“Yes,” Katherine choked out. Her voice was barely a whisper, completely stripped of its arrogant bravado. She stared blindly at her lap, her vision blurring with hot, humiliated tears.“My bank is just... they’re being ridiculous today. I don’t have another card on me. Can you... can you cover it? I’ll Venmo you later.”
Lacey let out a patronizing little sigh, finally lowering her phone, the damage already permanently broadcasted to the internet. She pulled out her own card with a smug, victorious smile and handed it to the waiter.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetie,” Lacey said, her voice dripping with fake, sugary sympathy. “We can’t all be rich forever, right?”
Katherine couldn’t breathe. The air in the restaurant felt incredibly thin, completely suffocating her. She abruptly pushed her chair back, the heavy wooden legs scraping harshly against the floor.
“Excuse me,” she gasped, snatching her Chanel bag off the table. “I need to go to the restroom.”
She didn’t wait for a response. She practically ran across the crowded restaurant, keeping her head down, her heels clicking frantically against the floorboards. She fled the table before the tears of pure, unadulterated humiliation could spill over her lashes and ruin her makeup.
She pushed violently through the heavy doors of the women’s lounge, the thick wood sealing her inside the cavernous, white marble bathroom. It was entirely empty. The harsh, bright vanity lights reflected off the endless mirrors, exposing the terrified, pale, shaking girl hiding beneath the designer clothes.
Katherine dropped her bag onto the marble counter and gripped the edges of the sink. Her chest heaved violently as she dragged oxygen into her tight lungs.
What the hell is going on?she thought frantically, staring at her own terrified reflection.Did he find out?
Her hands trembled so violently she could barely unlock her phone screen. She couldn’t call Sean. If he was in a board meeting, he would be furious if she interrupted him over a declined card, and if hedidknow about David, calling him would be walking straight into a firing squad.
Instead, she scrolled to the contact for his executive assistant, a notoriously cold, incredibly efficient older woman who had always looked at Katherine like she was a piece of trash stuck to the bottom of Sean’s shoe.
She hit the call button, pressing the phone to her ear. It rang twice before the professional, icy voice answered.
“Mr. Sterling’s office. This is Claire.”
“Claire, hi, it’s Katherine,” she said, her voice breathy, rushing, and laced with absolute panic. “I’m so sorry to bother you, but I’m at lunch and both of my cards just declined. I think there’s a block on the accounts, or fraud protection maybe? The bank is making a mistake. Can you please just call them and lift it so I can pay for my valet?”
A long, chilling silence echoed over the line.
“Miss Cole,” Claire finally replied. Her tone was perfectly polite, but utterly, terrifyingly devoid of a single ounce of warmth or sympathy. It was the voice of a woman reading an execution order. “There is no fraud alert on the cards. Mr.Sterling has personally placed a temporary freeze on all of your auxiliary accounts.”
Katherine’s breath hitched, a cold knife sliding straight into her gut. “What? Why? For how long?”
“Pending a comprehensive internal financial audit of your spending,” Claire recited mechanically. “I do not have a timeline for when the freeze will be lifted. You will be notified when the audit is complete.”
“But I don’t have any cash!” Katherine pleaded, the desperation completely breaking her voice, a tear slipping free to track down her cheek. “Claire, please, I just need a few hundred dollars to get my car—”
“I apologize for the inconvenience, Miss Cole,” Claire interrupted coldly, the absolute, unyielding finality in her tone acting as a heavy steel door slamming shut. “I have to return to my desk now. Good afternoon.”
Click.
The dead dial tone echoed in Katherine’s ear.
She stared at her reflection in the massive mirror, a creeping, paralyzing dread settling deep into her bones. Sean had frozen the accounts. He had cut off her lifeblood without a single word of warning, stranding her.It’s just an audit,she told herself frantically, wiping the tear away, pressing a trembling hand to her racing heart.It’s just a billionaire being cautious with his money. He doesn’t know. He can’t know.
But the terror wouldn’t subside. The sprawling luxury of the bathroom suddenly felt like a pristine, marble prison cell.
She needed an anchor. She needed comfort. She needed the man who had promised her she was the most intoxicating woman in the world, the man who had begged her to meet him at a motel just hours ago.
With shaking, clammy fingers, she dialed David’s burner phone.
She paced the length of the marble bathroom, biting her thumbnail hard enough to draw blood as the phone rang.One. Two. Three. Four.
Just as it was about to go to voicemail, the line clicked open.
“David,” Katherine gasped, a desperate, pathetic sob of relief catching in her throat. “David, thank god. You have to help me, I am trapped at a restaurant and Sean completely froze my—”
“I can’t talk right now,” David hissed.
