Novels by C.bright

Amelia’s breath came out in broken shards.The message on her phone burned into her vision.He knows. Run. Now.Lawson watched her with unsettling calm, his smile slow and deliberate, like a man savoring the moment before the blade falls.“Well?” he asked softly. “Who is it?”Her fingers trembled around the phone. Every instinct screamed at her to lie, to stall, to buy even a second. But Lawson thrived on hesitation. Fear fed him.“No one,” she whispered. “Just spam.”Lawson’s smile widened.“You’re still doing it,” he said. “Choosing lies when silence would hurt less.”He reached out and took the phone from her hand with infuriating ease. Amelia didn’t resist. She knew better now.He read the message.Slowly.Carefully.The air in the room shifted, thickening, pressing against her lungs.“So,” Lawson said quietly, locking the phone and slipping it into his pocket. “You were warned.”Her knees weakened. “Lawson—”“Don’t,” he interrupted. “Not yet.”He walked back behind his desk and p

Lawson’s gaze stayed fixed on Amelia’s phone.The silence stretched, sharp and suffocating, daring her to breathe wrong.“What,” he repeated slowly, “are you hiding now?”Amelia’s fingers curled instinctively around the device. Her heart hammered so violently she was certain he could hear it. If he took the phone, if he saw the message, Maxwell would be dead. Not detained. Not threatened.Dead.“Nothing,” she said, forcing her voice steady. “Just Sophie checking on me.”Lawson didn’t move. He didn’t blink.“You’re a terrible liar,” he said quietly.He crossed the room in three unhurried steps and held out his hand. “Give it to me.”Her pulse spiked. This was it. One wrong move and everything collapsed.“I deleted it already,” she said. “You said no unnecessary contact.”That earned a faint smile—cold, sharp, pleased in a way that made her skin crawl.“Good,” Lawson replied. “You’re learning.”He turned away, loosening his tie. “Come here.”Her body stiffened. “Why?”“Because I said so

Amelia’s phone slipped from her fingers and hit the marble floor with a dull sound that echoed far too loudly in the penthouse.Maxwell Reynolds has been detained for questioning.The words burned into her mind.She looked up slowly at Lawson, her chest heaving, her pulse roaring in her ears. “You did this.”Lawson didn’t deny it. He didn’t even blink.“I warned you,” he said calmly. “You chose not to listen.”“You had no right,” Amelia whispered, her voice cracking. “He didn’t do anything.”Lawson stepped closer, towering over her. “He did exactly what I told you not to allow—he gave you hope.”“That’s not a crime.”“In my world,” Lawson replied coolly, “it is.”Amelia’s hands curled into fists. “Let him go.”Lawson tilted his head slightly, studying her. “And why would I do that?”“Because this—this is cruel,” she said, tears spilling despite her effort to hold them back. “You’re punishing an innocent man to control me.”His eyes hardened. “I’m correcting a mistake.”She shook her h

Amelia didn’t breathe.She stared at Lawson as if the words he’d just spoken might rearrange themselves into something less terrifying if she waited long enough.Or I make Maxwell disappear.Her fingers tightened around the folder until the edges cut into her skin. The photographs trembled slightly in her grasp, glossy proof of something that hadn’t even happened—yet.“You wouldn’t,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.Lawson tilted his head, studying her like a problem he’d already solved. “I already have.”The room felt smaller. The walls closer. The air thinner.“You’re bluffing,” she said, forcing the words past the knot in her throat. “This is intimidation.”Lawson’s mouth curved into that same cold, knowing half-smile. “Call it whatever helps you sleep.”“I won’t be threatened into obedience,” Amelia snapped. “You can’t control everything.”He stepped closer, slow and deliberate. “I control outcomes.”She backed away instinctively until her calves hit the edge of the bed

Amelia’s heart slammed against her ribs as Lawson stepped fully into the room, the door clicking shut behind him with deliberate finality.The sound echoed.Her phone was still in her hand.She hadn’t replied to Maxwell’s message. She hadn’t even locked the screen. Panic rushed through her veins as Lawson’s gaze dropped—not to her face, but to her fingers curled tightly around the device.“Well?” he asked quietly. “I’m waiting.”The calmness in his voice was a warning. Lawson Reynolds didn’t shout. He didn’t need to. His anger came wrapped in control, in certainty, in the knowledge that resistance was useless.Amelia lifted her chin. “Why do you care?”Lawson’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Answer the question.”She swallowed. “It was Sophie.”A lie.The room felt colder instantly.Lawson stepped closer, slow and unhurried, until she could smell his cologne—clean, expensive, suffocating. He reached out, took the phone from her hand with ease, and glanced at the screen.The message was stil

Amelia woke up knowing she was no longer free.The realization hit her before she opened her eyes. It weighed heavily on her chest, taking the air out of her lungs. The bed beneath her was too soft, too large, and too strange. The ceiling above was white and high, with no memories attached. Nothing in this room belonged to her, not the silk sheets, not the fancy furniture, not even the name she carried now.Mrs. Reynolds.Her fingers curled instinctively, and the cold weight on her hand reminded her of the ring. Lawson’s ring. She stared at it for a long moment, feeling hatred and fear twist in her chest.A sharp knock sounded at the door.“Mrs. Reynolds,” a woman’s voice called. “Breakfast will be served in fifteen minutes.”Amelia didn’t respond.The knock came again, louder this time. “Mr. Reynolds expects you downstairs.”Expects.She pushed herself out of bed, ignoring the dizziness that followed. She washed her face quickly and changed into the clothes laid out for her, another