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Chapter 7

I couldn’t sleep, not with the rose staring at me from the corner of my desk like a bloodstain.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Daniel’s face, calm and collected, the way a predator looks before it strikes. The note wasn’t a warning, it was a promise and he knew. Somehow, he knew.

I picked up the rose, turning it slowly between my fingers. The thorns dug into my skin, a sharp reminder that beauty is never free. I whispered into the silence, “What have I done?” But the silence didn’t answer.

The next day on campus, I tried to act normal, to be Stella the student, the one who laughs at her roommate’s jokes and scribbles in the margins of textbooks, but I felt eyes everywhere. Every conversation sounded like a code, and every glance felt too knowing.

By the time I left my last lecture, my nerves were frayed. My phone buzzed with a message. It was from Daniel.

“Dinner, tonight. Don’t be late.”

It wasn’t an invitation; it was a command.

The restaurant he had chosen exuded opulence. Velvet chairs, crystal chandeliers, and walls glowing with golden light surrounded me. Couples whispered to each other over candlelight, but when Daniel walked in, the atmosphere of the entire room changed. He carried an aura of power as if it were a second skin.

I forced a smile as he kissed my cheek, his hand lingering on my back, firm and possessive. We sat down, and he ordered without asking me what I wanted.

The air between us felt too still.

“You’ve been quiet,” he finally said, swirling the wine in his glass. His gaze was fixed on me, and I felt as though it was cutting through me, dissecting every thought.

I’ve been tired. Exams, I lied, forcing a laugh.

He leaned closer, his lips brushing the rim of his glass. “Exams? Is that what keeps you awake at night? Or is it something else… something heavier?”

My heart thudded. He knows.

I don’t know what you mean,I replied, steadying my voice.

His smile curved, sharp as broken glass. “You’re clever, Stella, that’s why I like you, but cleverness can be dangerous when it’s not…contained.”

When the waiter arrived with our food, the conversation came to a halt. But every bite I took tasted like ash.

Later, when we were alone in his car, he placed a hand on my thigh. It was a gentle caress, but his words were anything but gentle.

“You’re playing a game you don’t understand,” he said. “Stay in your lane, bebeautiful, be mine. If you do, nothing will touch you, but if you step out of line…” His fingers tightened just enough to make me wince. “…everything you love will burn.”

I swallowed hard, my smile frozen in place. “I understand.” But I didn’t, not really. In that moment, I realized something terrifying: I wasn’t afraid enough to stop. Back in my apartment, Adrian was waiting again, his face pale and his eyes shadowed with urgency.

“He’s onto you,” he said before I even closed the door.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“This isn’t a joke, Stella. Daniel doesn’t play cat and mouse—he plays cat and corpse. You’ve got to get out before…”

“Before what?” I snapped, my voice cracking. “Before he kills me? Before he ruins me? Before my life falls apart because I wanted something more than cheap dorm food and secondhand clothes?”

Adrian stepped closer, his jaw tight and his voice raw. “Before you become just another name in that damn ledger.”

The words hit me like a punch.

Another name?

I thought of the pages, the patterns, the men who thought they were untouchable. I thought of Daniel’s warning, his possessive grip, his rose bleeding thorns into my skin and suddenly, something inside me hardened.

“I’m not running,” I said, my voice steady this time. “I’ve run my whole life, away from poverty, away from being invisible. No more! If Daniel thinks he can scare me into submission, he doesn’t know me.”

Adrian stared at me, his expression torn between admiration and fear. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Maybe,” I whispered, “but not before I get what I want.”

That night, lying in bed, I made my decision.

The ledger wasn’t just Daniel’s weapon anymore. It was mine.

I could feel the danger pressing closer, wrapping around me like silk threads, pulling tighter and tighter. But beneath the fear, a spark of exhilaration burned within me. I wasn’t just Stella the student, I wasn’t just Stella the mistress.

I was Stella the player.

And in this game of velvet shadows, survival would belong to the one bold enough to rewrite the rules.