Chapter 1

Chapter One

Ciarán

“ M r. Kilory, sir. Your sister has arrived.” I sigh deeply, looking at my watch and noticing she’s early, but my fucking model is late.

“Thank you, Jeffery. Can you stick her in my office until I sort this mess out?” I wave over to the director, who is furious that production hasn’t started yet.

“But sir,” Jeffery tries to interject.

“My little sister can damn well wait until I am done working.” I snap as I see the door open out of the corner of my eye.

“Very well, sir.” Jeffery turns away as I stomp over to the redhead, entering the chaos as if she’s got all the time in the world.

She turns and looks around, and when her eyes meet mine, she has the fucking never-to smile.

“You’re fucking late!” I yell, making her face fall.

She starts to shake her head at me, but I continue to bark orders in hopes of getting us back on track.

“Get your ass in the chair so hair and makeup can get to work. You’ll only have twenty minutes for wardrobe at this point.” I grab her arm and lead her into the dressing room and storm out once the flurry of people I pay good money to get to work.

Now that the ball is rolling, I take a moment to stop in my office but find it empty. Frowning, I go in search of my assistant. I owe him a massive apology for losing my temper.

“Jeff,” I approach him from behind as he’s eating by the massive table set up for everyone to enjoy.

“Sir,” he chews and swallows hard, averting his eyes from me.

Shit.

I’m normally very even tempered at work. I’ve trained myself not to go off on my employees so I can’t blame Jeffrey for the way he’s looking at me.

“I’m extremely sorry for my reaction earlier.” He nods and wipes his mouth with a napkin.

“You were under pressure,” I groan at his response.

“NO, do not make excuses for me. I was a right arsehole. It’s ok to think it, and when the occasion calls for verbally.” My assistant smiles at me, and I know all is forgiven.

“My sister wasn’t in my office.” He frowns at me.

“She must have left, sir. She wasn’t happy when I told her you were too busy to meet her.” I rolled my eyes.

Typical.

I haven’t seen Jade in years, but she was never good at patience. I pat him on the shoulder and then go back to my seat next to the director to watch our new commercial come to life.

Our new ad campaign will launch tomorrow, and Kilroy Cosmetics’ new Autumn collection will hopefully be sold out by Monday evening when Da goes public with naming me the new CEO.

“QUIET ON SET!” The lights dim, and soft music fills the stage area where the models will pose to show off the products.

One by one, they all enter the stage and face the camera. I can’t help stifling a yawn as I watch one of the director’s shoulders at the tiny screen showing us what the finished product could look like. It’s incredible that it can be down in post-edits .

Then, the redhead enters the frame.

“Jesus,” The director whispers and I can’t help grinning.

Her gorgeous face lights up the frame, and her girl-next-door style shines through, making our cosmetics glow. She’s a complete natural with her sprinkle of freckles and lightly blushed cheeks. She represents our target audition, and I nod with a smile on my face at our casting director.

Odd.

He looks bewildered at the stage as he speaks to a young lady who angrily points around us. Probably a disgruntled model. I best let him do his job.

“CUT!” The director yells and looks over his shoulder at me.

“Well?” He grins at me.

“I seriously can’t image it getting better than that. Where the hell did you find that lass? She’s exquisite.” I jam my thumb over my shoulder at my best friend, who is still dealing with the angry model.

“Well, thank him with a fat bonus because he just made you millions.” I chuckle to myself.

“Thanks, but don’t let him hear you.” The director laughs as he walks away from me.

The models and I may be done, but he and his team still have hours of work to complete if they want to get the finished product to the studio on time.

“Ciarán,” the young woman storms off, yelling something about her agent contacting us, leaving my best friend frowning as he addresses me.

“What is going on?” He grabs my arm and drags me into a dark corner.

“Who was that girl?” He sounds stressed and agitated.

“I was coming to ask you the same question, Stewart.” He pulls at his hair and blows out a big breath.

“That was your star model. The lass that filmed for you was an imposter.” Rage fills my vision.

“That’s not possible,” I mutter as I turn for the dressing rooms.

“I’m telling you that the casting agency confirmed that our model was on route but late due to her driver being late. She got here as the commercial was being filmed, livid she was replaced.” I knock on the door and enter when invited, but it’s just my staff.

“Where’s the redhead?” I shout over the talking but everyone shrugs.

SHIT!

“Who the fuck was she?”