Page 13 of A Vicious Love

So I folded my hands in my lap and didn’t eat.

Nobody noticed.

Everyone talked. The chairwoman came to the table. Marcel handled her graciously. Harrison asked Celia about an upcoming race. Emmie spoke to me about rehearsal shoes, asking about my pointe work. I answered everything and, smiled. I even moved my fork once or twice, shifting the garnish so it looked disturbed.

Jamison finished his course, and ordered another whiskey.

The evening kept going.

There was music after dinner. A quartet playing near the glass wall. People drifting between tables. Donor pledges announced on the screens in gold lettering. Conversations about art collections, polo weekends, ice sculpture commissions, private tutors, yacht refits, and which family had secured which island villa for winter.

Crows talked business.

Women kissed cheeks.

Men shook hands like threats could be polite if done with cufflinks showing.

I stayed beside Emmie for most of it.

She asked about my costume fitting. Marcel asked if the theatre had enough security after the sold-out announcement because Veil popularity could make crowds unpredictable. Harrison offered to attend and boo anyone who coughed during my variation.

“You can’t boo at a ballet,” I said, laughing.

“Watch me.”

“You’ll be removed.”

“By who? Jamison’s wall of doom?”

I laughed harder than the joke deserved because Harrison was being nice and I wanted him to know it worked.

Jamison spent most of the evening on his phone.

When he wasn’t drinking.

The night ended in rain, I was standing at the valet entrance.

Jamison stood several feet away on the phone. His guards formed a half-circle around him. I waited outside it.

I didn’t want to interrupt. I had already interrupted enough by existing.

His car arrived first. A black SUV with tinted windows and two escort vehicles behind it. The valet stepped back quickly as one of Jamison’s men opened the rear door.

Jamison didn’t move toward it yet.

“No,” he said into the phone. “You tell him if he touches the account again, I’ll take more than his license.”

A pause.

Rain ticked softly against the awning.

Jamison’s mouth hardened. “Then explain it in smaller words. If he puts his hands on Crow property, I cut them off.”

My fingers tightened around my purse.

People nearby pretended not to hear.

Jamison ended the call and slid the phone into his pocket.