. CHAPTER 2 — Before the Cameras Turned
Three hours before the humiliation, Celia had stood in a tiny apartment bathroom, pressing makeup over the bruise on her cheek with fingers that would not stop trembling.
Her mother’s old burgundy dress hung from the door like a memory. It was not fashionable. It was not new. The satin had been repaired twice at the seams, and one shoulder strap had been sewn by hand under the yellow light of a hospital room. But to Celia, it was the most precious dress in the world. Her mother had worn it the night she received her first scholarship from the Vale Foundation, before illness shrank her life into pill bottles, unpaid bills, and whispered prayers.
“You’ll look like you belong,” her mother had said years ago.
Celia had not believed it then. She was not sure she believed it now.
The invitation had arrived that morning by courier. Heavy cream paper. Gold seal. Her full name printed in raised black letters. Celia Vance, honorary guest, nominee for the Evelyn Vale Humanitarian Grant.
She had read it ten times before crying.
For two years she had worked quietly at a community shelter, building a program that gave foster children music lessons, warm meals, and emergency clothing. She did not know who nominated her. She only knew the grant could keep the shelter open another year.
Then Adrian called.
His voice was warm at first, almost the same voice that had once promised he loved her. He said he was glad she had been invited. He said he wanted to apologize for the way things ended. He said he could send a car.
Celia should have refused.
But a part of her still remembered the man who brought soup to her mother’s bedside, who listened while Celia spoke about scared children and broken systems, who said money should mean responsibility. She wanted to believe that man had existed.
At the hotel entrance, there was no car from Adrian. There was Vivienne.
She stepped out of a white SUV, wearing a suit that cost more than Celia’s rent for a year. She looked Celia up and down and smiled without warmth.
“You actually came,” Vivienne said. “How brave.”
“I was invited.”
“Of course you were.” Vivienne’s eyes dropped to the folder in Celia’s hand. “May I see?”
Celia held it closer. “No.”
May you like
That was when two security men appeared behind her.
By the time Celia understood the trap, the cameras at the red-carpet tent were already waiting.
