Desperation

Elena had once believed that silence could mean safety. That a gentle hand and a warm cup of tea placed quietly on her desk every morning could be a form of love. Lucien was never cruel—not in the obvious ways. He remembered how she liked her eggs, noticed when she swapped her perfume, and sent flowers on days he knew she wouldn’t expect them. He raised her like one would raise a pet—softly, without question. And Elena, foolish in the way only the very lonely can be, mistook his quiet affection for devotion. She told herself he was reserved. Mysterious. That love didn’t always wear its heart on its sleeve. But when the old flame returned—the one who spoke his language without needing to try—Elena saw it. The difference. He looked at her like a man who had found his lost religion. And Elena? She had simply been convenient. No tears, no scene. Just papers on the breakfast table, beside the eggs he cooked perfectly. She didn’t accuse or beg. She only asked for freedom. He didn’t sign. He chuckled. A soft, dismissive sound. “A cat raised indoors doesn’t know how to survive on the street, Elena. You’ll come back." But she didn’t. She disappeared, like smoke—except she didn’t vanish, not really. She lived. She wore colour again. Laughed at bad jokes. Let strange men hand her coffee and ask for her number. Lucien? He watched. He watched her become someone without him. And it drove him mad. The night he cornered her outside the gallery, rain in his hair and desperation in his eyes, he looked like a man undone. "Elena," he breathed, "please. Look at me. Just once." She did. Calm as ever, and her love already gone.

Serena Alcaraz lives a life of survival working as a waitress, struggling to pay bills, and taking care of her sick mother. She has no time for love, especially not for arrogant, rich men who think the world revolves around them. Enter Damian Cruz, the cold and ruthless billionaire feared in the business world. To stop his family from pressuring him into marriage, he needs a woman who won’t fall for him, someone he can control. When his path crosses with Serena, he sees the perfect candidate. Damian offers her a deal, pretend to be his girlfriend, live in his luxurious world, and in return, he’ll give her enough money to save her mother. Serena knows it’s dangerous to get involved with a man like him, but desperation leaves her no choice. What begins as a cold arrangement slowly turns into something neither of them expected. The poor waitress who wanted nothing from him suddenly becomes the only woman Damian can’t let go of. But in a world full of power, lies, and family expectations, will their fake relationship survive when real feelings start to blur the line between love and the deal?