Chapter 53
JOAN’S POV The room was filled with activity as my glam team moved around me with their palettes and brushes in hand. My makeup artist, Sophie, leaned in to add the final touch of shimmer to my cheekbones, and I tried to hold still, but my hands were trembling in my lap. It wasn’t nerves from being in the spotlight—I should have been used to that by now. I’d walked countless red carpets, smiled for cameras, and played my part in the perfect image Derrick and I had been carefully crafting. But tonight was different. Tonight, Derrick was going to propose. The audience wouldn’t know it was fake, of course. This wasn’t just any event; it was the beginning of our contract marriage. I tried to focus on the strokes of the makeup brush, but my mind kept drifting to what tonight meant. I alway
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