Chapter: CHAPTER 138: The Face Behind the MessagesKAELThe gavel cracked, and for one long second the whole hall held still.Then the room broke open. Applause rolled across the floor in a wave I felt through my boots, hands slapping together, mouths shaping words I couldn't read fast enough. Mr. Pell mopped his forehead with a handkerchief. Madame Corvin sagged against the wall with her palm over her heart. The plum jacket stared at his empty paddle like a boy whose kite had snapped its string.And Seraphine stood among her three small canvases, white faced, her lips parted, looking at me.She crossed the floor slowly. She stopped close enough that I could see the pulse jumping at the base of her throat, right beside the diamonds I'd fastened there."Twenty million," she said, and her voice came to me thin and far away, because I hadn't touched her. I read it more than I heard it."It is a very good painting.""It was not for sale.""Then it is a very good thing I bought it." I kept my face stern. It took everything I had. "I'll han
Last Updated: 2026-11-03
Chapter: CHAPTER 137: Twenty MillionKAEL He took a very small step backward. "Ah," he said, in the voice of a man who has recognized the shape of a predator in a thicket. "I see. A thousand pardons." He melted away into the crowd with his cane tapping and his cravat quivering, and I heard in the silence of my own ears, the far, faint, treacherous vibration of Gracie laughing into her fist.At eleven, the bidding began.I never learned who started it. One minute, a man in a brown waistcoat was asking Seraphine whether any of her pieces were for sale, and she was shaking her head, flushed and flustered. Not for sale. I'm only here to show them. The next, the coastal dealer held up a hand and said something I read as Everything is for sale, my girl, what's the number, and she said no again, and he laughed and said he'd give her a hundred thousand for the greenhouse alone.A numbered paddle rose across the room.It was the plum jacket. Two hundred thousand, his mouth said. For the harbor."Gentlemen," Seraphine said, her
Last Updated: 2026-11-01
Chapter: CHAPTER 136: Rumble In My ChestKAEL It wasn't only the wolf. It was the set of his jaw. It was the way the painter had caught the exact angle of shoulder that I held when I thought no one was watching, the stiff, lonely carriage of an animal that had carried a kingdom on its back until it forgot it could set it down. She had painted me again. Once, on a windowsill in a lonely study, she had painted the silence. Now she had painted what lay on the other side of it. Because the wolf in the birches wasn't walking away from the light. He was walking toward it. Far down the path between the trees, small and gold and warm, a lamp burned in a window.The Wolf Under the Birches, said the little card she'd pinned to the corner of the frame in her cramped, careful hand.Madame Corvin had gone silent. She stood before the wolf with one hand pressed flat to her chest."I have an emerging wall," she said at last, hoarsely. "A temporary one. We call it Emerging Hands. I reserve it for the work of people nobody has heard of."
Last Updated: 2026-11-01
Chapter: CHAPTER 135: High TensionKAELI had given my word that I would not hover.I would like it entered into the record that I kept it for nearly two hours.We reached the gallery at eight, before the public, with the pavement still steaming from the storm and the whole fifth territory washed clean and glittering. I had arranged it the way I'd promised, a private viewing, the great hall emptied of everyone but its curator and a handful of nervous attendants. Four Omegas fanned out through the side rooms. A fifth stood at the doors. The folded note sat in my breast pocket where I'd put it at dawn, after Seraphine had slid it across the pillow wall with trembling fingers and said nothing at all. “Welcome to the fifth territory, Pretty Seraphine. I'm so glad you came.”I had read it once. I had put my forehead against hers and held it there for a long time. Then I'd sent two Omegas to interrogate every clerk in the Halcyon, and learned only that a boy in a wet cap had left it at the desk in the dead of night and va
Last Updated: 2026-11-01
Chapter: CHAPTER 134: The AuctionSERAPHINE The car turned off the main road onto a rutted track and bumped along a line of cypress trees toward a farmhouse that had clearly seen better decades. It sat at the edge of town, low and white and sagging, its shutters faded to the color of old teeth, its garden swallowed by weeds. One of the Thorne properties, forgotten and unvisited, a place no one would think to look.We had made one stop on the way. At the corner of Tanner's Row, I had told Cassian to pull over so I could buy a bag of sugared almonds. I paid with a gold coin, took the almonds, and walked off without waiting for change, because I could. The stallholder's mouth was still hanging open when we pulled away. It was a small thing. It felt enormous.Cassian cut the engine. Kael had given him his orders in the firm, grave voice he used for things he considered non negotiable. Cassian goes wherever Lilith goes. Always. So Cassian came with me everywhere: to the tailor, the market, the hospital, the dressmaker's.
Last Updated: 2026-10-31
Chapter: CHAPTER 133: LetterSERAPHINE "I didn't mean to slow us down," he said, after a long time, staring into the flames. "The five cars. I only wanted... I wanted to be the man who carried your bags. I wanted to make sure that every room you walked into was safe." A sound escaped him, half a laugh. "I didn't think you might want to walk into it first.""I did want that.""I know. I'm learning." His thumb moved over my knuckles. "And I owe you an apology."I turned my head."Partner." His mouth twisted. "On the red carpet. It was the stupidest word I have ever said aloud. I said it because it was safe. Because I thought if I called you something small, no one would take you from me. It was cowardice. I'm sorry."The fire popped. Rain streamed down the windows in silver ribbons. I looked at the man beside me, the Alpha who'd broken a rival's wrist and silenced a council and turned a cartel's Chief white as paper, shivering a little in the firelight, his hair still damp, his eyes bare and exhausted and honest.
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
Chapter: CHAPTER 123: MARCUSCade's POV"wake up! Old man!! someone fell on my body and if i didnt know well enough, i would have thought a building colappsed on me. i groaned and turned and saw Marcus. he was smiling sheepishly."it's just 7am what the hell is amusing you to be smiling this early." i streched, checked my phone and it wasnt even 8am yet. thankfully what happened was just a dream."life is worth celebrating, i am you wont understand because you are constantly being sourounded by drama." he chuckled."Marcus why are you in my house this early.""Because," Marcus said, dropping into the armchair by the window like he owned it, boots and all, "some of us actually answer our phones. I've been calling you since six. Six, Cade. I even called the landline, and you don't even have a landline, so I called the site office landline and asked them to relay a message like it's 1995."I dragged a hand down my face and sat up, and the ceiling above me was just the ceiling, plain and white and blessedly free of M
Last Updated: 2026-07-11
Chapter: CHAPTER 122: GUESTCade's POVSomeone fell on my body, and if I didn't know better, I'd have thought a building had collapsed on me.I groaned and turned over to find Marcus standing there, grinning sheepishly."Wake up, old man!""It's seven a.m. "What the hell is so amusing this early?" I stretched and checked my phone. Not even eight yet. Thankfully, whatever had just happened in my head had only been a dream."Life is worth celebrating," Marcus chuckled. "But I guess you wouldn't understand that; you're constantly surrounded by drama.""Marcus, why are you in my house this early?""Because," he said, dropping into the armchair by the window like he owned it, boots and all, "some of us actually answer our phones. I've been calling you since six. Six, Cade. I even called the landline, and you don't have a landline, so I called the site office landline and asked them to relay a message like it's 1995."I dragged a hand down my face and sat up. The ceiling above me was just the ceiling, plain and white
Last Updated: 2026-07-10
Chapter: CHAPTER 121: Dinning SagaCade's POVBreakfast smelled like bacon and disaster.I sat at the far end of the table with my coffee untouched in front of me, watching the steam curl off it and die, because drinking it would have required unclenching my jaw, and my jaw had decided sometime around three in the morning that it was staying clenched indefinitely.Ezra sat across from Scarlett with the easy, unhurried posture of a man who had never once in his life worried about whether he belonged in a room. He'd showered. His hair was doing that thing where it looked deliberately unstyled, which took more effort than styled hair ever did, and he was currently explaining something about soil composition to my stepmother, while she hung on every word like he was reciting scripture."....And that's the thing about Bermuda grass," Ezra was saying. "Beautiful in the summer, but it chokes out everything else if you don't manage it.""Fascinating," Rachel said, and she meant it, the traitor.I picked up my fork. Set it down
Last Updated: 2026-07-06
Chapter: CHAPTER 120: Caught in the Dark PathCade's POVI paced the room, back and forth, back and forth, my bare feet dragging over the cool wooden floorboards of the boys' quarters. The place was still dim, lit only by that thin blade of moonlight slicing through the blinds and falling in pale stripes across the bed, across her legs, across the mess of sheets we'd left tangled less than an hour ago. It felt like a lifetime had passed since then. A different night. A different life.I could still see the pain in Scarlett's eyes, even in this half-dark. It sat there, raw and glistening, and it hurt me worse than the slap had. The slap I could shake off, my cheek still carrying a faint sting and warmth where her palm had connected, but this, watching her carry the weight of all of this at her age, watching her fold into herself on the floor as the world had just caved in around her, was something I didn't know how to fix. It only seemed to get worse by the hour, like a wound that refused to close, no matter how much pressure I ap
Last Updated: 2026-07-03
Chapter: CHAPTER 119: Divorce KnockingScarlett's POVThe room was dark except for the thin slice of moonlight slipping through the blinds, silver stripes falling across the sheets, and somewhere outside, a lone cricket kept up its steady chirp as if it had nowhere better to be. I had my eyes closed, half asleep against Cade's shoulder, when his voice found me in the quiet."Have you thought about a name for my children yet?"His voice was the warmest thing I'd ever heard, low and rough with sleep and affection, and his hand moved in slow circles over the swell of my stomach, two heartbeats stubbornly overlapping on the monitor like they couldn't be bothered to take turns. His palm was warm, calloused from work, and it made something in my chest go soft and stupid every single time."Your children?""Yes. Why?""Nothing. It just sounded funny, that's all. Like you did all the work.""Well, get used to it." He propped himself up on one elbow, the moonlight catching that lopsided grin that had gotten me into this mess in the
Last Updated: 2026-07-02
Chapter: CHAPTER 118: Borrowed WarmthScarlett's POVMy mother's voice arrived a half second before she did, bright and unaware of everything simmering beneath the surface of the evening."Ezra, my dear." She smiled at him with the easy warmth she extended to guests, oblivious to what her hospitality was actually housing. "The room is ready for you. Would you like white or red wine sent up?"Ezra rose immediately, the transformation instant and seamless, the careful, cold thing I'd glimpsed a moment ago folding itself away behind manners polished to a shine."Thank you very much, ma'am, but I'm done with alcohol for the night." He offered her a smile that looked, infuriatingly, completely sincere. "Sparkling water will be just fine. And thank you again for your hospitality. You've been more than generous.""You're more than welcome, my dear." My mother beamed at him the way she'd once beamed at me, and something in my chest twisted at the sight of it, at how easily he'd claimed a piece of her warmth that should have belon
Last Updated: 2026-07-01
The Hockey Star's Spicy Stripper
By night, She’s the masked temptation he can’t stop dreaming about. By day, she’s the girl he can’t stand. What happens when both of their worlds collide?
By day, she’s a brilliant scholarship student at Wexford Institute of Business & Arts. By night, she becomes Spicy, the club’s most wanted stripper masked in seduction, all for the sake of keeping her sick sister, Ami, Alive.
And then there is Jace Harrington, the hockey star, who is royalty, arrogant, and heir to a billion-dollar empire. He’s got everything! fame, fortune, and a long line of girls begging for his attention. But the one girl he can’t forget is the one hiding behind a mask… and the one he can’t stand is Sabrina. Too bad they’re the same person!
Their worlds were never meant to collide. But secrets have a way of slipping through the cracks. When Jace discovers the girl he craves is the same one he passionately hates, the line between love, desire, and obsession begins to blur. He’s a rising hockey star with everything to lose. She’s a masked dancer living on borrowed time.
Sabrina is barely holding it together. Juggling school, a sick sister (Ami), a reckless one (Skye), and a secret that could destroy everything. Falling in love was never part of the plan. He’s never met a girl who could bring him to his knees. She’s never met a boy worth risking it all for. And when the mask comes off... Someone’s going to get hurt.
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Chapter: CHAPTER 174: From Stripper to Mrs. HarringtonSabrina's POVI've always believed my life was nothing but a sad reality TV show, one tragedy after another, each season more heartbreaking than the last. I'd tossed and turned through sleepless nights ever since my parents died, carrying grief like stones in my pockets.But today, this moment, I was living my dream.I sat on the balcony of my mansion, watching the New York City skyline glitter with Jace on the other end of the phone and my engagement ring catching the first rays of sunlight on my left hand."Baby, I cannot wait for you to move in with me in Texas." His voice was warm honey through the speaker. "We'll have so much fun there. I'll take you to all my favourite places.""I know." I smiled, twisting the ring on my finger. "Our graduation is this morning, and our wedding is this evening. So what's the big deal? You have a few hours until I'm yours forever.""God, you have no idea." I could hear the smile in his voice. "I want you right here in my arms right now. I want to
Last Updated: 2026-01-28
Chapter: CHAPTER 173: The Truth Shall Set You FreeJace's POV"You can go back to your duties. I can handle this." The words were heavy on my tongue, weighted with emotions I was still trying to process. I addressed the security guards hovering around Sabrina like sentries awaiting the command to strike."Yes, sir." They retreated like soldiers falling back from a battlefield after their commander's order, melting back into the shadows of the lobby.I didn't say a word to her. She simply followed me into the elevator, and before the doors closed, I felt every eye on the ground floor fixed on us. The staff pretended to work, shuffling papers, typing on keyboards, and speaking into phones, but the moment I glanced away, their gazes locked onto us like magnets drawn to metal.When the elevator doors finally sealed us in that small metal box, silence filled the space like water flooding a sinking ship. We both stood straight as soldiers, backs against opposite walls like two strangers forced to share the same square footage of air.But th
Last Updated: 2026-01-28
Chapter: CHAPTER 172: Forty-Five Floors to Face the TruthJace's POV"Get me the file for the power plant project." I didn't look up from my desktop, my eyes locked on the financial report I was preparing for the next board meeting. Numbers swam across the screen: revenue projections, expense forecasts, and risk assessments. At the same time, I had three other windows open, tracking the shipment currently crossing the Pacific. My father had put me on that project personally because he didn't want anything to go wrong with it. Too much money, too many investors, too many eyes watching to see if the young COO would sink or swim.I'd done all the clearance work myself, approved every payment, and double-checked every invoice. No room for error. No space for weakness.I saw her approach from my peripheral vision: Ella, the new assistant Scott had hired before he'd left for France. She bent over to retrieve the file from the cabinet, and all her curves became visible through the tight red pencil skirt she wore. It matched her lipstick, I noticed
Last Updated: 2026-01-28
Chapter: CHAPTER 171: Truth In The Drawer!Sabrina's POV"Shooting recorded outside popular Club Eden last night. No deaths were recorded, but multiple injuries were reported as rival gang members opened fire outside the establishment around 2 AM..."My eyes were fixed on the television screen mounted in the hospital waiting room, the news anchor's voice washing over me like white noise. The headline scrolled across the bottom in that ominous red text they always used for violence: GANG VIOLENCE ERUPTS AT ELITE NIGHTCLUB.I'd experienced one or two shootouts outside Club Eden during my time there, the hazard of working in a place where money, power, and danger intersected like tangled threads. So this news wasn't shocking to me. It was just... sad. Another reminder of the life I'd left behind, the world I'd barely escaped.I simply took my eyes off the screen and focused on steadying my breathing, trying to centre myself before the doctor called me back.Skye was remanded in prison, awaiting trial for accessory to murder. The
Last Updated: 2026-01-27
Chapter: CHAPTER 170: When Love Becomes PoisonJace's POVTwelve days later.Not every story has a perfect ending, and not every love story concludes with happily ever after. Some end tragically, violently, with the kind of pain that carves itself into your bones and changes who you are forever.My story was not an exception.Over the years, I had transformed: evolved or devolved, depending on who you asked. From Playboy to protector. From careless to careful. From hating Sabrina Brooks with every fibre of my being to loving her so completely, it terrified me. From arrogant hockey star to romantic boyfriend to heir of an empire I never wanted.And now, finally, to this: a broken man standing in the wreckage of his own naivety, learning that the cruellest betrayals come wrapped in the softest skin.The monster the world created wasn't born from hatred.It was born from loving the wrong person.---The night it all shattered.I can still remember every detail with the kind of clarity that comes from trauma, the way certain moments b
Last Updated: 2026-01-26
Chapter: CHAPTER 169: The Grand EntranceJace's POV"Ladies and gentlemen…" I clicked to the final slide of my presentation, watching the projection illuminate the darkened boardroom with charts and projections that represented days of strategic planning, "...now with this approach, we can hit the oil market really hard, and people won't even notice the loopholes in our financial report. This is what I call the master plan."The silence that followed was thick with contemplation. I could feel every eye in the room on me, these titans of industry, these men and women who'd built empires from nothing, studying me like I was a specimen under a microscope.Then I caught my father's eyes across the polished mahogany table.The look on his face was filled with both pride and impression, emotions Richard Harrington rarely displayed publicly. He sat back in his leather chair, one hand stroking his jaw, the hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Though he didn't say it out loud and would never say it in front of the boa
Last Updated: 2026-01-26
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