Chapter 1

Lana’s POV

The video had been playing for hours. I couldn’t stop it, and Blue didn’t try anymore. She just sat beside me in the booth, her drink untouched, scrolling through comments with her jaw clenched.

“Turn it off, L,” she said for the fifth time, softer now. “You’re torturing yourself.”

I didn’t answer.

Everything still felt unreal to me. When? How? Why?

I felt my hand burning like the phone was about to melt into my hands but I didn't care. I kept holding it still, fixing my already swollen eyes on the movement of both bodies moving in one rhythm as he kept thrusting and thrusting.

And yes

It was me.

And it was him. My boyfriend.

Something that was supposed to be private. Intimate. Something no one was ever supposed to see only him.

Now, it was everywhere.

I watched myself over and over on the phone like I was staring at a stranger with my breath trembling midway while he thrusted, and every little moan I gave out showed I was enjoying it. I didn't know how I was able to trust his words and agree to be videoed while we had sex. Now every second of it was being devoured by millions of eyes online.

My chest tightened until it hurt like hell.

Blue sighed, and grabbed the phone from my hand, and flipped it face-down. “Enough.”

But how could it be.

Tell me? How could it be enough.

I had called him….what, twenty times now? Maybe thirty? The number was unreachable. Not blocked. Not off. Just unreachable.

I didn't mind handling the shame from the internet but the silence from him was louder than the entire world laughing at me.

I took another sip from the shot glass. The liquid burned its way down, but it didn’t numb anything.

The bar was almost empty now.

It was the kind of place where the air smells of whiskey, cheap perfume, and exhaustion with the low hum of conversations and the clinking glasses of people escaping their own disasters in liquid form.

At least I found a place I could fit right in.

We’d been here since sunset. The noise of glasses and low music covered the whispers that had started following me everywhere.

I kept my head down.

Just last week, I was celebrating the biggest deal of my life: a modeling contract that would have paid more money than I’d ever seen. Now I was bankrupt in every sense of the word.

When the company called this morning, they didn’t even sound angry. They sounded bored. Like they were used to this and simply went straight to “We’ll have to terminate, Miss Hale. You’ve breached morality clauses. Expect legal contact regarding the three million in damages.”

Three mill… Three million what?

I laughed when I first heard the number. I didn’t know if it was out of shock or madness or maybe both.

Now look at me sitting here in this dim bar, staring into my glass like it had answers.

Blue tried to distract me. “You know what helps disasters like this?” she said. “Expensive cocktails. And trash-talking men.”

I almost smiled. Almost.

Then she stopped mid-sentence, eyes narrowing toward the far end of the room.

“Okay, wait. Don’t look yet,” she whispered, leaning closer. “But someone is definitely staring at you. And, girl he doesn't look like he's from around here.”

I froze. “Blue, please….”

“I’m not joking I swear.” Her tone shifted from teasing to intrigued. “He’s… wow. Gosh… he's a danger in that suit.”

You know that feeling when someone’s watching you? The kind of awareness that prickles at the back of your neck, that makes your spine straighten even when your brain says, Don’t turn around.

I felt that.

At first, I ignored it, assuming it was just another drunk gaze from some stranger. But it didn’t fade. Instead It deepened, heavy and certain.

The hair on my arms rose.

Curiosity betrayed me.

I had to turn… just slightly enough to take a peek at whoever it was.

He sat alone in a corner booth where the light barely reached. His posture was composed, one arm stretched along the backrest, the other resting loosely on a glass he hadn’t touched. The black shirt he wore was open at the throat, the faint V of his chest visible beneath the dim glow. I must say he had one hell of a build. No tie, just controlled confidence.

His hair, dark and neatly brushed back, caught a thin line of light from the bar’s neon sign. From here I could see the sharp edge of his jaw, the kind sculptors try to imitate and fail, but couldn't get the chance to see his face.

He was freaking hot. So sad my life was falling apart at this time.

“See what I mean?” Blue murmured. “That is not bar candy. That’s what’s the word…..danger money.”

I tried to laugh, but my stomach tightened instead.

The man didn’t look away when our eyes met again. He didn’t even pretend to. His gaze held mine as if he’d been waiting for me to notice.

Blue nudged my elbow. “Who looks at someone like that? He hasn’t blinked in a full minute. Maybe he recognizes you?”

“Great,” I muttered. “Another spectator.”

“Hmm-mm. I don't think that's a spectator’s stare. That’s a predator’s focus.”

Her words sent a chill down my spine. I looked away, pretending to study the ring of condensation on my glass. But the pull was there: the strange, electric awareness of being watched.

Minutes passed. My phone buzzed again. More comments. Hundreds of them.

Slut…

I know she wanted it.

Look how she pretends to cry now.

Guess fame has a price…

My thumb hovered over the notifications, then fell away. I didn’t have the strength to defend myself anymore.

Blue cursed under her breath and shut it off completely.

“Forget them,” she said. “You’re not what they say.”

I nodded, though it felt hollow.

I swallowed another shot. Then another.

The world blurred slightly at the edges.

But then… something shifted.

The liquor was catching up; everything had turned blur at the edges. My thoughts had finally began to blur into one long ache. Ethan’s betrayal, the contract I’d lost, the number three million echoing like a curse.

When I reached for my next shot, my hand shook.

Blue caught my wrist. “That’s enough, L."

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.”

I downed it anyway. The burn was the only thing that still felt real.

I pulled my jacket tighter and rubbed my temples.

My mind was spinning at once in too many directions again.

Anger, shame, fear all mixed until I couldn’t tell one from the other.

“Lena, are you good?” I heard blue ask me softly.

I nodded without looking up. And just replied with a “Yeah”. Just a “yeah.” because my throat was too tight to form any word.

But I wasn’t.

How could I be good?

I was falling apart quietly, the way people do when no one’s watching except this time someone was.

I glanced back again.

And he was still there.

Same seat. Same stillness. The only thing that changed was his posture. He leaned forward just slightly, enough for the dim light to slide over the sharp line of his jaw. My breath hitched.

He was older. That much I could tell. Mid-forties maybe.

There was something… controlled about him. The kind of calm that came from power, not peace.

And he was staring straight at me.

Did he recognize me from the video? From the news? Was this pity… or something else?

My phone buzzed again. An email this time.

Subject: Termination Notice To Miss Lana Hale.

I closed it without reading. I didn’t need more reminders.

I just wanted to disappear.

But instead, I sat there drinking to stupor, humiliated, broke, and now trapped under the weight of a stranger’s gaze I couldn’t escape.

I shouldn’t have come here.

Maybe that’s when I tried to finally stand up.

The floor seemed to tilt slightly beneath me. I blinked, trying to steady my vision. The last thing I saw before the room began to sway was the faint glint of his diamonds at his wrist.

Blue’s voice became distant. “Lana….? Hey…hey!”

I tried to stand, to tell her I just needed air, but the lights smeared into streaks. The noise folded in on itself. The last clear image burned into my mind was that man rising from his seat with deliberate calm.

Then everything tipped forward.

Only the floor never came.

Strong arms caught me mid-fall, halting the world in one breath. The scent that filled the space between us was clean and expensive smoke and something darker underneath.

“Careful,” a deep voice murmured near my ear, smooth and steady.

Blue’s voice came from somewhere behind, alarmed: “Hey! She’s….”

“I’ve got her,” he said, quiet authority wrapping around the words. And before I could speak, before my fogged mind could question, he lifted me easily, steady against his chest. As I felt his motion in his steps sure and unhurried..