Chapter 1
The Greenwood Royal Hotel’s luxurious hall shone like molten gold. Crystal chandeliers spilled their light over the marble floor, over which the city’s rich and powerful glided to a stately, slow rhythm. Laughter echoed, champagne fizzed, and every pair of eyes gleamed with desire—or envy.
Gabriel Langston stood at the eye of it all, his tall frame dressed in a dashing black tuxedo, his face an unblemished mask of calm self-confidence. Thirty-two and Greenwood City’s youngest and most respected CEO, his name opened doors and gagged rivals. But tonight, the sea of faces that adored him seemed strangely distant, as if every smile hidden something and every handshake held menace.
He had gone to the gala to celebrate the opening of his company’s new medical wing—a project aimed at changing lives. But beneath the thunderous applause, he sensed an undertone of tension. A dark, electric tension that caused his instincts to coil.
“Gabriel,” a soft voice purred behind him. He turned to find Clara Vaughn, his elegant fiancée, her silver gown shimmering like starlight. Her hand slipped into his, her grip a little too firm.
“You’re not smiling,” she whispered, her lips curving in practiced grace.
“I’ll smile when the vultures stop circling,” he murmured, his eyes scanning the crowd. He caught sight of a man in a gray suit standing near the exit—one of his competitors, a man with too much interest in Gabriel’s downfall.
In a flash, a waiter jostled past him, proffering a glass of champagne. Gabriel hardly faltered in taking it. When he raised the glass to his lips, he felt a tangy bitterness sweep across his tongue—too strong, too unrecognizable.
His world grew indistinct.
The lights of the chandelier shattered into a thousand shards of broken stars. Distorted voices, laughter that stretched like echoing sounds in a tunnel. Gabriel blinked, his heart pounding in his ears. He glanced at Clara—her face unreadable, her smile strangly frozen—while the world buckled over sideways.
He hardly felt himself falling.
And then he was consumed by darkness.
Gabriel awoke to the beat of rain. The cold, wet rain. His suit was tainted, hands scraped across wet ground. His mouth coated with the flavor of blood. He tried to stand, but his head throbbed like a hammer blow.
He was not in Greenwood City anymore.
The forest was dense around him, fog curling between the trees. The sound of thunder faded in the distance. He could hardly recall how he’d gotten there—snatches of headlights, yelling men, a black SUV skidding down a mountain road.
And the sound of something gliding nearby.
Gabriel slowly wheeled around. His heart jumped as he saw a dark shape balled in the shadows—cold eyes, a darting tongue.
A snake.
Before he could move away, there came a voice through the rain—gentle, trembling, but urgent.
“Don’t move!”
Out of the mist, with bare feet and soaked clothes, came a young woman with a shawl glued to her shoulders. She clutched in one hand a long pole. She advanced, her brown eyes upon the snake, her movements unhurried but determined.
Gabriel stared in disbelief as she struck the ground near the reptile, diverting its gaze, then lunged with quick precision. The snake recoiled, hissing, before disappearing into the wet grass.
The woman exhaled shakily and dropped the stick. Only then did she look at him properly.
“You’re hurt,” she said, kneeling beside him.
Gabriel tried to say something but could think of nothing. Her face was unadorned—no jewelry, no makeup—but there was a steady strength about her eyes that pushed back the turmoil for a moment.
“I. don’t know where I am,” he tried to say.
“You’re near Cedar Hills,” she said quietly. “A few miles from Greenwood. You must have been hit off the road. Landslides this week.”
She took hold of his arm and stood him up. He staggered, his head spinning. “What’s your name?” he slurred.
She hesitated, then said, “Naomi.”
“Naomi,” he repeated, as if trying to cling to the sound. “And you just saved my life.”
She turned away her face, flushing. “Anyone would’ve done the same.”
But he knew better. In Greenwood City, people only helped when cameras were present.
When he tried to recall his name, the words were foreign on his lips. “I… I think I’m Gabriel,” he stuttered. “But… I don’t know anything else.”
Naomi’s face softened. “You bumped your head,” she whispered. “You must come with me. My place isn’t too far, and you need to rest.”
She took him down a hidden dirt road through the woods, their steps sinking into mud. He tripped more than once, and she caught him with surprising force each time. The rain slowed, giving way to the quiet singing of crickets as they emerged at a small wooden hut nestled beside a stream.
Inside, it was warm, lit by the glow of a kerosene lamp. Naomi brought him a towel and a bowl of warm water.
“Sit,” she said gently. “You’re safe here.”
He sat by the fire, watching her move quietly around the room. There was something almost ethereal about her—like she belonged to a world far from his own.
When she turned to him again, he asked, “Why help a stranger?”
Naomi smiled faintly, fanning the flames. “Because everyone needs to be found when lost.”
Gabriel sat in silence for a long period of time. Everything was quiet apart from the patter of rain against the roof.
emotional 😧