“Oh my god,” she puffs. “I’m so sorry. I had a wardrobe emergency, then the cab broke down. What’d I miss?”
“Well, you missed half of the evening so far,” Lottie says sharply and Tara shoots her a look.
“Didn’t miss the dancing though, did I?”
“No.” Lottie smiles and winks out of the corner of her eye, showing that she’s only joking around.
“Did I miss dessert?” Tara says nonchalantly, scooping up a glass and helping herself to the table wine.
The table silences. Denham leans into Mrs. Steinham next to him and says, “I’m sorry. Please excuse my sister. She clearly has no manners and shouldn’t really be allowed out without supervision.”
Mrs. Steinham laughs, and Mr. Steinham picks up the wine bottle and tops up Tara’s glass to the brim. “You drink all you like, dear, I’ve got three drinks on you so you’re playing catch-up.” He winks, clinks glasses with her and the table settles back into comfortable conversation. Tara says some things that make me gasp and hold my breath, but she seems to charm everyone around her and no one takes offense at anything she comes out with. Her date, Chad, is very quiet. I have no idea how well she knows him or anything else about him. Denham doesn’t help the poor lad feel at home by throwing him cold warning glares, and I elbow him a few times to let him know that he needs to chill out about it. Spike laughs and jokes with everyone else, but food is the main thing that’s on his mind.
The room comes to a hush as a speaker taps the microphone and starts to talk.
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I do hope you’re enjoying the Summertime Ball so far. Those of you that return to the ball year after year will already know this, but for those who don’t, please let me explain. The Summertime Ball started eight years ago when a group of people culminated together to find a way of raising money for a local charity. That charity was The Las Vegas Children’s Leukemia Trust. For each subsequent year, there has been a different local charity to support. To tell us more about this year’s charity, which is a fairly new one but no less important, could you please welcome the founder of this special charity, James Ellis.”
The room erupts in claps and cheers, and the spotlight moves to the side of the stage where James Ellis enters.
It takes approximately three seconds for my blood to run from cold to iced.
James Ellis.
AKA Jonny Ellison, steps onto the stage.
Chapter 16
Arianna
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I won’t take up too much of your precious eating and drinking time, and I know the band is due on stage any minute so I’ll make this quick. Eighteen months ago, I recognized a severe problem here in Las Vegas. Away from the bright lights and big city, there are hundreds of women, men, and children that suffer domestic violence at the hands of someone close to them. Domestic violence takes multiple forms, including physical, sexual, emotional and verbal abuse, social isolation and economic dependency. Anyone can be a victim of domestic violence regardless of age, gender, race, social status or sexual orientation. It’s a wider problem than you’d think, and more often than not, is well hidden and undetected, sometimes for years. A woman is beaten every fifteen seconds in an act ofdomestic violence. So, by the time I have finished this little speech, twenty women will have been beaten somewhere in the US. Maybe someone you’re sitting close to in this room are victims, or even abusers. Not a fact, just a thought. So, after witnessing a particularly vicious attack and realizing there was this immense problem, I started a charity to provide an escape for these victims. It’s called ‘Safe as Houses’. ”
My breaths become fast and shallow in my chest. I’m hot. I’m cold. I can’t process what’s going on here.
Hestarted a domestic violence charity?
He’stalking about women being beaten and trying to help them?
“Ari …” Lottie nudges my arm. “That looks like … is that … Shit.Shit.”
I can’t answer her. I can’t take my eyes from the stage. His voice. Those words. She knows from my reaction to him that it’s Jonny.
“My contacts and connections made it possible for me to source everyone I needed to in order to do something about this growing problem. There are currently four safe houses in the Las Vegas city area, all belonging to the Safe as Houses Charity, and there are plans to broaden the reach and make a difference to victims all across America. But this is only possible with the help from you. I ask you to be generous and dig deep for a worthy cause that really does make a difference. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for any donations you see fit to give us this evening. I will be here all evening if you’d like to find out more. Thank you for your time. Oh, and please enjoy the rest of your evening.”
He takes a bow and beams that fake smile of his all around the ballroom. He receives a rapturous applause, all except from the few people at our table who know who he is.
Lottie has left her seat and is whispering in Denham’s ear. His face drops. So does my stomach. I should have known it wouldn’t be simple. He was always going to catch up with me. Always tainting the air that I breathe with his evil.
“Arianna? Is Lottie right? James Ellis…Is that him? Is that Jonny?” Denham asks me softly.
I nod because my body won’t let me do anything else right now. “Shit. James fucking Ellis. Okay, we are leaving. I need to make a few calls.”
“NO,” I shout, drawing too much attention from Mr. and Mrs. Steinham. “No, I’m not leaving,” I hiss through my teeth.
“But Ari, that’s …”
“I know. I know who he is,” I say sounding far calmer than I’m feeling, but I’m starting to get it under control. “I am not leaving.” The more I breathe, the stronger my voice becomes and the more my confidence grows. I turn in my chair and face Denham, who’s still seated, and Lottie, who’s standing at his side. “I told you, I’m not running. Las Vegas is a small place and it was bound to happen sooner or later. We will not leave. We are going to stay here, and we are going to have a great night. We are going to drink and dance on the table. And we are going to show that man that he isn’t going to win. He wants to empower victims of abuse? Well, let’s show him how it’s done.” I solidify my resolve by picking up my half full wine glass and swallow its contents in one gulp. Then I bang the glass on the table and stand to catch the last of the applause, clapping and cheering loudly. Denham and Lottie look between each other as if I’m crazy. Maybe I am. In fact, I know I am. My whole life has been crazy since the moment I met Jonny. He saturated everything with his toxicity. But in Denham’s words, ‘it is what it is’. My life is going to be what I make it, and I am not running.
When the applause dies down, Jonny walks off the stage and directly to a table at the front of the room. I watch him, withequal amounts of fascination as astonishment. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
