Chapter 5 GALA

The Grand Ballroom of the Thorne Plaza was a cathedral of excess. Gold-leafed columns stretched toward a ceiling painted with frescoes of ancient myths, and chandeliers the size of small cars dripped with hand cut crystals. This was the Homecoming Gala, an event whispered about for weeks in the inner circles of the elite.

Mark Woods stood at the edge of the ballroom, clutching a glass of cheap whiskey he'd managed to snag from a side bar. He wasn't on the VIP guest list tonight. In fact, he shouldn't have been there at all. He had used the last of his personal cash to bribe a desperate waiter for a staff uniform, over which he had thrown his last remaining designer blazer.

He looked around the room. These were the people who had bowed to him just a week ago. Now, they looked through him as if he were made of glass.

"Did you hear?" a woman nearby whispered, her voice dripping with malice. "Mark Woods is officially bankrupt. They say the bank took his cars this morning. And Tiffany Ward? She's already seen in the Hamptons with a Duke."

Mark tightened his grip on the glass until his knuckles turned white. He didn't care about Tiffany. He was here for Aria. He convinced himself that if he could just get her alone, if he could remind her of that winter in the basement, she would soften. She had to. She was his wife.

Suddenly, the heavy mahogany doors at the top of the grand staircase swung open. The orchestra, which had been playing soft jazz, shifted into a powerful, sweeping crescendo.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the announcer's voice boomed, silenced the room. "The Chairperson of the Thorne Group, and the Heiress to the Thorne Estate, miss Aria Thorne."

The room held its breath.

Aria didn't walk, she glided. She was a vision in a gown of midnight blue that seemed to be woven from the night sky itself, encrusted with millions of micro diamonds that shimmered with every step. Around her neck was the Thorne Heart a blue diamond the size of a pigeon's egg that hadn't been seen in public for thirty years.

She looked like a goddess who had descended to walk among mortals.

Beside her, holding her hand with a possessive grace, was Ethan Knight. He wore a tuxedo that cost more than Mark's entire startup, and the look he gave Aria wasn't just professional it was hungry. It was the look of a man who had finally found the only woman in the world who could stand as his equal.

Mark felt a physical pain in his chest. That should be me, he thought, a delusional fire burning in his brain. I built her. I was the one she loved first.

Aria reached the bottom of the stairs, where the most powerful men in the country lined up just to catch her eye. She moved through the crowd with the effortless poise of a Queen, her laughter light and melodic.

Mark saw his opening. As Aria moved toward the terrace to escape the heat of the ballroom, he slipped through the shadows of the velvet curtains, cutting her off.

"Aria!" he hissed.

Aria stopped. Ethan Knight immediately stepped forward, his eyes narrowing into slits, his body tensing like a predator ready to strike. But Aria placed a gentle hand on Ethan's chest.

"It's alright, Ethan," she said softly. "I can handle this... ghost."

Ethan hesitated, then nodded, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "I'll be ten feet away. If he even breathes on you, I'll have him buried in the foundation of this hotel."

Ethan stepped back, his gaze never leaving Mark.

"Mark," Aria said, turning her attention to her ex-husband. She didn't look angry. She looked bored. "I'm surprised you're here. I thought the 'Woods Group' was busy settling its debts."

"Aria, please," Mark stepped closer, his voice cracking. "I know I messed up. I know I said things... terrible things. But we have history! Three years, Aria! You can't just throw that away for a man like Ethan Knight. He doesn't know you like I do. He doesn't know how you like your coffee or how you cry during sad movies."

Aria tilted her head, a small, mocking smile playing on her lips. "You're right, Mark. He doesn't know those things yet. But do you know what he does know? He knows my name. He knows my worth. He didn't need to see my bank account to treat me like a Queen."

"I was blinded by the stress!" Mark cried, reaching out to grab her hand.

Aria stepped back effortlessly, and a Thorne security guard appeared out of nowhere, blocking Mark's path.

"Don't," Aria said, her voice turning to ice. "The man I loved in that basement died a long time ago. He died the moment he decided that a woman's value was determined by the logo on her handbag. You didn't outgrow me, Mark. You just shrunk until you were too small for me to see."

She leaned in, her voice a lethal whisper. "I didn't bring you down because I was petty, Mark. I brought you down because you used the Thorne fortune, my father's money, to fund your affairs and your arrogance. I was simply taking back what was mine."

"Aria, I have nothing!" Mark begged, falling to his knees in front of her, heedless of the socialites watching from the ballroom. "I'm losing the office. I'm losing the apartment. I have nowhere to go!"

Aria looked down at him. "You have exactly what you gave me when you threw me out, Mark. You have your freedom. Isn't that what you wanted? A life without the burden of a plain housewife?"

She turned to the guard. "Mr. Woods is trespassing. Please escort him to the service exit. And make sure he takes a gift bag on the way out. I hear the hors d'oeuvres are the only thing he'll be eating for a while."

"Aria! No! Aria!"

Mark's screams were muffled as the guards dragged him away, his knees scraping against the marble floors. The elite of the city watched in silence, the "Golden Boy" now reduced to a pathetic heap of desperation.

Aria took a deep breath, smoothing her dress. Ethan was back by her side in a second, his hand resting on the small of her back.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically gentle.

Aria looked at him, and for the first time, the coldness in her eyes melted. "I'm better than okay, Ethan. I'm free."

Ethan smiled, a dark, handsome glint in his eyes. "Good. Because the night is young, and I believe we have a merger to celebrate. And perhaps... a dance?"

As the music swelled again, Aria Thorne turned her back on her past and stepped into the light of her new empire.