he had her scen

s woke the next morni

te. Not

red silk strap floating in the bath, and

who lingered in his bed until he dismissed them, to bodies that b

ne who owned the room. Like she had gotten what she came

," he sai

breakfast table, pausing with h

now he

," Lucien muttere

rought to me

ns. No exp

made t

-

bleach to kill the traces, wrapped her hair in a towel, and applied the lightest gloss of makeup-

for her, she

nd walked with the kind of calm on

e she was brought to the upper suite, Lucien was already on the balcony, shirtless,

he said with

me to stay," C

er, the cigarette still bu

" She walked across the ro

me here. You just do

t out a l

rog

cur

ed again how tall he was, how his presence fill

my suite from

rs. No more disappear

idn't blin

s head. "Jus

ette from his mouth, and crushed it betwee

y hard to get, Lucie

d in his eyes, but hi

re you trying t

ned her back, and walk

ryth

-

ll, she ha

but loose in his routines. And he drank often-t

er briefs and a gold chain, he spoke into his phone and keyed in access

listening. She

ult three, behind the painting, rotating door. Seven-di

nded with

ina watched the loading bar pulse on Isa's laptop, their video call lighting up her private dr

ready?" Catalina

, but he's not the tech-savvy kind. Every

with anything tied to my father'

e's something else," I

g you nee

-

ne hand resting on the ink of his chest. He was half-asleep, lashes casting shad

d to hate. Isa had sent the file only hours before: a scanned dossier, deep black in

t Miguel Cruz.

about

design

bservation note

g. Not a cold-blooded h

into ob

now ruled Santa Costil

ke before he ev

e scar just under his ribcage, and whispered without

en in sleep, tig

-

eek, she had full a

of

li

ti

how of their arrangeme

ards defer

er like he was calculating how t

alls barefoot, unbothered, weari

to be announced. I

n who already had everything.

eren't

men married i

d to s

to spot

calm. Her clothes too el

of broken women and desperate

ucien's former favorite, Inés Arámbula-smiled sweetly and said, "Funny,

ed her drink, eyes glittering lik

a didn'

ype. I'm an

-

shift. She noticed it

er drawers. The phone she used had been swapped.

her: "Catalina... I th

ingers trembling slightly as she h

here you 'met' him. The wi

in the system. A protoco

cognition before h

reeze. Had she chosen him?

ut her hair as Lucien read reports in the next room,

he curves or the smile or t

this game to p

is had been a

was just a

the wine, the girl w

den not by force, but by the illusi

falter. But her e