I've Died Here Before novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Engagement Party

Addie's POV

I wore the cream coat.

It had been to the river and back, and the dry cleaner had said it could not be saved.

I had it saved anyway.

The ballroom of the Hotel Courtland held two hundred guests, the entire board and fifty cameras.

The editor with the glass office had put me on her list as her plus-one.

Hattie came as mine, in a sling and a sequined dress, with her new glasses.

"I'm only here for the cake," she said.

"The cake is a lie."

"Then I'm only here for you, banshee."

"Don't call her that in public," the voice said, but it sounded warm.

On the stage, under a crystal chandelier, Giselle stood in a white gown with a diamond on her hand.

Holden stood beside her in the gray suit, with no expression at all.

He did not look at me once.

That was the plan.

At 8:15, the detective walked past me in a waiter's jacket and murmured, "Eight uniforms in the kitchen. Say the word."

"Not yet. I need the room first."

"Then be quick. She'll move the toast."

At 8:30, Giselle tapped her glass.

"Friends," she said. "Before we take the champagne out onto the terrace, my darling would like to say a few words."

The room applauded.

Holden stepped up to the microphone.

He looked at the two hundred faces and the fifty lenses.

"I'm not engaged," he said.

The applause stopped.

Giselle laughed, bright and fond.

"He's shy," she said to the room.

"I have never asked Ms. Vickers to marry me," Holden said. "I want that on every camera tonight. And I'd like the board to see something."

Giselle's smile slipped one inch.

The big screen behind the stage, which had been showing a slide show of her as a child, went black.

I walked down the center aisle in my cream coat.

Heads turned.

A hundred and ninety-nine people watched the girl from the video walk toward a woman who had said she was unwell.

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