Second Chance Vows novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: The Gala
The Kendrick Steel gala filled the grand ballroom of the Harbor Hotel with three hundred people in black.
I came in alone, in a rented tuxedo, with my father on my arm.
Cosima was not with us.
She had said, "Give me twenty minutes, and do not look for me."
My father leaned toward me.
"You didn't bring your wife?" he whispered.
"She's coming, Dad."
"People are looking."
"Let them."
I scanned the room.
At the head table sat Tiffany's father, and beside him a heavy man in a silver suit with a Strand Capital pin in his lapel.
Next to the heavy man sat a young woman in white, with glossy hair and a hard, pretty face.
It was the Strand heiress, and thin gold links with a green stone shone on her wrist.
Trent sat on her other side, in a black tuxedo that I knew he had not paid for.
He saw me and raised his glass with a wide, easy smile.
Tiffany sat at the far end of the table, alone, with her hands folded.
She did not look at Trent, and she looked at me for one second and gave me a very small nod.
Tiffany's father stood and tapped a knife on his glass.
"Friends," he said. "Tonight is a happy night for Kendrick Steel."
I heard my father swallow.
"For ninety years this company stood alone," Tiffany's father said. "Tonight I'm proud to announce that it has found a partner who will carry it for the next ninety."
He gestured at the heavy man.
"Strand Capital and Kendrick Steel are merging."
The room clapped.
"And I'm told we have one more announcement." He turned. "Trent, I think you have the floor."
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