Page 63 of The Revenge Plan

Seems like Hailey had been working her spell on her colleagues.

“She’s full of surprises, my wife.”

Rachel frowned at my cryptic statement, but seemed to dismiss the hidden meaning. A few moments later, someone came over to her and whispered something in her ear.

“You’re going to have to excuse me,” she said before she made her way out in a hurry.

I mingled with the guests and wandered around the ballroom. The wine was excellent. And so were the canapes. I was in the middle of tasting one, when in the corner of my eye I spotted someone in a red gown walking in the opposite direction of where I was standing. Hailey. She looked beautiful. All my warning signals and danger signs failed at that moment. I don’t know how or when I decided. I was already on my way to her. She had on a strapless gown that was flow-length, wispy and made her seem like she was floating in the air. She had her back to me and was walking fast a little too fast for someone who was at a function. I reached her as she was to go toward the back entrance where the food trays were coming from and grabbed her hand. There was a column nearby, and I pulled her behind it.

“Hi.”

39

His entrance would be my cue to make myself scarce. I didn’t want to know what the wrath of Caiden would feel like in public. It would be best for both of us if we didn’t meet. One problem; the third person growing inside me. Ever since I had gotten the news, I had thought of nothing else. Dreams of a baby with Caiden’s eyes invaded my nights. I never thought of having children before this. They were such a far away concept to me that the idea of me as mother didn’t exist to me until now.

“You should tell him if you’re keeping the baby,” Alicia had said to me. Easier said than done, I thought. I will. It was the right thing to do. It just won’t be tonight. That meant executing Plan B: The avoidance strategy. As long as I was out of his way, we would not bump into each other. That should work. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that needed to be done, anyway.

“It won’t help to hide from him forever.” Goddamn Alicia. She had become a mind reader at this point.

“Not forever,” I said to her, “just for the moment. I don’t have the stomach to tell him now.”

“You don’t have to tell him tonight. But you have to face him at some point. He’s the one at fault here, not you.” My face flushed with guilt. I hadn’t told her the full story. I wasn’t sure if I understood the full story. All I had told her was we had separated. She had assumed that it was something he did. She kept alluding to possible affairs, all of which I denied.

“It’s good that he didn’t come with someone else.”

“How do you know?”

“He just entered.”

I turned toward the entrance, and my heart skipped a bit. All the fortifying I had done against my heart came crashing down the moment I laid my eyes on him. The room buzzed when he came in. The air changed. He always had the ability to attract the attention of everyone without doing much. That was the enigmatic power of Caiden Scott.

He looked handsome in a sleek black tuxedo that put all male models to shame. He was talking to Rachel. She pointed in my general direction and I almost froze, but it didn’t seem like he had noticed me. When she left him, he was met with other people who wanted to talk to him.

“I have to check the catering.”

“You can’t hide from forever,” Alicia said as I made a beeline to the kitchen. I was going to try. I was about to get out of the room when I heard, “Hailey?” A voice behind me called out. I thought of ignoring him, but what if it was a potential donor? I cursed to myself, plastered a smile and turned. “What a pleasant surprise!”

The voice belonged to a middle-aged woman, the mother of one of my former high school classmates.

“How are you, Mrs. Pendergahst?”

“How have you been? It’s been years since I’ve last seen you. Penny mentions you from time to time, of course.”

“Of course.” I hadn’t spoken to Penny Pendergahst ever since school, why she would find the need to mention me to her mother was beyond me, but I chose not to press it.

“And I heard about your wedding!” she tried to smile through the Botox-filled face.

“Thank you. Now—”

“It must have been wonderful. Dear Penny told me all about it.”

I was about to tell her I hadn’t invited ‘Dear Penny’ when I spotted him in the corner of my eye. He was making conversation with one of our other donors and he was only a few feet away. My pulse accelerated as my gaze darted around the room, looking for an exit.

I made a hasty apology to Mrs. Pendergahst and made my way out of there as fast as I could. Only I heard footsteps behind me that were tracing mine. It was him. I walked as fast as I could in a floor-length gown in a ballroom full of people.

I was about to reach the kitchen when I felt a hand grab be and pull be behind a column. I was thrust into a wall of muscle. He righted me with his hand.

“Hi Hailey.”

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