Chapter 1

Annabella checked the gas gauge. She was running on fumes. She didn’t want to waste money putting gas in the tank, but she wouldn’t be able to reach home unless she added some. She had sold her jewelry and most of her wardrobe for enough cash to get back in town. Her credit cards had been revoked long ago.

Annabella counted her money, plastered on her most charming smile and said, “Two gallons of gas, please.”

“You’re Annabella Reed, right?” the guy at the gas station asked her.

“Yep, that’s me. And you are...”

“Bradley Austin. I was a jock back in high school ... football, baseball. Good looking, one of the cool crowd, lots of chicks, always partying, though you’d never know it looking at me now.”

Annabella eyeballed him. She vaguely remembered him from high school. High school! That was the last time she’d owned the world.

Bradley was starting to bald, and his work clothes couldn’t hide the small beer belly above his waist.

“What are you doing back in town, Annabella?”

“Vacations. Visiting the family,” she lied.

“Last I heard you were living in California. You were working as a fashion model or something like that.”

“Yeah, something like that,” she said, avoiding the subject.

“Count yourself lucky. You were able to get out of Boring-Town.” The former jock finished pumping gas and took the money she gave him. “It’s been nice chatting with you, Annabella. Good luck.”

“You too,” she wished.

Ten minutes later, she was driving into the center of Middletown. She saw the town’s four-block main street. The courthouse clock was no longer frozen at four minutes past ten, and the fountain in the park had shed its grime. There was also a new restaurant called The Jammed where the old one used to be.

Annabella couldn’t postpone it any longer. She let out a long sigh and headed toward her mother’s house. Living with her mother had never been easy. She was a true pain in the ass. Always complaining about anything and everything. Annabella was sure she was going to have a cardiac arrest when she saw the old car she was driving.

Annabella remembered her mother’s parting words when she left Middletown looking for a better future. “I’m not getting younger or prettier, you better find a wealthy man or a celebrity to support both of us.”

Her story had been the typical small-town beauty queen with big-city dreams. She had won a beauty pageant. The prize was a photo session in California. That was how an 18-year-old Annabella set out to seek fame and fortune.

However, her life in California was harder than expected. When she wasn’t serving up burgers and beers, she was doing some minor modeling work. The path to success wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be. In Middletown, she was a big fish in a small pond, but in California a small fish in a very large pond.

Annabella was cute, true. But there were plenty of cute girls like her. She crossed paths with them in every casting she went to. They were all looking for the same things, and some of them were willing to do anything to get it.

Sooner than later, she discovered the truth about the modeling business and the false promises they made her. Everything was about money and connections. Getting her portfolio done cost her a fortune. First thing she was told, was that she had to lose 10-20 pounds because she had ‘too much muscle’.

The next years were a true nightmare for her. Stolen pay. Sexual harassment. Months without a paycheck. Outrageous fees and expenses that ate away at earnings. And no one to turn to for help.

Even after gracing the pages of some well-known magazines, her situation didn’t improve. She never made a breakthrough in the fashion scene. Maybe if she’d agreed to have sex with that agent, or that photographer, or that producer ... Why hadn’t she shut her eyes and let them do what they wanted?