Chapter 2Mistaken Online Love

Cathy was wrong.

I had been secretly in love with Dominic for years.

He was three years older than me. By the time I was a freshman, he was a senior and barely ever on campus.

It happened right after freshman orientation. He was back at the university to pick up some paperwork. I took a nasty fall on the concrete steps, and he was the one who drove me to the ER.

But I was too painfully shy.

I never asked for his number. I never even told him my name.

After he graduated, he became a ghost. All I knew was that he came from old money, built a massive tech empire from the ground up, and lived in a world of penthouses and private jets.

We were from completely different universes.

Until recently. At a frat party, he asked for my socials.

He was incredibly attentive. We texted from morning until night, and it did not take long for us to make it official.

Looking back now, it was a joke.

Every ounce of joy, every sweet good morning text, it was all meant for Cathy.

My phone lit up.

A text from Dominic. He did not waste a single breath.

"Let us just end this here."

"Make sure you delete our chat logs. I do not want Cathy seeing any of it."

"To make up for the mix up, my assistant will wire you fifty grand."

Fifty grand. To a broke college student like me, it was life changing money.

To him, it was pocket change.

He was literally buying my silence. Erasing everything we had.

I stared at the glowing screen for a long time before typing out a single word.

"Okay."

I paused, then added a follow up.

"I will not say a word about our conversations. You have my promise."

But the message bounced back.

Not Delivered.

He had already blocked me.

Staring at that little red exclamation mark, my hands started to shake uncontrollably.

I scrolled up. We had talked about everything.

When he was in London for business, he sent me photos of his espresso, told me about the investors he hated, and complained about the jet lag.

Once, I asked him to help me with a tricky finance assignment. He texted back saying he was in the shower.

I teased him. "Prove it."

He actually did.

He sent a photo. His hair was dripping wet, water sliding down the sharp, gorgeous angles of his face. He radiated this raw, dangerous magnetism.

My face had burned hot. "Okay, delete it before I die of embarrassment."

A second later, he sent a voice note, his voice dark and thick with amusement.

"Why are you scared? You will have to look at it every day eventually."

"I will have you know I have never been with anyone. But doing it with you... I think that would be incredibly fun."

I had literally googled what to expect for my first time that very night.

Now, looking at those exact words...

It was nothing but a humiliating fantasy.