CHAPTER 3

I shut my hotelroom's door and locked it.

Then I locked it again.

My back pressed against the wood as I tried to catch my breath.

What the hell had just happened?

I could still feel Alexander's eyes on me.

Not the casual glance of a man meeting his fiancée's daughter.

It had been something else.

Recognition.

The moment he looked at my back, everything about him changed.

And then he'd said those words.

I thought I recognized something.

I looked down at my dress.

My birthmark.

My stomach twisted.

No.

It couldn't be.

There was no way.

Alexander Black had never seen my face.

He couldn't possibly know about my account.

I had been careful.

Painfully careful.

I had never shown my face.

Never used my real name.

Never mentioned my university.

Never revealed where I lived.

The account was supposed to be the one place where nobody could find me.

I pushed away from the door.

I needed money.

That was why I was doing this.

Not because I enjoyed living a double life.

Not because I wanted strangers watching me.

Because I needed to survive.

I crossed the room and switched on the small lamp beside my bed.

My laptop was already waiting.

So was my camera.

I stared at them.

For a few seconds, I considered not going live.

Then I remembered the tuition deadline.

The rent.

The balance in my bank account.

I sat down.

"Just do it."

I opened the account.

The notifications immediately flooded the screen.

Hundreds of messages.

My subscribers were waiting.

I forced myself to breathe.

Then I saw the username.

Anonymous.

My biggest supporter was online.

My stomach dropped.

Not now.

Please.

A message appeared.

I clicked it.

You disappeared quickly tonight.

I froze.

My fingers went cold.

I stared at the sentence.

He couldn't mean tonight's dinner.

He couldn't.

Maybe he'd simply noticed that I'd ended my previous live abruptly.

Yes.

That was it.

I was overthinking everything.

I leaned closer to the screen.

Another message appeared.

You looked nervous.

My heart stopped.

I didn't move.

Another message.

I could tell.

I pushed my chair backward.

The wheels scraped loudly against the floor.

"No."

My voice came out as a whisper.

I looked toward my bedroom door.

Locked.

I looked at the window.

Closed.

Nobody could be watching me.

Nobody.

I turned back to the screen.

The typing indicator appeared.

Someone was writing.

I held my breath.

The message arrived.

You should be more careful about what you wear.

I stared at it.

My hands began shaking.

My dress.

The dress from tonight.

The backless dress.

The one Alexander had stared at.

I stood so quickly that my chair tipped backward.

This wasn't about my account anymore.

Someone had seen me.

Someone from tonight.

Someone who knew.

My phone buzzed.

I jumped.

I grabbed it.

A message from my mother.

Alexander is still here. He wants to speak with you before he leaves.

I stared at the message.

My pulse hammered against my throat.

I typed a response.

Why?

The reply came almost immediately.

He said he forgot to ask you something.

I didn't answer.

Instead, I looked back at my laptop.

The anonymous account was still open.

Another message appeared.

Don't be afraid.

I swallowed.

Who are you?

I typed it before I could stop myself.

The typing indicator appeared.

Then disappeared.

Appeared again.

My heart pounded.

Finally, a response.

You really don't recognize me?

I stared at the screen.

I had no idea who this person was.

But suddenly, I remembered Alexander's expression.

The way his eyes had moved toward my back.

The way he'd asked if we'd met before.

The way he'd looked at me when I'd said no.

My stomach turned.

No.

It couldn't be him.

Alexander was downstairs.

My mother was downstairs.

And this man was supposedly anonymous.

But there was something else.

Something I hadn't considered.

The gifts.

The enormous donations.

The way he always appeared when I needed money.

The way he seemed to know when I was online.

The way he had never once asked for my face.

What if he hadn't needed it?

What if he already knew?

A knock sounded against my door.

I froze.

"Ava?"

Alexander.

I couldn't breathe.

I stared at the laptop.

Then at the door.

Another knock.

"Ava, are you awake?"

I couldn't answer.

His voice came again, quieter this time.

"I know you're in there."

My eyes moved to the screen.

The anonymous account had sent one final message.

Open the door.

My blood ran cold.

I stepped away from the laptop.

The knock came again.

"Ava."

I stared at the door.

And suddenly, the question wasn't whether Alexander knew my secret.

It was whether he'd come upstairs to confront me...

or to see if I would recognize him first.