Chapter 14

Camille's point of view

Victoria watched with unreadable eyes as Dr. Torres led me to the large bathroom. A white cloth covered the full-

length mirror. The doctor positioned me carefully, standing slightly behind my right shoulder.

"Remember," she said gently, "what you see today is still healing. There's swelling, bruising. The final results. won't be visible for weeks. But you'll get a first impression of your new appearance."

With that, she pulled away the cloth.

I gasped.

The woman in the mirror was me, but not me. My face but enhanced in ways that transformed my entire appearance. My cheekbones cast elegant shadows beneath them, giving my face a sculpted quality it ha Even through residual swelling and

faint bruising, I could see the changes Dr. Torres had created. Subtle Individually, powerful collectively. My lips had a new definition, not obviously augmented but somehow more present. My nose, always slight a perfect straight bridge.

I raised a hand to my face, watching my reflection do the same. The stranger in the mirror touched her cheek with trembling fingers.

"What do you think?" Dr. Torres asked quietly.

Words failed me. This new face looked.. strong. Confident. The kind of face that belonged on magazine covers or in boardrooms. The kind of face people remembered.

"It's..." I swallowed hard. "I hardly recognize myself."

"That's partly the swelling," Dr. Torres assured me. "And partly the shock of change. Your brain needs time to adjust to the new image. In a few

weeks, this will feel like you. The real you."

But which me was real? The woman I'd been before, or this new creation designed for power?

happened, she smiled. A genuine expression of approval that transformed her usually stern face. "Perfect," she

crave her validation this way.

I listened with half an ear, still captivated by the stranger in

and Dr. Torres had gone, I sat alone in the recovery suite, lights dimmed as evening

checking to see if the face

seen

more penetrating than the eyes I'd known all my life. Eyes that no longer pleaded for love or acceptance. Eyes that demanded respect. As night deepened, exhaustion finally pulled me toward sleep. But as consciousness

eyelids,

me stood Rose," her perfect face contorted with fear. Between us, a broken railing gaped like an open mouth. "Please," Rose begged, backing away from me. "Camille, please, it

e until her back

face reflected in her terrified

took everything from me,"

drenching us both. "My husband. My family.

railing began

air. I watched her plummet toward the dark water below, her scream cutting off as she

smiled, satisfied, as Rose's hands broke the surface once, twice, then disappeared for

a gasp, heart racing, sheets tangled around my legs. The dream had felt so real, the rain on my skin, the sound of the railing breaking, Rose's scream as she fell. But what disturbed me most wasn't

where splashed cold water on my face, my new face, before looking

changes, the swelling, the bruises fading to yellow. Something in my eyes had changed too. Something harder, colder. Something that had watched

away from the mirror, suddenly afraid of what I saw there. Not the physical changes, but

Someone who could dream of her own sister's death and feel

of the night. I sat by the window, watching

inside me. By dawn, I'd reached no conclusions, just a dull acceptance that something fundamental was shifting within me. Something that might be Two more days passed in

As James drove us

upcoming appointments on her tablet. "The board wants to officially announce you as my heir at next quarter's shareholders meeting. We'll need

silence suggests either disinterest or distraction," Victoria observed, setting aside her tablet. "Which is it?" I turned from the window

perhaps even concern about my psychological state. Instead, Victoria's expression

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