SCORCHED — Episode 1: "Champagne & Chains" | Original Screenplay

SCORCHED | An Original Mini-Drama Series

Episode 1 — "Champagne & Chains"

Written by Shira Wiggles

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

SERIES LOGLINE

A woman trapped between a powerful crime family and the secret agent sent to destroy them discovers that the most dangerous thing she's ever done is feel something real.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THE CHARACTERS

ISABELLA REYES, 31 — The Forbidden Lover. Poised, quietly rebellious daughter of Miami's most feared crime family patriarch. Beneath her controlled elegance lives a woman starved of real love, suffocated by an arranged engagement she never chose.

VICTOR MONTOYA, 42 — The Possessive Fiancé. Executive enforcer of the Reyes empire. Charming in public, controlling in private. He mistakes ownership for love.

DAMIEN CROSS, 38 — The Dangerous Stranger. A mysterious outside investor — or so everyone believes. Cool, precise, dangerously perceptive. His interest in Isabella is not part of the plan.

SOFIA REYES, 27 — The Loyal Threat. Isabella's younger sister. Ambitious, watchful. Her loyalty is to the family first, Isabella second.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

FADE IN:

INT. GRAND BALLROOM — BISCAYNE BAY HOTEL — NIGHT

A world of chandelier light and controlled extravagance. Miami's most powerful gather under a ceiling of crystal. Champagne flutes. Black ties. Calculated smiles.

ISABELLA REYES moves through the room like she owns it — because technically, her family does. Red gown. Bare shoulders. A smile so practiced it should have its own credit. She stops at a table. Accepts a flute from a passing server. Doesn't drink.

VICTOR MONTOYA materializes beside her. His hand finds the small of her back — not romantic. Territorial.

VICTOR

You're late.

ISABELLA

I'm on time. You're anxious.

VICTOR

The Castellano partners are watching. You know how important tonight is.

ISABELLA

(quiet, measured)

I know. That's why I'm smiling.

She smiles — flawless, empty. Victor holds her gaze a beat too long. Then looks away.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

INT. GRAND BALLROOM — ENTRANCE FOYER — CONTINUOUS

The doors open.

DAMIEN CROSS walks in alone. No entourage. No announcement. Just — presence. He reads the room in three seconds. Dark suit. Unhurried. His eyes move across the crowd without landing anywhere — until they land on Isabella. One beat. Two. Then he looks away, as if he never stopped.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

INT. GRAND BALLROOM — MAIN FLOOR — MOMENTS LATER

Isabella feels it before she sees it. She turns.

Damien is crossing the room — toward her table. Victor steps forward, hand extended.

VICTOR

Damien Cross. I almost didn't recognize you without the Dubai office behind you.

DAMIEN

(shaking hands, measured)

Victor. Good to be in Miami.

His eyes move — barely, precisely — to Isabella.

VICTOR

My fiancée. Isabella Reyes.

DAMIEN

(to Isabella, quiet)

Mr. Cross.

ISABELLA

I know who you are.

A breath. Something electric passes between them — too fast for Victor to catch.

DAMIEN

Then you have the advantage.

Isabella tilts her head. For the first time tonight, her smile reaches her eyes. It vanishes in an instant. But the damage is done.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

INT. GRAND BALLROOM — BAR ALCOVE — LATER

Isabella stands alone at the edge of the crowd.

DAMIEN

You don't drink.

ISABELLA

I don't need the distraction.

DAMIEN

Smart. These rooms are full of people who need you distracted.

She looks at him fully for the first time.

ISABELLA

Is that what you're doing here? Investment. Due diligence. Legitimate business reasons.

DAMIEN

(a quiet pause)

Something like that.

He holds her gaze. She doesn't look away.

ISABELLA

(low, careful)

Then stay focused, Mr. Cross. These rooms are also full of people who notice everything.

She walks away. Deliberate. Unhurried. Damien watches her go.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

INT. GRAND BALLROOM — TERRACE CORRIDOR — LATER

Isabella steps through a side door. Breathes. The Miami skyline. The bay. Dark water below the lights.

She hears footsteps. Turns. Damien.

ISABELLA

Are you following me?

DAMIEN

I was looking for the exit.

ISABELLA

It's the other direction.

DAMIEN

I know.

Silence. The city hums below them. Neither moves.

ISABELLA

(quietly)

You should go back inside. Victor has eyes everywhere.

DAMIEN

I know that too.

He looks at her — really looks — the way no one in that room has looked at her all evening.

DAMIEN (CONT'D)

Are you alright?

Three words. Completely ordinary. Isabella opens her mouth. Closes it. The practiced smile doesn't come. For one unguarded second — she is just a woman who hasn't been asked that question in a very long time.

ISABELLA

(barely audible)

Ask me something easier.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

INT. GRAND BALLROOM — TERRACE CORRIDOR — CONTINUOUS

From inside, through the glass — SOFIA watches.

Phone raised now. Recording. Her eyes are wide. Not with fear.

With opportunity.

Her finger hovers over SEND. She hits it.

SMASH CUT TO BLACK.

END OF EPISODE 1

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

COMING IN EPISODE 2 — "THE PRICE OF SECRETS"

© 2026 Shira Wiggles

All characters and story are original works by the author.