ve advantages. Your mother clearly wants the b

lished mask cracked, and he caught a glimpse of something raw benea

n," she said quietly. "Most peop

elf a small smile. "Or difficult anyone, for that matter. But I've found that people usu

eyes searching his face as if looking for something h

ey're all hedge fund managers with trust funds

Evan forgot to be suspicious. "No, definitely not like the other men." She tilted her head, considering him. "So

o create. Now came the test-not of her, but of himself. Could he ma

d it was a city of opportunity. So far, I've mostly found it's a city of closed doors and expensive rent." He shrugged, letti

actually refreshingly honest. Most men in this roo

better at hidin

he floral arrangements and the carefully curated smiles. "This city is full of people pretending

he desperate grasping, the social climbing, the endless performance of i

imate than he'd intended. Sophia turned back to fac

they first met, but something smaller, more fragile. "We're all pr

-

s glittered beyond the glass. Sophia told him about her job at Croft Industries, about her mother's relentless ambition, about the pressure she fe

gles to find work, his determination to build something meaningful despite the odds. It was a pe

loneliness, the longing, the desperate hope that somewhere in this glittering, grasp

number and promised to call, Evan allowed himself to wond

trice Bellweather's eyes had flickered with cold calcu

auty, not charm, not the way her laugh makes you feel.

mpagne still on his tongue. Behind him, the fundraiser continued-the laughter and the music and the

Sophia Bellweather was prob

Thorne had learned in six months of living as Evan Vance,

had only