Page 25 of A Vicious Love

I nodded carefully. “Everyone has.”

His mouth twisted. “Of course everyone has. Harlan loves watching smoke if it comes from someone else’s building.”

“I didn’t mean⁠—”

“No, you don’t mean anything. That’s the problem.”

I tried to smile again.

I truly did.

The muscles moved, but it didn’t feel like a smile anymore. It felt like holding a cracked plate together because guests were still in the room.

“I only wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“Then don’t.”

The words were quiet enough that only the people closest could hear.

“If you want to be useful tonight,” he continued, “stand where you’re placed, smile when someone looks at you, and don’t start chirping about business you couldn’t survive hearing the details of.”

My face burned.

“Okay,” I whispered.

His phone rang, he looked down at the screen and cursed under his breath before answering.

“Tell him I’m already in a room full of parasites,” he snapped into the phone. “He can wait.”

Then he walked away.

I stood there for a moment, dismissed in the middle of the entrance path.

People flowed around me carefully. No one came too close. Scared to be associated with whatever had just happened.

My ankle throbbed.

My throat felt thick.

“Sienna.”

Emmie’s voice reached me before her hand did.

She touched my elbow. I turned too quickly and nearly lost my balance, but she caught my wrist with gentle strength.

I could survive Jamison being cruel.

I had practice.

Kindness was always the part that made tears dangerous.

“I’m fine,” I said quickly.

Emmie’s expression said she knew I was lying but loved me too much to call me on it in the middle of a room. Marcel stood behind her, his expression cold in the direction Jamison had gone.

Harrison appeared a second later, drink in hand.

“What did he say?”