Chapter 1

"Next!" The coordinator called out loud, as the surrounding light was once again dimmed and the spotlights above the makeshift ramp illuminated the stage, like a moon-lit night in a star-less sky.

"Natasha....1...2...3...." the beautiful Spanish model, with dark hair and dark eyes, walked out on the ramp with a slight gait to her steps that set her aside from everyone else in the room.

She was beautiful, but more than that - she had the passion - the attitude - that made or broke people in the fashion industry.

Though, technically she wasn't a model yet, she would be one, very soon! Anna was sure of it. After all she- Anna herself had started her career, just like this - walking on one of these make-shift ramps, nervous and a tad bit apprehensive.

And then she met Nancy, the owner and sole runner of her modeling agency, who had taken her under her wings and launched her career as a world-renowned model, almost overnight.

Anna had been a success! At least she had seemed like one for a short period when she had the world below her feet, with modeling contracts from companies like Versace to Gucci and Tiffany and Co.

But her rise to fame had come at a cost that she had been unable to pay, so her fall had come quickly and finished her off in a single slay. She had suddenly disappeared from the fashion industry like a speck of dust disappears when the winds are high.

Beautiful women are found in dozens here and one is just as replaceable as the next. With a single wrong step - she had fallen, her name ruined, and she had become a nobody all over again.

She would have remained a jobless nobody, if not for Nancy, who had once again been a guardian angel to her. Nancy had picked up her broken pieces, glued them back together, and pushed her back into the industry. Although Anna hadn't been able to climb back up the modeling ladder this time, Nancy hadn't given up on her and had instead offered her a recruiter position at her modeling agency.

The wheel of time had moved on, and her chance had passed. Today, Anna was no longer on the ramp; instead, she was sitting at the front of it, alongside her friend—now also her boss—Nancy, who was currently glaring angrily backstage. 'Tom! Turn on the base lights as well! Otherwise, she's going to fall in those spindly heels and break her neck before we can even launch her!'

Anna looked carefully at the model's feet and sure enough, the Spanish girl was wearing six-inch pencil heels, walking through the almost dark room.

"What do you think?" Nancy had now switched her focus from the model to Anna. "Will she do?"

"I think she'll do very well," Anna nodded, as she watched the girl walk back to the backstage.

"She had already signed the—" But her words were cut short as Tom finally succeeded in switching on the base lights, which significantly improved the stage visibility.

The coordinator was shouting again, "Next! Angie! Go..." And another model started walking forward, showcasing yet another dazzling suit and spindly heels.

But Anna was distracted this time by her phone, which had suddenly started ringing in her purse. "Sorry." She apologized to Nancy. "It's Amber, from the reception... It will take only a few minutes."

"Hello..." She was out in the open corridor now, as she took the call. "Amber?"

"Ms. Miller, someone's here to meet you," Amber spoke back, although her voice sounded a little strange.

"Okay. Tell them to wait for a few minutes, as soon as the rehearsals end, I will come over..." With that reassurance in place, Anna was about to cut the call and return to the rehearsals, but the receptionist didn't let her.

"Ms. Miller, actually it'll be better if you come now. They- I mean he says that it's urgent....and he - he looks very important!" The last words were whispered into the phone, with a nervous shake in her voice that made Anna frown.

'An important-looking man, at the front desk wanted to meet me. Who was it? And what does he want from me?' She wondered, a little apprehensively.

"Amber, did you ask his name?"

"I did. But he refused to tell me anything, except that he wanted to see you."

"Fine," Anna agreed with a sigh. "I'll come over now and see what this is all about."

Within minutes, she was striding out of the elevator and into the open-spaced lounge-cum-reception on the ground floor, thereby committing one of the biggest mistakes of her life.

Because she wished she hadn't! She wished she had never taken that call from reception and made the colossal mistake of coming face-to-face with the man she loathed the most in the whole wide world! She wished she never had to see that handsome face again after he had destroyed her self-confidence, her career, and then her life—all in a single stroke!

She hated this man more than anything in the world! And yet, she hated herself even more for having fallen into his trap a year ago, like a gullible little fool.

Her legs trembled beneath her, ready to collapse. Shock, trepidation, and full-fledged panic assaulted her from all sides as the handsome Greek billionaire, Eros Kozakis, stood like an arrogant tiger among a flock of deer, his stance cold and hard as he surveyed her from head to toe.

As if she were a commodity on a supermarket shelf.

"Hello, wife... gynaika mou..." he murmured with an arrogant grin.