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I drain the last dregs of champagne in my glass and drop it on a white-clothed table.
Party’s over.
I catch up with her outside, midway down the grand steps. The previous crowd has dispersed and no cameras are waiting for the departing guests. But even if the scene were as busy as before, I’d only have eyes for the woman in the silver dress.
All the cars for this event have been parked at least half an hour away in a separate parking facility, something she probably didn’t know, or she wouldn’t have come out already.
“Leaving so soon?” I ask, approaching her from behind.
Blake jolts, turning toward me. Blue eyes zeroing in on me and delivering the by-now-familiar punch to the gut.
“Mr. Mercer, we meet again. One may start to believe chance had nothing to do with it.”
I ignore the jab. “Waiting for your driver?”
“By gosh, no.” She laughs as if genially amused by the question. “I might be rich now, but I’m still getting used to all the…” She pauses for a second and points at our surroundings. “Bubble wrap.”
“Says the woman wearing a five-thousand-dollar dress.” I tilt my head. “Give or take.”
“An eye for fashion. Any other hidden qualities besides the obvious?”
I raise my eyebrows. “You mean my pretty face?”
“No, I didn’t. I was referring to the effortlessness of someone who’s always been used to having the best of everything.”
“Do you resent rich people, Miss Avery?” I ask, sticking to her stupid rule of using our surnames. “Because in case you haven’t noticed, you’ve joined the club.”
“Yeah, I just want to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.”
“Meaning?”
“Well, you read the article.”
I didn’t come here to argue, but my jaw tenses all the same. “Here we go again. Just because I went to an expensive school and didn’t have to pay for it, it doesn’t mean I never had any struggles. A top-notch education was a rare privilege, I agree with you. But everything that came afterward I earned with the sweat off my back.”
Blake blinks at me for a second. “You’re joking, right?” At my morose expression, she theatrically inhales. “Oh my gosh, you’re not.”
When I still say nothing, she takes it upon herself to continue the conversation. “Listen, I don’t take pleasure in dragging other people’s names through the mud. When the reporter asked me that question about you, I responded without thinking. I requested to strike the comment afterward, but she told me I’d agreed to go on the record and she could publish our entire conversation with no further permission on my part. No do-overs in traditional media, it’s not like shooting a TikTok. So there you have it. I’m still getting to grips with this new world of interviews and benefits and whatnot, and I still haven’t learned not to say the first thing that passes through my mind.”
“Clearly,” I mutter between gritted teeth.
She flares her nostrils. “I’m sorry if I offended you, but I said nothing but the truth. I still didn’t wish for the comment to be published, but I’m not taking back what I say. You’re a brilliant entrepreneur, but you’re not self-made. You come from money, Mr. Mercer. Old money.” Blake points at my persona as if it disgusts her. “It’s written all over your stance, your air of entitlement.”
“I might come from money, but my company is all me. I didn’t ask for a handout from my family. I earned everything I have now.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “You really want to do this here?”
“Don’t know about you, but I don’t have anywhere else to be at two in the morning on a Saturday.”
“Okay. Where did you live when you moved to Silicon Valley after college?” Blake fires the question at me without preamble.
“An apartment,” I say, not seeing her point.
“How did you pay for rent?”
Oh, I see what she’s getting at. “It doesn’t matter. I could’ve been living under a bridge and I still would’ve worked myself into the ground to reach my goals.”
“I think what you meant to say was, ‘My trust fund paid the rent.’ At least if we’re being honest. You might consider rent money trivial, but not everyone who launches a start-up can afford the luxury of moving to one of the most expensive parts of the country and not stress about how they’re going to pay for a place to live or to buy food.” She’s not sparing blows. “But let’s say for the sake of argument that rent didn’t count. Where did you get the money to fund your company?”
