Chapter 1
Delilah Edwards woke up to the sound of her phone.
The device buzzed violently on the mattress. She fumbled for it blindly, eyes still shut, and swiped to answer. Her voice scraped out like sandpaper on glass.
"Hello?" Delilah said.
"Delilah!" Her assistant Cora's voice came through sharp enough to pierce eardrums. "You're trending!"
Delilah opened her eyes.
The blackout curtains were drawn tight, leaving the room in pitch darkness. She couldn't tell if it was day or night. She glanced at the screen and saw it was five seventeen in the morning.
"What trend?" Delilah asked.
"You and Kennedy Collins! Someone got photos of you two!" Cora yelled.
Delilah froze for a second.
'Kennedy?' She thought. 'The A-list idol with eighty million followers, six years in the business with zero dating scandals, the guy his fan club called the last pure-hearted virgin in showbiz?
'Just being in the same city as him usually gets me cussed out online for breathing his air. And now we have photos?'
"Wait a second," Delilah said. She sat up and rubbed her temple. "Photos of what?"
"Just look," Cora said.
The call ended.
Delilah opened Twitter. The app took a solid five seconds to load before crashing completely. She waited thirty seconds and the page finally refreshed.
Trend 1: [KennedyCollinsDelilahEdwardsRomance]
Trend 2: [KennedyCollinsSecretRendezvous]
Trend 3: [WhoIsDelilahEdwards]
Trend 4: [KennedyCollinsStudio]
Trend 5: [IdolDownfall]
Delilah was speechless.
She clicked the top hashtag.
A pinned video from a gossip account showed the hallway outside a private dining room. The timestamp read just after nine the previous night.
She was wearing her gray trench coat, purse in hand, stepping out of the room. She took two steps, turned back, and said something toward the doorway.
Then a man walked out.
He wore a black hoodie, a black baseball cap, and a face mask that hid everything.
But the build, the way he moved, that flash of pale, cool-toned skin at his wrist... it was definitely Kennedy.
In the clip, Kennedy walked up beside her and murmured something.
She tilted her head up at him and cracked a small smile. Then they left together, their shoulders almost brushing, close enough to look like a couple.
The video ended.
Delilah stared at the screen in silence for three seconds. Then it clicked.
'The reunion,' she thought. 'Last night was the high school reunion.'
She and Kennedy had been classmates in the same homeroom and sat front and back.
He actually showed up this time. It was his first appearance at a reunion since graduation, supposedly because he was filming nearby and decided to swing by.
He was heading out just as she was leaving, so they walked out together. That was it.
Their shoulders nearly touched because the doorway was narrow, not because they were flirting.
She smiled because he said, "You haven't changed a bit." That was small talk, not chemistry.
And now this.
Delilah scrolled down to the comments. The section had already exploded.
[Kennedy, are you brain damaged? What's the point of the mask when everyone recognizes your body?]
[Who is this woman and why is she breathing next to my man?]
[Delilah. I looked her up. D-list actress played third lead in a few web dramas.]
[That's it?]
[Kennedy, get your eyes checked.]
[Probably fake, just friends.]
[Friends don't walk shoulder to shoulder.]
[Is Kennedy' studio dead? Come out and deny this.]
Delilah flipped the phone face down on the bed and lay back against the pillow.
'I'm screwed,' she thought. 'My career might be over by the end of the day.'
Sure, she was a D-lister. Sure, she barely booked a few gigs a year. Sure, her biggest dream was just to land a supporting role. But at least she was still scraping by in this industry.
Now that Kennedy' fans had her in their crosshairs, would she ever book another job?
Her phone buzzed again.
This time it was her manager, Sophie.
Delilah took a deep breath and picked up. "Sophie?"
"Where are you?" Sophie asked.
"Home," Delilah said.
"Don't leave. Wait for my call," Sophie said. Her voice was fast and clipped. "I just got off the phone with Kennedy's studio. They're having a meeting to figure out how to handle this. Don't post anything. Don't say a word. You hear me?"
"I hear you," Delilah said.
"And tell me the truth," Sophie said. "What's really going on between you two?"
Delilah answered honestly, "High school classmates. We ran into each other at the reunion last night."
"That's it?" Sophie asked.
"That's it," Delilah said.
Sophie was quiet for two seconds. "Okay. Got it. Wait for my update."
The call ended.
Delilah clutched her phone and stared at the ceiling. Her heart hammered like a drum.
'This feels bad,' she thought. 'Really bad.'
Three hours passed.
Sophie called back. Delilah picked up instantly.
"Hello?" Delilah said.
"So..." Sophie's voice sounded strange, like she was holding back a laugh or maybe trying not to scream. "Delilah, listen. I need to tell you something. Don't freak out."
"What is it?" Delilah asked.
"Kennedy' team came back with a proposal," Sophie said.
"What kind of proposal?"