Chapter 1

I proposed to my girlfriend on Valentine's Day, and her adopted brother, the one who calls himself a face-reading master, snatched the ring right out of my hand and threw it in the trash.

"Thin upper lip, thick lower lip. That's a two-faced man. He'll cheat, guaranteed!"

"Nose bridge isn't high enough. He'll never make anything of himself!"

"Face isn't square enough. He can't hold on to family money!"

"Shifty, beady eyes. This is a man who ruins his own kin!"

"Clementine, if you say yes to him, it'll end badly. The company will go bankrupt sooner or later."

The whole place went silent.

My face darkened, and I turned to Clementine Pruitt. "You're just going to stand there and let him spew this nonsense?"

She was the one who wanted me to propose tonight, in the busiest square in the city. The least she could do was take my side.

Instead she said, "But Raymond James's readings have always been accurate."

I had no words.

Ten years together, and it counted for less than a few ridiculous lines from someone else. So why should I keep struggling to hold it together?

Take back the love. Take back everything I'd given Clementine Pruitt.

…

After the brief hush, the laughter started, wave after wave. A circus monkey, they said. The clown of Gotham.

Clementine chose silence. Still no sign of speaking up for me.

And Raymond only pushed harder.

"Tim Farley, you want to marry Clementine? Go fix that busted face of yours first."

"Other men bring their wives good fortune. You'd bring yours ruin!"

He jabbed his finger at my nose.

Like he was mocking some monster with a face full of tumors.

"You've been back exactly one day. Since when do you get a say?"

I frowned, my eyes cold.

"Since always," Raymond said with a little smile. "After all, I'm the man Clementine dotes on most."

"Right, Clementine?"

Clementine nodded at once, her eyes soft and indulgent. "There's not another rotten little brother in the world who looks out for me the way you do."

"If I don't spoil you, who would I spoil?"

She had ignored my hurt a moment ago.

Now she jumped to Raymond's defense without a second's hesitation.

Something in me went hollow and tired, body and soul.

"Am I not the one who looks out for you at every turn?"

"Ten years ago, when the Pruitts went bankrupt, I sold off the R&D patents in my hands to pay your debts."

"For ten years I've worked several jobs at once and lived on eight hundred a month, and I never once complained."

"Ten years later, the Pruitts are back on top, and you're the business queen everyone envies."

"So what gives Raymond the right, on his very first day back, to erase everything we are?"

There had been so many nights when Clementine and I finished working in the small hours and sat shoulder to shoulder, looking up at the stars.

She'd said, "Tim, to me you're the brightest star in the sky."

"I love only you. I spoil only you."

"Once the family's back on its feet, we'll get married and have children."

But now Clementine stared at me, lips slightly parted, like she wanted to say something.

Then, for a long time, nothing.

Beside her, Raymond curled his lip and said dismissively, "Clementine's brilliant and beautiful."

"Any man who got to be her boyfriend would give everything, heart and soul."

Just like that, Clementine smiled.

She clearly ate it right up.

"Clementine."

"I told you Tim Farley's face reads two-faced. Look at the way he just acted. He's shown his true colors."

"No telling how much poison he's got inside. Maybe he wants to bleed the Pruitts dry."

Raymond kept at it, working hard.

Furious, I grabbed him by the collar. "So who's really trying to bleed this family dry, me or you?"

Everyone knew Raymond was obsessed with his mystic nonsense and that every dime he spent came from the Pruitts.

"Enough!"

"Who gave you permission to treat Raymond like this?"

Clementine's hand came up and slapped me hard across the face.

The sting burned across my skin.

I froze.

Ten years together.

Even a stone would have warmed by now. But in that instant Clementine looked at me the way you'd look at an enemy.

"I… I was a little rash just now. I shouldn't have hit you. But you shouldn't have humiliated Raymond either. He's only afraid I'll suffer after the wedding."

Clementine softened her tone. "So let go."

I looked at the steadiness in her eyes.

I stayed quiet for a few seconds, then slowly loosened my grip.

I let go of Raymond.

And I let go of ten years of love.

"Tim."

"When a person reaches a certain position, there's a lot they have to weigh."

"Tonight you'll put together the South End project files for me, then take a year off. I've already found you the best plastic surgery team there is."

Clementine left those last few lines behind, then turned to Raymond. "Let's go."

"Clementine, actually Master says my face isn't so good either. Should I get surgery too? I'd hate to bring you down."

Raymond asked on purpose.

"It's fine, I'm not worried."

Clementine gave him an indulgent smile.

They walked off into the distance.

The crowd thinned out.

Leaving me standing there, alone.

"Do you know? Everything the Pruitts have today, it all came from this face of mine."

I brought up the facial recognition on my phone, and the screen automatically opened into a second system.

Right then Grant Dickerson, the partner firm on the South End project, called.

"Mr. Farley, we've put together a partnership proposal tailored for Pruitt Group. Take a look."

"Scrap it."