Love's Deception

Chapter 20 - The Gala (Part 2)

One night can bring so many different changes. You can learn things you never knew, you can learn things that you already knew, and you can learn things about yourself. In one night you can feel so much better about yourself, but still not know what to do. How difficult is that? To finally be able to hear something you've been waiting to hear, something that can point you in the right direction, but you still can't take it. You may want to, and you can, but you know you shouldn't.

One night can lead you in two different directions. What one will you take? The direction you know you should take? Or the one you shouldn't take but you want to? You can also have the best of both worlds and explore both directions for a while. Explore them both and then decide which one to take. But, here's the catch: one leads you to safety, and the other leads you to your self-destruction. Which one leads you where? The answer may surprise you.

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Why is Natalia here? I didn't even know she was invited and it seems like Jace didn't either. She's standing at the entrance, people greeting her as they walk inside.

I stand up off the barstool and I follow Jace to the front. Paige and Cam call after me to know where I'm going but I don't respond. I just keep walking. I'm not worried about Jace and Natalia, I'm worried that Jace is going to get upset and could cause a scene.

I finally reach Jace and I walk by his side towards Natalia. I call out for him to stop walking and I even grab his arm to try and get him to listen to me, it doesn't work. Soon enough, Jace comes face to face with his ex-girlfriend.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Jace says to Natalia between clenched teeth.

Natalia watches Jace for a moment. She looks perfect. I look down at myself and think about how terrible I look compared to her. I fold my arms in front of me so that no one will see the differences in our appearance.

Natalia shrugs, "I decided to come."

"You haven't attended these galas in the five years we've been doing them. You have no right to be here."

"I was invited every year, I just haven't attended."

Jace is about to speak again, but instead, I do my best to try and calm everything down, "I think what Jace means is why are you suddenly attending now?"

"Hi, Zoe," Natalia looks at me for the first time tonight and gives me a friendly smile. I smile back and then wait for her to speak again, "We've talked, Jace. I've apologized and I thought it would be alright to come. The press has gotten on my back every year I didn't attend. I thought I'd save myself the bad publicity."

"It wasn't alright to come. You have to leave now. If it weren't for you then-" Jace's voice cuts off and he struggles to talk for a moment.

I hold onto his hand and I can feel all the tension in his body slowly go away, "Calm down. You're alright."

Natalia eyes us and then awkwardly clears her throat. Jace bites the inside of his cheek and takes a deep breath.

"You can stay if you want," Jace says, "But I don't want to see you at all tonight."

Jace begins to walk away and I call out, "I'll be right there."

Jace turns around and looks at me strangely, but I stay put in front of Natalia. Finally, he walks away and heads over to his mom and sister to instantly begin talking to him. He talks to them but keeps an eye on me.

I turn to Natalia and take a deep breath, ready to speak, but Natalia beats me to it, "Looks like you two finally got together, huh?"

"No," I shake my head, "We're not official, just seeing how things go."