Chapter 5 The Art of Pretending

If there was one thing Seraphina Vale knew how to do, it was fake a smile.

Years of dealing with entitled brides and spoiled heirs had made her an expert in the art of polite deception. Smile, nod, grit your teeth behind your lipstick - survive until the check cleared.

But tonight? Tonight was a whole new level of performance.

She stared at her reflection in the massive gold-framed mirror of Eryx Kane's penthouse bedroom - their bedroom, for the sake of appearances, though she'd barricade herself in the guest suite if she had to.

The dress she wore was a deep emerald silk that clung to her curves, chosen by Eryx's team of stylists without her input. It made her deep brown skin glow, her hair pinned in soft, loose curls around her shoulders instead of her usual severe bun.

She looked expensive. Powerful. Someone who belonged at the side of a billionaire.

And yet the ring on her finger still felt like a shackle.

---

"Ready?" came that familiar, cool voice from the doorway.

She turned to find Eryx leaning against the frame, dressed in a midnight-black suit that probably cost more than her annual income. His shirt collar was open, no tie - a calculated choice to look effortlessly undone, approachable, the wounded fiancé who'd been publicly betrayed but somehow found love again.

He scanned her from head to toe - slowly, deliberately.

No reaction showed on his face, but his eyes paused at the soft curve of her hip, the dip of her collarbone where the silk slipped off her shoulder. A flicker of something - heat? annoyance? - before the mask settled again.

"You look... passable," he said flatly.

She rolled her eyes. "Careful, Kane. Compliments like that might make a girl swoon."

---

They rode the private elevator down in silence. Her heart rattled like dice in a cup. Outside the thick metal doors, an ocean of reporters, cameras, and gawkers waited. The engagement scandal had blown up overnight - hashtags, gossip blogs, countless theories about the real reason Clarissa had been dumped.

Now they were here to show the world the replacement.

The better version.

She adjusted her clutch under her arm, fingers trembling. "So what happens if I flinch? If I don't hold your hand when you reach for it?"

He didn't look at her. "Then you make me look like a fool twice. And I'll make you regret it."

Her jaw tensed. "Charming. Truly."

He turned then - so fast she startled - and stepped into her space. He was close enough that his expensive cologne made her head spin. He reached out and hooked one finger under her chin, tilting her face up to his.

"Smile for them, Seraphina. Hate me later."

---

The elevator dinged open.

A blinding wall of camera flashes hit her first. The roar of reporters shouting questions, the squeal of velvet ropes being strained by the hungry crowd - it was a feeding frenzy. For a second, Sera almost bolted back inside. But Eryx's hand slid around her waist, anchoring her to his side like an iron band.

He pulled her in so close her hip pressed into his thigh. He leaned down, lips brushing the shell of her ear - so close that to the cameras it looked like a lover's secret.

"Don't run," he murmured.

The warmth of his breath shot down her spine, unsettling in ways she refused to admit. She forced her face into a radiant, practiced smile.

---

They stepped onto the black carpet. The cameras went wild.

"Miss Vale! Eryx! Over here!"

"Are the rumors true? Did you steal him from Clarissa?"

"Is this real or another stunt?"

Sera kept her smile in place, tilting her face toward his like they were drunk on each other. Eryx's fingers dug into her waist, subtle but firm - a silent reminder that she wasn't free to slip.

They posed, posed, and posed some more - the perfect couple.

She hated every second of it.

---

But then something shifted. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar face in the crowd.

Tall, broad-shouldered, messy dark hair falling into warm brown eyes - Leo Armand, the rival hotel heir and, once upon a time, her best friend. Maybe even something more, before life got in the way.

He wasn't supposed to be here. But he was, and his eyes were locked on her with a mix of confusion and something else - something sharp. A question she couldn't answer.

Eryx noticed. Of course he did. His fingers flexed against her waist, tightening possessively.

"Who is he?" Eryx murmured, voice low and flat.

"No one," she lied.

"Don't lie to me, Sera."

She leaned in, her smile still sparkling for the cameras, and hissed through clenched teeth. "Oh, does it bother you, Kane? Someone else seeing your precious new toy?"

His hand slid up her bare back, his palm warm, thumb brushing the delicate notch at her spine. To anyone watching, it looked like an intimate caress. But his eyes were colder than ever.

"You're not a toy, Seraphina," he said, so low she almost didn't catch it. "You're my asset. Don't forget that."

---

And then it happened.

A reporter shouted, "Kiss her! Show us it's real!"

The crowd took it up like a chant. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Panic fluttered in her chest. She tried to pull back, but Eryx's hand cupped her jaw, his thumb brushing her lower lip - a touch so soft it made her breath hitch. For a heartbeat, everything else fell away - the cameras, the noise, the fact that they hated each other.

She saw something in his eyes - a question, a promise, a threat.

And then he leaned in - so close she could feel the heat of his lips, smell the faint trace of whiskey on his breath. Her pulse pounded in her throat.

But at the last second, his lips skimmed past hers, grazing her cheek instead.

The cameras exploded in a frenzy anyway.

She gasped, breathless and stunned, her hands gripping the lapels of his suit as if she'd forgotten how to let go.

His mouth brushed her ear, voice a soft blade. "Don't get ideas, fiancée."

---

They pulled apart for the cameras, the perfect image of a couple just barely containing their passion.

But inside, Sera's head was spinning.

She'd felt it - the tension. The heat. The almost.

And for the first time, she wondered - maybe feared - what would happen the day "pretend" slipped and they both forgot which parts were lies.