Chapter 3 of Beneath The Midnight Mask

The sudden darkness swallowed the room.

Gasps filled the air. A few surprised laughs followed as guests realized it was part of the midnight tradition. Every year, when the clock struck twelve, the lights were turned off for a brief moment before the masks came off.

A symbolic reminder that everyone entered the gala as strangers. And everyone left knowing the truth.

But Ethan didn't think about the masks. He didn't think about the guests. He only thought about one person.

Guest Number 47.

The woman who had spent the last few hours making him forget he was supposed to be careful.

The woman who had listened to him without knowing his name. The woman who had looked at him without expecting anything from him.

His fingers closed around her hand. For one second, relief rushed through him. She was still there. He had found her.

“Don't disappear,” he whispered.

But something felt wrong. The hand in his was smaller. The fingers didn’t feel the same. Even the scent of her perfume was unfamiliar. Ethan’s smile slowly disappeared.

Then the lights flickered back on. And the woman standing before him wasn’t Guest Number 47.

She was a stranger wearing a different mask, staring at him with the same confusion in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, pulling her hand away. “I think you have the wrong person.”

Ethan stared at her, unable to answer.

For a moment, the entire ballroom seemed to freeze. The lights were too bright. The music was too loud. The laughter around him felt distant.

Everything had returned to normal. Except the one person he was looking for was gone.

Across the ballroom, Aria stood just outside the entrance, her heart racing. She didn’t look back.

Because if she did, she knew she would see Guest Number 18 again and she knew she wouldn’t be able to leave.

The darkness had given her the perfect escape.

A chance to disappear before the night became something more than it was supposed to be.

Because reality always found a way back. She was Aria Bennett. A woman about to start a new job. A woman who didn’t belong in a world of billionaires and secrets.

Guest Number 18 had been a beautiful mistake.

One night. Genuine conversations and a connection between two strangers who didn’t have to reveal the truth about themselves.

That was all it was. At least, that was what she needed to believe.

She slipped into the car Lila had arranged and closed the door. Only then did she let out the breath she’d been holding.

Her fingers brushed against her mask. She should take it off. But she didn’t. Somehow, removing it felt like saying goodbye. And she wasn’t ready for that yet.

Inside the ballroom, Ethan searched. At first, he stayed calm. Then the panic slowly crept in. His eyes moved from one silver mask to another, chasing every unfamiliar face.

Guest Number 47.

She had to still be here. She couldn’t have disappeared that easily. But every woman he approached was a stranger. Every laugh was the wrong one. Every voice belonged to someone else.

The gala continued around him, the music playing, the crowd smiling, as if nothing important had been lost. But Ethan knew something had changed.

A staff member stepped closer. “Sir, are you looking for someone?”

Ethan froze.

How could he explain? That he was searching for a woman whose name he didn’t know. A woman he had only met an hour ago. Yet somehow, losing her felt impossible to accept.

He glanced at the entrance one last time. “No,” he said quietly.

***

Aria Vale had imagined her first day at Ashford Global Holdings many times.

She imagined walking in confidently. She imagined proving that she deserved the position. She imagined impressing the man who ran one of the most powerful companies in the city.

What she did not imagine was spilling coffee on the CEO’s schedule before 9 a.m.

“Perfect,” she whispered to herself, staring at the brown stain spreading across the papers in her hands.

It was officially the worst first impression possible.

And it had to happen on her first day as Ethan Ashford’s executive assistant.

“Ms. Bennett?”

Her head snapped up.

A woman from the front desk was watching her with a sympathetic expression. “Mr. Ashford is waiting.”

Aria swallowed. Damn!

She gathered the damaged papers, fixed her blazer, and walked toward the corner office that everyone seemed afraid to enter.

The moment the doors opened, she understood why.

Ethan Ashford looked exactly like the rumors said.

Calm,serious, and impossible to read.

He didn’t look like the man who had laughed with a stranger at a masquerade ball. He looked like a man who had never laughed in his life.

“Your first assignment was to organize my morning schedule,” he said without looking up.

Aria froze. “Yes, Mr. Ashford.”

He finally glanced at her. “And yet my schedule is missing, my nine o’clock meeting has the wrong location, and my coffee is somehow on my documents.”

Her cheeks burned. “I can explain.”

“I hope so.”

The silence that followed was painful.

Aria took a breath. “I made a mistake. I’ll fix it.”

For a moment, Ethan studied her. Most people became nervous around him. They apologized before he even spoke.

But she didn’t. She looked embarrassed, frustrated, and determined. Still, she was a problem. And Ethan Ashford hated problems.

“Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

Aria nodded. “Understood.”

She turned to leave, but his voice stopped her.

“Ms. Bennett.”

She looked back.

“Your job is to make my life easier, not more complicated.”

The words stung more than she expected.

But she forced a polite smile. “Then I’ll do better.”

When she walked out of his office, she released the breath she had been holding.

Worst first day ever!

Inside the office, Ethan returned to his work. He had no idea the woman standing outside his door was the same person he had been searching for all morning.

And Aria had no idea the cold CEO she had just embarrassed was the same man who had made her forget the world for one night.

Two strangers. One unforgettable night. And now, they were about to become each other’s biggest problem.