withering at the door, waiting for them to come home like a neglected house cat. "
I swallow hard, the words cutting too close to the bone for me.
"Don't let them hollow you out, darling," Mary continues, imparting a quiet piece of wisdom.
"The secret to surviving a man like that is simple.
Detach your heart from his schedule. If you tie your worth to his attention, you'll drown.
Secure your position, nod when you must, and protect your own peace above all else. "
She leans over a bit closer to me, her perfume washing over me.
"Play… the game," she murmurs. "Find a way to entertain yourself. Play the part, and then have your fun elsewhere, because you know they do," she giggles in that way older women do when they have enough experience that nothing bothers them.
With a tense smile, Mary straightens up. "Excuse me, dear."
She pats me on the shoulder and takes her leave, disappearing into the glittering crowd.
She was sweet but good God is that what I have to look forward to? Am I going to be her in 10+ years?
Is that my life?
Loveless?
Overlooked and neglected?
Who signs up for this?
I sure as hell didn't.
Later on, I find myself just walking around the huge place, trying to clear my head. The Hamilton Building is absolutely beautiful, full of dramatic geometric walls and soaring white spaces that make me feel so much smaller than I already did.
Huge, avant-garde light fixtures hang from the high ceilings that cast a brilliant glow over everything and everyone. The people all look flawless. Bet the clothes they’re in soars into the millions. Silk and diamonds everywhere. Look at them laughing and playing their little high-society games.
How many of those laughter's are fake?
How many of them at this moment are manipulating?
Scheming?
Walking down the long, clear hallway that overlooks the main atrium below, I watch everyone down there from up here. I stop and put my back up against a concrete pillar, just staring out at the sea of people.
"You ran away," a masculine tone says.
Whipping my head around, I find Danny walking slowly towards me.
He looks a little drunk, his collar loosened just a fraction.
God, that look on him is so sexy and I hate that I feel that way. I don't want to find him sexy right now but my body doesn't seem to want to play along.
The smell of wine is wafting off him. Bet it's expensive.
"Sorry," I say. "It was getting a little claustrophobic."
The way Daniel looks at me right now is hungry, and it's horny. For a fleeting second, it actually makes me feel… sexy.
But then the reality is, I don't know if he feels like that because he actually sees me, or if he's just keyed up from being around his pretty female peers women all night.
Knowing what I know now, he might only be in the mood to sleep with me after he's seen women that look like his high society barbies.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
Daniel sniffs.
"Yeah," he says, letting out an exhausted sigh. "Yeah. I met a lot of good people tonight. The portfolio Julian's pulling from Amatus is going to shift the entire residential logistics market, and we're positioned right at the center of it. It’s exactly what my father wanted to see happen tonight."
“That's good then,” I tell him.
“Yeah that's very good,” he answers.
He stops talking, his eyes dropping down to trace the neckline of my midnight-blue gown before rising back to meet my eyes.
The rigid corporate mask he’d been wearing all evening is completely gone, replaced by a heavy look.
He looks at me with pure, unadulterated hunger.
The kind of horny, focused stare he used to give me back when things were perfect between us. Or was that all a lie?
He steps into my space, his body heat radiating through his suit jacket, pinning me with his eyes against the concrete pillar.
I don't even know what to do.
My heart is hurting because he feels so estranged from me, like a stranger I’m sharing a house with, but looking at him right now... I'm in the mood too.
Despite the anger, the heartbreak, and the lingering image of him watching Kara, my body still responds to him. The physical pull is right there.
And I'm so torn between wanting to push him away and wanting to pull him right on top of me.
There is less than two inches between me and Danny right now. He bites his bottom lip as he looks down at me, completely assessing my face, his eyes heavy.
"You look really sexy tonight. You know that," he says.
I can't help but feel a blush creeping up my neck. "So... so do you," I stutter out, hating myself a little bit for giving in to the affection.
Is he only doing this because he's drunk?
I look at the way he's looking at me. His blonde hair at the top swoops over his face, looking like the perfect mess.
Danny steps even closer, crowding me against the pillar, and leans down to kiss my lips very softly.
Then he plants another gentle kiss on my cheek, one on my forehead, one on the tip of my nose, and another on the other side of my face.
"Control," he murmurs against my skin.
"What?" I ask, my breathing shallow.
"Control every minute, every second," he says, kissing me again, his lips lingering. "I fight... to control."
"Control what?" I ask in a whisper, my eyes drifting closed as his hands find my waist.
He doesn't answer. He just looks up at me again and covers my lips with his, his tongue finding mine, tasting heavily of the expensive wine he’s been nursing all night.
"I knew I'd find you here with your tongue down someone's throat," a female calls out from behind him.
I can't see who it is.
"Who is it this time?" she asks.
The sound of her high heels clicking closer on the polished floor, and my heart starts beating fast. What the fuck? What does that even fucking mean? Who is it this time? Maybe she has the wrong person.
Danny stops kissing me instantly. His eyes close tightly, and for a second, he looks like he either wants to sink straight through the floor or he is absolutely furious with the person behind him.
"You know I can see you, right, Daniel?" she says, her tone dripping with amusement.
Daniel licks his lips and glares past me at the surface my back is pressed up against. I am staring at him, screaming inside for an explanation.
"Ignore her," he mutters to me, not even looking me in the eye as he spins around to face her. "What do you want, Violet? Have you met my wife?"
He says it in that exact, pointed way people do when they are trying to drop a huge clue to the other person that they need to shut up immediately.
"Oh, shit. Oh, wow. Oh, hi," Violet says.
She looks just as shocked to see me as I am to see her.
The woman is absolutely beautiful, and she is very tall, and I'm not even counting the high heels she's wearing. With them on, she looks almost as tall as Danny, making her around 5’9.
She has beautiful, shiny, long black hair that reaches almost all the way down to her tailbone, and striking violet eyes.
I seriously wonder if they're natural or contacts.
"Melody, this is Violet Sterling," Daniel says, his corporate tone snapping back into place like a shield. "Her father runs Sterling Aerospace, one of our primary automated logistics partners."
Violet reaches out her hand to me. I feel like my soul is crashing to absolute pieces.
Who is it this time? What did that mean?
"Melody," I manage to say, forcing my hand to meet hers.
Violet smiles a plastic, polite smile, tilting her head as her eyes flick over to Danny. The acknowledgement is over in a fraction of a second, her hand dropping from mine as if I were a stranger asking for directions.
"We were actually looking for you downstairs," Violet says to him, completely shifting her frame, turning her shoulder just enough to cast me into her shadow.
"My father is breathing down my neck about the new satellite telemetry data for the Denver drone corridors.
He wants the contract finalized before the Tokyo summit. "
"I told Arthur we're still processing the automated logistical margins," Daniel replies.
His corporate tone is a flawless shield, but he takes half a step closer to the woman, matching her posture.
"We aren't signing off until your firmware architecture integrates seamlessly with our transit grid.
I'm not risking a collision bottleneck in a smart-zone because Sterling's automated arrays have a two-millisecond latency delay. "
"Oh, come on, Dan-Dan," Violet cajoles, stepping directly into his personal space.
Under the harsh, glittering gallery lights, her violet eyes flash playfully.
She places a perfectly manicured hand casually on his arm, her fingers resting against the expensive fabric of his suit for a beat too long before pulling away.
"You know our tech is flawless. You're just hoarding the data leverage because you like making my father sweat. "
"I'm hoarding the leverage because it keeps Akari Global's infrastructure absolute," Daniel says, but his mouth twitches into a rare micro-smile.
“And because you like making me sweat too, I guess,” she replies.
“You act like that’s an issue for you. You love burning calories,” he gruffs, though I know it’s playful.
They sound like they've known each other for a very long time, way too comfortable. The way she carries herself... she almost seems to be actively flirting with Danny right in front of my face.
"How long have you two worked together?" I ask as I try my hardest not to cry.
"For a very long time," Violet says, smiling warmly at him. "Several years now. But we've been very close as of late."
I can't take this anymore. The air feels like cement in my lungs.
"I have to go to the bathroom. Excuse me," I say flatly.
I turn on my heel and walk away as fast as my burning feet can take me. Out of the side of my eye, I notice Danny looking after me, stepping forward as if to follow. Behind him, I hear a hissy, quiet whisper.
"What is your problem?!" Daniel seethes in reply.
"What? It's not my fault," Violet retorts, completely unbothered. "You're not supposed to be making out in public anyway."
I don't wanna hear another single word.
Pushing through the heavy doors of the restroom, I am practically running. Quickly glancing under the stalls to make sure no one else is in here, I throw myself inside one of them and lock the door.
Leaning my back against the stall wall, I completely break down, sobbing silently into the fabric of my midnight-blue gown. I feel absolutely wrecked. Because unless Violet was completely lying or just trying to stir up drama for fun, those words meant everything.
It insinuated that Daniel has been kissing other women at these things.
Probably doing more than that.
It meant that every single terrifying instinct I’ve had about him is completely, devastatingly true.
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