She glanced around the rose exhibition. “We had our engagement party here. It was a beautiful evening.”
Yeah, one that had triggered my twin brother because this was where he’d chosen to propose to Emery before he disappeared. At the time, I’d believed Victoria hadn’t meant to hurt Lex and simply wanted to have our party in a beautiful setting.
The thought that I’d trusted her so much that I’d believed everything she said, only for her to do what she did to me and my family, made me sick to my stomach.
“I’m not here to reminisce. What do you want, Victoria? “
“I want to talk,” she said finally, her gaze settling back on me.
“Talk?” I laughed. “And you chose now? In the middle of a public setting? A charity event?” I couldn’t keep the incredulityfrom seeping into my tone. “Couldn’t you have called me? Set up a meeting somewhere…private?”
She tucked a non-existent stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Would you have answered, Adam?”
I exhaled, a slow release of the tension that had built since I’d had to stand on top of a chair to tell our families she was gone. She knew me well enough to know the answer.
“Exactly,” she whispered.
“Where have you been, Victoria?” My voice found its footing, firmer this time, laced with a quiet demand for long-overdue answers.
“I’ve been away,” she said at last. “Thinking about life…about some of the things I did. The decisions we sometimes make that can affect other people’s lives.”
The air between us became charged, every unspoken accusation crackling in the silence. I folded my arms across my chest. “Like abandoning the man you supposedly loved on your wedding day,” I said, the words falling like lead between us, “and leaving him to deal with the fallout.”
Victoria’s eyes, once warm and familiar, now held a cool distance. “I’ve transferred the money for the wedding expenses to your account,” she announced, her voice steadier than I expected. The revelation should have brought some sense of justice, a settling of scores, but instead, it felt hollow. “And I’ve matched that with a donation to Star Finders,” she continued. Was this some hollow attempt at atonement? “I know it won’t absolve me of what I did, but it’s a start to making things right.”
A multitude of responses built on the tip of my tongue: anger, sarcasm, maybe even gratitude for the gesture, but they all fell away, unsaid.
The stillness of the room was broken by the soft tread of approaching footsteps.
River’s sudden presence eased the tension brought on by Victoria.
“Adam?” His voice held a note of concern. He stood there, his eyes searching mine, a silent question hovering between us. “Are you okay?”
The words were simple, but they carried the weight of our years of friendship, every shared secret, every quiet moment of understanding. Only weeks ago, that question had become a stone in my shoe. Everyone wanted to know how Adam Spencer was coping with the tragedy of being jilted on his wedding day.
I’d grown to hate the question because there was only one acceptable and expected answer. I managed a smile. “I’m fine, River,” I assured him, though “fine” felt like a foreign concept.
River’s gaze didn’t waver. He knew me too well.
I wanted to reach out to him, take his hand, wrap myself around him, and feel peace again. Confrontation wasn’t something I reveled in, and being surprised by Victoria like this left me feeling disconcerted.
Victoria’s gaze flickered between River and me, the air crackling with her sudden shift in demeanor. “Oh. My. God. You two are fucking, aren’t you?” The words slithered out of her mouth, venomous and sharp. “I knew it,” she spat, eyes narrowing with a triumph that made my skin crawl. “All the time you spent together. I always suspected there was something…off. Best friends, my ass.”
River stood beside me, his calm exterior showing nothing of what he might be feeling inside.
“Did you plan this all along, River? Waiting in the wings like some pathetic vulture, ready to swoop in the moment my back was turned?” she continued.
“Victoria, stop,” I interjected, but she barreled on, relentless.
“Or did you seduce him? Take advantage of his vulnerability?” She stepped closer to River, who held his grounddespite the onslaught. “How does it feel to be someone’s second choice?”
Each word Victoria hurled felt like a blow, and I could see the muscles in River’s jaw tense. He exhaled slowly, a measured breath of restraint, but his silence was louder than any defense he could have offered.
“Enough, Victoria,” I said, stepping in front of River. Her words might have been aimed at him, but they pierced me just as deeply.
She lifted her chin in defiance. “I guess I have all I needed from tonight.” She stormed away, her dress swishing as she moved, never losing her poise.
It took a moment for my blood pressure to return to a semi-normal level before it shot up again.
