Cinnamon paced the length of Mia's small Brooklyn apartment, her heels clicking a frantic rhythm on the hardwood floor. Mia was hunched over her laptop, typing furiously, while her friend, a lanky guy named Ben with thick glasses, monitored a second screen.

"He's bouncing his signal," Ben muttered. "Using a burner phone and a VPN. I can't pin him down."

"He was right behind me," Cinnamon said, hugging her arms around herself. "He was right there."

Her phone pinged.

The sound made all three of them jump.

Cinnamon stared at the device on the coffee table like it was a bomb. The screen lit up. A text from an unknown number.

It was a link.

"Don't open it," Mia warned.

"I have to," Cinnamon whispered. Her trembling finger tapped the glass.

A video player opened. It was a livestream.

The camera was shaky, handheld. It showed a view from a dizzying height. The wind was roaring into the microphone, creating a distorted, howling noise. The camera panned down to show feet in worn sneakers standing on the very edge of a concrete ledge. Below, tiny cars moved like ants.

Then the camera turned around.

Chase Miller's face filled the screen. He looked gaunt, his eyes wild and bloodshot, his hair matted. But his smile was the same terrifying, beatific grin from her nightmares.

"Hello, Angel," he crooned. The wind whipped his words away, but the intent was clear. "I missed you."

"Oh god," Cinnamon covered her mouth.

"I'm at the Watts Hotel," Chase said, gesturing to the giant neon 'W' sign behind him. "Your fiancé's shiny new toy. It's a long way down, Cinnamon."

The view count on the stream was climbing. 500. 1,000. 5,000. Comments were scrolling by faster than she could read. Is this real? Jump! Call the cops!

Chase pulled a box cutter from his pocket. He clicked the blade out. "You have twenty minutes. Come to the roof. Alone. If I see cops, I jump. If I see that suit-wearing prick Arturo, I jump. And I'll leave a note saying the Watts family drove me to it."

"He's insane," Mia said, grabbing Cinnamon's arm. "We're calling 911."

"No!" Cinnamon pulled away. "You heard him. If he jumps from the Watts Hotel... if he blames Arturo..." The IPO. The SEC investigation. A suicide linked to the family could destroy everything. Her leverage. Her escape.

"Who cares about Arturo's company right now?"

"I do!" Cinnamon screamed. "It's my leverage! It's my future! And... I need a confession. I need this to end, permanently."

She grabbed her coat. "I'm going. Mia, is your guy in position?"

"He's on the roof of the adjacent building with a parabolic mic and a long-lens camera," Mia confirmed, her face pale. "But Cin, this is crazy."

"Crazy is letting him control the narrative," Cinnamon retorted, her eyes hard. "He wants an audience. I'll give him one."

She was already out the door.

She hailed a cab, shouting the address of the hotel. In the back seat, she watched the stream. Chase was reciting a poem now, something about blood and wings. It was garbled and sick.

Mia was calling Carter on the other line. "Pick up, pick up, pick up," she hissed.

Cinnamon arrived at the hotel. A crowd had already gathered, necks craned upward, phones recording. A few police cruisers were just arriving, sirens wailing, but they were setting up a perimeter on the ground.

Cinnamon pushed through the crowd. A uniform cop tried to stop her.

"Ma'am, stay back!"

She ripped off her sunglasses. "I'm Cinnamon Taylor! He's asking for me! Let me through or he jumps!"

The cop hesitated, recognizing her from the gala photos. The hotel manager ran out, pale and sweating. "Ms. Taylor! Thank god. He's... he's on the penthouse roof."

"Take me up. Now."

They rushed her to the service elevator. As the doors closed, Cinnamon looked at her phone. The signal bars dropped to one, then zero. The livestream froze on Chase's laughing face.

High above the city, in the corner office of Watts Capital, Arturo's phone buzzed with a news alert.

BREAKING: Jumper on Watts Hotel Roof Demands Fiancée.

Arturo went still. The color drained from his face, leaving it a mask of pure, cold rage.

"Carter!" he roared, the sound echoing through the suite. "Get the chopper. Now!"

He dialed Cinnamon. Straight to voicemail.

He threw the phone against the wall. It shattered.

The roof door opened with a heavy groan against the wind. Cinnamon stepped out onto the gravel surface. The wind up here was ferocious, tearing at her clothes and hair.

Chase was standing on the ledge of the helipad, twenty feet away. He saw her and his face lit up.

"You came," he shouted over the wind. "I knew you loved me."

Cinnamon held up her hands, palms open. She subtly angled her body toward the adjacent building, ensuring Mia's operative had a clear line of sight. "I'm here, Chase. Just step down. Please. Let's talk."

"Talk?" Chase laughed. "We don't need to talk. We need to fly. We're going to be together forever, Angel. Just you and me."

He extended a hand toward her. The box cutter was in the other. "Come here. Take my hand."

Cinnamon took a step forward. Her legs felt like jelly. Every instinct screamed at her to run, but she forced herself to move closer. "Okay. I'm coming. Just put the knife down."

"No!" He waved the blade. "Come closer!"

She took another step. She was ten feet away. She could see the madness in his eyes.

Suddenly, a rhythmic thumping sound filled the air. It grew louder, vibrating in her chest. A shadow fell over them.

Chase looked up, screaming something inaudible.

A sleek black helicopter with the Watts logo on the tail rose up over the edge of the building, the rotor wash hitting them like a hurricane.

The wind from the helicopter blades was a physical assault. Cinnamon fell to her knees, shielding her eyes from the flying gravel. Chase was screaming, clutching his ears, teetering dangerously on the edge.

The helicopter didn't hover. It landed swiftly on the far side of the helipad, its engines whining down but not off. The door slid open.

Arturo stepped out, followed by two men in sharp suits who were clearly his personal security. He didn't run. He walked toward the scene with a chilling calm, his suit jacket unbuttoned and flapping in the residual wind. He stopped a good thirty feet away, a predator assessing his territory.

Chase saw him. His face twisted into a snarl of pure hatred. "You! You stole her!"

Arturo ignored him completely. His eyes were locked on Cinnamon. He gave a sharp, almost imperceptible nod to one of his men, who began to circle slowly to the left.

"She's mine!" Chase shrieked, waving the box cutter. He took a shuffling step toward Cinnamon.

"Is she?" Arturo's voice cut through the wind, cold and measured. "Look at her, Chase. She came up here, but she's not looking at you. She's looking at me. She always will."

A news drone, which had been circling, now hovered twenty feet away, its red light a malevolent eye. Arturo glanced at it, then back at Chase. The gears in his mind were turning, seeing not just a threat, but an opportunity. A public display of control. A way to dominate the news cycle and bury the SEC story under a wave of heroic drama.

"Liar!" Chase screamed.

"You offer her a jump into nothing. I offer her the world," Arturo continued, taking another deliberate step forward. "You think this is about love? This is about power. And you have none."

The psychological attack worked. Chase's focus shifted entirely to Arturo. He lunged away from the ledge, charging at him with the box cutter raised.

Arturo didn't move. He stood his ground. Just as Chase closed the distance, the security guard who had been circling tackled him from the side, a brutal, efficient move that sent Chase sprawling onto the gravel. The box cutter skittered away.

The second guard was on him in an instant, pinning him, while the first retrieved the weapon. It was over in seconds. Clean. Professional. No heroics.

Cinnamon was shaking so hard her teeth chattered. She stared at Arturo, who was calmly adjusting his cuffs as his men secured the threat. He looked up and saw the drone.

He turned to Cinnamon. His eyes were dark, burning with an emotion she couldn't name. Anger? Relief? Calculation.

He strode toward her. He didn't ask if she was okay. He didn't hug her.

He grabbed her face with both hands, his grip bordering on painful.

"Look at me," he commanded.

She stared up at him, her eyes wide.

And then he kissed her.

It wasn't a romantic kiss. It was a branding. His lips crashed onto hers with bruising force. He tasted of copper and adrenaline. He kissed her like he was trying to consume her, to inhale her soul so that no one else could ever touch it.

Cinnamon gasped against his mouth, her hands clutching his shirt for balance. For a moment, the world stopped. The wind, the noise, the fear-it all vanished, replaced by the overwhelming reality of him.

The drone hovered, broadcasting the image to millions of screens. WattsKiss was trending before they even broke apart.

Arturo pulled back, but he didn't let go of her face. He pressed his forehead against hers, his breathing ragged.

"You are mine," he growled, low enough that only she could hear. "Your life belongs to me. You do not get to die without my permission. Do you understand?"

Cinnamon looked at him. She felt a strange, twisted cocktail of shame and safety. "I understand."

He took off his jacket and threw it over her head, shielding her from the camera. He wrapped his arm around her waist, lifting her off her feet, and carried her toward the helicopter.

Behind them, Chase was screaming her name as the police, finally arriving on the roof, dragged him into the stairwell.

Inside the helicopter, the noise was deafening. Arturo sat her down and buckled her in. He sat next to her, his thigh pressing against hers. He took her hand and interlaced their fingers, squeezing so hard her bones ground together.

As the helicopter lifted off, Cinnamon looked out the window. Down below, on the street, she saw a massive yellow airbag deployed.

She looked back at Arturo. He was staring straight ahead, his jaw clenched.

He knew. He knew Chase wouldn't have died if he jumped. He knew the police were there.

He didn't need to risk a fight.

It was a show.

He had turned a suicide attempt into a PR stunt. He had turned her trauma into a statement of ownership.

She looked at his hand, the one holding hers. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket with his free hand and wiped the palm that had touched Chase. He scrubbed it, his face twisted in disgust, as if he had touched something rotting.

A chill went through Cinnamon that had nothing to do with the altitude.

He had saved her, yes. But he had also used her.

She was safe. But she was trapped.

Cinnamon woke up screaming.

The dream was a blur of falling bodies and Arturo's mouth-bloody and consuming. She sat up, gasping for air, her sheets tangled around her legs.

She was in her room at the Manor. The morning sun was streaming in, cheerful and mocking.

She threw off the covers and went to the window to open it for some fresh air. It opened two inches and stopped.

She pushed harder. It didn't budge.

She looked closely. A new, heavy-duty limiter lock had been installed on the frame.

"Mr. Watts had them installed while you slept," a voice said from the door.

Mrs. Higgins walked in with a tray of breakfast. She wouldn't meet Cinnamon's eyes. "He said it's for your safety. With the... press and all."

"Am I a prisoner?" Cinnamon asked, her voice raspy.

"You're recovering, dear. He said you're to stay inside for a few days. The reporters are camped at the gates."

Cinnamon grabbed the remote and turned on the TV mounted on the wall.

Every channel.

CNN: The Billionaire and the Beauty: A Modern Fairytale?

Fox: Watts Capital Stock Soars After Heroic Rescue.

TMZ: WattsKiss Breakdown: True Love or Trauma Bond?

The footage of the kiss played on a loop. Cinnamon watched herself being devoured by him. She felt sick. Her terror was boosting his portfolio.

She reached for her phone on the nightstand. It wasn't there.

In its place was a sleek, black burner phone. She picked it up. There was only one number saved in the contacts: A.

"Where is my phone?" she demanded.

"Mr. Watts has it," Mrs. Higgins said, backing out of the room. "He said you need a digital detox."

Cinnamon threw a pillow at the closing door.

She spent the morning pacing. By noon, she was climbing the walls. She needed answers. She needed to confront him.

She went downstairs. The house was quiet. She checked the study. Empty. She checked the kitchen. Empty.

She walked past the small office used by Carter and the assistants. The door was open. The shredder was whirring.

Carter was feeding documents into the machine. He looked up, saw her, and jumped, trying to cover the stack of papers with his body.

"Ms. Taylor! You should be resting."

"Where is he?"

"He's... out. Handling the fallout."

Cinnamon's eyes drifted to the shredder bin. It was full, but a few strips of paper were stuck in the teeth.

One strip had a grainy, black and white photograph on it. It showed a man who looked like a younger version of her father, shaking hands with another man in front of a small, private jet. The tail number of the jet was partially visible.

Cinnamon felt a jolt of recognition. The other man was a known rival of the Watts family, a man who had mysteriously disappeared in the late 90s.

Why was Carter shredding photos of her father with Arturo's enemies?

"Who is that with my father?" she asked, stepping forward.

Carter quickly reversed the machine, sucking the strip back in and destroying it completely. "I don't know what you're talking about. Just old files. Please, Ms. Taylor, go back to your room."

"Tell me where Arturo is."

Carter sighed. "He's meeting someone. To... manage the narrative."

"Who?"

"Sasha Vane."

Cinnamon froze. She knew that name. Everyone knew that name. Sasha Vane was a supermodel, but in the inner circles, she was known as "The Cleaner." Whenever a high-profile man had a scandal, Sasha Vane would suddenly be seen on his arm, distracting the press with her legs and her smile.

"Why is he meeting her?"

"Tiffany has been talking to the press," Carter admitted, looking miserable. "About... how unstable you are. About your father. Arturo needs a distraction. A new headline to bury the 'Suicide Bride' angle."

Cinnamon walked out of the room. Her head was spinning.

He was going to fake a romance with a supermodel to distract from the kiss? To make yesterday look like a mistake? A moment of madness?

She felt a stinging humiliation. That kiss... she had felt it in her soul. And to him, it was just a PR mess to be cleaned up.

She went back to her room. She waited until nightfall.

She found her old iPad under the bed-Mrs. Higgins had missed it. She connected to the neighbor's weak Wi-Fi.

Gawker: Arturo Watts spotted entering 'The Vault' tonight. Sasha Vane arrived ten minutes later.

Cinnamon stared at the screen.

She wasn't going to sit here and be the locked-up princess while he played games.

She went to her closet and pulled out a black hoodie and leggings. She went to the window. The limiter lock was strong, but the screws were exposed.

She used a nail file from the bathroom. It took twenty minutes, but she got the screws out.

She slid the window open. The trellis was right there.

She was going to that club.