Outside

The moment Melanie stepped outside of the club, she walked into her car and took a few calming breaths! It had taken everything in her to call out Adam. And she had come out the winner. Something that she had almost not expected. Even if he had been pretending, Adam Collins was too combustible. He'd been keeping her on the backfoot ever since he returned, keeping her unbalanced with his magnetism.

Thankfully she had done well and put him on the back foot. She had seen it—the exact moment he realized he wouldn't be able to fool her. That slight shift in his gaze, the way his eyes sharpened with reluctant respect. It had been small, but she had caught it. And it mattered to her.

For the past two days, all she had done was cry over what she had lost. Her first love, her trust, her innocence—shattered like fragile glass. She had grieved over the illusion of what could have been, drowning in the ache of betrayal while desperately trying to figure out what came next.