Introduction

Ava Miller, a gifted NYU photography student, was desperate.

Her mother's medical bills were a mountain of debt, burying Ava's dreams.

Salvation appeared in the form of Ethan Reed, a tech billionaire who offered to cover everything – tuition, medical expenses – in exchange for her "companionship" as his muse.

Reluctantly, Ava agreed, finding herself falling for his lavish attentions and grand gestures.

Then, Ethan' s ex-fiancée, Victoria Hayes, returned.

Victoria coldly revealed that every romantic moment Ava cherished was a calculated rerun, a part of Ethan' s elaborate play to win Victoria back.

To prove it, Victoria orchestrated a cruel test: Ava and Victoria would text Ethan with competing emergencies.

Ethan chose Victoria' s.

He dismissed Ava' s plea for help without even reading it.

The illusion shattered.

Ava, pale and humiliated, was publicly paraded as Ethan' s temporary "project," his "plaything" – a means to an end.

It worsened when Victoria callously broke Ava' s late father' s cherished vintage camera, then twisted the truth to Ethan.

He immediately sided with Victoria, punishing Ava by confining her to a remote, stark guesthouse, treating her like a disobedient animal.

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My spirit was crushed.

How could the man I thought I loved be so merciless, so manipulative?

Every grand gesture, every whispered word of affection, was a performance, a lie designed to ensnare me as a pawn in his cruel game.

Why would anyone do something so deliberate, so deeply humiliating?

But the cold betrayal ignited a desperate resolve.

With a late scholarship offer to London' s Royal College of Art, I knew my gilded cage was finally open.

I had to escape this twisted drama, reclaim my life, and maybe, just maybe, find real freedom.