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Chapter 2: The Mask Beneath the Foam
Eliot knew better than to stare, but something about Rina Maxwell made it hard not to.
She was the kind of woman who walked into a room like it was hers—even when she looked like the world had just chewed her up and spit her out. Her fingers were ink-stained. Her blazer had seen better days. And her laptop looked like it was one bad day away from combusting. But her eyes? They were sharp. Alive. Determined.
And that made her dangerous.
He turned back to the counter just as Alex, the café manager, waved a clipboard at him. "Eliot! Schedule."
"Right," Eliot muttered, taking the clipboard and pretending to care. He didn't need the job. He didn't need any job. But he needed the cover.
That morning, he'd sat in a penthouse suite overlooking the skyline, going over quarterly reports for Kane Conglomerate with his uncle's financial team. By noon, he was mopping floors in a café where no one knew his last name.
Two lives. One body.
And he was starting to forget which one felt more real.
Rina caught him watching her again. "You know, I can pay for the coffee."
"I'm not worried about payment," he said, voice low. "I'm worried about you burning through that keyboard with your stare."
She raised a brow. "You always this nosy?"
"Only with interesting people."
She didn't smile, but her lips twitched like they wanted to. She shut her laptop with a soft thud and stood. "Well, thanks for the coffee… Eliot No-Last-Name."
"Anytime, Rina Full-Disclosure."
As she stepped out into the rain, Eliot watched the door close behind her, a strange feeling settling in his chest. Interest. Intrigue. Maybe even trouble.
He had no idea who Rina really was.
But fate?
Fate knew exactly what it was doing.
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