LOGINZIRA POVThe monitors beeped in a steady, mocking rhythm.I lay on the narrow hospital bed, the thin blanket pulled up to my chin, my curvy body still aching from the collapse that had taken me down three days earlier. My green eyes stared at the ceiling tiles, counting the holes like they could hold answers. Five years of running. Five years of hiding in the woods, then the motel, then this quiet hospital room where no one could reach me. And still, Tristan had found me.He had found me.The thought burned like acid in my chest. That cold smirk. The way he had looked at me like I was nothing but a broken toy he had finally discarded. “You’re nothing but a desperate, curvy slut who got wet for her own student.” The words echoed every time I closed my eyes. Every time I touched the faint scars on my thighs from the miscarriage that had taken our baby. The stress had been unbearable. The pressure of the scandal, of his betrayal, of watching him walk away with that smug look on his fa
ZIRA POVThe motel room felt smaller every hour.I hadn’t slept since Tristan left. Three days of pacing, of staring at the door, of jumping at every sound. My green eyes were bloodshot, my curvy body heavy with exhaustion and the ghost of the child I had lost five years ago. The miscarriage had taken more than a life — it had taken the last fragile piece of hope I had clung to after his betrayal.I couldn’t stay here. Not with him circling like a predator.I packed my few belongings in the middle of the night, hands shaking as I zipped the bag. The crescent moon scar on his neck haunted me. The wolf in the woods. The way his eyes had glowed with the same intelligence. It couldn’t be coincidence. Nothing in my life had been coincidence since the day I bumped into him.The drive back to the cabin was a blur of dark roads and racing thoughts. When I pulled up, the woods were silent. Too silent. I locked every window and door, then sat on the couch with a kitchen knife on my lap, staring
Zira POVThe small wooden cabin on the edge of the woods outside Hawthorne had become my prison and my sanctuary.Five years.Five long, brutal years since that day in the parking lot when Tristan shattered what was left of my heart. The stress had taken everything. The miscarriage in the hospital weeks later — our baby, lost before I even knew I was carrying — had broken the last piece of me. I moved out of my apartment the same week, sold everything, and disappeared into these woods. No social media. No contact with the old life. Just silence, therapy sessions, and the endless ache of betrayal.I was thirty-four now. The curvy body that once drew whispers was still full and soft, but it carried new scars — stretch marks from the pregnancy I lost, faint lines around my green eyes from too many sleepless nights. My long wavy black hair was usually tied back in a simple braid. I taught online literature courses under a different name. Quiet. Hidden. Surviving.Tonight the woods were
ZIRA POV The world went black after Tristan walked away.I don’t remember falling. One moment I was on the ground in the parking lot, the next I was floating in darkness. Voices blurred around me — nurses shouting, machines screaming, my father’s weak cry from somewhere far away. Then nothing.They told me later it was a stress-induced collapse. My body had simply given up after weeks of fighting. Heart palpitations, exhaustion, a minor stroke from the emotional trauma. I slipped into a coma for nine days.Nine days of silence.Nine days where the only sound was the steady beep of machines and the occasional whisper of visitors.On the tenth day, I woke up.My eyelids felt like lead. The hospital room was dim, the curtains drawn. My body ached everywhere. Tubes were in my arm, monitors attached to my chest. My father was asleep in the bed next to mine — they had moved him into the same room so I wouldn’t be alone when I woke.A shadow moved near the door.Tristan.He stepped into the
ZIRA POV The hospital corridor felt colder than usual that evening.I had just left my father’s room, his condition stable but fragile, when my phone buzzed with a message from Tristan.**Tristan:** Meet me in the parking lot. Now. We need to talk.My heart lifted despite everything. After the long days of fighting Marcus, the leaks, and the board, his presence had become my anchor. I walked quickly, my curvy figure moving with purpose in the simple black dress I wore. My long wavy black hair was loose, swaying with each step. The emerald ring from my father felt heavy on my finger — a symbol of strength.Tristan was waiting by his car, leaning against it with his arms crossed. The late afternoon light cast shadows across his sharp jaw and dark eyes. He looked... different. Colder.“Tristan,” I said, stepping closer, a small smile on my lips. “Is everything okay? The board—”He cut me off with a single, icy look.“Everything is perfect,” he said. His voice was flat. Mean. Completely
ZIRA POV The calm after the storm never lasted long.Three weeks later, the campus had mostly moved on. Whispers still followed me in the hallways, but the viral storm had died down to a manageable drizzle. My father was home, recovering slowly but steadily. Tristan’s scholarship was secure. My suspension had been lifted with a formal warning.We were supposed to be safe.But safety was an illusion.I was in my office grading papers when the knock came. Sharp. Confident. I knew it was him before he even entered.Tristan stepped inside, closing the door behind him with a soft click. He looked every bit the dangerous student who had upended my world — dark hair tousled, sharp jaw clenched, those intense eyes locked on me like I was prey.“Professor,” he said, voice low and rough. “We have a problem.”He dropped a folder on my desk. Photos. Screenshots. Messages.Marcus wasn’t finished. He had gone underground but was still feeding anonymous accounts new clips — edited, twisted versions







