Trapped With The Devil CEO

Chapter 1

Ivy's POV

Last night felt like a dream I never wanted to wake up from.

I was wrapped in Oscar's arms, the sheets tangled around our sweaty bodies, our skin still buzzing from what had been some of the most passionate sex we'd ever had. He looked at me like I was the only woman in the world. His smile was lazy, satisfied, and his eyes... soft. Safe. He kissed my forehead, whispered how much he loved me, how he'd never let me go.

He handed me a paper. "Just sign this, baby," he said, grinning. "It's something that'd help the company."

I didn't even glance at it. I trusted him, blindly. Completely. Oscar had been my everything for ten years. Why wouldn't I trust the man who pulled me out of my loneliest days?

I scribbled my signature without a second thought.

Now, I sit alone in the VIP booth of Club Verona, my dress clinging to my skin in all the wrong places, makeup smudged under my eyes from the heat and sweat of the crowd.

Today was our anniversary.

The music thumped around me, but I was numb to it.

He said he'd meet me here.

He promised.

But I've been waiting for what feels like forever.

Where the hell is he?

I checked my phone again. Nothing.

My fingers curled tightly around my glass as frustration bubbled in my chest.

Was he stuck in traffic? Caught up with something at work? Or... no. No, I didn't want to go there.

I waved the bartender over with a flick of my hand. "Another whiskey. Neat."

The burn of the alcohol did little to dull the growing ache in my chest. This was my third glass. Or fourth. I wasn't counting anymore. I didn't want to. I just wanted the anxiety to stop clawing at my ribs.

He'd been distant lately.

Cold. Different. Like he wasn't really there when we talked. His eyes wandered, his replies clipped and short.

I told myself it was stress. Work. Family. Anything but the thing gnawing at the back of my mind.

Please don't let it be what I think it is.

Then my phone buzzed. A sharp beep that sliced through the thick fog of my thoughts.

Oscar.

My breath caught in my throat.

A smile pulled at my lips as I grabbed my phone, hoping he was texting to say he was outside, stuck in line, anything.

But my fingers froze over the screen.

One message. Three words.

"Let's break up."

"It's over."

Just like that.

No explanation. No emotion. Nothing.

Just a text.

My heart slammed against my ribs like it was trying to break free. My lungs tightened. My fingers trembled.

Ten years. Ten fucking years, reduced to a handful of cold words on a screen.

I blinked hard, my vision blurring. I wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or the tears gathering at the corners of my eyes.

I'd built my whole world around him. Around us.

Oscar had been the only constant in my life, the one person who stayed when everyone else left. My dad died when I was eight. My stepmother barely acknowledged my existence. If it wasn't for Oscar, I don't know if I would've made it through.

He moved in with us when I was fifteen. My stepmother said he was her nephew, some distant family member who needed a place to stay.

We became best friends first. Then lovers. Then everything.

And now... he was just gone.

No. No, this couldn't be happening.

I refused to let it end like this. I needed to look him in the eye. I needed answers. Closure. Something.

I stood up too fast, and the world spun around me. My purse slipped from the seat, my heels wobbled beneath me, but I didn't care.

I pushed through the crowd and stumbled outside into the night air. It hit me like a slap, cold, sharp, sobering. My heart pounded like a war drum in my chest.

I raised a shaky hand and called out, "Taxi!"

A cab screeched to a stop, and I practically fell into the back seat.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

"H-Hollowell... please."

The ride was a blur of neon lights and nauseating thoughts. I leaned my head against the window, trying to piece together how everything had fallen apart.

His laugh echoed in my head. His hands. His promises. The way he used to tell me I was his home.

Was any of it real?

Did he ever actually love me?

When we pulled up in front of his building, my legs were like jelly. I climbed out and somehow made it to the door. My fingers hovered over the keypad.

He hadn't changed the code.

That stung more than it should've. A stupid four-digit number, still the same. Still ours.

The door clicked open.

And everything shifted.

There,on the floor near the couch, was a single red high heel.

I stopped breathing.

I knew that shoe.

Laura. My best friend.

She'd shown me that exact pair two weeks ago, bragging that her mystery boyfriend had gifted them to her. She never told me who he was. Said she wanted to "keep things quiet" until they were engaged.

Engaged.

A chill rippled down my spine.

My stomach turned.

No. Please, God, no.

I moved through the apartment like I was in a daze, my heels silent on the hardwood floor. The hallway was dim, the bedroom light casting a soft, golden glow onto the floor.

Then I heard it.

A moan.

Light. Breathless.

Another one, louder now.

Then, her voice.

"Faster, Oscar."

My world collapsed.

It was like my brain short-circuited. My heart split open.

Laura.

My Laura.

My best friend since childhood. The one who held my hand through breakups, cried with me during my father's funeral, danced with me at every birthday.

The same Laura who swore she'd never betray me.

My feet moved on their own. I reached the doorway. And there they were.

Oscar. Laura.

Twisted together in bed, sheets tangled around them, her legs wrapped around his waist, his mouth buried in her neck. Her back arched. Her head thrown back. His hands explored her the same way they used to explore me.

And I broke.

A sound escaped my throat. A strangled, wounded thing. I clutched my chest, trying to hold the pieces together.

I couldn't scream. Couldn't speak. My entire body shook.

Then my purse slipped from my shoulder and hit the floor with a dull, echoing thud.

Laura's eyes snapped toward the sound.

"What was that?"