The Fallen Queen's Dating Show Comeback
Chapter 1
"And the Golden Globe goes to... Catalina Campbell."
The presenter's voice echoed through the massive speakers of the Beverly Hilton ballroom.
For a full second, the room went completely dead. The silence pressed against Catalina's eardrums.
Then, the reality hit her.
She slapped both hands over her mouth. Her lungs forgot how to pull in air. Her heart hammered against her ribs so violently she thought it might crack her sternum.
She grabbed handfuls of the heavy, intricate layers of her custom Oscar de la Renta gown. The fabric weighed at least twenty pounds. It pulled at her waist, a physical anchor trying to keep her in her seat.
She sucked in a sharp breath and forced her legs to straighten.
The room erupted. Thunderous applause crashed over her like a physical wave.
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, hot and stinging. She blinked them back aggressively. She pinned a flawless, practiced smile onto her face and began the long walk toward the stage.
The broadcast cameras panned across the front row of VIP tables.
Brogan Cohen sat leaning back in his velvet chair. He didn't clap. His dark, bottomless eyes tracked her every movement, locked onto the bare skin of her back. In the blind spot of the lenses, his jawline instantly tightened, a subtle twitch of muscle betraying a flicker of emotion.
Catalina reached the stage. The presenter handed her the golden globe.
The metal was freezing. The heavy, icy weight of it settled into her palms. Her fingertips trembled against the smooth surface.
She stepped up to the microphone. She delivered her speech flawlessly. Her voice didn't shake. She kept her eyes focused on the teleprompter and the back wall.
She didn't look at the front row. She didn't look at him.
The crowd roared again as she finished.
She turned and walked toward the backstage exit. The moment she crossed the threshold and the heavy velvet curtains fell shut behind her, the blinding stage lights vanished.
The hallway was incredibly dim.
Instantly, the tension holding her spine rigid snapped. Her shoulders slumped forward. Her chest he heave as she finally allowed herself to breathe.
She needed to get to her private dressing room. She picked up her pace, her heels clicking rapidly against the polished floor.
But the lighting was too poor.
The stiletto heel of her left shoe came down hard, piercing straight through the trailing tulle of her own dress.
Her forward momentum violently betrayed her.
Her body pitched forward. The floor rushed up to meet her face. A gasp lodged in her throat, choking her. She squeezed her eyes shut, bracing her body for the inevitable, bone-crushing impact.
A large hand shot out from the shadows.
Long, thick fingers wrapped around her forearm with brutal precision. The grip was iron-tight.
The force of the pull jerked her backward so hard her neck snapped back.
This strong scent of cedarwood and sharp tobacco instantly flooded her senses. It somehow carried a heart-stopping familiarity, a primal trigger that her panicked brain couldn't quite process in the chaos.
Catalina's eyes flew open. Her chest collided with a solid, unyielding wall of muscle covered in a Tom Ford tuxedo.
She looked up and met Brogan's eyes. They were entirely too close. A mocking, infuriating smirk played on his lips.
"Almost ate the floor on your big night, Caty," Brogan murmured.
His voice was a low, gravelly vibration that she felt in her own chest. The hallway was too quiet. He kept his volume down, but the mockery was deafening.
Catalina's stomach twisted. She glared at him, her teeth grinding together so hard her jaw ached.
She yanked her arm, trying to break his grip.
He didn't budge. His fingers tightened slightly, the heat of his palm burning through the thin fabric of her sleeve. He pulled her a fraction of an inch closer.
"Let go of me," Catalina hissed, her voice barely a whisper.
Panic spiked in her veins. If any staff member walked by and saw them like this, it would be a disaster.
Brogan just raised a thick, dark eyebrow.
Instead of letting go, he shifted his weight. He dropped down onto one knee right in front of her.
Catalina sucked in a sharp breath. The air hissed through her teeth. Her entire body went rigid.
Brogan's large hands moved to her ankle. His long fingers deftly untangled the torn tulle from the sharp spike of her heel. He did it with the practiced ease of someone who had done this a hundred times before.
Catalina stood completely frozen. Her heart beat so fast it made her lightheaded.
"Hurry up and get up," she urged, her voice tight with suppressed panic.
Brogan ignored her. He took his time, his fingers deliberately smoothing out the wrinkles in the expensive fabric near her ankle.
He finally tilted his head up to look at her.
At that exact second, a blinding, violent flash of white light exploded from the corner of the hallway.
The sharp, mechanical click-click-click of a camera shutter echoed off the walls.
Catalina's pupils dilated. Her blood ran ice-cold. A massive wave of pure terror seized her chest, squeezing her lungs until she couldn't breathe.
She shoved Brogan's shoulder with both hands, pushing him away violently.
Brogan's mocking expression vanished. His dark eyes turned lethal.
He shot up to his feet in one fluid motion. He took a massive stride toward the shadows at the end of the hall.
The hidden paparazzo realized he was caught. The man spun around, his shoulder slamming hard into the metal push-bar of the fire exit. The heavy door banged open, and the man sprinted into the stairwell like a maniac.
Two hotel security guards came running around the corner, their walkie-talkies crackling loudly. The quiet hallway instantly descended into chaotic noise.
Brogan stopped in his tracks. His jaw was clenched so tight the muscle jumped.
Catalina's stomach dropped to her knees. She knew exactly what that picture looked like.
She didn't look at Brogan. She couldn't.
She grabbed fistfuls of her skirt and bolted. She ran down the hall and shoved the door to her exclusive dressing room open, slamming it shut behind her.
She pressed her back flat against the solid wood door. She gasped for air. Her heart was a frantic drum against her ribs.
Please let it be blurry, she prayed, squeezing her eyes shut. Please let it be out of focus.
Through the thick wood of the door, she heard Brogan's deep voice barking orders at the security guards to chase the guy down.
Catalina slid her hands up her face, pressing her palms hard against her eyes.
Fifteen minutes later, the Los Angeles night sky remained calm.
But deep inside the servers of TMZ, a breaking news push notification went live.
The photo was high-definition. It was perfectly focused.
It showed Hollywood's most untouchable A-lister, Brogan Cohen, down on one knee. His eyes were fixed intently on the new Best Actress winner as he gently adjusted her dress. The lighting from the hallway cast a cinematic, incredibly intimate glow over them.
The headline above the photo was brutal.
The Golden Globes' Best Kept Secret: Who is Brogan Cohen Bowing To?
The internet exploded.
Within three minutes, the photo surpassed one hundred thousand retweets. The sheer volume of traffic caused Twitter's servers to physically lag.
A tsunami of comments flooded the platform. Shock. Jealousy. Vicious speculation.
The hashtag BroganCatalina skyrocketed to the number one trending topic in the world.
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