8

June had always known how to get what she wanted. She was patient, calculating, and ruthless when necessary. Her charm was her greatest weapon...sharp, seductive, and disarming. She had used it all her life to twist situations to her advantage.

But Alexander Reed...he wasn’t like the others.

He didn’t fall. He didn’t even sway.

It drove her insane.

In the days that followed her call with Deidre, June began to shadow him. At first, it was harmless. Distant. Curious. She sat across the street from his office building, coffee in hand, watching the way he moved...purposeful, focused, annoyingly unaffected. She found out what time he left for work, which café he stopped at for his black coffee, what gym he trained in every other evening. She made it a point to be there. Always there. Her outfits perfectly, her makeup just enough to highlight her features without looking too obvious. Subtle perfume. Soft smiles. Coincidental run-ins.

But Alexander never looked twice.

She might as well have been invisible.

One morning, outside the gym, where he always parked in the same spot, she decided to break the silence. It was early...barely past 6 a.m....but she had been waiting since before sunrise, sipping a lukewarm protein shake she didn’t need.

As he stepped out of his car, gym bag slung over his shoulder, she casually stepped into his path.

“Alex,” she said smoothly, as though surprised to see him. “We keep running into each other, don’t we?”

He stopped in his tracks, jaw clenching as his eyes flicked over her. Cold. Sharp.

“June,” he said flatly. “You’re following me.”

She laughed, a breathy sound laced with forced charm. “Don’t be dramatic.”

He didn’t even offer a smirk. “You don’t need to do this. Whatever you think we had...it was years ago. And it meant nothing to me then.”

For the briefest moment, her smile faltered. A flicker of wounded pride crept into her eyes. But she quickly recovered, cocking her head slightly. “Wow. Nothing?”

“Nothing,” he said, his voice like ice. “Actually, there was never anything to begin with. You were just my mother’s friend’s daughter. That’s all you ever were. That’s all you’ll ever be.”

He didn’t wait for her reply.

He walked past her without looking back, without even a pause.

-

-

-

That night, June stood in her bedroom, staring at the full-length mirror with blood in her eyes. She dragged a brush through her hair with too much force, tangling strands she’d spent hours straightening. Her face was flawless, as always, but her expression...tight-jawed, glassy-eyed...was anything but composed.

He had never looked at her like that before. So detached. So final. Like she was a stranger.

Like Ava had erased every piece of her from his memory.

And that made her see red.

Ava.

Perfect, sweet, boring Ava.

She was the obstacle. The wedge. The reason Alexander had changed. The reason he was now so damn unavailable.

June’s fingers curled tightly around her phone, her knuckles whitening.

“Time for Plan B,” she muttered under her breath, voice like poison.

She opened her message thread with Marcus.

The man she’d hired the same week she came back to town.

He was quiet. Shifty. Good with cameras. Better with silence. The kind of man who knew how to stay in shadows and disappear without a trace. He had been following her ever since the day she stepped into Alexander’s office. Documenting everything. Hiding in corners. Behind tinted café windows. Waiting for his moment.

She didn’t know how he’d managed to climb onto the rooftop of that café the day she kissed Alexander...maybe through a fire escape, maybe a bribe to the building’s janitor. She didn’t care.

He had gotten the shot.

It had been a cloudy afternoon, overcast skies casting soft shadows over everything. The light wasn’t perfect. But the timing was.

The moment was clear.

Her lips on Alexander’s.

What the photo didn’t show was what came immediately after...the way Alexander’s body went rigid, his hands rising to push her off, the disgust on his face as he moved back, eyes filled with confusion. The cold, final words he’d spoken.

But none of that mattered now.

The angle Marcus had captured was just right. Alexander’s face was close to hers. Her hand was on his cheek. It looked like passion. Intimate. Like they were lost in each other.

Exactly what she needed.

June scrolled through the folder Marcus had sent her. Five images in total. One of her entering Alexander’s office that first day, smiling at the receptionist. Two more of them at the café, laughing...well, she was laughing, his smile had been polite at best. And then the last one…

The kiss.

It was perfect.

Deceptive.

Cruel.

She didn’t hesitate.

She created a fake account on social media...something generic, with a blurry flower photo as the profile picture...and typed out the message, every word deliberate.

“You should see this. You deserve the truth.”

Attached were the images.

She hit send.

A soft whoosh. Done.

Then she set the phone down and leaned back against her pillows, heart pounding with twisted satisfaction.

Alexander belonged to her.

He just didn’t know it yet.

But Ava would.

Soon. Very soon.

And when the cracks started to form in their perfect little world, June would be right there, smiling sweetly, ready to pick up the pieces.