Chapter 6

The Calderon estate sat on a sprawling expanse of private land outside the city, isolated and heavily guarded. Tonight, the massive stone mansion was ablaze with light, hosting a private gala for the board of directors. The event had been expanded at the last minute-a strategic move by the legal team to pressure the board into approving the capital injection under the guise of a celebratory dinner. What had been planned as an intimate, four-hour private dinner had metastasized into a suffocating display of corporate theater.

Karmen had only learned of the change upon arrival, her father's instructions reduced to a terse text: Keep him entertained. The stakes are higher now.

Karmen stood in the darkest corner of the opulent ballroom, suffocating in a heavy, bespoke tuxedo.

The air-conditioning in the room was aggressive, but beneath the thick layers of the suit, the compression binder, and the silicone mask, Karmen was burning alive.

The summer humidity had caused the medical adhesive on her cheek to react violently. A sharp, stinging rash spread beneath the fake scar. It felt like a swarm of fire ants biting into her flesh.

She couldn't take it anymore-her vision was blurring from the pain-so she set her untouched champagne glass on a passing waiter's tray and slipped through a side door, escaping the suffocating crowd, then bypassed the main restrooms, knowing they were heavily trafficked, and instead slipped up a narrow, dimly lit spiral staircase that led to the second floor, where she found a heavy wooden door at the end of the hall and pushed it open.

It led to a massive, unlit stone balcony overlooking the dark, manicured gardens. There were no security cameras here. It was completely isolated.

Karmen stepped out into the cool night air. She leaned heavily against the cold marble balustrade, gasping for breath.

Her fingers practically clawed at her face. She dug her nails under the edge of the silicone scar and ripped it off in one desperate, violent motion.

The cool wind hit her raw, inflamed skin. She let out a soft, shuddering moan of relief.

But it wasn't enough. The wig was trapping the heat against her skull, giving her a blinding migraine.

She reached up, pulled the pins free, and carefully lifted the short male wig off her head. Her scalp throbbed as she hooked her fingers under the tight mesh of the restrictive hairnet, sliding it backward. Freed from the suffocating tension, a heavy cascade of long, ash-blonde hair tumbled down her back, spilling over the broad shoulders of the tuxedo jacket.

The moon broke through the clouds, casting a pale, silver glow over the balcony. Karmen closed her eyes, tilting her face up to the moonlight. Stripped of the grotesque mask, her profile was breathtaking-sharp, delicate, and profoundly tragic.

Downstairs, Earl Calderon was losing his mind.

The endless sycophantic chatter of the board members was grating on his nerves. He hated these events. He needed silence.

He abandoned a conversation mid-sentence and strode toward the back stairs, heading for his private balcony on the second floor.

His leather shoes made no sound on the thick carpets. He reached the heavy wooden door and pushed it open. The hinges were perfectly oiled, silent.

Earl took one step onto the balcony and froze.

Standing by the marble railing, bathed in the ethereal moonlight, was a woman.

She was facing away from him. Her long, ash-blonde hair blew softly in the wind, contrasting sharply with the oversized, masculine cut of the tuxedo jacket she wore.

Earl's breath caught in his throat.

She turned her head slightly, revealing a flawless, porcelain profile. The delicate curve of her neck, the sharp line of her jaw-it was a face that struck him with the force of a physical blow.

For a split second, a strange, inexplicable sensation seized Earl's chest. There was something familiar in the angle of her jaw, the shape of her eyes-features he had catalogued only hours ago in the close, charged silence of his study. But the context was wrong. The scar was gone. The short, severe hair was replaced by a cascade of moonlight-pale silk. His mind, trained to recognize patterns and threats, faltered. The dissonance was too great. The scarred, dissolute heir and this ethereal creature could not be the same person. And yet...

His heart executed a violent, irregular thud against his ribs. A primal, overwhelming instinct seized him.

He thought she was a guest who had wandered away from the party. Or someone who had snuck in.

Earl took a step forward. His shoe scraped against a loose piece of stone on the balcony floor.

The sound was tiny, but Karmen spun around like a startled deer.

Because the moonlight was behind Earl, Karmen couldn't see his face. She only saw a massive, terrifying silhouette blocking the only exit.

Panic exploded in her chest. She threw her hands up, desperately trying to cover her face.

Earl saw her stumble backward. Thinking she was about to fall over the low railing, he lunged forward with terrifying speed.

His large hand shot out, wrapping like an iron vice around her slender wrist.

The physical contact sent a shockwave through both of them. Earl felt the delicate, fragile bones of her wrist, so small he could snap them with two fingers. Her skin was freezing cold.

He pulled her forward, into the light.

Earl finally saw her full face. The sheer beauty of it robbed him of his breath. And then, as he stared into those wide, terrified eyes, the pieces began to lock into place. The color. The shape. The way her gaze held a flicker of desperate defiance even now. He had seen those eyes before-just hours ago, across his desk, behind the grotesque mask of Kem Bartlett. The realization hit him like a physical blow: the scar, the hair, the slouched posture-all of it was theater. This woman, trembling in his grip, was the same person he had dismissed as a dissolute, disfigured heir.

His grip on her wrist tightened, not painfully, but with the unyielding pressure of a man who had just discovered he had been played for a fool.

"Who are you?" he demanded, his voice a low, dangerous rasp. But the question was no longer one of introduction. It was an interrogation. He already knew she was Kem Bartlett. He wanted to know who she really was.

Karmen stared up at him, her eyes wide with absolute, paralyzing terror. It was Earl. He had caught her. Her life was over.

She yanked her arm back, trying to break his grip, but he was immovable.

Earl's eyes flicked downward, tracking her movement.

His gaze landed on the stone floor near her feet.

Lying there was a styled, short male wig. And next to it, a piece of flesh-colored silicone, smeared with medical glue. The exact shape of Kem Bartlett's scar.

Confirmation. Cold, irrefutable confirmation. He looked back at her face, and now he saw it clearly-the faint red imprint where the prosthetic had sat, the subtle tension in her jaw that he had mistaken for arrogance in his study. She was a masterpiece of deception, and he had been her unwitting audience.

The air on the balcony turned into solid ice.