No Ones POV

CRASH!

A shattering sound echoed through the massive luxury bedroom. A priceless crystal vase smashed directly against the wall. Everything in the room was completely devastated- mirrors were cracked, designer perfume bottles were shattered, and silk pillows were ripped.

"WHO DID THIS?!" Amelia screamed, her face contorted in pure rage, her throat raw. "DIDN’T I STRICTLY ORDER YOU TO BLOCK ANY KIND OF PAPARAZZI?! HOW DID THIS PIC GO VIRAL?!"

Her personal assistant stood dead center in the room, shivering violently from head to toe. Broken glass completely surrounded her flats, and she didn’t dare move an inch, terrified that a stray shard- or Amelia’s next projectile would slice her open.

Amelia frantically scrolled through her phone, her breathing ragged. Not a single person was taking her side! Her high-society friends, her followers, the general public- everyone was mercilessly making fun of her, ripping her delicate reputation into bloody pieces! She couldn’t take the humiliation for another second!

"WHY ISN’T THE POST DOWN YET?!" she shouted, throwing a heavy jewelry box onto the floor.

The assistant stammered, her voice cracking in absolute terror. "M-Miss... we are working on it... the tech team is trying to trace the server... just give us a few more minutes..."

"FEW MORE MINUTES?!" Amelia roared, her eyes bulging. "You want me to sit here and read these humiliating comments for even ONE more minute?! Do you want me to die of embarrassment?!"

Amelia marched right through the glass shards and aggressively snatched her assistant by the collar, curling the fabric tightly in her fist. She pulled the trembling girl down until their faces were inches apart.

"Tell me right now- did you find the owner of that burner account?!" Amelia threatened. "If you say no, I swear I will feed you to the street dogs alive! You exactly know who my dad is and what he can do to your entire family!"

"

It... it must be that filthy girl, Vivien, Miss!" the assistant blurted out in a desperate rush, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. "It has to be her!"

"That bitch?!" Amelia sneered, a look of pure disdain crossing her face as she roughly shoved the assistant away. "Don’t be ridiculous! That stupid, weak, pathetic little girl wouldn’t have the guts to take a stand against me! She’s nothing!"

"B-But Miss, you DON’T KNOW!" the assistant cried out, clutching her neck. "She isn’t weak at all! She literally took down the underground thugs you personally told me to pay off last week!"

"What...?"

A sudden shock washed over Amelia’s face. Her arrogant smirk completely vanished, her body going stiff. "What did you just say?"

The assistant nodded frantically, her teeth chattering. "Yes, Miss!! Every single one of the thugs we sent after her is dead! They were wiped out in an alley! And worse... their main syndicate leader is now calling us, demanding a massive commission to bury the evidence! He said if we don’t pay up by tonight, he will let the whole media know that it was YOU who funded the hit!"

Amelia’s face instantly drained of all color, transitioning from pure horror to an even uglier rage. The walls were closing in on her.

"WHY HAVEN’T YOU TOLD ME THIS YET!!!" Amelia screamed, her voice piercing the ceiling as she grabbed her hair in absolute panic.

"I... I thought we could handle it internally, Miss..." the assistant’s voice completely died down, her head bowing low.

"That... that absolute bitch!" Amelia huffed, her chest heaving violently as she paced across the ruined bedroom. "She is definitely not as naive and dumb as I initially thought!"

Amelia abruptly turned on her heel and began aggressively tearing through her desk drawers. She threw papers and folders everywhere until her fingers locked onto a specific folder labeled Vivien. She snapped it open, her nails digging into the paper. The file showed exactly what she expected- an ordinary, financially struggling background girl. Yet, how on earth had this pathetic student managed to take down those thugs and have guts to completely deceive and humiliate her?!

As her eyes scanned down the background details, they landed squarely on a specific medical history section. A particular hospital name was bolded at the bottom of the page.

Amelia’s breath completely hitched. This hospital...

Her mind instantly flashed back to the conversations she had with him. It was the exact same medical center He had been visiting over the past few months. When she had subtly questioned him about it back then, he had dismissed her with a cold look, stating he simply had "someone special" resting there.

Amelia’s face twisted.

She instantly snatched her designer purse off the bed and stormed out of the room. "Follow me right now!" she ordered her trembling assistant, not even waiting to see if the girl was keeping up. They were going to settle this once and for all.

_____________

"Achoo!"

Back in her apartment, Vivien sneezed loudly, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.

"Ugh, is someone talking trash about me behind my back?" she muttered, sniffing slightly.

"Whatever, who cares! I must finish memorizing this entire programming textbook in one night first!"

She groaned loudly, throwing her head onto the open pages of her desk. She wanted to cry so badly. Why was her life so incredibly hard?! Wuwuwuw... Other people got to just study and pass, but she had to balance a high stakes college degree with avoiding a literal life execution! Forcing her eyelids open, she dragged herself back up and started typing out Python code again.

DING.

A notification sound chimed from her phone. Vivien looked down and instantly rolled her eyes. Again?! Another unknown number?! What was this absolute creep’s problem?

Unknown: You looked cute today.

Me: [Sends a highly offensive meme of a trash can with the caption: ’Is this your home? Because you belong in it. Keep trash talking someone else’s phone.’]

She confidently swiped her thumb across the screen, about to press the block button for the third time tonight, but the very next text message made her thumb freeze mid-air.

Unknown: Haha, funny. Was it just as funny to sneak around and spy on other people behind a large potted tree today? 😉

Vivien’s heart dropped into her stomach. Her breath hitched.

Me: Who the hell are you?

Unknown: Finally. I finally got your attention. 😏

Me: You’re the author... you’re Elias, aren’t you?!

Unknown: Oh my! My babygirl is a literal genius! ✨

Me: Ew, don’t call me that! Gross!

Vivien shuddered in disgust, her skin crawling as she stared at the glowing screen. The puppet master had finally broken his silence, and he was targeting her directly.

Unknown: I won’t stop calling you that unless you want me to expose your identity to the public. Especially to Amelia~ 😉

Me: First expose your own identity to the public before exposing mine!

Even as she typed out the brave reply, an anxiety washed over Vivien. She stared at the screen, her chest tightening. What if this psycho actually did it? She wasn’t some wealthy elite heiress who could just buy her way out of a scandal. She was just trying to survive!

And worse, her mind flashed back to the phone call she had eavesdropped on in the car.

Dominic’s mom had explicitly told him to investigate who was behind the viral post. If Dominic’s high-tech security team tracked the IP address back to her apartment... Holy mac and cheese, he is definitely going to skin me alive!

DING.

Unknown: Pfft, don’t worry. I won’t do either of those things. Since I care soo much about you, babygirl~

Vivien rolled her eyes. My foot! she thought bitterly. I am pretty sure he doesn’t care about anyone. He’s just doing this to entertain himself like the absolute psycho he is.

Me: What the hell is your problem with me? Can’t you just leave me alone? We are no longer in your god-damned book!

Unknown: How can I? You’re the most interesting person I have ever met~. Besides, you shouldn’t shove away your benefactor like this. It’s bad manners.

Me: Benefactor?! You did nothing but waste my time! More like a professional time waster.

DING.

Unknown: Aww, you already forgot your dear friend who paid your expensive hospital bills~? Your parents were so incredibly lovely when we spoke.

Vivien’s hand froze entirely over the screen. Her breath completely caught in her throat,

So it was him! the one who paid for her treatment while she was in a coma! And even worse- he had already approached her real-world parents!

Panic and fury flared up in her chest. She aggressively began typing out a response, demanding answers. ’’Who authorized you to speak to my—’’

Before she could even hit the send button, a red error exclamation mark popped up next to her text.

This user has blocked you or restricted incoming messages.

"He... he BLOCKED ME?!" Vivien shrieked into the quiet room, standing up so fast her chair screeched loudly against the floor. "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!"

She stared at the screen in pure disbelief. How dare he! How dare that blonde-haired puppet master text me, threaten me, drop a literal emotional atomic bomb on my life, and then block me first?!

Vivien wanted to hunt him down and strangle him with her bare hands. In a fit of absolute frustration, she threw her phone onto her bed, forcing herself to take deep breaths.

"No. Focus, Vivien. Focus," she muttered, gripping her hair. "First, I need to focus on passing this exam tomorrow. I cannot let a psycho ruin my academic GPA."

Slamming herself back down into her chair, she aggressively pulled her textbook closer. But beneath her panic, she made a mental note: the very second her exam was over tomorrow, she was calling her mother once again to investigate.

___________

Dominic’s eyes were tightly shut, a thin layer of cold sweat breaking out across his forehead. His entire body was locked in a state of tense paralysis as his subconscious dragged him back into another nightmare.

But this time, the dream was different.

A blood soaked basement came to his view, and a woman was bound tightly to a wooden chair in the center of the room. Dominic stepped closer in the dark, expecting to see the soft, familiar features that usually haunted his sleep. But as the blur over the woman’s face finally dissolved, his dark brows furrowed in deep confusion.

The girl trapped in the chair... was Amelia.

"Please, Dante... trust me, I didn’t do anything!" Amelia sobbed violently, blood smeared across her face. She looked directly at him, her eyes wide with a desperate. "I love you! We can be happy together! Please don’t do this to me!"

Dominic silently watched the scene unfold. Hearing that name again Dante, made a lot of question pop into his mind.

But what disturbed his subconscious even more was that.....Did she know who Dante was?

In the dream, a shadowy man stepped out and began to ruthlessly torture her. Dominic stood there, his hands shoved into his pockets, calmly watching the brutal display. Honestly, he didn’t care at all. He didn’t feel a single shred of pity, or basic human empathy for the girl screaming

In pain

In reality, a dark instinct deep inside his chest wanted to do the exact same thing to her. A disgust toward Amelia rushed through his veins- so intense that he couldn’t even logically explain why he felt it. He simply wanted her erased.

Before long, her lifeless voice finally went silent, her head dropping forward as her chest stopped moving.

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TO BE CONTINUED