Chapter1
Someone never tells you how loud silence can be until you’re standing in it, waiting for the words that will finally break you.
The receptionist’s lips moved, but I barely heard her. My ears buzzed. My chest ached. My hands gripped the edge of the counter like it could hold me up.
“Miss Hart... I’m sorry. Without a deposit by Friday, the hospital can’t continue her stay.”
There it was. The sentence I’d been dreading for weeks. Neatly spoken. Professionally delivered. Like they weren’t talking about the woman who raised me. Like they hadn’t just told me I was about to lose her.
I nodded, somehow. My throat burned, but I didn’t let it show. I’d learned to mask things. I’d learned to smile when I was bleeding inside. That kind of strength is a curse because no one saves the girl who looks like she can survive anything.
The walk through the hallway felt longer than usual. I passed room after room, ignoring the smell of bleach and cheap coffee and whatever it was that made hospitals feel more like prisons. I wanted to run to her room, hold her hand, whisper lies about how everything would be fine.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t. Because right now, everything wasn’t fine. It was falling apart.
Outside, the cold slapped me the moment I stepped through the sliding doors. My coat was thin. Just like my excuses. Just like my savings account.
I pressed my back to the concrete wall and let myself breathe, my eyes fixed on the grey sky. It hadn’t snowed yet, but the air smelled like winter. Like endings.
And then my phone buzzed.
Maya.
“Come over. I might have something that can help you. But… it’s complicated.”
Complicated. That word again. Like it could ever compare to the wreck my life had become.
Still, I stared at the screen for a long time, thumb hovering over the message. Maya my best friend, my ex-best friend, the woman who slept with my boyfriend and never said a word until I caught them. The same woman who now acted like none of it happened. Like I should just move on.
I had moved on. Kind of.
I left Jace. Packed what little I owned. Started over. But starting over didn’t mean healing. It meant surviving. One bill at a time. One insult at work. One sleepless night lying awake, wondering when I’d feel like a person again.
And now, here was Maya. Reaching out. Offering help.
The old me would’ve ignored it. Would’ve screamed or blocked her number or reminded her how she broke me in the worst way.
But the woman I was now? I didn’t have the luxury of pride.
I needed a miracle. Or a devil in disguise.
So I typed: “On my way.”
Maya’s place hadn’t changed. Still picture-perfect. Still soaked in luxury she didn’t earn. She opened the door like she’d been waiting for me, eyes rimmed in mascara and some fake version of concern on her face.
“You look... tired.”
I stepped inside without answering. Her apartment smelled like cinnamon and expensive perfume. It used to feel comforting. Now it felt like a lie.
“I don’t have time for small talk, Maya. What is it?”
She hesitated, then poured two glasses of wine. Like we were about to gossip, not make a deal with the devil.
“There’s this... opportunity,” she said carefully, passing me the glass. “You’ll be paid well. Enough to help your mom. Enough to get back on your feet.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Doing what? Selling drugs? Selling myself?”
She didn’t laugh.
And that’s when the pit in my stomach formed.
“Maya,” I said slowly, setting the glass down untouched. “What the hell are you trying to say?”
She looked at me, face still sweet, but her eyes gave it away.
“There’s a man. Rich. Dangerous. Private. He’s... looking for something. Just one night. No strings. No names. No questions. You show up. Play the part. You leave. And you walk away with more money than you’ve seen in a year.”
I stared at her. The room felt smaller.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m dead serious. And before you say no, think about your mother. Think about what one night could buy.”
One night.
It sounded simple. But it wasn’t. It never is.
I kept rethinking everything, over and over again, but the thought of losing my mum shifted my mind to the same place,
Because somewhere deep inside, something told me this wasn’t the kind of night you forget.
Was I willing to give it all, not like some virgin who has no idea about sex.but it still felt hard even the thought of it, someone i have no idea of, someone i never met, Someone who seemed almost like a myth that's spread all over town till today.
