Chapter 3 Red Dress

She was alone in the shadows.

The ballroom door swung shut, clipping the echo of Liam's final words: "Now fix your face. Our guests are waiting."

Aurora leaned against the plaster wall, the trembling in her body so violent she wasn't sure her legs would hold. He had wrapped his logic around her so tightly, she could barely breathe. He'd used her father, the merger, and her own love for him as weapons, painting her as a hysterical child listening to gossip.

And she had let him. She had whispered "Yes, I trust you."

The lie felt dirtier than the floor beneath her silver heels.

She pushed off the wall. Fix your face. The command was cold, precise.

She took a breath from the top of her lungs, a sharp, scraping inhale. She was Aurora Vale. She would not be broken in a service corridor.

She smoothed the silk of her dress, though her hands were shaking. She touched her pearls, her cold diamond. Armor. She lifted her chin, composing her features into the serene, polite mask she had worn her entire life.

She pushed the door open and stepped back into the light.

The warmth and noise of the party hit her like a physical wave. The scent of lilies-so many lilies-was suddenly, sickeningly sweet. It was the smell of a funeral.

Two hundred people, a sea of black ties and jewel-toned gowns, laughed and drank. The string quartet was playing something light and cheerful. It was grotesque.

Her eyes found him immediately.

Liam.

He was already back by her father's side, a champagne flute in his hand. He was laughing at something Henry said, his head tilted back, the perfect picture of a charmed, loving groom. He hadn't just dismissed her; he had forgotten her. The confrontation, which had shattered her world, was a minor inconvenience to him. A piece of lint to be brushed off his tuxedo.

The knot of glass in her stomach didn't just twist. It turned, serrated edges ripping into her.

He's lying. He's lying. He's lying.

The words became a frantic pulse in her mind, a counter-rhythm to the music.

Her gaze swept the room, past the politicians, past the bankers, past her own smiling, oblivious relatives. She was hunting now.

And she found her.

Vanessa Leigh.

She wasn't in a crimson dress. That had been yesterday's uniform, the one for 3 AM "merger meetings."

Tonight, Vanessa was the picture of professional discretion. She wore a severe, impeccably tailored dress of the deepest navy blue. Her dark hair was pulled back in a chignon so tight it looked painful. She stood near the ballroom entrance, a tablet in her hand, the very model of a ruthlessly efficient executive assistant, ensuring her boss's party ran smoothly.

She looked nothing like a mistress.

She looked like a queen in waiting.

As if sensing the weight of Aurora's stare, Vanessa looked up. Her eyes-cool, intelligent, and utterly devoid of warmth-met Aurora's across the crowded room.

Aurora expected her to look away, to show some flicker of guilt or shame.

Vanessa did not.

She held Aurora's gaze. There was no fear in her expression. There was no panic. There was only a calm, assessing patience. It was the look a predator gives a rival it knows it can beat.

Then, slowly, Vanessa's lips parted into a small, polite smile.

It was a smile of pure, unadulterated triumph.

And her lips, painted with a flawless, matte precision, were the deepest, most shocking shade of crimson.

The exact color of the lace strap Aurora had found in Liam's car.

The room tilted. The air thinned.

That was it. That was the signal.

Vanessa wasn't hiding. She was boasting.

The dress from yesterday was the one she wore for him. The lipstick tonight was the one she wore for her. It was a message, sent from one woman to another, bypassing the man who stood between them entirely.

He's mine. You're just the merger.

Aurora's breath hitched. She felt the blood drain from her face. She was going to be sick, right here on the Aubusson carpet.

"Aurora, darling, you look pale."

A hand, heavy with rings, landed on her arm. It was her Aunt Beatrice.

"You must be exhausted," the older woman clucked, fanning her own face. "All this planning. But he's wonderful, isn't he? Liam. Just wonderful. Your father is so pleased."

"Yes," Aurora whispered, her voice barely audible. "Wonderful."

She could see Liam's reflection in a mirrored pillar nearby. He was still laughing.

She could not stay here. She could not breathe this air, smell these flowers, or stand in the same room as that woman with her blood-red, lying lips.

She pulled her arm from her aunt's grasp, murmuring a polite, "Excuse me."

She didn't run. She walked. She moved with the same Vale grace she'd been taught since birth, threading her way through the clusters of laughing guests, all of them turning to congratulate her. She smiled at them, a brittle, terrifying smile that didn't touch her eyes.

She reached Liam and her father.

"Everything all right, darling?" Henry asked, beaming.

Liam's smile was a thin, tight line. He was watching her, wary.

"I'm so sorry, Papa," Aurora said, her voice a perfect imitation of a weary bride. She placed a hand on his arm. "I have a terrible headache. It's just... it's splitting me in two. I think the stress of the day has finally caught up with me."

Henry's face creased with concern. "Of course, darling. You go rest. You need to be perfect for tomorrow."

"I'll walk you up," Liam said. It was not an offer; it was a command. He needed to control the narrative. He needed to get her back in her cage.

"No," Aurora said, a little too quickly. She softened her tone. "No, please. You stay. You're the host. I can manage. I just need a dark room and some quiet."

She rose on her toes and kissed his cheek. His skin was cold. "I'll see you tomorrow," she whispered.

She kissed her father. "Goodnight, Papa."

She turned and walked away from them, her back straight, her head held high.

She could feel Liam's eyes on her. She could feel Vanessa's. She was a target, walking out of the kill zone.

She ascended the grand staircase, each step an agony of control.

When she reached the landing, out of sight of the party below, her composure cracked. She stumbled, catching herself on the banister.

Her instincts hadn't just been screaming. They had been trying to save her.

And she had been too busy believing the perfect lie.

She made it to her bridal suite. She locked the door. She didn't turn on the lights.

She walked to the window and looked down at the party, a glittering tableau of lies. She saw the white tent on the lawn, ready for the ceremony. She saw the lights, the music, the flowers.

And she saw, with a new, horrifying clarity, the crimson red dress, a ghost hanging over all of it, a stain on the perfect, blinding white.