Chapter 2

02

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on a vanity table in Viviene's private Malibu villa.

Under the halo of the ring lights, a dozen cameras were pointed at my face. The live comments were scrolling at lightning speed.

"Mrs. Sterling's face is a total wreck. If Vivi doesn't fix it now, it's over."

"Look at the knife in Vivi's hand! That's a top-tier surgical blade!"

"I bet fifty bucks she cries and runs away halfway through."

Viviene circled me in her four-inch heels, her nails grazing the scar on my cheek.

"Mrs. Sterling was a legend in the aesthetics world. Too bad a fire burned half your face off."

She suddenly held up the snake perfume. The black liquid inside was swirling violently.

"Do you know what this is? You threw it out like trash three years ago. Now, it's the treasure that can swap any face."

I remembered a rainy night three years ago. I had found a similar bottle near a dumpster at a flea market.

A young girl had clung to my leg, crying that it was a family heirloom. I had impatiently shoved a few hundred dollars at her and tossed the bottle away.

That girl was Viviene before she became famous.

"Start the procedure," I said, ripping the button off my collar to reveal a new birthmark on my collarbone.

It was in the exact same spot as the birthmark a fan had asked to remove yesterday.

Viviene splashed the perfume onto my face. As the cold liquid soaked into my skin, I heard a thousand tiny screams.

In the mirror, my skin began to peel away in real-time, revealing layers of strange features underneath.