I never imagined we would meet again in this kind of setting. My heart pounded, my breath caught in my throat. I quickly turned my back, gripping the edge of the table tightly. "Yancy, could you please take the coffee for me?"

"No way! The manager specifically picked you because you're pretty. If I go, I'll scare the guests away."

A sharp pain shot through my chest. It was clear that he was doing well without me. Maybe being with me had been his biggest mistake. Every time I saw his name in the financial news, I wondered why he had ever loved me in the first place.

"What are you waiting for? Mr. Hawthorne likes iced Americanos and Mrs. Hawthorne prefers lattes. Hurry up and take it over!"

I adjusted my breathing, walked over to the tray and lowered my head as much as possible for fear that Jace would see it.

"Your coffees, sir, madam." As I placed the iced Americano on the table, I caught Mr. Hawthorne's gaze. His eyes were like ice, piercing right through me.

The next second, he threw a cup of coffee right at my face. "The thought of drinking something you touched makes me sick."

It was iced coffee, yet my face burned as if it had been scalded. "I'm sorry. It was my mistake for not meeting your expectations." I lowered my head even more, but I couldn't stop the tears from falling. Tears mixed with the coffee, bitter and humiliating. I dropped to my knees, scrambling to clean up the mess.

The manager rushed over, apologizing profusely before pulling me away. "What the hell did you do? Did you stick your fingers in the cup or something? I've worked here for years and I've never heard a customer say a server was disgusting!"

He was so furious that he could barely speak. I took off my name tag. "I'm sorry, Manager. This was my fault. You can fire me, I won't object."

"Fire you? What good would that do? This was Mr. Hawthorne's first time bringing his wife to a public event and you just had to ruin it! Do you know how lucky we are that no reporters were around? Otherwise, I'd be out of a job too!"

All I could do was apologize. By the time my manager was done scolding me, my shirt was soaked with coffee.

"Clean this up and go help outside the venue. If we weren't short on staff, I would've kicked you out already!"

I went to the restroom to clean myself up when a woman walked in. I instinctively looked away, avoiding eye contact.