"Forget it," Jason said, brushing it off with a lazy grin as he stretched. "We''ve got more important things to do today."

    Kylie, momentarily concerned, let her worries slide when Jason pulled her toward him. "Come on," he said, his voice light and teasing. "Didn''t I promise we''d go shopping today? Let''s go splurge, babe."

    Her eyes lit up, and the tension evaporated in an instant. She smiled brightly, completely distracted by the thought of new clothes, jewelry, and handbags. "Okay, fine! But you''re paying for everything."

    Jason laughed, already slipping on his shoes. "Of course. What''s the point of having money if you don''t use it, right?"

    After getting ready, they left the hotel room, neither noticed anything strange or the slightly shifted curtain by the window. Both were too preoccupied with their plans for the day to realize the storm that would soon come crashing down on them.

    Out in the hallway, Jason slipped an arm around Kylie''s waist, feeling triumphant. He had the money, the girl, and the lifestyle he wanted. Life was perfect.

    "Babe, since we''re finally official now, do you want to be my partner at the De Santis Christmas Party?" Kylie asked, her voice soft and sweet, leaning closer to Jason as they walked down the bustling street. Her perfectly manicured fingers brushed lightly against his arm, a subtle but deliberate gesture to draw him in.

    Jason blinked, momentarily thrown off by the sudden invitation. His mind was elsewhere, thinking about Iraya. He had promised to check on her before she left for her country, but with Kylie here, practically glowing at his side, he knew he had to handle things carefully.

    Kylie''s family connections were far more important to his ambitions than Iraya''s fleeting emotions and money.

    "I''ll . . . I''ll have to take a rain check, babe," Jason said, his tone casual but distant.

    Kylie chuckled softly, her expression unreadable but determined. "You sure? It would be a shame to miss it. My parents will be there, and it''s one of the biggest high-end events of the year. You''d get to meet my parents too."

    === ???? ===

    [IRAYA]

    I was sleeping soundly, wrapped in the kind of deep rest that only comes after days of exhaustion, when the sharp ring of my phone tore through the silence of my room.

    Half-awake, I fumbled around the nightstand, groaning under my breath as my hand finally found the source of the disturbance. I didn''t even need to check the caller ID to know who it was—of course, it was none other than Lyander.

    Who else would have the audacity to call so early in the morning?

    With a heavy sigh, I pressed the phone to my ear, my voice still thick with sleep. "Look, just give me an hour to get myself ready before you start hurling orders at me, okay? I just got out of bed."

    Lyander''s response came, calm and direct, with his usual sense of entitlement. "Are you free on the 25th?"

    His words barely registered in my sleepy haze, and without giving it much thought, I mumbled a lazy response. "Yeah, yeah . . . since a certain someone can''t seem to stop bossing me around, I guess I''m stuck without a proper vacation anyway."

    "Good. I''ll send you the invitation and the dress. You better show up—or else."

    Before I could even process what he meant by dress or invitation, the line went dead. I blinked at the phone in disbelief, still too sleepy to fully decipher what Lyander was plotting this time.

    Shrugging off the lingering confusion, I tossed the phone back onto the bed and pulled the blanket over my head, hoping to steal a few more moments of rest before the day truly began.