Reborn from heartbreak; Soraya's story.

SORAYA

My legs were still a little unsteady when I stepped out of the bathroom.

Why?

ZAYNE HAPPENED.

His scent: dark, expensive, addictive. It still clung to my skin.

My lips tingled like he was still kissing me.

We almost had sex. He'd stopped.

And that said a lot, more than an actual make-out session ever could.

Men like him don't pull back unless they're thinking, calculating, wanting.

I pushed through the bar crowd, sucked in the cold night air and let it cool down the fog of heat he left behind.

I needed to focus.

Zayne was a distraction.

Though I feel he might be a good distraction for me in the nearest future.

A very attractive and dangerous one at that.Don't know how, but I'll figure that out later.

For now, I have enemies who were already ten steps ahead of me. I need to get my head back in the game.

My phone buzzed as I walked down the street toward the parking lot.

A message from Reid:

Where are you?

Marissa said you disappeared after the audition.

We need to talk.

I laughed out loud.

People turned, but I didn't care.

He needed to talk because he was scared.

Good.

I reached the car, leaned against it and scanned the street.

Cars pulled up; people were leaving already.

Then, Reid's familiar SUV rolled into the parking lot.

He hadn't seen me yet.

I stayed in the shadows.

Marissa was in the passenger seat, legs crossed, hair perfectly curled, smiling at Reid in a way that looked sweet to strangers... But I knew better.

That smile was a leash.

Reid said something.

Marissa's smile tightened, and then he flinched.

Hmmm... Still the same dynamic.

Marissa is pulling the strings.

Reid tripping over himself just to please her.

I must commend Merissa for being too good at this manipulating stuff.

Their car idled for a moment.

Marissa adjusted her mirror.

Her eyes flicked toward where I stood.

And for the first time ever, I didn't look away.

I held her gaze, calm and unblinking.

Her smile faltered by a millimetre, but I saw it.

"Good!" I whispered to myself and smirked.

She nudged Reid. He looked too. Then, his face tightened.

Even better.

That single look told me everything;

They might not know what I remembered.

But they know for sure that something changed in me.

I stepped out of the shadows and walked toward the bar entrance, passing their SUV.

Not close enough to speak to them but close enough to make them feel unsettled.

I walked slowly, in such a way that I could still see them with the side of my eye.

A paper slipped from my purse and floated to the ground, completely intentionally.

Reid noticed immediately.

He always noticed things that made him paranoid.

Then Marissa stepped out of the car and picked it up.

Her eyes scanned the single, scribbled line:

"We should recheck my dad's will. What do you think?"

Her fingers stiffened.

Reid reached for it.

She snatched the paper back again.

"Do you think she's suspecting things already?" he whispered.

"I-"

She cleared her throat.

"I don't know, but we need to be more careful now."

"But what if-"

"Reid," she hissed, "we just need to be careful. I doubt she suspects a thing."

No, sweetheart.

I know everything.

I didn't go back, didn't acknowledge them and didn't even glance back.

The best wounds are the ones made without touching.

---

"Interesting technique."

His voice slid into my ear like silk dipped in sin.

I didn't jump. I should have.

But Zayne already had that effect on me, showing up like shadows shifting into shape.

He stood near the wall, hands in his pockets, eyes following the SUV like he already knew exactly who they were and why I cared.

"You still haven't gone home," I said softly.

He tilted his head.

"Then I would have missed out on this drama."

His gaze dipped to my lips, slowly, deliberately.

Heat rushed through me.

I hated that he could do that with just a look. I mean, it hasn't been up to 24 hours since we met. How can he have such an effect on me??

"Forgot to ask, did you enjoy the audition?" he asked.

"Did you enjoy the bathroom?" I shot back.

His smirk sharpened, just a twitch.

"Very much," he said. "Which is why I'm curious what you're doing now."

I stepped closer, just enough.

"Making small moves," I whispered.

"And those two?" He jerked his chin slightly toward Reid and Marissa's SUV.

"Bigger moves," I said.

"So you have enemies."

It wasn't a question; it didn't sound like one. Sounded more like an observation.

I met his eyes fully.

"Don't you?"

For a moment, something dark flickered behind his gaze, not danger, but recognition.

Then he chuckled, low and soft.

"You're going to get yourself into trouble," he murmured.

I smiled.

"I already did."

-

After Zayne walked away, slipping into the night like a warning, I headed toward my car.

As I pulled the door open, a thin folder slid off the seat onto the ground.

Dr Chen's handwriting clipped across the top.

My breath caught. I picked it up and flipped it open.

Sedative dosages.

Dates.

Adjustments.

Side effects.

Instructions.

And then, one line circled twice:

"Monitor closely. Cardiac response expected."

My father's medication.

My medication.

My throat tightened, anger rising like heat behind my eyes.

I am not grieving anymore, nor am I depressed.

I've been given an opportunity to rewrite all wrongs from my past.

Time to make a plan.

A quiet erasure.

I closed the folder with trembling fingers and whispered:

"Not this time."

I put it in the passenger seat, started the engine, and stared at my reflection in the rearview mirror.

I looked younger.

But the woman in my eyes?

She isn't just a younger Soraya.

She is a reborn one.

Sharper, smarter and more dangerous than they ever expected.

Then I smiled, slowly, cold, promising.

"Let the games begin."