Chapter 2 The Price of Truth

The city always looked so pretty at midnight.

From the rooftop of the Sterling Hotel, the skyline glittered like a galaxy pinned to black velvet - cold and unreachable, exactly how Seraphina Vale felt as she leaned against the railing, phone pressed to her ear.

"Mom, please, I'm fine," she whispered. Her breath curled in the night air, leaving a shaky trail that vanished into nothing.

She could hear her mother's worry crackling through the line - the same way it always did when bills piled up, when Maya's textbooks sat unpaid for, when her mother's medication ran out faster than it should.

"I'm proud of you, baby," her mother said softly. "But please... don't pick fights with people who can destroy you."

Sera squeezed her eyes shut. Too late for that.

---

She ended the call before her mother could hear her voice crack. The phone trembled in her hand. She wanted to throw it off the roof - wanted to scream at the sky, wanted to take back the last hour.

But then she heard it - the soft click of expensive shoes on marble.

She didn't need to turn around to know who it was. The air itself seemed to sharpen, like the city held its breath because Eryx Kane had entered the room.

"Miss Vale," came that cold, deep voice. A voice that could make ice shatter.

She opened her eyes and found his reflection in the glass barrier. His black suit blended into the night, only his pale, angular face illuminated by the rooftop lights. His eyes, though - those eyes were alive now. Sharp. Dangerous.

"Mr. Kane," she said, forcing her spine straight. Her voice was hoarse, but steady. "Did you come to have me thrown off this roof personally?"

He didn't smile. Of course he didn't.

He stepped closer, the soft scrape of his shoes against the marble impossibly loud in the hush of midnight. He stopped just behind her, so close she could feel the chill radiating off him like a glacier.

---

"Do you know what you've done tonight?" he asked, his tone smooth as silk but cold as a blade.

She turned, chin lifted, and met his eyes. Up close, they were a stormy blue-grey, like ocean ice under moonlight - pretty, if they weren't so terrifying.

"I told the truth," she shot back. "Your fiancée was a fraud. You're welcome."

His brow twitched, just slightly. The only crack in his marble mask. "You think you've done me a favor?"

"Haven't I?" Her laugh came out too loud, too bitter. "You get to be the victim now. Poor Eryx Kane, tricked by a gold-digging snake. You'll get sympathy, the press will spin it for you-"

He moved so fast she nearly flinched. One moment she was standing her ground, the next his hand was braced against the railing behind her, his body caging her in. Not touching - never touching - but close enough that his expensive cologne and the crisp scent of night air wrapped around her like a trap.

"I don't want sympathy," he said, each word precise, measured, lethal. "I want my inheritance."

Sera blinked. "Your... what?"

"The terms of my father's will." His voice dropped, as if he were telling her a bedtime story. "If I'm not engaged by the end of this quarter, the board can challenge my ownership. My uncle has been waiting for this. Clarissa was a pawn. A beautiful, cooperative pawn."

His gaze flicked over her face - her flushed cheeks, the stubborn tilt of her jaw. She knew he was studying her like she was some puzzle to solve.

"And then you," he murmured. "You destroyed everything. Very publicly."

Sera's stomach twisted, but she forced her chin up higher. "So what? You'll find another pawn."

A soft, humorless chuckle rumbled in his chest. "Oh, I have."

---

He pulled back just enough to reach into his pocket, producing a small, black velvet box. He flipped it open with a flick of his thumb. Inside, a ring glittered under the rooftop lights - more diamond than metal, so bright it looked like it might cut her if she touched it.

Sera recoiled, horror twisting in her gut. "You can't be serious."

His smile didn't reach his eyes. "You will replace Clarissa."

"You're insane."

"Perhaps." He clicked the box shut and tucked it back into his pocket, as if he already knew it didn't matter what she said. "But you see, Miss Vale, unlike you, I don't act without calculating the cost."

He reached into his jacket and produced a slim manila envelope. Sera's throat went dry. She didn't need to look to know exactly what was inside - her life, her debts, every unpaid bill, every desperate loan she'd taken to keep her family afloat.

"You do your research on floral arrangements," he said, tone mocking, "I do mine on the people who get in my way."

Her fingers twitched at her sides. "You think you can blackmail me into this?"

He leaned in, so close his breath brushed her ear. "No, Miss Vale. I know I can."

---

She pushed past him, pacing the rooftop like a caged tiger. "There are laws against this."

"Take me to court, then," he said simply. "Tell them how you slandered my bride in front of a hundred witnesses. Tell them how you broke a multimillion-dollar contract by sabotaging your own event. I'll bury you in legal fees before you can utter the word 'freedom.'"

His voice was so calm. So reasonable. It made her want to scream.

"You'd ruin my family just to-"

"You ruined yourself," he interrupted, his tone suddenly sharp. "Actions have consequences, Miss Vale. But lucky you - I'm offering you an alternative."

He stepped closer again, his shadow swallowing her whole. "You wear my ring. You smile for the cameras. You do what Clarissa did, but better. And in return, your mother's treatments continue. Your sister's tuition is paid in full. Your debts disappear. And when this is over..." His voice dropped to a velvet whisper. "You walk away with enough to never plan another party again."

---

She wanted to laugh. She wanted to slap him. She wanted to cry - but she refused to give him the satisfaction.

Instead, she folded her arms, her eyes narrowing into slits. "And what do you get out of this, Eryx? A new pawn?"

His lips curved into something that almost looked like a real smile - but it was wrong, all teeth and cold promise.

"No," he said. "I get someone I can trust to ruin me properly if I slip. A real enemy makes the best leash."

---

Silence crackled between them like an electric wire.

Below them, the city moved on - cars crawling like ants, neon lights blinking out promises that everything would be alright.

But up here, on this icy rooftop, Sera knew her world would never be the same again.

"Fine," she said, her voice low and steady. "I'll play your game. But I have conditions."

His eyebrow lifted. "Do you?"

"I'm not your puppet," she said through gritted teeth. "If I'm selling my soul, I'll do it on my terms. I keep my job. I keep my friends. And when this is over, you'll make sure my family never suffers again."

Something flickered in his eyes - approval, maybe. Or maybe just a predator's amusement.

"Deal," he said softly.

Before she could breathe, he slipped the ring onto her finger - a cold circle of diamonds that felt like a handcuff. His touch lingered, deliberate, possessive.

"Congratulations, fiancée," he murmured.

---

For a moment, their eyes locked - hate, fear, desire, something hot and sharp that neither of them would name yet.

And deep down, in the part of her she didn't dare admit existed, Sera wondered: If this was how it began...

How the hell would it end?