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Aliyah had spent her life surviving, quiet, overlooked, and painting through the pain. But when she crosses paths with Alexander Sinclair, a cold and ambitious billionaire, everything changes. Alexander built his empire to escape the grip of his powerful, controlling father. Yet, no matter how far he climbs, the shadow still follows him. Their worlds don't fit. But something between them won't let go. As passion draws them closer, Aliyah is pulled into a storm of secrets, control, and betrayal, with Alexander's father watching, and her best friend, Imogen, with twisted desires of her own.
Chapter 1 ONE
I wonder what it'll be like the moment I fall, the second my skull cracks against the cold ground.
Will it be over in an instant? Will the pain cling to me, refusing to let go? I'm scared of that. I don't want the pain to last.
I just want it to end fast, over before I even have the chance to regret it.
Aliyah stood on the edge of the rooftop, the glass tower of Éloite Management's building glinting behind her, staring down at the world below.
She had spent the last two years working in this building, trapped behind a desk as an administrative assistant.
Now, the same company that had drained the life out of her was the reason she was about to end it.
And somehow, it was also the place that had given her best friend, Imogen, everything... a perfect career, a perfect life - absurd, wasn't it?
Aliyah has always been a friend who would never let thoughts of envy freely linger in her mind, even when she and Imogen both had dreams of becoming models since high school.
After a year in college together, Imogen landed her first modelling gig, it wasn't a surprise because everywhere they both went together, people would always emphasize how much she looked like the perfect model.
Imogen had a natural beauty, the kind you didn't need to work at.
Her tall, slender body with shoulders that held back naturally, giving her an upright, statuesque posture and hazel eyes that shimmered like a quiet lake, calm yet deep, her nose was straight and delicate, like a bird's beak, with a small, graceful curve that gave her face a classic symmetry.
Her shiny ginger hair fell in messy curls around her freckled face.
When she smiled, a small dimple appeared, making her serious expression look a little softer.... She was indeed beautiful.
Imogen worked part-time as a model, balancing it with her school work, with Aliyah as the creative mind behind every outfit she wore and every touch of uniqueness she brought to her gigs, not that she needed the money...
Imogen had always lived in the lap of luxury, her parents' fortune ensuring she never wanted for anything, from designer clothes to private tutors, she just loved the title and image that came with being a model.
Creativity had never been Imogen's strength; that had always been Aliyah's gift,, but somehow, Imogen took all the praise without ever thinking to share the credit.
Life was never pleasing for Aliyah Archer. Her parents split up when she was thirteen, with her father, James Archer, taking custody of her as the more suitable parent. Her mother, Serena, was struggling with substance abuse at the time and had gotten into a fatal car accident after overdosing.
She lost control of the car with Aliyah in the front passenger seat; they both survived, but Aliyah spent six months in a coma.
By the time she recovered and woke up, James had already split up with Serena.
Aliyah carried the crushing guilt of believing she was the reason her parents' marriage had fallen apart.
When her father started dating again, Aliyah developed a habit of stress eating that later spiraled into Bulimia Nervosa, an eating disorder, destroying her own expectations of her ever being a model, even with the dreams still buried deep in her heart.
And yet, despite it all, a small part of her still clung to the possibility that one day she might find a way to reclaim the life she once envisioned, though it seemed further out of reach with every passing day.
High school was hell for Aliyah, her peers never missed an opportunity to body shame her due to the extra weight she had gained from her condition, a constant reminder that no matter how hard she tried, she could never escape their judgment.
By the time Aliyah was a sophomore in college, her father, James, had been diagnosed with Stage 2 Lung Cancer and was on chemotherapy, having to undergo surgery.
She had to balance part-time jobs with classes to support herself, and was carrying more than most her age ever had to, since James had to stop working due to his health conditions.
Despite the weight on her shoulders, she never stopped being the friend Imogen could count on,, always going out of her way just to put a smile on her best friend's face.
Aliyah managed to graduate from college at twenty-two and landed a job as an administrative assistant at Étoile Management, one of the most prestigious modeling companies in New York.
By then, Imogen was already a well-known, beloved model, celebrated by the very agency where Aliyah now worked behind the scenes.
Working at Étoile was supposed to feel like a dream, but for Aliyah, it quickly became something else.
Her coworkers picked her apart pi,ece by piece; her easygoing nature and quiet, respectful traits that should have been strengths made her a target.
The comparisons to Imogen were endless... whispered reminders that Aliyah didn't belong, not in a world built for sharp cheekbones and skinny bodies.
She wasn't like the models who floated through Étoile's halls.
Her body was softer, her curves more pronounced, fuller, a silhouette that didn't fit the industry's narrow mold.
Yet there was a beauty in Aliyah that couldn't be denied, a beauty that turned heads, even if the world around her refused to see it...
Her black hair, thick and silky, fell down in soft waves, framing her face with grace - if only she stopped wearing it in ponytails.
Her eyes, a deep and thoughtful brown, held a quiet sadness, but when she smiled that rare, open smile, it was impossible not to be drawn in -she lived in denial of how beautiful she truly was.
That cloudy afternoon when everything unraveled, Aliyah had been slapped across the face by a senior co-worker for a simple mistake - the misplacement of some files she was assigned to organize.
She wasn't lazy at her job nor careless... she always did everything right, but that day everything seemed to slip through her fingers.
As if that wasn't enough, the phone call from her father's doctor came just moments later - his treatments weren't working.
His body wasn't responding to the medication, and the doctor's voice carried the weight of uncertainty. "Be prepared for anything."
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