LOGINDrentI sat in my car for a full minute after hanging up, trying to make sense of what Renata had just told me. Payton, at Diana's house. Payton, playing nanny to Renata's mother, of all people. It made no sense. She was supposed to be my father's new assistant, tied up with his schedule, his meetings, his endless business affairs. So how the hell had she ended up at Renata's mother's front door?My phone buzzed before I could think any further. Javier."Talk to me," I said, answering immediately."You sound like you're about to lose it," Javier said. "What's going on?"I told him everything. The call from Renata, the news about Payton showing up at her mother's house, the unsettled feeling twisting in my gut that told me this wasn't some harmless coincidence. "I don't like it, Javier. I don't like leaving Renata alone with her, not after everything Payton's already done.""You think she's up to something?""I know she is," I said. "I just don't know what yet.""Then stop guessing and
RenataI stood there for a full two minutes, looking at my mom lying beside Payton like she was her long lost daughter, Payton smiling and looking at her as though assigned to take care of her, with a fake smile my mom had clearly fallen for.My eyes twitched as a level of discomfort crept over my skin.I flung my bag onto the couch and walked deeper into the room, confusion still written all over my face."Stop, stop, stop. Mom, what's happening here?"They both paused and turned to me. Payton smiled and patted my mom's chest as if to say she had this handled, while I continued to look perplexed."I've got this, Mrs. Diana," Payton said, standing up and meeting my gaze."Hey, Renata. You don't have to be scared. I'm actually here to make sure your mom is taken good care of.""Yes, Renata. She's been so helpful."I still wasn't buying it. I turned to Payton."Save it." Then I turned to my mother, who sat there with pure innocence written on her face."Mom, do you even know who this w
Renata I couldn't stop smiling. TKO had actually called. They wanted to sign me.This was exactly what I meant when I told Drent I needed to win, that beating him in front of everyone would open doors no ordinary fight ever could. And now here it was, happening faster than I'd even dared to hope. Investors wanted me. Real ones. A real contract, with my name on it, built entirely on my own two feet.The meeting was set for five o'clock that evening, and I couldn't afford to miss it for anything in this world.I'd already laid my dress out across the side of the bed, smoothed and ready, and I sat at the table going through the final details in my head, my fingers absently working through some mindless task despite the dull ache still throbbing in my bandaged hand. Everything felt like it was finally falling into place.Then my phone buzzed with a message.Finn.My stomach dropped slightly the moment I saw his name. I hadn't spoken to him since the hospital, since he'd shown up out of n
DrentI didn't fully understand what had happened until I was already pulling Renata into the car, her hand pressed hard against her side, blood seeping faintly through her fingers. My mind raced through every possibility as I drove faster than I should have, and when we finally reached the clinic, I practically carried her through the doors myself.The nurse cleaned the wound while I paced just outside the curtain, my jaw tight, my hands clenched at my sides. When Renata finally spoke, her voice was quieter than usual, almost hesitant."It was Payton," she said.Something cold and furious rose in my chest instantly. "Payton did this to you?""Drent, calm down," she said, wincing as the nurse dabbed at the cut. "It's just a scratch. I'm fine.""What if it wasn't just a scratch?" I snapped"But it wasn't," she said firmly, meeting my eyes despite the pain clearly written across her face. "I'm fine. I promise you, I'm fine."I wanted to argue, to demand every detail of what happened, bu
PaytonI still remembered the exact moment the car hit me, the way my body flew before it crashed against the pavement, the way the pain swallowed everything else until there was nothing but white noise and the taste of blood in my mouth.Nobody stopped. Nobody came running. I dragged myself along the ground for what felt like hours, my nails scraping against asphalt, my vision blurring in and out, until I finally made it close enough to the hospital that someone noticed me collapsed near the entrance.I prayed the entire time that I wouldn't die there on the ground like some forgotten thing nobody cared enough to save. And somehow, I didn't. I survived, broken and furious, and every single day I spent recovering in that hospital bed, drowning in pain that never seemed to ease, I plotted. I planned. I decided that the people who left me for dead would regret it more than anything they had ever regretted in their lives.Drent and Renata thought they had gotten rid of me. They thought a
DrentAfter coming out and not seeing Renata where I left her, I looked around and didn't spot Payton either, and I knew exactly what was going on.This was typical of her. Payton had returned, but she was still predictable when it came to things like this.So I made my way to the bathroom, slowly and calculated, and when I got there, I saw Renata trying to steady herself, her hands on her throat trying to coax the feeling back into it as she leaned over, coughing hard.I rushed toward her and lifted her up, patting her back to relieve her, since it seemed like she was choking from someone having a tight grip on her neck just seconds ago."Simmer down, peach," she said, coughing after several pats."What happened?" I asked her, already furious."Was it Payton? Did she do this? Did she put her hands on you?" My eyes darkened as I studied her.She nodded lightly."She tried to choke me out, Drent." I thought as much. Payton had already begun showing her true intentions by hurting those
PaytonI waited for drent To walk back in and leave me with reneta even if it was just three minutes. I had my drunken powder in my purse, and the plan was simple. Put this in her drink, make her drunk in a way that makes her expose everything while I record the truth that would ruin them.So I sa
PaytonSometimes,I take pride in being the only woman who has ever walked into Drent's life, made him obsessed with me, then broken his heart so badly he vowed never to love anyone again.That was good news for me, because I knew Drent was a man of his word. If he vowed never to love again, nothin
RenataThe rope dug into my wrists, raw and burning no matter how I twisted them. Beside me, Drent strained against his own bindings, jaw tight, eyes scanning the dim room for anything we could use."Stop struggling," Dija said, stepping closer with her arms crossed. "You two really thought you cou
RenataMy heart was beating fast.I knew Drent proposing in front of everyone was going to make things even more complicated, more real, more impossible to walk back from. The crowd around us hummed with warmth and laughter and the clinking of glasses, completely unaware of the storm turning inside







