He Called Me a Monster. I Walked Into His Gala and Took Back My Name.

by

Chapter 20

THEME:
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My eyes stung.

Across the room, Preston had just picked up a program of his own.

I saw him glance at the page.

Then stop.

He read it again.

His face changed.

Cassidy leaned toward him, asking something.

He didn't answer.

Instead, he lifted his head and looked directly at me.

And for the first time all evening, I saw something in his expression that had nothing to do with my scars.

Panic.

He Called Me a Monster. I Walked Into His Gala and Took Back My Name.

PART 5: THE WOMAN HE THOUGHT HE HAD DESTROYED

Preston reached my table before the first course was served.

He wasn't smiling anymore.

"Vivian. We need to talk."

I looked up from my water glass.

"About what?"

He glanced at the people seated around us.

"In private."

I could feel the tension in his voice.

Not grief over our marriage.

Not regret over the affair.

Fear over something he valued far more.

His career.

I stood.

Gideon looked at me.

I gave him a small nod.

"I can handle this."

Preston led me toward a quiet corridor outside the ballroom.

The moment we were beyond the guests' hearing, he turned.

"What have you done?"

I folded my arms.

"You're going to have to be more specific."

"The program, Vivian. That recognition was supposed to be mine."

I stared at him.

"Was it?"

"Don't do this."

"Do what?"

"Act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

I felt the old pressure beginning to build.

He expected me to explain.

To soothe him.

To make the problem disappear.

I didn't.

Preston lowered his voice.

"Those were my projects."

"They were projects we both worked on."

"I led them."

"You presented them."

His eyes flashed.

"Are you seriously going to argue about terminology?"

"No."

I stepped closer.

"I'm going to tell the truth."

He looked at me as though I had become a stranger.

"You were my analyst."

"I was a senior strategist working on the same division's portfolio."

"Under my direction."

"Sometimes. Not always."

He laughed bitterly.

"Now you want to rewrite history?"

I thought of the confidential file.

The drafting records.

The questions I had answered in front of the committee.

I shook my head.

"No, Preston. I want people to read it accurately."

He moved his hands through his hair.

"You don't understand what's at stake."

"I understand perfectly."

"No, you don't. That equity agreement is everything."

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