Chapter 1

Sebastian Blackwood talked me into letting him take nude photos of me.

He promised they were just for him.

I was scared, but I was also relieved I'd finally locked him down.

Until I went up against Chloe Mercer, the scholarship girl, for first place.

Sebastian spoke with casual indifference. "Sophia, let her win."

"You don't want those photos circulating, do you?"

I froze. I nodded like a fool.

He said it so lightly. A few short, brutal words.

"Agree, and I'll delete every photo."

It was the peak of summer, unbearable heat. But I felt like I'd been dropped into ice water. Like someone had cracked a bat across the back of my head.

I opened my mouth. My voice trembled. "You promised me…"

Sebastian cut me off. "I did. I promised only I would ever see them."

His eyes pinned me down. His voice dropped low. "I won't break my word."

"Just let Chloe take first place."

I kept arguing, stubborn even when my words came out broken. "The vocal competition—it's supposed to be about talent."

"I… I'm not letting her."

Sebastian seemed to have expected that.

He pulled my chair toward him, trapped me against his chest. Then he took out his phone. Guided my hand to open the hidden album.

The explicit images filled the screen.

Sebastian laughed softly. "Your body really is incredible, Sophia."

His lips brushed my ear. "This one's my favorite. You're flushed all over, mouth open, looking right into the camera—"

"Like you've been completely wrecked…"

My fingers shook. My voice cracked with tears. "Don't look. Please."

Sebastian paused. Locked the screen.

His thumb was warm as he wiped the wet trail from my lashes. "Sweetheart. Don't be scared. You agree?"

My fingers clenched without me knowing. I couldn't think. "Okay."

Sebastian's eyes curved. He stood up, satisfied.

He smoothed my messy hair, voice gentle as he coaxed me. "There's a department mixer tonight. I won't be going home with you."

"I'll have the driver take you."

The air conditioning in the practice room was blasting.

I pulled my coat tighter, curled up on the chair. Cold. So cold.

I covered my mouth, trying to muffle the sobs.

Sebastian was the person I trusted most in the world.

When I was seven, my parents brought me back from a small town upstate to the family estate. The low concrete house I'd grown up in turned into a gleaming mansion. But I couldn't fit in. I was tanned dark, scrawny, small. I was always being picked on. All I knew how to do was hide and cry. I thought if I never fought back, they'd eventually leave me alone.

Until the day a group of boys tried to pull my pants down.

I cried out, grabbed a dry branch off the ground. "D-don't—don't come closer!"

They didn't stop. They got worse.

That was when Sebastian showed up. He came swinging a brick and chased them off.

Then he held out his hand to me. "Little stutterer. I'll take you home."

But my legs had gone out. I couldn't stand.

Sebastian frowned, his face dark. But he still crouched down. "Get on."

I hesitated, then climbed onto his back. He carried me, slow and steady, all the way home.

After that, I always trailed timidly after Sebastian. For eleven years.

Until the end of freshman orientation in college.

I finally worked up the courage to confess.

Maybe Sebastian just felt sorry for me. He looked at me with a smile, gave a refined little nod.

So when Sebastian suggested the photos, I swallowed my fear and asked quietly, "W-will anyone… else ever see them?"

He held up the camera, voice soothing. "No. Just for me."

I hesitated, then pulled off my nightgown. Posed for him, one shot after another.

And now that intimacy had turned into a blade stabbing straight through me.

I'd trusted him so completely.

I finally broke. I sobbed until I couldn't anymore, until my eyes had nothing left to give.

My phone buzzed. A message from Sebastian, gentle as always. "You cried today. Your throat will feel rough tomorrow."

"Make sure you drink some honey-lemon tea when you get home."

I gripped the phone and drifted home in a daze. On the way, I nearly stepped in front of a delivery truck.

My whole body was numb. My fingers shook when I typed in the door code.

The living room was pitch black. I didn't turn on the lights. I sat on the couch with my knees pulled up to my chest. The clock ticked through the silence, round and round.

An iMessage chime went off.

I opened it mechanically.

My best friend, Madeline Ashford, her voice serious. "Sophia. I need you to be honest with me."

"Did Sebastian… did he take nude photos of you?"