Page 171 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

‘He knows you’re here.’

A prickle of fear scored its way down Elodie’s spine. Had he been watching the feed from those cameras? The butler paused again, this time not even trying to hide that he was listening to someone. Elodie stood defiantly but her already erratic pulse zipped from rapid to frantic. Cold sweat slicked across her skin.

‘If you’ll follow me,’ the man said, abandoning any attempt to hide his wide-eyed curiosity, ‘Señor Fernandez is ready for you.’

She very much doubted that. Ramon Fernandez was the man Elodie’s parents were bullying her baby sister into marrying and she intended to eviscerate him.

Although now she was actuallyhereshe realised she had little concrete idea as tohow.

She followed the man, reluctantly impressed by the interior. She’d expected ostentatious decor—a gallery of gilt-edged frames housing priceless portraits, gleaming sculptures on plinths, luxurious rugs handmade by a city of workers a century ago...that sort of thing. But this home was sleek with black-painted walls and dark polished wooden floors, punctuated by occasional warm lights that only partially illuminated the way. It made Elodie feel as if the world were growing gloomier with every step—as if she were being led into a lair. A dark, sumptuous dwelling for a predator.

Way too fanciful...Elodie mocked herself.

This wasn’t one of the escape rooms she designed and managed. Though she memorised the way as she went in case she needed to actually escape in a hurry. She tugged her blazer sleeves and swept her hands down her tailored pants. The sleek suit formed part of her armour as did the make-up she’d applied only half an hour ago. She’d had to mask the shadowy ravages of an utterly sleepless night. The bustier beneath her blazer was extremely well-fitting—literally giving strength to her spine. Black and embellished with orange and gold beads and yes, while those did completely clash with her red hair, that was deliberate too. She wanted to project fearlessness. That she was a rule breaker. Reckless. A possible threat. Indeed, she wore it to project intimidation. But it was pure projection. A ploy because deception was her trade. But today wasn’t mere playful pretence, she needed the armour for real and it was burnished with rage.

‘Señor Fernandez...’ The butler paused just outside a wide open doorway. ‘Ms Wallace is here to see you.’

‘How delightful.’

A drawl. Complete mockery.

Elodie froze on the threshold, barely aware of the butler’s departure behind her as the man stood up from the sleek desk that housed a bank of slimline screens.

Blue eyes. Black hair. The sharpest cheekbones she’d ever seen. Not chiselled but sliced—angular, masculine, stunning. Eagle-eyed, he stared back at her. For a timeless moment she just stared back. Then he moved. She didn’t. Couldn’t.

For a split second she felt a hit ofhope. Surely this man couldn’t be the monster her sister meant? Ashleigh had described him as slimy and weak. Elodie had gone online to track down his London address but there had been little else and so nothing had prepared her for the cinematic perfection of Ramon Fernandez. He looked like Hollywood’s version of the ultimate, suave hero.

She blinked. It didn’t help. The tuxedo amped up his attractiveness. Formal evening wear suited most men—maximised their height, breadth, length—but this suit did all that and more for him. His frame was leaner than the butler’s but she suspected his muscles were no less lethal and he had an air of command the other man lacked. But it was those eyes and the aquiline features that mesmerised her.

‘You’refartoo old for her,’ she breathed, so stunned that her first thought simply fell out of her mouth in a puff of disbelief.

Not just too old. Tooeverything. Too wealthy. Too handsome. Too successful, surely. Because he was smug with it. She watched him stroll towards her, his demeanour relaxed yet predatory, as he calmly took in every aspect ofherappearance. He enjoyed wielding his power and he had it in spades. Both personal and professional.Whyon earth would a man who lived in a place like this and looked like he did, need to buy himself a teenage bride?

‘Do you think?’ he asked conversationally.

So it was true. He didn’t even try to deny the arrangement. Bitter disappointment squashed that little leap of hope and her rage returned. But still she couldn’t move.

Undeniably overwhelming, he was tall, dark, intolerably, impossibly handsome.

Yes, a cliché. But again, the cliché was flipped. Like the conundrums she created, Elodie’s exterior ran at a complete counterpoint to her interior. While she projected a confident demeanour, on the inside she was terrified. This man was the same but in a far worse reverse. Beneath the beauty, this man was a beast. Angelic on the outside, a monster within. It was knowing this that caused her heart to stop altogether, right? The absolute horror before her. She almost lost her nerve.

‘You realise she’s onlyjustturned eighteen,’ she spat contemptuously.

He stopped less than a foot from her. Much closer and he’d be breaching generally accepted boundaries of polite personal space. Not that he apparently gave a damn given the arrogance oozing from him. Doubtless he considered himself not just above convention but above the law.

‘You realise she only left school a few weeks ago?’ she added when he still didn’t bother to reply. ‘She’s beautiful, but she’s a baby.’

His gaze dropped, lingering on the beadwork of her bustier. He was looking at her like he was assessing an item for the art collection he didn’t even have. But his was a keen, knowing eye—summing up her valuation with a singular glance and to her shock and mortification a torrent of reaction released within her. Sheblushed—actually blushed. Heat rose everywhere as she endured his remorseless appraisal. Her response was fierce and uncontrolled—appalled outrage, right? Not any other kind of response.

‘You have nothing to say to that?’ she goaded desperately.

‘I thought you wished to discuss the arrangements for the engagement party, not her age.’ A cool reproof.

Her jaw dropped for a split second before her wild anger unleashed, driving her forward into the room so she stood toe to toe with the monster. ‘There shouldn’tbean engagement party! If you hadanyscruples you’d end this deal.’

He cocked his head ever so slightly and looked down his nose at her. ‘Deal?’

It was that smallest curl of a smile that did it.

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