Daddy's Rival: 1. The Invitation

Alina Devereux had learned long ago that her life wasn’t her own. Every gesture, every word, every movement had been shaped by her father’s influence. “Composure is currency,” he used to say, pressing her chin up between his fingers when she was only fifteen. “And loyalty is everything.”

She had believed him—still did, most days. But as the sleek black car hummed through the midnight city streets, glass towers rising like sentinels all around her, she found herself wishing for one thing she’d never been taught: an escape.

Her hand smoothed the chocolate-brown silk clinging to her curves. The fabric was elegant, expensive, the kind of dress meant for cocktail parties where fathers paraded daughters like assets. She had chosen it herself this time, though. Chosen it for confidence, to mask the uneasy flutter in her chest.

But the dress wasn’t helping. Nothing could help, not when the embossed invitation in her clutch seemed to pulse like a warning.

Lucian Voss.