Emmanuel_Patrick_1154

Kairo Reyes has the face of a heartthrob and the bank account of a struggling artist. Armed with nothing but his camera and a broken heart, he captures moments for a living—weddings, portraits, and smiles he’ll never see again. Girls fall for him like clockwork, drawn in by his quiet charm and soulful gaze.

But they never stay.

Every relationship ends the same: a sudden goodbye, an unexplained silence, a piece of his heart gone missing. Eleven girls, eleven heartbreaks, and a growing suspicion that he’s either cursed—or cursed to love wrong.

Then comes Selene Vaughn: wealthy, mysterious, and far too interested in who he is, not just what he does. She hires him for a private shoot, but her questions cut deeper than any lens ever could. She doesn’t want photos.

She wants to know him.

Just as Kairo starts to fall again, someone from his past resurfaces—Lina, the first girl to vanish without a word, and the only one who ever truly knew him.

Her warning?

Stay away from Selene. She’s not who she says she is.

Now caught between two women—one from a past that still haunts him and one from a present that sees through him—Kairo must uncover the truth about the curse that follows him.

Because love may not just break his heart this time…

It might destroy him.

Charming and Cursed”

The darkness wasn't just around her—it was inside her now. Not fear, not helplessness. Resolve.

Lina's breath slowed, steady as her heartbeat. She remembered what Theo had taught her during one of their stolen midnight walks behind the old theater:

"Don't panic when the lights go out. That's when people show their real selves."

She slid off her heels and moved barefoot across the floor, silent. The faintest creak in the wooden boards to her right—someone else was in the room. Watching? Waiting?

Her hand grazed the edge of the vanity. She felt around quickly, fingers closing around the familiar shape of her compact mirror. Broken, but sharp.

"Come on then," she whispered into the dark, voice low and dangerous. "You wanted me scared."

A soft intake of breath—just ahead. Too close.

The mirror slashed through the air and met resistance—cloth, then skin. A gasp. A stumble.

Light flared from the hallway as the emergency generator kicked in. Dim, flickering, but enough to reveal a tall figure clutching their arm, backing away.

"Lina—" he started, voice hoarse, eyes wide. "You don't understand—"

"Oh, I understand perfectly." Her voice didn't shake. "You think you can hurt me in the dark? Try again in the light."

She stepped forward, and this time, he backed away.

Cassian stared at the blood on his sleeve—just a thin scratch, barely breaking the skin. But it wasn't the wound that rattled him. It was her eyes. Cold. Focused. Unafraid.

This wasn't the Lina he remembered.

He had expected a scream. A plea. Maybe even a collapse into his arms, like she used to when the shadows felt too close.

Instead, she had drawn blood before the lights even flickered.

"You think you can hurt me in the dark? Try again in the light."

Her words echoed louder than the footsteps of people running down the hall. The noise didn't reach him. Nothing did.

He had stepped into the blackout with a plan—to talk to her alone, away from the stares, the whispers, the cursed lights. Maybe to scare her just enough that she'd listen.

But now, all he could hear was her breath—steady. Controlled.

And he wasn't sure he could control her, even if he tried.

Strike First”