Untitled Episode
I always thought deception came with warning signs—shadows in the eyes, stops in the voice, silence that lasted too long. But when mine came, it was sharp and sudden, like a blade between the ribs.
Ethan was going to be my life.
I stood frozen outside his penthouse room, shaking hands holding the handle of the door I never should have opened. The sounds floating from inside were muffled at first…soft laughing, whispers…but then they grew clearer, more personal. I stepped in, confused. He hadn't answered my calls in days, and I’d brought food. Stupid, I know. I thought maybe he was sick, or busy. Or maybe, deep down, I was afraid to admit what I already knew.
The moment I saw them…Ethan and Veronica tangled together on the plush couch, her lipstick smeared, his shirt half-open…I forgot how to breathe.
“Oh really,” I said. Just one word. That’s all I could manage.
Ethan’s eyes flicked toward me, cold and unbothered. Veronica didn’t even move. She leaned back like a queen on a chair, wrapped in betrayal.
“You weren’t supposed to come today,” Ethan said simply, like I’d stopped something slightly annoying. I could feel my heart breaking, one beat at a time.
Veronica stood and smiled, brushing a curl off her shoulder. “Don’t look so surprised, Lily. You always were a little too naive. This... was inevitable.”
I didn’t say anything. My mouth was dry. My hands were shaking so badly the bag of food slipped from my grip and hit the floor with a dull thud.
Ethan sighed like I was an inconvenience. “We’re done, Lily. Let it go.”
I should Let it go?
My knees went weak. I stumbled out of the room, heart beating in my ears. My feet carried me outside, into the night air, into the cold rain that had started to fall. I don’t remember hailing the cab or crying in the back seat. I just remember the quiet. The silence inside me. Everything felt hollow.
By morning, I had nowhere left to go.
Ethan emptied our shared account. The flat lease was under his name. Veronica made sure I was banned at my job—she’d fed me lies for months, destroying me from the inside. Friends disappeared. Calls went ignored. I was erased.
In forty-eight hours, I lost everything.
I sat on a bench in Midtown with a bag full of broken hopes, looking at my image in a glass building. The girl looking back at me had red eyes, wet hair, and no hope.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I pulled the last torn flyer from my coat pocket. A job ad I’d picked up at a dirty diner two nights ago.
Blackwood Enterprises – Executive Assistant Needed. Confidentiality Required. Apply in Person.
My fingers shook as I stared at it. Something about it felt off…no contact name, no pay mentioned, just a place and a time. A part of me didn’t care if it was real or not.
What did I have to lose?
I walked.
The building was intimidating…glass, steel, and height that seemed to pierce the clouds. A man in black opened the door before I even touched it.
“You’re here for the interview?” he asked, face blank. I nodded, my voice leaving me.
He gave me a quick once-over, then led me through the entrance without another word. I was led to the top floor, where silence hung like a weight. When the elevator doors opened, I expected a receptionist. I found him instead.
Zane Blackwood. He sat behind a huge obsidian desk, dark suit sharp as a blade, eyes sharper. He didn’t look up right away, but when he did, something moved in the air.
Dangerous. That was the first word that came to mind.
Not because he was cruel…he hadn't even spoken yet…but because he looked like someone who had power in his blood. A man used to break the rules, and never being broken.
“You’re late,” he said, and My heart stuttered. “I— I didn’t know if this was real,” I admitted, swallowing hard.
A faint smile ghosted across his lips. “Everything worth having usually feels too good to be real. Sit.”
I did, uncomfortably crossing my legs to hide the tear in my tights. Zane steepled his fingers. “Your name?”
“Lily Christian.”
He stopped, as if that name meant something. “And you’re here because...?”
“Because I have nothing left,” I said before I could stop myself. Zane’s eyes narrowed slightly, like he was peeling my soul open. “Honest. I like that. Most people lie during interviews.”
I laughed bitterly. “I’m not in the mood to pretend.” “Good. I don’t hire pretenders. I hire survivors.” His words sent a chill down my spine.
Zane leaned back in his chair, studying me in silence. “You’re either very desperate or very brave.”
“Can’t I be both?” I asked, and my voice softer now.
He smiled—but it wasn’t love. It was something else. A spark of interest. Calculation.
“You’ll start tomorrow. 7 a.m. Sharp. One month trial. If you’re late once, you’re gone. If you talk too much, you’re gone. If you betray me…” His voice dropped to a deadly whisper. “You won’t like the consequences.”
I nodded, okay I hear you my heart thudding. “Understood.” I said He stood, and the full height of him was intimidating. He walked past me, stopping just at the lift.
“Lily,” he said without turning. “Whatever made you this broken… use it. You’ll need it here.”
Then he was gone. I stood alone in his office, stunned. Just like that, I had a job. Maybe even a lifesaver. But something inside me stirred…fear, yes. But also something darker.
A part of me that wanted payback. Ethan had destroyed me. Veronica had erased me. But Zane Blackwood?
He might just teach me how to destroy them back.
The elevator doors closed behind me with a soft hiss, locking me into a cage of doubt. As it descended, I clutched the job contract Zane had given me, the paper shaking slightly in my grip. The weight of the past few days pushed heavily on my shoulders, but beneath it all, a spark of something unknown moved within me…resolve.
