Chapter 3

【August 19, 2024, Cloudy.

Julian Reed sent me a dress, a backless style, so dramatic. He said he wanted me to wear it for him. He’s such a pervert.】

Julian sent his assistant to deliver the dress.

It was incredibly sexy, exposing a large portion of my back, definitely not for everyday wear.

While my roles were often glamorous, often villainous characters, or femme fatale roles that were all flash and no substance, that wasn't my everyday style.

Julian called me, patiently coaxing,

“Please, Haze, my sweet wife, I miss you. Will you wear it and come see me?”

He kept badgering me for ages, and eventually, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse. I agreed.

He said he’d be off set late, asking me to meet him at room 1407 in the hotel at midnight.

The way he enthusiastically gave me instructions reminded me of when we were eighteen.

We were both just starting college, having been together for only a year.

He’d always hold and kiss me, murmuring about when we’d be adults, how he was about to explode from holding back.

I could feel it—his words, his touch, his gaze, even his very soul, craved me.

I reveled in that craving.

He made me feel like my existence in this world had meaning.

He was my reason to live.

Julian Reed was Hazel’s reason to live, from eighteen to thirty-two. Always.

At midnight, I wore that dress and knocked on the door of 1407.

But it wasn’t Julian who opened it; it was a strange old man.

We stared at each other for a moment in the doorway before his gaze turned lecherous, raking over me.

Julian then appeared from behind me, pulling me away as he told the old man,

“My apologies, Director Thompson. My assistant sent her to the wrong room.”

Back in Julian’s room, he held me close, and we spent the night wrapped in each other.

Half-asleep, I heard his faint whisper:

“I’m sorry, Haze.”