William let the ring drop. It bounced on the marble with a hollow ting and rolled away into the crowd.

“I’d rather die in that cave than wake up next to you,” he said. He turned his back on her and walked to my side.

“The wedding is cancelled,” General Sterling announced, projecting absolute authority. “The Sterling family withdraws all association with the Vance corporation, effective immediately.”

Chloe collapsed in a heap of white tulle, shrieking, pounding her fists against the marble like a toddler in a toy aisle. She wasn’t mourning a lost love.

She was mourning the black card, the private jets, the social ascension.

Robert Vance let out a strangled wail. “General! Please! I’ll pay it back! I’ll fix it! Elena, tell him! Tell him to stop this! You owe me! I gave you life!”