Chapter 1
I sat across from Julian Rivers in the coffee shop, watching him stir his black coffee with a silver spoon.
He was my boyfriend of three months, but he was also something else—the obsessive second male lead from an urban romance novel, the kind who'd go completely unhinged for the original female lead.
And me? I was Sophia Lane, the cannon fodder ex-girlfriend who dumped him for 300 thousand dollars check and ended up at the bottom of a river as his revenge.
The plot didn't give me much time.
I took a deep breath and pushed a bank card across the table, following the original script.
"Julian, we need to break up," I said. "There's 300 thousand dollars in there. Consider it your breakup fee."
I couldn't look at him.
All I could hear was the sound of his spoon against the porcelain cup, and then it stopped.
Dead silence.
I fought every instinct screaming at me to run and forced myself to deliver the final line.
"Being with you is boring."
A few seconds passed.
He finally moved, but it wasn't the explosion I expected. He didn't rage and ask any questions.
He just reached across the coffee table with those elegant fingers and wrapped them gently around my wrist.
His touch was cold, like ice-carved pearl. "Sophia," he said softly.
His voice was calm and refined like always, but there was something new in it—a tremor I'd never heard before.
"Who's making you do this?"
*****
I jerked my head up and found myself staring into his eyes.
Those eyes usually held nothing but cold detachment.
But right now, something wild and intense burned in their depths, something I couldn't understand.
This wasn't how the script was supposed to go.
He should have laughed coldly, said something like "Congratulations, you've got my attention," thrown his coffee in my face, and walked away like the ice king he was supposed to be.
But "who's forcing you?" What was this, some daytime soap opera?
My brain was screaming while my body froze like a statue.
Julian's fingers tightened slightly around my wrist. The pressure wasn't painful, but it left no room for argument.
"Tell me," he said, leaning closer.
His perfect face filled my vision, and I could smell the sharp, sterile scent of the lab clinging to him.
"Do you need money?" he asked. "Is something wrong with your family?" His voice dropped lower. "Tell me and I'll fix it."
My heart pounded so hard I thought it might explode.
This was not the character I knew.
The Julian from the original story should have already gone full "Don't look down on me now, I'll make you regret it" revenge mode by this point.
I tried to pull my hand back, but he only held on tighter.
His body heat seeped through my skin. It should have felt cool, but it burned me instead.
He called out, "Sophia Lane!"
He used my full name for the first time, and his voice held back a storm.
He demanded, "Look at me!"
I had no choice but to look up and meet his bloodshot eyes.
He spoke slowly, "You think I don't know?" His voice dropped to something terrifying. "You have nightmares every night and wake up covered in cold sweat."
I froze.
He continued, "You're always checking your phone like you're waiting for some kind of verdict."
He added, "You're even secretly booking flights to leave the city."
My heart felt like an invisible hand was squeezing it, and it almost stopped beating.
How could he possibly know? I deleted my browser history.
This man was the youngest quantum physics laureate in the world with an IQ of 180.
I thought he was just some research-obsessed nerd, but I forgot what he was best at. He could find patterns in the most chaotic particle movements.
And I was the anomaly he was tracking.
He asked, "So who is it?"
He stared at me intensely, like he wanted to see through my body and into my soul.
He pressed, "Who made you this scared? Scared enough to push me away like this?"
People around us started staring and whispering to each other.
One woman leaned toward her friend and said, "Isn't that Julian? Why is he arguing with some girl?"
Her friend whispered back, "Who is she? I think she just dumped him."
Another voice chimed in, "Is she crazy? Breaking up with Julian? What's her problem?"
I wanted to scream that my problem was staying alive, but I kept my mouth shut.
I was on the verge of tears, but I forced myself to keep playing the villain.
I looked at Julian and made myself speak. "Stop being so clingy."
I tried to laugh, but my voice came out shaky and uneven. "I'm bored with you, okay? Your whole world is just equations and spreadsheets. It's mind-numbing and I can't take it anymore."
I pushed forward, hating every word. "I want designer bags and sports cars and unlimited money to spend. Can you give me that?"
The entire coffee shop went silent after I finished.
Everyone stared at me like I had lost my mind.
Julian said nothing. The fire in his eyes slowly died out and turned back into that cold, empty look I knew so well.
This was exactly what I needed. I needed him to hate me so he would leave me alone and stay safe.
My heart soared with relief, and I almost wanted to congratulate myself on my acting skills.
But then everything changed.
Julian let go of my hand. He stood up slowly and straightened his slightly wrinkled shirt cuffs. Then he pulled out his phone and made a call.
His voice was calm, almost cold. "It's me. Buy out Speed Motors. I want the contract in five minutes. And transfer ownership of Luxe Department Store to Sophia's name. Do it now."
He ended the call and looked back at me.
Julian's beautiful eyes held no disgust, only an impenetrable fog with something darker and more obsessive lurking beneath.
He looked down at me like I was a small animal that had stumbled into a trap without realizing it.
Julian leaned closer and said, "Sophia, I can give you everything you want now, so can we stop talking about breaking up?"