I woke up with a sharp gasp, my chest rising and falling too fast to control. For a second, I couldn't tell if it was a trap in a nightmare or if I had finally escaped. My hand was shaking, gripping the bedsheet like it was the only thing keeping me grounded. The room was silent, but my heart was loud, pounding with a fear that refused to fade.
Taking a deep breath, I whispered to myself, Lily is okay… he's gone. Maybe the more I said it, the more I would start to believe it. My mind was a mess of fragments—shadows of the nightmare, flashes of him—but I had survived. I reached for my phone on the nightstand. 5 a.m. It had been a long time. I had woken up to the nightmare again, even though I thought it was gone. I muttered to myself as tears streamed down my face, I thought it was gone…
I walked to the bathroom, knowing I wouldn't be able to go back to bed. My body felt heavy, weighed down by the memory and the fear that lingered even in the daylight. My shift didn't start until 8 a.m.—I worked at a coffee shop. It wasn't bad, not terrible, but it wasn't what I wanted. It never felt like enough. Ever since graduating, I'd been looking for work, throwing my resume at every opportunity, every company in New York, and hoping for a miracle.
Welcome to New York. Where you need connections to get jobs in companies like ST Enterprise. I had applied to every position at that company and never received a single call back. Not one. ST Enterprise was everywhere—real estate, technology, fashion, you name it. And that was why Leo Blackwood was one of the richest men in New York.
Leo Blackwood wasn't just a billionaire. He was a force. A man whose name carried weight, whose presence demanded attention, whose very look could silence a room. Girls like me? We would die for him. So many actors, models, socialites… all had scandals with him. But one thing about Leo—he didn't sleep with the same woman twice. He was a player, and he didn't hide it. Many women had thought they could break his streak. Many had tried. And many had ended up heartbroken.
That's why I reminded myself, some crushes are better left far away. My luck with men had always been… questionable, at best. And maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with my looks. Or maybe it was the universe's way of keeping me in check.
Snapping back to reality, I picked a pair of jeans and a tank top and dressed quickly. My hands still trembled slightly, but I tried to focus on the small things—the morning light creeping through the blinds, the quiet hum of the city just beginning to stir. I decided to read my novel to pass the time, letting the words carry me away from my thoughts, if only for a little while.