Chapter 1

Mia's POV

"How's the dating going?" I asked, sipping on the ice tea I had ordered "You mentioned a hot Australian guy the last time we spoke,"

"Oh Mia, that's so over," Kate said with a roll of her eye "He got too boring and I gave up,"

"Right," I said, a smile spreading across my face "Seriously, I can't keep up with all these guys, you should start up your own harem!"

Kate's eyes lit up "You know, that's not a bad idea!" She paused. "Actually I did meet with a new guy recently, and we ummm," she hesitated.

"Oh no, what have you done?" I asked, shifting on my seat as I waited in anticipation of Kate's next words.

"We slept together on the first date," Kate said reluctantly "It's not like me at all is it?" I watched her cheeks begin to blush as she made an attempt to mask her embarrassment bringing a straw to her mouth.

"No, not really," I said in response "But as long as you're having fun and being safe about it, just enjoy it!"

Kate seemed relieved as she pulled her drink away "It was a lot of fun," She said with a cheeky tone to her voice "He was really sexy in bed and he made me feel like a Queen," I watched her cheeks flush again, it was really cute the way she spoke about this guy.

I began to find myself falling into her story "So what does he look like? Do you have a pic?"

"No," Kate shook her head "He's off the grid on socials, but he's tall, with long dark shoulder length hair, slender and has the most gorgeous blue eyes I've ever seen!" Kate swooned as she described the man she was reminiscing about "Oh! Also, he's British! You know how much I love the British accent, and he works in that club down the street. Pulse and Party,"

"British," I said, my eyes dropping to look at the coloured tone of my Peach tea "He sounds nice," Was all I could respond with, and I came to the realisation that Kate was describing my boyfriend, Matt.

"Oh yeah!" Kate said, excited as she spoke more about Matt "He also told me about his ex-girlfriend, he said she was so boring and never satisfied him in the bedroom. If you know what I mean!" She giggled "He said I'm the best sex he's ever had,"

"Great," I said in a dull tone, taking in a deep exhale. I remembered the first time Matt and I made love, he told me the exact same thing. I was the best sex he ever had.

I found myself unable to focus on Kate now, my mind began to fog over as I thought about Matt and how he could do such a thing. I knew it wasn't Kate's fault, she didn't know I was actually in a relationship with anyone because Matt never wanted to make us official. No matter how often I asked, he would make some excuse about keeping me a secret, and now I knew why.

I began to feel so incredibly stupid and I couldn't look Kate in the eye. I let her carry on talking about how wonderful Matt was, but her voice was a muffle to me now. I didn't want to hear what she was saying, like she was gloating without realising it.

I had been a fool, I had fallen so deeply for Matt that I was willing to let him treat me badly because all I desired was to make sure he was happy. I was so in love with Matt that I would do anything for him, and now the rose tinted glasses were falling off my face.

"I have to go," I said to Kate, barely making eye contact with her "I don't feel well,"

"You don't look well Mia," Kate said, tilting her head as she studied me "Are you okay otherwise? You went very quiet,"

"I'm fine," I said with a weak smile "I just need to lay down or something, my head is really hurting. It was great catching up," I said, as I lied to my best friend.

I left Kate at the cafe to finish up her drink, and I took a slow walk home as I tried to figure out the words I was going to send to Matt about recent events. But I decided to keep it simple.

'I want to break up, this is over. I wish you all the best with Kate. Mia'

It wasn't long after when Matt responded to the message 'I don't know what you're talking about Mia, who is Kate? X'

Of course Matt denied it, why wouldn't he? I was beginning to realise what kind of person he really was now I could see clearly.

I had enough and decided not to respond to that pathetic response. So I blocked and deleted Matt from my life. My stomach twisted and stung with pain as I thought about what Matt had done to me, and I felt my heart shatter in my chest.

After that, Matt had somehow found a way to contact me again

'I'm so sorry Mia, I had a moment of weakness. Please give me another chance. It won't happen again! I love you so much, you mean everything to me and I can't live without you. Matt xxx'

I ignored the message, and just removed him from my life once again.

Matt sent other messages, all from different phone numbers. I didn't respond, I felt dead inside and I just carried on blocking and deleting him from my life.

It was then I realised that Matt was waiting for me outside my apartment and my classes at college. He would shout my name as I left, trying to grab my attention but I ignored him. I pretended he wasn't there, because I didn't want him in my life at all.

I felt exhausted, I needed to speak to someone about this behaviour because it wasn't normal. Someone I could trust, and it's not like I could talk to my best friend about it. So I turned to my brother James. We had always been close, and I knew he would support me.

"First off, we need to contact the Police," James said, and I could see in his eyes how worried he was about me.

I nodded my head with a weak smile "Yeah, I figured you would say that. Will you help me? I'm terrified of doing it myself,"

"Of course, Mia," James said as he rested his hand on my shoulder which comforted me.

I smiled at my brother, he was probably my best friend in the whole world. We were so alike, even though he was 4 years older than I am. James had always protected me. People mistook us for twins at times because we appeared so similar too, with our golden blonde hair and green eyes.

"And I know we spoke about this before, and I think now is the time to get the ball rolling on it," James said as I perked up at his words "You were talking about wanting to take some time off studying and take an intern in France," he paused "Are you still wanting to do that? Or was that just a phase?"

I laughed "Oh no, I still would love to do that! France is the dream and even more so right now!" The further I could get away from Matt, the better.

"I have a friend who works for a Fashion House there," James said with a smile "He's a creative director for the company, and I think that would be right up your street,"

My eyes lit up as I heard these words. I was studying Fashion for my degree, and working for an actual Fashion House would be an incredible experience for my studies and future career "Yes!" I said with joy in my voice "That sounds amazing James! Do I know this friend of yours?" I had met quite a few of James' friends and they were mostly really lovely people.

James nodded as he pulled out his phone "You've met him once or twice I'm sure," He paused as I watched him type out a message "Enzo Renault,"

I felt my heart sink and a shudder ran up my spine. I remembered Enzo. It was someone I wished I could forget about, after the humiliation with him, did I really want to work with Enzo Renault?

I watched James still type out the message, and thought I should perhaps stop him before he sent it and rethink my future plan.

Too late, the message had already been sent. What was I going to do? I couldn't possibly face Enzo again, not after what happened.