Prologue, Part 4: Never Let Them Read You

Eleven months after the fire, Angelica's new face was almost finished. Her cheekbone was sharper now, her jaw was reset, and the left side had been rebuilt to match the right as closely as it could. She found herself staring at mirrors trying to find traces of her old face. She never did.

Her eyes were the only thing that had stayed the same. No matter how carefully she practiced her new smile, her voice, her new name, those eyes still looked like Angelica Vale’s. It made her feel like an impostor.

"Your first appearance as Seraphina Voss is on Tuesday," the stranger said, dropping a card on the table. "One o'clock. It’s at restaurant the Vosses use, with a private room."

She took the card, turning it over in her hand.

"Who's the lunch with?"

"Gideon Hart. He's an old friend of Jude's and the executor of the Voss family trust. Nothing passes to Seraphina Voss without his signature. He believes the official story: the Vosses' daughter, raised abroad and kept out of the public eye. He knows nothing else."

She bit her lip feeling the weight of the task.

“And whats my role in this?”

"You have to make him sign."

She narrowed her eyes, "That's all?"

He shrugged. “Well it may seem like that’s all in theory. But asides the high stakes this is for you to be able to live this new life fully, it means more to you for your revenge.”

Her ears perked up .

“Everything the Vosses own, the company and the fortune, sits inside that trust. It only passes to a named heir with his signature. That signature is how you get a seat across the table from Cassian Devereaux. Without it, you’re just….”

He trailed off. “I’m just what?”

"Then your identity as Seraphina Voss does not exist. Jude and Kate can't name you as their heir legally. Your treatment stops, and you are as good as dead again.“

Angelica tried to keep her face neutral. She didn’t like the alternative if she could not pull this off.

"Questions travel, Angelica. You have to be able to face what’s coming when you’re announced as the Voss heir.”

Her fingers tightened around the card.

"Then I'll pass."

"You'd better."

Gideon Hart was sixty with grey speckled moustache and eyes that seemed to bore into your soul. He stood when she entered and pulled out her chair.

Angelica had practiced tirelessly for this meeting. Her name was Seraphina Voss, and not Angelica. She could never be Angelica again.

She went to boarding school abroad. She had a relatively quiet, sheltered childhood. She said each line out loud in the voice her dialect coach had helped her hone. Hart nodded in all the right places. He asked sensible questions. For the first twenty minutes, she felt like a woman who truly could pull this off.

Then he told her about one of his business partners. It was a lightly told story, about how one of their partners had emptied their accounts and fled the country. He told it like it was a joke now that time had passed and he could laugh about it. She laughed at his stories as he kept on telling her one tale after the other.

When lunch ended, Gideon Hart took her hand in both of his.

“I like you very much, my dear. Jude and Kate are lucky to have you.”

Seraphina’s shoulders sagged in relief. Perhaps she had worried for nothing. Then Gideon’s smile faded.

“Which is precisely why I can’t sign the papers today.”

Her smile faltered. “I’m sorry?”

“The trust.” He released her hand. “I won’t transfer control to you today.”

“But I thought the meeting went well.”

“It did. You’re charming, intelligent, and well-prepared.” He studied her for a moment. “But tell me, what did you think of the story I told you about my former business partner?”

“The man who stole from you?”

“Yes. You laughed when I did.

“I —“

She didn’t have an answer to give him. Her brain felt like it had shut down and was unable to find an answer.

Gideon folded his hands on the table. “You’ve spent this entire lunch trying to give me what you consider are the right answers. You smile when you think I expect it, explain yourself when you’re uncertain, and wear every emotion on your face.”

Seraphina’s fingers tightened around her napkin.

“I don’t understand what you’re suggesting.”

“That’s your problem, my dear. You’re so busy trying to play the part you think you’re supposed to be playing that you forget to control what you reveal.”

She wanted to deny it, but the words caught in her throat.

“The Voss fortune isn’t something I can hand over because I happen to like you,” he continued. “The moment you take control, people will try to deceive you, exploit you, and take everything you have. You aren’t ready for that.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“Come back in 6 months . If I can no longer read you so easily, I’ll sign the papers.”

She forced herself to meet his gaze.

“Very well, Mr. Hart.”

For the first time, he looked almost impressed.

“Good. Perhaps there’s hope for you yet.”

He left her alone, and she made her way to the car where the stranger waited. He had been listening from the next room and said nothing until they were on the road.

“You failed.”

She flinched. “He liked me.”

“And he still refused to sign.”

“He gave me six months.”

“He gave you a chance. Don’t confuse the two.” He turned toward her. “You can change your face, Angelica, but you can’t keep clinging to the woman you were and expect to become the woman you need to be.”

She stared out the window. “You want me to be cold?”

“I want you to be unreadable. Right now, you’re an open book.”

Her hands trembled in her lap. She pressed them flat against her thighs until they stilled.

“Fine,” she said. “Teach me.”

Six months later, Seraphina sat across from Gideon Hart again.

This time, she didn’t laugh simply because he did. She didn’t rush to fill the silences or scramble to explain herself when his questions became uncomfortable. She listened, considered her answers, and gave away nothing she hadn’t chosen to reveal.

When lunch ended, Gideon took a fountain pen from his pocket and signed the document transferring the trust to her.

“I still think you’re young for the responsibility ahead,” he said, sliding the papers across the table. “You’ll have a great deal to learn before you’re ready to run Voss Holdings. But I no longer think you’re easy to manipulate.”

Seraphina glanced at the signature. Now she had a way in. A way in to be able to face Cassian one day.

Gideon extended his hand.

“Welcome to Voss Holdings, Miss Voss.”