CHAPTER 4
1090 Words
Zara’s POV
I woke up to noise I didn’t expect.
Not outside my window.
Not from my alarm.
But from my phone.
It was buzzing nonstop on my bedside table like it had developed a life of its own overnight.
I frowned, reaching for it slowly.
One message.
Then another.
Then several notifications back-to-back.
Something felt off immediately.
I sat up properly in bed and unlocked the screen.
My stomach dropped.
There it was again.
That picture.
Me.
Standing beside Lucien Duro.
The caption underneath was worse than the image itself.
“Mystery Woman Spotted with Billionaire Lucien Duro at Private Charity Gala.”
My heart sank.
“What is this…” I whispered.
I opened another link.
Then another.
My name wasn’t mentioned directly, but the pictures made it obvious enough.
People online were guessing.
Speculating.
Creating stories I didn’t recognize.
Some comments were harmless.
Others weren’t.
Who is she? She doesn’t look like his type. Probably another fling. How did she get his attention?
I felt my chest tighten.
This wasn’t me.
I didn’t belong in headlines.
I wasn’t supposed to be “that girl.”
I threw the phone down on the bed and pressed my fingers against my forehead.
“This is insane.”
Evelyn knocked lightly on my door a moment later.
“You’re up early,” she said, stepping in.
I hesitated.
Then turned the phone toward her without speaking.
Her expression changed immediately.
From calm…
To concerned.
“That man again?” she asked.
I nodded slowly.
“I didn’t even do anything. I just— I don’t know… bumped into him.”
Evelyn sighed.
“This is what happens when rich people get involved in your life.”
“I didn’t get involved in his life,” I said quickly.
She gave me a look.
I went silent.
Because even I wasn’t sure that was true anymore.
At work, things were worse.
The moment I stepped into the office, I felt it.
The stares.
The whispers.
The subtle pauses in conversations when I walked by.
People were pretending not to look at me.
But they were.
Always.
“Zara,” my colleague called softly as I sat down. “You’re trending online.”
“I know,” I muttered.
She leaned closer.
“Is it true you met Lucien Duro?”
I hesitated.
That was the problem.
I didn’t even know how to answer that.
Because “meeting” didn’t feel like the right word.
It felt like something had happened without my permission.
“I accidentally spilled champagne on him,” I said finally.
Her eyes widened.
“On Lucien Duro?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then she leaned back slowly like she was processing it.
“That’s… actually worse.”
I let out a frustrated breath.
“Why is it worse?”
“Because now he remembers you.”
I frowned.
“I don’t think he—”
My sentence stopped halfway.
Because I didn’t actually know what Lucien Duro remembered.
Or what he thought.
Or why he kept appearing in my thoughts more than I wanted him to.
Lucien’s POV
I didn’t like distractions.
But I also didn’t ignore opportunities.
And Zara Montgomery was becoming both.
Jaden entered my office without knocking.
That alone told me something was wrong.
“They’re talking about her,” he said.
I didn’t look up from my documents.
“Who?”
He exhaled.
“You know who.”
I finally looked up.
He placed his phone on my desk.
The same picture.
Again.
This time, I studied it longer than necessary.
Zara looked uncomfortable.
Unaware of the attention she was getting.
That part irritated me more than it should have.
Not the media.
Not the attention.
Her discomfort.
Jaden spoke carefully.
“People are starting to connect her to you.”
“And?”
He hesitated.
“And nothing. But it’s spreading fast.”
I leaned back in my chair.
The room fell quiet for a moment.
Then I said calmly:
“Let them.”
Jaden frowned.
“That’s it?”
I looked back at the image.
Zara Montgomery.
A woman who said no without hesitation.
A woman who didn’t try to impress me.
A woman who didn’t know she had already gotten my attention.
“This doesn’t change anything,” I said.
But even as I said it…
I knew it wasn’t completely true.
Because for the first time in a long time…
Something outside my control was starting to form around me.
And it all had her name attached to it.
Zara’s POV
By the time I'm about to leave work, I felt drained.
Not tired.
Drained.
Like something was pulling at me from every direction and I didn’t have enough strength to fight it.
I stepped outside the building slowly.
And stopped.
The air felt different.
Heavy.
Because I saw him.
Across the street.
Leaning against a black car like he had been waiting there for a long time.
Lucien Duro, again.
My breath caught.
This time, he didn’t move immediately.
He just watched me.
Like he already knew I would come out.
I took a step back instinctively.
“This is not normal,” I whispered to myself.
He pushed himself off the car slowly.
And crossed the street.
Calm.
Controlled.
Unbothered by traffic, people, or distance.
He stopped in front of me.
Not too close.
But close enough that I couldn’t ignore him.
“You’re not imagining things,” he said.
My brows pulled together.
“What?”
“The attention,” he said simply. “It’s real.”
My heart dropped slightly.
“So this is your fault?”
A faint pause.
Then—
“No.”
That single word made my frustration rise.
“Then why are you always around me?”
For the first time, something flickered in his expression.
Not annoyance.
Not pride.
Something quieter.
Like he was thinking.
Then he answered honestly:
“Because I noticed you.”
My breath caught slightly.
That answer wasn’t what I expected.
He stepped slightly closer.
Not invading my space.
But enough to make me aware of every inch between us.
“And once I notice something,” he continued calmly,
“I don’t ignore it.”
My chest tightened.
That wasn’t a threat.
But it didn’t feel like a promise either.
It felt like something in between.
Something worse.
Something permanent.
And for the first time since meeting Lucien Duro…
I realized I might not actually be the one in control of how this story ends.
- Writer
