Sunlit Paradise: Undercover Desire
Detective Siobahn Rust was ordered to watch the illegal art shipment from a distance.
Instead, she follows her missing informant into a restricted exhibition hall, discovers a deadly synthetic drug hidden inside a sculpture, and ends up running from armed men determined to silence her.
Her only escape is a luxury yacht called Apollo.
To convince her pursuers she belongs there, Siobahn sheds her disguise and kisses the yacht’s dangerously attractive owner. The deception works but the problem begins when the kiss stops feeling fake and she nearly loses control with a stranger whose name she never learns.
By morning, her informant has vanished, her police credential is missing, and every clue points to Solara Island, home of the exclusive Reed Solara Resort.
Siobahn enters the resort undercover as a housekeeper and discovers that Apollo belongs to Calvin Reed, the powerful CEO whose signature appears on the criminal shipment records she is investigating.
Calvin knows she is lying and he may also be the only person who can expose her.
Trapped inside her prime suspect’s home, Siobahn must uncover who is using the island’s glamorous art program to move drugs and launder millions. But as witnesses disappear and the evidence begins contradicting itself, Calvin looks less like the mastermind and more like another target.
In paradise, everyone wears a mask.
Siobahn just has to uncover the truth before she trusts the wrong person.
Basahin
Chapter: Blood and SecretsThe first thing I noticed was that Calvin Reed checked the door before he checked the blood on his own shirt.A man who owned luxury resorts was supposed to worry about cameras, guests, and public scandals. He was not supposed to move through a room like he expected someone to break in.Vic and Damien had stayed behind with security to handle the aftermath in the gallery. They were reviewing the attack, checking the area, and making sure the attacker had not returned.Calvin had brought me away from the crowd before dealing with anything else. He stood near the entrance for two seconds, listening. Then his attention shifted to the cut on my forehead.“Sit. You’re bleeding.”“I’m aware.”“You’re also pretending it doesn’t hurt.”I reached for the tissue on the table and pressed it against my temple. The movement pulled at my shoulder, reminding me that the fight in the gallery had left more than a few injuries behind.Calvin noticed. He opened the medical kit on the table, and I steppe
Huling Na-update: 2026-09-20
Chapter: The Locked Gallery“Locked doors usually mean rich people are hiding something.”Belle caught me watching the sculpture crate roll through the door marked STORAGE TWO. The blood-stained packing vanished inside with it. The handler stepped out, tapped his key card against the reader, and the lock clicked.“Or something,” I said.I photographed the stain on my glove and sealed it inside a clean housekeeping bag. I could not send it through normal channels without explaining how I got it, but I was not throwing it away.“I need to check something in the supply area,” I told Belle.She studied me, then nodded. “Go.”I kept working while watching Storage Two, but the sculpture never came back out. When preparations ended, a temporary event worker left his clipboard and access card on a service cart while he carried a display stand away.I crossed the corridor, took the card, and swiped it at Storage Two. After returning it to the cart before he came back, I slipped inside. Rows of covered artwork and shippin
Huling Na-update: 2026-09-19
Chapter: The Laurent SmileThe pavilion doors opened fully, and the noise inside Solara Gallery faded as people noticed who had arrived.A crate handler lowered his clipboard. Two women arranging auction folders stopped mid-sentence, and even Belle, who rarely treated wealth as a reason to behave differently, straightened beside me.I slipped the burner phone into my pocket and closed the inventory folder over the serial number I had been checking.Belle leaned closer. “That is what money looks like when it learns to smile.”A woman entered beside Conrad Laurent, whom I recognized from the operation briefing. She wore a pale dress, simple jewelry, and the calm confidence of someone who never had to ask whether she belonged.Cass crossed the gallery and hugged her.“You’re late.”“By three minutes.”Clarisse laughed and kissed her cheek before turning to Calvin. “You remembered the briefing.”“Cass threatened me.”“Then civilization survives.”She handed him a folder and straightened the edge of his cuff without
Huling Na-update: 2026-09-18
Chapter: House RulesThe message disappeared from the security monitors before we could trace its source. Calvin searched the system but we found nothing. He still refused to explain what was below the resort, and I refused to ignore the fact that he knew more than he admitted.By the time the auction preparations began, we had one agreement: Watch everything and trust nothing, especially each other. The suspicious crate moved while I still had the auction list open. Two event workers rolled it away from the rear display tables toward the west staging corridor. I shut the folder and slipped the burner phone into my pocket.I followed at a distance as workers adjusted display lights and cleared packing materials from the pavilion floor. The crate reached a security rope just as an employee unhooked it for the trolley. I caught the altered label once before it vanished around the corner.“Miss, that area is restricted.”The guard looked at my event badge.“I’m checking the auction inventory.”“You can chec
Huling Na-update: 2026-09-17
Chapter: The Man Behind The LieThe first thing I noticed when I entered Reed House was the security camera above the hallway. It had been turned three degrees to the left.Most people would not have noticed. It still covered the entrance and appeared functional, but it no longer watched the staircase.Someone had adjusted it manually. Either Calvin’s security team was changing coverage before the Laurent event, or someone inside Reed House was moving without permission. Neither option improved my opinion of this place.I checked the time. Staff moved through the lower floors preparing for the auction, and security had increased with the event approaching. If someone wanted to move something through the property unnoticed, this was the perfect distraction.I stepped toward the security panel and reviewed the access records. Most entries were routine, then I found one that was not. A service door had been opened late last night using a temporary authorization code, but no employee name was attached.“Looking for some
Huling Na-update: 2026-09-16
Chapter: The First Lie“You have the wrong woman.”“No.” Calvin stayed close, his voice controlled but edged with anger. “The woman on Apollo wore a different face, but she used the same perfume. Jasmine and cedar.”I released his wrist and reached for the cloth beside the stove.“She also had the same mark behind her right ear.”My hand stopped.Calvin leaned closer. “Do you still want to tell me we have never met?”“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His gaze held mine. “Then perhaps you need help remembering.”He moved before I could answer. He kissed me with the same hunger he had on Apollo. His hand tightened at my waist and pulled me against him, and before I could stop myself, I kissed him back just as hard. The yacht returned in one rush, his hands on my bare skin, the second kiss after the armed men left and my fingers knotted in his shirt.Calvin pulled back first, but his hand remained at my waist.“I hope that helped,” he said. “Because I remember it clearly.”I released his shirt and swu
Huling Na-update: 2026-09-15
Chapter: Chapter 60: No PeaceK A E L O RAshmoore was awake before the sun even reached the treetops.I felt it the second I stepped outside.Wolves moved through the inner paths, focused and already working. Patrol runners crossed the clearing near the council hall, passing quick updates in low voices. No one was talking loudly, but the tension in the air was impossible to miss.The Guild had crossed the border. I walked through the center of the clearing. Warriors shifted aside as I passed, but nobody slowed down. Most of them were already armed, hands resting on weapons while their eyes kept drifting toward the forest line. Waiting. Watching.Like they expected something to come out of those trees at any second.The bond beneath my ribs tightened again. Restless. Pulling at me.It dragged my attention back toward the stone halls behind me, to the room where Nyxara was still asleep.For a second, I almost turned around. But duty came first.I pushed the thought away, headed for the council chamber, and pushe
Huling Na-update: 2026-03-07
Chapter: Chapter 59: The Whispering StoneN Y X A R AThe forest shouldn’t have been this quiet. The wind usually moves through the Hollow Wilds without stopping, bending the trees until they whisper back. Tonight, the branches barely stirred. Even the insects kept their distance from the clearing, like the dark itself was holding its breath.Darek’s words followed me as I walked. “The Guild’s next move ends in blood.” Threats from the Guild aren’t new. I learned a long time ago that fear won’t keep you alive. But the way he said it— It felt too close.The bond shifted under my ribs, sharp and restless, like it was trying to warn me of something I couldn’t see yet and the feeling wouldn’t settle. When the path curved toward the stone circle at the edge of Ashmoore, I slowed. The Seer lived there. And if anyone already knew what was coming, it would be Elaren.The stones rose from the earth in a rough circle, older than the forest around them. Time had worn their surfaces smooth, the edges softened by years no one bothered to
Huling Na-update: 2026-03-06
Chapter: Chapter 58: Alpha’s WrathK A E L O RNyxara stands between us, the knife still in her hand. The blade hangs at her side, but she hasn’t let it go. Darek is right behind her, close enough that his shadow spills over her shoulder and stretches across the ground at her feet.I step into the clearing and the bond snaps wide open. The pull between us is tight and raw, like something pulled too far and about to tear. Her breathing isn’t steady. There’s dirt smeared across her hands, and beneath the damp scent of earth, I catch the faint trace of blood in the air. She looks at me just for a second, then she looks away. But she doesn’t move away from him. My attention shifts to the man beside her.“You weren’t summoned,” I say. Darek doesn’t so much as blink.“I don’t answer summons.”“You’re standing in my territory.”“And she’s standing in hers.”Nyxara’s grip tightens slightly around the knife. The blade stays low. She doesn’t say a word. But the bond carries the weight of her silence anyway.“You went to her by y
Huling Na-update: 2026-03-05
Chapter: Chapter 57: The Knife’s MemoryN Y X A R AThe knife feels familiar before I know why. It sits in my hand like it belongs there. The grip fits. The weight shifts toward the tip, made for close fighting. I turn it once, and the blade catches the light. It is clean, unused, and sent this way on purpose.The bond tightens, like something beyond the clearing has moved. I slow my breathing and look at the handle. There is a faint shine near the hilt, the kind that shows where a thumb has rested again and again.The corridor is narrow. Smoke burns the back of my throat and boots hit stone from both ends. I misjudged the exit.“Go,” Lucien says. He stands at the mouth of the hall, blade drawn, and his body turned to block the first wave. He does not look at me.“We can still turn,” I tell him and I am already counting steps.“You’re bleeding.”“I can still run.”“That’s the point.”The first guard reaches him, and Lucien moves before the man finishes shouting. The strike lands clean. He turns to meet the second. Steel hi
Huling Na-update: 2026-03-04
Chapter: Chapter 56: The PullN Y X A R AI leave the ring without looking at him. I walk because it steadies me and it’s the only thing I still control. The air is cool, but my skin is warm where he touched me. The bond has not eased. It sits there, tight and steady, as if distance does not matter. It should fade but it does not.I reach the edge of the clearing and move into the trees. My breathing stays even but my pulse doesn’t. I can still feel his presence and it is closer than it was before. That is the problem because I know what I did.I go deeper into the woods where the light cannot reach. The ground shifts under my boots, roots cutting across the path. I do not slow but the bond tightens again, quiet and certain. I have walked farther from him before and felt less. Now it feels closer. If I can feel it like this, someone else might too. I stop walking and the thought settles in my chest.“You run fast.” His voice comes from ahead. Darek stands between two trees, one shoulder against the trunk, as if he
Huling Na-update: 2026-03-03
Chapter: Chapter 55: A Kiss Without ControlK A E L O RI don’t go back to my room after I leave hers. I stay in the corridor instead, leaning against the stone wall while the flames burn lower and the guards change shifts in silence. I know I will not sleep tonight, so I stop pretending that I will.Her heat is still inside me. It sits beneath my ribs like it belongs there. I can still hear the change in her breathing, my name in her voice. I felt it before she said it. The bond carried it to me first, sharp and certain, as if it wanted me to know.The bond has not reacted like that before. It was not just want or hunger. It felt deeper than that, heavier in a way I could not ignore, like something inside me had shifted and would not settle back into place.Before dawn, I walk to the northern wall and look toward the tree line. The forest stands quiet. Nothing moves. The perimeter should have responded when something crossed it. It should have warned me. Instead, the bond woke me first. And I do not know which troubles me more
Huling Na-update: 2026-03-02
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