Camilla.The mirror didn’t lie.Not this time.I stared at the woman who stared back. My skin, usually warm-toned, was paler now, softened by the prosthetics glued with surgical precision to my cheekbones and jawline. My once jet-black curls had been transformed into icy blonde waves, cascading down my shoulders in effortless perfection. Contact lenses shifted the hue of my eyes from deep brown to stormy grey. My voice, now smoky, lilting, unfamiliar had taken me days of practice to perfect.“Say it again,” Carol said from behind me.I closed my eyes for a second, then whispered, “My name is Ivory.”“Louder. With purpose.”“My name is Ivory.” I opened my eyes and met hers through the reflection. “Grey leaned against the wall, arms folded. His jaw was tight, as usual.“You don’t just look different,” he murmured. “You are different.”I stood slowly, running my fingers down the soft silk of the white blouse Carol had chosen for me clean, sharp lines. Ivory on ivory.“Everything about y
Camilla.The moment Grey said, “Let’s do it. Let’s take back everything they stole from you,” something cracked open inside me—a dam of cold, furious resolve I’d been holding back for too long. I just looked him dead in the eye, nodded once, and whispered, “Good.”We were both sitting on the edge of his massive mahogany bed, the late afternoon sun casting fractured gold light across the floor. His room smelled faintly of cedar and whatever expensive cologne he always wore that distracted me from the main topic.“I still can't understand why they did all that ,” Grey said, fingers brushing the edge of a thick notepad, already filled with scribbles from the last half-hour. “Your reputation. Your company. Your name. Why did they want it all so bad? I'm sure your father left something for them.”I leaned back on my hands and tilted my head at him. “Those greed bastards are never satisfied,” I said. “I want to burn down every illusion they’ve built. Georgina. Julia. Benjamin. I want them c
Camilla.Darkness wasn’t silent.It pulsed with echoes. “Camilla... Camilla…”I wanted to answer. I wanted to stand up immediately. But something was holding me down. My body felt heavy, my limbs like stone, but it wasn’t exhaustion. It was grief. Grief so dense it could suffocate. I heard the name again louder this time. I recognized it now.“Camilla, wake up!”Rachael.A gentle nudge shook my shoulder. Then another. My eyelids fluttered open slowly like I was resurfacing from water too deep. Light stabbed into my vision, and I winced.Rachael’s face hovered above mine, framed by the dull gray sky. Worry etched across her features like cracks in porcelain. “Thank God,” she whispered when she saw my eyes open. “You’re awake.”I sat up on the patch of grass I didn’t even remember collapsing onto. My throat ached like I’d been screaming, but I didn’t remember screaming either. Maybe I had. Maybe I’d just done it inside my head.“They’re dead,” I murmured, and the words barely made it pa
Camilla.My fingers trembled so violently that I could barely hold the photograph steady. The glossy edges dug into my skin as if punishing me for daring to hold something so... wrong. My heart beat like war drums in my chest, hammering against my ribs as if it, too, wanted to flee. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the photo, like it had latched onto something deep, buried, and raw inside me."Camilla," Rachael whispered softly, reaching across the café table to grab my trembling hand. Her touch was warm, grounding. "Breathe, sweetheart. Just breathe for me, okay?"I blinked at her. I didn’t even realize my eyes were watering until a hot tear slipped down my cheek and fell onto the image."I don't understand," I croaked, my voice barely more than a rasp.Rachael lifted her other hand and waved to the waitress behind the counter. “Water, please. Quickly.”The waitress, a petite redhead with wide eyes, nodded and rushed to the back.I stared at the photo again, heart in my throat. "She
Camilla.“You’re not listening to me!” I snapped, slamming the door to my room so hard the frame trembled. “I said I’m not going to Hamilton, Grey! I don’t care what deal you made or what plans you had. It’s not happening!”He was right behind me, the click of the door shutting a hair’s breath louder than the thundering of my heart. “You don’t have a choice,” Grey said.I turned, eyes blazing. “Excuse me? Last I checked, you don’t own me.”“You signed a contract,” he bit out, stepping toward me. “And that contract includes public appearances.”“Hamilton isn’t a public appearance. It’s halfway across the goddamn country! It wasn’t in the agreement and you know it!”He stopped just inches away, tall, unbending, frustratingly beautiful even as fury twisted through his expression. “You think this is about a contract, Camilla? This is about my family. About Kaidan.”I swallowed hard. The name was always my weak spot.Grey must’ve seen that flicker behind my eyes because he stepped back sli
Grey.I exhaled slowly as I pulled into the driveway, my fingers still tight around the steering wheel even though the engine was off. The house looked just the same—towering, luxurious, and perfect. But after a week in the hospital with Kaidan, every part of me felt different. Exhausted. Raw. Protective in a way I hadn’t understood before.The moment the doors swung shut behind me, I heard voices echoing from the study. Men's laughter, muffled but sharp, carried through the hall. Businessmen. My father’s kind of people. I clenched my jaw and headed upstairs to drop my bag before I was tempted to turn right back around.Kaidan was finally okay. That’s what mattered. He was asleep when I left the hospital, curled up with his favorite blanket, his little hand gripping the stuffed bear Camilla had brought him. I should’ve been relieved but instead, I felt like a storm brewing with nowhere to go.I was halfway up the stairs when I heard the front door close. The laughter had stopped."Gre