Vanessa’s POV

I grabbed a bottle of champagne off the break table in the room as I shoved off my heels while I shut the door behind me, the echo bouncing off the bare walls of my once-glamorous penthouse.

My feet ached, my hands raw and painful from scrubbing dishes at La Cour Royale, the memory of that humiliating ordeal came back haunting me.

I collapsed onto the couch, as I popped the bottle’s cork, the fizz a hollow comfort. The bubbles stung my throat as I gulped it down,but ...