Sebastian stepped right into a sleek black luxury car the moment he got downstairs.
It was the kind you only see in magazines–top of the line, seven figures easy,
Way too rich for this crumbling old neighborhood.
The car took him straight to the most exclusive private club in Oceanview, the kind of place we used to avoid res looking at when we passed by.
A year ago, Sebastian came to pick me up from work.
We walked past that club hand in hand.
It was buzzing with music, champagne, and laughter.
I remember smiling at him and saying,
“Wouldn’t it be cool if we could go in there, just once?”
He tapped my forehead and laughed.
“Elara, quit dreaming. People like us need to know our place.”
“We don’t get to cross lines like that.”
But tonight, he walked in like he owned the damn place.
Like it never was off–limits.
Like that whole speech he gave me was just a warning to stay in my lane–alone.
My chest tightened like something sharp was curling around my heart, but I didn’t have time to feel it
I followed him.
Right outside the private room, I heard them.
Cheers, laughter–too loud, too familiar.
“Isolde, finally! Thought you were gonna live in England forever.”
“C’mon, with Sebastian here? Like she’d ever stay away for good.”
“Seriously! If it weren’t for that bitch, Isolde would’ve never-”
That name again.
Chapter 2
Isolde
The name that still made my stomach clench after all these years.
Then I heard a voice.
Smooth. Cold.
Burned into my memory.
The voice that turned my life into a nightmare..
“Enough about her.”
“It’s my first night back–I don’t wanna hear that bitch’s name again.”
That was her.
Isolde Thorne.
Back in high school, she was the ringleader of every cruel thing that ever happened to me.
Cornered me in bathrooms, slapped me across the face.
Tore my clothes, took photos of me half–naked, laughed while she did it.
Started rumors that I was sleeping around–I almost got kicked out because of her.
And the last time…
She cornered me at the edge of the third–floor window, flicked a lighter under my hair.
I panicked.
Slipped.
Fell.
I almost died.
Walked away with a nasty scar down my cheek as a souvenir.
Her parents?
Rich enough to vanish her on the next flight to London before the police could do anything.
Me?
I got a “settlement.”
A few thousand dollars to buy my silence.
11:58
My Fe’s Chance 17: Ja
Chapter 2
To buy the rest of my life.
After that, I spent months recovering in the hospital before I could even walk back into school.
That’s when Sebastian showed up.
That’s when he became the one bright thing in my whole messed–up life.
Isolde might’ve left, but the shadow she cast didn’t.
Her little clique stuck around and got worse.
Everyone thought I was the one who framed her.
That I ruined her future.
Suddenly, I went from victim to villain.
All because I wasn’t pretty enough.
Didn’t have the right family.
Didn’t belong.
Sebastian found me on a day when they’d dragged me into the hallway.
They’d yanked my backpack, grabbed my hair,
Told me to kneel and say sorry for “what I did” to Isolde.
When I didn’t, they stomped on my leg–the one still healing from the fall.
I swear I heard the bone snap again.
And then everything went black.
When I came to, I was on Sebastian’s back.
He carried me to the ER like I weighed nothing.
That moment, I thought-
This man just saved my life.
I thought he was my hero.
Snapping back to the present, I wiped my nose and turned to leave.
But then-
“Sebastian, man, I gotta hand it to you.
11:58
Chapter 2
Five whole years with that ugly chick just to get revenge for Isolde?”
“That’s dedication.”
And just like that, I froze
Right there in the hallway.
As a chill spread up from my feet to my spine.
