Hazel’s POV
“You think I won’t tell everyone what really happened five years ago?” Michael’s voice cut through the restaurant’s quiet elegance like broken glass, loud enough that heads turned at nearby tables.
I froze, my fork halfway to my plate, recognizing that voice from the worst afternoon of my life, the one where he’d mocked my limp in front of a room full of laughing executives while Julian sat by, unbothered.
Julian was on his feet before I’d fully processed what was happening, his chair scraping back hard against the floor. “Sit down, Michael, or leave. Those are your only two options.”
“I’ll leave when I’m ready,” Michael said, swaying slightly, clearly several drinks past sober, “but not before I tell your precious wife what you actually said about her back then, the things
