Page 61 of The Wrong Husband

"I hate you, Emilia," Bianca announced loudly and stormed out of the restaurant with her friend.

There was silence across the French bistro except for Edith Piaf crooning about how she didn't regret anything—the complete opposite of how I felt.

"Should we leave?" I asked Damian.

He gave me a puzzled look. "Why?"

"Sheesh, Damian, we just…there was a scene," I whispered.

"Show's over everyone." Jean-Pierre clapped. "Please meet my partner and fifty percent owner of La Saveur, Damian Archer."

Damian rose and took a bow with a smirk like this was normal.

Jean-Pierre came to our table, his eyes sparkling with mirth. "Never a dull moment with you."

"What can I say—I have mad skills." He winked at me and then focused on the chef, "I'm assuming everyone with a phone got that?"

"I think even people without phones got that," Jean-Pierre mocked.

I dropped my head. "God! We should've stayed home."

"Why?" Jean-Pierre asked.

I looked at him. "What do you mean why? Didn't you see what happened?"

"Sure. But you can't stay home all the time. Bianca knew you'd be here, and she came to do this. That's not on you. That's on her."

"Bianca came here on purpose?" I couldn't believe that. How would she even know?

Jean-Pierre shrugged. "I think my hostess is Team Bianca.”

"Team who?" I felt like I was living in an alternate universe. How was this my life suddenly?

"You better give your PR people a head's up," Jean-Pierre warned. He winked at me and went to speak with guests at other tables.

"This is going to be all over the Internet, isn't it?" I said bleakly.

"It certainly is," Damian sighed. "Actually, it already is."

"Let's go—"

"I'm here to enjoy a meal with my wife, which is what I fully intend to do. Come on, Em, you have to grow a thicker skin. This is what happens when you're an Archer."

He picked up his wine and toasted to one of the guests who was staring at us. That woman hurriedly looked away.

"The key is to genuinely not care, not just pretend you don't."

"If you don't care, then why did you want us to stay married?"

"Because that would make me look bad. This whole scene makes Bianca look like a jealous, lunatic ex."

I didn't get a chance to close my gaping mouth at his comment because our main course arrived. I could barely taste what looked like a succulent coq au vin paired with perfectly seasoned vegetables.

Damian didn't seem to have any problems digging into his steak frites cooked medium rare.

I thought we'd be silent and uncomfortable, but Damian was a consummate social being and he made it his mission to make me forget the ugly scene with Bianca. He succeeded.

"Have you been to any of our auctions?" Damian asked me when he told me about a Renoir that Archer Galleries was going to auction off at an exclusive event in a few weeks.

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