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The late morning sun filtered gently through the sheer drapes, casting golden patterns across the pristine marble floor of the main sitting room. The air was faintly scented with vanilla and orchids from the arrangement on the center table, which was all elegance, quiet, and tension.

Carolina moved quietly, pushing a feather duster across the already immaculate surface of a glass side table. Her eyes weren’t on the dust; they were fixed on Beth.

Beth was lounging across the cream-colored sectional sofa, legs tucked beneath her, tapping rapidly on her phone. Her freshly styled hair shimmered under the sunlight. She dressed in a pastel silk robe and an air of detached irritation.

Carolina’s heart was thudding beneath her uniform. She had slipped the pouch with the hacking tool into the deep pocket of her apron. The tiny device rested there like a stone, heavy and pulsing with implication.

All she needed was five minutes.

Five minutes with that phone.

She hadn’t stopped thinking about what was at stake, Kingsley’s location, his safety, the truth hidden in that device Beth clutched so carelessly.

Beth let out a sharp sigh, muttering something under her breath. Then, like a gift from the heavens, she stood abruptly and placed her phone down on the marble coffee table.

Carolina’s eyes followed her movements with hawk-like intensity.

She tossed the phone onto the coffee table and flipped her hair back. “Hey, you,” she said curtly, barely glancing at Carolina. “I’m going up to change. Bring me a glass of iced lavender water in fifteen.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Carolina said softly, her voice steady, though her heart thundered in her chest.

Beth turned and walked out of the room, heels tapping crisply against the tile. The staircase creaked faintly as she ascended.

The second Beth was out of view, Carolina moved. She approached the coffee table swiftly, kneeling beside it under the cover of the high armrest. With practiced fingers, she slipped the phone off the glass surface and reached into her apron. Her hands trembled as she unzipped the pouch.

The tool gleamed under the filtered light—a small, harmless-looking adapter that could shatter the illusion of everything.

She had just slid it into the phone’s charging port when she heard it, footsteps.

Descending. Fast.

Beth was coming back.

Panic clutched Carolina’s throat. Her hands worked frantically, but there was no time. The tool was barely connected. No sync. No download.

She yanked it out and tossed it back into her pocket just as Beth’s shadow appeared on the stairs.

Carolina gently, almost too gently, set the phone back on the table and stood, rag in hand, face downcast.

Beth swept into the room, her tone light, almost amused. “How could I forget you?” she murmured, scooping her phone off the table as though it were an extension of herself. She glanced at the screen, then walked away, swiping again, already disengaged.

She didn’t suspect a thing.

Carolina exhaled, slick with sweat, but only a little. Her palms were damp. She had come so close.

And now, she’d have to wait again, for another moment, another opening. She turned toward the kitchen silently, her eyes flicking once toward the stairs.

Not today. But soon.

The following day came, and Beth was dressed to go out. A backless black dress clung to her frame like water. Her perfume lingered in the hallway long after she’d clicked down the stairs and paced across the foyer.

“I’ll be back late,” she’d said aloud to Kingsley, tossing her phone on the hallway table near the ornate mirror before stepping out to grab her coat from the rack. “Don’t wait up.”

Carolina, wiping down a nearby vase, kept her head down but her eyes sharp. Her stomach twisted in anticipation.

Beth walked toward the front door, heels sharp and elegant. Then she paused, fiddling with her lipstick in the mirror, adjusting an earring. It was just enough time.

The second the front door clicked shut behind Beth, Carolina moved. She didn’t walk—she glided to the table, slipping the phone into her hand with the swiftness of a pickpocket.

She ducked into the nearest alcove beside the library doors, pulling the hacking tool from her pocket. Her hands were more practiced now, more confident. She slipped it into the port. A green light blinked once—connection made. Now all she needed was five minutes.

Just five minutes.

Thirty seconds passed.

She held her breath.

One minute.

The green light blinked again, transferring.

Then the alarm chime of the security system at the front door.

Carolina froze.

Beth. Back already?

Carolina barely had time to remove the tool and toss the phone back onto the table. She darted to the far end of the hallway, disappearing into a side corridor just as the door opened again.

Beth entered, annoyed and mumbling. “Honestly… how can I forget my—” She spotted her phone exactly where she left it and snatched it up. “Gotcha.”

She didn’t look around.

Didn’t suspect a thing.

But Carolina, pressed against the cool wall behind the staff corridor door, let her head fall back with a thud of frustration.

The walls of the mansion were beginning to feel tighter, more watchful. Like even the chandeliers were judging her, mocking her failed attempts. How many more chances would she get before Beth caught on? Before suspicion replaced annoyance? Before she wasn’t just retrieving a phone, but actively being hunted for the betrayal?

And worse, how much time did Kingsley have?

Carolina rose slowly, gathering herself, brushing invisible dust from her apron as if it could shake the tension from her spine. She walked briskly but calmly back to the staff wing, head lowered just in case anyone saw her and asked questions she couldn’t answer without shaking.

The kitchen smelled of rosemary and sea salt. She barely noticed.

She balanced the silver tray in her hands, lunch for Kingsley: herb chicken roulade, mashed potatoes, and a glass of fresh lemonade. She steadied her breath as she reached the familiar door.

She knocked gently.

The golden dusk light filtered softly through the high windows of the hallway as Carolina balanced the silver tray with one hand and knocked gently on the master bedroom door.

“Lunch is here, sir,” she called in her usual calm voice, her heart still racing faintly from earlier.

A beat of silence passed, and then the reply came, muffled but clear.

“Come in.”

She turned the handle and pushed the door open, stepping inside.

The room was dim as usual. Curtains drawn, lights low, as though time had slowed or paused altogether inside those four walls. A faint hum came from a portable air purifier in the corner. The scent of lemon polish lingered faintly in the air.

Carolina approached the side table near the chaise and carefully set the tray down, roasted herb chicken with wild rice, garden salad, and freshly pressed juice. She didn’t look at him directly, only saw him from the corner of her eye. He was reclining on the armchair near the window, one leg crossed, a tablet resting on his lap.

She turned to leave.

But his voice stopped her.

“Wait.”

Carolina froze mid-step, pulse skipping.

She turned slowly, forcing a gentle, composed smile onto her face. “Sir?”

The man stood now, moving toward her with something wrapped in tissue paper. A gift box, small, elegant, tied with a deep navy ribbon.

“Open it,” he said.

Her eyes flickered to the box, then back to him. Slowly, cautiously, she reached out and untied the ribbon, lifting the lid.

Inside was a diamond necklace.

Brilliant, delicate. A teardrop-shaped pendant gleamed in the dim light, nestled against black velvet.

“It’s for you,” he said softly.

Her brows drew together slightly. “Sir?”

“You’re beautiful,” he continued, stepping closer. “You shine like a diamond. I noticed it the first day I saw you, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

Carolina took a half-step back, clutching the box tightly but unsure what to do with it. “I… I’m sorry, sir, but—”

“I love you,” he said plainly. “I don’t love her. I never did. Be mine.”

His eyes burned in a way that made her stomach twist. His voice was calm, but too calm, rehearsed, flat, like a role being performed.

“I’m Kingsley Rowe,” he added, stepping closer. “I can give you everything your heart desires. Cars. Jewels. Travel. I’ll spoil you like a princess. You deserve to be worshipped.”

“Sir…” Carolina said again, heart slamming now. “You have a wife.”

He chuckled, low and bitter. “That woman? She’s a status puppet. A trophy. But you…” He reached out, brushing her hair gently off her shoulder, fingers grazing her skin. “You’re real.”

Carolina recoiled instinctively, stepping back again.

“I have a man. And I love him. I can’t—”

The man’s face hardened for a flash, then twisted into something mocking.

“You have a man? And yet here you are, wearing a maid’s uniform. Does your man treat you like this?” He gestured toward the necklace, toward the velvet box, toward the luxury draped over the room like icing. “Why settle for less when you can have more? Princess treatment is a choice, sweetheart.”

His hand slid toward her waist, fingers cold and firm.

Carolina slapped it away.

“I said I can’t,” she said, voice trembling but firm. “I’m sorry.”

Then she turned and walked… no, fled from the room, not stopping until she reached the far end of the hallway.

Once she was in the staff corridor, she closed the door softly behind her and exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.

Her hands were shaking.

She dropped the necklace box in her apron pocket, untouched.

She didn’t want it.

What she wanted was answers. And now, more than ever, she knew this man was not Kingsley.

She reached out for her phone and dialed Katherine’s number.

Katherine answered on the first ring. “Hey. Are you okay?”

Carolina’s voice came out in a whisper, hushed and shaken. “Katherine… something happened.”

Katherine’s breath caught. “What? What is it?”

“I went to bring him lunch like I always do,” Carolina said, her words quick and strained, “and he told me to come inside. Then he gave me a gift.”

Katherine sat up straighter. “A gift?”

“A necklace,” Carolina said. “A diamond necklace. He said… he said it was for me. That I was beautiful. That he fell for me the moment he saw me.”

Katherine’s heart sank. “Oh my God…”

“That’s not all,” Carolina went on. “He told me he doesn’t love Beth. He said he wanted me. That he could give me everything. Called me his diamond. He… he tried to touch me, Katherine.”

Katherine’s mouth went dry. “He what?”

“I pushed him away. I told him I couldn’t, that I had a man. I ran out before it could go any further.”

Katherine was quiet for a moment, her heart racing. “He tried to seduce you. The real Kingsley would never. Not with Beth or without her.”

“I know,” Carolina whispered. “I knew it then too. That’s not Kingsley. That’s not your Kingsley. He’s wearing Kingsley’s face, but he’s… hollow. Calculated.”

Katherine let out a slow, shaking breath. “Beth put that man in Kingsley’s place. And now he’s, God knows where.”

“I didn’t take the necklace,” Carolina added. “It’s still in my pocket, but I didn’t keep it. I just wanted to get out.”

“You did the right thing,” Katherine said firmly. “You were brave, Carolina. I’m so sorry you went through that.”

Carolina’s voice trembled now. “He made my skin crawl, Kat. And the way he laughed when I said no… like I was stupid. Like… like I was an object.”

Katherine shut her eyes. “We have to end this. We have to find Kingsley and take him down.”

“I’m more determined now than ever,” Carolina said. “Beth’s phone—I’ll get it. I don’t care if I have to steal it from her purse while she’s in the shower. Whatever it takes. I’m not letting that creep touch me again. And I’m not letting Beth get away with this.”

Katherine swallowed the lump in her throat. “Okay. One step at a time. Get the phone. Plug the device. And I’ll be right here waiting.”

They stayed on the line a few more seconds in silence, a quiet, trembling bond between them.

Then Carolina whispered, “For Kingsley.”

And Katherine replied, “For Kingsley.”