Chapter 2 - The Polished Shoe
The silence in Le Ciel was absolute. The background jazz trio had stopped playing, and every eye in the room was fixed on table twelve.
Emily stared down at the floor. Resting on the polished marble tile, right beside the shattered remnants of a dropped water glass, lay her small silver name tag. Emily - Server. It felt like a badge of shame, a physical manifestation of her powerlessness in a world ruled by people like Eleanor Vance.
Her fingers trembled as she slowly bent her knees, preparing to reach down and retrieve the metal tag from the floor.
She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She wanted to run out the back service door, rip off the torn uniform, and never return to this city of gilded cages and heartless predators.
She reached her hand out toward the name tag.
Before her fingertips could brush the metal, a polished black Italian leather shoe stopped right beside the tag.
Emily froze. She slowly raised her gaze, following the immaculate line of a charcoal Brioni suit trousers, past a silk vest, up to the broad, commanding shoulders of a man standing over her.
It was Alistair Sterling.
The name echoed through the city like thunder. Alistair was the elusive, reclusive billionaire whose venture capital firm controlled half the skyscrapers downtown, the shipping ports on the coast, and the very real estate Le Ciel occupied. He rarely appeared in public, preferring the shadows of high-stakes boardrooms to society galas. Yet here he was, standing in the middle of the dining room.
Without breaking eye contact with Emily, Alistair slowly knelt down on one knee.
He ignored the pristine white linen tablecloth, the expensive silk of his trousers, and the stares of two hundred frozen guests. With long, steady fingers, he picked up Emily’s silver name tag from the marble floor.
May you like
Every guest in the restaurant held their breath.
Eleanor Vance’s face, which had been twisted in a sneer of triumph, suddenly brightened into a fawning, desperate smile. She smoothed down the front of her emerald gown, practically vibrating with excitement as she recognized the city’s most eligible and powerful bachelor.
