bChapter /bb27 /b

Nivera numed het bedroom det shut with a loud bang. Her chest heaved heavily. She wanted to scream, anything to let out the frustration the was

Her hands shook as she ripped the clip from her hair and yanked off the earrings Alejandro had made her wear.

The jumpsuit still clung to her like a second bskin/b, sticky w

y with the weight of memory and humiliation

Turning, she stormed into the bathroom. When she came face to face with her reflection, the froze as it hit her blike /ba punch to the gut.

Her check was red from where she’d been

en pped earlier that day. A find one of dried blond marked her lip

And now that the adrenaline had Eadedb, /bshe saw just how pitiful her He had be.

She looked nothing like the woman whold once stood on runways bold and unbreakable under blinding lights.

She looked… broken, no thanks to everyone around her.

“Bastards!” she bhissed /bas she walked back into the room and grabbed her phone, bas /bshe wanted to see what the inte was saying for herself.

Notifications immediately y flooded the screen bas /bit came on. Mentions. Tags Articles, they were all waiting for her.

Against her better judgment, she clicked on one.

Nivers Spotted With Alejandro bGarcia/b: New me or Old Game?”

The model–turned–mystery bshowed /bup with infamous bachelor Alejandro Garcia. Could this be a romance or just another PR disasterb? /b

Nivera’s mouth dropped open, and she was shocked to see that they still remembered bher/bb, /bbut that didn’t change the fact that she was furious at the

headline.

She scrolled, wanting to see thements.

“She’s trying to revive a dead career,

“He’s just adding her to the collection”

“Didn’t she get cklisted bfor /bbcausing /bdrama with Nathaniel ckwell?”

“I bet she finally gave in to her btrue /bcolours and is sleeping her way up.

“Spoiled girls don’t know how to stay in their ce.”

Thements blurred together. Some bwere /bughing GIFs. Some were throwbacks to her past magazine covers, mocking how bfar /bshe’d fallen.

And others–others called her cheap. Desperate. Fake/

It was worse than she imagined, and if her father didn’t bhave /bhis own selfish reason, bhis /banger would have been justifiedb. /b

bTears /bburned behind her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Her mind took her back to when she had tried to bell people that Nathaniel had tried to force himself bon /bher.

No one had believed her, and they had called her names, saying she was looking for attention.

b“/bDon’t cry, Nivera,” she muttered to herself “Crying makes you bweak/bb, /band you’re not

She repeated those words a few more times till she bwas /bokay.

in all of this, she realized how no one pointed a linger at Alejandro.

The fact that he went scot free despite being the e responsible for what was happening to her Infuriated har

He was the one using her and not the other way around. Tossing her phone onto the bed, the stormed out of the room, as she had a few things the

wanted to tell him.

She found himing up the stairs just as she was about to go down. Their eyes met like shing sheet

“What?” Alejandro snapped in irritation when she red at him without saying anything.

“Don’t fucking snap at me!” She snapped back, her voice sharp. “It’s not your name being dragged through the mud, is it?”

Alejandro rolled his eyes as though her feelings weren’t important. It was him, of course they weren’t important.

“Congrattions, you’ve gotten publicity,” he yawned in boredom.

“Did I tell you I wanted publicity?” Nivera hissed.

“No?” He raised a brow. “Because the bway /bI’m looking at bthe /bsituation, you definitely needed publicity to revive your dead modelling career.”

His words struck a nerve as she was reminded of her career, which was truly bdead/b.

“You arrogant—1b” /bShe took a step closer, fury radiating off her.

“Do you think that this bis /bbthe /bkind of publicity I bwant/bb? /bTo be seen with you? Of all people?” She scoffed.

Alejandro’s expression finally changed from one of boredom to a frown.

“My entire life has been hijacked by people like you–rich, powerful men who think they can use women like disposable essories.”

“You came to me,” he said simply. “Not the other bway /baround.”

“Are you fucking stupid?!” Nivera yelled

“Watch your words!” Alejandro warned.

“Are you fucking stupid?!” Nivera repeated, not bcaring /babout the consequence.

Someone needed to put the egotistical asshole in his ce and give him a reality check.

“They are calling me a whore, saying I want to sleep with you just to revive my career. Now if I wanted to sleep with someone to do that, do you think it’d be you, the one whose ego is bigger than his brain?”

Alejandro was rendered speechless by her words. As someone who was used to women bfalling /bat his feet, it was the first in a long time, one had insulted him, and Nivera sure wasn’t holding bback/b.

“You’re talking like you weren’t there that night to seduce Nathaniel,” he retorted when he found his words.

“Thank goodness you finally realize I wasn’t there for you,” Nivera pped. If she had a gun, she wouldn’t have hesitated to put a bullet in Alejandro’s head.

“You probably must bhave /bdone an investigation about me, now how smart must you be to actually think I’d go back and sleep with Nathaniel?” She scoffed, her words dripping with sarcasm.

b“/bYou weren’t!” Alejandro squinted his beyes/bb. /b

“No, goddammit!” Nivera responded. “Do you think I carry ban /binjection around bas /bba /bweapon to use whenever I want?”

As soon as bshe /bsaid those words, it finally clicked in Alejandon’s head.

“bI /bbwas /bgoing to use the injection on Nathaniel, get some naked pictones of hint and threaten him into giving me my career back, but the bastard was a step ahead, and he drugged me.”

“I was trying to escape from the goons he sent to capture him when i saw your She clenched her jaw, her fists trembling.

Goodness, it felt so good to get that off her chest. She didn’t ever n on telling him this, that was until he brought up her modelling career.

“My reputation is once again taking a hit, and don’t you date stand there and act nonchnt about it when you’re the cause of it. She paused as she was out of breath.

“Get some rest.” Alejandro used that opportunity to speak. “The wedding is tomorrow, and we leave early, as I’m the best man.”

And just like that, he disappeared down the hall, his footsteps echoing until the silence swallowed him

Nivera’s mouth dropped in disbelief. With everything she had said, all he cared about was the wedding and dragging her to

She stood frozen, her pulse roaring in her ears. This wasn’t over, not by a long shot

If he didn’t do something about it, she was going to have to show him exactly why she was the ck sheep of her family.