Page 274 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

‘Enzo, please,’ she begged.

‘Please what?’ He stalked towards her, and she took another step back. Her stomach gave a painful lurch that had her clutching at it. Hands searched the pockets in her robe, but she was in Enzo’s suite. There were no antacids here. Bile rose in her throat as her tears fell. She wanted to dash them away, but she couldn’t. She wanted to run, but there was no way around him.

‘You think I haven’t noticed?’ he spat. ‘You think I haven’t seen that you could be sitting in my chair, doing my job instead of outside my office as only a PA? You think I don’t know that you’re smart?’ He laughed, and it was terrifying. ‘Clearly smarter than I gave you credit for, because I fell for your trick, didn’t I? I saw your mask. I saw the plain woman you wanted me to see and didn’t question my instincts. The woman happy in her job. But I was the fool, wasn’t I?’

‘No!’

‘No? I have seen how different you are from your act! We came here, and your mask slipped. The clothes, your name, the glasses—it’s all a lie. I saw you forget them. I saw you read that wine label. Tell me, was seduction part of the plan too?’

Charlotte tried to say his name, but nothing would come out.

‘Thank you. Thank you for showing me exactly why I don’t trust anyone,’ Enzo said, enraged.

‘Please, Enzo, you have it all wrong.’

She saw it then. Her words had only thrown fuel on an already raging inferno. He was nearly wild with fury, and she retreated. The hard, immovable wall pressed against her back, and she had nowhere else to go. And then Enzo was against her, his hands slamming on the wall on either side of her head. His breath ragged.

‘I want answers, Celeste.’ He huffed out a breath. ‘I should stop calling you that. Since you haven’t given me your actual name, shall we go withLiar?’

Charlotte couldn’t stop her tears from flowing now.

‘I want the truth before I throw you out and never think of you again.’

His words were like knives plunging deep into her chest. She had wanted to be unmemorable, but the thought of Enzo forgetting her hurt. The thought of him hating her was nearly unbearable. And the thought of her father finding her was suffocating.

She opened her mouth to respond, but again nothing came out. Once Enzo threw her out, she would have nowhere to hide. She would have to fly back to Sydney, and it would be only too easy for her father to find her. To take her back to Perth and force her to marry Grant Campbell. His leering face in her mind had her nearly hyperventilating.

‘I—I can’t,’ she sobbed.

‘Why?’

Fear. Pure undiluted fear was coursing through Charlotte. Her body felt as if it wasn’t hers. As if she was levitating. Adrenaline pumping. Making it hard to think. To speak.

It must have shown on her face, because she saw Enzo pause. His face that had been all hard angles a second before softened a touch.

‘Are you afraid to tell me?’ His voice was still a growl but had lost the edge of absolute hate.

All Charlotte could do was nod.

Enzo pushed off the wall and took a deep breath. His gaze still held cold heat, but she could see the control he had mastered over himself.

His hands settled on her robe-covered shoulders, and she let him steer her to the couch.

‘Sit,’ he ordered.

She obeyed at once. A few short hours before, they had been entangled on that bed before her. Now she sat stiffly, an ache forming in her back. Awaiting Enzo’s sentencing of her.

‘Speak,’ he said, in what Charlotte imagined was as calm a tone as he could manage. The fact that the growl hadn’t left his voice nor had the tremble in his muscle abated showed he really wasn’t that calm at all.

Charlotte had to force air into her lungs. Force herself—against every instinct she had—to tell him the truth.

‘My name,’ she started in a small voice, ‘is not Celeste Park but Charlotte Jane Kim. My father is Gordon Kim, the property developer.’

She saw Enzo nod, his face impassive, encouraging her to keep speaking. She had to. For her safety. For what she and Enzo had shared.

‘What I told you before is true. My father was trying to force me into an arranged marriage with a businessman in Perth, where I’m from. His name is Grant Campbell, and he is well-connected but not in the way you are. Grant has local councillors in his pocket so he could get any property he wanted. Any land in a whole host of different councils.’

‘Your father would do the development, and they would split the profits,’ Enzo said, sitting on the coffee table in front of Charlotte.