His expression tightened.
“Well… equipment failure happens.”
Macy stared at him.
Equipment failure?
She’d nearly died.
But before she could respond, Jack Hunter suddenly pushed through the crowd.
He looked straight at the mysterious man.
Then his eyes widened.
“Oh.”
His tone changed instantly.
Respect replaced irritation.
“Mr. Thorne.”
The entire set froze.
Whispers spread like wildfire.
“Thorne?”
“Wait—THE Thorne?”
“That billionaire guy?”
Macy blinked in confusion as Jack extended his hand eagerly.
“It’s an honor to see you here, sir.”
The man accepted the handshake with polite indifference.
His gaze drifted back to Macy instead.
“Nicholas Thorne?” someone whispered.
Macy’s brain finally connected the name.
Nicholas Thorne.
The reclusive Hollywood investor.
The man rumored to quietly finance half the industry’s biggest films.
He almost never appeared in public.
Yet here he was.
Standing on a stunt platform like he belonged there.
Jack laughed nervously.
“We had no idea you’d be visiting the set today.”
Nicholas said nothing.
His attention remained fixed on Macy.
“Someone should take her to a hospital,” he said calmly.
“She’s in shock.”
Macy opened her mouth to protest.
“I’m fi—”
Her legs chose that moment to give out.
The world tilted.
Nicholas caught her again before she could hit the ground.
His arm slid around her waist with effortless strength.
“I believe,” he said quietly, “that answers the question.”
The emergency room lights were blinding.
Macy groaned as a doctor adjusted the sling around her arm.
“Minor fracture,” the doctor said. “And a mild concussion.”
Lucky.
That was the word everyone kept using.
Lucky she didn’t die.
Lucky someone caught her.
Lucky the fall wasn’t worse.
Lucky.
Macy stared at the ceiling.
If Nicholas Thorne hadn’t appeared—
She probably wouldn’t be alive.
The hospital room door creaked open.
“Girl, you scared the hell out of me.”
Zoe Miller burst into the room, her blonde ponytail swinging.
She rushed to Macy’s bedside.
“Oh my God, your arm!”
“I’ve had worse,” Macy said weakly.
Zoe sat down beside her.
“You fell thirty feet!”
“Technically,” Macy muttered, “I didn’t finish falling.”
Zoe leaned closer.
“So… is it true?”
“What?”
“That Nicholas Thorne saved you.”
Macy shrugged carefully.
“Yeah.”
Zoe’s eyes gleamed.
The excitement there was unmistakable.
“You were literally rescued by a billionaire.”
“Not the romantic story you’re imagining.”
Zoe laughed lightly.
“Still. Imagine if he noticed you.”
Macy rolled her eyes.
“He noticed that I was about to die.”
“That counts.”
But behind Zoe’s bright smile, something darker flickered briefly.
Jealousy.
She quickly masked it.
“Well,” Zoe said, squeezing Macy’s hand. “Get better soon. Hollywood still needs your crazy stunt skills.”
Macy smiled tiredly.
“Thanks.”
Zoe stayed for another fifteen minutes before leaving.
When the door closed, the room fell quiet again.
Night settled over Los Angeles.
Macy drifted into restless sleep.
She never saw the shadow slip through the hospital doorway hours later.
Nicholas Thorne moved silently across the room.
The dim light from the hallway framed his tall figure.
He stopped beside the bed.
Macy slept peacefully, her dark hair spread across the pillow.
Nicholas studied her face.
Earlier that day, when he caught her—
He’d felt something.
A pulse of warmth that didn’t belong in the cold world he inhabited.
Something ancient.
Something dangerous.
His fingers hovered inches above her hand.
Even now, he could sense it.
A faint energy beneath her skin.
Like sunlight trapped inside blood.
Nicholas frowned.
Impossible.
He hadn’t felt that presence in centuries.
Slowly, he withdrew his hand.
“You’re trouble,” he murmured softly.
Macy shifted slightly in her sleep.
Nicholas’s expression softened.
Despite the chaos of the film set, she had jumped without hesitation.
Fearless.
Stubborn.
Alive.
Very alive.
Which meant she was exactly the kind of person he should stay away from.
He reached into his coat pocket.
A small black card appeared between his fingers.
Nicholas placed it carefully on the bedside table.
His personal number.
He paused for one last moment.
Then disappeared into the night as silently as he had arrived.
Morning sunlight streamed through the hospital window.
Macy groaned awake.
Her head pounded.
Her arm throbbed.
Fantastic.
She glanced at the bedside table—
And froze.
A sleek black card rested there.
One name printed in silver letters.
Nicholas Thorne.
Below it—
A phone number.
Macy picked it up slowly.
Her heart skipped.
Because suddenly, the terrifying fall on that stunt platform didn’t feel like the worst moment of her life.
It felt like the beginning of something.
Something dangerous.
Something impossible.
Something that might change everything.