** last dance is posted above **
•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

OUR COMMANDER LED us back to the first deck for a regathering. As soon as I stepped foot on the marble tile after descending the spiral of stairs, the bustling state of the main room was made apparent by the dozens of unfamiliar guards maneuvering the area to bring our personal belongings in.

K2 was stationed at the heart of the orderly chaos, serenely roaring out commands left and right. Osias, Cody, and Asao were all sucked into a whirlwind of chores. I practically saw all of the water that made up an adult's body dripping off of Cody all at once when he passed me hauling a hulking crate of carefully wrapped apparatuses.

Pierce left my side and converged with the guards again as he went back to lending a hand at the moving in process. Kenya joined him. I walked up to Osias and Asao, who were resting on the chaise lounge sofa.

Asao had a laptop pulled up and was busy watching something on there on one end of the couch, and on the other end, Osias was involved in a deep conversation with the red suit lady from the movie set.

"Not this one, does your collection have an ashen-colored necktie?" I heard the man repudiate. Curious on what their conversation was about, I seated myself across from the pair and announced my presence through a simple cough.

Osias lifted his head and saw me, along with Fiona. She gave me a polite nod and gestured for me to join their conversation. "Miss Venus. Do you have a particular taste?"

After moving to a closer seat, I peered over the catalog list that Osias was perusing over before my head tilted. "Taste for what?"

"Attire, Risa." He flashed me a smirk. "Gotta wear something to the dance, right? Now, I took on the generosity of picking out our Commander's suit for France, and you know what happened? That jackass refused."

Even without hearing the whole story, I knew there was something more to it than what came out of his lips. "What color was it?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Hot pink."

Silently gagging, I caught Pierce flipping off the man from the second floor as he walked past the railings. Osias rolled his eyes and turned to give me a look that read, You see what I have to deal with?

I ignored him and directed my attention to Fiona. "Uh, can you tell me what you have?"

"All types of evening gowns, from lace to silk fabric, to cream and ebony hues, flowing to fitted dresses—"

I stopped the woman right there. She quieted down and waited. "Why are they all dresses..?"

She frowned. "You can't possibly want to wear jeans and a crop top to a ball across the world, now do you?"

I ignored her comment and snatched up the catalog magazine. Osias and Fiona shared a confused side-glance as I flipped through the dozens of pages that would have attracted other females. I arrived at a section that subtly transitioned from women's attire to men's.

My finger pointed down to a picture and I flipped the booklet back around for the two to see. "You see this one? That's my taste."

Fiona gave a long and hard stare at the classy women's suit. Osias' eyes dilated in curiosity as his eyes peeled off of the picture and back to me, finally giving me a look over.

"Interesting," The man murmured lowly under his breath, rubbing his chin in thought. Fiona, on the other hand, wasn't having it.

"A suit? Miss," She took the catalog out of my hands and gave me a serious stare. "That's not exactly— well, we have other options that will fit you better than... men-modeled clothing."

My face remained unfazed. "It's in the catalog for my selection."

"Yes, but it's merely for the pamphlet's design and not an actual opt-"

"What's going on over here? Are you refusing her requests?" K2 had appeared at the sides and he walked closer to us. When he got here, Fiona stood up and lowered her head at him.

"Not quite, sir." She rose her head. "She wants to wear... well, that." She pointed calmly to the picture that I had previously pointed to.

The older man examined my selection before he let out an unexpected, soft chuckle. "You should have known better, Fiona. She hasn't changed then, she won't change now. Drop the act."

To my surprise, his subordinate broke into a small smile as she looked back at me. "My apologies, miss. It was a small test."

I arched my brows with my arms folded. "Did I pass?"

"Exceeded." She smirked bitterly before K2 intervened.

"While our whole branch knows of your past selves and your preferences, some of them still want to be sure." K2 reassured me. "But unfortunately, the style you like stands out too much for the event. The women all attending there will be adorned head to toe in accessories that compliment their customized gowns. We want you to blend in. Your identity doesn't wear anything short of a fitted dress."

"Bummer," I smiled sarcastically, already knowing the outcome of this banter. "We love adhering to 19th century gender roles."

Osias gave me a sympathetic sly smile as he glanced at K2. "Who's going to break it to Ryder? He was the one that suggested we persuade her before she came downstairs—"

"CODY!" I suddenly bellowed in my spot. The others covered their ears and flinched away.

There was an echoing silence that rang across the penthouse before a male's voice from upstairs groaned and muttered, "You losers had one job."

Rubbing my forehead, I glanced back up at them and sighed out in defeat, "Just pick whatever you people want then."

"Fiona, go send for the suit pronto. We'll put it on her for the flight."

My eyes widened slightly as I saw the woman bow and walk briskly away to go order the tabooed attire. The older man called three other guards closest to our area and beckoned them over with a single finger. They leaned in for the rest of the team's outfit requirements before they were dismissed on tight schedule to get everything ready in an hour.

K2 brought his wrist up to check the time. "6:00am," He glanced back up at me and Osias. "Your team needs to be ready for an 11 hour plane ride across the North Atlantic at 7. That'd give us the appropriate time to reach Versailles, France in time for the event."

"Just for clarification," Osias jutted in. "What ever happened to the people whose identity we're impersonating...?"

K2 rubbed his chin silently. "I sent them to a better place."

"What?" I blurted out.

"They're in the Caribbeans. Or, will be. Maybe they'll appreciate a little beach and tan once they've figured out there's no way to override the flight's new destination."

Asao sighed out in relief on the other side of the couch before he lowered the lid of his laptop and set the appliance on the glass-topped table. Osias rose out of the sofa and he walked away with K2 to help finish unpacking. I walked over next to the boy as he typed something on his phone and showed it to me.

They've received answers from the interrogation. The organization's next target is on a flight.

I frowned as he lowered the phone and we locked eyes. "They keep following us. I still don't understand how. None of our devices are track-able. And the objects on us that are are monitored by K2."

What if they're not tracking us? What if they're tracking K2?

I raised my eyebrows and the boy seemed to be contemplating something before his fingers went back to typing again.

Or it could just be close calculated guesses based on what they know about us from the past. A combination of tracking K2 and remembering the jets that they issued for him when he was still under them.

I leaned my head on my arms. "But he won't be coming with us this round. The organization, if they're following us, will have a mislead this time. Our duplicates will go on his jet and fly independently to France. If it's attacked, we'll know if he's the one being followed or not."

We're going on a civilian plane, right?

I nodded and smiled at him. "Don't worry. The team's together, we won't let anything happen to you. I'll look after the others." He held my gaze for a long moment before he let out a small sigh.

I'm worried for you, Risa.

I gave him a curious look. "Me? Why so? Don't you know I'm a strong capable woman, huh?" I teased the boy with a punch and he broke into a faint laugh. Before he could answer, his eyes traveled to someone standing behind me and his face began shifting to a respectful grin.

I turned around and my eyes were met with Pierce's. He came over with his arms folded across his chest. "I let him out of my sight for one moment and you're already trying to end his life. What a wonderful mother you'd become."

"May your butt forever itch, and your arms always be too short."

"You know Sunny, I hate this constant inhaling and exhaling habit you have."

"I hope you manage to find that one wet spot on the floor when you wear new socks."

"I hope you fall out of a three story building on a lego."

"Wouldn't even be able to feel it over the sound of your cracking bones."

"What makes you think I'd even be standing in a five mile radius of you? Those bones, if anything, would belong to Blak—"

"—Pierce dearest, if you badmouth me one more time from down there, I swear to god I will jump off this floor and land on your face." Osias cooed from above with a finger waving back and forth. "Then we'll really see whose bones those belong to."

Pierce shot the man a blank expression. "Fuck off, you infected hot pink rat."

"That's enough you two. I can barely hear my own thoughts." Kenya warned the both of them with a cold stare as she descended the stairs again and walked over to the bar to set down a vase of flowers that was relocated.

"The family dynamic in this team is messed up." Pierce ran a hand through his hair with a defeated sigh.

I eyed him silently and played with the ends of my hair. Eventually, the team was regrouped in due time when Fiona and the other guards arrived back to the penthouse with the attires ready for us to change. It was bound time we got ready as well.

"Alright, so here's the actual plan for you six tonight." K2 decided to debrief last-minute while we were busy fixing our clothes and simultaneously remaining still for his assistants to prep our hair. "There's a man that heads the entire event named Arsène Marie Paul Vauthier."

"I hate his parents already." Cody shut his eyes with a loud sigh, trying to recite the name.

Our director continued. "His daughter Anastasie is getting proposed to at the ball at exactly midnight. Her to-be fiancé is Nicolas Émile."

"How'd we get from Marie to Anastasia to Emily all of a sudden?" Cody jutted in.

"Émile." I corrected him in my accented French tone. The others all looked at me wondrously after hearing me speak a non-English word.

"I want you to at all costs, make sure that proposal never happens."

Our heads snapped to the older man. "Why are we meddling in a couple's chance at marriage?" I asked incredulously. "What does this have to do with overthrowing the organization?"

K2 took a moment and then continued explaining. "You belittle the situation because it's a merry occasion. They're the inheritors of their parents' branches. If they join forces, we lose a fortune of our allies. Anastasie is on our side, Nicolas is a foe. He's going to pass her crucial information through an exchange of their promise rings. She's going to leak information about our branch too and what we've been up to.

The rings are flashdrives. We need those flashdrives to end up in our hands, not only to keep our activities undisclosed, but to also gain insight into the enemy's side. I'm positive there's something in Nicholas' ring that will expose the people involved in your memory-wipe and your team's attempted disposal."

Pierce listened intently before he spoke up. "And it's easier for us to act suspiciously when we're allied guests rather than targeted guests. What will our duplicates be doing?"

"T6 was invited to present speeches and negotiate a share of their revenue to the council board. More people want in on your research and your assignments, and that organization is willing to share it all as long as they gain profit. Don't worry about it, my people will make sure none of that happens. Your ties to the group will cut no later than at the end of that ball."

"All of this sounds like it could go very wrong," Kenya provided her insight with a graceful tilt of her head at K2.

He smirked back. "Oh it will. There's too many possibilities for tonight to go wrong. I just need you people to survive long enough for the rings to be in your hands, then the real fun begins."

Osias gave the man an incredulous stare. "The longer you talk, the more un-reassured I am. I hope you know that, old man."

There was a strange spark in Pierce's eyes as he sat there absorbing the information in. I studied it cautiously and realized that it seemed as if he was ready, as if he had been waiting his whole life for the 'fun' that K2 just mentioned.

"I know you're smart enough to at least let us arm ourselves, right?" Kenya asked.

K2 smirked as he looked at each one of us. "What do you think the third floor is for? Have at it. You have ten minutes."

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Our duplicates set off foremost dressed in the most elegant arrays and briefcases. They took the masks that we used in the arsenal room at the movie set building to conceal their— our—faces. The voice changers were issued as a safety measure. The six guards smiled reassuringly at us and said to Pierce before they left, "We'll be stationed close to the chairman's board. If you need us, let us know through your earpieces."

The real team boarded a civilian plane in business class. The flight was extensive as warned, but the upside was that I was able to see my team give in to sleep. Osias had fastened a sleeping mask on his face and leisurely leaned back in his seat, fast asleep. Cody's head eventually swayed to the inner wall of the plane after dozing off. Kenya had a row to herself, refusing to share with any of the boys. Asao sat on the opposite side of the cabin. He rested his head on his arms, which were leaning atop the seat's arm rest.

Pierce and I sat behind the rest to fulfill our habits of keeping watch. Eventually, however, I felt the drowsiness consume me and my head swayed slightly to the right. The thought of Pierce lecturing me for letting him babysit alone again arouse my mental state and my eyes fluttered open again in irritation.

But to my surprise, the man beside me had already slipped into an unconscious state. His man-bun replaced where his head had been as his head tilted lower and lower towards the ground. Holding back a small grin, my hands cupped his face and carefully guided it back onto the backrest of the seat.

He let out an unconscious sigh as he tilted away from me. I frowned when I saw the small bands of sweat forming on the side of his face, as well as the scrunched up expression he was upholding. Even in sleep, could the world never let him rest?

The longer my gaze lingered on him, the more I realized that he wasn't resting at all. He was probably thinking of so many things that he was in a faint-like state, barely holding onto reality, like being trapped in a state bordering sleep and exhaustion.

So I nudged him awake. He aroused immediately, eyes staring straight in front of him silently like the dangers in his head were still real. He relaxed when he remembered where he was and slowly turned to me with a slight tilt of his brows.

"Hey, Commander?" I leaned on my arm as I gave him a side smirk. "I don't appreciate always being the one to see your weak state. You mind being a little more confident like you were when we were all at the café?"

He peered at me curiously before yawning and leaning back with a now-conscious state. "Your staring is becoming more apparent, Risa."

I gave him a pointed look. "I keep watch of the team, that's my job. From what I remember, you're a part of this team too. I promised Asao, but even if I didn't, I'd still make sure you people breath oxygen every few seconds and resupply energy through sleep."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Pierce returned my gaze, his silver piercing vibrating at his firm head turn.

"Go to sleep, Pierce. You need the energy for tonight."

He parted his lips as he took me in. "What about you? You haven't slept either."

I rubbed my eyes and shifted in my seat as I lifted the window blinds and surveyed the sky outside. "Don't worry about me." I reassured as I let the blinds fall back in place and faced him again. It was getting dark again. I felt like we've constantly been in this dark state ever since K2 found us. "I'll take a power nap at the hotel."

After a moment of silence, I spoke up again. "What were you thinking about earlier? Your face was all scrunched up like a wrinkly old man."

He keep silent as he surveyed me. His eyes ran from the top of my hair to the bottom of my hands propping up my head. "... You."

I lifted my head with a small frown that just formed before I brushed it off. "I see. My apologies for being so annoying that you hate my guts even in your sleep."

He smirked and leaned back to bask in the glory of my current state. "And you talk about confidence like it's so easy to have."

"Getting a little cocky, Commander. My radar's beeping like a tick. Please tone down your sarcastic replies until we land safely on ground."

Silence befell us again, awkwardly. At least for me, because out of anything in this world that he could possibly look at at this time, he chose to keep his grey eyes on me. "Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked cautiously. "Do you need something? Advil? Coffee downtown?"

He sighed at my dense state and leaned back into his seat.

"Why are you sighing?" I gaped dramatically at him. "You're always quiet at the worst times-"

"почему ты мне врал? ... я доверял тебе." [Why did you lie to me? ... I trusted you.] He started saying something to me in a language I didn't speak as he angled his face away from me. I wished I understood, because I have never seen eyes so bitter and withdrawn before.

"There's no service on my phone, Pierce. Have mercy on me." I groaned.

There he went with that deep sigh again before he drifted off into sleep once more. My eyes softened at the fact that he seemed to be more relaxed this time around. His muscles weren't tensed anymore and he let his body slouch back into his seat for once. Whatever he said, I realized it took a lot in him to even say it. I may not be able to understand the language but I knew it was something that pestered and burdened him.

It was because of me, wasn't it.

I knew. I always knew somewhere in the back of my mind. I leaned forward in my seat as I studied him. Despite still trying to keep a natural atmosphere, I understood now he was seriously angry. To him, it might be something stupid that wouldn't affect other people half as much. But if it meant something to him, I had no choice but to address it.

Whether he was awake or not, I gave an answer blindly into the air. "Je n'avais pas confiance en moi." [I wasn't confident in myself.]

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Château de Versailles, France

Ordered into construction by Louis XIV, who was crowned his majesty of France, the Palace of Versailles was rebuilt in 1631 until 1634 out of his principle residence at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Paris. Today, the palace stood as a prime example of the over-the-top excesses of the French nobility that eventually led to the French Revolution.

Versailles was built to emphasize Louis' glorious reign. He had the whole palace and its massive gardens built along an east/ west axis so that the sun would rise and set in alignment with his home. Various generations of notable figures in history have lived in and visited the palace.

Tonight, however, it would be infiltrated by undercover hackers. The boys had been driven to the palace at a quarter past ten, because they were male and men always had important chit-chatting to do with other important men before women came into the scene.

Kenya and I stayed after at our hotel until it was a quarter to eleven. I took my opportunity for a quick power nap like I had promised Pierce before he left with the rest, and Kenya had to arouse me to get dressed.

We were both standing at the entrance gates where the security guards were checking attendees off of a list longer than Old Saint Nicolas' during Christmas. I fastened by ear piece securely around my right ear and rearranged a few strands of my wavy hair to conceal it the best I could. I turned to look at Kenya and my face broke into a smile of awe.

The woman looked absolutely stunning. She wore a fitted, blush pink one shoulder satin ruched maxi dress. Her hair was styled perfectly in a teased chignon that complimented her natural curls. It brought out the allure of her emerald eyes.

She caught me staring and gave me a quick smirk before we confirmed with the guards our fake identification cards and proceeded into the palace. "You look beautiful, Larísa. Look up."

Reluctant, I lifted my head and I felt a gush of wind brush past my upper back as we passed the doors. Golden lights filled my eyes. Thousands of glass shards on the vast ceiling twinkled against the contrast of a starless night.

Celeste Rose, my identity, appeared at the ball in a carefully chosen, off-the-shoulder mermaid evening gown, with a side slit and a train. The fabric was a deep lapris blue. I allowed Kenya to style my hair as she saw best, and she selected a sophisticated half crown braid while the other half of my brown hair cascaded down my shoulders in neat waves.

I reached up to press a small button on the device on my ear. "Where are you four? We just arrived." I surveyed the Hall of Mirrors through the eye slits of my mask. The hall was used at times for ceremonial occasions, such as a ball. Guests, both influential and audiences, entered by the flocks and admired the structure in awe.

It was a long and bright room that welcomed in the moonlight from one side, dispersed it to all corners from another, and held the twinkling light of magnificent chandeliers from its ceiling. Graceful music twirled around the walls, giving bright ambiance to the event.

"In the War room," Cody's voice echoed in my ear. "Osias and Asao's in the Peace room. I don't know where our Commander is."

"In the what now?" Kenya asked incredulously, giving me an amused side-glance.

"You heard right." Osais' voice crackled into the connection. "They built the War room to pay tribute to the military victories that led to the peace treaties of Nijmegen. The Peace Room is symmetrical to the War Room. Same marble panel decoration and trophies in gilded bronze. Only difference is that this one was decorated on the themes of the benefit of peace brought to Europe by France."

"Are you reading off of something?" I deadpanned with a raise of my eyebrows.

"Not like I have google pulled up, sweetheart. Get off my ass."

I smirked slyly as the connection turned off again. We walked a little further into the mass and after a while, Kenya nudged me silently and pointed to the figure of a familiar man from afar. He wore a European-customized blazer, with a modern tweak to the vintage tailcoat. It resembled a regalia's attire, like the prince of a nation.

In other words, the man was Pierce Easton, overseer of a group of world-renowned hackers, flaunting his ass better than half of the young men here who were also his age. Pierce turned his face towards us and I caught the silver piercing on his ear reflecting light as he turned. He reached up to his ear and soon, I felt the spark of a connection going through the earpiece.

"I can feel your eyes on me from meters away. You like what you see, Miss Rose?" Even without seeing him up close, I could just envision that narcissistic smirk on his face.

I let slip a scoff. "I wouldn't focus on me if I were you. If you keep staring this way, the diplomats around you will begin to question your inability to understand English."

"That's cause I dropped that language to understand one particular one on the plane earlier, mademoiselle."

I froze and in a swift second, felt my cheeks burning up as I cursed under my breath after disconnecting from the ear piece.

"Would y'all stop flirting with each other and go find Emily?" Cody intervened through the device with a sour tone.

I coughed once before trying to look for Kenya. It seemed like the woman was pulled aside for a conference, considering how she was a diplomat for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. She was a smooth talker, I could infer from her side profile that she had the upper hand in the conversation amongst the men.

I accepted a glass of burgundy pinot noir wine from a bartender, whose hand lingered on my fingers as I pulled away with a pretentious smile.

"Are you here alone, beautiful?" The man flashed me an attracted stare with the corners of his lips slightly curling upwards.

I narrowed my eyes behind my mask and brought up the wine glass to gesture a farewell, before I turned and walked away. I heard the man slam down his wine bottle and start sliding to the end of the counter to grab me back. Ready for another confrontation, I was left frozen in place when I felt a hand cup my lower back.

My head tilted to the side and the cologne of a foreign man aroused my sense of smell. The new lad stepped to the side and shot me a reassuring smile. He glanced at the bartender and raised a warning look, which the bartender took into consideration without further opposition.

Great, now I'm stuck with another flirt.

But to my surprise, the man backed away from me and said, "Pardon me. I was just trying to give you a hand there."

I raised my eyebrows. "Je ne me souviens pas avoir besoin d'aide, monsieur." [I don't remember needing help, sir.] His eyes glinted a hint of amusement before he let out a chuckle.

"Don't worry, I have my eyes set on another woman. You can relax, Miss..?"

"Rose, angel investor." I trailed off as I took in his honey-blessed hair that was parted in the middle. His burgundy brown eyes showed he was being genuine. That sincerity was further proven when my earpiece crackled and Kenya was put on the line.

"Your three o'clock, Risa. Nicolas Émile, treat him well," She cautioned.

My eyes widened slightly as it traveled down to his fingers. His ring wasn't on him. Dammit, that means I have to find it somewhere on his body.

"Pierce is with Anastasie. She's in the Venus room at the top of the staircase, also known as the 'Ambassadors' Staircase before it was destroyed in 1752." Osias oh-so generously read off of his phone.

"Oh how lovely, she's in Risa's territory." Cody chimed in after him.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" I started as I heard Kenya's soft laughter before she disconnected. I regretted saying that just as much as the next Rose, because now it was apparent that I haven't been listening to the man before me this whole time.

"Aha, what?" Nicolas gave me a crooked smile. "My to-be fiancé is preoccupied at the moment, so I asked for your hand to a dance."

"Oh." I forced a smile as I tried to focus on my task. Whichever one of us reached Nicolas and Anastasie first, it was our job to carry out the crucial part of the assignment tonight. And Beta and Venus were now entrusted with the responsibility of preventing the proposal at midnight.

The music changed to a medium, upbeat harmony played by trumpets and an accompanying piano. My mouth dropped ajar when I stared in amazement at the 12 year old boy seated at the grand piano, attracting his own crowd of attendees who appreciated music. In honor of him playing, I decided to accept the offer.

I glanced back at the man and placed my hand into his palm, dropping off the wine glass to a lady that was about to go to the bar to get herself a glass of alcohol. He smirked at my compliance and guided me to the center of the ballroom where other pairs where already dancing.

My heart raced when he placed his hand again on my back to support me and our bodies began to move to the music. He was a proficient entertainer, I could already tell I was going to make a fool of myself from my hour-or-so waltz practice. And as if god heard my dark secret and wanted to expose me, he tossed Osias' dead broken shot glass back to earth, and I ended up tripping on flat ground.

Nicolas caught me and I steadied myself in his arms, flashing him a shy smile. "I'm new to this," I tried to cover it up. He merely kept his eyes on me as he twirled me.

"You know, I'd like to know the answer to the gentleman's question earlier too," He whispered in my ear. "Did you come alone, beautiful one?"

He was just like any other man now.

Straightening up, I accidentally tripped on his foot when we were three feet apart. He winced and let go of me momentarily as I readjusted my mask and stared at him blankly. When our eyes met again, a smirk formed on my face as my hands stroked his arm apologetically. "My bad, should we end our meeting here, monsieur?"

"No— wait, please."

I failed at hiding my satisfied beam as I turned back around and accepted his hand. He was making this so easy for me. His eyes seemed to not want to leave my lower body for some reason and I cleared my throat for his eyes to come back up to mine.

"Nicolas, would you like a drink?" I tilted my head patiently.

He raised his brows and reluctantly nodded, finally guiding us away from the center of the ballroom. "How'd you know my name?"

I wrapped my arm around his inviting left arm and I leaned subtly against his shoulder. "If I didn't know who you were, I'd be disappointing Arsène Marie Paul Vauthier."

"My father," He gave me a curious gaze. "You know him?"

"Are you doubting me because I'm a woman, Émile?"

"I wouldn't dare. You just intrigue me, Miss Rose."

I smiled at him. "Almost for you to put a ring on it?"

His eyes widened as we both took a seat at the decorated table for guests. He accepted a glass of wine for himself and for me and he busied himself with pouring me a glass. "A ring?" He hummed. "Certainly... if we met in another lifetime, beautiful. But not tonight."

"Why not?" I accepted the glass and took a deep chug, surprising him.

"You can hold your liquor well?" He asked with a entranced smirk.

"Answer my question, Emily. And before you laugh, I'm French."

He laughed and took a confident swing of his drink too, looking out at the other guests merrily conversing and mingling. "I'm proposing to Anastasie tonight."

"I have heard of her," I angled my head on my arms. "She's a beautiful young lady. Done much for our branch as well."

Because she's an ally and you're about to ruin that for T6, Nicolas.

"But," I started, ready to create trouble as I crossed my legs. "I heard she's had a lot of scandals with other men during her prime age. It's still circulating in the media. Are you sure..?"

His face turned a little grim before he gave me a nod. "Of course, we have discussed it. I like my girls a little bad."

"Girls?" I muffled the tiny scoff that came out afterwards. "How bad? Bad as in, infiltrating into an institute and acquiring three million dollars worth of gold with just a click of a button? Or bad as in..." I paused for effect, "Mere scandals?"

His eyes lit up and he leaned forward, grabbing my hand. "What exactly is your story, Miss Rose? From the first moment I laid my eyes on you, you've got me hooked. More so than when I first met Anastasie. If you keep at it, I might take you for my own."

"Angel investor, Nic. Like I said before. By the way, how's your broken toe?" I smiled, "I have Vaseline in my purse, care for some?"

"What else do you have in that purse?" He suddenly leaned in past my ear and whispered in a low tone.

"Acetone to cleanse your mouth," I deadpanned in the spur of the moment, but my eyes widened when I realized he wasn't a Pierce. I produced a small laugh and clenched my fist underneath the table. "I was joking. Old habits die hard, you know."

He seemed convinced and reached forward to stroke my cheeks, just as the music melted out and the stage was occupied with an event coordinator. The man on the stage suddenly announced that they were taking a break from the speeches and were going to move on to solo act performances now.

I glanced around for the others and my heart dropped a bit as I realized I couldn't find them, and I couldn't reach up to the earpiece at the moment either. In one swift moment, the name Celeste Rose was called out and my body froze instantly.

"May Miss Rose come to the center of the ballroom for her solo dance?"

In the midst of my mind blanking out, I was also horrified that my identity's third act was a solo dance. My earpiece turned on and I realized it was Kenya again. "Fuck, it's a solo. I don't know what type of genre they're going to ask you to do."

When Kenya said the situation was fucked, it was fucked.

"How am I supposed to do this alone?" I let out, slowly panicking from the inside as I rose out of my seat, full aware of the hundreds of eyes fixed on me.

The event coordinator abruptly turned on his mic again and announced, "Oh, hold up ladies and gentleman! There's a man at the front of the stage that's asking for her hand to a dance. What a spectacular sight it would be! Celeste is a beloved guest of ours that emanates beauty and charm. She will leave you all speechless. What do you say, Miss Rose? Will you dance with Mister Damien Waltzer?"

Damien.

My eyes softened as a wave of relief rushed throughout my once-panicked body. A round of applause rang throughout the palace as the lights dimmed and I bid Nicolas a goodbye for the time-being. Everyone stepped back to give room for the two performers and there were ooo's and ah's as Damien and Rose united with each other at the center of the ballroom.

He held out his hand, and I paused for a moment as I gazed up at the man's eyes for confirmation. A smirk made its way to my face once Pierce returned my expression with glistening eyes. "Will you dance with me, Miss Rose?"

Better you than the last guy.

"Oui, monsieur."

The background music started and Pierce's hand cupped my back comfortably. A chill ran down my spine as I let him guide me in place. All of a sudden, a melodic voice echoed out into the ballroom. A sweet, honeyed voice that you would have never suspected to have belonged to a hacker. Pierce and I snapped our heads to the stage and I let out a proud laugh as Kenya winked back at me before she brought the mic back to her lips and hummed a chorus of notes through a falsetto.

What finally got me to enjoy the night was the fact that Osias was onstage as well, standing right beside her. Pierce and I had already started swaying to Kenya's voice as she carried the song impressively, but I suddenly felt a warm sensation in my chest when Osias' voice harmonized with hers.

The song was slow-paced and mocked a waltz, it wasn't quite one, but we could still manage an elegant dance. Pierce was impressed. His grin was undeniable behind the mask. His eyes locked on me and with a firm hold of my hand, he took a step back and brought my arm above my head so that I twirled in my hugging gown across the floor.

I felt a soft laugh escape my throat as I regained my step and went back into his arms, letting him guide me across the ballroom while the guests looked on with envy and awe. He brought his hand back to my lower back and leaned in for a moment as the music faded out for moment.

"Who were you dancing with earlier?" He whispered close to my ears. My eyes widened as I leaned my head back a bit to meet his eyes.

"Really? At this time when I'm barely trying to keep the show going by not stepping on your foot?"

"I don't see why not."

The music picked up again and we backed away to continue the performance. At the ending climax, he picked me up and we twirled for a moment in unison. He looked up at me, his silver eyes filled with one emotion that I wasn't quite familiar with. He let me down and the world never looked clearer than when I was raised in his arms. In the midst of the dance, I found Cody trying to motion something. Asao was nowhere to be seen.

The music died down and Pierce and I ended with a gradual circling of each other, before I dropped to a lady-like bow as he did the same for a gentleman's.

A hand touched my shoulder right as the lights came back on and the applause was louder than thunder itself. I saw Pierce's eyes shifting over my shoulders before it darkened ever-so-slightly.

I spun and saw eye-to-eye to Nicolas, who grabbed me by the waist towards his body for an embrace. Pierce backed away cautiously as Kenya and Osias descended the stage, carefully watching me and Nicolas. Cody came along the side and the frown was still visible on his face as he crossed his arms slowly.

"Monsieur," I managed, trying to get out of his hold. "We have eyes on us—"

He raised his eyebrows. "Then let's go find a darker place for the two of us. While you were on the dance floor, I suddenly remembered the perfect room that I wanted to show you."

I quickly side-glanced a grandfather clock to the side of the room and my chest contracted as a realization that I had forgotten during the dance dawned upon me.

It was five minutes before midnight.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

L01: We did it, team.