Married to a Scandal

~CHAPTER IV~

Luca's POV

The Kensington Group holiday gala had always served one main purpose: to show three hundred of Manhattan's most unbearable people that Luca's family owned more of the skyline than they did. This year, though, it seemed to have a second purpose.

"Smile," Pavel murmured beside him, adjusting a cufflink Luca hadn't asked him to adjust. "Not that smile. The other one."

"There's only one smile, Pavel."

"There are several. That one says you're about to ruin someone's marriage. Try the one that says you're happy about your own."

Luca changed his expression.

Across the ballroom, under a chandelier that had probably cost more than most people's houses, his father stood beside Selene's. They both wore matching expressions of a job well done. Robert Kensington and Chairman Kang had spoken maybe four times in Luca's life, but tonight they stood together like old friends. That told him everything about how badly they both needed this to work.

Selene arrived through the east doors precisely eleven minutes after the invitation said cocktails began, fashionably late, not rudely late, a distinction Luca suspected she'd calculated to the minute. She wore black. Of course she wore black. It was the only colour he'd seen her in that didn't look like a costume.

"There's my future husband," she said, sliding up beside him with a smile so polished he almost applauded. "Performing beautifully, I see."

"I learned from the best. You're not bad yourself." He offered his arm. She accepted it as if it were a minor inconvenience she had chosen to endure. "Ready to be adored by strangers?"

"Ready to survive it."

They walked in together, and the room fell silent. All eyes were on them. Luca had spent years being the centre of attention in places like this. He could sense when a headline was about to be made.

"Mr. Kensington." A photographer, too close, too fast. "A word on the engagement?"

"Several words, actually, but I'm told brevity photographs better."

The laugh spread out just like he planned. Selene's hand tightened slightly on his arm, and he couldn't quite figure out if it was a warning or something else. He wasn't sure what each of her signals meant yet, but he figured they would figure it out over time as they spent more evenings like this, getting to know each other's cues.

"Ms. Kang, are congratulations in order?"

"They are, thank you." Selene's smile didn't move, but something in her voice sharpened, just slightly, like a blade catching light. "Luca and I are very happy."

It was, Luca thought, the single most convincing lie he'd heard all year, and he'd built a career on convincing lies.

They were there to circulate, smile, accept congratulations from people who only cared about the story, not their happiness. Luca had done this countless times, but this time felt different. He wasn’t alone; someone was beside him, keeping pace instead of orbiting him. Surprisingly, it was almost bearable.

Almost, until his stepmother found them.

Ingrid arrived quietly, unnoticed until she began to speak. She wore a shade of purple that made everyone else seem underdressed. She first kissed the air beside Selene's cheek. Then, she turned to Luca, with a smile that had never reached her eyes in the nineteen years they’d known each other.

"Look at you two," she said, to no one and everyone. "Isn't it wonderful? Two people who'll finally settle down."

There was a pause, small enough that most of the room wouldn't have caught it, long enough that Luca did. Beside them, Selene's stepmother, a woman Luca had met exactly twice and disliked both times, laughed.

"Finally!" she exclaimed, giving Selene a light pat on the arm. "It's nice to have both our family's little disappointments married. It really saves us from having to worry about each of you on your own."

She said it lightly, causing everyone around them to laugh.

Luca kept his smile exactly where it was. He'd had a great deal of practice keeping his face still while something considerably less pleasant happened underneath it.

Beside him, Selene didn't flinch either. However, he felt the change in her grip on his arm. For a fraction of a second, her fingers went rigid. Then, they relaxed again, deliberately. He realised it was the first genuinely unguarded thing he'd seen her do all night. And it had lasted less than a second.

"Contained," Luca repeated, easy, unbothered, like the word hadn't landed anywhere at all. "I prefer curated. It sounds more expensive."

The laugh this time was real, or real enough, and the moment passed the way these moments always did: swallowed by the next round of champagne, the next photographer, the next person eager to be seen standing near whatever story was currently the most interesting one in the room.

But Ingrid didn't laugh. She watched.

She observed the two of them for a moment longer than she should have, her champagne still full, her smile fading into one that was more content and peaceful than the occasion warranted.

Luca had spent his entire life reading that particular expression on her face, usually right before something in his world quietly, deniably, got worse.

He didn't know yet what she thought she'd confirmed tonight. He only knew, with the same cold certainty that had kept him alive in this family for twenty-two years, that whatever it was, she was already three steps ahead of planning what to do with it.

"You're staring," Selene murmured, close enough that only he could hear it, her smile never wavering for the cameras still finding them across the room.

"Am I?

"At your stepmother. It's not subtle."

"Neither is she, if you know what you're looking at." He guided her gently toward the next cluster of guests, already rearranging his face into the version of himself the room expected. "Smile, darling. We're the happy couple, remember?"

"I'm aware."

"Good," he said. "So am I."

Under the smile and beneath the sparkle of champagne and the elegance of the chandelier, a part of him was on high alert. He couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that Ingrid had uncovered something important, and he needed to figure out what it was, fast. He had to stay one step ahead before she had a chance to confront him with whatever it was she thought she now knew.