CHAPTER 3

The silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating. Lily stared at Levi, her mind trying to process the words that had just left his mouth.

Fiancée.

She looked down at her damp, oversized hospital clothes, then back up at the man standing before her in a suit that probably cost more than everything she currently owned. It felt like a sick joke, a continuation of the nightmare that had started the moment she woke up in that hospital bed.

"Your fiancée," Lily repeated, her voice barely audible over the soft hum of the penthouse’s climate control. "You want me to pretend to be your fiancée."

Levi took a slow sip of his drink, his gray eyes never leaving her face. He swirled the amber liquid in his glass, the ice clinking softly against the crystal. "It’s a simple arrangement. You need a roof over your head, protection from the people who erased you, and eventually, the truth about who you are. I need a weapon."

"I’m not a weapon," Lily said, her jaw tightening. She hated how small her voice sounded, how much she was trembling. She took a step back, trying to create some distance between them, but the edge of the leather sofa kept her trapped. "I don't even know who I am. How am I supposed to help you destroy a tech empire?"

Levi set his glass down on the mahogany desk with a soft, deliberate thud. He didn't rush his movements. He walked around the desk, his gaze locked onto hers, tracing the subtle panic written across her features.

"Evangeline Cole is currently parading around this city using your name, your identity, and your inheritance," Levi said, stopping a few feet away from her. He crossed his arms, his posture relaxed but radiating an immense, quiet authority. "Tomorrow night, she and Damian Cross are hosting a gala to celebrate their engagement and their new control over Hart Industries. Imagine the look on their faces when I walk into that room with you on my arm."

Lily’s breath caught in her throat. The memory of Damian’s cold, uncaring eyes from earlier that evening flashed in her mind. *I don't know you,* he had said. The sting of his betrayal was still fresh, a raw ache in her chest.

"They'll just call the police," Lily whispered, her fingers twisting into the fabric of her damp shirt. "Evangeline said she’d have me committed. They have the papers. They have the power."

"They have the power because you are currently a ghost, Lily," Levi countered, his voice dropping an octave, becoming a smooth, dangerous purr. "But under my roof, under the protection of the Ford name, they can't touch you. The police answer to me long before they answer to a couple of thieves."

Lily looked away, staring at the floor. Her mind was a chaotic mess of fractured memories and survival instincts. She had fifty dollars to her name. She had no home, no family, and no past. If she walked out of this building, she would be sleeping on the streets in the freezing rain. But staying here, entering a deal with a man who looked at her like a piece on a chessboard, felt equally terrifying.

"Why me?" she asked quietly, looking back up at him. "If you hate my family so much, why not just expose Evangeline yourself? You have the biometric data. You have the proof."

Levi’s expression hardened, a brief flash of something dark and ancient crossing his features before it vanished behind his usual cold mask. He stepped closer, close enough that Lily could feel the warmth radiating from him.

"Because a public exposure is too quick, too clean," Levi murmured, leaning down slightly so his face was level with hers. "They wouldn't suffer enough. I want them to watch everything they stole slowly slip through their fingers. I want them to live in fear, wondering when the real Lily Grace Hart is going to take back what’s hers. And I want to be the one holding the leash."

Lily swallowed hard. The sheer intensity of his gaze made her heart race, a strange mixture of fear and adrenaline coursing through her veins. He was dangerous, ruthless, and entirely driven by revenge.

"And what happens to me when it’s over?" Lily asked, her voice shaking slightly. "When you get your revenge, what happens to the ghost?"

Levi looked at her for a long, silent moment. His eyes dropped to her lips, then tracked back up to her wide, vulnerable eyes. He reached out, his long fingers gently catching a stray, wet lock of her hair and tucking it behind her ear. His fingertips brushed against the cold skin of her cheek, leaving a trail of sudden, unexpected heat.

"When it’s over," Levi whispered, his voice dangerously close to her ear, "you get your life back. Every single cent, every piece of property, and your true name. You’ll never have to beg for a cab fare again."

He pulled his hand back, stepping away to break the sudden, suffocating tension between them. He walked over to a sleek console on the wall and pressed a button.

"Gideon," Levi spoke into the intercom.

Within seconds, the heavy wooden doors of the penthouse opened. A sharp-dressed man with a professional, unbothered expression walked in, carrying a tablet. "Yes, Mr. Ford?"

"Prepare the guest suite on the east wing," Levi ordered without looking at him. "Have a doctor come up to check her over. And call the stylists. I want a full wardrobe delivered by tomorrow morning."

"Understood, sir," Gideon replied, his eyes briefly sweeping over Lily’s disheveled appearance without a hint of judgment. He bowed his head and left the room as quickly as he had entered.

Levi turned back to Lily, his dark gray eyes pinning her to the spot.

"Go get cleaned up, Lily," Levi said, his voice flat, returning to his business-like tone. "Tomorrow, your new life begins. And tomorrow night, we pay your ex-fiancé a visit."