Chloe’s POV

The sound of glass shattering was deafening, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing could drown the fury boiling inside me. I hurled another vase against the wall, watching the shards explode like fireworks across the room. My breaths were ragged, my vision blurred with hot tears of rage.

Fury bubbled beneath my skin, hot and relentless, consuming every inch of me as I let out a guttural scream. How had this gone so wrong?

“How the fuck did this happen?” I screamed, grabbing a chair and slamming it onto the hardwood floor. “I had them! I had them right where I wanted, and now—” My voice broke as I kicked the fallen chair aside.

I paced the room like a caged animal, my mind racing.

Everything had been going so well. The scandal had started perfectly—a few whispers, a well-placed leak, Mrs Pricilla’s statement, and then the staged video. It was all so perfect. Ava and Orion were supposed to crumble, retreat into the shadows where they belonged. They were supposed to be the ones hiding, not me.

But here I was, holed up in some cheap rental, my entire plan unraveling before my eyes.

I stopped pacing and pressed my palms against the cool marble countertop, trying to steady myself. The memory of that night played in my head like a taunting reel. How did I forget it was a gray shirt Orion wore? How did I miss something so stupid, so small? And how the hell did he notice it?

My eyes darted to the man lounging on the sofa, his face a mixture of smugness and irritation.

The very sight of him ignited a fresh wave of anger. He cleared his throat, breaking my spiraling thoughts. I turned to face him, my blood boiling anew at the sight of his calm, infuriating expression.

“Maybe it was your poor acting that ruined this for me!” I spat, my voice dripping with venom as I pointed a trembling finger at him.

He raised an eyebrow, the faintest smirk playing on his lips. “Oh, so now it’s my fault?” he drawled.

“Yes, it’s your fault!” I snapped, taking a step closer to him. “If you’d just agreed to meet at your place or a hotel, none of this would’ve happened. But no, you had to insist on doing it at Orion’s mansion to stroke your pathetic ego. Look where that got us—look where that got me! I almost had them. I was this close!” I held up my fingers, the small gap between them trembling. “And now we’re back to fucking square one!”

“Maybe if you weren’t so obsessed with flaunting your brilliance, this wouldn’t have happened,” he yelled, throwing his hands in the air frantically.

My laugh was hollow, venomous.

“Don’t you dare turn this on me! I am being pushed to a corner because of you! Because of the evidence of your pride. You wanted to rub it in, to feel some sort of pleasure having sex with me under Orion’s roof, and look where that got us. I almost had them. Almost!”

“Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get this far?” I continued angrily. “How hard I worked to tear them apart, to make her look like the snake she is? And now…” my voice faltered, but I quickly swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing myself to stay composed. “Now I’m the one they’re laughing at, and it’s all because of you!”

He stood, his towering frame making me feel small, but I refused to back down. “Don’t you dare put this all on me, Chloe. Besides, you were the one that called me over,” he growled, his calm demeanor cracking. “If you’d just listened to my plan instead of going rogue, we wouldn’t be in this mess. But no, you had to team up with that crazy bitch, thinking she’d help you.”

“She did help me!” I shot back, my voice rising. “She got them where I wanted—”

“She blew it out of proportion!” he cut me off, his voice thunderous. “And now, where is she? Huh? Back in her city, right? Safe and sound, while you’re stuck here with no place to run.”

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. “Shut up.”

“No,” he said, stepping closer, his dark eyes burning with anger. “You don’t get to point fingers at me when you’ve been the one screwing up from the start. If you’d just trusted me, instead of playing queen bitch with a martyr complex, we wouldn’t be here.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but the words caught in my throat. He was right. I hated that he was right.

“Fine,” I said, my voice quieter now but no less biting. “Fuck me.”

His head jerked back slightly, confusion flashing across his face. “What?”

“I said fuck me!” I yelled, my voice cracking with frustration. “I need to feel something else aside from this humiliation!” Isn’t that why you agreed to this whole thing in the first place? So that you can have your way with me. So fine. Do it.”

He stared at me for a long moment, his chest heaving with labored breaths. And then, as though a switch flipped, he grabbed me by the waist and slammed his mouth onto mine.

The kiss was punishing, filled with anger and desperation. My hands fumbled with his shirt, yanking it off as he backed me against the wall. His lips trailed down my neck, leaving a fiery path in their wake.

Our clothes disappeared in a frenzy of frustration and need, the tension between us snapping like a taut wire. His hands gripped my hips as he lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around his waist.

“Is this what you wanted?” he growled, his voice rough as he thrust into me.

A sharp gasp escaped my lips, my nails digging into his shoulders. “Shut up and don’t stop,” I hissed.

The anger between us fueled every movement, every desperate kiss and biting touch. My back arched against the wall, and I moaned loudly, the sound echoing through the room.

And then, in the haze of pleasure and rage, the perfect plan began to form in my mind.

A wicked grin spread across my lips as I arched deeply into him, throwing my head back with a moan that was half ecstasy, half triumph. He didn’t notice the shift in my demeanor, too lost in his own release.

As the storm between us subsided, I let him lower me to the floor, both of us breathing heavily. He leaned against the wall, his eyes closed, but my mind was racing.

I knew exactly what I needed to do now.

“You’re going to help me fix this,” I said, my voice calm and steady for the first time that night.

His eyes opened, narrowing suspiciously. “What are you talking about?”

I leaned closer, brushing my lips against his ear as I whispered, “We’re going to end this. Once and for all. And this time, I’m making sure there’s no way they can fight back.”

His gaze darkened, a mixture of intrigue and unease flashing across his face. “What’s the plan?”

I smiled, the grin cold and calculating. “Oh, you’ll see. But first, we need to pay someone a little visit.”

As I stepped away, grabbing my discarded clothes, I felt a strange sense of clarity wash over me. This wasn’t over—not by a long shot.

If Ava and Orion thought they’d won, they were about to learn just how wrong they were. I’ll teach Orion a lesson. For free of course.