Chapter 1 - The Wine Stain
The red wine hit my white shirt before Lauren Pierce finished smiling for her phone.
For half a second, the whole dining room seemed to pause with me.
Then Lauren laughed.
“Oh my God, Maya. I’m so sorry.”
She wasn’t sorry. I knew the difference. I had known it since we were seventeen, when she used to call cruelty a joke and wait for everyone else to laugh.
I stood beside her table in the busiest restaurant I owned, holding a tray with two sparkling waters while red wine ran down my shirt. Lauren looked me over - black pants, plain shoes, damp fabric - and saw exactly what she wanted to see.
“The waitress thing fits you,” she said lightly. “You were never exactly academic.”
I set the tray down before I dropped it.
Seventeen years disappeared in one sentence. I could smell the bleach from the grocery store where I worked after school. I could hear Lauren asking why my thrift-store sweater always looked tired.
But I wasn’t seventeen anymore.
“You still haven’t grown out of bullying people, have you?” I asked.
Her smile sharpened. “Relax. It was an accident.”
Before I could answer, a man’s voice sounded behind me.
“Sorry I’m late.”
Lauren changed instantly.
Her shoulders straightened. Her face brightened. She stood so fast her chair scraped the floor.
Ethan Bennett walked toward us in a charcoal suit.
My husband.
Lauren had spent ten minutes bragging about the major financial account her firm was desperate to win. Apparently, Ethan was the meeting.
“Mr. Bennett,” she said warmly. “It’s such a pleasure.”
Ethan shook her hand, then looked at me.
Then at the wine on my shirt.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” Lauren answered quickly. “Just a little accident.”
She shot me a warning glance.
Stay quiet.
Know your place.
Ethan saw it.
He looked around the packed room, back at Lauren, then lifted one hand and pointed directly at me.
May you like
Lauren smiled uncertainly.
Ethan said, “Before we talk business, you should probably know who owns the restaurant you’re sitting in.”
