Chapter 1 Chapter 1
“You were just a charity project, Lila. Let’s be honest.”
Marcus’s voice rang out across the crowded quad like a slapshot echoing off the boards. The words hit harder than any puck he’d ever fired on the ice.
Lila Stones stood frozen on the wide stone steps outside the university arena, her sketchbook pressed tight against her chest like a shield.
The winter air bit at her cheeks, but it was nothing compared to the burning humiliation flooding through her body.
Students poured out from the hockey game, still buzzing with victory chants and laughter, but the energy shifted the moment Marcus raised his voice.
He stood two steps above her, a letterman jacket draped casually over one shoulder, looking every bit the campus golden boy.
His teammates hovered nearby, phones already out, recording the spectacle with barely concealed grins.
“I mean, come on,” Marcus continued, loud enough for the growing crowd to hear every word. “You’re cute in that quiet, artsy way, but we both know you don’t belong in my world. You’re boring, clingy and always drawing in your little notebook instead of actually living. And honestly?” He let out a sharp laugh. “Kind of embarrassing to be seen with.”
Lila’s throat tightened painfully. She had spent the last six months believing every sweet word he’d whispered; the late-night texts, the way he’d asked to see her illustrations, the promises that she was different from the other girls who only cared about status and parties. Now those memories crumbled in front of hundreds of eyes.
A girl in the crowd whispered loudly, “Told you she was punching way above her weight.”
Someone else snickered, phones kept recording. The humiliation tasted metallic on her tongue.
Marcus shook his head, almost pitying. “It’s better this way, babe. You’ll thank me later when you find someone more on your level. Someone who doesn’t mind the whole shy, invisible artist thing.”
Lila’s vision blurred with hot tears, but she blinked them back furiously. She would not cry here. Not in front of all these people who were already turning her heartbreak into tomorrow’s campus gossip.
Her fingers dug into the spiral binding of her sketchbook until the metal bit into her palm. Six months. Six months of letting herself believe she was enough for someone like Marcus who's a star forward on the hockey team, popular, confident, from a well-connected family.
She had ignored the little red flags, the way he’d cancel plans last minute, the way he’d introduce her as “my friend Lila” instead of his girlfriend when his teammates were around.
Now she saw it all clearly.
Marcus turned to leave, already waving at his friends like the conversation was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
Something inside Lila snapped. She lifted her chin, her voice shaking but clear enough to cut through the murmurs. “You know what, Marcus? You’re right about one thing.”
He paused, turning back with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t belong in your world,” Lila said, forcing the words out louder than she felt. “But I’m done letting you make me feel small. Enjoy your shallow little spotlight with all your fake friends and empty victories. I’m finished being your punchline.”
A ripple of surprised murmurs spread through the crowd. Marcus’s smirk faltered for a split second before he recovered, letting out a mocking laugh. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Lila.” He shrugged and walked away with his teammates, their laughter trailing behind them like smoke.
Lila stood there, heart pounding so hard she could feel it in her ears. The cold wind whipped at her hair, but she barely felt it. All she could feel was the crushing weight of eyes on her; judging, pitying, and amused.
Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, and the urge to run back to her dorm and hide under her blankets was almost overwhelming.
But she didn’t move.
Running would only prove Marcus right. It would cement her as the pathetic, clingy ex who couldn’t handle rejection. She refused to give him or the rest of the campus that satisfaction.
As the crowd slowly started to disperse, still whispering and glancing back at her, Lila’s gaze caught on a tall figure leaning against the arena wall a short distance away. Christian Sterling.
Even from here, he looked untouchable, tall, broad-shouldered, with the kind of quiet intensity that made people instinctively give him space.
As captain of the university’s powerhouse ice hockey team, Christian was campus royalty, a finance prodigy from a wealthy family, known for his lethal precision on the ice and his ice-cold demeanor off it. He rarely smiled. He rarely got involved in drama.
And right now, he was watching her.
Not with pity and not with amusement. His dark eyes held something sharp, calculating, and strangely intense. Like he’d seen every second of her public dismantling and hadn’t missed a single detail.
Lila’s stomach twisted. She knew who Christian was, everyone did. He was the kind of guy who existed on another level; powerful, confident, slightly dangerous in the way only someone who always got what he wanted could be. Guys like him didn’t notice girls like her. Quiet design students who spent more time in the art building than at parties but surprisingly he was looking at her now.
Her hands trembled as she clutched her sketchbook tighter. Marcus had just destroyed her reputation in front of the entire campus.
The whispers would follow her for weeks or maybe the whole semester. People would laugh behind her back, screenshot the videos, turn her into a meme.
Unless she had someone even more powerful standing beside her.
The thought terrified her. Approaching Christian Sterling felt like stepping onto thin ice, ready to crack beneath her feet at any moment.
But staying small and broken felt worse.
Lila took a deep, shaky breath, wiped her eyes once with the back of her sleeve, and made a decision that sent fear racing through her veins.
She was going to ask Christian Sterling for help.
Even if it meant making a deal with the most untouchable guy on campus.
She straightened her shoulders, ignored the lingering stares, and started walking toward him before she could talk herself out of it. Each step felt heavier than the last, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Kai didn’t move as she approached. He simply watched her, arms crossed over his chest, his expression unreadable in the fading evening light.
Lila stopped a few feet away, her voice barely above a whisper but steady enough. “Chriatian … I need to talk to you.”
He tilted his head slightly, one eyebrow raising just a fraction. The corner of his mouth twitched not quite a smile, but something close to curiosity.
“About?” His voice was low, smooth, and carried the kind of authority that made her pulse spike.
Lila swallowed hard. This was it. The moment she took control of her own story.
“About making a deal.”
