Savage Gentleman: 4. The Partnership

The ballroom of the Lemaire Foundation glittered like a cathedral built for vanity.

Light fractured through crystal chandeliers, painting gold across polished marble and the bare shoulders of the city’s elite. Waiters drifted like ghosts with trays of champagne.

Evelyn Vale had never felt more like a performance.

The envelope Lucas had given her lay sealed in her clutch, though she had already read it a dozen times. It was a talisman—and a curse. Every name, every transaction burned behind her eyes. The truth was now hers, and she could no longer pretend not to know.

But tonight she would smile. Tonight, she would be the Vale heiress—composed, charitable, unblemished.

She caught her reflection in one of the towering mirrors: sleek black gown, diamonds like drops of light at her throat. Beautiful, untouchable. A portrait of control.

And yet beneath the surface, her pulse betrayed her. Because she could feel him.

Lucas.

He was here.

She d