Selene  was sitting on the couch in the mansion's  living room, holding her phone, her leg trembling slightly due to habit. She had been rehearsing a song. 

Her phone suddenly rang.

She stared at the screen.  

Unknown number... but from LA.

She replied promptly, and her heart was racing. "Hello?"

The voice of a man came through calm and professional. "Is this Selene Rivers?"

"Yes, this is Selene."

"This is Viktor Hale, the manager of A-list artist Kaelara Storm. We heard your demo. Kaelara loves your tone." He paused. "We want you to open her tour."

Selene's breath caught. Her hand fell over her mouth.

"Me?" she whispered. 

"Yes. Very shortly, the tour begins, and we want to know whether you are interested. We will require you to come to our office today in case you are. And we will take care of paper work and rehearsal schedules." The man said.

"Yes! I'm interested--absolutely!"

"Good. You can get in within an hour, that would be good." He said.

"I will. Thank you very much for this great opportunity. I will be there." Selene replied, using the last ounce of self control she had to stop herself from screaming into the phone.

"Great. See you soon."  

The call ended.

"Yes!" She screamed, twirling around as soon as the man hung up the call. "I need to get ready! I have less than an hour." 

Selene rose to her feet and hastened to the bedroom. She took a plain yet nice dress, did her make-up sparingly, and attempted to relax her trembling hands.

This was it.  

Her chance.  

Her dream becoming real.

The front door flung open, and she was about to reach out to her bag, when she walked toward the door.

Garrick Thorne walked in.

Her husband.  

Big and good-looking, in a suit, smelling of perfume and a costly life.

He halted at her all dressed up.

"Where are you going?" he asked, loosening his tie.

Selene smiled softly. "Garrick Thorne, I just got a call. From Kaelara Storm's team. They want me to open her tour. I ..I must now go and see the manager."

Garrick Thorne blinked at her. His face changed to a neutral to an annoyed one within seconds.

"So you're leaving?" he asked.

"I have to go now. The manager..."

"I have just arrived at home," he  interrupted. "I want to sleep with my wife. And you are just running out of the house in that way? To go meet some man?"

Selene's smile faded. "Garrick Thorne... please. This is my dream. I've waited so long.."

He scoffed. "Dream? Selene, you should not embarrass yourself." 

Her shoulders tensed.

"This music thing again?" he continued. "You're my wife. I can afford any record label  you choose, but I do not want a singer as my wife." 

Selene swallowed hard. "I do not want you to purchase anything. This is something I earned. You know I've always worked for anything related to my music, I am rejecting your help but please."

He came nearer and caught her by the arm. "Call them. Tell them you're not coming."

She withdrew her arm tenderly. "Garrick Thorne, no. This is my future. Please don't do this."

"I said call them." His voice grew louder. "Reject the offer. Now."

Selene shook her head. "Please listen, just this once. This is what I have been striving to achieve.

Garrick Thorne gazed at her some time, his jaw set, anger in his face. "Fine! Have it your way." 

Then he took his keys and walked  himself out of the door. 

Selene stood there breathing shakily.

She closed her eyes.

She wasn't giving up.

She was ready, picked up her bag and walked out of the house. She was going to the office and her hands were clenching the steering wheel. She attempted to remain calm, attempted to concentrate on the future she had.

Midway there her phone rang once more.

She answered. "Hello?"

This time it was the voice of a woman. "Is this Selene Rivers?"

"Yes, I'm..." 

"This is Kaelara Storm's office. This is to tell you that we are dropping you. The team revisited your profile and we found out that you are not a real artist. You don't write your songs."

That is not the case, Selene said hastily, and her panic grew. "I write everything myself. I can show..." 

"We don't work with frauds."  

The call cut off.

Selene was looking at her phone in disbelief.

Dropped.  

Without meeting her.  

Without letting her explain.  

Saying she does not write her song?

Her chest tightened.

She pulled on the side of the road and parked. She shook with her breath trying to comprehend what had just occurred.

Then she saw figures coming to her window.

Four men.  

Rough-looking. Hoodies. Hard faces.

One tapped on her window. "Hey," he said. "You're parked in our spot."

Selene opened the window a bit. "I--I'm sorry. I'll move now."

The man leaned closer. "You're already here. That means you owe us." 

"Owe you?" she whispered.

Another man approached her door and banged it open. "She is a pretty one fellas. Get out."

Selene got out slowly and her hands were trembling. I am simply trying to go, please.

One of the men touched her at the waist. "Relax, pretty."

She pushed his hand away. "Don't touch me."

His eyes narrowed. "What did you say?"

"I said don't.." 

He struck her violently on the face. "You don't tell us what to do!" 

Her head jerked.

The others moved in.

A punch hit her shoulder.  

Another hit her stomach.  

She attempted to defend herself, but the number of hands, the number of blows were too many.

"Stop, please," she begged.

They pushed her to the ground, with one kicking her stomach. "This aint personal, it's business honey."

She scrambled up to her feetand ran away, despite the throbbing ache in her body.

"Hey! Come back here!" one shouted.

She ran across the road, without looking. 

A loud truck horn horned.

She turned  around and looked in the direction of the noise.

The headlights were too near.

Too fast.

She froze.

And then...

"Garrick!" She screamed when the bright lights of the truck were nearer to her and the very next moment she was raised high in the air and dropped flat and the next moment and the truck driver made a u-turn with his truck,  running  away leaving Selene in her pool of blood.

"Oh God." Selene groaned as she opened her eyes, once again in a hospital room.

What-" the words caught in her throat as saw who sat next to her.

Ronan Blackwood was sitting there, leaning back in a chair beside the bed. His pose was composed, calm and controlled, the calm that might be frightening. He was smartly dressed, clean, and slightly scented with cologne. His eyes were fixed, and he stared at her, and Selene felt, as she had not felt in months, a kind of recognition, not fear.

Ronan Blackwood bent a little, and put both his hands on his knees. Selene, he said in a low voice, his voice was measured. "You're awake."

Selene attempted to move, attempted to push herself up, but her weakness pulled her down at once. "Wh... why..." Her voice was sharp and jagged, as metal rubbing metal together. The words were hardly discernible.

Ronan Blackwood held up a hand. "Relax. You're safe. I came to see you."

Selene's eyes widened. She remembered him. Her husband's best friend. The individual who never appeared to be reachable, not besmirched by the lies, the betrayals. And now he was there--composed, in her hospital room. 

"Not fine I Never... had drugs... police... lied..." Her ravaged voice broke once more. She gulped, attempting to force the words down her throat, though they did not seem to come out as words at all, but as a scratching motor.

Ronan Blackwood's gaze softened. "I know," he said firmly. "I know you didn't carry drugs. I know you were framed. I have been following it since the day it occurred. They have put those drugs in your car. They set you up."

At his words Selene turned her stomach. "Who... did it?" whimpered she, the rasp scarcely intelligible. "Why...?"

Ronan Blackwood sat back a little, examining her. "That is what I have come to tell you, and in the first place I am going to give you something. An opportunity. A chance to get your life back."

The eyes of Selene were flickering with doubt and desire. "Opportunity? What... what do you mean? she managed to rasp.

Ronan Blackwood exhaled slowly. "I can get you out of jail, Selene. You don't have to stay there. You do not need to suffer any more. He stood still and looked at her. "I possess sufficient influence and funds to make it happen. You'll be free. One word from me, and all these gaurds would open those prison doors and escort you out."

Selene sighed and shook her head. "Free? After everything? Years of mistreatment, months of being deprived of her life , months of the agony of being confined in that institution and  tortured there? Could it really be possible?"

He went on, speaking in a calm and firm voice. "You will not only be free but you will have a new life. You will be a different person, different documents and nobody will be aware of your history. Your countenance will be rebuilt. The harm of the past, all that had made you feel inferior to yourself, can be repaired. Your voice... I'll get the best specialists. You will be able to talk and sing once more."

Selene's hand shook on the bed. The cuff was biting into her wrist as she pushed it down. "Face... voice..." she rasped. The idea was nearly too many to think. Her chest tightened. She had a desire to weep, but the tears could not come easily. They were caught, as was her broken voice, in pain and fear.

Ronan Blackwood shook his head, feeling her indecision. And, he said to himself, you will avenge.

Her head lifted slightly. Her heart beat in her breast. "Revenge?" she mumbled , with her broken voice shaking.

"Yes," Ronan Blackwood said. "Your husband, and your best friend they both cheated you. They gave evidence against you in court. They framed you. They destroyed your life. And I can help you fix it."

Selene shut his eyes, and attempted to believe him. Her throat was on fire and she rasped, "Why... you?" 

Ronan Blackwood smiled a little and his eyes remained alert. "I know both of them well, that is why. I was still faking that I was the friend of Garrick Thorne. I made him believe that I was on his side. But the truth is... I have been waiting to have the right time to ensure he is made to pay with what he has done."

Selene's mind spun. She desired to put ask  questions, so many questions, but her throat would not cooperate. Every word was broken, rough, painful. Rather, she gazed at him and his words sunk in.

Ronan Blackwood leaned back slightly. "I am giving you this not because I feel sorry about you, not because I think you are the one who needs to be pitied, but because you are the only one who can stop them. You have talent. You have skill. You have the drive. And you can bring them down with my aid, get all they took away out of you, and get your life back together again. You can make them pay for what they did to you."

Selene's heart raced. Free. A new identity. Her face fixed. Her voice repaired. Revenge. Everything she had desired for years, all the things she had envisioned when she sat in that prison cell, when she was called 1165, when she was beaten, humiliated, and broken--could come to pass.

Ronan Blackwood stood by her, watching her, and his face was composed, but resolute. "I understand it is a lot to digest, Selene," he  said. "But I need your answer. Will you do this? Will you risk your life,  to reclaim your life and have justice?"

Selene got out of the jail van slowly, with her hands cuffed in front of her, and her head down. The commotion at the main gate, the screaming guards, the screaming prisoners, the banging metal doors--was in her favor. She was pushed to the side door by a guard, feigning a trip and ran the final few feet into the black SUV that was waiting. Ronan Blackwood was driving, and his face was calm as all that had happened was all a part of his plan, to get Selene out whilst making it seem like she escaped from jail. 

"You made it," he said.

"I... I can not believe that it worked," Selene whispered, trying her voice. Strong, unbroken now it was clear. "I'm... free?"

"You are," Ronan Blackwood said. "New identity, new face, new life. But you'll always be Selene but not that Selene. Don't forget that. You enter the world again tonight, you and we start."

Selene's stomach tightened. "I... I don't know if I can do this. I mean it's one thing saying yes on the hospital bed, and one thing actually doing it."

"You can. You have to, because I have already put a lot of my money into this, and you can't turn back now. Dinner at Garrick Thorne's will be your first meeting with him, it's taking place once your new face heals. He has no idea you're alive. Liora Voss doesn't know either. It is your task to play the role of my girlfriend, a fan of Liora Voss. Keep your cool. Observe, learn, remember."

Selene took a shaky breath. Observe, learn, remember... "I can do it, I can do it," she said to herself and each day, she made sure that was her motto.

Months later after the surgery, Selene was in a bedroom of Ronan Blackwood, fiddling with the black dress which he had prepared. She touched her face gently. Smooth, unfamiliar, perfect.

"I... I do not feel like myself, yet, she said to herself.

"Yes, you will," Ronan Blackwood said, and sat on the edge of the bed. "Tonight, you play your part. Courteous, attentive, animated. Ask questions. Laugh at the right moments. Keep Garrick Thorne distracted. Be a fanatic of Liora Voss's music."

Her chest tightened. Quiet. Observe. Learn... Every detail counts. She clenched her fists. All words, all smiles, all glances, they will all be mine to recall.

"I'm ready," she said softly.

At Garrick Thorne's door, Selene froze. The corridors were covered with wedding pictures: Garrick Thorne and Liora Voss, married, happy. Her chest constricted. Ronan Blackwood nudged her lightly.

"Remember, Selene," he whispered. "Polite. Friendly. A fan. Nothing more. Keep him off guard."

Selene nodded. A fan... just a fan.

Liora Voss opened the door and her smiling face illuminated the room. "Hi! Ronan Blackwood! And you must be...?"

Ronan Blackwood said with ease, "This is my girlfriend, Selene. Selene, this is Garrick Thorne, my best friend and Liora Voss, is his wife." 

Selene reached out, making an obligatory smile. "Nice to meet you, Liora Voss. I'm a huge fan of your music. I'm really honored to meet you." 

Liora Voss's eyes sparkled. "Really? That's so sweet! You like my songs?"

"Absolutely! I have heard each one of them. Well, it is wonderful to see you in person, Liora Voss." Selene lied. 

Garrick Thorne looked up and held a glass of wine. His eyes were slightly opened, and a flash of recognition came over his face. "Selene?" 

Selene froze. She smiled a little, and in a controlled manner. "Selene", she said, light-heartedly, trying to conceal the sudden hate and disgust that came over her seeing that look in his eyes and hearing him mention her name. Keep the act... calm... observe.

Garrick Thorne scowled, shock all over  his face. "I'm sorry ... I... I had someone  called Selene. She... she vanished. You remind me of her..."

The tension was broken by Ronan Blackwood coughing. "Are we playing FbI or eating?" 

Garrick Thorne looked at Ronan Blackwood, who was still looking at the face of Selene, and nodded his head. "Something is not right, I cannot put it into place..." he mumbled under his breath.

"Let's go eat." He said finally.

Dinner began, wine poured, low music in the background. Selene politely laughed at Garrick Thorne and nodded at Liora Voss and all the time observed rhem.

"So, Selene," Liora Voss said after a little, leaning forward, and her eyes flushed with excitement, "how did you become such a fan?"

"Oh, I simply... have just learned about your music a few years ago after you opened the tour for Kaelara Storm," Selene said. "It's incredible. I can't get enough of it."

Liora Voss's smile widened. "Thank you! That means so much. These were some of the songs that it took months to master." 

Selene felt her chest tighten. "Months you worked? Every word, every melody, was mine..." Selene said in her head.

"I even got some snippets from my new album," Liora Voss said, and took out her phone. "Want to hear? It's just a sneak peek."

"Absolutely!" Selene bent over, pretending to be excited. "I'd love that."

The first song played. Selene froze. All her lyrics, all her melodies, her songs, stolen and possessed by Liora Voss.

"Oh, wow," she said to herself, trying to smile. "This is... incredible."

Liora Voss beamed. "Right? I poured my soul into this one. It's raw, don't you think?"

Raw? My raw. Stolen. Every note mine. Selene was clenching her hands together. Stay calm. Observe. Plan.

Ronan Blackwood saw that she was tense, but he made no comment, and gently squeezed her thigh under the table. .

Dinner continued. Selene maintained her light tone, laughed at the jokes of Liora Voss, asked polite questions, and pretended to be impressed. 

But all the words, all the melodies of the songs being purported to belong to Liora Voss, smoldered within her. She remembered all the movements, all the glances Garrick Thorne gave, all the details that she could apply in future.

Garrick Thorne looked at her every now and then, and was still faintly disturbed by her features. "You are... you are reminding me of someone I was once acquainted with... " he said to Selene.

The lips of Selene curled in a gracious smile. "Yes, Garrick Thorne. You know me. You just don't realize it yet." Was what she wanted to say, but she just smiled at him.

Dinner finally over, Ronan Blackwood rose and gave Selene his arm. She took it and bade farewell to the couple . She was burning rage, sharp and focused. Every move is part of the plan.

Ronan Blackwood looked at her, even and constant, and questioned when they had got in the car.

"What's your plan for her album?"