LOGIN~ LISA ~The moment I saw Victor's face, I wanted to kill him.Not in an imaginative way but physically, I actually want to walk up to him and put my hands around his throat and squeeze until he stops breathing. And he understood what it felt like to have everything taken from you and he feels even a fraction of the pain he had caused me and Zac. My father's face flashed through my mind alongside my mother's coffin. The years of raising my siblings alone. With nights I worked three jobs just to keep us fed and the way I had to become a mother and a father at sixteen because this man could not control himself or tell his stupid classist family that he didn't want to marry the person they wanted for him to marry. My hands instinctively clenched into fists so hard my nails dug into my palms.Victor was still standing there and smiling a cold smile that made his eyes void and empty.He was looking at me like I was prey and he was a predator deciding whether to strike.Too bad, I wasn'
~ JACKSON ~I did not think she would come.I had called her with urgency in my voice, knowing Lisa, I thought she wouldn't answer.But she has and not just that, she had even said yes to come. That had scared me because I thought she would block my number but again, she gave another surprise and showed up an hour later.I should have felt relief but what I felt instead was guilt. Deep seated guilt that made my chest tightened in pain.What I was about to ask her to do was not good. It was manipulation and using someone to solve my own problem. Unfortunately, I was trapped and there was no other way out. And there’s no one that I trusted as much as her right now. My mother had been suffocating me for weeks. If it's not ‘Charlotte is coming to dinner’, it's ‘Charlotte is coming to the gala’. I am tired! I almost want to pull my hair out. Damien and Roman had been laughing at me instead of providing me a solution. I don't know how to get rid of Charlotte. She is always there, always
~ LISA ~ I left the restaurant without telling him. While he was still drunk and distracted, I got up from the table and walked straight to the exit in the disguise of a restroom. I did not look back or wait for him to notice. I just ran for my life. I will not ruin an opportunity like this for me! The server was still watching from across the restaurant and the director with the others were laughing. No one was paying attention to me. My mind ate at me worrying that I was leaving a drunk man with a starved woman but I am no keeper of any man. Plus, I do not have any good intentions towards him either so I wasn't any good either. I got into a taxi and gave the driver my address. My hands were shaking and I could not stop it. It was just the urge to kiss. It's nothing and I am human, simply because I am seeking revenge does not mean I can't find a man handsome by having the urge to kiss him. It's normal, it just proved I am human. I repeated that to myself the entir
~ JACKSON ~Fuck! She really blocked my number! For two days, I kept trying to call her, and text her but she had ignored every single attempt of call. Unable to bear it, I had shown up at Moreau fashion house but she had refused to see me. I kept standing there until Eva had told me Lisa was busy and could not be disturbed.That was a lie because I knew the truth. She was avoiding me, which meant to me that she felt something and I was getting through.On the third day, I decided to take a different approach.The first interviews for my film were going to air that night. My publicist had organized a small celebration at a Korean restaurant in Manhattan. It was just a few people. The director, the producer and a couple of cast members.I also made sure to invite Lisa but Eva became a blockage as she called me that morning."Jackson, she said she cannot make it," Eva said, nonchalantly. "Then tell her it is mandatory," I replied. "Tell her it is part of her job and whatever you nee
~ LISA ~The first styling session went smooth to my greatest surprise.Jackson had been professional, and charming. He tried to make conversations, when I shut them down, he switched to asking intelligent questions about the direction of his image. And he didn't try to touch me or flirt overtly. He had simply been... perfect.Which made it harder.Again, I praised the flow too early because the second session became different.I arrived at his hotel at noon to find him already dressed and ready. But he was not alone. Standing beside him was a woman in her mid-forties with sharp features and beautiful cold eyes. She was wearing Leslie designer clothes. The way she was looking at me proved she didn't approve of me. But Jackson didn't notice. "Lisa, this is Cathy," Jackson introduced with a smile. "She is my manager. Cathy, this is Lisa from the Moreau fashion house. She will be handling my styling for the press tour."Cathy's eyes traveled up and down my body in a way that made my
~ JACKSON ~I had been back in New York for three days before I saw her again.I did three days of interviews and being photographed while at the same time pretending to care about my new film when all I could think about was the woman who had ignored me at the hospital and even at Roman’s engagement party. Her sweet name replayed in my head. Lisa. I did not know her last name. I only knew that she had the most beautiful eyes that I had ever seen and she had absolutely no interest in me.Which made her the most interesting person I had ever met in years.I was in my suite at the Plaza when I pulled up Eva's number. Since my agency wants me to go on a press tour, the only person that can handle my wardrobe is her fashion house. I dialed her number. "Jackson," Eva answered on the second ring. She sounded surprised. "You hardly call. What can I do for you?""Eva, hi," I greeted. I kept my voice casual. "It's not much, I just need a favor.""What kind of favor?” she asked with a little
~ Damien's POV ~“Put me down right now, Damien. My ass is literally in the air for everyone to see.”I kept walking down the hotel corridor, her body draped over my shoulder. “It wasn’t like you cared back at the club.”She wriggled and made a protesting sound. The thin dress rode higher on her th
~ EVANGELINE'S POV ~The drive back from the party was quiet.Marty sat beside me in the car and said nothing the entire way, which was how I knew how bad it was. Marty always had something to say. Silence from him was not peace; it just meant he was deeply pained over the actions of Roman tonight
~ DAMIEN'S POV ~The moment Jessica said the words, I understood coming here had been a mistake.Not because of John. My respect for my mentor was real and had been built over the years. But watching Jessica stand there with that fake smile, speaking about what she and her brother had done to Eva a
~ DAMIEN'S POV ~"Bring her to me."Roman looked up from his phone. "Tonight?""Now."He nodded and stepped out without another word, and I leaned back slightly, letting the information he had just given me settle properly.So Claude Beaumont had engineered the entire filing, using Isabelle as the







