Chapter 3

The air in the ballroom had grown thick, heavy with the scent of expensive perfume, chilled champagne, and the low, thrumming hum of three hundred well-dressed elites discussing mergers and marriages. I stood near the grand marble staircase, my back against the cool stone, trying to look like I belonged here. I did belong here, technically. I was baby girl Szasz, the daughter of the city’s most prominent philanthropists, a fixture at these galas since I was old enough to hold a flute of champagne without spilling it. But tonight, my skin felt too tight for my body, my pulse hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs that I was certain everyone could see. He was everywhere. Not physically, not yet, but his presence was a gravitational pull that warped the entire room. Julian. My father’s oldest friend. The man who had watched me grow from a clumsy, scraped-kneed child into the woman I was now. The man who had seen me change. And the man who, last night, had looked at me with eyes that didn’t see the daughter of a friend, but a woman ready to be devoured. I adjusted the strap of my emerald silk gown, the