New Midnight City was merciless during the day, especially in fall.
The traffic didn't move. It crawled. Cars clustered in long, suffocating lines, and horns blared in short, irritated bursts before dying down, as if even anger had grown tired.
Inside one of those trapped vehicles, Hazel Callaway sat in the back seat, with her hands folded neatly on her lap, staring through the traffic with practiced calm.
She hated this city, hated the noise, the chaos, the endless, choking traffic that made every day feel like a punishment. Yet, this was where her perfect life was.
She had a well-paying job. And in three days, she would be happily married.
Her chest warmed when she thought of Dale Blackmoor, her charming and intentional fiance, who adored her more than life itself. The man who gave her a happiness other women admired from a distance, wished for in silence, and whispered about in envy.
Just thinking of seeing him later made the exhaustion deep out of her bones. She'd spent the previous day and entire night at her workplace, occupied with meetings, deadlines, pressure, but none of it mattered anymore. Dale had that effect on her.
Hazel almost laughed under her breath. She felt it was crazy to still be affected by Dale this way after having spent three years together, but there was not a single memory she wished to forget.
At twenty-two, she had everything most women chased but never caught. She had financial stability, a man who loved her, and a future that looked beautifully certain.
Dale's love was the reason she never argued when people called him deadbeat.
Yes, he depended on her financially, for now. But they didn't see what she saw. He was ambitious. There was fire in his eyes when he spoke about his dreams, his future success, about becoming more. Hazel believed in that fire more than anyone else.
She didn't mind supporting him until he found his footing. After all, love wasn't a transaction. It was patience.
A small, contented smile curved her lips as she stared out the window. But her momentary euphoria vanished as nearby car horns grew louder and people became alert.
Her brows knit slightly as she leaned forward, trying to see past the suffocating line of cars ahead.
Something was happening!
"What's going on, Lukas?"
Her driver leaned forward, squinting through the windshield. "It's a chase, Miss."
"A chase?" She frowned slightly. Daily chaos was part of New Midnight City's routine. Still, it irritated her.
"A group of men are chasing a man." He added, straining to get a clearer view.
"Oh."
Hazel leaned back again, unimpressed. This city fed on madness. There was no need to react to every spectacle.
She barely turned her head when —
BANG!
A loud sound cracked from the bonnet.
She flinched hard, her head snapping up as her eyes met a man standing in front of the car from the windshield.
When he slowly straightened and looked directly at her, air left her lungs.
Fear rushed in first, but it faltered when she truly saw his face.
He was… beautiful.
Uncommonly so.
His wild dark hair fell into his eyes, framing a face that looked carefully carved by nature himself. He had a strong jawline, high cheekbones, and a straight nose that gave him a striking profile. His lips were full, they looked soft, but they didn't soften him at all.
Her gaze lifted to his piercing dark orbs that the glare of the sun made their color impossible to read.
He had the kind of beauty that made you feel like you were staring at something you shouldn't be allowed to see.
But then Hazel noticed what was wrong.
Her eyes dropped to his otherworldly body, and flew wide almost immediately.
He was completely naked!
Heat rushed to her face as shock rooted her to the spot. Her mind blanked, her body refusing to react properly. It took everything in her to tear her gaze away, even as her heart raced for reasons she couldn't explain.
When she looked back at his face, his lips had curved into a slow, sinister smile, and his eyes were locked on hers like she was some prey he wanted to hunt.
Her stomach twisted painfully at the new dread that settled within her.
She opened her mouth to tell Lukas to drive or do something, but men in black suits that rushed to the man beat her to it.
Three of them seized him roughly, while another threw a jacket over his body. They dragged him away with force, yet he didn't struggle or scream. He just laughed as they disappeared.
Hazel collapsed back into her seat, her chest heaving as air finally rushed into her lungs. She hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath.
"Are you okay, Miss Callaway?" Lukas asked, alarmed.
"Y-yes... I'm fine."
Her fingers trembled as she smoothed her skirt, trying to regain control.
Lukas glanced at her from the rear mirror. "I'm sorry about that, Miss Callaway. This city keeps getting crazier. Sometimes I wonder what the government is even doing anymore—"
His voice faded into background noise as Hazel closed her eyes. Her heartbeat refused to slow. Something was wrong. She'd been on edge all day, not like her usual self.
Was it just exhaustion?
She hadn't had any sleep in two days.
The traffic light that finally turned green distracted her from her thoughts, and as if nothing happened, cars began to move.
They'd barely motioned into a steady speed limit when a defeaning horn blasted from the opposite lane.
It happened too fast.
A truck came out of nowhere, and before Lukas could react, it slammed into their car.
Hazel's scream was swallowed by the sound of crushing steel as the car spun, lifted, and flipped. Glass shattered around her like rain. Pain tore through her body, and the seatbelt dug into her chest as the car rolled again and again, until it finally landed upside down.
Then everything went still.
She lay limp as blood crept down the sides of her face, and across the glass beside her. She struggled to breathe, and see, but one of her vision was gone. A glass had pierced into her left eye socket.
Her other eye was half-opened, yet she was staring into nothing. The ringing in her ears drowned every other sound on the highway.
In that fleeting moment, all her memories began to play out in a fast motion, like she was watching a movie in 100x speed.
Everything she'd ever done, the times she spent with her dead parents, her first day at work, the day her fiance, Dale, had proposed to her... But all of those memories were consumed by a familiar, yet not so familiar face.
There was a saying that the last person you saw before death was the one you loved the most.
But Hazel thought it was ridiculous because the last image that burned into her fading mind was the image of the man from earlier.
Then everything went dark.
~♡~
A warm, intoxicating scent, and a soft rhythm of breathing that wasn't hers slowly guided Hazel back to consciousness. Her eyelids felt unbearably heavy, but she forced them open.
At first, everything was blurry, just a mixture of bright lights, shadows, and a vague shape that hovered above her.
But when the shape moved, Hazel's vision sharpened, and her heart skipped.
A man was leaning over her!
He was so close that she could see the fine line of his lashes. His scent overwhelmed her senses. And what Hazel found more disturbing was his unbelievable facial features. He was breathtaking!
"You're finally awake."
She jerked violently and sat up.
The man stepped back, placing his hand into the pocket of his pant.
"Who are—?" The words were barely out before the memory of the crash invaded Hazel's thoughts.
She immediately scanned her entire body. There was no injury or pain. She was perfectly fine. This confused Hazel.
She'd died...
She was so sure of it. Death wasn't something you could confuse with something else. Once you'd felt it, you knew. So how was she alive?
Was she saved? Is this a hospital?!
She looked around. This place didn't look or smell like a hospital! It was too fancy to be a hospital room.
"Are you okay?"
Her eyes snapped to the man. She opened her mouth to answer, but stopped.
Something wasn't right.
She looked at him again, then frowned.
She'd never forgotten a face she'd seen so she immediately recognized him.
He was the same naked man from the highway!
Why was she in the same room with him? What the hell was going on?!