Chapter 3

On the night of the gala, Adrian and I went to the venue's front office.

He handed the operations director a cease-and-desist.

"Ms. Sutton never agreed to appear in any clarification segment. As of now, this venue stops using her name and her likeness."

The director signed for it. We walked out, and the press-room door opened just as we passed.

The reporters recognized me at once and closed in.

"Ms. Sutton, are you here to apologize?"

I pushed the mic away. "I'm here to cancel it."

Elliot came out of the press room. When he saw me, his expression softened.

"I knew you'd come."

Margot, Willa, and Vivian came out behind him. Still in the gowns. Still wearing the rings.

Elliot looked around, then took a microphone from one of the reporters.

"Everyone's here. Let's do the clarification now."

I turned to leave.

Two steps later, every phone in the hallway went off at once.

Mine too. A press packet.

Page one was the apology from the night before. My name was signed at the bottom.

I looked at him. "I never signed that."

"You wouldn't read it. So I released it for you."

He came closer and lowered his voice. "The press already has it. It goes online at the same time."

The host asked the three of them to remove their rings.

Willa put hers in the tray. Vivian's went in after.

Margot looked at me, then took off the last one.

"Since Nora is willing to apologize, we'll let it go. We're not petty people."

Three women who had bet money on me, forgiving me on camera.

And I was the one who had supposedly hurt them out of jealousy.

I forwarded the statement to Adrian. "Log this one too. They used my name on it."

"Ms. Sutton has quite a sense of humor," the host said, smoothing things over as he held the tray out to me. "Now, if Ms. Sutton would put the rings back on and state publicly that she accepts what happened that day—"

I knocked the tray out of her hands.

The rings rolled to the three women's feet.

The hallway went silent.

Elliot's expression darkened, but his voice stayed flat.

"Nora's upset. That's all. They have their rings back. This ends here."

My refusal came out of his mouth as consent.

He bent down, picked up the first ring, and put it back on Willa.

Then he put the second one back on Vivian.

He picked up the last one and reached for Margot's hand.

She pulled it away. "Wait. Don't bother with that one."

He looked at her. "What?"

"I've got something better."

She took a lab report out of her clutch and put it in his hand.

"What is this?"

She laid a hand over her stomach, looked straight into every camera, and smiled.

"I'm eight weeks pregnant."