The secret face
One night, I couldn’t sleep.
I stepped out onto the veranda of the big house to get some air. The moonlight poured over the garden below — and that’s when I saw him.
Don Armando was standing at the edge of the garden, removing something from around his neck.
I covered my mouth in shock.
The skin on Don Armando’s face… was slowly peeling off.
My heart pounded as I watched. Beneath the wrinkled, heavy skin was not the face of an old man — but that of a young man who was extremely handsome, muscular, and familiar from news and magazines.
“My God…” I whispered. “What is this?”
The man turned, startled, and quickly approached me.
“Ella, wait a minute. Don’t be afraid.”
“Who are you?!” I shouted, shaking in fear.
He hesitated, then slowly removed the rest of the mask.
And standing before me was Ethan Vergara — the real CEO of the company owned by Don Armando.
“I am Ethan,” he said softly. “I used the form of Don Armando because I wanted to know you — not as a rich man, but as a person.”

