Chapter 4: The Mask falls away.

Evelyn POV

The fury burning in my chest threatened to consume me, but I forced myself to breathe. Losing control now wasn't an option. I needed to be strategic and calculative, which I'd never been in my previous life.

Instead, I softened my expression and put on the obedient mask I’d worn for three years in my previous life. It fit like an old glove, uncomfortable, suffocating, but useful one last time.

"You're right, Mother," I said quietly. "I should go talk to Adrian privately and apologise for my outburst.”

Her eyes lit up immediately, and her iron grip on my arm loosened.

“Yes! That’s my smart girl.” She released me immediately, smoothing down the front of her dress as if she were the one about to see Adrian. “But for heaven’s sake, change your clothes first. Touch up your makeup, and when you’re in front of him, remember to smile and be sweet. You must make Adrian happy, no matter what!"

"I'll speak to him first," I said. "Then I'll fix myself."

"But Evelyn—"

"I said I'll handle it."

The edge in my voice made her pause. Confusion flickered across her face, as if she were seeing me clearly for the first time. I turned and walked away before she could recover, leaving her standing with her mouth half-open.

I could feel dozens of eyes tracking me as I crossed the ballroom.

I spotted Adrian near the far end of the hall. He stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, his back half-turned, speaking with two older men I recognised as board members of Whitmore Industries. Even from a distance, his posture radiated authority.

I didn’t get within ten feet of him when a wall of black fabric stepped into my path. Adrian’s personal bodyguard, Marcus, planted himself in front of me, arms crossed.

“Miss Bennett.” His voice dripped with disdain. “Mr Whitmore is in a meeting. It’s not convenient for him to see you right now.”

“This is my engagement party,” I said. “I need to speak with my fiancé.”

“Mr Whitmore is busy, as you can see.”

“Then he can be busy with me. Move.”

Marcus didn’t budge. His eyes swept over my soaked dress, filling with disgust. “I’ll pass along the message. You can wait —”

“I’m not waiting,” I said with a calm smile. “Move.”

We stared at each other.

In my previous life, this was where I would have folded. I would have nodded, stepped back, and waited in a corner like a scolded child until Adrian decided I was worth two minutes of his time. I'd been so desperate to please Adrian that I'd extended that desperation to everyone around him — his driver, his secretary, his staff.

I never raised my voice. Never pushed back. Never gave anyone a reason to see me as anything other than a harmless, lovesick girl who could be dismissed with a wave.

And they had all taken full advantage of it. I straightened my spine.

"Today is my engagement party with Adrian. I am officially becoming his fiancée. I suggest you think carefully about how you speak to the future, Mrs Whitmore."

Marcus scoffed, shifting his weight, clearly done being polite.

"Miss Bennett, let me be honest with you." His voice dropped low enough that only I could hear, but the condescension in it could have filled the entire ballroom. "Those breakfasts you've been sending to Mr Whitmore's office every morning? He throws them in the bin without looking at them. When you show up at the company looking for him, he'd rather work overtime than see you."

Each word landed like a blade, but I kept my expression still. I refused to give him the satisfaction of a flinch.

"You have no weight in Adrian's heart," he continued, smile widening. "So how could you possibly become the future Mrs Whitmore?" He scoffed. “My advice? Don’t humiliate yourself further. Go back where you came from. Everyone here knows that Miss Clarke is the real Mrs Whitmore.

This was how little I'd mattered. So little that a bodyguard felt comfortable saying these things to me. So little that he could tell me to my face that another woman had already taken my place, and he expected me to nod and walk away.

One could only imagine how weak I'd been in my previous life for a hired guard to have this much audacity.

"Regardless," I said coldly. "I must see Adrian now. Move aside."

Marcus's frustration boiled over. Every attempt to make me cower had failed, and it was unravelling him. "Miss Bennett, if you continue causing trouble and don't leave immediately," he growled, "I won't hesitate to remove you by force."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips—a bodyguard, threatening to manhandle the guest of honour at her own engagement party.

"Are you finished?" I asked.

Marcus blinked, thrown off by my tone. This was not the Evelyn Bennett he was used to.

"Because I'm going to say this once." I took a step forward, closing the distance between us. "I don't care what Adrian does with his breakfasts. I don't care what he tells his staff about me. Today is my engagement party with him, making me the guest of honour. And you—" I held his gaze until something shifted behind his eyes. "—are a bodyguard."

His jaw tightened.

"Have you forgotten your place? Are all of Adrian's staff this lacking in manners?" I continued, loud enough for the guests nearby to hear. "I may not yet be Adrian's wife, but I am Evelyn Bennett of the Bennett family, and my family is not to be trifled with. We are a founding family of this city, with influence and connections that existed long before the Whitmores rose to prominence." I let my gaze sweep over him slowly. "Even Adrian wouldn't dare speak to me the way you just did. Yet here you are, a bodyguard, threatening me at my own engagement party?"

The colour drained from Marcus's face. He'd overstepped, and in front of witnesses. Threatening the daughter of a prominent family at a formal event was the kind of mistake that ended careers overnight.

"I — Miss Bennett, I apologise," he stammered, bowing his head. "I was out of line."

In my previous life, I would have accepted the apology with a grateful smile, relieved that the confrontation was over and scurried past with my head down. I'd been so desperate to please Adrian that I'd extended that same eagerness to everyone around him; never raising my voice, never demanding the respect I was owed, never standing up for myself even when they treated me like dirt.

Those days were over. Now I live for myself. And when someone tried to bully me, I would fight back.

But Marcus's apology was little and too late.

I raised my voice deliberately and loud enough for every guest in the banquet hall to hear.

"It seems the Whitmore family doesn't have much sincerity in forming an alliance with mine," I paused, letting the words settle into the surrounding silence. "Then perhaps we should call off this marriage entirely."

The whispers erupted instantly as heads turned. The phrase “call off this marriage” spread through the crowd like wildfire.

Marcus’s face went white.

Suddenly, someone started clapping.

The guests between us parted, and there was Adrian, walking toward me with his characteristic unhurried stride. His grey eyes were fixed on me with an intensity I'd never seen before.

The corners of his mouth were curved into a lazy smile, and he stopped three feet in front of me.

“I knew something was off about you tonight,” he said, his voice filled with amusement. “And now here you are, showing your true colours.

His eyes traced my face slowly, searching for the docile, eager-to-please woman he'd known. He wouldn't find her.

"So tell me, Evelyn,  have you finally stopped pretending?"