“Vivienne! Oh, my sweet, beautiful Vivienne!” she cried, trying to wrap her arms around me and Sophia. “I knew it! I always knew that Kensington harlot had bewitched my poor boy!

You’re his true wife! You’re the real daughter-in-law of this family! We can fix this, darling — we’re family!”

The sheer hypocrisy of it turned my stomach. I didn’t have to move. Victor simply snapped his fingers.

Two Sterling security guards stepped between us, caught the frantic woman by her shoulders, and redirected her away.

“Do not touch my sister,” Victor warned, his voice a low rumble. “And do not ever refer to yourself as her family again.”

Dominic, bleeding from his lip and drenched in champagne, finally pushed himself up out of the ruined glass. He looked around the room and understood the totality of it.