Chapter 1: The stranger.

The wedding dress hung in the corner of Isabella’s hotel suite like a cruel reminder of everything she had lost.

White silk. Hand-stitched lace. A future that no longer existed.

She stared at it through blurry eyes while her phone remained face down on the bed beside her, still flooded with messages she refused to read. Friends. Family. Apologies. Lies.

None of it mattered anymore.

Her fiancé had cheated on her.

And not with a stranger.

With her twin sister.

A shaky laugh escaped her lips before another sob followed right after. The pain in her chest felt unbearable, like someone had ripped her heart out and left the wound open for everyone to see.

“Two days before the wedding…” she whispered brokenly. “How could you do this to me?”

Outside, rain hammered against the hotel windows while the city lights blurred into streaks of gold and white.

Isabella couldn’t breathe inside the suite anymore.

So she grabbed her coat, ignored the tears ruining her makeup, and headed downstairs to the hotel bar.

And that was the beginning of the worst mistake of her life or the best.

The bartender stopped wiping the glass the moment Isabella sat down.

Not because she was loud.

Not because she was causing trouble.

But because heartbreak had a look to it—and she wore it all over her face.

“What can I get you?” he asked carefully.

“Something strong.”

A few shots later, the burning in her throat became easier to handle than the ache in her chest.

Music pulsed softly through the luxurious bar while strangers laughed around her like the world hadn’t just ended.

Isabella hated them for it.

She hated how normal everything still looked.

How the world kept moving after hers had shattered.

Another shot appeared in front of her.

“I didn’t order that,” she muttered.

The bartender nodded toward the other end of the bar. “Gentleman paid for it.”

Her eyes lazily drifted across the room, but the dim lighting made it hard to see clearly. All she caught was a tall figure dressed in black sitting alone in the shadows.

Watching her.

A chill ran through her body.

She quickly looked away.

Normally, Isabella would’ve left immediately. But tonight, she didn’t care enough to be careful.

So she drank it.

Hours later, the hallway to her suite spun around her as she stumbled forward barefoot, heels hanging from her fingers.

“Stupid…” she mumbled tearfully. “I was literally going to marry him…”

She stopped in front of a hotel room and pushed the door open without thinking.

Unlocked.

Good.

Her blurry mind barely noticed the difference between this suite and hers.

She walked inside, dropped her heels onto the floor, and collapsed face first onto the bed.

The room smelled different.

Dark wood. Whiskey. Something masculine.

But Isabella was too drunk and exhausted to care.

Fresh tears soaked into the sheets beneath her face.

“I hate him,” she whispered.

Silence answered her.

Then—

A deep male voice emerged from the darkness.

“Interesting way to break into someone’s room.”

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