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"One really ought to thank you, I suppose," Lady Victoria continued, seemingly oblivious to how I was crumbling inside. "You've provided quite the educational experience for Edward. He needed to understand that mixing business with pleasure is always messy. That people from your world can't be trusted to keep things appropriate."
That was the last straw. I straightened my spine, wiped away tears I hadn't realized were falling, and found my voice.
"You're wrong about one thing," I said, forcing steel into my words despite the tears. "I would never use someone for business advantage. I would never pretend to care about someone while planning to destroy their life. That kind of cruelty? That's not about breeding or class or any of the things you think make you better than me. That's just about being a decent human being."
I pushed past her and fled toward the ballroom, desperate to escape, to find somewhere to fall apart in private.
The sounds of the auction, the music, the laughter—it all felt like it was coming from another universe. A universe where I hadn't just discovered that the man I was falling for had been orchestrating my professional destruction all along.
Somehow, through the blur of tears, I spotted Cece's familiar red hair. She took one look at my face and immediately pulled me into a quiet alcove, away from curious eyes.
"Oh my God, what happened? Are you okay? Who do I need to murder?" Her questions came rapid-fire as she led me to a chair.
"Edward—" My voice broke. "His company is acquiring mine. He's known all along. Lady Victoria said he's been using me for inside information."
"What?" Cece's confusion quickly morphed into fury. "Wait, are you saying his law firm is the one helping to buy Gardens & Home? And he didn't tell you?"
I nodded, fingering the pearls in my clutch—the ones Edward had helped me gather earlier this evening, each touch seeming so genuine then, so hollow now.
"That absolute bastard." Cece knelt in front of me, gripping my hands. "And after his Mother insisted on lending you the family rubies for the gala! Makes sense now—she was marking you as the sacrificial lamb all along. Keeping enemies close and all that aristocratic game-playing."
The realization hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. The rubies hadn't been a gesture of acceptance—they'd been a way of controlling me, of keeping me in place while Edward and his firm prepared to dismantle my company. "She knew the whole time," I whispered. "Those jewels were just part of their strategy."
"Listen to me," Cece said fiercely. "We can fight this. I know people in media law. If they're using inside information, if there's been any breach of confidentiality, we can cause enough problems to at least buy time. Doesn't matter what they said," Cece continued, her voice dropping to a more urgent tone. "You know who you are, you know what you feel."
"Do I?" I managed through tears." Because I feel like the biggest fool in the world. I thought... God, I actually thought he might care about me."
"Lili?" Edward's voice cut through our conversation like a blade. I looked up to find him standing in the alcove entrance, immaculate in his tuxedo but with something shattered in his expression.
For one unguarded moment, I glimpsed what might have been genuine pain in his eyes—but after Victoria's revelations, even that seemed like another calculated performance.
Cece rose like an avenging angel, placing herself between us with a fury that seemed to add inches to her height.
"I think you've done quite enough for one evening," she said, her voice carrying the kind of controlled anger that could cut glass. "In fact, I think you've done enough for several lifetimes. So why don't you take your guilt and your explanations and your wounded feelings, and get the hell away from her?"
I looked up at Edward over Cece's shoulder, searching his face for something—anything—that would contradict his Mother's version of events.
Some explanation that would make all of this make sense. Some denial that would put my world back together.
But all I saw was guilt. And in that moment, I knew that everything Lady Victoria had said was true.
Every moment between us had been a lie.
And I'd been played for a fool from the very beginning.
CHAPTER 11
Edward
"Whatever my Mother told you, let me explain."
The words tumbled out before I could stop them, desperate and raw in a way that would have horrified me an hour ago.
But watching Lili collapse in tears while Cece guarded her like a fierce protector had shattered every careful wall I'd built around my emotions.
Cece's glare could have melted steel. " I think you've done quite enough for one evening."
"Please." I looked past her to Lili, who sat curled in the chair like a wounded animal. "Five minutes. That's all I'm asking."