Chapter 1 Prologue

The rain hitting the glass was the only honest sound Diego Herrera could hear. It was not the cheering of sixty thousand fans or the polished pleasantries of Madrid's elite. It was just water striking the panoramic window of the Estadio de la Luna's rooftop lounge, mirroring the chaos inside his head.

He stood alone, ignoring the muted bass of the club party throbbing one floor below. A half-empty tumbler of aged whisky felt like granite in his hand. He was twenty-four, world-famous, and standing on top of his gilded cage, yet he felt entirely hollowed out. In his pocket was the picture: his model fiancée, smiling with a corporate sponsor. Their embrace was too intimate to be professional, too calculated to be a mistake. It was not about sex; it was about leverage. She had used him to climb.

He had spent his whole life being the Golden Boy. The one who never messed up, never missed a penalty, never betrayed a trust. Now, the one person he had trusted had exposed the fraud of his own existence.

His phone buzzed. It was Eduardo, his agent.

'Where are you, Diego? You should be making an appearance. The sponsors are asking. This is a business, not a charity.'

Diego killed the call, the sound of the dial tone sharp and sterile. He needed out. He needed a moment where the air was not thick with expectation. He walked away from the lounge, past the velvet ropes, and found himself in a quiet hallway near the service elevators, where a small gathering of stadium staff, janitorial and maintenance, had been allowed a brief, supervised celebration.

He noticed her instantly.

Nafisa Musa was leaning against a wall, completely out of place and utterly captivating. Her dress was simple, her hair meticulously braided, but her posture held a weary elegance. She was laughing, but the wine had lowered her usual shields. She was speaking animatedly to a heavy-set kitchen supervisor named Javier.

"It is not enough to just sell," Nafisa insisted, her voice clear despite the alcohol. "Anyone can sell. I want to build. I want the jobs, the dignity, to come home to Kaduna because of my hands. My business will not be a risk, it will be an anchor."

Diego watched her, mesmerized by the intensity in her dark eyes. She spoke with a sense of purpose that he had not felt since he was ten, kicking a torn-up ball on a dusty field. He was drawn to the fire of her ambition, so far removed from the transactional emptiness he'd just witnessed.

She caught his gaze. Their eyes locked, bridging the vast distance between a global celebrity and the cleaner of his locker room. Her smile faded, replaced by a momentary panic, then curiosity.

He walked toward her. Javier quickly backed away, mumbling an apology to his manager. The air thrummed with a nervous energy that was not professional, not social, but primal.

"You look like you are carrying the weight of the world," Diego slurred, his words thick with whisky.

Nafisa met his gaze, her spine straightening. "And you, Mr. Herrera," she replied, her English sharp and precise, "look like you just learned the world is empty."

It was the most honest exchange he'd had in years. The storm outside intensified, lightning briefly illuminating the hallway, and in that fleeting flash, they stepped closer. All the walls, class, fame, contracts, crumbled. They were just two people desperate to feel something real, something that had not been bought or negotiated.

They stumbled into an unoccupied, darkened office nearby. The real world, the pitch, the cleaning duties, the agents, the betrayal, vanished. The single, unprotected act was a mutual, reckless plea for temporary solace.

It was the 45th Minute of their life together, and neither of them realized the final score would involve a consequence that no contract could ever bury.