Million Dollar Devil (Million Dollar #1)(78)

She looks at me, eyebrow raised. “Aw, girl, don’t tell me you fell for him.”

I look over at her, realizing my palms are sweaty. I wipe them on the front of my gown. “No.”

You can’t fall for a star when it’s in the heavens and you’re on the ground, can you?

“Well, that’s good to hear. I know how soft that little heart of yours is. I’d hate to see it damaged. Because he’s moving on, hon.”

I look at her. “What?”

“That was why we were meeting. He signed a huge contract the other day with Quill Couture. He’s going to be their face, starting next season.”

I frown. “Wait, how did . . . you’re not serious? I thought we had him . . .”

“No, you had him for this season only. I didn’t think we needed to put in a clause that we got the right of first refusal on subsequent seasons. Who knew that he’d become so sought after?” She seems worried and apologetic, but that is nothing compared to how I suddenly feel.

My body goes numb as the words sink in. He’s moving on. James is moving on. Without me.

So that was what he was working on? Screwing me over and leaving me panting in his wake? I watch him across the room, smiling, shaking hands, being adored by everyone, and all the while something hot and dangerous is building inside me. “How can he do that? How can he move on without even asking us? I’m sure my father would’ve matched the offer!”

She sighs. “I know. I told him that. But he seemed adamant; I think Kim . . .”

I stare around the room and find Kim.

I stare, horrified, as it dawns on me that she’s beautiful, perfect, and simply . . . not me. Not the girl who always wanted to change him. Someone who sees only the new him. Someone who will pay him anything he wants and more.

Someone who . . . is actually, maybe, truly perfect—unlike me.

I swallow, and Jeanine follows my gaze. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I was sure he’d pick you. I told him to talk to you, to reconsider, but he simply came back and went with them. I was so disappointed. He might look like a Prince Charming, but he’s really just a toad. A really, really hot, lickable toad, but a toad nonetheless.” She tosses her bag on her plate. “You want me to get you some champagne?”

Champagne?

Jeanine squeezes my shoulder to catch my gaze, but I can’t even breathe, much less drink. The room is spinning. My vision is bending. So I gave him everything, transformed his life, and how does he repay me? He fucks me and then ditches me?

Sounds perfect.

Just another wildly successful addition to my massive collection of loser men.

I can just see my father saying I told you so. But this is even worse. He wasn’t an Ivy League grad or a successful businessman; he was a nobody. I took him out of the garbage and made him who he was. And in return, he used me and tossed me in the garbage.

Maybe I’m the nobody, and he knows it.

Was I a joke to him? Was he planning to ditch me all this time? Was he just laughing at me, waiting to get back at me for thinking I was better than him?

I feel the tears coming. I can’t cry here, in this room, with James. “I have to go. I need some air,” I mumble, climbing to my feet.

But I don’t think air can help me now.

As I go past the bar station that’s making fruity, exotic blue drinks, I see my answer.

When the bartender’s back is turned, I grab a nearly full bottle of Patrón and push out of the ballroom doors.

James

By the time I get back to the table, it’s a quarter of eight. Almost showtime.

But Lizzy is nowhere in sight.

As I scan the ballroom for her, fielding a few people asking for my autograph, I see her approaching. The Black Widow herself, Kim.

“Not fucking tonight,” I murmur to her, not looking at her. “I told you. Any time but tonight. You’re not fucking this launch up for her.”

She shrugs. “We’ll have our time soon. I wasn’t coming to talk to you about that, James. I thought you might want to know where Lizzy was. You looked a little concerned.”

I frown. “Where is she?”

“Well. About fifteen minutes ago, she went out that door. With a bottle of tequila.”

A bottle of tequila? Shit. I’ve had about enough of Kim’s fucking with me. Speaking of Kim fucking with people, when I was making my rounds, I looked over and saw Jeanine and Lizzy talking, and Lizzy was looking at Kim. “What did you say to her?” I grind out. Remembering the look of horror in Lizzy’s eyes when she spotted Kim here.

She bats her eyelashes innocently. “Nothing! We’ve never crossed words!”

I grab her shoulders. “What the fuck—” I stop when I see heads swinging toward me. I let her go. She’s smiling up at me, as if she knows she’s gotten the best of me. “If you said anything to her, so help me, I’ll—”

I stop again. What can I do? She’s got me by the balls.

Pushing my chair in, I stride out the doors, glancing up and down the hallways, looking for her. I hurry into the other empty ballrooms, to the outer lobby, down past the check-in desk and the concierge, to the bar, the hotel restaurant . . . No Lizzy.

Fuck. Where is she?

Fisting my hair in my hands, I turn around, wondering where else she could go. Outside?