Chapter 1

LIORA DEVEREUX POV

“Another!” I ordered drunkenly. The bartender stared at me with pity in his eyes.

“Miss, you are drunk. You have to stop…”

“I am not drunk!” I cried, slamming my chubby hands on the bar table. The bartender rolled his eyes and passed me the glass cup. I downed it as I wept bitterly.

I was here to congratulate my boyfriend of five years for winning the hockey game, his team's slot to the finals, and today was also our anniversary. Another chance of him getting drafted into the NHL.

But when the hotel door opened, my step-sister and my boyfriend were fucking. I could remember her smug face clearly.

She had pretended to be sorry. When I confronted my boyfriend, his words were: “I didn't love you. I never did, and you are too fat. I am only with you because of your dedication to me. I love Camille. I have wanted to tell you about us, but Camille is scared that you will be sad and mad at her. But it is good that you now know…”

His words cut me like a sharp knife into my heart. I looked towards my step-sister. She bowed her head as if she was remorseful. She had always wanted things that belonged to me… she made me feel small, and people would always say she was prettier, like a model, innocent.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. “How long?” I asked, my voice breaking.

Camille slowly looked up. I watched my boyfriend, Victor Kane, wrap his arm around her protectively.

“Sister, I am sorry. Don't blame Victor; it is all my fault. If only I wasn't pretty…” Camille said innocently.

“How long?!” I asked, my voice breaking. Camille stepped back as if scared. Victor pulled her behind him. She cried softly but not before giving me a smirk. She won.

She made my life hell. That wasn't enough; she had to steal my boyfriend, the only person I loved.

“Don't shout at Camille like that! You can put the blame on me. I love Camille. You should respect that,” he said coldly.

I stared at Victor dumbly. He said he loved her. How could he love her?

He had promised to love me entirely. He used to look at me with those loving eyes. Now, all I could see was disgust and anger in his eyes. From the corner of my eye, I watched as Camille wrapped her arms around his waist.

“You love me, Victor. If it's because of the dress or my body, I can change it. I was going to tell you that I paid for my gym membership… please don't leave me. I will do anything…” I said, reaching for his hand.

He pushed my hand away with disgust, rubbing the part my hand touched as if I was dirt.

He laughed. “You think I love you? Well, I don't. I was in love with Camille. I was only in a relationship with you because I wanted to get close to her… was it even a relationship? It wasn't! Because we were never real.

“That is why I can't tell the world about you. Have you seen you? My friends will mock me. You are too curvy in the right places, well, and fat. You are not like other ladies like Camille, slender, model-like, and elegant, and you wouldn't even let me touch you,” he snapped.

I stepped back. “I can do it. I will let you touch me. I can become a model, and I am not that fat. I am just curvy…” I tried explaining.

He scoffed. “Leave, Liora. I don't love you.”

“Victor…”

“Liora, don't cause a scene now. Leave. It is over between us, and you can never be like Camille. She is an angel.”

I looked at my sister and could tell she was trying so hard not to laugh.

I smiled bitterly. “I am not leaving until you tell me you love me, Victor. Camille doesn't love you. She is only with you because of me…” I tried to explain, but Victor had already pressed the distress button on the hotel bedside table.

Security rushed in. I watched as Camille gave me a wicked look before I was dragged out by the security men.

I laughed bitterly as I slammed the glass cup on the bar. “More,” I slurred.

The bartender shook his head and poured more whiskey into my glass.

As I downed the drink, someone sat beside me. I didn't turn. I just kept drinking. I reached for the whiskey bottle to pour myself more drink as tears rolled down my face.

A hand reached forward and stopped me. “Share your drink with me,” a deep, smooth male voice said to me.

I turned to look at the man beside me.

He was gorgeous. I mean, more than Victor on another level. His jaw was sharp, and when he fully turned to me, he was perfect. His cold green eyes scanned me, and a small smile appeared on his face.

“You are gorgeous,” I blurted out. My cheeks felt warm from the way he looked at me, like he wanted me.

“Thanks for the compliment, beautiful,” he said in a low voice.

I blushed, looking away as my heart slammed heavily against my rib cage.

I turned to the drink. I watched as he poured the whiskey gracefully into my cup and drank it. I watched in a trance. I had never checked out a man before, and this man looked oddly familiar, but I couldn't put a name to his face. Maybe because I was drunk.

“Are you an actor or model?” I asked drunkenly.

He looked at me. “Why do you ask?”

“Because you look like one, and you look familiar, but I can't tell. Or maybe you are an angel, or maybe I am imagining you. Why would a man like you want to talk to someone like me?” I said.

I didn't know when I started to cry.

“Hey.” He pinched my cheeks, and that sent a wave of calmness through my body. I felt safe with him.

“Ouch.”

He smiled. “You are cute, Liora.”

I frowned. “How do you know my name?”

“Like you said, I am an angel.”

“I am going crazy.”

“No, you aren't.”

I reached for the cup, ignoring him.

“Stop drinking. You are drunk already,” he said.

I looked up at him.

“I can't. I want to forget about him.”

“Who?”

“Victor.”

“He broke up with me, and Camille, that bitch, stole from me and had the guts to send a text…” I looked at the angel.

His face was expressionless.

I loved Victor, but I couldn't help but feel attracted to this man in front of me.

“Do I look attractive to you?” I asked him.

He didn't answer, just looked at me.

“Even the angel doesn't find me attractive.”

“They are right. I am fat, ugly, and no one wants me. Pathetic!” I said, almost slamming my head on the bar table.

The man held my head. I stared at him, crying.

He softly removed my hair from my face and kissed me.

I let him, leaning into him. I had never felt like this before, not even with Victor.

He cursed under his breath and pulled away. “Fuck.”

“Sorry,” he said.

I stared at him through my blurry eyes. My head, my mind was foggy. I pulled him back and kissed him, my hand tangled in his hair as he deepened the kiss.

“Oh God, Liora. You are going to make me lose myself,” the man said as our heads leaned against each other.

“Have sex with me, please.”

“Liora…”

“Please, you aren't real in any way. Or am I not attractive enough?” I asked him.

He stroked my hair.

“If you let me start, you can't back off later, Liora,” he said.

I nodded. I just wanted to be touched and loved.

“Use your words, sweet.”

“Yes.”

His eyes were filled with emotion I couldn't comprehend.

“Let's leave here.”