CHAPTER 8

The Caldwell family had three sitting rooms.

And right now, none of them felt safe.

I sat stiffly in the center of the smallest one—“the red room,” they called it, because of the floor-to-ceiling velvet curtains.

Dean stood near the window, still, silent and arms folded across his chest.

Mason was slouched in one of the armchairs, pretending to scroll through his phone, but his knee bounced constantly. Nervous energy leaked from him in every direction.

Evelyn sat opposite Lani, spine straight, legs crossed, with her gloved hands folded in her lap like she was waiting to be handed a sword and the legal right to use it.

And then there was the man just entering the room.

Richard Caldwell.

He didn’t look like a billionaire or a media mogul. He didn’t look like the man who held half the country’s newsrooms in his pocket and the other half in court. No, Richard looked like someone who had outgrown the need to prove anything. Trim suit, pale eyes, salt-and-pepper beard so cleanly trimmed it might have been drawn on. And an expression that made my stomach drop.

He didn’t speak for a long time. He just stood and looked at her.

And then, calmly, he asked, “This is the girl?”

“She has a name, dad.” Mason muttered, sitting up a little straighter.

Richard ignored him.

Dean finally spoke, in a flat, almost uninterested tone. “Yes, dad. Her name is Lani Grey, or at least that’s what her name used to be before she became dead meat.

“I’m still Lani,” I snapped before I could stop herself. My throat was dry, and my chest hollow. I couldn’t stop wondering how I’d gotten to this point, where I was being hounded by the fucking Caldwells like I was prey.

Evelyn made a sound like a sigh. “She’s a maid, Richard. Who just so happened to let your youngest son stick his tongue down her throat in front of half the press.”

Mason flinched. “That’s not fair.”

“You’re right,” Evelyn said smoothly. “It’s generous. She didn’t just ruin your reputation, Mason. She stained this entire family.”

Dean said nothing. But his jaw clenched.

I looked between them, then squarely at Richard. I was done with this. I was done being their maid or whatever the hell this was. “I didn’t ask to be kissed. And I didn’t know there were cameras there. And it all happened so fast. I didn’t come here for any of this. I just wanted to work and—”

“And what?” Evelyn cut in, waving a perfectly manicured hand in the air. “Steal our silverware? Pick our pockets like you did at the gala?”

My cheeks flamed.

She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t think I would find out about that little detail?”

Dean’s voice broke in, low and tight. “Enough.”

For a second, everyone turned to him. He rarely raised his voice. He rarely ever said anything at all.

Richard stepped forward. His shadow cut the light in half.

“Miss Grey,” he said slowly, “what is your greatest fear?”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You’re clever,” he continued. “I can see that. And you’re obviously not afraid of my wife. You’re not afraid of this family. That’s stupid. But it is what it is. So tell me, what keeps you awake at night?”

I looked down at my hands. I thought of Aria’s broken wrist, my mother’s sunken eyes and Victor bleeding in the dark. I swallowed.

“Losing my family,” I whispered.

Richard nodded once. “Good. Then let’s try to avoid that.”

Evelyn’s lip curled. She looked at her husband. “Are we seriously entertaining this disaster as a member of our household?”

A member of their household? What was she talking about?

“We’re not,” Richard said. “We’re making her something far more useful.”

Dean’s brow furrowed. “Meaning?”

Richard glanced at Mason, who finally stood up, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Meaning,” Richard said calmly, “that the only way we stop this from snowballing into scandal is to control the narrative. As of this morning, several tabloids are already claiming Mason has a secret affair because of some dirty secret. Every single news outlet in this country is digging into this.” He briefly looked at me, then looked back at Evelyn with something in his eyes. “And we wouldn’t want them to find out something that isn’t true.”

Evelyn’s voice turned to ice. “What will people say? We’re letting a maid become a part of this family?”

“They won’t have anything to say if we give them a script to follow,” Richard said. “You know what the other families will do if the truth gets out. If this becomes a scandal, our shareholders, our friends… they won’t take it lightly. A girl like this” — he gestured at me like I was a mannequin — “has no protection. If we let her walk out now, she’ll be dead in a week.”

My blood ran cold.

Mason looked at me sharply.

“You’re saying we fake a relationship?” Mason asked.

“We do more than that,” Evelyn said, her voice suddenly smooth. “We announce an engagement. She’ll be Liana Vale— heiress to a wealthy, deceased oil magnate— and we’ll say she has been Mason’s hidden fiancée for months. The photo simply proves what we’ve now confirmed.”

I stood so fast my chair skidded back. “Absolutely not.”

Dean straightened. “You can’t force her to do that.”

“No one’s forcing her,” Evelyn said. “We’re offering her an opportunity. Survival. Money. Comfort. Her family’s safety.”

“That’s a threat!” I yelled. “It’s not an opportunity.”

Richard finally looked at me again. “Or you walk out that door and face what the media— and every enemy we’ve ever made— will do with your name. Your real one.”

I stayed silent.

Mason rubbed a hand down his face. “You guys are serious?”

“More serious than I’ve ever been,” Richard said. “The press briefing is scheduled for tomorrow. The story goes live at noon.”

I looked at Dean, begging him to say something… anything. His expression was unreadable.

I turned to Mason. “Do you even want this?”

He frowned. “What do you think? You think I want to be married to some maid?”

His words made me flinch like he had hit me.

“It’s temporary,” Evelyn said. “A month or two, tops. Enough to salvage appearances. Then a clean, respectable breakup. We’ll say things didn’t work out. And you disappear with a generous check.”

Mason looked at me again, with a straight face now. “Whatever.”

My mouth was dry. My pulse was a low drum in my ears.

“And if I say no?”

Richard Caldwell leaned forward slightly. Not threatening. Just… final.

“Then we let the world know who you really are. A thief. And we’ll be sure to send your family a little present.”

I closed my eyes. I wasn’t stupid. I know what that meant.

Five seconds passed. Then ten.

“Fine. But if any of you come near my family without permission, I walk. And I don’t care what that costs me. And… I have some of my own terms”

Evelyn looked amused. “That’s not how this works, sweetheart.”

“That’s exactly how this works,” Dean said, finally stepping forward. “You want this to look real? Let her set her terms. It’ll make her easier to control.”

I hated how he said ‘easier to control’, but it didn’t matter now.

“If I do this, I want you to make sure my family’s safe. And I need you to help me repay a debt.”

Evelyn frowned. I didn’t break eye contact. Maybe this was the only way to make sure that Victor stayed alive. It meant giving my life to the Caldwells, but it was worth the risk.

Evelyn finally gave in. “Fine.”