Beautiful Lies

Chapter 2: A Familiar Stranger

The front door was already open when Eva reached it. Nana always did that when she was expecting someone important. With the housekeeper watching from the window, ready to pull the door back the second a car rolled in.

“There you are.” Nana stood in the hallway, dressed the way she only dressed for people she wanted to impress. A cream blouse. Pearls. Her silver hair pinned up in a way that made her look younger and sharper at the same time. “Come in, come in.”

Eva stepped past her, glancing back once at the man still standing by his car. He hadn’t moved yet.

“Nana, who is that?”

“You’ll meet him properly in a minute.” Nana took Eva’s arm and steered her toward the sitting room, her grip gentle but firm, the same grip she’d used since Eva was a child. She looked Eva over once, head to toe, and nodded. “You wore the blue. Good girl.”

“You told me to wear something nice. I didn’t know it was a test.”

“Everything’s a test, darling. You just don’t always know you’re taking it,” Nana said it lightly, almost joking, even though Eva knew that her grandmother rarely joked about anything.

The door bell rang.

Nana’s whole face changed; just slightly, enough for Eva to notice. She then patted Eva’s arm once and walked to answer it herself, which she never did. That was what the housekeeper was for.

Eva stayed where she was, in the middle of the sitting room, listening to the low murmur of voices in the hallway. Nana being warm and welcoming and his deep, quiet, giving nothing away.

Then they walked towards the doorway.

“Eva,” Nana said, “this is Ethan Vale.”

Up close, he was harder to read than he had been in the driveway. Dark suit, no tie, the top of his shirt undone in a way that felt deliberate rather than careless. He held out his hand.

“Eva Bradford.” He said her name like he already knew it, like he’d practiced it before he arrived.

“Your grandmother speaks very highly of you.”

“She speaks highly of everyone right before she wants something from them.” Eva pulled her hand back, resisting the urge to wipe her palm against her dress.

His grip was firm, brief, and controlled. It was nothing like Jayden’s easy warmth. “So I’d be careful with the compliments.”

Something flickered behind his eyes, there, then gone, folded away before it could become anything.

“Noted,” he said.

That was it. No smile to soften it, no warmth offered back. Something in Eva’s chest tightened, something small and stubborn. The itch of standing in a room with someone who refused to give her anything to work with.

“Eva.” Nana’s voice carried the smallest edge of warning.

“What? I’m being honest.” Eva glanced at Ethan again, who was watching her the way you’d watch the weather change, waiting to see what she’d do next rather than reacting to what she’d already done. It unsettled her more than she wanted to admit.

Dinner moved fast after that. Nana steered them to the table before Eva could ask anything else, and she found herself seated across from him, three plates, three glasses, and no explanation for the fourth chair.

Ethan unfolded his napkin without looking at it, eyes still on her.

“So,” Eva said, reaching for her water glass, watching him over the rim of it, “Vale. As in Vale Corporations?”

“That’s the one.”

“CEO?”

“For now.” He said without pride or false modesty either.

Eva turned her wine glass slowly by the stem, aware of him watching her movement, aware of herself being aware of it. She wasn’t used to this; usually she could read a room in five minutes, find the soft spot, get someone talking. Ethan gave her nothing to press against. It made her want to try harder, which annoyed her more than the silence did.

“You designed the sitting room,” he said. “The reclaimed wood wall.”

“Nana told you that?”

“She mentioned it.” A pause. “We’ve met before, actually. You were maybe seven, I was ten, my father brought me here for a business dinner, and you spent the whole night trying to teach me a card game you’d invented.”

Eva went still, fork halfway to her plate. Something in the back of her mind shifted, tried to surface, but didn’t make it.

“I don’t remember that.”

“I didn’t expect you to.” His mouth didn’t move, but something in his eyes did. “You argued with everyone at the table.”

“I did not.”

“You did.” Ethan’s mouth twitched slightly. “Including your grandmother.”

That made Nana laugh in a way Eva rarely saw.

“She argued with the chef too,” Nana said. “She wanted more chocolate in the cake.”

“I stand by that,” Eva said. “The cake was dry.”

“It was a very good cake,” Nana said.

“It was dry, Nana.”

Ethan’s gaze hadn’t moved from her face. Eva felt it was like a weight on her skin, steady, unreadable, and she found herself sitting up a little straighter without deciding to. He wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t flirting. He was simply looking, patient and thorough, missing nothing, and something about being studied that closely by someone who gave away so little made her pulse do something she didn’t like admitting to.

Say something, she thought. Anything. Give me a reaction to work with.

“I’ve been asking Ethan to visit for months,” Nana said, reaching for her wine. “His father and I go back further than either of you can imagine. I only wanted you two to meet properly, as adults. That’s all tonight is about.”

“That’s all?” Eva asked, half-teasing.

“That’s all, darling.” Nana smiled over the rim of her glass. “Don’t make it into something it isn’t.”

Eva’s phone buzzed against the table, loud in the quiet room. She glanced down.

Jayden.

She hadn’t told him where she was tonight.

“Sorry,” she said, already reaching for it. “I should…”

“Take it,” Nana said, waving a hand, though her face gave an expression that was too fast to read.

Eva stood, phone pressed to her ear, stepping into the hallway.

“Hey, babe, I’m actually at my…”

She stopped walking.

Jayden’s voice on the other end wasn’t right. Too fast. Too tight.

“Eva.” His voice cracked around her name. “Eva, I need you to listen to me. Something’s happened.”

Behind her, through the doorway, she could still feel Ethan’s eyes on her, even though she hadn’t turned around to check