Chapter 4

Victor adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses.

His gaze shifted between me and the giant holographic screen.

As Cecilia's sister's fiancé, he could end this whole farce with a single denial.

But Victor said nothing.

He lowered his eyes and guiltily avoided mine.

When he looked up, his face was a mask of grief and disappointment.

"Evelyn.

"I've told you before. There's no point pretending to be my fiancée.

"Why do you keep chasing after me?

"You even... You even came to Cecilia's banquet pretending to be her sister?"

My eyes widened. I went cold all over.

"What did you say?"

My voice shook.

"Are you crazy? I've never pretended to be your fiancée! I don't even know you people!"

But Victor wouldn't look at me anymore.

He turned to Cecilia, his face full of regret.

"Cecilia, I'm sorry. I didn't handle this well.

"She's been using that face to throw herself at me and take your sister's place. It's partly my fault. I just missed your sister too much."

Cecilia's face twisted with rage.

"You bitch!"

She spun around and kicked me in the stomach.

The kick sent me sprawling across the floor.

"What do you have to say now?"

Cecilia shrieked, completely losing control.

"Even my sister's fiancé says you're a fake! And you still have the nerve to argue!"

I clutched my stomach as cold sweat poured down my face.

One look at Victor's shifty eyes, and I finally understood.

Of course he knew I wasn't the woman in the photo.

He was protecting the woman he'd been seeing on the side.

He'd made me the scapegoat without a second thought, just to calm Cecilia's rage!

"Victor... people like you are going straight to hell..."

I stared him down.

Panic flashed in Victor's eyes, then quickly hardened into a murderous glint.

"Pick her up."

Cecilia's voice was cold as ice.

"Make her kneel!"

Several bodyguards rushed over, pinned me to the floor, and forced me to kneel before the screen.

Cecilia pointed at Leon, who was no longer moving.

"Drag that cripple to the electrified screening area!"

The zone used a powerful electromagnetic field to detect precision weapons.

"No!"

I screamed and thrashed against the bodyguards.

"He has metal braces in his legs! A strong current will fry his central nervous system!

"Please! Let him go!"

Cecilia acted as if she hadn't heard a thing.

The bodyguards dragged Leon over to the electrified platform.

As soon as he got close, his body convulsed and blood gushed from his mouth.

"Leon!"

I screamed until my voice cracked.

Cecilia walked up to me and raised her hand.

Smack.

The slap landed across my face.

My cheek swelled, and the taste of blood filled my mouth.

Cecilia rubbed her wrist, her eyes venomous.

"That's for forgetting your place."

She raised her hand again.

Smack.

"And that's for having the nerve to use that face to impersonate my sister."

Sparks crackled faster across the electric grid.

As I watched the life drain from Leon's face, my despair turned to rage.

I glared at her.

"You'd better pray you kill me today. Otherwise, you'll regret the day you were born."

Cecilia laughed wildly.

"Regret? Maybe, maybe not. But I'll make sure you regret being a fake.

"Let's see how you play heiress and seduce my sister's fiancé once that face is gone."

She took a knife from one of the bodyguards.

Its tip glinted as she brought it toward my cheek.

The blade hovered a hair's breadth from my skin.

Boom.

An armor-piercing explosive round tore open the massive metal blast door!

A deep, cold voice cut through the smoke and the chaos.

"Who dares touch my sister?"