Day 3 of Operation: Break Leo Cruz
Ariella had decided to treat this like a military campaign. If Leo wanted to play the unshakeable soldier, she'd show him what real psychological warfare looked like.
Day one: She'd made him wait outside Rodeo Drive for ninety minutes while she "couldn't decide" between two identical pairs of shoes.
Day two: She'd ordered him to drive through every Starbucks in a five-mile radius because she "suddenly didn't want oat milk anymore."
Day three: She was going nuclear.
The problem was, Leo Cruz seemed to be made of stone. While her previous drivers had cracked by now: sweating, stuttering, making passive-aggressive comments—Leo just... drove. Like she was cargo instead of trouble.
It was infuriating.
Friday Morning Ammunition
Her Father's Estate
Leo pulled up at exactly 9 AM, because of course he did. The man probably set seventeen alarms and did push-ups while waiting for them to go off.
Ariella had a plan.
She strolled out in a fluffy short ,white dress, champagne in one hand, phone in the other. She took her sweet time getting to the car, making sure to drop her phone twice and bend over slowly to retrieve it.
Leo didn't even glance up from whatever he was reading on his phone.
"Morning, soldier," she chirped, sliding into the backseat.
"Good morning, Miss Monroe. Your appointment is in thirty minutes."
"Relax, it's just a photo shoot. They can wait." She leaned forward between the seats. "What do you think about my dress?"
"I'm only but a driver."
His voice was completely flat. Professional. Like she was asking about the weather.
Ariella sat back, genuinely annoyed. "You know, you're so boring."
"Oh, okay."
He started the engine and pulled out of the driveway.
Round Two
The Drive to Downtown LA
Fine. If shock tactics weren't working, she'd try a different approach.
"I have a theory about you," Ariella announced, crossing her legs and making sure gown rode up just enough to be distracting.
"Hmmmmhm."
"I think you're gay."
Leo's eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. "Nope."
"Married?"
"Nope."
"Impotent?"
"Hell no."
She studied his profile, looking for cracks. "Then what's your deal? Are you a robot? Did my dad hire some kind of android?"
"I'm just doing my job."
"Your job doesn't require you to be completely immune to basic human interaction."
Leo was quiet for a moment, navigating through traffic with the kind of precision that suggested military training.
"You want me to react," he said finally.
"I want you to be human."
"Why?"
The question caught her off guard. "What do you mean, why?"
"Why does it matter to you whether I react or not? I drive you where you need to go. Isn't that enough?"
Ariella stared at the back of his head, frustrated in a way she couldn't name.
"Because," she said, then stopped. Because why? Because everyone else flinched? Because she needed to know she could still affect people?
"Because I don't like being ignored," she said finally.
"I'm not ignoring you. I'm just not playing your game."
"What game?"
Leo met her eyes in the mirror. "The one where you act out until people leave, then get to be right about being alone."
Ariella felt like he'd slapped her. "That's not—"
"Isn't it?"
She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. Stared out the window instead, jaw clenched.
Flashback – Age 6
Her mother tried to braid her hair that morning. Ariella squirmed.
"You're not doing it right!" she shouted.
"I'm trying—"
"You're not Mommy anymore!" she screamed, ripping the comb from her hand.
Her mom backed away slowly… and left for good three days later.
The photo shoot was the usual circus. Ariella posed with champagne flutes and fake smiles, played the part of the Monroe heiress while photographers shouted directions at her like she was a trained seal.
Between outfit changes, she found herself looking out the window at the SUV. Leo was there, as always. Reading something, completely unbothered.
"You okay, babe?" asked Suzy, one of the other girls being photographed. "You seem... distracted."
"I'm fine," Ariella said, turning back to the camera.
But she wasn't fine. Leo's words had burrowed under her skin like splinters.
The one where you act out until people leave, then get to be right about being alone.
Was that what she was doing?
Later That Evening
The ride home was quiet. Ariella had finally run out of ammunition, exhausted from a full day of performed happiness.
She slumped in the backseat, still in her last outfit change—a red dress that cost more than most people's cars. Her feet hurt, her face ached from smiling, and Leo's words kept echoing in her head.
"Can I ask you something?" she said finally.
"Shoot."
"Do you think I'm a terrible person?"
Leo glanced at her in the mirror. "No."
"Just like that? No hesitation?"
"Terrible people don't usually ask if they're terrible."
Ariella considered this. "What if I told you I used to torture my dolls when I was little? Like, actually torture them. Pull their heads off, burn their hair."
"I'd say you were probably a kid working through some stuff."
"I was angry all the time," she continued, not sure why she was telling him this. "Still am, I guess. I used to think if I could just make enough noise, someone would... I don't know. Care enough to stop me."
Leo was quiet for a long moment.
"Did anyone ever try?" he asked.
Ariella laughed, but it came out hollow. "Are you kidding? The staff was paid to clean up my messes, not stop me from making them. And my parents..." She trailed off. "Let's just say they had other priorities."
They hit a red light, and Leo turned around to look at her properly.
"For what it's worth," he said, "I don't think you're angry because you're a bad person. I think you're angry because you're hurt."
Ariella felt her throat tighten unexpectedly. "Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't do that."
"What?"
"Act like you know me when you really don't."
Leo smiled—actually smiled—for the first time since she'd known him. "I think I know you enough, you're always in the news for the weirdest reasons."
Ariella stared at him.
"Yeah right. I'm the Monroe nightmare daughter. I'm supposed to be your worst assignment ever."
"Maybe I like a challenge."
The light turned green, and Leo faced forward again, leaving Ariella to her thoughts.
For the first time in years, someone had seen through her act and decided to stick around anyway.
It terrified her.
As Leo pulled into the Monroe estate's circular driveway, he found himself thinking about the girl in his backseat.
Three days ago, he'd pegged her as a spoiled brat with too much time and money. Now... now he was starting to see something else. Someone who'd learned early that negative attention was better than no attention at all.
Someone who'd been abandoned so many times, she'd made pushing people away into an art form.