Selene Foxx is Back in Town

*Selene's POV*

The atmosphere of the Blossom Ball just as it had been advertised on the invitation—elite and extravagant.

This was one of those events that tend to redefine the meaning of wealth.It had a very strict standard for eligibility to buy the ticket,new money couldn't get you in,you couldn't have a scandal to your name and you had to have good ties with the Royal family.

I was everything they didn't want,and yet I got four VIP tickets,how hypocritical.

I tucked my head out the car’s window and took a big sniff of the flower scented air. This palace has been reported to have a century old garden with the rarest and most precious of flowers.

Of course, I thought it was all another assumption by the press since journalists were not allowed near the property, but the air itself was a testimony to this claim.

“Miss Fortlyn.”an usher greets me as the limo comes to a smooth halt.”Welcome to the Blossom Ball.”

“Foxx.”I corrected as he opened the car door. “It's Miss Foxx.”

“Of course.”He nods slowly,his big brown eyes watching me dreamily as he says my name.“Miss Selene Foxx.”

I smile satisfactorily, holding his gaze.“Good.”

He gawks at me for a second before quickly collecting himself and holding out his hand to help me out of the car.

He led me to the big redwood doors of the Castle.

A strange sense of nervousness hit me again.It arched through my veins like ice and froze me for a split second. Even as strange as it was,it felt all too familiar.

It was the same gutwrenching sensation of inferiority that I felt when he rejected me.

I took a steady breath and cursed my senses back into me.I wasn't Selene Fortlyn,I am the freaking Selene Foxx.

And that enough was motivation alone. In four years, I had built myself to be the most wanted and influential actress in the tabloids.

My heart easened up, and my pulse became steady.

With the subtle nod,the guards pulled the door open, and the grand bright light shone upon me.

I straightened my shoulders and walked into the lively room.

I received a series of double glances, and the ballroom became progressively quiet. Conversations halted mid-sentence, laughter died on open lips, and every pair of eyes turned towards me, and eventually, the only thing I could hear was my own footsteps. I felt the electric shock ripple through the room, almost as if I could touch it, taste it. It was delicious.

With deliberate steps, I began my descent. Each click of my heels echoed through the hushed ballroom, marking my return. My gaze swept over the crowd, catching the widened eyes, the parted lips, the disbelief etched on their faces.

God,this is addictive.

My eyes grazed the room for familiar faces to fuel me,but I found none.I couldn't find Yolanda,Noelle…or Ares.My smirk fades a bit,I had hoped they will be here.I sighed and tried to find my way to my seat.

“You look stunning.”Someone says breathlessly beside me.

I turn to him and smile at his nervous face.

“Would you dance with me?”He manages to ask.

“Aw,you are cute,”I say,fighting hard to keep my eyes from going back to looking for Ares.

Another man shows up at my left with a glass of wine. “I got you a drink,I thought you might be thirsty…would you do me the honour of dancing with me?”

I was just about to accept the glass when two more men appeared before me,flattering me with compliments and asking me for the same goddamn dance.

I lifted my eyes to the dancefloor and noticed several women with jaws dropped watching their dance partners come to me for a dance.

This wasn't planned,but it sure was going to be deviously fun to mess with snobs.

Pretty soon, the crowd of men circling me had grown to have over thirty members.All with the same question.

I raise my left hand as if to decide on who to pick,and their eyes light up with hope,their hands stretching further to me.

One of the men pushed the other as my hand approached theirs.

“I was here first.” The offended man grunts and retakes his stand firmly.

“You are aware I physically cannot dance with all you, are you not?.”

“Understandable.”a blonde agrees,gently taking my hand,and bowing to kiss it. “One dance will be enough.”

I give him a sly smile and pull my hand away from his grasp.

“Then,it's settled.Let me propose a little game”I say loudly. “I shall dance with only one man.But dont worry,you all have a chance.. I will dance with the man who brings me my favourite flower first.”

There was a pause, an insulting their eyes searched each other in avid confusion.

“What is your favourite flower?”the shortest of them asked.

I shrug as I worm my way out of them. “It's all part of the challenge.”

In the next minute,my darling contestants rush out the door in a frenzy,almost falling over one another as I fight the urge to burst up in laughter.

I went to the VIP section and found my eat beside Greta and sat myself beside her.

“Are you enjoying yourself ?”she asked as I crossed my legs.

“It will be a crime not to.”I whispered back.

Her eyes narrowed accusingly “This is why you asked me to take another car?You were late on purpose.”

“Late appearances are the best–”I paused to stop a man coming to me with a dozen freshly uprooted lilacs.

“Are these your favourite flowers?”He asked hopefully.

I pluck out a petal in disgust. “Lilacs? Really?”

His face saddens but soon lits up again . “There is still time.”

With that, he heads out the door,I notice a few other men were beginning to abandon their dates and join the hunt for my flower.

This obviously earns me a few new glares in which I relish.

“If eyes could kill.”I say,running my eyes around the room.

A guy returned with a big bouquet of tulips.

I scoffed and shook my head before he could even approach my table.

“At this rate,you are going to destroy the garden.”

I grab a champangne glass from a passing tray. “Exactly.Its like killing two birds with one stone.A destroyed garden and destroyed egos.”

And then suddenly,a man emerges from amoung the crowd with a large bouquet of blood red roses.

“Roses are cliché,not my favourite.”I drawl and roll my eyes as he keeps walking to me.

“I am not a part of the competition.”He says smoothly. His intruging voice danced in tunes.

“Then why the roses?”

“It was a gift I promised myself to give you if I met you.”He stretches the flower to me. “As an appreciation of your talent.”

How adorable,I thought as my eyes ran over his emarld green suit.There was not a wrinkle in sight.His eyes matched his clothes and his hair matched his brown leather shoes.He looked like he was from one of those families that thought poverty was a myth.

I accepted the roses and inhaled its scent.

“May I have this dance?"he asks.

I shoot him a look. “I thought this was just an appreciation of my talent.”

“It is…”he says nervously.Greta clears her throat behind me, and I gently kick her in the leg.

“Then why are you asking me to–”i catch one of the men bringing in hibiscus in one hand and white jades in the other and rolled my eyes. “Fine.”

I gave Greta my roses and followed the rich boy to the centre of the ballroom.

“You look even more beautiful in person.”he says with a bright smile. “The camera doesn't do you justice.”

“Oh sweetheart,”I say, leading his hand to my waist. “Let's just dance.”

“I have been a fan of yours since your first movie.”

I ignore him and lay my head on his chest.His heart was drumming heavily.

Damn,he must really be nervous.

“So,”I began as my fingers traced silver thread lines on his chest. “Roses boy,what's your name?”

“Dominic Torchelli.”He says into my ear.

The name sounds too familiar to ignore.I pull my head off his chest to stare at his face. Its only know I realized how handsome he looked,his rugged features paired nicely with his muscular build,however his eyes looked alert and professional.Like someone who worked with alot of papers.That was a lot of analyzing and yet I didn't recognise him.

“Who are you?”I ask.

“A business man.”he replies simply. “I own a chain of hotels.”

Then it hit me,I know knew why the name was too familiar. He was in the news a couple of days ago,announcing that his new hotel was named after me.

“You are the mad man who named his hotel after me?”

His brows raised in alarm. “Mad man? You dont like things named after you?”

I return my head on his shoulder before I speak. “No.Its obsessive.”

“Then what do you like,Selene?”He whispers to me.

I run my eyes over him and shrug. “That,Dominic,is for you to figure out.”

As the final notes of the waltz faded into the air, we paused in the centre of the floor, letting the silence stretch, savouring the tension that hung thick in the room.

Then something to called to me. The inaudible voice didn't gently nudge at me to answer,it was a forceful pull,urging me to listen to its demands.

My confused gaze flicked up to the voice, and that was when I saw him.His icy eyes had caught me…trapped me.

I tried to look away, but I really did.But something about the mere thought of looking the other way felt blasphemously wrong.

He stared down at me in disapproval,like I was an insolent child who had defied his rule,like he would punish me any second.And so he did.

“Arrest that man!”he says loudly.

My heart turned cold in my chest.

What man? Why?

I pulled away from Dominic's confused face as the guards approached him.

“What's going on?”I asked,surprisingly breathless. “What did you do?”

“I don't know ”Dominic replies,his gaze frantically darting around the room.”I didn't do anything.”

“Innocent people are not arrested”I say in annoyance.The media will make the worst assumptions about this for sure.

Dom glances at Ares and then at me.

“My only crime was dancing with you.”

I raised an eyebrow and mustered the courage to look back up at him.And again,his eyes still rested on me.It was heavy,intrusive, and blue.

His eyes were shamelessly glued on me as if the rumours weren't bad enough.

But I wasn't going to falter if he wanted to worsen our reputations so be it.I chinned up and narrowed my eyes.

This made him smirk.

A goddamn satisfactory Smirk.

It felt like an insult. Like this was all premeditated to get a reaction out of me.

But why?

Noelle had now perched herself dutifully beside him,clutching on his elbow with her white gloved hands.Her hair and dress white,she looked just like the magazine had portrayed her,the image of a perfect wife.

I felt a subtle sting in my chest, and I pulled my gaze back to Dominic being dragged outside.

This situation wasn't my problem,I didn't know Dominic,we merely danced. I should walk away,pretend it didn't even happen–but I couldn't,not know that it was obvious Ares was doing this to get at me.

My mind ran to Dom’s words.

‘My only crime was dancing with you.’

Hate wrapped around my lungs and squeezed it hard,I should walk away.

But then like a challenge to myself,I decided against it immediately.It was one thing to hate a man and another to let him push you around.If Ares wants to play this game,then we play we shall.