“I thought…” He stopped. “I thought you didn’t care what people thought.”
“I learned not to show it.”
His eyes flickered.
“I was jealous of you,” he said.
That was the last thing I expected.
“Jealous?”
“You never seemed to need their approval.” He looked toward our parents. “I needed it constantly. Every grade, every job, every promotion. I didn’t know who I was without someone being impressed.”
“That doesn’t excuse what you did.”
“No,” he said. “It doesn’t.”
The band shifted into a slower song. Couples moved together under the chandeliers.
Nicholas took a shaky breath.
“I’m sorry, Jenna. Not because Mr. Stewart knows you. Not because it made me look bad. I’m sorry because I treated you like a problem to hide when you came here to celebrate me.”
The apology was imperfect. It did not erase the day.
But it was real enough to hurt.
“I accept that you’re sorry,” I said carefully. “I don’t know yet what that changes.”
He nodded, and to his credit, he did not ask for more.
Then Emmett, who had remained quietly beside me, spoke.
“Nicholas, since we’re all being honest, I should tell you something. I was never attending tonight to discuss an investment in your firm.”
Nicholas looked startled. “You weren’t?”
“No. I came because Jenna mentioned months ago that her brother was getting married in Vermont. She didn’t ask me to come. In fact, she never would have. But I had business in Boston and accepted the invitation when your planner sent it.”
My brow furrowed. “Your office told me you were in meetings all weekend.”
“I was,” Emmett said. “Mostly.”
Nicholas looked between us. “Then why would my planner invite you?”
The question produced an odd silence.
Allison stepped closer. “Nicholas, I didn’t add Mr. Stewart to the guest list.”
“I didn’t either,” Nicholas said.
Emmett’s expression changed slightly.
“Your planner said the invitation came from the family office.”
“My family doesn’t have a family office,” Nicholas replied.
I felt a small prickle of unease.
Then my phone vibrated.
I looked down.
An email notification had appeared from an address I hadn’t seen in nearly nine years.
My former mentor.