Page 123 of Party Favors

Serena Colby was the socialite who ran New York City. She was the tastemaker everyone followed, and anything she touched turned to gold. Gossip columnists called her “the queen of New York.” She camefrom extremely old money and was currently married to one of the wealthiest men in the world.

I had once thought Adrian Stone was a prince of the New York City social scene.

But Max was the one who actually deserved that title.

“You’re rich, too. This whole time I thought you were poor like me and you let me believe it and make a fool of myself.”

He put his hands in his pockets. “You didn’t make a fool of yourself.”

“Yes, I did.”

“I liked how you saw me. I wanted to be that person.”

“So for the sake of your ego, you lied to me? Because it made you feel good?” I asked.

“No, I’m not expressing myself well right now.”

“Oh, is that because English is your second language?” I asked with a surprising amount of sarcasm. Like I was channeling Vella.

He looked wounded. “I thought you always tried to see the best in people.”

“I did. And look where it got me. You lying to me and using me.”

“When did I use you?”

“To plan the baby shower for your cousin last minute.”

“Everly, I wasn’t trying to use you.”

It didn’t really matter what he had been trying to do. “That’s how I feel about it.”

I shook my hands once, like they were dripping in gross mud and I wanted to fling it off. Like his lies had covered me in some kind of invisible muck. I was not going to make a scene at this event. I wanted to yell and maybe throw a drink in Max’s lying face, but I would keep myself under control. A part of my brain kept reminding me that I was at work right now and it would reflect badly on my company if I behaved inappropriately, even if my personal life had been hit by a wrecking ball.

“Everly—”

“I thought you didn’t say things you don’t mean,” I interrupted him. “Does lying not count?”

Every line on his face reflected his desperation and I could see that he wanted to explain, to make me understand. “Remember how you said that when you get around people from the south, your accent comes back? The same thing happens to me when I get around Monterrans or Italians.”

“And? ‘Whoops, I had a bit of an accent when we met and you thought I was from Monterra and I let you keep thinking it’? Still a lie.”

“I didn’t think I’d see you past that first night and that it was a little white lie that didn’t matter. But the more time I spent with you, the more I wanted to be with you, and I didn’t know how to tell you what I’d done. I didn’t know what you would do if I told you the truth and I didn’t want to lose you.”

Part of my heart twinged. Even if he’d lied before, I wanted desperately to believe him now. I couldn’t let myself be swayed, though. “So that excuses it? You lied and lied and I don’t know how to get past that.”

He took a step closer to me and I knew he wanted to reach for me, but he refrained. “You do. You know me. You know the man that I am.”

“No, I don’t. That’s the entire point, Max.” And listening to his unaccented English, I realized that he seemed like a totally different person to me now. “You had to know that I was going to find out eventually. Did you ever think about that?”

“Yes! That was why I wanted us to meet tomorrow. I was going to tell you everything.”

Someone came up to my left and it took me a second to register that it was Adrian. I scanned the room quickly, wondering if I had accidentally raised my voice and my boss had come over to scold me.

“Everly, I need to speak with you for a minute,” Adrian said, apologetically.

“We’re in the middle of something right now,” Max said.

“Max! This is my boss.”

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