Masquerade Read online

  She sank into his plush sofa near the beautiful view of the water. The rare sunshine glinted on Puget Sound.

  “I fell in love. But I think it’s all ruined,” she admitted. She told him about Durand, about the Sphinx Society, about the stupid pictures that somehow had been posted to her account.

  “I deleted them, but they’re already out there. People have copied them, reposted them elsewhere.” She bit her lip. “I know it’s going to be bad for the Sphinx Society. Already there are rumors that members are leaving the club.”

  “Simply because of a little publicity?” Her father shook his head. Her father thought there wasn’t any such thing as bad publicity. That was one of the cornerstones of his business.

  “It appears so.”

  “Have you figured out how someone got into your account? I can look into that.” He took a seat opposite her, face earnest.

  “I’ve got some of your people working on it already.” She shrugged one shoulder.

  “You do, do you?” He shook his head. “And you say you don’t want to run my company? Though you don’t mind using its assets?”

  “Of course not. I’m just practical. Just like you, Dad.”

  Father and daughter shared a smile. She reached out and took his hand, and he glanced down at hers covering his.

  “I understand.” He nodded and patted her hand. “I was just like you, you know. Headstrong. Stubborn. Sometimes...impossible.”

  “Hey!” she whipped her hand away in protest.

  “But that’s what makes us Patels who we are. I can’t blame you for wanting to make something of your own. And do not worry about this Durand fellow. He’ll come around.”

  “I’m not so sure.” Asha remembered the look of betrayal on his face. The anger. She wasn’t sure he’d come around at all.

  “Well, you have an enemy, someone who is trying to undermine you with him.” Her father studied her face. “And knowing you, I bet you already know who it is.”

  “Madelyn,” she said, instantly. “She’s his assistant. She’s in love with him.” Asha tapped her finger against her bottom lip, thinking. “But how did she get into my account?”

  “She may have been the one working with Connor,” her father suggested. “It’s what I would do, if I were trying to discredit a rival. As for the password to your account, would he know what it was? Or, perhaps he just stole it from your phone. One of our competitors is working on such a technology. It’s bringing corporate espionage to a new level.”

  “Really?” Asha bit her lip, thinking. If this were true, then it would all make perfect sense. Connor just wanted revenge against Durand for kicking him out, and Asha for...well, causing him to be kicked out, and losing the social status he so craved. Madelyn simply wanted Durand for himself.

  With her out of the way, maybe she thought her odds would improve.

  “If this is what happened, how do I prove it, though? How do I make Durand believe me?”

  Her father leaned back in his chair, thinking. “Let me talk to some of my programmers. See what we can do.”

  * * *

  Durand sat in his Paris office, staring at the Eiffel Tower out his window, but not really seeing it. He couldn’t believe he’d been so easily played, so easily led by his emotions. Asha had played him from the start and he should’ve seen it. Should’ve anticipated it. All she’d ever wanted was to boost her own image, to gain more followers and make more money, even if it made him look like a fool. Or perhaps because it made him look like a fool. Maybe all this time she was just fooling him. Stringing him along. Playing to his weaknesses. He should’ve known better. He should’ve seen it coming. But he’d let his emotions blind him, and now, he was about to lose everything.

  More than anything, he understood how his father must’ve felt. He couldn’t believe he was feeling sorry for the man. Couldn’t believe he’d actually take pity on him. Perhaps it was because he was about to lose the only thing his father had ever given him: the Sphinx Society, his inheritance.

  And he was beginning to realize for the first time in his life the power of love, and for the second time in his life, love seemed to be destroying everything. Maybe it would always get him in the end. Maybe it was a force he simply couldn’t overcome.

  All he could think about was Asha. She betrayed him. There was no other logical explanation. Even as he struggled to once again gain control of his feelings.

  “Sir?” Madelyn popped her well-coiffed blond head in his office door. She’d left her hair long and loose, forgoing her usual tight updo, not that Durand cared. She could’ve pranced around naked in front of him and he’d barely notice. His mind was filled with Asha. Her betrayal. “Do you have a minute? We really have to find some way to control the slide. Members are suspending their memberships at a record rate.”

  He barely heard her. The fallout from Connor Henry’s posts continued. Many of his rich and well-connected members were skittish, worried that Connor’s exposing them would tarnish their reputations. Others were quitting simply because they felt he was a hypocrite, demanding that they refrain from sex during his parties while he partook all he wanted. Durand had worked hard all these years to make sure the Sphinx Society’s reputation wasn’t tarnished with lewdness, and now he’d single-handedly ruined it all by not being able to control his impulses, not being able to resist Asha Patel.

  And it was all because he’d seen her in the lap of another man. His primal, protective instincts had taken over, blinding him to all common sense. And now he was about to lose everything. Or maybe he’d lost all that really mattered already. Asha wasn’t returning his phone calls. What did it even matter if the Sphinx Society went under? Asha was all he cared about, he realized. She was all that mattered.

  Madelyn was still talking, still running through messages on her tablet, but he was barely listening. He kept his eyes on the Eiffel Tower, his thoughts elsewhere.

  “Monsieur? Did you hear me?” Madelyn prodded.

  “What?”

  Madelyn frowned. “At this rate, we’ll have to call off the Masquerade Ball. Already, people are declining their invitations.”

  She showed him a string of texts from members, politely declining. He took the tablet from her and scrolled through them, barely reading them. She was right to be upset. The Masquerade Ball was the most prestigious invitation in the world. Declining an invitation was unthinkable even last week. Now, the idea of people turning up their noses at the world’s best party was growing. Madelyn, frustrated, paced in his office, in front of his ornate antique desk. Until, far back in her text history, he saw a single number, not attached to a name. He hit it, curious, and that’s when he saw not messages, but photos. Photos sent from Madelyn’s tablet.

  “What’s this?” He glared at the photo, the one of him and Asha in the study, so completely wrapped up in their passion that they hadn’t seen the photographer, hadn’t bothered to notice the door had opened. His mind worked out the puzzle before him. The damning photo was one she’d sent. “You took this photo.”

  “No! Absolutely not.” Madelyn swiped the tablet from his hands, but he saw the guilt on her face.

  “You did this. You betrayed me.” Fire burned in Durand’s belly. He saw it all so clearly then: Madelyn’s jealousy, her love gone wrong, and her complete irrationality about it all. How she’d cut off her own nose to spite her face. She hadn’t even cared about what she’d do to the Sphinx Society. She’d just been too threatened by Asha’s mere presence.

  Tears welled in Madelyn’s eyes as she sank into a nearby chair.

  “No. I was...only trying to help.”

  “By sending Connor this picture? Tell me, did you hack Asha’s account? Or did he?”

  “He posted the picture. He had some way of getting into her account,” Madelyn admitted. She reached out to try to take his hands but he whisked them away from her. The last t
hing he wanted was her touching him.

  “You betrayed me.”

  “No! I was thinking of you. I was trying to free you.”

  “Free me?” he thundered, anger still pulsing in his veins.

  “From this obsession that had taken over your life. Your good sense. You were not yourself. You told me you’d never love anyone, and so I knew you would never love me, but then she came and...” Tears choked Madelyn’s voice.

  So this was all about Madelyn’s unrequited love.

  “I was never going to love you, Madelyn,” he said. “I thought you knew that.”

  “I did, and I was all right with that. As long as you never loved anyone. But...but...you love her.”

  “Yes, I do.” The admission came instantly. Durand loved her still. And now...he realized that he’d pushed her away, accused her of betrayal, when she’d been innocent all along.

  “She was too much of a distraction, Monsieur Durand. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I...”

  “No. You are not forgiven, Madelyn.” He shrugged off her touch. “You are fired.”

  “No! Please.” She clasped his elbow in desperation. He glanced at her white knuckles and all he felt was disgust. “Where will I go? Please?”

  “I cannot trust you.” He whipped his elbow away, glaring at her.

  “But I—I love you,” she managed, tears streaking down her cheeks. “I have always loved you.”

  “I have never loved you, Madelyn. I never will love you,” Durand said coldly. “Especially now that you have destroyed all that I have built. You have sent away the only woman I have loved. Or will love.”

  A sob wracked Madelyn’s whole body as she buried her face in her hands.

  “Your services will no longer be required now or ever, Madelyn,” Durand said, voice low. “I never want to lay eyes on you again.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  DURAND STOOD IN the beautiful manicured grounds of the Le Chalet Des Iles in Paris, the venue granted to the city by Napoleon III, surrounded by Lake Inferior, and accessible only by boat. The moonlight glistened on the water, and Durand waited, watching the opposite shore for signs of life. The grounds and the chalet were bathed in beautiful twinkling white lights, and the effect was magical. It looked like something out of a fairy tale, and that was the idea. He glanced at the empty waters, feeling disappointment rise in his chest. The water was supposed to be covered with rowboats, manned by Masquerade Ball staff, an army of boats like the ones who’d ferried the twelve dancing princesses to their enchanted ball to dance the night away.

  Behind him, the beautifully delicate notes of a quartet broke the silence of the night air, and Durand glanced at his watch, wondering how long he’d let them play to a nearly empty island. In the last couple of weeks leading into the year’s final and most important gathering for the Sphinx Society, hundreds of members had bowed out, rescinded their RSVPs, made excuses about how they could no longer attend. Durand knew the truth: they were scared off by Connor’s posts, worried that Asha’s social media feed had outed them. No matter how much damage control he’d done, no matter how many missives he’d sent explaining what had truly happened, the tide had yet to turn. People were still afraid to come to his party.

  Durand glanced up at the waiter who stood at the side of the lit outdoor ballroom, looking bored. He’d put down his tray of champagne on an empty high-top table. Durand moved towards him, and the waiter snatched up the tray, eager to serve, and offered him a glass. Durand took it, feeling morose, almost as if he planned to toast the very last event of the Sphinx Society. He glanced at his own cell phone, but found he had no service. There was no way of knowing if Asha had gotten his texts that morning, if she’d gotten the message that Madelyn had been the one to betray him and not her. He hadn’t figured out exactly how she’d managed it, but he knew that Asha wasn’t to blame. But now that he’d accused her of betraying him, now that he’d doubted her loyalty, he wondered if she’d ever come back to him.

  Love was a tricky thing, yes, but he had come to the realization that he’d rather live a life with it than without. He glanced back at the waitstaff, at various corners of the open, lit grounds of the chalet, and wondered if he ought to just cancel the party. He didn’t need the staff of twenty to wait on him. This had been a mistake. He should’ve canceled the party from the start. He’d known the RSVPs were down to near nothing. But his own stubborn streak refused to allow him to do it. He still held out hope that the people would come.

  Now, looking at the dark lake, absent of boats, he knew he was wrong. No one was coming. His dream, the society he’d spent his life building, was dead. And it was partly his fault. He’d built it up on a lie: that he could keep every member safe in secrecy. But no matter how many masks a person wore, eventually, the truth came out. Even if one didn’t know what that truth was themselves. Asha had taught him that.

  He finished the last of the expensive champagne and then thought of hurling the crystal glass into the lake, a vent for his frustration. But as he wheeled back one arm, a light bobbed in the distance. Durand stopped, midthrow, and squinted, focusing on the light. A lantern someone let go from the shore? he wondered. Then he saw what was happening: a single guest, coming to his party. He had planned for hundreds of boats to line the water, but here was just the solitary guest. He wasn’t sure if he was hopeful or saddened. One guest? Who could it be?

  Durand’s heart thumped in his chest as he scanned the shoreline. He walked briskly to the dock, eager to meet the first guest, hoping against hope that somehow, Asha would be the one. Even as he told himself this wouldn’t happen. Asha was done with him, and who could blame her? He paced on the dock, as the white rowboat slid through the water, the occupants too far away to see their faces. And even when they approached, all he could see was a golden mask, and a lady wearing gold. He strained in the darkness to see the outline of her as the boat approached. Could it be? Could he dare hope?

  The lady wore a costume of a fairy in a ball gown, her clear wings stretching far behind her, the train of her golden gown flowing across the boat. Her long, nearly jet-black hair flowed down her shoulders. A fairy queen, he thought, regal and beautiful, and dangerously seductive with her low-cut gown. When the lady reached the end of the dock, the servant rowing hopped out, and helped her to shore, and as soon as she put a golden heel on the dock, Durand knew.

  “Asha,” he called, sweeping her into his arms.

  “I thought we were supposed to be anonymous,” she replied beneath the golden mask covering her eyes.

  “I’ll always know you,” he said. “No mask can fool me.”

  “Is that so?” She pushed up her mask as Durand pulled her close. He kissed her and felt his heart thump in his chest. This woman was made for him. There simply wasn’t another explanation. “I am so sorry, ma chère. You were not to blame for—” he began, but she shushed him with a soft finger on his lips.

  “I know. My father’s team discovered that Connor and Madelyn worked together to hack my account,” she said.

  “Can you forgive me for blaming you? I will earn your forgiveness. I promise you that.”

  “Earn it?” She arched an eyebrow. “How?”

  “Spending the rest of my life bringing you pleasure, of course.” He pulled her close and kissed her again, feeling his heart soar as she kissed him back, fully, pressing her body into his.

  “We might never get any work done,” she managed as she broke free.

  “Work? What is this?” He grinned back.

  “I don’t blame you, Durand,” Asha said, growing serious. “You were just protecting your society.”

  “Some good it did. You are the only guest this evening.”

  “Am I, now?” She glanced backward over her shoulder, and Durand followed her gaze to the opposite shore. One light came on, and then another, followed by another. Hope squeezed his chest. Those were...l
anterns on boats. Many, many boats, all bringing party guests to the chalet. Soon, another lantern bobbed, and then another, as they pushed off from the opposite shore, an army of guests headed his way. He glanced down at Asha.

  “You did this.”

  “I might have told a few of my friends that they’d be crazy to miss out on the party of the year. I hope you don’t mind a few party crashers.”

  At this point, Durand didn’t mind. Not at all. His party was saved. “None of them have invitations, eh?”

  “They have one from me.” She grinned. “And they’re all the new up-and-comers, the new influencers, the new new money. They’d all love to become members if your old members don’t care to join the society. And I bet, once they do, your old guests will come clamoring back for their spots.”

  “Interesting.” Durand’s mind turned as he thought of all the possibilities. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe making it too secret was the wrong thing to do. Maybe it should be very, very public.” Durand hadn’t even considered the possibility before now, but it made sense, and it was the one way he could keep his society alive. “That would mean I’d change the rules.”

  “You make the rules. You can change them,” she said.

  “Change them with me,” Durand said, grabbing her hand. “Be my partner.”

  “Partner?” Asha flipped her golden mask to the top of her head and searched his eyes. “But I don’t even have a membership.”

  “You don’t need a membership when you’re part owner. Will you? Please, Asha. I need you.”

  Asha bit her lip. “Does this mean I get a say in everything?”

  “Fifty-fifty,” Durand promised. “I want you to be my partner in business...and in life.”

  Asha blinked fast.

  “I love you, Asha Patel.” Durand clutched her soft hands, amazed how easily the words rolled off his tongue, because they were so true. He felt, for once in his life, that he was his true self with this woman. He wore no masks, and neither did she.