CHAPTER 5: THE MORNING AFTER

Halle’s POV

The morning didn’t wait for clarity.

It exploded.

My phone vibrated against the nightstand before I even opened my eyes. Notifications stacked over each other. Missed calls from unknown numbers. There were photos and videos of the wedding everywhere online.

“POWER OUTAGE AT BILLIONAIRE WEDDING, SECURITY BREACH?”

“WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN SEEN WITH ADRIAN VALE?”

Like the day couldn’t get any worse.

My breath caught seeing there were also photos of Adrian and I. Pictures of us dancing, captured from the side. I scrolled through the photos again, my heart hammering.

We looked so intimate it terrified me…like a dream couple on the edge of something too real, and consuming. My stomach twisted, as if the camera had caught something I wasn’t ready to admit.

Damn it.

How had this leaked so fast?

The wedding was private, guarded. But nothing stayed hidden when billionaires were involved.

I wasn’t sure how I felt at the moment, but I knew the last thing I wanted was a bunch of paparazzi crowding my space.

My phone wouldn’t stop vibrating. Rena called first.

“Are you okay?” She sounded worried, her voice laced with exhaustion from the honeymoon haze.

“Yes. Are you?” My voice was lower than I wanted it.

She exhaled.

“Larry is furious. At whoever tried to turn our wedding into a statement,”

Statement.

That word again.

I would be pissed too if I were him. It was as though someone had ripped the veil off the most sacred day of their life and turned it into cheap entertainment for strangers.

“What’s going on between you and Adrian? Both of you were all over each other last night. Spill girl,” She asked, suddenly excited.

“Nothing is going on,” Heat flooded my cheeks as I remembered the little moment with Adrian last night.

“Lies. You couldn’t keep your hands off each other,” She pushed.

“ We are in the middle of a major crisis, Rena. Forget about my love life for now,” I sounded defensive.

“..Besides, you should be focusing on your honeymoon. You need to rest,” I said excitedly.

“Yeah. You’re right,” She agreed, sounding tired.

“I’m sorry if all of this ruins your time away,” I said, guilt creeping in.

“No, Halle. It’s okay. Just stay safe. Call if you need anything,”

We hung up, but the unease lingered.

My phone buzzed again. I checked and saw a text from an unknown number.

‘Nice dance. You don’t want to die, right? We wouldn’t want that now, would we?’

My blood ran cold.

My hands shook as I deleted it, my heart hammering against my chest.

I flinched when a knock sounded at my hotel door. Fear getting the best of me as I wasn’t expecting anyone.

I opened the door slowly, there was no one. I looked left and right, then I saw a white box on the floor, just right below me. I hesitated before picking it up slowly, there was no name. Nothing written outside. I took it in and locked the door.

I opened it and inside, a single arrangement of white dandelions stained with blood. Someone’s blood.

On seeing it, I yelled, jumin fear with my hand clutched to my chest as I shifted away.

What is all this? Who did I offend?

I was almost in tears when I spotted a card in the box and carefully took it as though it was a bomb I was trying to defuse. My hands trembled, every movement slow and deliberate so it wouldn’t explode in my face.

“You shouldn’t have come back,”

My heart pounded against my chest.

What the—