29/06/2026
The moment she reached for a stranger, everything shifted.
"Can you kiss me?"
Vivian Blake’s voice quaked with desperation.
Her world—once polished, filled with laughter and the clinking of champagne flutes—came crashing down.
Across the ballroom, her fiancé, Nathan, clung too tightly to her younger sister,
both of them stained with betrayal.
Vivian ached at the sight, a knife twisting deeper with every heartbeat.
"Please. Kiss me. I want to make him jealous."
Her words hung in the air, raw and urgent.
The black-suited man beside her held still, eyes harboring secrets.
Elegant chandeliers dripped with light, but all Vivian felt was darkness closing in.
His gaze swept the room, calculating.
Vivian was on the brink of shattering.
He understood the chaos that brewed within her.
When he finally turned to meet her stare, years of unshed tears mirrored back.
He was older—sixty, with an aura of command that silenced the fray around them.
There was a scar marring his eyebrow, a map of violence and regret.
His presence ignited something hidden deep inside her, a glimmer of defiance.
She had built this gala single-handedly, but now it felt like a façade meant to hide the wreckage of her heart.
The silence stretched, alive with tension.
Then he spoke, with a voice deep like gravel.
"He noticed me before he noticed you."
Those words pierced her soul.
Her heart raced, a slap of fear igniting hope.
Vivian turned, finding Nathan’s face devoid of charm, replaced by something sharper—fear.
Time froze.
"D-Dominic Bellardi," he said, revealing a fate woven in shadows.
Those who knew his name understood not to look too closely, to tread softly around the darkness he commanded.
She had long known the rumors, yet standing this close felt different,
more intimate, terrifying.
Dominic held her look as if weighing her worth.
When he caught her hand before she could pull away, the warmth spread through her,
solid and fierce.
“Walk with me,” he said, no hesitation, no second-guessing.
“I asked you to kiss me.”
His smile was dangerous.
“I heard you.”
“Then why—”
A single hand at her back, guiding, protecting.
“Not yet,” he said,
leading her through the ballroom to face her betrayer.
Each step crushed her heart and ignited a fire.
Vivian needed answers wrapped in confrontation.
Against the backdrop of this gala—the world she’d crafted—she felt the weight of her choice.
But could she really confront Nathan?
Was she ready for the moment he saw her strength?
Dominic’s grip tightened, holding her steady as they approached the archway.
Fear bit down, sharper than the moment of revelation.
Then they stopped, and their eyes locked.
He stepped closer, his breath warm against her cheek, and whispered,
"No one deserves your hurt, especially not him."
Vivian inhaled, a mix of dread and exhilaration threading her lungs.
She would not break apart.
She would not surrender.
And in that instant, she felt the shift.
The moment of truth loomed.
But each heartbeat—the countdown to the inevitable.
Were they ready to face what came next?
One look changed everything.
The ballroom dimmed, the world narrowed down, holding its breath alongside them.
The final reckoning awaited.
What would she choose?
Part 2... Read the full story below the link in the comments 👇