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?

rare happened, she smiled. A genuine expression of approval that transformed her usually stern

her validation this way. Shouldn't feel this rush of pleasure at her acceptance. Yet I did. Dr. Torres detailed the

with half an ear, still captivated by the stranger in the mirror who now wore

in the recovery suite, lights dimmed as

small hand mirror beside my bed, checking to

seen

harder, sharper, more penetrating than the eyes I'd known all my life. Eyes that no longer pleaded for love or acceptance. Eyes that

my eyelids, Dreams taking shape, vivid and

with fear. Between us, a broken railing gaped like an open mouth.

e until her back

my new face reflected in her terrified eyes. She kept retreating hit the damaged

everything

said, voice cold as the rain drenching us both. "My

railing began giving way behind

late. The railing snapped. Rose screamed as she fell backward, hands grasping empty air. I watched her plummet toward the dark water below, her scream cutting off as she hit the surface and dis 1 should have felt horror. Should have rushed to the edge, called for help, tried to

satisfied, as Rose's hands broke the surface once, twice,

my skin, the sound of the railing breaking, Rose's scream as she fell. But what disturbed me most wasn't I hadn't wanted

realization sent me stumbling to the bathroom, where splashed cold water on my face, my new face, before

surgical changes, the swelling, the bruises fading to yellow. Something in my eyes had changed too.

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

who I was becoming? Someone who could dream of her own sister's death

the rest of the night. I sat by

that something fundamental was shifting within me. Something that might be Two more days passed in the recovery suite before Victoria declared it time to return to the mansion. The bruising

As James drove us

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

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

concern about my

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