Eliana"Pearl, you need to leave," I said, my voice low and filled with urgency. "Rostella can't find you here. Go back to your duties, and act normal." I warned.Pearl nodded, her eyes flicking to the door nervously. She picked up the empty tray and headed for the door. "You don’t need to tell me.” She replied. “Be careful, Eliana," she added before quietly slipping out into the hallway.I let out a slow breath as the door closed behind her. Okay, so I finally had an ally. I was glad she seemed trustworthy, and suddenly I didn’t feel so alone anymore. And I also had a plan, or at least, the beginnings of one. I needed to get Serena out of there, and the others too, but I needed to know who they were first and be sure they weren’t enemies.I glanced at the clock on my wall. It was still the early hours of the morning; the sun was only just starting to shine brightly. I realised that lunch was still in a few hours and I had a lot of questions to ask. But I'd be patient; I'd meet Pear

ElianaThe next day, I woke up before the sun had a chance to peek through the curtains, my heart already racing with anticipation. It was the day I'd finally be able to meet Damian and, hopefully, get some answers. I had called him last night, and we had finalized the plan to meet at the café Pearl had suggested.I quickly got dressed in a casual outfit, trying to look like a normal girl going out for a fun day of shopping. I grabbed my purse and headed down to the living room, trying to keep my excitement in check because I knew it was very easy for Rostella to see right through me for some reason.As I entered the living room, she was there like a witch, her face buried in something, and as I got closer, she looked up from what turned out to be a fashion magazine she was flipping through, a cup of coffee in her hand. "Ah, good morning, Eliana. Ready to go?" She asked with a wide smile.I nodded, trying to sound casual. "Yeah, I'm ready."She smiled wider, her eyes scanning me brie

Eliana I quickly turned to Pearl as we walked further away from the café. "We still need to grab some dresses or something. Rostella will definitely know that something is up if we come back empty-handed." I explained. We were even lucky she hadn’t called yet to ask why she had not yet received any debits from the card she gave me.Pearl nodded, a wry smile spreading across her face. "You're right, we can't have her suspecting a thing." She said.Immediately we headed into a nearby boutique, playing the part of shoppers who couldn’t even care less about what they were looking at. We picked out a couple of dresses at the same time, very aware of the clock ticking. We had to get back to the car before Marcus woke up.When we finally returned to the car, Marcus was outside, pacing about the walkway, covered in sweat. His face was filled with both confusion and fear. He took a deep breath when he saw us approaching, like he was bracing himself.He looked extremely scared, and I felt ba

DamianIt was far into the evening, and I was still in my office, sipping from a now lukewarm cup of coffee while staring blankly at the scattered papers on my desk. Soon there was a soft knock on the door, and I glanced up immediately, thinking Mila had returned to force me into believing that her plan was a solid one. But she would have let herself in instead of knocking."Come in," I called out, my voice low, my eyes narrowing as the door swung open immediately and Victor strolled in. His expression was unreadable, but his steps told me he'd finally found something useful.He took off his sunglasses as he walked closer, and I leaned back on my chair. "Sir, I’m so sorry to intrude on such short notice," he said, his voice low and apologetic, but I could hear a bit of excitement, which was very unlikely. "But I got something that can't wait. I've been digging into Preston's security, and I think I've found a way in." He said. I set my cup down immediately, my attention now fully

Damian As I tried to find a direction in the crowd, I stumbled, completely caught off guard, as I felt a hand grasp my arm, pulling me quickly into the nearest corridor, the music and laughter becoming fainter as I got pulled in deeper.My heartbeat tripled as my instincts screamed at me to fight back, but this person was a woman, and after seeing Rostella earlier, I could confirm she wasn’t the one.“Who are you?” I asked but she didn’t stop.Soon she spun around, and I recognized the familiar face, the scent of vanilla filling my nose. It reminded me of Mila, and I hoped she was okay being all alone in that house."Pearl?" I whispered, my eyes adjusting to the dimmer light, my heart racing.She smiled, a mischievously uncomfortable one; her eyes sparkled like diamonds in the dim light; her dress was a stunning emerald green; I almost couldn’t recognize her she looked like she was one of the guests. "Damian, I know it's you." She blurted, and I had to look around to be sure no one