Chapter 8: Clause Four

Joaquin took the check from Grayson's fingers and looked at the number.

Then he folded it in half, and in half again, and put it back in Grayson's breast pocket.

"I'll pass," he said.

"Every man sells," Grayson said.

"You'd know."

Grayson's jaw worked.

He looked past Joaquin at me, then at Noelle, who had gone pale under her sunglasses.

"Come on," he said to her. "We're leaving."

She followed him down the steps without looking back.

At the car he turned and pointed at the house.

"Friday night, the Heyward gala," he said. "Wear something nice, Medrano. It's going to be a very public evening."

I did not like the way he said it.

The Heyward Freight gala was held every year in a grand downtown ballroom.

My grandmother had chaired it for forty years.

Five hundred guests came in black tie, bankers and ship captains and politicians, and the chandeliers threw gold light across all of it.

I wore a green silk gown that Adelaide had picked out.

Joaquin wore a rented tuxedo that fit.

I caught people staring when he took my arm.

Two women near the champagne tower whispered, and I heard the word husband.

"They think you're a gold digger," I murmured.

"I'm a very bad one," Joaquin said. "I turned down two hundred thousand dollars."

I laughed, and felt his hand tighten on mine.

He had been quiet all week, on the phone in the study with the door shut.

Every night he came to my bed and made me forget what I wanted to ask.

Tonight he'd promised me everything.

I had circled the ballroom twice looking for Lionel.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Stand Aside, the Billionaire Is Here from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.