FROM HUMILIATED BRIDE TO HIS OBSESSION

Episode2

Zoey’s POV

Three days, that’s how long it took for my tears to stop not because I was healed but because I ran out of tears. I sat in my room staring at the ceiling like it was the only thing holding my life together.

My wedding dress was gone now, thrown away like it never mattered but my heart still felt stuck inside it. My phone had stopped buzzing the world was slowly forgetting me or maybe I was just old news, that thought hurt more than I expected.

“Zoey,” my best friend Lily said softly as she entered my room, “you need to eat something.” “I’m not hungry,” I replied. She sat beside me “You’ve been saying that for three days. I didn’t respond, because what was I supposed to say?

That I felt empty? Or that I felt like love was a trick I failed at? Lily sighed “Adrian is everywhere online again,” she said carefully. My body stiffened “Why?” I asked. She hesitated before saying “because he had an interview” My stomach dropped. “What interview?” She turned her phone towards me, and I saw Adrian smiling like he hadn’t destroyed my life.

The headline read;

““Adrian Cole explains why he ended the engagement: ‘It wasn’t working””

I felt something snap inside me, I took the phone and watched as he spoke like I was a small mistake he had outgrown, like I was nothing. And Zoey? The interviewer asked, Adrian smiled “She’s a good person,” he said “just not the right one for me.”

That’s what I was reduced to, my hands started shaking, I placed the phone down slowly and for the first time since the wedding, I smiled. Lily frowned. “Zoey… why are you smiling like that?” I looked at her “I need to fix something.” Fix what?” She asked.

My voice came out calm “my dignity.”

That night, I couldn’t sleep, not because I was sad but because I was thinking too much, “ how do you make a man regret losing you? Not just regret, but also feel it deeply and permanently, the kind that stays in his mind forever.” That was what was running through my mind.

I sat up, turned on my lamp, and opened my laptop. “Zoey, what are you doing” Lilly whispered from the bed. “I’m thinking” I replied still focused on my laptop, “thinking about what?” She asked. I paused then said “I need a man” She sat up immediately “Excuse me”

“I need a man so powerful that when Adrian sees him … he regrets everything.” Lily stared at me like I had lost my mind “Zoey, you don’t need revenge, you need healing.”

“I already healed,” I said, which was clearly a lie but I believed it because the pain needed direction and my mind just found one.

I typed slowly into my laptop, at first it felt silly and then it felt serious. I didn’t know what I was looking for until I found it, private companionship services, luxury escorts, high-end arrangements, and men who were paid to show up looking perfect.

I swallowed hard “This is insane,” I whispered but my finger didn’t stop scrolling because something inside of me wanted control and power, that’s when I saw him just a profile image, dark suit, strong face, and eyes that didn’t look soft.

They looked like they didn’t belong to someone who begged, but someone who commanded. My breath slowed there was something about him, it felt dangerous and safe at the same time. I clicked, my heart was beating too fast “This is stupid,” I whispered but I still pressed “BOOK”

The confirmation popped up instantly, tomorrow at 7:00pm at Hotel Bellridge. My stomach twisted “What have I done…” I whispered. Lilly grabbed my laptop, “Zoey!! Are you serious?” “I am,” “this is not you!”

I looked at her and for the first time in days I didn’t feel weak, “I don’t know who ‘me’ is anymore,” I said softly. “But I know I refuse to stay as the girl whom people laughed at.”

She shook her head. “This could go wrong.” “I don’t care,” and that was the truth because I had already survived the worst embarrassment of my life and nothing scared me anymore.

I stood in front of the hotel mirror, my dress was simple and elegant, it was different from the wedding dress. This time, I chose it myself, not for love, not for approval but for revenge.

The door opened and that’s when everything began to change, he walked in slowly and controlled, as the room belonged to him, my breath caught because he wasn’t just attractive, he was overwhelming in a quiet, and dangerous way like a storm that doesn’t warn you before it hits.

He stopped at my front, and looked at me for a moment I forgot what I was here for. “Are you the client?” He asked in a calm voice that was deep.

I stood up straighter, “yes” he studied me not in a disrespectful way, but in a calculating way like he was seeing something I couldn’t see. “You’re early,” I said when his stare was becoming uncomfortable.

“No, you are” he replied and that confused me “What does that mean?” I asked. He didn’t answer me immediately instead, he stepped closer and said “You didn’t hire me.” I frowned, “What?”.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small folder, and placed it on the table “Your booking was approved through a private network I control.” “I don’t usually take clients like this,” he said.

“Then why are you here?” I asked. There was a brief silence before he spoke “because I was interested,” my heart skipped “what?” “You’re Zoey Aguilar.” My name sounded different in his mouth

“How do you know me?” I whispered. He didn’t answer immediately; instead, he stepped closer and said something that made my entire body go cold. “Because Adrian Cole already made you famous.”

My breath stopped “Adrian?” I whispered. The man in front of me watched me carefully then said “And this is not a coincidence.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked visibly shaking. He leaned in close enough that I could smell him before he broke the shocking news, “My name is Christian Bellucci,” he said.

My mind stopped working because everybody knew that name, the power behind that name….. “You’re lying” my voice barely came out. He didn’t smile or blink. “No,” he said “and now you’re part of something much bigger.”

My heart dropped, “What did I get myself into?” I whispered. Christian looked at me and for the first time, I saw something in his eyes, something that scared me more than anything.

“You asked for a man,” he said quietly, then added “I came instead.”