Prologue

EASTON

March 2024—Oakdale City

"Don’t look away from me.” A deep grunt left his parted lips as he thrusted his monster cock into my tired hole, fucking me with so much hate. "I want to see the look in your eyes as I take you apart, destroying you from inside out."

I licked my lips, and a single tear broke free from my eyes. It felt as if I was going to die as Ilay keep pounding me with so much force, hitting the same spot over and over again.

“I can’t. I can't look at you.” The words were nothing more than a strangled sound as they left my mouth, but I was sure he heard them.

A large, rough hand wrapped around my throat, choking life out of me. "It's an order, superstar. Keep your eyes on me!"

I winched at that word.

Whenever Ilay referred to me as a superstar, I couldn't help but wince. Despite my tireless efforts to reach my current level, I felt utterly undeserving of the title, and it left me with a lingering sense of discomfort.

But then again, was it really worth it? Did becoming a superstar justify the horrible thing I did to that poor soul? Did fame justify ruining the one person I ever loved dearly?

I ruined him! I ruined Ilay Lermontov.

Memories of the previous night swirled in my mind, filling me with self-loathing. I couldn't believe I had let Ilay forcefully fuck me without any mercy, yet again.

The painful truth was that I was powerless to stop him. In his eyes, I was nothing more than a cheap whore. He was collecting his debt, and I was paying for my sins.

With my body, of course.

"And the Ultimate Idol Award goes to... SHINE!" A muffled voice whispered in the background.

My heart clenched tightly as I struggled to contain my emotions, the award being the very one I had always dreamed of receiving during my grueling days as a trainee.

Throbbing.

My ass was still fucking throbbing from last night and it felt like I was sitting on a furnace.

"Easton!" A gentle whisper breathed my name, the sound seemed to be coming from beside me, yet it sounded so far away.

Yet again, I was lost of my current location. I didn't know where I was, or what I was doing, or who I was with.

This had been my life for the past six years. Always lost in thought. I was beginning to lose myself to my dark life off camera.

"Earth to Easton fucking Reese." Someone groaned out, pinching me.

"Yes... Yes?" I grunted, startling back to life.

"We won the award, man! We fucking won." Pierre Masters, one of my band mate, whispered with a cute smile on his face.

I blinked my eyes, didn't understand what he was saying. What award was he talking about?

"What award?" I mumbled, arching my eyebrows.

"Are you kidding me?" He frowned, grabbing my hands underneath the table and gave them a light squeeze.

"The Ultimate Idol Award." He said, giving me a sad smile.

Among the band members, Pierre was the closest person to me. He was the only one who knew about my tendency to zone out, and he attributed it to stress.

If only he knew the truth.

"Congratulations!" Scream filled the room and that seemed to bring me back to my sense.

Oh, my God!

It was the award night and my group had been nominated, and we...

"We won!" I whispered, squeezing Pierre's hands before glancing around to see my other two band members already on their feet, poised to walk up to the stage and accept the award.

I couldn't believe I had zone out again, in a room full of celebrities.

This was exactly what Ilay wanted when he called me over last night. He knew today was the award night and wanted me to think about him while I got called on stage.

After receiving the award and delivering our appreciation speech to our fans and the industry, we made our way backstage, where our manager and the rest of the team were already waiting to congratulate us.

"Congratulations, guys!" Maria jumped to her feet immediately she saw us coming.

"Oh, thank you, Maria!" I beamed, accepting the bouquet she gave to me.

Aside from the fact that Maria Watson was our manager, she was also my best friend and my number one fan.

"You guys did well today. Congratulations on winning the best award tonight." She grinned, and I couldn't help but smile with the way she encircled her arms around my waist.

It wasn't a secret that Maria had a thing for me, and I hated myself for leading her on. Even though I wasn't dating anyone, that still didn't mean I could someday be hers.

I wasn't a straight man so I can never be here.

Besides I belonged to a man now, even though our relationship wasn't something I could be proud of, I still belonged to him and that was a fact.

Ilay would fucking kill me if I dared to have feelings for anyone else who wasn't him. My mind, heart, body, soul and everything that made me who I was belonged to him.

He made it clear when he forced me to sign that contract six years ago.

"It's all thanks to everyone of you. We wouldn't have done it without you." I forced out a smile, wrapping my arms around Maria, hugging her to my chest.

I inhaled her scent, trying to fill my inside with something else aside from the dark ink of Ilay that had taken total control over my life.

"East..." Maria groaned when my body started to tremble against her.

Fuck me!

Not that name. Only Ilay get to call me East.

"Please call me Easton. I'm begging you." I hissed, slowly releasing her.

"Alright, baby boy." She chuckled, staring lovingly at me. "You are fire out there tonight."

"Thank you." I winced, trying to avoid the sparks in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Maria asked, tried taking my hand in hers but I pulled back. "You don't sound happy, Easton."

"I'm fine." I said, shaking my head with a fake smile that didn't reach my eyes.

Someone made a weird noise behind us and we both turned, only to see Natt Jackson and Aaron Hunter, standing there with their arms spread wide.

"Aren't we going to get a hug too?" Natt whined, pouting his lips.

"You're the worst manager ever!" Aaron backed him up, pouting like a child.

"Oh, Annie! You don't have to rub it on our faces, we already know Easton is your favourite." That was Pierre, giving me a subtle wink.

It wasn't a doubt that Pierre knew about Maria's crush on me and he has been trying to set us together.

"You kids!" Maria chuckled, leaving my side to meet them.

"Stop that shit! We're older than you." Natt made faces when Maria stood on her toes to ruffle his hair.

"Oh my sweet summer child! Come here, you three. Come get your hug." Maria laughed.

I watched them, smiling as they played like happy people. I wished I could be as half happy as they were.

"Easton, you got a gift from a fan." Ryan, my bodyguard, called out. Walking towards me with a gift basket. "Same gift!"

Same gift!

My heart clenched tightly as I watched Ryan closed the distance between us and dropped the basket on the table next to me.

"Oh, my God! It's the same freaking gift!" Aaron gasped, and the rest of them started giggling.

I didn't know when they all got to where I was standing.

"Dude!" Natt breathed out, checking the gift. "I would fucking kill to have a committed fan like yours."

Right.

Since they didn't even know what this meant, they would think it was an heartfelt gesture from a die hard fan.

If only they knew just where in the pit of hell the gift was coming from.

"Oww! Seventeen roses, a chocolate pack, rose candle and a freaking velvet cake!" Maria counted the items for everyone to hear.

"How long has it been since he's been getting this package?" Someone asked, I couldn't even tell who that was because I was beginning to zone out again.

He's outside!

He's waiting for me.

"Six years? I can't really tell." Another person said.

Exactly!

It was six years. Six years of my endless suffering from Ilay Lermontov.

"I love this rose candle. It smells just like Easton." Someone giggled, the sound was beginning to irritate me.

How can they be making joke about this when I was literally dying inside?

"Maybe we should change his name to Rose. Make sense?" Someone said, and that was Ryan.

Even him had joined in this ridiculous joke of theirs.

"You guys!" I called out, clearing my throat so I wouldn't end up stuttering. "I'll be going first."

"What? Again?" Pierre grumbled, dropping the roses back in the gift basket.

"Aren't you going to join us for the celebration?" Natt nudged me.

I shook my head, adjusting my shirt. "No, not today."

"Why not? We should go out to celebrate." Maria mumbled, giving me a sad pout.

I can't go back with you guys, he's waiting for me.

While you guys will be busy celebrating, I would be busy pleading for my life.

I wanted to yell at them, but I restrained from saying something that would let them in into my dark world.

"Not like you ever join us in any of the celebrations." Aaron scoffed, rolling his eyes.

I took a deep breath and was about to walk away when Pierre grabbed my hand, making me stop to stare at him.

"You'll be coming back to the villa tonight, yeah?" He whispered, looking into my eyes.

The fear of him seeing my fear, and pain through my eyes made me averted my gaze.

"I'm not sure." I said, stepping backward. "You guys don't wait for me. I have something to do."

"Easton..." Maria tried walking closer but I shook my head for her to not even think about trying to stop me.

"I'll see you later, Maria." I said, rushing out before anyone of them could try to stop me from going.

I dared not stay when I knew he was outside, waiting for me to come to him.

I owned my life during the day, but at night, my life was his. It was all Ilay's.

I dipped my hand inside my pocket and pulled out my face mask and my shades, putting them on so if I run into anyone they wouldn't recognise me until I was already out of sight.

Getting to the underground parking lot, Ilay was already there, standing next to his car with his eyes fixed on me.

A smug smile broke free from his lips when I got close to him, he reached forward and peeled off my shades and face mask.

"You look fucking delicious, superstar." He gave me a dangerous smirk as he brought my face closer, pressing his thumb against my bottom lip.

"I'm starving, it's time for my late night meal."

My heart wrenched when he shoved me into the passenger seat of his car, shutting the door on my face.

"Someone please save me." I sobbed quietly, watching as the damned beast rounded the car and slid behind the wheel.

My hole was still throbbing from what we did last night, and he was about to take me again without giving me a chance to heal.

Ilay had sworn to tear me apart until there was nothing left of me.