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Ari, leaning in slightly, gave a small, amused smile. ‘Our nemeses are related. How convenient for us.’

Nancy tried to smile back. Ari examined her, and her smile dropped. ‘She doesn’t have any power over you now.’

‘She was just a bad boss,’ Nancy said. ‘I’m overreacting.’

‘I doubt that,’ Ari said.

Nancy shrugged. But she appreciated Ari’s words. More than she could say.

The speeches went on. Nancy and Ari fell into a quiet game of commentary, whispering to each other between sips of wine.

‘What’s the over-under on someone saying, “You don’t just marry a person, you marry their family”?’ Ari murmured, tilting her head slightly towards Nancy.

‘Ten seconds,’ Nancy replied dryly.

Right on cue, the groom’s uncle cleared his throat and said, ‘Of course, marriage isn’t just about two people—it’s about two families coming together.’

Ari let out a small, delighted snort, quickly hiding it behind her napkin. For a while, it was almost enjoyable.

But then the bride stood up.

Paris smiled as the applause from the last speech died down, her perfectly manicured fingers resting lightly on the back of her chair. ‘I just want to say a few words,’ she said.

Nancy felt Ari go completely still beside her.

‘I have to say, looking around this room, I feel so grateful,’ Paris continued, eyes sweeping the room. ‘It’s incredible to be surrounded by people who have been part of our journey. And,of course, it means so much to have even our… past connections here, too. It’s important to remember the lessons we’ve learned, isn’t it?’

Nancy’s grip tightened around her glass. That wasn’t a speech. It was a knife slid right between Ari’s ribs under the guise of civility. She didn’t have an ounce of shame.

Ari was stone-faced, but Nancy could see the tightness in her jaw.

‘To my husband, who reaps the rewards of all my mistakes,’ Paris finished, and everyone clapped as she sat down.

And then Nancy did something completely nuts.

She rose smoothly from her seat, lifting her glass before anyone could react. ‘A toast,’ she announced.

Paris turned her head, expression wary, but Nancy smiled at her in the most infuriatingly pleasant way she could muster.

‘To authenticity,’ Nancy said, letting the word settle. ‘To the kind of love that’s real, even when no one’s watching.’

The silence was heavy, the tension threading through the tables like a live wire. Nancy held Paris’s gaze, watching the flash of irritation she tried to mask with a gracious smile.

‘Cheers,’ Nancy finished smoothly, tilting her glass just enough to catch the light.

And then her eye caught Helen’s across the room. Nancy kept her face entirely neutral. But there was no recognition in Helen’s eyes. Ari was right. She couldn’t see who she was without a steering wheel in her hands.

Nancy finally lowered herself back into her chair, heart hammering a little too fast. That had been reckless. She knew it. She should have just let it go. But then Ari leaned in slightly, her voice low enough that only Nancy could hear.

‘That was dangerous,’ Ari murmured.

Nancy smirked, taking a slow sip of wine. ‘You loved it.’

Ari exhaled a quiet laugh, shaking her head. ‘I really did.’

And there it was again. That warmth spread through Nancy’s chest, the pull of something unspoken between them. Something could happen between them. And it could happen tonight if Nancy wasn’t extremely careful.

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