The flashlights outside the Grand Palais were blinding, but inside the private dressing room, the air was quiet.
"Vera" stood before the mirror. The woman reflected in the glass bore no resemblance to the pathetic girl who had fled New York in the rain five years ago.
Her crimson dress was armor. Her red lips were a weapon. She was now the world's most elusive jewelry designer, a ghost everyone wanted to capture.
"Mommy! Watch this!"
A childish shout broke her trance.
Aria turned just in time to see her four-year-old daughter, Mia, holding a solid silver candlestick. With a giggle and a tiny grunt, Mia bent the thick metal into a perfect circle like it was playdough.
"Mia!" Aria rushed over, half-scolding, half-amazed. "We talked about this. No showing off your... talents... in public."
"But I made you a bracelet!" Mia beamed, her hazel eyes sparkling with innocent chaos.
Aria sighed, kissing Mia's forehead. Wolf genes. It was getting harder to hide. Mia had the strength of an Alpha, and she was only four. If the Council found them...
"She's just bored, Mom."
A cool, calm voice came from the velvet sofa.
Leo sat there, his small legs crossed. He didn't look up from his tablet. Even at four, he had an aura that made adults nervous.
Aria's heart always skipped a beat when she looked at her son. He didn't just look like Damien; he was Damien. The same sharp jawline, the same calculating grey eyes, the same terrifying intelligence.
"I finished the firewall upgrades you asked for," Leo said, finally looking up. "But someone is tracking us again. The IP address is from Russia. It's the same group that tried to kidnap Mia last week."
Aria went cold. They were found. Again.
She had spent five years running, hiding her children from the world and from their father. But her talent had made her famous, and fame brought danger.
A knock on the door made her jump. It was Chloe, her assistant, looking pale.
"Vera... I know you said no US clients. But this just came in."
Chloe handed her a thick envelope embossed with a silver wolf crest.
The Sinclair Group.
Aria felt like the ground had vanished beneath her. Her fingers trembled as she touched the familiar logo.
"They are offering a blank check," Chloe whispered. "They want you to design a wedding ring. For the CEO."
"A wedding ring..." Aria repeated, the words tasting like ash. So he's finally doing it. He's marrying Elena.
"Reject it," Aria said instinctively. "I can't go back there."
"If we stay here, those Russians will find us in two days," Leo interjected calmly. He turned his tablet around to show a map. "New York is the only place with enough... chaotic energy to hide our tracks. And the Sinclair Group has the best security in the world. If we work for them, no one will dare touch us."
Aria stared at her son. He was analyzing their survival like a general.
"Plus," Leo added, his grey eyes darkening with a hint of mischief, "I checked their CEO's bank account. He is very rich. If he is paying us to go home, why not take his money?"
Leo didn't know the man was his father. He just knew it was a strategic move.
Aria closed her eyes. It was ironic. To protect her children from kidnappers, she had to run back to the monster who broke her heart.
But Leo was right. New York was the last place anyone would look for her. It was the lion's den.
Or rather, the wolf's den.
Aria took a deep breath. The fear in her chest was slowly replaced by a burning resolve. She wasn't the weak girl anymore. She was a mother. A queen.
"Okay," she opened her eyes, her gaze sharp and dangerous. "Pack our bags, Chloe."
"We are going to New York?" Chloe asked, eyes wide.
Aria smirked, a look that promised a storm was coming.
"Yes. Tell Mr. Sinclair I accept." She paused, looking at the bent candlestick in Mia's hand and the hacker code on Leo's screen.
"But tell him my fee has doubled. If I'm going to design his wedding ring, I'm going to make him pay for every tear I shed."