Beyond His Script Of Fake Love

Since Cole Miller and Serena Vale became the nations favorite on-screen couple, IColes legal wifehave become a magnet for accidents.

The first time, funeral wreaths were piled high against our front door, and the Welcome mat was soaked in what smelled like rot.

The second time, I was cornered outside my office and doused in a bucket of thick, metallic-smelling animal blood.

The third time, a car "lost control" on the sidewalk, sending me flying. I spent three months shattered in a hospital bed.

Every time I cried to him, Coles response was a cool, detached shrug.

"Theyre just fans, Nicole. They get a little overzealous. Maybe if you stayed home like I told you, this wouldn't happen."

Then came the tenth time. A "mysterious" fire broke out in our house while I was sleeping. I woke up to a wall of flames and ended up in the ICU for seven days, clinging to life with burns covering my body.

The day I was discharged, Cole didn't offer a hand to help me into the car. He offered a pen.

He slid a divorce settlement across the seat.

"Serena and I have a few more months of promotion. We need to get married to keep the momentum of the show alive. Well divorce now, and once the 'showmance' peak passes, well quietly remarry."

He looked at me with those eyes the world fell in love witheyes that used to belong to me. "Its just PR, Nicole. You know that."

This time, I didn't scream. I didn't beg.

I simply took the pen and signed my name.

"Nicole, honey, you can't do this. You cant leave Cole!"

My mother-in-law, Margaret, rushed to the hospital the moment she heard. She grabbed my hands, her face a mask of genuine distress.

"You two have been through everything together. You built this life from nothing."

"I know you're hurting because of the rumors about him and Serena. Ill call him right now. Ill make him apologize!"

Maybe Cole thought the same thing. He thought our historythe years of struggling in cramped Studio City apartments, sharing cheap ramenwas an unbreakable chain. He thought Id never actually walk away.

But I just shook my head, a tired, hollow smile touching my lips.

I pulled out my phone and played a video.

The room was dimly lit, but the figures were unmistakable. Cole and Serena, their bodies tangled, breathless and desperate.

"Cole... I wish we could stay in the script forever," Serena moaned. "I never want to leave this."

Cole kissed her, his voice a low, gravelly rasp I hadn't heard in years. "If only Id met you sooner. If only things were different."

I placed the phone on the bed and pushed the signed papers toward Margaret. My voice was a whisper.

"His heart found a new home a long time ago. Its time I let mine do the same."

The day I left the hospital was the day of Cole and Serenas "Century Wedding."

The internet was a sea of blue hearts and celebratory hashtags. Every digital billboard in the city seemed to be looping the footage of their grand, romantic ceremony.

The sun caught the massive sapphire on Serenas finger, the glare so sharp it made my eyes ache.

When we started, we were just two nobodies working as extras on the backlots of Burbank.

We shared a dream, and that dream was the glue that held us together. When we got our marriage license, we didn't have money for a ceremony, let alone a ring.

We eventually scrounged enough to buy a thin silver band. It was a little too small, a little too plain.

But back then, hed gripped my hand and promised, One day, Nicole, Im going to give you the biggest diamond in the world. Im going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never regret choosing me.

Now, he was fulfilling that promise to a different woman.

The first time the tabloids caught them, I cried.

He held me, smelling of guilt and expensive cologne, promising it was just "method acting" and that hed set boundaries.

The second time they were caught sharing an "intimate dinner," he snapped at me. He told me they were "workshopping the script" and called me paranoid for "making something out of nothing."

The third time... I was alone in a cold clinic recovering from an ectopic pregnancy surgery when a video was DM'd to me. It showed them entering a hotel suite at 2:00 AM.

When I confronted him, Cole didn't even blink.

"We were running lines, Nicole! Jesus, stop being so small-minded. Im a public figure now. If you cant handle the heat of this life, maybe you shouldn't have married an actor."

When the show wrapped, a photo of them kissing on settearful and passionateblew up globally. The comments were a unanimous chorus of adoration.

[Look at them. Thats not acting. Thats true love. My ship has finally sailed!]

[Cole Miller is the only man Id forgive for cheating. He and Serena are soulmates!]

[Can Coles wife just get out of the way already? How can some plain, retired extra even stand next to an Emmy winner?]

That was the day the stalking intensified. The day the threats became physical.

And every time I begged Cole for help, he just looked at me with cold, bored eyes.

"My fans are rational people, Nicole. They wouldn't do that. Maybe you should look at your own life and see who youve pissed off."

Then came the fire. When I woke up from the smoke inhalation and the burns, he was standing there with the divorce papers.

"Serena and I need the buzz. Its just a role."

"Be a good girl. Give me a month. Once the PR cycle ends, well remarry."

I realized then that our marriage hadn't just hit a wall. It had burned to ash in that house.

The day after I was discharged, my phone buzzed. It was Cole.

"Nicole, did you forget to tell my mother that this is temporary? Shes making things impossible for Serena!"

His voice was sharp, entitled. "You need to go over there right now and fix this, or don't even think about us remarrying."

In the past, no matter who was at fault, I was always the one to bow my head first.

But now, hearing the arrogance in his voice, I just said calmly, "Fine. Then lets not remarry."

There was a stunned silence on the other end. Then he let out a harsh, mocking laugh.

"Don't play hard to get, Nicole. It doesn't suit you. We both know youll be crawling back to me in a week."

I remembered a time when the rumors were everywhere. We had planned a quiet dinner for my birthday, but Serena called. She had a "panic attack," she said. Cole left before the appetizers arrived.

That was our biggest fight. I screamed that I wanted a divorce.

Coles eyes turned to ice. "Don't you dare threaten me, Nicole. You'll regret it."

He didn't come home for three months. He blocked me everywhere.

Desperate, I went to his hotel to find him, but he looked me in the eye and told the security guards he didn't know who I was.

I was arrested for stalking.

I spent seven days in a holding cellcold, hungry, and terrifieduntil Cole finally showed up to bail me out.

He looked down at me, looking like a mess, and whispered, "Let that be a lesson, Nicole. Watch your mouth."

That was the day my heart shattered for the first time.

After that, I stopped fighting about Serena. I became the perfect, quiet wife. I stayed in my lane.

But in the end, I still lost everything.

It was a family dinner at the estate. Margaret had called, begging me to come over for a "final" family meal. I couldn't say no to her; she was the only person in that family who had ever been kind to me.

But the moment I walked in, I saw Cole sitting at the table, meticulously peeling shrimp for Serena.

I froze.

Cole used to hate "messy" food. He hated the effort.

But here he was, breaking his own rules for her.

When he saw me, his forehead creased in irritation. "Were divorced, Nicole. What are you doing here? If the paparazzi see you, itll ruin Serenas image!"

"I invited her," Margaret said firmly, gesturing for me to sit beside her. Her expression was pained.

Serena suddenly spoke up, her voice dripping with mock-sweetness.

"Nicole, I heard you used to be an actress too. Is it true you quit because of that... incident with the director? The 'casting couch' thing?"

The room went deathly silent.

My body went rigid.

That was my first real gig. A director had spiked my drink at a wrap party. Id managed to text Cole my location before I blacked out. Hed found me in time, but the trauma had been paralyzing.

Cole had taken two months off to stay with me, telling me I should just stay home where it was safe.

That was why I quit.

Serena tilted her head, her eyes gleaming. "I mean, some girls try to sleep their way to the top and then cry 'assault' when the deal falls through. I always wondered... you were already half-undressed when Cole found you, weren't you? Who knows what really happened?"

Cole slammed his glass onto the table.

The glass shattered, shards flying across the tablecloth. One sliced into my finger, but I didn't feel it. I was too busy watching Coles face, which had turned a sickly shade of gray.

A month after that trauma, Id discovered I was pregnant.

Cole had said he believed me back then, but Id find him on the balcony at 3:00 AM, smoking in silence, looking at me with suspicion. We fought constantly. I lost the baby shortly after.

After the miscarriage, the distance between us became a canyon.

Coles voice cut through the air, cold and sharp.

"Nicole. Im asking you one more time. That night... were you actually raped?"

The question was a knife, twisting in an old wound.

"You never believed me, did you, Cole?"

He stared at me, his jaw tight. "I just want the truth. I need to know the truth before I can commit to remarrying you."

I started to laugha soft, broken sound.

"Im not remarrying you, Cole. Ever."

"If you believe her so much, then stay with her. You deserve each other."

Cole sneered, his voice dropping to a cruel, tender tone.

"Stop the theatrics. You have no career, no income. Im the only thing keeping you from the gutter. You don't have the guts to leave me."

Finally, the ugly truth was out.

"Enough!" Margaret shouted, slamming her hand on the table. She reached over to comfort me, but as she took a bite of her salad, her face suddenly flushed a deep, terrifying red. She began to cough violently, gasping for air.

"Mom!"

Cole rushed to her side. He looked at the plate, then turned on me with a primal fury.

"You knew she was deathly allergic to celery! Shes forgetful lately, but youyou did this on purpose!"

"I didn't"

He didn't let me finish. He shoved me, hard.

I tumbled backward, my hand landing on the jagged edge of the broken glass. Blood bloomed across my palm instantly.

Cole paused for a fraction of a second, but then he looked away, his face hardening. He scooped Margaret up.

"Serena, lets get her to the hospital. Now!"

I followed them, desperate to know she was okay.

At the hospital, Margaret was stabilized. Through the thin walls of the observation room, I heard Serena sobbing.

"Its all my fault, Cole... I didn't know about the celery."

"Its fine, baby," Coles voice was hauntingly gentle. "Well just tell everyone Nicole did it. Mom loves her; she won't press charges. Itll be okay."

I stood in the hallway, the blood from my hand dripping onto the white linoleum. I was his shield. His scapegoat. His trash.

Over the next few weeks, I couldn't escape them. They were on every talk show, every "Day in the Life" segment. They visited orphanages together, looking like the perfect young family.

Late one night, Serena posted a photo from a hotel room. It was a shot of Cole sleeping, his arm draped over her. Both of them were covered in "love bites."

She deleted it within seconds, but the internet caught it. The fans went wild, asking when the "real" wedding was happening.

I just smiled. The pain was finally being replaced by a strange, hollow peace.

On the final day of his "month," Cole called. His voice sounded wrecked.

"Meet me at the courthouse. Im divorcing Serena today, and were going to get our license again."

"Nicole, isn't this what you wanted?"

I hung up. I didn't go.

An hour later, my front door was nearly kicked off its hinges. Cole was there, his eyes bloodshot, his grip bruising as he grabbed my arm.

"I told you I was coming back! And you... to get back at Serena, you hired people to hurt her? How could you be so vile?"

"If anything happens to her, I will destroy you!"

I stared at him, genuinely confused. "What are you talking about?"

He dragged me to the hospital. Serena was there, huddled in a corner of a private suite, shaking uncontrollably.

Coles eyes filled with tears. He threw me aside and ran to her, pulling her into his arms.

"Its okay, Serena. Ive already dealt with them. No one will ever touch you again."

When Serena saw me, she let out a blood-curdling shriek. She scrambled out of bed and knelt at my feet, sobbing.

"Nicole, please... please don't let those men come back. Ill quit. Ill leave the industry. Ill never see Cole again, just please..."

Her neck and arms were covered in dark bruises. Her face was swollen.

I looked at her, my heart hammering. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Slap!

The force of Coles hand sent me spinning to the floor. My ears rang.

Cole loomed over me, his face twisted in a mask of pure hatred.

"Because it happened to you, you wanted it to happen to her? You're sick, Nicole! I can't believe I ever felt sorry for you!"

"I should have never saved you that night at the hotel."

That sentence... it was the one that finally killed the last part of me that loved him.

"I didn't do this..." I whispered.

He didn't hear me. Or he didn't care.

He signaled to his security team. They hauled me into a car and drove me to the very hotel where everything had ended for me years ago.

He threw me into the exact same room.

"Since you love this place so much, since you love playing the victim, why don't you stay here and reminisce?"

The furniture was the same. The smell was the same.

My body began to shake with a violent, primal terror. I grabbed his sleeve, my voice breaking.

"I won't remarry you. Ill sign anything. Just please, take me away from here."

Cole leaned in, his voice a cold, terrifying whisper.

"You want to know why you really lost that baby, Nicole?"

"Serena told me that if I couldn't look at you without wondering whose kid it was, I shouldn't have it. So I slipped something into your water. I ended it myself."

The world tilted. The air left my lungs.

I screameda raw, guttural sound of agony.

"That was your child, Cole! You murdered your own child!"

Because of that "miscarriage" and my previous surgery, the doctors had told me I could never conceive again. He hadn't just killed a baby; he had killed my entire future.

Suddenly, a guard burst in. "Mr. Miller! Miss Vale is hystericalshe just tried to jump from the second-floor balcony!"

Coles face went pale. He turned and ran without a second glance.

At the door, he paused. "Rot in here, Nicole. See how it feels."

The door slammed shut. I heard the lock click.

I pounded on the wood until my knuckles bled.

Then, I felt a presence behind me. A pair of large, heavy hands grabbed my waist.

I was thrown onto the bed.

I looked up and the scream died in my throat. It was him. The director from all those years ago.

He grinned, showing yellowed teeth. "You ruined my career, you little bitch. You made me a pariah."

"Lets see who saves you this time."

I lunged for the door, but he caught my hair, dragging me back. I screamed for help, but the walls were soundproofed.

He pinned my wrists with his boots, the pain searing. He began tearing at my clothes.

As he moved closer, his hand clamped over my mouth and nose. I couldn't breathe. The world began to go black.

Just as my consciousness started to slip, I heard a thundering crash. The door flew off its hinges.

After he settled Serena down, a strange, gnawing anxiety began to eat at Cole.

He remembered the look in my eyes when he left. He told himself he was just teaching me a lesson, but something felt wrong.

He drove back to the hotel. He expected to find me crying.

Instead, he found a nightmare that would haunt him for the rest of his life.