Chapter 6. Diamond Masks

The black silk dress slipped over Alyssa’s shoulders like water—off–shoulder and seamless, designed to reveal rather than conceal. Against her skin it felt impossibly smooth and unnervingly cold, as if oil had been poured over a carefully hidden secret.

She stood before the full–length mirror, arms rigid at her sides, watching a stranger stare back. That woman, with her precise posture and perfect silhouette, was no longer the Alyssa she remembered. She was an illusion manufactured by wealth and meticulous craftsmanship, a mask stitched together by whispered promises and luxury labels.

Behind her, Evelyn moved with clinical elegance, her footsteps silent on the polished marble floor. She held a diamond necklace between gloved fingers, the stones flashing like shards of ice in the soft dressing-room light.

“Turn your chin up,” Evelyn instructed, her tone devoid of warmth.

Alyssa complied. Evelyn fastened the clasp with a delicate click. The diamonds caught t