“None of us should have let it continue.”
Elijah finally found his voice.
“Rachel, this isn’t the place.”
She turned toward him.
His first words were not an apology.
They were an attempt to control the setting.
That told her everything she needed to know.
“You chose the place,” she replied.
“You made the bet about this gala.”
A pulse moved in Elijah’s jaw.
He glanced around at the watching guests, then stepped closer and lowered his voice.
“I said something stupid in a private conversation.”
“You said it three feet from my desk.”
“I didn’t know you were listening.”
Rachel’s expression did not change.
“Would it have been less cruel if I hadn’t heard it?”
Elijah opened his mouth, but no answer came.
Greg looked between them, then set down his glass.
“Rachel,” he said carefully, “may I ask you something?”
“You may.”
He extended one hand toward the dance floor.
“Would you dance with me?”
A murmur traveled through the guests standing nearby.
Tyler closed his eyes briefly, already understanding what Greg had done.
Elijah stared at the offered hand.
The bet was over.
Rachel looked at Greg.
She could see genuine regret in his face, but she could also see the attention gathering around them.
If she accepted, the room might turn the moment into a fairy tale about a beautiful woman finally receiving male approval.
That was not why she had come.
“Thank you,” she said.
“But no.”
Greg slowly lowered his hand.
Elijah released a breath that sounded almost like relief.
Rachel turned to him.
“The wager was not that I would accept a dance.
You said nobody would ask.”
Greg reached inside his jacket, removed his phone, and opened his banking application.
“Five thousand dollars.
Name the charity.”
Elijah frowned.
“You don’t have to do this here.”
“Yes, I do,” Greg said.
“Because she heard us, and because I agreed.”
Rachel glanced toward the banners decorating the ballroom.
The gala was raising money for a foundation that provided legal and housing support to women escaping workplace harassment and domestic abuse.
The irony was almost painful.
“Donate it to tonight’s foundation,” she said.
Greg nodded and completed the transfer.
He turned the screen toward her, but Rachel did not inspect it.
A few seconds later, one of the event coordinators near the stage received confirmation and raised a surprised hand toward him.
The donation was real.
A small burst of applause began somewhere behind them.
Rachel did not join it.
Greg had done the right thing after doing the wrong one.
That mattered, but it did not erase the choice he had made.
