The scent of rain lingered in the air, mixing with the distant noise of a city that never truly slept. Behind the misted glass of her bedroom window Amelia sat curled into herself, arms wrapped tightly around her knees. The small, worn-out room she once shared with her late father now felt more like a cage than a home.
Her fingers traced the edge of an old photograph of her, at two years old, sitting in her father's lap.Her mother's smile, faded in the image, still burned brightly in Amelia's memory, even though she barely
remembered her. When her mother passed, her father did his best. He remarried,hoping to bring warmth and stability into Amelia's world. But he never knew the woman he brought in would be the one to tear it all apart. And now … he was gone too.
The accident had taken him away so suddenly, so cruelly. Since that day, everything shattered.Miriam, her stepmother, wasted no time revealing her
true self—a cold, controlling woman who saw Amelia as nothing more than a burden. The only warmth left in the house was reserved for her own children, Carla and Callum.
Amelia worked herself to the bone. As a waitress at a diner by day, a club server by night. Every cent she earned was snatched away under the guise of "family responsibilities"
.
" But what choice did she have? With no one else to lean on, she endured. Until that night.
The music had been loud, the lights blinding, and the scent of liquor thick in the air. She was just trying to get through her shift, like always. But fate had other plans. A man tall, dark, and unmistakably dangerous had stumbled into the club, his
gaze hazy, his presence commanding.She noticed the way his steps faltered, how his breaths were uneven. Drugged, drunk … and deeply wounded in ways she couldn't understand.He dragged her into a room roughly, but not without hesitation. Fear rushed through her veins,but even in the haze of panic, she saw it in his eyes: restraint. A desperate war waged inside him,and in that moment, he chose not to lose control. He could have hurt her but he didn't.
And for reasons she didn't fully understand, Amelia didn't run.She stayed.
And come morning, she was gone.
As she slipped out of the room, the door clicking softly behind her, a rush of thoughts flooded her mind. Who was he? Why had he been in such pain?
Would their paths ever cross again?Could they meet again under different circumstances? She
didn't know. But she couldn't shake the feeling that this encounter was far from over.
Amelia walked away, her heart pounding in her chest, the unanswered questions lingering in the air like the rain that still clung to the streets outside.