I fish for my phone in the small gold clutch that Dexie loaned me for tonight. "The only other name you can try is mine. That's Reese."
She nods slowly. "Let me try that one. Our system is new. Something might have gotten mixed up when the reservation was made."
I don't look at her as my fingers race over the screen of my phone. I pull up my contact's list and scroll down to his name. I dial Nicholas with a push of a button.
"Again, let me apologize." The woman behind the desk tosses me a sympathetic look. "Perhaps you can call the people you're meeting?"
Apparently, the fact that my phone is next to my head isn't a clue that I'm doing exactly that. I take a step back from the podium and listen to ring after unanswered ring.
"Nicholas, it's me," I whisper when his voicemail finally picks up. "I'm at Hibiscus and something's happened with the reservation. Call me as soon as you get this."
"Miss?" The woman behind the podium calls out to me as I drop my phone back into the clutch. "You're more than welcome to take a walk around the restaurant to see if your party is here. As I said, our reservation system has had a glitch or two since opening and I'd hate for you to miss your dinner because of that."
I follow her in silence as she leads me into the packed dining room. I survey the faces of each patron, quickly looking them over in a desperate attempt to find Nicholas or Claudia.
"I don't see them." I turn back to the hostess. "Is there another dining room?"
"We have two private dining rooms." She waves her hand to the left. "There's a shortcut through the kitchen. Follow me."
I do. I fall in step behind her as she weaves her way around servers before we take a straight path through the crowded kitchen.
We walk down a short corridor before I hear the raucous voices of a group of people who are all gathered in an alcove around a large dining table.
"I take it those aren't your friends?" The hostess tosses me a smile.
I shake my head. My voice is stuck somewhere between my stomach and my throat. If Nicholas and Claudia aren't in the other private room, I have no idea what I'm going to do.
An earpiece the woman is wearing buzzes suddenly, causing her to stop in her tracks. "I have to take this. All hell broke loose back at reception. The other dining room is straight ahead and to the left."
I stand in place as she walks away.
There's no sound drifting from the dining room to my left. I smooth my hands over the skirt of my dress before I take a step forward and then another. Just as I turn to look into the dining room, I stop moving.
The only person standing there is Nicholas. He's facing me. His hands are tucked in the front pockets of his jeans. His face is impassive.
"Nicholas?" I rush toward him. "Where's Claudia? I was so scared I was going to miss this."
He raises both of his hands in the air as I near him. "Stop. Don't fucking touch me."
I freeze in place, my heart racing. "Nicholas?"
"I told Claudia who you really are, Sophia. She wants nothing to do with you."
My stomach knots. "What does that mean? What's going on?"
"You play innocent better than anyone I've ever met." He chuckles. "I fell for it. Fuck, did I fall for it."
"You fell for what?" Anger simmers inside of me. "I want to know what's going on."
"What's going on is your career is over. I spoke to Gabriel an hour ago and if you haven't heard yet, you're fired. Claudia is going to make sure that your designs never see the light of day in this town."
My knees go weak. This can't be real. How is this happening? I look down at the dress I'm wearing. This is the dress that was supposed to launch my career. "Mr. Foster wouldn't fire me. He wouldn't do that to me."
"It's done. You're done, Sophia."
I search his face trying to understand what the fuck he's talking about. "You're not making any sense, Nicholas."
"I'm not making sense?" He clears his throat. "You stole from me. You took that manuscript I gave you and you sold it and now you're going to pay the price for that."
