Chapter 1: Crimson on Gold

Serena Hayes pressed her palm against the sketchbook lying open on her bed, as if holding it down would keep the swirling chaos of her life from bleeding onto the page. A half-finished portrait stared back at her—a woman with storm-dark eyes and lips pursed in defiance. The charcoal lines were sharp, unforgiving.

Her phone buzzed against the thin mattress. The vibration rattled the frame of the iron bed like a reminder she didn’t need: overdue rent, unpaid bills, and the weight of her mother’s coughing in the next room.

The screen lit up with a text from her landlord.

FINAL NOTICE. Eviction if balance unpaid by Monday.

Serena exhaled through her teeth, her chest tightening. She wanted to throw the phone across the room, but she didn’t have the luxury of breaking things. Even her cracked screen was a reminder that every object in her possession was hanging by a thread.

“Serena?” Her mother’s voice drifted weakly from the adjoining room.

Serena pushed the sketchbook aside and hurried in. Margaret Hayes sat propped against pillows, her skin pale, her breathing labored. A stack of medical receipts rested on the nightstand, unopened envelopes like vultures circling.

“I’m fine, sweetheart,” her mother murmured, though the way her fingers trembled as she reached for her water glass betrayed the lie.

Serena held the glass for her. “You should be resting, not worrying.”

Her mother gave her a faint smile. “That’s my job. To worry about you. You’re working tonight, aren’t you?”

Serena hesitated. “Yeah. Some fancy gala. They needed extra staff.”

Her mother’s brows furrowed. “You’ll be careful? Those crowds… they look down on people like us.”

People like us. Serena bit back a bitter laugh. Poor, invisible, disposable—that’s what she was. An artist whose canvases collected dust in the corner while she scraped plates at tables where a single bottle of wine cost more than her rent.

“I’ll be fine,” Serena said, forcing lightness into her tone. “It’s just another night.”

But it wasn’t. Not really. She could feel it, like the charged silence before a storm.

By the time Serena arrived at the banquet hall, the world around her had transformed into something surreal. Crystal chandeliers glittered above, casting a golden glow over men in tailored suits and women draped in gowns worth more than Serena would earn in a year. The air smelled of roses and wealth, mingled with the faintest trace of disdain.

She tugged nervously at the hem of her borrowed uniform—a crisp white shirt, black vest, and skirt a size too tight. The catering manager barked orders from the corner, waving servers like chess pieces across the room.

“Hayes!” he snapped, spotting her. “Wine service. Don’t trip, don’t spill, don’t embarrass us.”

Her jaw tightened, but she nodded, balancing the tray with practiced ease. The stemmed glasses clinked softly as she moved through the crowd.

Conversations swirled around her like music in a language she didn’t understand. Stocks. Mergers. A senator’s wife complaining about Paris. Serena caught fragments, filing them away in the corner of her mind where she kept the sketches of faces she’d never see again.

Then she heard it. A name.

Damian Wolfe.

She turned her head instinctively, her gaze snagging on a figure across the room.

Tall. Impeccably tailored black suit. Dark hair slicked back with an effortlessness that screamed control. His presence was magnetic—like gravity had tilted the room toward him. Even the way he held his champagne glass seemed deliberate, as though every gesture had been practiced and perfected.

Around him, people leaned in with nervous laughter, hungry for his approval. Serena didn’t need an introduction. She knew the name well enough. The billionaire CEO who could dismantle companies with a single phone call. The man rumored to chew through rivals and spit them out without blinking.

Damian Wolfe.

Her heart thudded, though not with awe—more like the unease of watching a storm gather on the horizon.

She tore her gaze away, reminding herself that people like him didn’t even register people like her. She was background noise in his glittering empire. A waitress with rent overdue and charcoal smudges under her nails.

Still, as she weaved through the throng, her tray heavy with wineglasses, she couldn’t shake the feeling that his eyes had brushed over her. Just once. As if he’d noticed.

Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself. Men like him only noticed when something went wrong.

Half an hour later, her feet ached and her smile felt carved from stone. She ducked briefly into a quieter corner to adjust her tray. Through the glass walls, the city glittered below, a reminder of how far removed this world was from her cramped apartment.

“Excuse me, miss.”

She startled, almost tipping the tray. A woman in a silver gown arched a brow, eyeing Serena like she was a stain on the marble floor. “We’ve been waiting for champagne for ten minutes. Do you think you could manage that?”

“Of course,” Serena said tightly, offering a glass.

The woman sniffed. “Try to hurry next time.”

Serena bit her tongue and turned away, her knuckles white around the tray’s edge. She hated this—being treated like furniture, like she didn’t exist.

But then again, maybe invisibility was a blessing.

The speeches began soon after. A hush fell as Damian Wolfe stepped up to the podium, his commanding presence enough to silence the clinking of glasses. His voice was smooth, deep, controlled—a man who wielded words like weapons.

Serena stood at the edge of the crowd, her tray balanced at her hip, pretending not to listen.

He spoke of power, legacy, vision. The kind of speech that made investors salivate. But beneath the polish, Serena caught something else—an emptiness, a hollowness that echoed like footsteps in a cavern.

When the applause roared, Damian’s gaze swept the room once more. For a heartbeat, Serena could have sworn his eyes locked with hers.

Her chest tightened. No. It had to be her imagination.

Back in motion, Serena moved through the crowd, distributing wineglasses, keeping her head down. She maneuvered around jeweled clutches and diamond bracelets, her tray a fragile balance of glass and liquid.

And then—

A shoulder bumped hers. A heel snagged against the rug. The tray tilted.

“No, no, no—” Serena hissed, lunging to steady it.

Too late.

The wine arced through the air, crimson against crystal light.

Straight toward Damian Wolfe.