Chapter 1 1

Katharina Wiley stood on the second-floor terrace of Cipriani, her hands gripping the cold limestone balustrade until her knuckles turned the color of bone. She wasn't looking at the architecture. She was counting. Inhale for four. Hold for seven. Exhale for eight. It was a technique she used to lower a patient's heart rate, but tonight, the patient was her.

She looked down at the heavy manila envelope in her clutch. The wax seal on the back felt hard and uneven against her thumb. It was the only imperfect thing in a room designed to suffocate imperfection.

Below her, the ballroom was a sea of champagne gold and camera flashes. The strobe lights were relentless, a lightning storm contained within four walls, all striking one specific point on the red carpet.

Grafton Huff stood in the center of the chaos. He looked exactly as the magazines described him: the Titan of Huff Enterprises. He wore his tuxedo like armor. On his left arm was Ainsley, his twenty-year-old daughter, and Katharina's niece, beaming with a brightness that never reached her eyes when she looked at Katharina.

On his right stood Harlow Schwartz.

Harlow wore a custom gold gown that clung to her like second skin. She laughed at something Grafton said, throwing her head back, exposing the long line of her throat. The photographers went feral.

"Over here, Mr. Huff! One more of the family!" a paparazzo screamed.

Grafton adjusted his stance, pulling Harlow and Ainsley closer. They moved in sync, a three-headed hydra of wealth and beauty. They looked like a family. They looked complete.

Bile rose in Katharina's throat, hot and acidic. She swallowed it down, forcing her face into the blank, porcelain mask she had perfected over a lifetime of Huff family functions. She turned away from the railing.

Her heels clicked against the marble stairs, a sharp, rhythmic countdown. Click. Click. Click.

A waiter near the VIP rope line stepped forward to intercept her, his hand raising automatically. Then he saw her eyes. They were dark, flat, and completely void of patience. He stepped back, lowering his head.

Katharina moved through the crowd. Women she had grown up with, men whose children's allergies she had diagnosed-they looked right through her. She was a ghost in a black dress, a smudge of ink on their golden canvas.

She stopped exactly three feet behind Grafton. The scent of his cologne-sandalwood and cold cash-hit her.

Grafton stiffened. He didn't turn around immediately. He sensed her presence the way an animal senses a shift in barometric pressure. When he finally looked back, his brow furrowed, creating a deep crease between his eyes.

"You're supposed to be in the family lounge," he hissed, his voice low enough to slide under the ambient noise. "Why are you down here?"

Katharina didn't speak. She reached into her clutch and withdrew the dark blue legal folder. She held it out with both hands, elbows tucked in. It was the same posture she used when handing him his quarterly enzyme injections.

Grafton didn't take it. He stared at the folder as if it were contaminated waste. He flicked his eyes toward the perimeter, signaling his head of security.

"Take it," Katharina said. Her voice was quiet, but it cut through the hum of the room like a scalpel. "It's the notice of intellectual property reclamation, Grafton."

A board member standing nearby turned, his champagne glass pausing halfway to his mouth.

Grafton's jaw tightened. He snatched the folder from her hands to stop the scene from escalating. His grip crinkled the pristine cardstock.

"Do not perform for me, Katharina," he whispered, stepping into her space. "We will discuss your little tantrum later."

Ainsley turned around then. She scanned her aunt from head to toe, her lip curling in a sneer that mirrored her father's.

"Black?" Ainsley said, her voice carrying over the music. "Really, Katharina? The theme is Champagne Gold. You look like you're dressed for a hostile takeover."

Harlow stepped forward, her movements fluid and practiced. She placed a hand on Ainsley's forearm, a gesture of performative comfort.

"It's about brand cohesion, sweetie," Harlow cooed, her voice a silken weapon. "Some people just don't understand the importance of a unified public image."

Ainsley leaned her head onto Harlow's shoulder. "Thank god you're here. You actually look like you belong on a magazine cover."

The cameras flashed again, capturing the intimate moment between the heiress and the media darling, with the disgraced blood relative standing awkwardly to the side.

Then Ainsley's eyes narrowed. She pointed a manicured finger at Katharina's throat.

"Wait. Is that Grandma's emerald pendant?"

Katharina's hand flew to her neck. The cold stone pressed against her pulse. It was the only thing her grandmother had left her. The only thing that didn't belong to the Huff Trust.

"Take it off," Ainsley demanded, holding out her hand. "It clashes with that hideous dress. Harlow needs something green to pop against the gold. It would look better on her."

Katharina looked at Grafton. She waited for him to speak. She waited for him to say that the necklace was personal property. She waited for him to act like the head of a family, or even a decent human being.

Grafton looked at the commotion, then at the press line watching them hungry for drama. He looked at Katharina with eyes like dead sharks.

"Give it to her, Katharina," he said. "Don't make a scene. Fix this."

The last ember of warmth in Katharina's chest turned to ash. The connection snapped. It wasn't a loud break; it was the quiet sound of a thread finally giving way.

She dropped her hand from her neck. She stepped back.

"Good luck," she said.

She turned and walked away. She didn't run. She didn't look back. She walked out of the ballroom, past the security, and into the cool night air where a black sedan with tinted windows-and no Huff family license plates-was waiting.