She looked around helplessly.
"You're putting me in an impossible position."
I felt a sharp ache beneath my ribs.
She had deliberately destroyed my dress, mocked my presence, and humiliated me before dozens of strangers.
Yet somehow, she still considered herself the person being treated unfairly.
Julian stepped forward.
"Chloe, the problem isn't that you insulted someone important to me."
She looked at him hopefully.
"The problem is that you believed it was acceptable to insult someone because you assumed she wasn't important to anyone."
His words hung over the terrace.
For the first time, several guests visibly lowered their eyes.
Then Julian spoke again.
"And more importantly, you're asking me to overlook the very behavior that makes you unfit for the position you've spent months pursuing."
Chloe's expression collapsed.
"The promotion?"
Julian nodded.
"That position requires judgment, discretion, and the ability to represent our company respectfully in every room."
She began shaking her head.
"Please don't do this."
"You made your choice before you knew anyone was watching who mattered to you."
Chloe pressed her fingers against her mouth.
I could see genuine fear in her eyes now, but it wasn't the kind of remorse I had hoped to find.
She was frightened of losing the life she had spent years building.
I understood that fear, and a small part of me felt pity for her.
However, pity couldn't erase the fact that she had chosen cruelty when she believed there would be no consequences.
"Julian," I said softly.
He turned toward me.
"I don't want our marriage to become the reason someone loses her career."
Chloe immediately looked up.
Hope flashed across her face.
I continued before she could speak.
"But I also don't want what happened tonight dismissed simply because the person she hurt turned out to have connections."
Julian listened carefully.
I could feel the attention of the entire terrace shifting toward me.
For once, nobody seemed interested in what I was wearing.
They wanted to know what I would do with the power they now believed I possessed.
I took a slow breath.
"Let the company judge her professional conduct fairly, including what happened tonight, rather than making a decision because I'm your wife."
Julian nodded.
"That's reasonable."
Chloe looked momentarily relieved.
Then I saw something troubling in her expression.
She had heard my request for fairness as an opportunity to escape responsibility.
"Thank you, Olivia," she said quickly.
I held up my hand.
"I haven't finished."
Her smile vanished.
"An honest review requires an honest account of what happened."
Chloe looked toward the guests.
I saw panic return to her eyes.
She understood that several influential people had witnessed her behavior and that their accounts might make it impossible to dismiss the incident as an accident.
Then her gaze settled on Mara.
The young waitress was standing beside the bar, still holding her tray.
Chloe's expression changed with frightening speed.
Suddenly, she had found another way to protect herself.
"Actually," she announced, "there's something everyone should know."
I felt my stomach tighten.
Julian looked at her.
"What is it?"
Chloe gestured toward Mara.
"The waitress bumped my arm when she came past, and that's what caused the drink to spill."
Mara froze.
I stared at Chloe in disbelief.
The waitress hadn't been anywhere near us when the cocktail was poured.
Several guests began whispering.
Chloe stepped toward the bar and pointed at Mara.
"She knows exactly what happened."
The waitress looked terrified.
"I wasn't—"
Chloe interrupted before she could finish.
"Think very carefully before you answer."
I felt anger rise through me with a force I could no longer suppress.
Chloe had already tried to make me feel powerless, and now she was turning her attention toward someone even less able to defend herself.
Mara's hands trembled so badly that the glasses on her tray began to rattle.
Julian stepped forward.
"Chloe, don't threaten her."
"I'm not threatening anyone," Chloe insisted.
Then she leaned toward Mara and spoke in a low voice that I was close enough to hear.
"Tell them you bumped me, or you'll be looking for another job before midnight."
Mara's face went white.
I saw the terrible choice unfolding in her eyes.
She needed her job, and Chloe was counting on that fear to make her take responsibility for something she hadn't done.
I moved toward the waitress.
"Mara, look at me."
She raised her frightened eyes.
"You don't have to protect someone who is trying to hurt you."
Chloe's voice became shrill.
"You're pressuring the witness."
I ignored her.
Mara looked toward the hotel's service entrance, then toward the powerful guests waiting for her answer.
Tears gathered in her eyes.
Finally, she opened her mouth.