Chapter 7: The Mask He Wears
The city didn't sleep after my courtroom strike.
My name had carved through the headlines like a blade.
[Scene break]
AVA GRANT FILES MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR SUIT AGAINST DAWSON GROUP!
FACE-SLAP FROM HELL: GRANT HEIRESS PUBLICLY SLAMS FORMER FIANCÉ & FAMILY!
IS LILY DAWSON A FRAUD? SOURCES DIG INTO EXPERIMENT RUMORS…
But none of those headlines could erase the weight of what I held now.
A second rose.
Identical to the first. Crimson. Perfect. Fragrant. Tied with a black ribbon.
No note. No sender.
Just a message only I could hear:
"I'm still watching."
---
Lucian stepped into my office the next morning, sharp in black, storm in his eyes.
He placed a tablet in front of me without a word.
I didn't need to read it to know what it said.
But I read it anyway.
[Scene break]
Dawson Group Stock Falls 12%. Lily Dawson Absent from Press. Investors Panic.
I let out a breath. "Good. Let them bleed."
But Lucian wasn't smiling.
He crossed his arms, gaze drilling into me. "The message you got last night — the card. 'Welcome to the second phase.'"
I met his eyes. "What about it?"
"There's something I haven't told you."
The silence that followed was a vacuum, pulling the air out of the room.
---
"I wasn't just a survivor of that crash three years ago," he said. "I was the target."
The words knocked the breath out of me.
"What…?" My voice cracked. "You said it was an accident."
Lucian's expression didn't change. "That's what the public believed. But the brakes were cut. The route was diverted. The surveillance wiped."
I stared at him. "Why?"
"Because I refused to join the project your mother died trying to expose."
I froze.
"Project Persephone."
Lucian nodded. "Sophia Grant found out what they were doing to children—orphans, adoptees, heirs considered too independent. They weren't just raised. They were reprogrammed. Behavior conditioning, emotional loyalty manipulation, neural rewiring."
My throat felt tight. "And me?"
Lucian hesitated.
Then pulled a photo from his coat.
A girl. Wires taped to her temples. A hospital gown.
[Scene break]
PERSEPHONE-2 was scrawled in red across the bottom.
"That's Lily," he said. "But she was the second attempt."
"And Persephone-1?" I whispered.
He didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
---
Later that day, I sat on the penthouse balcony, staring at the second rose.
Was I just a memory someone rewrote?
Was I ever real?
Had my rebellion, my rage, my love for my mother… ever been mine?
Lucian stepped outside quietly.
"I'm not mad," I said. "But you should've told me."
"I wanted to protect you."
"That's not your decision to make."
He didn't argue.
"I get it now," I said. "They didn't just want to erase me. They wanted to control what I became."
Lucian's voice was low. "And they failed."
"But what if my strength… was built by them?"
"You wouldn't be questioning it if it was."
---
That night, Naomi called.
"You're going to want to see this," she said.
I flicked on the tablet.
A live feed played: a charity ball downtown.
Lily Dawson, dressed in gold, her smile immaculate, posing for photos like she'd never been dragged through the mud.
"She's not hiding," Naomi said.
"She's daring me."
Naomi's brow furrowed. "She's not backing down. And if she's this calm, it means someone's protecting her. Or funding her. Or both."
I clenched the tablet harder.
"Then let's light the next match."
---
The next morning — 9:00 a.m.
"Schedule a press conference," I said as I entered the PR division.
"For which outlet?" the assistant asked.
"All of them."
---
That evening — Global Broadcast, Grant Corp HQ
I stepped onto the stage in black silk and heels that dared anyone to look away.
The crowd of journalists waited, tight with anticipation.
> "Miss Grant, do you have a response to the Dawson Group calling your lawsuit 'a personal vendetta'?"
I smiled, sharp as glass.
"When someone steals your house and sues you for the door… that's not vengeance. That's justice."
[Scene break]
"Do you believe Lily Dawson is unfit to lead?"
"I believe leadership can't be bought — or stolen. And when the truth comes out, the world will see exactly who was pretending to be me."
[Scene break]
"Did your mother know?"
That one stung.
I blinked.
Then said softly, "My mother knew everything. That's why she died for it."
The room went silent.
---
Lucian met me backstage, wordless at first.
But his eyes…
They said everything.
"You didn't flinch," he said.
"I was shaking inside."
He stepped closer.
"Do you ever regret this? Fighting them?"
"Only when I remember I have to win alone."
"You're not alone," he said.
And I believed him — even if I didn't know what it meant.
---
Back in my office, Naomi was pacing.
"We have a problem."
She handed me a burner phone.
"It rang once. Then cut off. But a message came through."
I took it.
Ready to remember, Ava? Come alone.
Coordinates attached.
I stared at the glowing screen.
Lucian stepped into the room. "Where?"
I handed him the phone.
He read it. Jaw tensed.
"You're not going alone."
"Yes, I am."
"Ava—"
"They want me. Not us."
He exhaled. "Then we do it my way."
"I'll consider it."
But I was already deciding otherwise.
---
That night, I sat alone in my suite, the second rose in a glass beside me.
The message played in my head on a loop:
[Scene break]
"Welcome to the second phase."
Persephone.
Not a name.
A codename.
Mine?
Lily's?
Or… both?
---
End of Chapter 7