Le hasard du destin

The cake was melting.

And so was I.

Not metaphorically. Literally. My spine was slick with sweat, my bra strap was threatening to mutiny, and every step I took in these cursed knockoff heels felt like a small betrayal of my dignity.

My fingers were cramping around the edge of the silver box as I jogged...yes, jogged...in heels across a marble driveway that probably cost more than my entire bakery lease. Somewhere nearby, a live violinist played a delicate waltz like this was a royal gala and not just another Friday for the one percent. People sipped champagne from flutes as tall as my hopes. Someone’s gown sparkled like it had its own lighting technician.

And me?

I looked like a walking accident in buttercream.

Frosting smudged my cheek. My curls were frizzing in protest. And sweat had officially claimed my lower back as a long-term investment.

Breathe, Brielle. Don’t panic. Just deliver the cake and go.

I squared my shoulders. One cake. One drop-off. One payday that might actually cover rent and that busted oven coil. I wasn’t here to mingle or network or lock eyes with a mysterious stranger across a crowded room.

I was here to do my job. In, out, done.

The mansion loomed ahead like a palace dipped in gold. Every window glowed. Laughter spilled through the cracks. The air smelled like jasmine and expensive secrets. The kind of place where names weren’t just names, they were legacies. Where one wrong move could get you blacklisted by the kind of people who bought islands on a whim and used helicopters like Ubers.

I had no business being here.

But I also had a fully paid, custom-commissioned cake threatening to go soft at the edges, and the invoice to prove it.

The moment I reached the grand double-door entrance, a man in a sleek black suit and a headset stepped into my path. He had the kind of expression that said he’d rather be anywhere else. Probably cleaning the chandelier crystals with a toothbrush. While blindfolded.

“Invitations only,” he said without blinking.

“I’m the baker,” I said, already out of breath. “I have a delivery for the Blackwood party, custom triple-tier cake. Macadamia praline base. Your client will flip if this....”

“No access without clearance.”

“I have clearance!” I waved my order sheet in his face like it was a sacred scroll. “You think I ran five blocks with this in ninety-degree heat for fun?”

Still nothing. No reaction. Not even a flicker of sympathy for the sweat glistening between my boobs or the fact that my arms were trembling like overcooked noodles.

He didn’t even glance at the sheet. He just gave me the same look you give people who try to sell you perfume samples in traffic.

Behind him, a sharp shriek split the air, high-pitched and dramatic, but not scared. No, this was the kind of shriek only rich women could perfect. The one that meant someone had worn her signature color or outbid her on an antique flamingo statue.

Both guards turned their heads for half a second.

And I slipped through like my life depended on it.

The cold blast of air-conditioning nearly slapped the soul out of me. My sneakers...wait, no, still heels, unfortunately, clicked against the polished floor as I entered what could only be described as a wealth safari. Chandeliers the size of my apartment. Walls that looked like they whispered family secrets to one another. And people. So many people. All dressed like they’d just stepped out of a Vogue fantasy.

Tuxedos. Floor-length gowns. Jewelry that could pay off the national debt.

My bakery uniform which, let’s be honest, was a flour-stained black top and jeans that used to be dark blue—felt like a crime scene.

Heart pounding, I moved fast.

Eyes followed me. Judging. Measuring. Smirking.

I clutched the cake tighter and kept walking.

Find the ballroom. Drop the cake. Escape.

That was the mission. That was all I needed to do.

But the hallway forked. Two doors. No signs. No waiters in sight. And my phone? Still dead from the delivery run.

Left or right, Brielle? Choose your adventure.

I picked the door on the right.

Big mistake.

The door creaked open into a room that felt like stepping into someone’s power fantasy.

Dimly lit. Velvet-draped. Heavy with cigar smoke and testosterone. The ceilings were high enough to echo your own doubt, and everything, every surface, every shadow, seemed dipped in money and silence.

And then there was him.

Standing by the fireplace like he belonged in that room more than the furniture.

Black suit. Loosened tie. One hand in his pocket, the other holding a glass of something amber and probably older than I was.

He didn’t look up immediately.

But when he did?

The world stopped.

Not paused. Not slowed.

Stopped.

His eyes, icy blue and too sharp to be human, collided with mine. Not in a hey, I see you kind of way. No.

This man didn’t just look.

He calculated.

Dissected. Filed me away somewhere in that steel-trap brain with the same ease he probably closed million-dollar deals.

“Lost, sweetheart?” he asked, voice smooth and low, like smoke curling around glass.

My mouth opened. Nothing came out.

He raised a brow.

“I...uh...I’m delivering...”

He took a step forward. Just one. But it shifted the whole atmosphere, like gravity had suddenly decided he was the center of the universe.

“Let me guess,” he said lazily. “You weren’t invited. You saw the lights, heard the music, and thought, Why not try my luck?”

“No.” I blinked fast, fingers tightening around the cake box like it could shield me. “I’m here to deliver a cake, triple-tiered, prepaid, probably melting...”

He tilted his head. Smirked.

“Is that what we’re calling it these days?”

My cheeks went hot. Not the good kind of hot. The rage-boiling-under-my-skin kind. “Excuse me?”

He stepped closer, slow and deliberate. Like a panther circling something stupid enough to wander into its den.

“I’ve seen your type,” he murmured, eyes never leaving mine. “Pretty. Nervous. Smiling like you’re harmless. Hoping some billionaire’s drunk enough to play sugar daddy for the night.”

The words hit me like slaps. Sharp. Humiliating.

I stiffened. “You think I’m a call girl?”

Another smile. This one with teeth.

“Escort. Social climber. Opportunist. Pick your poison, sweetheart.”

I let out a breathless laugh. Cold. Disbelieving.

“You’re unbelievable.”

“And you’re trespassing,” he said without missing a beat.

Then he pulled a thick roll of cash from his pocket like this was a back-alley deal instead of a misunderstanding at a charity gala.

He peeled off a few bills and tossed them onto the nearest table with the kind of casual disdain that made me want to throw the cake in his face.

“There. For your trouble,” he said. “Now get out.”

I stared at the money. Then at him.

At his designer arrogance. At the way his jaw flexed like he was already bored with me. At the absurd perfection of a man who looked like sin in silk and spoke like he had the world under his shoe.

Something inside me snapped.

I stepped forward. Carefully, deliberately and placed the cake on the glass table beside his insult in cash.

“Keep your money, King of Condescension,” I said, my voice low and sharp. “And next time you decide to insult someone? Make sure they’re not the one holding your dessert hostage.”

He blinked.

A tiny shift in his expression. Confusion? Amusement? Annoyance? It didn’t matter.

Because I smiled. Sweet and sugary.

Then I took one elegant finger and shoved the top tier of the cake sideways.

Just enough to crack the fondant. Just enough to ruin the symmetry.

His eye twitched.

Victory.

“Oops,” I said.

And with that, I turned on my heel, every nerve buzzing, and walked out like I wasn’t dying inside from the heat, the humiliation, or the fact that my knees were still shaking.

I didn’t know who he was.

Didn’t care.

At least, that’s what I told myself as the ballroom doors closed behind me and the echo of murmurs followed like a slow wave of What the hell just happened?

But something in my gut curled. Tense. Heavy.

That man was someone important.

And this?

This was going to bite me in the ass.