Three days later
Adrian's office
"Hello," Lucas, Adrian's friend, said as he walked into the office and made himself comfortable on the chair opposite him.
Adrian, who was going through a file, looked up at the sound of his voice, gave him a small nod as if to acknowledge his presence, and then went back to work.
"Is that how to greet your friend? Your best friend, for that matter?" Lucas asked.
But he was met with silence.
"Adrian," he called again.
"Should I call a party planner just because you're here?" Adrian asked without lifting his eyes from the file.
"It's okay, I'm not offended," Lucas said with a smile. He was used to Adrian's cold demeanor.
Adrian looked up at him with an expression so icy, it seemed to say, Who cares if you're offended?
"I heard you're looking for a lady you spent the night with a few days ago," Lucas said, fishing for gossip.
Adrian closed the file he was working on and fixed his gaze on Lucas.
"News travels fast. But that's not a good enough reason for you to leave your company and come here."
"Actually, your people have been so secretive about it, but I found out by chance. And yes, it's worth coming here, because it's not every day we hear about you looking for a woman."
"I think my men have to be more careful when they do things for me," Adrian said, ignoring the point.
"Did she steal from you?" Lucas asked, his curiosity piqued.
"No," Adrian replied flatly as he opened another file.
"Then why are you looking for her?" Lucas pressed, then his lips curved into a mischievous smile. "Was the sex that good?"
Adrian looked at him like he'd grown horns.
"Get out."
He was tired of Lucas's way of thinking.
"You can't treat me like that. I'm your best friend," Lucas said with a pout.
"Self-acclaimed," Adrian muttered, not bothering to look up.
But Lucas continued anyway.
"If the woman isn't coming to you, why are you looking for her? No woman would sleep with you and not come back to make a name for herself. So it's her problem, not yours. Better to let her be."
"If she comes back five years later with four kids, whose problem would it be then?" Adrian asked.
Although that wasn't the real problem. The truth was, he couldn't tell anyone he was looking for her because she had thought so low of him that she left just fifty dollars for his time. Fifty dollars, after he'd lasted until dawn. He was worth more than that.
Not that he needed her money — he only wanted to see her face, to ask why she had insulted him in such a way.
Lucas's laughter snapped him out of his thoughts.
"What? Four kids? That would be hilarious," Lucas said, still laughing like it was a joke.
A knock at the door made Lucas quickly suppress his laughter.
"Come in," Adrian said.
"Sir," Stephen greeted as soon as he stepped inside.
"What's the news?" Adrian asked.
Stephen hesitated because of Lucas's presence.
"Did you find her?" Adrian pressed, forcing him to speak.
"We found her. Her name is Seraphina Hart, sir."
---
Three years later
Three years had passed in the blink of an eye — but for Raya, life seemed to have stopped.
If anything, it had crumbled piece by piece beneath her feet.
Her father's gambling had only deepened. The promises to stop, the tears, the apologies — they meant nothing. The debt collectors still came to their doorstep every day. And now, as if to add insult to injury, he had taken to heavy, reckless drinking. He'd lost his job months ago. A job that barely paid enough for rice and soap, but still — it had been something.
Now, all of it fell on her.
But she couldn't hate him.
He was her father. The only family she had. And no matter how heavy the burden, she carried it, because turning her back on him would mean turning her back on the last piece of family she had left.
He wasn't just the only family she had left — he was also the man who had taken care of her for the first fifteen years of her life. Even when he had nothing, he still made sure she survived.
---
But Raya was tired.
Not just the kind of tiredness that settled in her bones after a long shift — this was the kind of exhaustion that lived in her soul. The kind that came from running on empty for too long.
She adjusted the strap of her bag as she hurried down the cracked pavement, the sun beating down on her. The city didn't care that she hadn't eaten a proper meal in two days. The city didn't care that her body ached from the stunt work she'd done the night before — falling from a rigged window for a film where no one would even know her name.
Raya worked wherever and whenever she could.
Cleaning office buildings at night, wiping floors until her hands were raw. Waiting tables in small diners where the customers barely tipped. And when those jobs weren't enough, she took the dangerous ones — standing in for actresses during fight scenes or falls, the kind of work where one wrong move could mean a broken bone, or worse.
All for money.
Money to keep the collectors from their door. Money to buy her father food. Money to survive.
---
Her phone rang as she crossed the street, dodging traffic.
She almost didn't answer. But when she saw the name on the screen — Leon — her heart skipped.
Leon. Her boyfriend of five years.
Or whatever they were now.
She hesitated, then picked up.
"Hello?"
His voice came sharp and cold. "Where are you?"
"Working. I'm on my way to—"
"Bring me a change of clothes. I'm at the Grand Palms Hotel. Room 1109. Be quick about it."
The line went dead before she could answer.
Raya stood there for a moment, the noise of the street washing over her.
He had called. After months of silence, he had called.
A small, sad smile touched her lips. She turned, heading toward the cheap clothing store where she knew she could find something decent without spending too much.
She had 25 minutes to make it to her next job. She couldn't afford to be late.
---
Leon hadn't touched her in three years.
Ever since she had told him the truth — about that night she couldn't forget, the stranger who had taken something she had meant for Leon — everything had changed.
He had changed from that caring boyfriend into a man she no longer recognized.
He had looked at her differently. Like she was dirty.
She had tried to explain. It had been a mistake. A horrible, accidental mistake. But Leon hadn't cared. His pride had been wounded. His anger never faded.
And still, she stayed.
Because she felt she owed him that.
She was the one who had betrayed him first — or at least, that's how it felt. And Leon reminded her of it every chance he got. With the coldness in his eyes. With the way he paraded other women in front of her.
And yet… she stayed.
Because she didn't have time or strength for another relationship. Because Leon, in his own cruel way, was familiar.
---
It didn't take her long to get the clothes — a crisp shirt, simple trousers — all paid for with her own dwindling money. She made her way to the hotel, her heart beating faster as she rode the elevator up.
Maybe this time he wanted to talk.
Maybe this time things would be different.
She knocked softly on the door.
"Come in," his voice called.
---
Raya stepped inside — and froze.
Leon was tangled in the sheets with a woman. A beautiful woman, fully naked with just the duvet on her chest, laughing as Leon kissed her neck.
Raya stood there, clutching the bag of clothes in her hand.
The woman saw her first. "Who the hell is this?"
Leon smirked. "Just someone who knows her place."
The woman scoffed. "Pathetic. Are you here to watch a show?" she sneered, showing no shame at being seen.
But Raya didn't move. She didn't speak. She just watched them quietly.
Leon studied her, waiting for something — tears, anger, maybe even a slap. That's what women did in movies, wasn't it? They fought for their man, or at least showed hurt.
All he wanted was to hurt her the way she had hurt him — by giving her first time to another man and then lying about being drunk.
For the first two years of their relationship, she had never allowed him to touch her, no matter the circumstance. Then she came with an excuse about being drunk and not even knowing the man she spent the night with.
Ridiculous. Unacceptable. She had cheated on him, and there was no way he would accept that — not from her, not from any woman. He was the man. He was the only one with the right to cheat and lie about being drunk.
That was why he had called today. To hurt her pride the way his had been hurt.
But Raya simply stood there, doing nothing.
Her face was calm. Empty.
If this was supposed to break her, it didn't.
If anything, she looked almost… bored.
Leon's smirk faltered.
He leaned in to kiss the woman again, hoping for some kind of reaction. But Raya didn't flinch. Didn't look away.
If he had dared to call her here, she dared to watch the show.
She checked the time on her phone.
She had about twelve minutes to get to her next job. She didn't have time for this.
Without a word, she crossed the room slowly — which made Leon think she was about to take action.