Love Me Like Before

Morning light hurt Selina's eyes like needles, pulling her from sleep into painful awareness. Her head hurt with each heartbeat, her mouth dry like sandpaper. She kept her eyes closed, trying to remember broken pieces from the night before.

The club. The drink. Michelle's anger. And then...

Heat. Hands. Whispered words. The press of strange lips against her skin.

Horror hit her like ice water as she woke up fully. Her eyes flew open, confirming her worst fears. She lay naked in a strange bed, the sheets twisted around her legs. Beside her, a man slept facing away from her, his bare back rising and falling with deep, even breaths.

The proof of what had happened was written on her body - tender bruises on her hips, the strange soreness between her thighs, the ghost feeling of hands and mouth on her skin.

My virginity. Gone. With a stranger I can't even remember.

The truth hit her hard, making her stomach sick. Twenty-three years of being careful, of following her adoptive parents' strict rules, of protecting the one thing they said made her "marriageable despite her common blood" - all destroyed in one drugged night.

Mrs. Williams' voice echoed in her mind: "Remember, Selina, your purity is the only dowry you'll ever have. No man wants damaged goods, especially from a girl with no proper family."

Tears burned behind her eyes as she carefully got out of the bed, moving with the silent skill she'd learned in the Williams house, where making noise meant getting criticized. She gathered her scattered clothes from the floor, wincing at the sight of her torn underwear.

With each passing second, pieces of memory returned - his hands in her hair, her nails scratching his back, words she'd never imagined herself saying spilling from her lips. Her cheeks burned with shame.

The man moved slightly, and Selina froze, holding her dress to her chest. She couldn't bear to see his face, couldn't handle knowing who the man was who'd ruined her. If she saw him, this would become real in a way she couldn't face.

Once sure he was still asleep, she dressed quickly, checking over her shoulder again and again. The clock on the bedside table read 6:17 AM, early enough that the hotel hallways would be empty. No witnesses to her walk of shame.

I can't make a scene. Can't let anyone know. For the Williams family name. For what little dignity I have left.

With shaking hands, she smoothed her hair and wiped away smudged makeup. The bathroom seemed miles away, and she didn't dare risk the noise of the door. Instead, she used the TV screen to see how she looked. Her lips were swollen, a small bruise forming at the base of her neck. She pulled her collar higher, hiding the evidence.

With one last look at the sleeping figure, Selina slipped from the room, tears streaming freely now as she ran toward the emergency stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator.

"I'm ruined," she whispered, her voice breaking in the empty concrete stairwell as she went down. "What have I done?"

David Kane woke to emptiness beside him, the sheets still warm from a body that was no longer there. For a moment, he struggled to figure out where he was, surprised by how clear his mind was despite the amount of whiskey he'd drunk the night before.

More surprising was knowing that he'd slept through the night - no nightmares, no waking in cold sweat with the screams of the dying echoing in his ears. For the first time in five years, he'd slept peacefully. Without dreams.

He sat up slowly, wincing at the scratches stinging his back - proof that last night hadn't been another alcohol-induced dream. The woman had been real. Gloriously, mysteriously real.

But she was gone.

David ran his hand over his face, trying to remember her features, but the memories were frustratingly hazy. He remembered softness, heat, desperation. The scent of jasmine and vanilla that still clung to his sheets. The way she'd trembled beneath his touch.

He reached for the glass of water on the nightstand, his movements stopping as something caught his eye - a small pendant resting against the dark wood. A sapphire crystal in a simple silver setting, with the initials "SJ" engraved in bold black strokes.

David picked it up, rolling it between his fingers. Something about it triggered a memory buried deep, something important that hovered just beyond his grasp.

He reached for his phone, dialing a number he rarely used.

"Bro?" Jake's voice was thick with sleep. "Do you know what time it is?"

"The woman from last night," David said without introduction. "Did you arrange her?"

A pause, then confused laughter. "What woman? I didn't arrange anyone. Wait, did you actually meet someone? The great David Kane, who hasn't touched a woman since the accident? This I've got to hear."

David ended the call, staring at the pendant in his palm. The blue stone caught the morning light, breaking it across his skin like scattered memories.

A sharp knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts. "Come in," he said, putting on a robe, and the door opened with a soft click as his secretary, Maria, entered, her expression perfectly neutral despite the early hour. Eight years of working for him had taught her that David Kane's schedule respected no normal boundaries.

"Mr. Kane, regarding today's investment meeting with the Nakamura Group"

"Cancel it," he interrupted, his eyes still fixed on the sapphire. "I won't be attending."

Maria's fingers paused over her tablet, the only sign of her surprise. In eight years, David Kane had never missed a meeting. Not even when he had that accident. Not even when the nightmares were at their worst.

"Sir?" she questioned softly.

He held out the pendant. "I have something more important for you to handle."

Maria approached carefully, taking the pendant. "What is this?"

"Find the woman who was in my room last night," he said, his voice unusually soft. "The owner of this necklace."

Now Maria's professional mask did crack, her eyes widening slightly. "A... woman was here, sir?"

"Yes." He stood as he moved to the window overlooking New York's glittering skyline. "Find her. Immediately."

Maria hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "And when I find her? Would you like me to... ensure her silence? With appropriate payment, of course?"

David turned, his gaze piercing. "No." A rare smile touched his lips, the first real smile Maria had seen in years. "I want to marry her."

The tablet slipped from Maria's fingers, hitting the carpet. "M-marry, sir?"

"I've been looking for the girl who owns this pendant for eight years," he said, his voice taking on a quality she'd never heard before, something like hope. "Find her, Maria. Whatever it takes."