Ray staggered back, like a man who just got hit by a truck made of pure sha. His body swayed, eyes unfocused, and before he could hit the floor, two of his friends rushed to hold him up.
But it was too late.
Thud.
His knees buckled, and his eyes rolled back. He passed out—right there in the middle of the crowd. The hundred grand was gone. But what shattered him wasn’t the money—it was the fact that Liam didn’t even keep it. He just gave it to Lana. Like it was pocket change. Like it ant absolutely nothing to him.
Gasps erupted around them.
"The motherfucker actually fainted!"
"Did bro just pass out just to escape the sha?"
"Passing out to dodge embarrassnt... You can’t sha the shaless, bruh."
"LMAO. Bro is never recovering from this."
His friends gently laid him down on a bench, fanning him as if they could revive what little pride he had left.
But honestly? That shit was already long gone.
Just as the crowd continued to buzz and throw shade, soone checked their phone and suddenly froze. "Yo, the voting results are out!"
That instantly got everyone’s attention.
Lana, who was still holding her phone after the credit alert, quickly switched from her bank app to the voting site. Her thumb moved fast across the screen as she began scrolling through the results.
But the more she scrolled... the more confused her face beca.
Sothing was off.
"Wait, what?" she mumbled, her brows furrowed.
She kept scrolling... picture after picture. Beautiful girls. Hot guys. Perfect poses. But the numbers weren’t making any sense.
"Why the hell does Zoe only have 2,000 votes?" she said aloud, confused.
Another girl nearby noticed and spoke out. "Are you shitting ? I spent two hours in the damn salon this morning, got a custom fit, hired a private photographer, and I only got 2k?! I had 10k last year! What kind of fuckery is this?!"
Another dude scrolled through his profile and winced. "Bro... I got 10 votes..."
"Ten votes? Chopped motherfucker," soone snorted. "Even that 10 is too much. Go get a job at a bar—you’d earn more serving cold beer."
The whole crowd erupted in mixed laughter and frustration.
Lana was still scrolling, her heart starting to beat a little faster. Sothing wasn’t right. Why was everybody’s votes so low this year?
Then she felt sothing warm—breath—against the side of her neck.
She turned her head slightly and saw Liam standing close, looking down at her screen. His sharp blue eyes caught the tension in her expression imdiately.
"What’s wrong?" he asked.
Lana tilted her screen to him, her voice low. "The votes... they’re weird this year. Everyone’s numbers are super low. Like, way lower than last year."
Liam narrowed his eyes slightly. "Have you checked ours?"
She shook her head. "No... but judging from what I’m seeing, I’m guessing it’s nothing impressive."
Liam didn’t say anything. He just leaned closer, watching her scroll from behind her shoulder.
And then—there it was.
The photo.
It was a shot of them right after stepping out of the car, Liam looking like a walking god in his fitted black suit, and Lana beside him, her curves flawless, her presence radiating elegance and power. Her arm was gently looped through his, and their expressions were calm, confident, and magnetic.
Even Lana froze for a second. "Damn... we look..."
"Perfect?" Liam offered casually, his lips curving into a grin.
But then their eyes dropped to the bottom of the photo.
That’s when Lana almost dropped her phone.
"Wait, what?!"
Votes: 383,731
Top ranking.
The crowd’s vote count hadn’t dropped—it had just been consud. Swallowed entirely by a single post. Their post.
The sheer gap in numbers was unreal.
Lana’s eyes darted back and forth, as if she expected the number to glitch out or suddenly drop. But it stayed right there.
383k. Over three hundred thousand votes. Nearly four hundred.
Her hands trembled slightly.
That’s why everyone else’s votes are so low... she realized.
Because they didn’t just get a lot—they took everything.
The rest of the crowd started catching on too. One by one, people pulled up the rankings... and when they saw who was at the top, they went quiet.
Lana and Liam.
Together.
Their jaws dropped.
A silence hung in the air for a few seconds, heavy with disbelief.
"...Are you kidding ?" soone muttered.
"Lana was already a problem on her own..."
"Then she had to bring in so Greek god-looking freak?!"
"There’s no beating these two. Zero chance."
"Bro... just delete your entry. You’re not surviving this year."
Another voice piped up, half-joking, half-serious. "I think I’m in love with both of them."
Lana’s phone was still in her hand, but she wasn’t really seeing the screen anymore. Her head slowly turned toward Liam.
He was already watching her, his expression unreadable but calm. His presence felt even bigger now, more intense. Like he wasn’t just in the room—he owned it.
She swallowed hard.
"You... you knew we had that many votes?" she asked him softly.
Liam just shrugged, a small grin playing on his lips. "Didn’t check. But I’m not surprised."
That answer sohow made her stomach flutter.
And as the crowd continued buzzing, gossiping, laughing, and freaking out, one thing was crystal clear:
This wasn’t a contest anymore.
Not when Lana and Liam were playing.
They had turned the ga into a slaughterhouse.
And this year?
There was no second place.
---
The ride ho was silent.
Not because it was awkward—but because Lana was completely absentminded, lost in a storm of thoughts. Liam glanced at her from ti to ti as he drove, but she was too deep in her own head to notice. Her phone buzzed nonstop, vibrating constantly against her thigh, the screen lighting up every few seconds with new notifications.
Follower requests.
ntions.
Shares.
DMs.
The post she uploaded—just a photo of her and Liam standing together beside the car—had already racked up over ten million views in barely an hour. Comnts were flooding in by the second, hearts popping up like wildfire, and every fashion, lifestyle, and gossip blog had already picked it up.
Her jaw tightened slightly.
This didn’t feel real.
Even now, as she scrolled through the comnts with wide eyes, Lana couldn’t fully believe it. She was the one trending. She was the one the internet couldn’t stop talking about. Her dress, her beauty, the man by her side—everything about the photo had struck gold.
But deep down, she knew... none of it would’ve happened without Liam.
Without him, she would’ve just been another pretty face lost in the crowd of the event.
But with him?
She was untouchable.
Her phone buzzed again. 2,390 new followers.
She blinked at the screen, her chest rising and falling slowly. Her throat was tight. For soone who always radiated confidence, the sheer scale of attention had knocked her sideways.
The car ca to a slow stop, and it was only then that she realized they were already ho.
She hadn’t even noticed the route.
The engine went quiet. The soft hum of the air conditioning faded out.
She blinked out of her thoughts and looked outside.
They were here.
She let out a breath, then opened the passenger door of the V8. The sleek door lifted up, and she stepped out gracefully, her movents as smooth and elegant as always, though her mind was still reeling.
Before Liam could close the door and shift into gear again, she turned back to him.
"Liam," she said softly.
He paused, looking up at her with those calm, striking blue eyes.
"...Thanks again. For everything."
There was a gentle honesty in her voice, a warmth that lingered just beneath the surface. She wasn’t just being polite—she ant it. Truly.
Liam gave a small nod.
Then Lana tilted her head slightly, her dark brown waves cascading down one side of her shoulder. "Will you be ho this evening?"
He nodded again, his voice cool and smooth. "Yeah."
A faint smile curved her lips, her green eyes holding his for a heartbeat longer. "I’ll co see you then."
With that, she turned and walked toward her house, hips swaying subtly with each step. Liam watched her for a mont, quiet, his hands resting on the wheel.
Once the door closed behind her, he finally exhaled and shut the door.
Then he restarted the engine.
But his face... had shifted.
There was a new weight in his expression now. Not worry exactly—but a deep, calculated awareness.
Because now ca the hard part.
As much as he wanted to enjoy what just happened, the reality of his situation was starting to settle in. He knew that by now, Lilith would have definitely noticed her car was gone. She wasn’t stupid. Far from it. She was sharp, paranoid, and always five steps ahead.
And the picture that went viral?
He hadn’t even realized it earlier, but when the paparazzis took that photo of them stepping out of the car... the damn background gave everything away.
Lilith’s car.
Her V8—sleek black, customized plates, unmistakable.
Anyone who knew her would recognize it instantly.
She would recognize it.
Liam’s grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly as he pulled away from Lana’s gate. The road ahead was empty, but his thoughts weren’t.
There was no escaping this.
Lilith definitely saw it.
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