Chapter : The Masquerade of Truth

The mansion buzzed with movement, like a hive preparing for war. Stylists streamed in and out of the penthouse. Security swept every floor. Technicians tested surveillance equipment for the hundredth time. But beneath all the noise and chaos was a single, unshakable silence in my chest—the one that came when something inside you knew life would never be the same again.

The gala was two days away.

And I had never felt more like a woman walking willingly into the eye of a storm.

Lucien stood by the window, arms folded, eyes locked on the skyline like he could will it to surrender. He’d...