ANMELDEN“Why do you look at me like I already belong to you?”The question leaves my mouth sharper than I intend, but I do not take it back. I cannot. Not when Drake is standing in front of me like that, sleeves rolled, jaw tight, eyes locked on me as if the rest of the world has been deleted.His silence stretches, thick and suffocating.Then he steps closer.“Because you do.”My chest tightens.Arrogant. Possessive. Completely insane.And yet my pulse betrays me, racing harder the closer he gets.“Say that again,” I challenge, my voice lower now, quieter, more dangerous.His lips curve, not into a smile but something darker. Something that makes my stomach flip.“I do not repeat myself,” he says, voice steady, controlled. “You heard me.”I let out a breath I did not realize I was holding. My fingers curl against my palm, nails digging into skin just to ground myself.This is what he does.He pushes.He claims.He decides.But I am not the same girl he left behind.I step forward until there
“Try not to fall in love with them too quickly, Ms. Mendoza.”“I don’t fall in love easily anymore,” I replied, placing the velvet case gently on the glass display table. “But my designs? They demand it.”Camille’s lips curved, intrigued, not amused. That was a difference I had learned to recognize fast. Amusement meant dismissal. Intrigue meant possibility.The boutique was quiet, controlled, curated. Not intimidating like the last one. This space felt… observant. Like it was waiting to see if I deserved to exist inside it.My pulse still refused to calm down.This was it.My first real chance.Not a cold rejection. Not a polite brush off. Not a “come back when you’re someone.”This was a test.And I intended to pass it.“Open it,” Camille said, folding her arms.No wasted time.No small talk.Good.I inhaled once, steadying my hands, then flipped open the case.The room shifted.It always did.Even my team noticed it the first time. The moment my collection was revealed, something c
“Who the hell even is Mendoza?”I froze mid-step, my hand hovering over the boutique’s glass door, as the words echoed through the chic SoHo showroom. The voice belonged to a sharply dressed woman in her forties, a buyer whose reputation had built and broken careers in a single lunch meeting. She clicked her pen deliberately against her pristine notebook, the sound like a metronome counting down my professional death.I swallowed, forcing my expression into calm professionalism. “I’m Sabrina Mendoza,” I said, letting my voice steady itself even though my heart was hammering like a drum in my chest. “I represent my own line, Mendoza Luxe. I believe our pieces could complement your boutique perfectly.”Her laugh wasn’t just dismissive—it was the kind that carved spaces in your soul, that made you question your existence in front of her. “Complement?” she repeated, rolling the word as if it were sour on her tongue. “Sweetheart, you’re unknown. I don’t do unknowns. I do what sells. And I
“Do you trust me?”“I have to,” I whispered back. “Because if I don’t, this whole thing falls apart.”Aria stared at me across the cluttered worktable, gemstone tweezers frozen mid-air. Her eyes searched my face, not for doubt—but for fire.“Then stop holding back.”The words struck harder than she probably intended.I inhaled slowly, my fingers tightening around the charcoal pencil. The sketchpad beneath my hands was already crowded with half-formed ideas: sharp-edged necklaces, broken-chain bracelets, imperfect rings that looked like they had survived a war. But none of them were enough.None of them felt like me.Not yet.“Okay,” I said hoarsely. “Then I’m going to design something I’m scared to admit exists.”“Good,” Kai muttered from his station. “Fear makes better art.”Theo rolled his chair closer, eyes bright behind his glasses. “This is it. This is the collection that defines Mendoza Luxe.”The name still made my heart stutter.Mendoza Luxe.Mine.No longer Drake’s shadow. No
“You’re late.”“I know,” I said breathlessly, shoving the glass door open with my shoulder while juggling three boxes of materials. “But the supplier changed the drop-off time and—”“And you still look like you fought a dragon,” Lila finished, eyeing my smudged jeans and paint-streaked hands.“Details.”The small office smelled like fresh wood, metal dust, and ambition. Sunlight poured through the tall windows, illuminating half-built tables, scattered tools, and sketches taped messily across the walls. It wasn’t glamorous. It wasn’t polished. But it was alive.My dream had a heartbeat now.And today, I was about to bring in the people who would help keep it alive.Three chairs stood in front of my desk—mismatched, secondhand, slightly crooked. I’d spent hours arranging the space to look professional despite our limited budget. The chipped table now gleamed. The walls were freshly painted. Even the cheap coffee machine hummed optimistically.“You nervous?” Lila asked, leaning against
“So this is where I either rebuild my life… or lose myself completely.”The words slipped from my lips as I stood on the cracked pavement, staring at the row of aging buildings lining the street. My breath fogged the chilly morning air, heart thundering against my ribs. The city hummed around me—honking cars, distant sirens, the low buzz of people chasing their own dreams. But for a moment, everything narrowed to this single stretch of road.This single decision.Lila stood beside me, hands tucked into the pockets of her oversized coat, eyes scanning the neighborhood with mild suspicion. “You look like you’re about to either conquer the world or set it on fire.”“Maybe both,” I muttered.The buildings weren’t glamorous. No glass towers. No marble lobbies. Just brick walls, dusty windows, faded signs. But there was something raw and honest about this place—like it wasn’t pretending to be more than it was.And neither was I anymore.We walked slowly, s
“Cancel the buyback....now.”The words left my mouth like a gunshot, sharp enough to slice the room in half. Every executive at the long obsidian table froze. Screens along the wall flickered red—numbers bleeding, graphs collapsing in real time. Peterson Luxe, my empire, was finally showing visible
“Why does heartbreak always sound like a dare instead of an ending?”The words slipped from my lips before I could stop them, whispered into the stillness of my tiny apartment like a confession meant for the walls. The city outside hummed with distant traffic, but inside, everything felt suspended—
“I’m done being a victim!” I shouted, my voice echoing against the walls of my apartment, though there was no one to hear it but me.I slammed my laptop shut and paced the small living room, the heels of my feet clicking sharply against the hardwood. The numbers had been brutal today—stock ch
“Why is this happening to me?” I whispered into the dark, my voice barely louder than the hum of my laptop.I stared at the blinking cursor on the blank screen, but the words wouldn’t come. Not now. Not while my chest still ached from him...Drake. Drake Peterson. The man who had consumed







