The Billionaire's Stolen Identity

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ere London's elite came to be photographed, to gossip, to trade favors behind champagne flutes. I hadn't expected to find myself the

red ever since I stepped into the lobby: You belong here,

k hair had been twisted into a careful bun; my lips painted a shade of crimson bolder

ll Prosecco down my gown. My boss, a minor partner at the law firm where I worked, had long since disappeared into the crowd of hedge

en I s

auction display of rare pa

like gravity itself bent at his command. Tall, broad-shouldered, tuxedo cut perfectly to his frame, he carried the easy confidence of a man who kne

s the room with an intensity that seemed almost out of plac

billionaire everyo

loodless only because the blood was metaphorical. Others said he was untouchable, the man who could charm investo

sibly, his gaz

? Some socialites in diamonds? But no, his eyes held steady,

tuttered i

chandeliers or the gilded molding along the ceiling

feel the inevitability of it. And I did. By the time he stopped j

xpected, smooth with a hint of something I couldn'

idn't look like a startled

e a smile, it was something sharper, a

d," he said. "It means y

tood, how the faint scent of his cologne; ced

if my name could shield me fro

lling it over his tongue

ness journal headline, every gossip column. Still, the way he said it, si

ast us, offering Damien a smile laced with suggestion

o get some air?"

best friend Sofia's voice screamed in my head: Meera, do

fter, more dangerous: When will

myself

e balcony, where Londo

en said, resting one hand a

wasn't looking at the c

ulated yet effortless. And yet, beneath the polish, I sensed something else, a

ter a beat. "Do you always look

ed. "I.

leaning closer. "Half here, half somewhere

eks. How could he see

used to... all of

ying me with something almost like curiosity.

ng people inside who h

, he turned to face me fully, ey

with me," h

art thundering. Din

ut

tle but firm, like a command

on I couldn't exp

in that moment, it felt like the whole world had narrowed to just the two of u

answer and that's when his

fraction of a second before he slid i

ned to me, sha

's it going to be, Meera? Wi