LOGINHey babies... I'm sorry if this particular scene may seem stretched. I understand the feeling and even feel a little frustrated. I wanted to build up the tension for the meeting with Eric. However, we have a limited word count for each chapter, making me divide some chapters into two, thus prolonging them. Please bear with me for another chapter. Thanks and much love💜💜💜
Cassie didn’t think.She didn’t pause to analyze the scene any further, didn’t stop to steady her breathing, or remind herself to walk calmly like an adult who had everything under control.The moment her eyes landed on him... on Nikolai sitting on the floor in rolled-up sleeves, his expensive shirt wrinkled beyond recognition as Emily climbed over him like he was nothing more than a jungle gym, something inside Cassie cracked wide open.She rushed forward... Barefoot. Heart racing. Emotions were surging so fast that she didn’t even try to stop them.She dropped to her knees beside him and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, desperately, like she was afraid he might disappear if she loosened her grip even for a second.Nikolai stiffened in surprise.For half a heartbeat, his body went completely still, years of instinct reacting before thought, then he relaxed, a low chuckle rumbling from his chest as his arms came around her naturally, securely, pulling her closer.
Cassie slept through the morning like someone whose soul had finally been allowed to rest after standing guard for far too long.It wasn’t the shallow, restless kind of sleep she had grown used to over the past few days, where nightmares lurked just beneath the surface, ready to claw their way into consciousness the moment she let her guard down. This time, it was deep and heavy. Very comfortable and peaceful. The exhaustion from the day before had claimed her without mercy.When she finally stirred, it wasn’t because her body was ready to wake.It was because her phone wouldn’t stop buzzing.The sound was relentless, persistent vibrations against the nightstand, one after another, overlapping until it felt like the device itself was panicking.Cassie frowned in her sleep, turning her face into the pillow with a soft groan, blindly reaching out to silence it.But the buzzing didn’t stop.Her eyelids fluttered open slowly, her lashes still heavy from sleep, her vision blurred as she
"Choose!"They didn't hesitate. Security moved instantly.Hands clamped down on Rachael's arms, rough and unyielding as they dragged her out of the set."What are you doing?!" Rachael screamed, thrashing wildly. "Let go of me! I'm the lead actress! You can't touch me like this!"But they dragged her anyway across cables that snagged her heels. Past cameras that recorded every second.Through stunned crew members who stepped aside as if she were contagious.Rachael kicked, cursed, and even threatened lawsuits, blacklists, and ruined careers.But no one listened to her or feared her threat anymore. As far as they know, she was done for By the time they shoved her through the studio doors...Chaos exploded.OUTSIDE... THE CROWD THAT WAITEDThe noise hit Rachael first. Not gradually or from a distance.It slammed into her like a physical force.There were sounds so loud, so violent, that they rattled inside her skull and made her vision blur for a terrifying second.Screams!!!Shouts!!!
The silence after her manager walked away was not gentle in the slightest.It didn't linger politely. It didn't feel awkward or uncertain. It was hunting say the least. For the first time in her life, Rachael stood alone.Not the glamorous kind of alone she had always known, surrounded by assistants hovering just out of frame, managers waiting for commands, stylists watching her reflection with reverence.This was different. It was isolation.She continued to stand frozen beneath the studio lights, those massive white beams that had once made her glow now burning against her skin like interrogation lamps, their heat suddenly unbearable, oppressive, as if they were peeling layers off her one by one, exposing everything she had spent years hiding behind fame, makeup, and carefully rehearsed smiles. Her heart slammed violently against her ribs, each thud erratic and desperate, as though it were trying to escape her chest before reality could fully sink its teeth into her.Something was
While Rachael’s face burned across screens and timelines, while strangers dissected her body and her past with the merciless curiosity of carrion birds circling a fallen animal, something far more devastating was unfolding beyond the reach of trending hashtags, viral clips, and performative outrage. Because scandals humiliate. But money destroys. And that morning, quiet, deceptively ordinary, the very foundation beneath the Rachael family cracked open, not with an explosion, but with the slow, dreadful sound of something wrong finally giving way under its own rot. It began almost politely and slowly. Before dawn had fully surrendered to morning, before luxury kitchens filled with the smell of brewed coffee and floored offices echoed with the click of heels, financial journalists, those who lived and breathed numbers, margins, footnotes, and discrepancies most people never bothered to read, opened their inboxes to find something waiting for them. Anonymous emails. No dramatic su
The next morning, the country woke up screaming.Not metaphorically. Not dramatically. No, no... it was far from that. Heck! It was chaotic. It was in the most literal, undeniable way possible. It was more like in the way of screaming that clawed people out of sleep before their alarms could ring, that made hearts jolt violently in chests for reasons no one could immediately name, that froze hands mid-motion as if the air itself had suddenly turned solid.Coffee machines hissed and sputtered unattended as mugs sat abandoned on kitchen counters, steam curling upward only to dissipate into rooms where no one noticed anymore. Spoons hovered uselessly above bowls of untouched cereal, milk slowly soaking flakes that would never be eaten, because every single eye in the room was glued to a screen.Televisions blared at full volume.In modest apartments where families had gathered for breakfast, conversations died mid-sentence as anchors stared grimly into cameras, their voices stretched







