“Were you unaware of Elena’s day job?” Gage asked April as he plucked the device from Elena’s red talons and dropped it in the pocket of his tuxedo jacket. “She’s now a professional menace.”

Elena rounded on him, pinning him with her dark eyes. They stood deadlocked in fuming silence. Weston might have said something to him—Gage couldn’t be sure—before Weston and April headed off. Now it was Gage and his ex, surrounded by at least twenty-five other guests still filming Chiara Campagna’s every movement on their phones.

“That belongs to me,” Elena sniped, tipping her chin at him. “You have no right to take it.”

“You have no right to be here, but I see you didn’t let that stop you from finagling your way onto the property.”

She glared at him, dark eyes narrowing. “My video is probably still recording. Maybe you should return my phone before you cause a scene that will bring you bad press.”

Extending a palm, she waited for him to hand it over.

“If you have a problem with me, why don’t you tell it to the security team you tricked into admitting you tonight?” He pointed toward the door where two bodyguards in gray suits were stationed on either side of the entrance. “You’re trespassing.”

The crush of people in the foyer began to ease as Chiara Campagna’s entourage made their way into the great room, pausing just inside the open double doors to take a few photos with her friends. At least there would be less of an audience for whatever antics Elena had in mind.

“Is that a dare, Gage?” Her voice hit a husky note, no doubt carefully calibrated to distract a man.

It damn well wasn’t going to work on him.

“I’m giving you a choice,” he clarified, unwilling to give her the public showdown she so clearly wanted to record and share with her followers. “You can speak with me privately about whatever it is you’re doing in my house, or you can let my team escort you off the premises right now. Either way, I can promise you there won’t be any cameras involved.”

“How positively boring.” She gave him a tight smile and a theatrical sigh before folding her arms across her chest. “Maybe using cameras could spice things up a bit.”

She gave him a once-over with her dark gaze.

He reminded himself that if she got under his skin, she won. But he couldn’t deny a momentary impulse to kiss her senseless for trying to play him.

“What will it be, Elena?” he pressed, keeping his voice even. “Talk or walk?”