“I pretend not to care,” he says, voice low. “But I read your article. You believe people can be better. I want to know what that feels like.”
The target: Annette Hargrove (19), the new headmaster’s daughter. She has just transferred to their elite private school, Manhattan Day, from a small town in Ohio. She is beautiful in an unpolished way—no highlights, no designer labels, no cynicism. Worse, she has published an op-ed in the school paper titled “Virginity: Not a Disease,” arguing for abstinence and integrity. The school’s wealthy, jaded students have mocked her mercilessly. Sebastian finds her… interesting.
New York City, December 1999. The millennium is looming, but inside the penthouse of Sebastian Valmont, time is stuck in an endless loop of champagne, cocaine, and casual destruction. Sebastian (28, beautiful in a ruined way) lounges in a silk robe, reading his late father’s leather-bound copy of Les Liaisons dangereuses . Across from him, his step-sister, Kathryn Merteuil (27, blonde, razor-sharp, wearing a cashmere twin-set as armor), sips a martini and smiles. cruel intentions -1999-
But as she undresses, trembling and earnest, Sebastian freezes. He sees not a conquest but a person. He sees the girl who cried at his fake story about his father. He sees the girl who brought soup to a homeless man outside the school gates. He sees the girl he has become—against all his designs—genuinely in love with.
The night of the winter formal. Sebastian has won. Annette has confessed her love and agreed to sleep with him—her first time. The bet is seconds from payout. “I pretend not to care,” he says, voice low
“The cruelest intentions are often the most honest. The kindest hearts, the most dangerous.”
“But I’m not Kathryn,” he says. “I don’t want to be.” I want to know what that feels like
But his eyes linger on a photograph of Annette in the school yearbook. She is smiling at something off-camera. It is not a seductive smile. It is a kind one.