Third Person POVThe black Escalade pulled up just past the crew’s holding trailers, its polished surface catching the late afternoon sun like a blade. The door flung open before the driver could reach it.Annatoria stepped out in six-inch red stilettos and a custom Chanel jumpsuit, white silk clinging to her surgically perfect curves like it had been hand-stitched onto her in hell. Her platinum hair was pinned up with cruel elegance, and her diamond earrings caught the light with every breath she took.She let out an exaggerated groan as her feet hit the pavement. “I swear, if I ever have to take another bumpy flight with that many civilians, I’m going to burn down an airport.”Her assistant, Cassara, stepped out behind her—dressed more conservatively, trailing her like a shadow with soft brown curls and a clipboard tucked under one arm.Annatoria fanned her face, eyes scanning the lot. “Ugh. Where’s my iced water? Did nobody hear me say cold? This heat is going to ruin my hair.”Cas
Leo The second Adrian Hawthorne walks off set, I breathe easier—but only for a moment. I can still feel the heat of his glare on the back of my neck, like a brand. He thinks he’s a lion, but he’s just an aging beast that stayed too long in a jungle that no longer answers to him. What’s he going to do—glare me into submission? I’ve lived under far worse men than Adrian Hawthorne. I’ve served them. Lied for them. Killed the boy I used to be to survive them. But none of them had Sienna. And none of them mattered. I return to the set as if nothing happened, wiping sweat from my brow and taking another bottle of water from one of the interns. She offers a polite, nervous smile. I don’t return it. My eyes are too busy tracking Sienna. God, she moves like silk — every motion precise, effortless, like a woman born to be watched. She doesn’t just act. She devours the role. She doesn’t just cry on cue — she weeps in a way that makes everyone watching remember every heartbreak they’ve eve
Adrian’s POV He slammed the door behind him—not with anger, but exhaustion. Sienna’s scent still lingered on his clothes, subtle and intoxicating, even though she’d pushed him away like he was a sickness. Maybe he was. Maybe he’d become one long before he knew what it meant to lose everything. Adrian rested his back against the cold surface of the presidential suite door, eyes sweeping across the sprawling luxury of the room. Cream-colored walls, a chandelier that whispered opulence, windows draped in golden sheers that framed the city skyline like a painting. He hadn’t been staying here before—his original hotel was within town. This was not a five star hotel but it was closer to the crew and cast. So he had Voss change it. He needed proximity. He needed control. He needed Sienna. He walked into the suite like a ghost in his own life, each step echoing the hollowness inside him. The pristine perfection of the space mocked his chaos. He poured himself a glass of scotch but did
I turn the door handle; I don’t hear Adrian leave. A single click, then nothing. Silence so thick it smothers.I let the door slam shut. Heat rushes as it’s walled in behind me. My chest heaves. The aftertaste of adrenaline still burns—electric and nauseating. Seconds whistle in cacophony.I lean against the door, heart clattering against fragile ribs. My back presses against polished wood; the door frame trembles beneath me. Slowly, I slide to the floor, gathering myself with damp palms pressed to thigh. The gown drags across the marble, heavy with wine.I take off the dress Layla had gotten me after Kylie had messed up the previous one with wine. Once I pull it free, each inch feels like tearing off skin.I pad toward the bathroom mirror—bare, shivering. Breathe rhythmic and fractured. My image greets me: sleepless eyes rimmed in mascara. Lips parted but quivering. There’s no actor hiding behind this face.Who am I pretending to be?My fingers curl around the bedside phone. Layla’s
The room smells like too many perfumes and expensive disappointment.I barely register the way the wine soaks into my dress—sticky, crimson, clinging like shame to silk—because I’m still tasting the aftershock of what the waitress just whispered to me. My hand reacts before my mind can catch up.“Maybe your kids are lucky you’re never around. At least they won’t grow up as messed up as you.”She says it softly, almost like a secret meant only for me, but it slices clean through the noise. The words settle just deep enough to bleed.And I slap her. Hard. The kind of slap that echoes in memory long after it fades in sound.I don’t care to know who she is, or why she said what she did, or how she even knew I had children. My body simply moves. Because those words… no one has the right to wield them. Not even me.No threats. No words. I walk away.But the room falls into that dangerous kind of silence—the kind that holds its breath, waiting to devour the next sentence, the next movement,
The silence wraps around the room like barbed wire.The server stands just inside the threshold, trembling like a leaf caught in a storm. Her apron is creased, her nametag slightly crooked, but it’s her eyes that catch me—wide, wet, full of something that feels rehearsed.“She bumped into me,” she says softly, voice cracking. “With her friend. I spilled some wine. It was—God—it was an accident. I told her that. I said sorry. Over and over. I said I’d pay for the dry cleaning if she wanted…”Her gaze flickers toward me, fearful. Calculated.“She slapped me. Across the face.”Gasps ripple down the table like falling dominoes.“I didn’t even know what to do,” the girl continues. “She said I’d lose my job. That she’d make one call and have me gone before dessert.”I blink, once.It’s too quiet now. Like the room is holding its breath and waiting for me to confess something vile.Layla’s voice cuts through the tension, sharp and certain. “That didn’t happen.”But the girl doesn’t flinch.“