PART 2 – She simply set the untouched champagne on the nearest table, slid her phone back into her clutch, and walked toward the exit.
\nThe whispers followed her like cold wind.
\n\u201cClara?\u201d
\n\u201cIs she leaving?\u201d
\n\u201cPoor thing.\u201d
\n\u201cRichard won\u2019t like that.\u201d
\nAt the doorway, the event coordinator reached for her arm, panicked. \u201cMrs. Donovan, is everything all right? The press is still outside.\u201d
\nClara looked at the young woman\u2019s hand until she withdrew it.
\n\u201cEverything is exactly as it should be,\u201d Clara said.
\nThen she stepped into the hotel corridor, where the noise of the ballroom fell away behind her,muffled by velvet doors and money.
\nOutside, winter struck her face with clean cruelty.
\nSnow moved in thin white threads beneath the hotel awning. Fifth Avenue glowed with headlights and wet pavement. Her driver was not at the curb. Richard had arranged the cars tonight, and suddenly Clara understood that he had probably arranged for her to be trapped, visible, dependent, waiting until he decided whether she could leave.
\nShe almost laughed again.
\nInstead, she walked.
\nHer heels clicked against the stone steps, then against the sidewalk. The cold cut through her gown immediately. Her coat was still at the hotel checkroom, but going<\/p>\n
back inside felt impossible. She wrapped one arm around herself and kept the other over her belly, moving past the line of town cars, past the doorman calling after her, past a photographer who lifted his camera and then hesitated when he saw her face.
\nShe walked until the hotel lights blurred behind her.
\nAt the corner of 54th Street, she stopped beside a restaurant window to catch her breath.
\nThen she saw them.
\nRichard and Sabrina were inside.
\nThey had left the gala through another exit.
\nThey sat at a private table near the back, close enough for Clara to see Richard\u2019s hand covering Sabrina\u2019s, his head bent toward hers in that intimate posture that once belonged to Clara in another lifetime. The waiter was pouring red wine. Sabrina was laughing, her crimson dress bright beneath the low amber lights.
\nRichard had humiliated her in public, ordered her to stay, and then left with his mistress before Clara had even reached the street.
\nHer body reacted before her mind did.
\nThe sidewalk tilted.
\nHer fingers dug into her belly.
\nA sharp pain twisted low in her abdomen, not unbearable, but frightening enough to steal her breath. The restaurant lights stretched into long gold lines. Someone on the sidewalk said, \u201cMa\u2019am?\u201d
\nClara tried to answer.
\nThe baby.
\nThat was all she could think.
\nNot Richard.
\nNot Sabrina.
\nThe baby.
\nHer knees softened.
\nA man caught her before she hit the ground.
\nWhen Clara opened her eyes, she was in the back seat of a car that smelled faintly of leather, cedar, and rain. The interior was warm. Her hands were folded over her stomach. A dark coat had been draped across her shoulders.
\nA man sat across from her, not too close, his posture still and careful.
\n\u201cYou fainted,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re five minutes from Lenox Hill. I called ahead.\u201d
\nClara tried to sit up. \u201cWho are you?\u201d
\n\u201cAlexander Graves.\u201d
\nThe name moved through her fogged mind before recognition arrived.
\nIf you type \u201cYES\u201d, the story will continue and I will post the entire story with a complete ending. Thank you \u2b07\ufe0f\ud83d\udcac<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PART 2 – She simply set the untouched champagne on the nearest table, slid her phone back into her clutch, and walked toward the exit. The whispers… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n