Chapter Four
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Six months after his wife’s little vanishing act, Sebastian Moore was finally attending his first high-profile event.
At first, he had been ostracized by the city’s elite. But even after the dust settled and it became glaringly obvious that there was no foul play involved, he simply had no desire to mingle with the very same people who had so eagerly assumed the worst of him.
He would have preferred to stay at home, drinking his expensive scotch in silence while brooding and cursing Elizabeth’s name into the dark but his father-in-law had flatly declined his request to stay away.
Arthur had insisted that Sebastian had to be seen in public.
While the old man loved his daughter fiercely, he was not about to let his massive multi-million-dollar investment in PayVault, go down the drain. And until Elizabeth saw fit to return, everything would carry on as normal. Those were his exact words.
So here he was, dressed in a bespoke black tuxedo, stepping right back into the lions’ den where he belonged.
Much to his private astonishment, Sebastian was once again the main attraction. The moment he walked through the doors, the vultures of Miami society pivoted without a hint of shame.
The ladies of the room began circling around him. Maybe it was the danger he exuded or the scandal of being a handsome tech tycoon accused of a dark crime, that held an irresistible intoxicating appeal to them.
They shamelessly fluttered their lashes over champagne flutes and found endless excuses to touch and chat him up.
Suddenly, investors who had dodged his calls for three months were eager to talk shop again.
While Sebastian could hardly stand their shameless hypocrisy, he was forced to tolerate them.
These were industry titans, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists whose capital PayVault desperately needed to finalize its delayed public offering.
He was deep in conversation with a group of them near the bar when the room suddenly stirred to life.
It was not a gradual shift but rather a sudden, violent ripple that passed through the crowded space like a shockwave.
Men who had been lazily swirling their whiskey stood upright with their postures straightening as their eyes fixed on the main entrance. Ladies mid-sentence paused, their smiles freezing as their gazes darted across the room with curiosity.
Curious to see what on earth had led to such a drastic, dramatic shift in the room’s energy, Sebastian turned around and laid eyes on the most stunning woman he had ever seen in his entire life.
She was so beautiful, almost unreal with her perfect face framed by voluminous blonde hair that seemed to glow. There was something familiar about her, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Sebastian paused mid-conversation and shamelessly stared at the siren, his heart hammering violently against his ribs.
“Whoa...” his companion murmured.
“Who is she?” Another whispered.
“No clue. But I’m going to ask for her number. She’s so fucking hot.”
Mind you, these were respectable men with rings on their fingers. Sebastian was no different and yet, he couldn’t bring himself to look away.
And he was certainly not the only man in the room doing so. Half the men in the ballroom were staring with open temptation.
Conversation was happening all around him, but the sounds felt distant. She had his complete, undivided attention.
She wore a stunning red gown with a dangerously dipping neckline that showcased her generous cleavage.
The fabric hugged her narrow waist and flared out into a dramatic thigh-high split that revealed smooth skin and an endless, impossibly long leg.
And boy, did she possess legs.
He could already picture those long legs wrapped tightly around his waist while he drove himself into her.
Sebastian quickly caught himself, shaking his head violently to clear the sudden, filthy image from his mind.
He forced himself to remember that he was a married man with a missing wife who had spent half a year being suspected of her brutal murder.
He tried to force his gaze back to his conversation with the investors, but his concentration was shot.
He was hyperaware of her every single move in the room and the stunning mysterious woman was in ridiculously high demand.
All the eligible bachelors in the building were practically jostling for her attention, elbowing one another aside just to get into her line of sight, while wives held onto their husbands’ arms tightly, eyeing her with suspicion.
When Sebastian turned to steal another glance sometime later in the night, he caught her looking straight at him. She was surrounded by a circle of at least five eager men, all hanging on her every word.
She held Sebastian’s gaze across the crowded, ballroom. Then, with a slow, wicked curve of her red lips, she raised a finger and beckoned him over.
She was shameless in her command, and Sebastian’s mind went entirely blank in an instant. Against his better judgment and against every instinct urging him to keep a low profile, he found himself moving forward.
He was married. He had a missing wife whom he had been accused of murdering. But none of that seemed to matter in the slightest in that moment.
He felt a sudden flicker of shame for approaching a drop-dead gorgeous woman while his wife was still lost somewhere out in the world, yet he was utterly unable to resist her magnetic allure.
She was so stunning, so confidently sexy and no other woman in his entire life had ever commanded his attention with such raw intensity.
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Elizabeth was having the time of her life. From the moment she had stepped back into the Four Seasons ballroom, she had not had a single second to herself. She was having so much fun.
It was intoxicating and thrilling to hold this much power over the male populace.
She had spotted her husband immediately across the room. While Sebastian looked a little gaunt, he was still as infuriatingly handsome and sexy as ever.
Her heart had beat faster the moment her eyes swept over his broad shoulders, and she had to forcefully command herself to calm down.
No. I do not love him anymore. He is the past, she recited mentally, over and over, like it was a mantra even as lingering, explicit images from their passionate lovemaking in the past, haunted her.
“So, where are you from?” one of her suitors asked eagerly, leaning in close.
There were many men crowding around her, all jostling for her undivided attention. It tickled Beth to no end that her current circle of admirers included Julian, one of Sebastian’s closest friends. So close that he shared confidences with him.
Julian was the very man she had heard on the terrace six months ago, casually referring to her as ugly and fat. Today, that same man was practically salivating over her, his eyes wide with uninhibited lust.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her exposed thigh. With a slow, deliberate shift of her hips, Beth gave him an even better view.
Suffer! Suffer, you fucking asshole, she gloated internally, knowing he didn’t stand a chance with her. Not then, not now, not ever.
Elizabeth took immense pleasure in being the only person in the room who was in on the joke. She was going to make him pay, along with every single one of his friends, her husband included, for their casual cruelty and arrogance in the past.
“Miami,” Beth replied smoothly, her voice a low, seductive purr.
The guy who had asked the question, blinked, looking puzzled. “How come I’ve never met you before? With your beauty, you are impossible to miss.”
“I have no clue, darling,” Beth purred playfully, giving him a slow, trailing glance that had the tall, dark-haired man, putty in her hands.
His name was Carlos, she would come to learn, and he was undeniably handsome. The fact that he bore a passing resemblance to her husband certainly did not factor into her decision to entertain him, or so she told herself.
“Can I have your number?” He had asked, stepping closer to elbow another bachelor aside.
“Of course,” Elizabeth smiled warmly. “But after the party.”
“Me too!” another man chimed in quickly.
“I need your number as well!” Julian declared as well.
“Of course, gentlemen. All in good time,” she murmured softly, loving the attention.
It felt good, for once in her entire life, to be the undisputed object of intense male desire.
She entertained her eager circle of suitors for close to an hour, laughing at their jokes, letting them hold her champagne glass and shamelessly basked in their adoration before finally deciding it was time to set her sights on the real target.
Her husband, Sebastian Moore, the undisputed golden boy of the Miami tech scene.
He just so happened to glance her way across the room right then and Beth held his dark gaze without flinching. She raised her hand and beckoned him over and to her utter disbelief, he actually obeyed.
Ah... to be sexy and effortlessly beautiful enough to have the power to summon powerful men at will, she thought, her confidence swelling.
Sebastian navigated through the sea of guests until he finally stood before her. He looked subtly embarrassed by his own helplessness, but at the same exact time, he was totally under her spell.
His eyes drank in the sight of her dipping neckline and bare shoulders and slid lower to linger on her bare, exposed leg.
“Hello, handsome,” Elizabeth greeted smoothly, her voice interrupting his silent appreciation.
“Hello,” Sebastian answered, his deep voice carrying a husky edge as he took a step closer.
He didn’t recognize her at all. Not even a little bit!
Beth felt a sharp, faint prick of disappointment deep down in her gut. Was it really such a stretch to want the man she had been married to for five whole years, the man she had loved fiercely and fucked passionately, to recognize her?
“I have never seen you before,” Sebastian murmured, his dark eyes sweeping over her once more.
“I have,” Beth countered softly, her red lips curving into a mysterious smirk.