“Matt’s mistress.” Rachel closed her eyes. “I am so stupid. Of course she is.”
“Hailey.” Matt moved to the stage with the forced smile of a maniacal Cheshire cat. He gestured for her to come down. “I think that’s enough.”
Hailey glared. “I already know what you think. I know everything about you.” She pointed to Rachel. “And you don’t deserve her. She’s put up with so much from you without one fucking word of complaint.” Hailey laughed, a harsh chuckle that echoed through the stunned ballroom. She looked at Rachel. “I admire you for being the bigger woman.” Her eyes glazed with tears. She looked at Matt, and her anguish flattened into bitter loathing. “But I’m not.”
Hailey grabbed the sheet covering one of Nathan’s pieces and pulled it away. Rachel closed her eyes. She knew what was coming. The shocked murmur that rippled through the crowd confirmed it. Hailey had switched the portraits before the gala. It was her. Naked.
Someone gasped. Rachel opened her eyes and saw Matt rushing to the stage. Hailey planted herself in his path and he froze, hands outstretched like he wanted to grab her. But he shouldered past and snatched up the frame.
Rachel didn’t realize that Nathan was gone until she saw him next to Matt, trying to yank the portrait away. She rushed to the stage, but Joe beat her there. He grabbed Nathan’s arm and pulled hard, breaking his grip on the canvas. Matt stumbled back, and it clattered to the floor.
“That’s enough!” Joe shoved Matt toward the stairs and jabbed his finger in Nathan’s direction. “Both of you. Go.”
The room had become a sea of iPhones, backed by a discordant symphony of high-pitched outrage and gleeful shock. Rachel was numb. Hailey confronted her with tears still sliding down her cheeks. “Tell Matt I quit.” She walked away with the regal posture of someone who’d been crowned prom queen instead of revealed as a jilted lover.
Rachel spoke into the microphone. “I apologize for the disruption, everyone. Thank you for coming, and for your generous donations.” She looked out at the crowd. Half of them were ignoring her. The other half were trying to get another glimpse of her naked portrait. “There are donation cards at your table, and I hope you’ll consider additional gifts to a worthy cause.”
There was still no sign of Sofia. Rachel rushed offstage. She intercepted security and somehow managed to convince them to focus on crowd control rather than the earlier drama. A few minutes later, she found Nathan, Matt, and Joe facing off in the darkened special collections area. Matt flung curses over Joe’s shoulder, while Nathan glowered, a silent, impenetrable wall.
“You need to calm down,” Joe said.
Matt sputtered something about calling security, but froze when he saw Rachel. His long glare felt endless, and she floundered beneath it, trying and failing to summon actual words. She remembered how ashamed he’d looked when she pushed his birthday cake to the floor. Was there a right thing to say in moments like this? Sorry I hurt you, but I wanted him more.
“How long have you been fucking my wife?” Matt refused to look at Nathan, trying to provoke them both.
“She’s not your wife,” Nathan answered, giving him nothing but stoic contempt.
“Not my—” Matt’s eyes narrowed on Rachel. “You told him?”
She stepped back, putting distance between herself and his rage. “Yes, but—”
“Is this what you’ve been doing? All those times you disappeared. You were off fucking this kid?”
Rachel grabbed his arm. “Would you stop and listen to me? We can’t do this here!”
“She’s right,” Joe said. “There’s press hanging around the lobby. One of them could walk through that door any minute.”
“Thirteen years,” Matt muttered as he shook Rachel off. “I gave you everything. I pulled you out of the damn gutter and for what? So you could humiliate me in front of the whole world?” His lips curled into a disgusted sneer. “You were going to take my money. Make me beg you to stay while you were slutting around town with some—”
Nathan’s fist slammed into his jaw and sent him skidding to the ground. The dull thud made Rachel gasp. She stumbled back to avoid being hit by the wild sprawl of Matt’s legs.
Nathan crouched to meet his eyes. “I told you not to talk to her that way.”
Matt stood and shuffled back. “You stupid son of a bitch. I could have you arrested.”
“No.” Rachel stood between them. “Matt, please. Don’t do this. You’re mad at me, not him.”