Chapter 22: Closing Night

Casey's POV

The closing party was held in a glass ballroom on the top floor of a downtown hotel.

Three hundred people drifted between the bar and the stage.

There were buyers in dark suits, sponsors, reporters, and fans who had won tickets.

Rafe's manager had put me at a table in the back, behind a pillar.

"Stay there until he says your name," the manager whispered. "Not a second before. I have a heart condition."

"You do not."

"I'm developing one."

Dillon sat in the front row in a borrowed suit, with his phone on his knee.

His face was gray.

Eli sat next to him. He had a manila envelope tucked in his jacket, and a large, happy smile.

At eight o'clock the lights dimmed, and Lydia walked onto the stage in a green dress with her carnations.

The crowd applauded.

She took the microphone from its stand and held it in both hands.

For a moment she looked exactly like me at my engagement party, only smiling.

"Thank you all," she said. "Three years ago I made a promise to a wonderful man."

She let it hang.

"I promised to keep our love private so his dream could grow."

Someone sniffed. A reporter lifted a camera.

"Tonight the dream is coming true. And I can finally say it out loud."

She turned to the wings.

"Rafe Tolland is my husband."

The ballroom erupted in cheers.

Rafe walked out from behind the curtain in a dark jacket, with the cord bare at his throat.

Lydia held out her arm. He stopped a few feet away.

"Come here, baby," she said, laughing. "Kiss your wife."

"Lyd," Rafe said, "I'll take it from here."

He lifted the microphone out of her hand.

Her smile held. Her eyes didn't.

"Thank you for coming," Rafe said. "I want to say a few things, in order."

The room settled.

"First, the sale. I'm not signing."

A man in the second row stood up. "Mr. Tolland, we have a contract."

"You have a draft," Rafe said. "The channel is not for sale."

"Not at all?"

"Not to you, and not at any price that comes with a hidden wife."

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