Scarlett’s POV
The days leading up to the gala blurred together in a haze of strategy and anticipation, but it was the smaller rituals, the quieter preparations, that settled themselves in my memory.
After years of being thrown into chaos, running, hiding, fighting for scraps of truth, I found myself lingering over details I once would have dismissed as frivolous. But I realized they weren’t frivolous at all. They were armor.
If David was going to look me in the eye while spinning lies in his polished suit, then I wanted him to see me not as the frightened girl he thought he could manipulate, but as the woman Charles had raised me to be: steady, deliberate, and unshakably poised.
So, for once, I let myself think of beauty.
The midnight gown Jasper had chosen for me quickly became more
