CHAPTER 90: VEILA’S FACE

Alisha stared at her face plastered across the massive screen on Veila’s building.

She had won the campaign. She was now the face of Veila.

By all means, she should feel elated—this was the kind of achievement most models fought their whole careers for—but a heavy unease gnawed at her chest. Something about the victory didn’t feel right. Megan had been unusually quiet these past few days, and if there was one thing Alisha knew, it was that silence from Megan always meant trouble brewing.

Still, she pushed the thought aside. Eleoquise had already reached out to Maxine with an offer to take over Alisha’s contract, but Alisha had no intention of letting them cover her fees. She didn’t need them. She could afford herself now.

She sighed softly, deciding she would think about it later. For now, she just wanted a moment of peace.

That peace shattered when she spotted Bethany stepping into the company lobby. A grin spread across Alisha’s lips.

The last time she had seen the girl was after instructing Maxine to leak those videos online.

The internet had not been kind. Bethany’s behavior toward staff, her arrogance, her rudeness—everything was now public knowledge. She tried to defend herself, claiming the videos were fake, generated by artificial intelligence. But the netizens weren’t convinced. They demanded she take a drug test and show the results.

Confident she would pass—after all, it had been a week since she last touched anything—Bethany agreed.

But the results betrayed her.

The backlash was immediate, brutal, and relentless. She was mocked, dragged, and humiliated online until her reputation crumbled to dust.

Now, as Alisha’s eyes lingered on her fragile figure, she almost pitied her. Bethany looked frail, as if she hadn’t eaten in days, her once radiant glow replaced by hollow cheeks and sleepless eyes.

Bethany, Hex, and Alisha were the last three standing from the campaign. Since Bethany was still technically one of Veila’s models, she could come and go as she pleased.

When her gaze finally landed on Alisha, her face twisted into a glare sharp enough to cut glass. She didn’t say a word, only turned on her heel and stormed away in the opposite direction.

Alisha rolled her eyes at the old tactics.

She brushed it off, leaving the building and heading to her car. The days had been exhausting, and she simply wanted to get through her schedule quickly.

Meanwhile, the internet buzzed with her triumph as Veila’s new face.

Katherine’s fans, of course, weren’t happy. They accused her of scheming behind closed doors, of stealing opportunities that didn’t belong to her. But Alisha’s supporters were just as fierce, silencing the haters with their own sharp replies.

Alisha slipped into her car, her thoughts circling back to Megan. A storm was coming—she could feel it.

**

"You made Alisha the face of Veila? Don’t you think that’s a little too much for a rookie like her?" Allison, Megan’s manager, asked. Her brows were deeply furrowed, voice laced with concern.

Megan, however, didn’t flinch.

"Alisha’s fame is exactly what Veila needs. The bigger she gets, the more deals roll in. This is temporary. The moment a scandal touches her, I’ll cut the contract without hesitation."

Allison’s frown deepened. She wasn’t entirely convinced.

"She’s a De Rossi now. What if her husband decides to sue us? You know how dangerous that family’s name is."

Megan simply shrugged, as though the thought didn’t matter in the slightest.

"Then we’ll spin a story so vicious she won’t recover. With the right lie, public opinion will turn against her instantly. Her husband won’t be able to save her if she’s drowning in scandal."

Allison’s lips pressed into a tight line. Her instincts told her this was a dangerous gamble, but Megan was set on her path. There was no point in arguing further.

**

Across the city, Katherine sat in the quiet of a hospital room, her eyes fixed on Mason’s motionless body. He had been in a coma for over a week. The doctors reassured her it wasn’t permanent, that he would wake up eventually, but reassurance did little to ease the ache gnawing at her chest.

Tears pricked her eyes as she whispered, "Can you just wake up already?"

She loved him—more than she had ever loved Nathan. Nathan had always been about money, about security, about convenience. But Mason... Mason had her heart. Without him by her side, she felt hollow.

Standing from the couch, she walked to his bed and gently caressed his hand.

"Please, Mason, wake up. I need you."

As if the universe heard her plea, his fingers twitched. It was so faint, anyone else would have missed it. But Katherine saw it. Her breath caught.

Another twitch.

Her heart leapt, hope flooding her veins. She rushed out for a doctor, her voice trembling as she called them in. By the time she returned, Mason’s eyes were fluttering open.

The doctor checked him, confirmed he was stable, then left them alone.

"You scared me," Katherine whispered, tears rolling freely now. "I thought you’d never wake up."

Mason managed a faint smile. "And leave you and Jacob? Never." He pressed her hand to his lips.

Katherine’s relief was overwhelming, but it quickly morphed into rage as her mind circled back to the night he was left at their doorstep. "It was Alisha, wasn’t it? She did this to you. I knew it."

Mason shook his head weakly.

"No... it wasn’t her. I never even saw her. It was Dante De Rossi. I was leaving the gym when a group of men cornered me. There were too many to fight. They dragged me into a van, knocked me out. The next time I woke up... I was in a dark room. And Dante was there."

Goosebumps prickled across Katherine’s skin. Her stomach twisted with dread.

Dante.

She had been reckless. She thought she could hurt Alisha without consequence, but Dante was not a man who forgave easily. Because of her schemes, Mason had suffered.

Before she could speak, her phone rang sharply, breaking the silence.

Nathan.

She answered, her tone sharp. "What is it?"

A brief pause. Then Nathan’s voice came, cold as steel.

"Your father invited my parents and us for dinner in two hours. Be ready. Don’t keep us waiting."

Then the line went dead.