Chapter 3: Under Pressure

I arrive at the power plant, the air in the boiler room thick enough to chew, every breath laced with coal dust and sweat. The place is loud, dirty, and hot enough to fry an egg on the machinery.

Pinching my nose, I steel myself, smoothing out my skirt as I step into the boiler room—a space crowded with sweating men, the clank of metal echoing off concrete walls.

There he is: Jason Young, stripped to the waist, skin glistening with sweat and soot. The guy could have been on the cover of Men’s Health if he wasn’t shoveling coal for minimum wage.

His physique is exactly as I wrote it—lean but strong, muscles cut and defined, face streaked with grime but still absurdly handsome. No wonder he was always the golden boy of the arts troupe.

It stings to see him stuck here, breathing in dust instead of applause.

He spots me and stiffens, a flash of disbelief in his blue-gray eyes before his face ices over.

“What are you doing here? Did you come to laugh at me?”

Once upon a time, Nicole trailed after him relentlessly, making a spectacle of herself. But Jason dodged her at every turn. Her crush turned to scorn, her scorn to sabotage—Nicole turned to Lucas, destroying Jason’s career to make Lucas a star. What a script. If only I hadn’t written myself into this mess.

Now, standing in her shoes, I can only curse my own pen.

“I just came to see you. What I did before was wrong.” I muster my most wide-eyed, innocent expression, lips trembling with just the right note of regret.

“I was too naive and got misled by Lucas.”

“He told me he’d worked for over a decade but was always held back by you, never able to get ahead.”

“I’ve always admired talent, so I softened and believed him.”

“He said if you got a little scare, he could take your place for one performance.”

“He just wanted a single chance on stage, just one show. If I’d known the stage light would fall and cripple you for life, I’d have stopped it even if it killed me.”

I’m not trying to dodge responsibility—Nicole was genuinely manipulated by Lucas. She let herself be led by the nose, and now I’m stuck cleaning up her mess.

“Ha. Naive? Admire talent?” Jason’s laugh is bitter, echoing off the boiler walls. “I don’t want to see you. Get out!”

“I’ll do anything you want, just give me a chance to make it up to you.”

He glares, jaw clenched. Suddenly, he slams his shovel to the ground and points to his left leg, voice trembling with pain and anger. “Can you give me back this leg? Can you put me back on stage?” His eyes glistened, anger and something like betrayal fighting for space.

I cover my mouth, blinking away imaginary tears. “I’ll search the country for the best doctors. If there aren’t any here, we’ll go abroad. Trust me—I have the means.”

“Get out!” Jason’s voice shakes with raw hatred. His knuckles whiten, but he forces himself to turn away, picking up the shovel and shoveling coal like I’m already gone.

I don’t budge. I wait, watching for the tiniest opening.

When Jason turns to dump another load of coal, I slip a lighter into the mouth of the boiler.

A moment later, a deafening boom rattles the whole room. Smoke billows everywhere.

Without thinking, I dive over Jason, shoving him to the ground and covering his head with my arms, my heart hammering like mad.

Chaos erupts. Alarms blare. The plant supervisor yells for everyone to evacuate.

Through the haze, I hear Jason shouting my name, his voice panicked right beside my ear.

“Let my life pay for your leg—will that make us even?” I gasp, playing my part to the hilt. “Jason, now we’re square...”

I let my body go slack, heart thudding wildly as I prayed my acting was good enough to fool them all.