Took My Star Dress, I Said Goodbye

Chapter 5

Estella managed to keep her polished, elegant facade intact just long enough to follow me into the dressing room.

The second the door clicked shut, the act dropped. Her smile vanished, and she slumped onto the sofa with a heavy sigh.

"Honestly, I never thought Scott would keep you around this long," she scoffed, leaning back and looking me up and down. "If I'm remembering right, you were just some low-level secretary at his firm. Let's be real. If he hadn't hit rock bottom back then, a girl like you never would've had a shot at his bed in the first place."

Her venom didn't even graze me. Keeping my voice perfectly level, I countered, "Miss Cooper, I'm still waiting for you to give me my dress back."

Annoyed that she hadn't managed to bait me, she began aggressively ripping at the zipper of the gown. Catching me watching her, she snapped, "Turn around!"

A moment later, the fabric crumpled at my feet, accompanied by a voice dripping with disdain. "When two women wear the exact same dress, the uglier one is always the embarrassment. Let me give you a piece of friendly advice, Daisy. Scott is never going to marry you. If you're smart, you'll start looking for a backup plan."

"Thank you for the advice, Miss Cooper," I fired back, a sweet smile plastering my face. "But since you two are ancient history, why do you care so much about who he's with? Don't tell me you want him back? I thought you were too busy throwing yourself at the CEO of the Dotson Group. What's the matter? Did he reject you, and now you have to crawl back to Scott?"

Estella's eyes flared with pure, unadulterated rage. Sensing she was about to tear me limb from limb, I didn't wait around for the fallout—I slipped out the door and shut it behind me.

Thud.

Something heavy collided with the wood from the inside, followed by a muffled string of screeching curses.

Feeling pretty smug about reclaiming my dress and leaving Estella to self-combust, I started down the quiet hallway.

I was just reveling in the small victory when a deep voice cut through the silence from behind me.

"Miss Meyer, your dress..."

I spun around. Standing at the corner of the corridor was Brian Dotson—the very man Estella had been desperately chasing for months without a single shred of success. If he hadn't spoken up, I wouldn't have even realized he was there.

I immediately glanced down at myself, but everything looked fine from the front.

Brian gestured toward a decorative mirror hanging on the wall.

I stepped up to it, turned, and my stomach dropped. There they were! Several glaring, deliberate streaks of red lipstick smudged right across the back of the gown.

I should have known. Estella was never going to hand it back without ruining it first.

As I stood there trying to figure out how to salvage the night, Brian checked his watch and offered a quiet suggestion. "You could try letting your hair down."

It was my only option.

Facing the mirror, I pulled the pins from my updo, letting the waves cascade over my shoulders.

As I arranged the strands to completely mask the red stains, I tried to sound casual. "A busy man like you, Mr. Dotson... what brings you to the Griffiths gala tonight?"

"Mr. Griffith has been keeping a low profile for three years," he replied smoothly, transitioning his gaze to his phone. "Tonight is his grand comeback, so I wanted to offer my congratulations in person."

Years ago, Scott's business empire had collapsed precisely because he'd chosen Brian as an opponent. Whether Brian was being genuine or incredibly sarcastic, one thing was certain: Scott's night would be ruined the second he saw him.

A small, cynical laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it.

Still looking down at his screen, Brian asked casually, "I've been meaning to ask, Miss Meyer... do you have some kind of problem with me?"

With my hair perfectly covering the ruined fabric, I turned around and forced a flawless corporate smile. "Of course not, Mr. Dotson. You're overthinking it. And thank you for the warning just now."

Truthfully, my only impression of Brian came from our brief, ruthless interactions in the business world.

I didn't actually have a grudge against him. In fact, I had once saved his life—he just didn't know it.