THE DEVIL'S HEIR

Velvet Lies and Wired Truths

Chapter 2

Velvet Lies and Wired Truths

"If you kiss me right now, Laz, it won't be fake anymore."

My voice broke like glass, which is weak and hazardous.

In the backseat of the vehicle, his body was wrapped around mine, and his eyes were on fire. "Then let it be real."

We shouldn't have come here.

Not together.

Not this way.

We needed air after Dorian's big news at the gala, though. Privacy. A deception that we could still control.

The limo drove away from the curb as if nothing had happened. Like my past had just come back, wearing my mother's company like a prize.

I exclaimed, "I can't breathe," and pulled at the neckline of my dress as if it were choking me.

Laziel remarked in a low, controlled voice, "You're safe." It was dangerously calm. "I won't let him touch you."

"I don't need you to keep me safe"

"Yes, you do," he said sternly. "You just won't admit it."

I took a deep breath. "You think this fake relationship will keep you safe?" You believe love is control?

He got closer. "Do you?"

My throat got constricted.

I didn't say anything.

Because I didn't know what else to do.

He looked out the window with his jaw set. "He timed it just so. He waited until everyone was watching you.

"It's not about me," I answered hurriedly. "If it were, if Dorian really knew"He has shares, Sienna. Real power. Someone sold him shares within your board. He stopped for a second. "It's not just a move to get power." "It's a message."

I muttered angrily, "Message received." "I'm not safe anywhere."

Laziel took my hand. I didn't stop him.

"He isn't just coming for Vale Atelier," he remarked. "He's coming for us." For this.

"Don't forget that this isn't real."

He held on tighter. "Don't." "Not tonight."

My voice sounded harsher than I wanted it to. "Then what do you want me to say, Laz? That I want you? That I'm scared? When I saw Dorian's face, I felt like I was seventeen again and drowning again?

I saw that his face broke, but just a little.

He whispered, "You don't have to say it." "I felt it."

I wanted to scream, kiss him, run away, and fall down. But instead, I posed the most risky question of all.

"What aren't you telling me?"

He stopped moving. So very still.

There was a heartbeat of silence between us.

Then: "Veritas was broken."

My heart stopped.

"What?"

"Not all the way. Just... pieces. Files that are encrypted. He ran a hand over his face. "Someone tried to get session footage." I paused the upload, but

I pushed him. "You're telling me this now?!"

"I didn't want to scare you"

"Make me panic? "Are you trying to scare me?" I raised my voice. "You run an underground club that deals in people's secrets, and my secrets are on your damn servers!"

"I locked them up"

"You can't say the word secure when my whole life is a ticking time bomb!"

He lowered an octave in his voice. "It's being taken care of."

"That's what they always told you, Laz." Before things went wrong the first time.

I opened the door to the limo before it even stopped. I wanted room, air, anything but him.

But he did follow. Yes, he did.

We were outside my building now, and the rain was starting to fall in whispers.

He questioned, "Do you want to be alone right now?" with a stern voice.

"I don't know what I want."

"I do." He moved forward two paces. "You want someone to tell you that you're not broken." That this doesn't make you who you are.

I stopped breathing.

"Don't," I said quietly. "Don't talk like that."

He leaned closer, and our noses touched. "Why? Because you will trust me?

"Because I already do."

We stayed still as the city around us went crazy.

I eventually remarked, "You shouldn't have kept the breach from me," in a quieter voice.

"I know."

"You can't keep me safe from my own past, Laz."

"But I'll die trying," he said.

I had to make him go. I saw his car drive away, and my pulse raced like a battle drum.

I took off the dress upstairs, still shaking. I shook my hands as I poured a glass of wine, then I dumped it down the sink. Not this time. Not again.

My phone vibrated. A text from a number I don't know.

Miss Vale, your speech tonight was good.

But what would the world do if it knew the truth?

Attached: A picture. Not clear, but unmistakable.

Me. Bound. With a blindfold on. On your knees.

My lungs fell apart.

This wasn't because of the breach. This was a personal matter.

Files from Veritas were encrypted. ThisThis was private.

Close.

That moment could have only been seen by one person. And Laz wasn't it.

The next morning, I got to work early. Too soon.

Evie was already there, drawing ideas on her iPad while sipping a matcha latte.

"Hey, Sis!" she said. "Is everything okay? You look like death in high fashion.

I kissed her cheek and said, "Charming." "Have you seen anything strange with the board lately?"

Evie seemed unhappy. "How strange?"

"Is anyone suddenly close to outside investors?"

Her eyebrows wrinkled. "There's a new advisor." Dorian brought him in and stated it was part of a deal to restructure.

My chest turned chilly. "What's his name?"

"Richard... something." She shrugged. "Honestly, he makes me feel uneasy."

Richard Lowell. Dorian's secret investor. I had seen the name in Laziel's papers.

He wasn't only a businessman; he was also connected to Helena Cross's network.

Someone who uses psychology to control others. Is good at ruining people's reputations.

If he was here, Helena was involved.

And if Helena was in on it...

Then the picture wasn't just a threat.

It was a sign.

I called Laz. He didn't answer. I texted River. No answer.

Then a message came in.

From Marcella Reign.

We need to have a chat. Not just Veritas was broken into.

Come see me. You need to be careful.

There was a place attached: a coffee shop in the city.

I thought about it. But curiosity won over terror.

No one was there. Marcella was sitting in the corner with her sunglasses on and her black leather coat zipped all the way up to her neck.

"You came," she remarked as she slipped a folder across the table.

I opened it.

Pictures. Many of them. Video from a security camera. Dates. Names.

Sienna. Laziel. Me. Him. For years.

"You've been following us?" I asked, astonished.

Marcella responded, "Not me." “Him. Dorian’s had eyes for you for years.”

I couldn’t talk.

“There’s more,” she added. “Helena’s not just feeding him secrets. She is selling videos. Counseling sessions and confessions. "To the highest bidder."

I quickly glanced up. "Are you giving him a hand?"

She laughed in a cruel way. "I want a Pulitzer Prize, not a jail sentence."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want to set him on fire." She bent over. "But I need to get in. Truth. The Den.

My blood ran cold.

"You don't know what you're asking for."

"I know exactly what I'm asking," she said. "And I think you want it too."

I stood up. "Be careful, Marcella." Dorian doesn't play by the rules.

She grinned. "Me neither."

Laziel came to me that night.

He looked like a mess, his tie was undone and his knuckles were damaged.

I asked, "What happened?"

He added, "I found out who leaked the picture."

My heart sank. "Who?"

He gave me a drive. "Be careful."

I connected it to my laptop.

The footage played. A camera that is concealed in a treatment room. Mine.

Twenty-two years old, Sienna. Crying. Telling things I never told anyone else out loud.

A voice asked soft queries.

And there she was, leaving the office with a pleasant smile on her face.

I was so scared my blood froze.

"No," I said quietly.

Laziel nodded. "She has been seeing Helena for months." "Secretly."

My heart broke.

"She's just a pawn," I said. "She doesn't know what she's in"

But then my phone buzzed again.

A different message.

From the same number.

You want to help your sister?

Come to Veritas. By myself.

It's midnight. The Den.

Attached: Evie's face. Crying.

Tied to a chair.