His contract, Her revenge
When Bailey Lockett’s life hits rock bottom, her cheating boyfriend leaves her, and her mother suffers from advanced kidney failure. Desperate for money to pay for immediate surgery, Bailey accepts a $10 million contract marriage from Raven Crest, the cold, ruthless billionaire CEO of Crest Holdings.
Raven offers a luxurious seaside villa, total protection, and access to a compatible kidney donor for her mother. To the world, Raven is her wealthy savior. But behind his calm, powerful exterior, Raven carries a crushing dark secret: eight years ago, a hit-and-run involving his inner circle killed Bailey’s father, leaving him burdened with silent guilt.
What Raven doesn't know is that Bailey isn't a helpless victim. Behind her quiet smile, Bailey is a brilliant dark-web operative connected to a powerful underground network. She knew Raven was watching her, and she purposely let him find her, using his marriage offer as the ultimate cover to save her mother and uncover the truth about her father’s death.
As fake proximity turns into real, dangerous passion, leaked evidence surfaces, pointing to Raven as her father's killer. Caught between her growing love for the man holding her close and her duty to avenge her family, Bailey must uncover the real enemy before their secrets destroy them both.
Baca
Chapter: The morning AfterChapter 9 Bailey's POVMy fingers were still locked around his wrist, my muscles coiled and ready to strike out of pure instinct. For three agonizing seconds, neither of us moved. The thunder rumbled outside, shaking the villa’s glass walls, while the storm lit up the shadow of the unconscious mercenary lying just a few feet away from us.I forced my hands to uncurl. I let go of his wrist and took a shaky step backward, letting my hands tremble slightly as I brought them to my chest."I... I don't know," I breathed out, my voice cracking with a high, frightened edge that I forced up from the deepest part of my gut. "I heard footsteps after you left the room. I thought you were in danger, Raven. I just... I panicked."Raven stood up slowly, picking up his fallen gun from the floor. His grey eyes locked onto mine, sharp and penetrating. He didn't look convinced. A man who had just been pinned by a lethal wrist lock wasn't going to believe a simple panic story easily."You swept my leg,
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-25
Chapter: Night of the breachChapter 8: Night of the BreachBailey's POV Raven’s fingers were still warm against my jawline, his heavy grey eyes holding mine captive in the dim light of the bedroom."What is it?" Raven asked, his eyes narrowing as he noticed the sudden shift in my posture.I flipped the phone face down in one smooth movement, forcing my face to stay completely blank. "Just an automated reminder for my mother's medicine schedule."Raven stared at me for a long, heavy second, as if he was trying to read the thoughts hidden behind my eyes. But before he could say another word, the villa's power cut out completely.The glowing bedside lamp died. The faint hum of the air conditioning vanished. The entire oceanfront room was plunged into thick, pitch-black darkness, leaving only the silver light of the storm outside filtering through the floor-to-ceiling glass doors.A split second later, the deep, muffled thud of a silenced gunshot echoed from the courtyard downstairs.Raven moved instantly. The cold
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-25
Chapter: Moving into the coastal villaChapter 7Bailey's POVThe heavy black iron gates of the Crest Coastal Villa opened silently, allowing Raven’s sleek limousine to glide down the winding stone driveway.I looked out the tinted window, watching the rain wash over the sprawling oceanfront estate. The villa stood tall against the dark cliffside, a structure of black marble, floor-to-ceiling glass, and sharp, imposing angles. It looked less like a home and more like a fortress designed to keep the world out, or to imprison a person.My fingers tightened around the worn-out leather handle of my small suitcase resting on the floorboard. Inside was everything I owned from the Old District, a few simple clothes, my mother's silver ring, and my hidden custom laptop.The live-feed camera hack in my apartment last night had shaken me to my core, but I refused to let Raven see even a fraction of my fear. If he wanted to play a dangerous game of surveillance, I would give him a show worth watching.The car came to a stop beneath t
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-24
Chapter: The calculating mindChapter 6Bailey's POVA cold beat stretched between us. Most people in my position would have panicked, stammered, or tried to shrink into the floorboards. Instead, I slowly tilted my head, looking him dead in the eye with a flat, bored expression that took every ounce of my self-control to maintain.“I ran a background check on your private holdings the second your driver handed me that tablet,” I said smoothly, keeping my voice completely even. “I’m about to sign my freedom away to a man who claims to hand out ten million dollars like loose pocket change. Did you honestly expect me not to check who holds my leash, Mr. Crest?”Raven stared at me, searching my face for any crack in my armor, any flicker of fear. “You bypassed high-level corporate encryption keys in less than thirty seconds.”“Desperate people learn quick survival skills,” I replied, extending my hand toward him for the physical document. “Or would you prefer a naive, helpless wife who doesn't even know where her husb
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-24
Chapter: An offer from the darkChapter 5Bailey's POV The cold leather seat of the Maybach felt like a cage, but my mind was miles away, racing through lines of code and hidden files.My phone was still tucked deep inside my coat pocket, warm from the data transfer I had completed just minutes before stepping into the car. I had spent eight long years believing my father’s death was a tragic, hit-and-run by an unknown driver. But the deleted video clip and the altered registration file I had just pulled from Crest Holdings' hidden server proved otherwise. The car that struck my father belonged to Damien…Raven Crest's closest friend and the quiet cover-up carried the mark of Crest family influence.Raven thought he was buying my silence with ten million dollars. He thought he was playing the generous savior to a desperate girl. He had no idea he had just handed me the master key to his entire world.The car glided to a smooth stop in front of a heavy iron gate on the quiet edge of the city's financial district.The
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-15
Chapter: The ghost of the pastChapter 4Raven's POV The heavy steel door of the vault clicked open with a quiet, metallic sound that echoed through the quiet office.Raven stood inside his private sanctuary, a room hidden behind a seamless bookcase on the top floor of Crest Holdings. Unlike the massive glass-walled boardroom, this room had no windows. It held no bright lights or polished marble. It was a dark, private space where only one person had access, built solely to store the heaviest secrets of his family and his life.Raven stepped forward, his leather shoes silent against the dark rug. He walked over to the reinforced steel safe in the corner, punched in a eight-digit code, and pressed his thumb against the biometric scanner.The safe unlocked with a soft hiss.Raven didn't pull out stacks of bearer bonds, rare diamonds, or offshore bank accounts. Instead, his long fingers reached into the dark interior and pulled out a single, worn yellow folder.He carried it to the small mahogany desk in the center o
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-08-15
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