Chapter: Chapter 62 — You Don't Decide ThatChapter 62 — You Don't Decide ThatDominic POVI saw Ryan ask her to leave.Not because I was standing beside them, but because I had been watching the corridor from across the room for the better part of ten minutes. The engagement party had been running smoothly on the surface. Guests were drinking, laughing, taking photographs, congratulating the happy couple. Everything looked exactly the way an engagement party was supposed to look. But appearances had become increasingly unreliable around this family, and I had long ago learned that what happened at the edges of a room usually mattered more than what happened in the center of it.I saw Ryan pull Zara aside. I saw Keisha follow shortly afterward. I saw the tension before I heard a single word. Then I saw Zara pick up her bag.That was what made me move.Not because she looked upset. She didn't. If anything, she looked irritatingly composed. Zara had a habit of accepting things she shouldn't accept, not because she lacked a backbo
Last Updated: 2026-06-07
Chapter: Chapter 61 — The PartyChapter 61 — The PartyZara POVThe engagement party was exactly what it was supposed to be.Beautiful, expensive, carefully arranged to tell a very specific story.Flowers framed the entrance in soft colors. String lights hung from the ceiling, casting a warm glow across the venue. Every table had been positioned to encourage conversation, every decorative detail chosen to create the impression of happiness, stability, and celebration. It was the kind of event that looked effortless to guests because dozens of people had spent weeks making sure it would.I knew because I was one of those people.The styling adjustments Keisha requested at the last minute had given me a legitimate reason to be there. Officially, I was working. Unofficially, it gave me access to every corner of the room, every conversation, every expression people thought nobody was noticing.I arrived early and spent the first hour making final adjustments alongside the venue team. By the time guests started arriving,
Last Updated: 2026-06-05
Chapter: Chapter 60: The Engagement party eve Chapter 60 — The Engagement Party Eve(Dominic POV)The evening before the engagement party settles into something unexpectedly quiet.Not empty, not strained—just steady in a way that has become familiar without either of us deliberately naming it. Zara is already in the kitchen when I come in, moving through the space with an ease that still feels new in a place like this. There is nothing performative about it. No attempt to turn the moment into something softer or more significant than it is. She is simply there, finishing dinner, as though this has always been part of her life.I take my jacket off and set it aside, watching her for a moment longer than necessary. She notices, of course.“You’re staring,” she says without looking up.“I’m observing,” I reply.“That’s worse.”There is no argument in it, just a quiet exchange that settles easily between us. We eat without interruption, no calls brea
Last Updated: 2026-06-01
Chapter: Chapter 59: Three days before Chapter 59 — Three Days Before(Zara POV)Three days before the engagement party, I have two photographs.The first one—the gala—is already familiar. I’ve looked at it enough times now that I don’t need to open it to remember the angle, the distance, the intention behind it. The second one arrives the next evening, from the same unknown number.This one is different.It’s taken outside the penthouse building.Not inside, not close enough to suggest access—but close enough to confirm something else entirely. The frame catches me stepping out of the car, Dominic just behind me, his hand briefly at my back again. The lighting is lower, evening shadows stretching across the pavement, but the quality is just as clean.Same eye.Same purpose.I don’t react when I see it.I save it.Then I document it properly—timestamp, source, sequence. I add it to the first one, building a file that is no
Last Updated: 2026-05-31
Chapter: Chapter 58; The Photograph Chapter 58 — The Photograph(Dominic POV)Zara sends the photograph without commentary.No message layered with reaction. No attempt to frame what I should see when I open it. Just the image itself, followed by a second message a minute later.Sent it to Marcus too.I look at it for longer than I should need.Not because I don’t understand what it is, but because I want to understand how it was taken. Angle, distance, timing. The moment itself is clear—I remember it without effort. Leaving the gala, the room still loud behind us, her attention half on the exit, half on the event she had just finished managing. My hand at her back, not for display, not for effect. Just there.But the photograph turns it into something else.Something composed.Someone was waiting for that moment.I don’t call her first.I call Marcus.He answers immediately.“I have it,” he says before
Last Updated: 2026-05-31
Chapter: Chapter 57: Eight daysChapter 57 — Eight Days(Zara POV)After my mother leaves the penthouse, I don’t stay.Not because I’m upset in a loud way, or because I can’t sit in that space anymore. It’s something quieter than that. I just know I need distance to think, and Dominic doesn’t try to stop me when I say I’m going to Jane’s. He looks like he wants to ask me to stay, but he doesn’t. He understands when something needs space.Jane opens the door before I knock properly, like she already knew I was coming.“You look like you’ve been thinking too much,” she says, stepping aside to let me in.“I have,” I reply, dropping my bag by the couch.We settle into the living room the way we always do, familiar without effort. I tell her everything. Not in one rush, but in pieces—the knock, my mother standing there, the way she walked in like she had a right to be in that space. What she said. What she didn’t say.Jane listens the way she always does. No interruptions, no rushing me through it.When I finish, she lea
Last Updated: 2026-05-30
WHERE SIN FEELS LIKE HOME
His hands were everywhere, and I let them be.
“You know this is wrong,” he murmured against my throat.
“I know.” I tilted my head back anyway.
He pulled back, eyes dark. “Tell me to stop, Zella.”
I looked at the silver in his hair, the jaw that could cut glass, my best friend’s father, twenty years too old and a thousand reasons too dangerous.
“Don’t stop,” I whispered.
Seven days before my Christmas wedding, I caught my fiancé with my cousin. By morning I had lost everything, my relationship, my job, my future. I walked into the London rain with nothing left.
A stranger stopped his car. Offered an umbrella. Gave me a drink instead of the mistake I begged for. Then disappeared before dawn.
I never expected to find him again in a darkened hotel room on New Year’s Eve… or to give him the one thing I’d never given anyone.
The next morning, when my best friend introduced me to her father, Evander Ashford looked me in the eye and said, “Nice to meet you,” as if he hadn’t already ruined me the night before.
He is forbidden.
He is twice my age.
He is the one man I was never supposed to want.
But he is the first person who ever made me feel worth keeping, and the only place this broken heart has ever felt safe.
Where Sin Feels Like Home — because sometimes the wrongest man is the only home you’ve ever known.
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Chapter: Chapter 60 Chapter 60: The First Crack"Zella?" Brynn prompted, waiting for an answer that wouldn't come. "Why are you being so weird about this?""I'm not being weird," I said, but my voice was tight, strained. "He's just... protective of his employees. That's all it is. He cares about everyone who works for him.""Has he said anything to you lately? Anything that seemed... off? Different?"I thought about the way he'd defended me publicly. The way he'd taken my phone from Callum. The way he'd looked at me with absolute certainty that I belonged to him."No," I lied, the word tasting bitter. "Nothing. He's been completely professional."She studied me through the screen for another long moment, and I could see her weighing whether to push further or let it go. I could see her trying to decide if my evasion was meaningful."You know what," she said finally, deciding to drop it for now, "forget about work drama for a second. We hav
Last Updated: 2026-08-09
Chapter: chapter 59Chapter 59: Defended"Miss Zella. My office. Now."The moment those words left his mouth, everyone scattered like leaves in wind. Desks suddenly required their attention. Files became urgent. Emails needed responses. Nobody wanted to be caught in the aftermath of whatever confrontation was about to happen.But Evander didn't move. He stood in the doorway, his expression controlled but his eyes sharp and dangerous, and he looked directly at Marcus."Actually, before you go," Evander said, his voice carrying a specific weight that made everyone freeze mid-movement. "I want to address what I just walked in on."The office went completely silent."Zella is an excellent manager," he continued, his gaze sweeping across the room like a predator assessing prey. "She's competent, professional, and respected. Anyone who has a problem with her performance can take that up with me. Directly." He paused. "Anyone who questions her integrity, h
Last Updated: 2026-08-08
Chapter: Chapter 58 Chapter 58: ChooseThe rest of the day passed in a blur.I tried to focus on work, but my mind kept replaying what had happened in Evander's office. The way he'd taken my phone. The cold authority in his voice when he'd told Callum to stop. The possessiveness of it all. And then the kiss—hard and claiming and completely consuming.By the time I left work, I felt drained and confused and thoroughly claimed.When I got home, Callum was waiting for me outside my apartment building."Callum, what are you doing here?" I asked, genuinely surprised and not entirely comfortable with him showing up unannounced."I needed to see you," he said, and his expression was concerned in a way that made me feel guilty. "That phone call... Zella, what was that about? Why is your boss telling me to back off? And the way he said it—like he was... protective. Like he had some claim on you.""He doesn't have any claim on me," I said, but the lie tasted bitter."Then why did he sound like that?" Callum stepp
Last Updated: 2026-08-08
Chapter: Chapter 58 Chapter 58: ChooseThe rest of the day passed in a blur.I tried to focus on work, but my mind kept replaying what had happened in Evander's office. The way he'd taken my phone. The cold authority in his voice when he'd told Callum to stop. The possessiveness of it all. And then the kiss—hard and claiming and completely consuming.By the time I left work, I felt drained and confused and thoroughly claimed.When I got home, Callum was waiting for me outside my apartment building."Callum, what are you doing here?" I asked, genuinely surprised and not entirely comfortable with him showing up unannounced."I needed to see you," he said, and his expression was concerned in a way that made me feel guilty. "That phone call... Zella, what was that about? Why is your boss telling me to back off? And the way he said it—like he was... protective. Like he had some claim on you.""He doesn't have any claim on me," I said, but the lie tasted bitter."Then why did he sound like that?" Callum stepp
Last Updated: 2026-08-08
Chapter: chapter 57 Chapter 57: Callum Won't StopI read the note five times.Ten times.The letters were cut from magazines—different fonts, different sizes, pasted onto cheap paper. It was methodical. Deliberate. Someone had taken the time to do this, which meant someone cared enough to make a point.*Careful who you're fucking. People notice.*It couldn't have been Sienna. She was too mature for anonymous threats, and besides, she'd already confronted me directly yesterday. This felt different. This felt like someone younger, angrier, or more afraid.I folded the note and put it back in the envelope, then shoved it into my pocket. All morning, I felt it there like a physical weight, a constant reminder that someone knew. Someone was watching. Someone was judging.I tried to work. I really did. But I couldn't focus on anything—the project files felt meaningless, the emails blurred together, everything felt hollow and dangerous.
Last Updated: 2026-07-25
Chapter: Chapter 56Chapter 56: Office Games"Wait, where are you?" Brynn asked, tilting her screen. "That looks like... is that Dad's sitting room? Those are his curtains."My stomach dropped.Evander moved immediately. He stood up from beside me and carried me off his lap, setting me down in the chair next to him before sitting back down himself, creating the illusion of professional distance. It was smooth, practiced almost, like he'd rehearsed this moment in his mind."We have unfinished projects from today," I said, my voice steady even though my heart was racing. "It might be an all-nighter situation.""At Dad's house?" Brynn's eyes narrowed slightly. "That's weird. Dad usually doesn't—""Give me the phone," Evander said, his tone shifting to something fatherly and firm.I watched as he took the phone from my hands, and Brynn's expression changed immediately to that specific look reserved for disappointing fathers."Dad! Why are you making her work like this?" she scolded. "That's not okay. She nee
Last Updated: 2026-07-25
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