All Chapters of A Million Dollar Secret : Chapter 11 - Chapter 13

The music hit like a riot in my chest, pulsing and relentless. A heavy rhythm of bass and light that made everything else blur into meaningless movement. The sound waves circulating in an endless loop transcended every being into realms they couldn’t recognise, making them lose touch with their senses.Inside Havana Lounge was alive, bodies packed tight, drenched in sweat and perfume. Neon-blue strobes carved through the smoke like starlight, flashing over laughing mouths and glassy eyes. It wasn’t a place for thought; it was a place for forgetting, and that was exactly why I was there.Javier slapped my back, his grin far too wide as he shouted something I couldn’t hear over the music. I didn’t bother asking him to repeat it. I just raised my glass and downed the rest of the tequila in one breath, it scorched my throa,t but the fire helped.Another round appeared within minutes, handed to me by pretty blonde in a silver dress, her fingers brushing mine longer than necessary, her soft

The next morning, I dressed carefully, soft cream blouse, tailored slacks, and my hair pinned back. I looked the part, even if I felt like a stranger inside the costume. Frey barely said two words as we stepped out together for a charity breakfast with the city’s elite. He smiled when the cameras appeared, gripped my waist like it was scripted, but the tension in his jaw gave away the lie.As we walked down the red carpet of the hotel lobby, reporters called our names, flashing bulbs catching the glitter of my earrings. One reporter shouted, “You look radiant, Catherine! What’s your favourite thing about Frey?”I glanced sideways at him. He didn’t return the look. His smile was already aimed at another camera. So I smiled too and answered, “He knows how to make silence feel comfortable.” But that was a lie.Later that afternoon, I sat alone in the dressing room, rehearsing my lines for the next media appearance at a dinner the next night, the biggest one yet, and I was going to be the