Chapter Three

Iris's POV

Back in my junior year of college, I rented a folding table on this street every weekend and covered it with rings and earrings I'd made myself, just to make a little extra money.

One afternoon, two customers showed up who didn't fit in at all.

The man was wearing a dark suit, surrounded by people in hoodies carrying canvas totes. Even the kids walking by couldn't stop staring at him.

The girl on his arm, though, was clearly having fun. She zeroed in on the ring I'd set right in the middle of the table.

She picked it up, held it up to the light, and turned back to the man with a pout.

"Can we have the family jeweler make one just like this, but with diamonds? I want to give it to Theo for his birthday. Please?"

Before I could say anything, the man took the ring out of her hand and set it back on the velvet.

"You can't just take somebody else's design and use it."

Then he turned to me and asked if the design was registered, and whether I'd sell the sketches.

I handed him my sketchbook, still a little stunned. He flipped through it slowly, page by page. Then he just asked how much, paid, and left without saying a word about my work.

The next day, a man in sunglasses found my booth and asked if I'd be interested in designing for the Vitale family's jewelry business.

That job was how I met Theo.

After I married Adrian, I asked him once why he'd picked me back then.

He was undoing the clasp of my necklace, and his fingers paused at the back of my neck.

"I saw you first. Not Theo."

It was the first time I'd ever seen something close to tenderness in his eyes.

Because of that one line, I took this marriage seriously. I believed he cared about me, at least a little.

Now I knew even that pause had been an act.

I sat on that corner until well past midnight before I went back to the estate.

The lights in the master bedroom had been off for a long time, so I spent the night on the couch in my studio.

My phone stayed silent. He didn't send me a single text.

He was doing it on purpose. He wanted me to understand I had no right to throw a fit in this house.

As soon as the sun came up, I started gathering the sketches off my desk.

I'd just slid the first stack into a folder when my apprentice burst through the door in a panic.

"Iris, Bianca took the royal blue sapphire you were saving for the competition! Didn't the Boss say that one was only for you?"

I smoothed the folder shut. I knew exactly what this was. He was punishing me.

I sent my apprentice back to work and headed to the study myself.

The two bodyguards outside the door moved together to block my way.

"Sorry, Donna. The Boss is meeting with the capos. No women allowed when it's family business."

So I had no choice but to wait on the bench in the hallway.

Before long, Bianca came up the stairs with a cup of coffee. When she saw me sitting outside, she broke into a big smile.

"Oh, Donna, why are you sitting out here? Want me to go put in a word for you? Maybe beg him to let you in?"

I didn't even bother to look up.

She didn't seem to mind. She pushed the study door open and strolled right in.

I looked at the bodyguards. One of them wouldn't meet my eyes and spoke quietly.

"The Boss said Miss Bianca doesn't need to be announced."

My mouth twisted into something that wasn't quite a smile. It had never been this clear who the favorite in this house really was.

An hour later, the capos started filing out.

When I walked into the study, Bianca was curled up in Adrian's leather chair flipping through a magazine, as comfortable as if it were her own room.

Standing by the desk, I was the one who looked like some outsider who'd come to ask him for a favor.

"Why did Bianca get the royal blue I was using for the competition?"

Adrian didn't even look up from the papers in his hand.

"She likes it. Just pick another one. There's plenty more in the safe, isn't there?"

My hand slowly tightened on the edge of the desk.

"I picked that stone specifically for this competition. The sapphires in the safe don't come close to it in clarity or fire. Are you doing this to get back at me for last night?"

Bianca peeked out from behind her magazine, all innocent.

"He promised it to me two weeks ago. Didn't you know?"

I froze. Two weeks ago?

I looked at Adrian.

"Then why didn't you tell me? If I'd known two weeks ago, I would've had plenty of time to find another one."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, sounding impatient.

"I forgot."

That was it. Not even an explanation.

He knew exactly what this competition meant to me. It was the stage every jewelry designer dreams of standing on.

He'd been the first one to see my designs. He'd smiled that day, which he hardly ever did, and made a joke.

"Good thing I brought you into the family early. Otherwise you'd be our biggest competition right now."

He'd had people searching for this stone six months in advance. They'd compared the clarity, the cut, and the color one by one before finally settling on it.

But the minute Bianca said she liked it, he handed it over without a second thought. He didn't even leave me time to find a replacement.

Maybe he hadn't forgotten at all. Maybe I'd just never mattered to him.

I didn't argue anymore. I turned and walked out of the study.

At the end of the hallway, Adrian's right-hand man was giving orders to a few of his guys.

I walked over and handed him a request I'd already filled out.

"I'm going to Paris for the competition. I need you to get my passport and papers out of the vault."