Sarah’s POV
I should’ve stayed home. That thought echoed in my mind like a desperate prayer as I stood in the middle of the chaos…music pounding, lights flashing, bodies pressed too close. I hated clubs. Always had. But tonight wasn’t about me. Tonight was about him. John Hills… my boyfriend, who is the birthday boy and the man I thought I’d spend forever with. I stood near the edge of the crowd, watching him laugh in the middle of his circle — all blinding white teeth and smooth charm, soaking in the attention like a god among worshippers. He looked happy. And for a brief second, that made the noise worth it. But only for a second, until something pulled at me like a chill beneath the heat. It was that gut feeling that something was off. Then, my eyes scanned the room and landed on her. Eloha. My stepsister and rival in silence. She stood stiffly in the corner, arms crossed, eyes narrowed into something darker than usual. She wasn’t glaring at John or even looking at me. She was just… watching, perhaps waiting. Then, our eyes met for a split second before she looked away, instantly, a knot formed in my stomach. I should’ve walked up to her. Asked what was wrong. But Eloha wasn’t the type to accept kindness. Especially not from me. Every time I tried, she recoiled like I was poison and tonight wouldn’t be different either, so I stayed where I was. “Let the birthday boy dance with his girlfriend!” someone shouted, dragging me back to the present as a spotlight swung toward us, which made my heart stuttered. With that, the crowd began to chant. “Dance! Dance! Dance!” I swallowed my nerves and forced a smile, walking into the circle. John pulled me into his arms with practiced ease, his hands warm and familiar. We swayed, people cheered, and for a moment I pretended the tension in my chest wasn’t real. “Happy birthday, John!” the crowd roared as the MC raised his mic, so I clapped and laughed along — until something cold crashed into my dress. A wine. it was red, sticky and all over me. “Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” the girl gasped. “I didn’t mean to…” I took one look at her panicked face and sighed. “It’s okay,” I said, forcing a calm reaction. “I’ll just clean up.” Soon, the club’s energy faded behind me as I pushed through the crowd, having my dress clung to my skin, I muttered under my breath, eyes darting around. “Where the hell was the restroom?” Then, blinding lights and screeching tires clouded my sight as a car swerved, missing me by inches. “Are you out of your mind?!” I screamed, my pulse racing like a war drum. As the door slammed open and a tall man stepped out — sharply dressed, radiating arrogance like it was stitched into his skin. His eyes were like oil slicks — dark, unreadable, and cold enough to make my breath hitch. “Who the fuck are you to yell at me like that?” he snapped. “Do you even know who I am?” I crossed my arms, trembling but defiant. “I don’t care if you’re the damn Pope. You almost hit me. Apologize like a decent human being.” His eyes narrowed and his jaw ticked as he replied. "You’ll regret those words." Hearing this, I scoffed nonchalantly, rolling my eyes over and snapped. “Crazy and mannerless people like you, are the reason I hate clubs.” And with that, I walked off, not waiting to hear another word from the entitled asshole. **** After what felt like forever, I finally found the restroom. So I cleaned myself up, but the run-in with that stranger lingered like smoke in my lungs. There was something about him — something that made my skin crawl and my heart stutter at the same time. Not long after, I made my way back just in time for the toast. John caught my eye and raised his glass. I smiled back, though my chest felt hollow. The bartender leaned over. “Drink for the toast?” I hesitated. Alcohol and I don’t mix. But one drink. What harm could it do? I said to myself as I accepted the drink from the bartender and glup it down my throat. Fifteen minutes later… My chest began to burn as my skin felt too tight. The room swam around me like a slow hurricane, at that point, I knew something was wrong. My mouth turned dry, my vision blurred and my legs… they barely obeyed me. I tried to move toward the restroom again — but stumbled. Then, a voice called. “Ma’am?” Looking up, I realized It was the bartender. “You don’t look well.” He said. “There’s a private restroom upstairs. Come, I’ll help you.” Though my instincts whispered no, but my body was shutting down. So I nodded. The guest room upstairs was cool, clean, and quiet. A bed sat in the center, too large for comfort. “Where… where’s the restroom?” I asked weakly. “There.” He gestured vaguely, and not long, I collapsed onto the bed, my body on fire, and my breath turned shallow. “I’m… so hot…” “I’ll get one of your friends to come take you home,” he said, and vanished. But I was too far gone to care. "I’m… so hot," I whispered yet again, but, this time, I began tugging at my dress. And then… I felt a hand caressing my thighs and a warm lips meeting mine as my dress began slipping off and the heat, pressure and weight was more than I could handle. I couldn’t stop it not even if I try to and processing it, felt like a hefty luggage as that immediate seconds turned into the most passionate moment of my life. However, somewhere in the room...unnoticed… a small red light blinked. It was recording. ***** The Next Morning BANG! BANG! BANG! The heavy knock jarred me awake, gasping. My limbs were tangled with someone else’s, so does my body ached. I looked down and froze. I was naked and next to me… him… The arrogant man from the parking lot. Immediately, my stomach dropped. “What are you doing here?” I rasped, but he didn’t answer. He just ran a hand through his hair and threw the blanket off, storming to the door. “Vincenzo!” someone shouted as it opened. “Bro, what the hell?! You’re just waking up after all that?!” Vincenzo. That was his name? He squinted, while rubbing his temples tiredly, and blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about, Jackson?" The other man — lean, sharp-eyed — waved a phone in his face. “You trended all night. A sex tape. Nude shots. It’s everywhere, man!” My blood turned to ice. “What?!” Vincenzo barked, grabbing the phone. “I tried to pull it down,” the guy said. “But it was already reposted across a hundred pages. It’s out there.” "Fuck!" Vincenzo cursed violently. No. No. No. I murmured to quietly as I sat frozen, cold and shaking as my soul left my body. “W-who was the girl?” I asked, as my voice trembled. Then, the man peeked into the room and locked eyes with me as he spoke in form of a question. “Oh... you’re the girl.” Swiftly, he returned his gaze to Vincenzo. “This is where it happened, isn’t it?” Hearing this, my heart collapsed in my chest as tears stung my eyes, because my life, as I knew it, was over. Almost immediately, a sound erupted from somewhere in the room, jolting me. A sound I knew all too well–my own ringtone. Scrambling toward the purse that lay on the ground due to last night's incidents, I took out my phone, my breath stuck in my throat once I saw the caller. That one name played across the screen as the phone continued to ring, making my stomach churn. It was none other than my father.Hello, my dearest readers. I trust you found the first chapter quite intriguing. However, diving more into the following chapters, you'd encounter more interesting characters, plot twists, and many more. So, buckle up and get ready for a ride that will leave you enchanted by love, loss and self-discovery. And I promise it would be worth your time. Can't wait for your supports, reactions because all of these keeps me going. Lots of love xoxo Note: Pardon any misspelt words, I will do my very best to make corrections.
Sarah's POV. I was too concerned about a lot of things not to bother about what I imagine was supposed to be right. It was almost like I was not concerned with major issues but the main reason was that I was only keeping my cool and waiting for all the best time to be able to strike or else I was going to become a laughing stock and that was not something in the works. I had to do something that I would not be ashamed of in the future no matter how long and hard it took for me to make that decision. It was almost like there were a whole lot of problems coming up and as soon as I saw Matteo descending from the car I knew that we were in for some trouble. He wasn't here simply because he wanted to play with us. He was here to cause destruction and guess who was not going to give him that opportunity? Me of course. I had already focused my attention on what I wanted to get and even if I was not going to completely get it I knew that there was a way for me to maneuver things to be
Vincenzo's POV.I was waiting patiently just so that I would be able to get a glimpse of what I needed to achieve and until that was done I would not be able to really figure out how she was going to get out of that place without getting herself into trouble.Some people might say that she was a big girl and that she could handle it but I didn't think that she was in the right place of mind to be able to deal with all the excesses that came with that bastard.He wasn't as naive as everybody wanted to paint him as and I knew that even if he wasn't physically present he was pulling the strings behind the scenes just to make sure that he had his hands on her and that information didn't get leaked.It was one thing to be declared wanted, it was another for substantial evidence to be found about you and published to the entire world period. One could be classified as a major here, while the other was a nail to the coffin.I didn't know what he intended but I knew that he was ready for what
Sarah's POV.I took a huge risk trying to settle scores but at the same time I was hoping that I didn't burn myself in the process or do anything that was going to harm me because it was getting more clear that there were a lot of things that needed to be put into perspective such as Matteo found.It wasn't because I couldn't put my energy into something more important but because I had already found that there was going to be a little bit of problems here India that was not going to be isolated when the time was right but at some points someone was going to figure out that there was a huge disaster coming up.It was all a matter of time before somebody knew that this was all a problem that needed to be fixed before it was too late and then we would have to stop running and looking over our shoulders again trying to figure out what could be done to make things easier.I didn't think that the person who I thought I was committed to was thinking about it in such a light because if he ha
Vincenzo's POV.I took a brief walk towards the entry points where I had already heard that a lot of people werea going to be gathered because if I was going to be stopping all the issues from happening I need to be on top of the game.Nobody was going to be allowed to get in and out except they have been able to prove that they were worthy enough.I didn't think that I had the audacity to start making demands but I knew that from my little experience I could twist things around and make it work in my favor.If I was able to do that then the rest of the things were going to be easy for me to handle but in the long run the only thing that I needed to do right now was to focus my attention on what I believed was true.It was not going to be easy, especially with all the issues that have been happening here and there but I knew that I was going to find a way to do it and make it work.The next thing that I also wanted to do was to make sure that there was no mistake coming from any angle
Sarah's POV. Nobody knew what I was passing through besides the fact that they were only trying to hack in on what I believed was true and honestly speaking I was only taking the pains out on people that had not even offended Juliana had been blowing up my phone trying to reach out to me but I purposely ignored her because I didn't want anything that was going to start up a conversation that I couldn't maintain The only thing I wanted to see right now was making sure that there was never going to be anything that would hinder what I had already been able to plan. Some people might have been thinking that I just didn't want to associate with anybody but that was not the case around here because I had figured out about a few people did not love me so it was time for me to finally take my revenge and do it in such a way that nobody will be able to point fingers at me. I had also gotten to a point where I no longer wanted to hear anything anybody else was starting about instead I wil
Sarah's POV. I kind of knew that vincenzo was having a lot of difficulty having to finally agree with the fact that things were not going to be as easy as he wanted it. In times like this we had to be pretty careful about the kind of decision that we made simply because we wanted a certain way of life because it would end up backfiring if our opening to realize that I was not true to him in any way. I stopped in my tracks as soon as I walked towards the place where I already believed that everyone should have a basic knowledge of what was going on.Matteo had been kicking someone in the ass and I just didn't understand why he was so particular about doing something that was going to cost him a lot If he wasn't careful enough it could be traced to him. "Who tampered with the footage?!" If anyone had any sense they would have confessed but here I was watching from behind and not saying anything. This was the best time to deal with him without him knowing it "I don't think you sho