Chapter 14 - The Night He Expected Me to Break
I wore black to the gala.
No dramatic red dress.
No diamonds borrowed from a sponsor.
Just a clean black suit from the first collection I had designed without my mother.
My hands shook while I fastened the cuffs.
Rosa saw.
She adjusted one sleeve.
“Let them shake.”
“I hate that he still scares me.”
“You’re going anyway.”
Downstairs, Luz waited beside Elena.
“You look expensive,” she said.
“I am.”
“Good. Remember who paid.”
The ballroom was smaller than planned.
We had removed an entire section of tables.
I noticed.
So did everybody else.
Then our workshop staff walked in together.
Store managers followed.
Suppliers.
Customers.
People who had bought one bag and saved for a second.
The room filled.
Nathan caught my eye from near the stage.
He nodded.
The relief payments had cleared that afternoon.
Twenty-seven families.
Every verified balance.
It was the only number I cared about that night.
Leo arrived twenty minutes later.
He wore the tuxedo I had bought him.
Victor came beside him.
Claire wasn’t there.
Security stopped them near the entrance.
Leo raised his voice.
“I’m here for my wife.”
People turned.
Of course they did.
He knew exactly how to make a room watch.
I walked toward him with Elena.
“This is a company event,” I said.
“It’s our company.”
“No.”
He smiled at the guests behind me.
“Mia’s had a difficult week.”
I felt the old urge.
To explain.
To reassure everybody.
To make him stop being angry.
I let the urge pass.
Elena handed his attorney, who had followed several steps behind, a sealed packet.
“Further communication goes through counsel.”
Leo barely glanced at it.
“You think handing out envelopes makes you right?”
“No,” I said. “The records help.”
Victor gripped his arm.
“Let’s go.”
But Leo was watching the crowd.
Still looking for sympathy.
“You’re throwing away two years.”
I looked at the tuxedo.
The polished shoes.
The wedding ring he had kept wearing while Claire slept in my bed.
“You spent them.”
His smile disappeared.
Across the room, Nathan stepped onto the stage.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here.”
The lights softened.
Leo looked toward the screen.
For a second, his expression changed.
He was still waiting for his presentation.
Instead, a photograph of my mother appeared.
Standing in her first workshop.
The full photograph.
Every person in it visible.
Including the little girl doing homework.
Then my mother’s recorded voice filled the room.
May you like
“If this business ever gets too big to remember who makes the clothes, we’ve made it too big.”
Behind me, Leo whispered, “Turn it off.”
