~2~

~Claire Valli~

Firm and sharp, a large hand grabs my arm. Faithful. Unexpected. Unwavering.

I flip midair, gravity pausing as I dangle off the cliff's edge. I shudder when the cliff crumbles and my reflexes kick in, my legs snapping towards the edge for grip. Unstable and shaky.

A darker frame looms over me. In the presence of the night, his face is unveiled. However, his intense gaze dares vibrantly.

He utterly ignores my whimpering while he speaks. "Forgive me, I do not mean to interrupt. You're attempting suicide, are you not?"

I can't speak— Fear diffuses through my bloodstream like acid. I look towards the black board of the ocean again. It now scares the shit out of me.

"I can't imagine a reason worth dying for; can life get that hard? I'm a Nepo baby so perhaps I just can't understand. Never had to suffer. Obviously too selfish. Obsessed with life." He continues to ramble while I'm hanging in the air, only aided by his strong hand which I'm holding dear to.

"Please... Please let me go." My voice is cracky, eyes bulgy, heart rate spiky. I can feel my teeth vibrating in my mouth out of the hormone shooting within me.

"Oh, so unresponsive then. Alrighty." He sounds disinterested. Wait, what is he about to do?

I scream! Uncontrollably. "Put me back..." My brain is going haywire. "Put me back on the ground. Please. Please." My eyes are searching his shadowy face. I can see nothing, and the rain isn't helping as it blurs my vision further.

"But I thought you wanted to die."

"Put me back!" Another shrill from me, and he pulls me towards the ground.

I fall on my knees. My fingers dig the ground. In a matter of seconds, I burst into tears. It's eerie to commit suicide, and more frightening to actually witness it as you get close to death. I will never try it again.

My tears run free as the mud splatter on my skin. The rain is starting to lessen.

"You'll catch a cold if you don't find shelter." Speaks the stranger. He's inches away from me.

I can't find his face. He's insanely tall and broad-shouldered.

"Who...who are you?" I can't help but stammer. I'm freezing.

He bends down inline with my sight. Then, he tilts his face. Sharp-boned with a resting face that scans like weapons. Dark silver hair neatly slicked back. Lean muscle with heavy pecs. He speaks softly. And he's dressed in tailored black suit, leather shoe, and a steel watch.

Does he expect me to know him?

"You don't know me?" He asks and I shake my head. He scoffs, "that's a first."

The sky is getting clearer but the night still lingers. "Are you a celebrity?" He laughs, briefly clutching his chest. Don't blame me. I've known nothing about the outside world for five years plus.

"I saved your life. I think I pretty am." His accent is strange— British with something else laced beneath it. Maybe Italian? I can't be sure.

"Look, dying is a stupid option." While his tone is soft, its intention is frank. "If it's someone who's let you down, there are billions of others. Find someone else to build with and roar. Make the ex want you back. If it's work, find another, become rich enough to threaten the former that you can buy the company. And if it's life, leave for a new city and start over again. Be very selfish to let go of your existence for a momentary phase of life."

I drop my gaze, brows furrowed, "none of those options are for someone like me. I have no..."

A new presence storms in. I recognise such rage. "And here you are, leaving your entourage worried."

Entourage? Is he really a celebrity?

"Nyx, what?" The stranger asks.

What's with these people and black clothes? The night isn't helping with recognising their appearance. The lady is in tight black suit. Her hair is braided, the ends like a scorpion sting, aiding her scary features.

"He expects you." The stranger seems to understand her.

He turns around to me and waves. "I'll be leaving now."

"Wait," I hasten to my feet to show gratitude but a torturous pain strikes my stomach. I start with a groan. Then, a scream. Then, I fall to the ground.

"Fuck. You didn't take poison, did you?" He asks. I wish to respond but I can't. The pain struck harder, and my eyes snaps close.

I zone out and in. I think someone's carrying me, and they are running. The woods are spinning. I struggle to make sense of things right before darkness takes me whole.

His handsomeness is unquestionable. Not even darkness can blind it. His dark silver hair and perfectly sculpted face. He saved my life. The cold; the pit; the fear — the scream.

I jolt upright in bed. My eyes frantically search around. Zeroing on a window, I go there and gasp with a hand over my lips.

"How?"

Where am I?

The beautiful sky matches with the ocean that spreads endlessly. The view is expensive. Serene. Gorgeous. Heavenly, because there's only the ocean to enjoy and not a busy street.

I rush back inside, wandering without an aim. "It's a hotel, Claire. That's obvious but how did — oh, shit. That stranger." To my left, a phone dings.

Unexpectedly, the phone unlocks with my fingerprint. My jaw is on the floor. He got me a new phone too? There are two messages for me to read and I open it.

"The hotel shall grace you with their grandest utilities for the entire day. Enjoy the spa. Play the games. Adore the foods and drinks."

Then, the second text.

"Remember, I saved your life. You owe me, Peach." Below is an image — a sigil.

The design is a sleek black raven in mid-flight, holding a silver olive branch in its claws. Its wing feathers form the shape of a blade.

I bat my eyes. A black raven tattoo must be what I saw on his chest yesterday. His shirt was unbuttoned — my cheeks redden, and I smack myself on the head.

Anyway, it's threatening yet fascinating.

A knock lands on the door and I open it. "Miss Valli. Breakfast?" I brush to the side for the waiter's entrance while I contemplate how they got my last name.

"Where would you like me to place it?"

My eyes fix on study space. "There, please?"

As the waiter finishes and I close the door behind him, I wonder how this stranger really is. He comes off nothing-out-of-the-ordinary but he seems wise and calculating.

Occupying the seat, disassembling the foods, I find an envelope beneath a tray. There's the sigil again. I can't control my shock as I drop the envelope and run towards the bed.

"Money." I say with surprise. Slowly, I approach the envelope again. There's enough money to feed me for a month, enough to start a new life.

"And if it's life, leave for a new city and start over again — be very selfish." His words reels in.

But where could I go?

As though the universe is reading my mind, my eyes catch a tour guide book on a cabinet next to me. The first page I open reads, "a place of modern values, freedom and sunlight — Los Angeles."

Sounds perfect for a new life.

My hand goes to my stomach. I don't know how I'll survive this new phase of life, but maybe I can find a way to multiply this money before it finishes.

Am I naive? Being stupid again? Maybe it'd end in ruins. But I wouldn't know without trying first, right?

For the sake of this baby, I'll fight. And Russo will watch me burn, knowing I won without his influence.