Chapter 5

Serena's Pov 

"Last month?" The words tasted like ash in my mouth.

Nate's face stayed composed, but I felt his hand tense around mine. "Victoria is exaggerating. We haven't spoken in months."

"Liar," Victoria said sweetly, flipping her hair. "You called me, remember? Said you needed someone who understood your world. Not some… charity case."

People at nearby tables were staring. Phones were coming out. This was going to be all over the internet in minutes.

I stood up, pulling my hand free. "I need some air."

Nate rose too. "Serena, wait…"

"No." I looked at him, chest tight. "You said no secrets. You said this was just business. Was any of it true?"

Victoria smirked. "Oh honey. With Nate, it's never just business."

I turned and walked toward the back exit, ignoring the whispers. My cheap heels clicked against the fancy floor. I pushed through the door into a quiet alley, breathing hard.

Nate followed seconds later. "Serena, stop. Let me explain."

"Explain what?" I spun around. "That you were seeing her while my life was falling apart? That this whole thing is some twisted game to you?"

"It was one call." His voice dropped, controlled but strained. "One. She reached out first and I made the mistake of answering. That was the beginning and the end of it."

"You didn't think to mention that?" I pressed. "We have rules, Nate. You wrote them yourself. No outside interference. No hidden relationships. You handed me that paper and watched me sign it."

"She is not a relationship."

"Then what is she?"

He exhaled slowly. "A mistake I made before you walked into my office. Before any of this."

"That's not good enough." My voice cracked and I hated that it did. "I left everything familiar to do this. I smile at people I don't know. I wear clothes I didn't choose. I perform every single day and I do it because I believed you were doing the same. Equal footing. That was the deal."

Something shifted in his expression. Not guilt exactly. Something closer to regret. "You're right. I should have told you."

"Yes. You should have."

"I didn't because I knew how it would sound. And I didn't want you to look at me the way you're looking at me right now."

I shook my head. "Then you should have thought about that before you picked up the phone."

"Serena…"

"Don't." I held up a hand. "Don't say my name like that. Like it's supposed to calm me down."

"I'm not trying to calm you down. I'm trying to be honest with you right now."

"Now." I looked at him hard. "You want to be honest now. After she said it out loud in front of a room full of people who all have cameras."

He didn't flinch. "Yes. Now. Because you deserve it and I should have given it to you sooner."

"Why didn't you?"

He was quiet for a moment. "Because the moment you know something about me that makes you trust me less, I lose ground. I don't know how to get back. And I didn't want to lose ground with you."

That stopped me. I didn't know what to do with that kind of honesty so I just stood there holding it.

He stepped closer, the alley light casting shadows on his face. "I wasn't seeing her. One phone call months ago meant nothing. Victoria wants what she can't have. That's all."

"And what about what I can't have?" The words came out before I could stop them. "What about the part where I'm standing in an alley behind a restaurant that costs more than my monthly rent, trying to figure out if anything you've said to me has been honest?"

His jaw tightened. "Everything I've said to you has been honest."

"Except the part about Victoria."

"I didn't lie. I omitted."

"That's the same thing, Nate."

"It isn't."

"It is when the person omitting it knows exactly why they're doing it." I crossed my arms. "You knew how it would look. You said so yourself. So you made a choice to keep it from me and dressed it up as nothing worth mentioning."

He looked away for a second. When he looked back something in his face was different. Quieter. "You're right. I made a choice that protected me and left you exposed. That wasn't fair."

I laughed shakily. "And what do you want, Nate? The girl from the coast or the desperate one who needs your money?"

He looked at me for a long second, then said the words that stopped my heart.

"I want you, Serena. The real one. And if you walk away now, the debt stays. But I'll still clear it… because I owe you my life."

My breath hitched. "What did you just say?"

He reached for my hand again. "Stay. Please. We can make this real."

"Real." I repeated the word like I was testing its weight. "You want real. Nate, real means I get to be angry. Real means you don't hide things and then call them omissions. Real means I'm not just a role you needed filled before a deadline."

"I know what it means."

"Do you?" I searched his face. "Because from where I'm standing it looks like you want the feeling of something real without the inconvenience of actually being honest."

His hand tightened around mine. "Then let me be honest right now. In this alley. With her standing ten feet behind me and a photographer already here. I don't care about any of it. I care about whether you stay."

Behind him, Victoria stepped into the alley with a photographer in tow. "Smile for the breakup article, lovebirds."

Nate didn't look away from me. "Your choice, Serena. Right now."

I stared at him, heart pounding, and whispered, "You're asking me to trust you when everything in me says run. Why shouldn't I?”