“Mr. Blackwood.”

A beautiful woman in an elegant, fitted silk dress approached.

She had the delicate, timeless look of someone who had stepped out of an old painting.

I recognized her. A rising actress whose period roles had recently made her famous.

She had been sitting quietly in a corner. I’d assumed her agency had forced her to come and entertain the powerful men here.

Apparently, she had chosen the most powerful one herself.

I admired her courage.

Perhaps everyone in that industry was a gambler. The greater the risk, the greater the return.

Winning Lucian would take her straight to the top.

He gave her one indifferent glance.

That was as polite a rejection as he ever offered.

She mistook it for permission.

Encouraged, she walked straight through my spirit and drew close to him.

“You haven’t been sleeping, have you? You look tired. I could give you a massage tonight. I’m very good.”

Her voice softened as she leaned nearer. Her bare arm brushed his white shirt. Her eyes practically dripped invitation.

Lucian’s expression turned icy.

He caught the back of her neck and slammed her face against the aquarium.

She screamed.

Everyone heard.

Nobody looked.

The vibration brought the piranhas surging toward the glass, teeth bared inches from her terrified face.

“Mr. Blackwood…”

Her legs shook beneath her dress.

His grip reddened her slender neck.

He smiled cruelly and bent toward her ear.

“How long do you think they’d take to eat you if I put you in there?”

“No. Please.”

She began to cry.

Her knees gave way. She begged him, scarcely able to form the words.

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Please.”

His smile vanished.

He flung her away.

She landed several feet off, crashing into the glass coffee table.

It shattered.

Fragments cut her arms and beautiful face. The wounds weren’t deep, but the blood was startling.

She was too frightened even to cry. She pulled the glass from her own skin.

I frowned.

He was vicious.

Not wanting her didn’t justify doing that to a young woman.

Then his voice sounded behind me.

“Tell whoever sent you I’ll remember this.”

Something landed among the broken glass.

I went closer.

The second button from her dress.

Inside it was a miniature camera.

Business could be as dirty as warfare.

I had encountered schemes like that myself.

But whoever thought this crude honey trap would work on Lucian was an idiot.

The woman saw the camera.

Her frightened, helpless expression changed.

Guilt and terror filled her eyes.

She glanced at the aquarium, apparently afraid she was about to end up inside it.

“Get out.”

“Thank you. Thank you, sir.”

She fled.

His men stood outside, but nobody stopped her.

He really was letting her leave.

I was surprised.

With his reputation, throwing her to the fish would hardly have shocked me.

Yet he had let her go.

He accepted a cloth, cleaned his hands, and said, “Carry on.”

Then he left.

I followed a few steps behind.

Before the door closed, I heard Felix warn the others.

“Don’t get any ideas about him. There’s someone he’s been in love with for years.”

Julian had mentioned that, too.

I studied Lucian’s tall, remote figure ahead of me.

Who was she?

What sort of woman could make someone like him love her silently for years?

The car was waiting outside Velvet.

Miles opened the rear door.

Lucian stopped.

He stared across the street.

Something broke across the depths of his gray-blue eyes.

I followed his gaze, confused.

Before I could see what he was looking at, he rushed past me.

Like a gust of wind.

“Stella!”

His voice trembled.

I froze.

Across the street, he caught a woman by the shoulders.

She wore a red fringed dress. Long, softly curled dark hair spilled down her back.

From behind, she looked almost exactly like me.

But nobody knew better than I did that she couldn’t be me.

She turned, startled and annoyed.

Then she saw his face.

Her irritation gave way to flustered interest.

“Sorry, handsome. Wrong person. But if you’d like to—”

“I’m sorry.”

Every trace of emotion drained from his eyes.

He returned to the car.

He was still breathing hard from running. He loosened his collar and sank into the seat, suddenly exhausted.

I didn’t know what to feel.

In all the years I had known him, I had never seen him lose control like that.

And because of me.

I caught the smell of alcohol on him.

That had to be it.

He had drunk too much. For a moment, it had gotten the better of him.

There was no other reason he would react so strongly to a woman who looked like me from behind.

He kept his eyes closed during the drive.

One hand rested on his knee. Against his pale skin, the Beauty’s Bone beads looked redder than ever.

Like blood.

Near Rosehaven, Miles’s phone vibrated.

“Sir. Julian sent a message to Mr. L.”

Lucian opened his eyes and took the phone.

A cold laugh escaped him.

Beside him, I could read the message clearly.

“Dear Mr. L, I would be honored to have you attend tomorrow’s signing as our investor and witness to the renewed partnership between the Whitmore Group and the government. Please don’t decline. I will arrange a car to collect you from your hotel at nine tomorrow morning.”

To complete the disguise, Lucian had even booked a hotel under Mr. L’s identity.

Julian had found that out, too.

“He acts harmless, but he has plenty of schemes,” Miles said. “He’s worried the money won’t arrive on time. He wants Mr. L there so that if something goes wrong, he can explain it to the government team.”

Something darkly amused gleamed in Lucian’s eyes.

“Tell him I’ll be there.”

He smiled.

“Right. On. Time.”