LOGIN“We’re friends,” I said, voice barely steady. Aaron’s lips curled, slow and cruel. “No, we’re not.” “Friendship’s too pure for this.” His hand slid to my waist, hot and claiming as he yanked me flush against him. “Do friends kiss like this?” He kissed me. Hard. Possessive. “Or grab each other like this?” A squeeze to my ass. A gasp. “Or think filthy little thoughts?” His breath burned against my ear. “Touch themselves to it?” My cheeks flamed. My body betrayed me. “Stop lying, Venus.” His voice was a growl. “I feel it. Every time I’m near you.” I whispered, “But you don’t even like me.” His smile was pure sin. “I don’t have to like you to fuck you.” Then the offer: “Let’s get it out of our system. No lies. No strings. Just truth.” He grabbed my chin, eyes lit with hunger. “Say the word, princess.” A whisper against my lips— “I’ll ruin you.” And God help me… I wanted him to. --------- Aaron Sinclair needs a bride to claim his inheritance. Venus Carter needs a miracle to save her dying mother. What begins as a cold contract marriage spirals into a dangerous game of buried trauma, stolen identities, and forbidden attachment. He’s ruthless, closed off, and refuses to love. She’s resilient, lost, and refuses to stay unloved. But when secrets unravel revealing a stolen childhood, a tragic past, and a vengeful stepmother, their fake marriage is the only thing standing between them and destruction. In a world ruled by power and silence, will love dare to speak first or break them both instead?
View MoreVENUS
“You’ll be fine, Mom. I promise.” I smiled, even if it felt like lying through my teeth. “My job pays well, I’ve got savings, we’ll handle the chemo soon.” I had to be strong. For both of us. She gave a weak sigh, eyes glistening. “You shouldn’t be wasting your life on me, Venus. You’re only twenty-two. You should be out there living, dancing, falling in love…” “Stop.” I tucked a stray curl behind her ear and kissed her forehead. “You don’t worry about anything. I’ve got us.” Her voice dropped. “How’s your dad?” My jaw clenched. Of course, she couldn’t meet my eyes. The man hadn’t visited once since her diagnosis. “I haven’t seen him since Sunday,” I said flatly. “And I hope I don’t. It’s been peaceful.” She opened her mouth—probably to defend him again—but I stood. “I have to get to work, Mom. I’ll see you later.” “Thank you for coming every day, sweetheart. I don’t deserve you.” “You do,” I said, hugging her. “I’m your daughter. That’s all that matters.” ------ I hailed a cab, dropped into the backseat, and clutched my bag like my life depended on it. Inside was the file. The file. The one Aaron Sinclair had tossed onto my desk last night like a time bomb. You’d check twice too if you worked for a man like him—dangerous in Dior, heartless in Hugo. He’s the kind of man who walks into a room and makes gravity shift. Broad shoulders. Razor jaw. Hazel eyes that could slice through you if his words hadn’t already done it. To every other woman, he’s a fantasy. To me? A nightmare in tailored suits. Two months working under him, and I swear he gets off on making my life miserable. Impossible deadlines, inhuman workload, cold stares that could freeze hell itself. And yet he hasn’t fired me. Because no matter how much he wants to break me, I always deliver. Why not quit, you ask? Because I can’t. I was a waitress before this, barely surviving. This job is the reason my mother has a bed in a hospital and not a floor in a rundown clinic. I have a degree, yes. But the world doesn’t pay in potential, it pays in cold, hard results. The cab pulled up in front of the towering steel-and-glass building I now called hell. I paid, got out, and took a deep breath. Showtime. ------ The second I stepped into my office—just a thin wall away from Mr. Sinclair’s—the intercom rang. “My office. Now.” No greeting. Just that voice. Sharp. Clipped. Cold. “God, give me strength,” I muttered and walked to his door. Knock. “Come in.” I entered and stood straighter than usual. “Good morning, Mr. Sinclair. You called for me?” He didn’t look up right away. When he did, those hazel eyes locked on mine like a sniper's target. “Sit,” he said, irritation laced in every syllable. I sat. The silence stretched. Long enough to make me fidget. Then— “Marry me.” I blinked. My brain stalled. “What?” “Don’t make me repeat myself,” he said smoothly, like he hadn’t just shattered reality. And just like that, my nightmare said he wanted to make it legal.VENUS The moment the door slammed behind Gerald, the silence hit me like a physical blow. For a long breath, I just sat there. Staring at the metal door. Listening to the fading echoes of his chains, the fading sound of his laughter, the fading ghost of his final words: You’ll never find her. My stomach twisted. My vision blurred. I gripped the edges of the table until my fingers burned, grounding myself in the cold metal because everything else felt like it was slipping. I forced myself to stand. My body didn’t appreciate that. Pain shot through my ribs, sharp and white-hot, slicing through the thin layer of adrenaline that had carried me through the confrontation. The room tilted for a second, walls leaning in, and I pressed my hand against the table until I found balance again. Then I walked. One foot. Then the other. Each step felt like dragging weights through mud. The guard outside straightened immediately when I pushed the door open. His smugness was gone, now repla
VENUSThe door clanged shut behind Gerald, the echo scraping down my spine like cold metal fingers. He shuffled forward in slow, deliberate steps, the chains on his ankles rattling with each movement. His wrists were pinned tight in front of him, silver cuffs biting into skin that looked both paler and meaner than I remembered.He watched me.Not the way normal people look at someone they hurt.Not with remorse.Not even curiosity.He looked at me like I was a painting he’d memorized long ago and was now examining for damage. He sat in the metal chair opposite mine. The guard behind him stepped back but didn’t leave the room.I forced my voice steady. “Can we have the room, please?”The guard hesitated, eyes flicking between me and Gerald like he wasn’t sure which one of us was the danger here. Smart man. He inclined his head toward the door.“I’ll be right outside,” he said. “And there are cameras. If anything happens—”“I understand,” I cut in.His jaw tightened, but he stepped out
VENUS I woke to the soft hum of machines and the faint antiseptic chill that seeped into every inch of the hospital room. For a moment, I didn’t move. I just stared at the ceiling — too white, too bright, too empty — and tried to make sense of the pounding behind my eyes.My body felt heavy, thick with the sedative Aaron had insisted on. I remembered fighting it, begging him not to let them put me under. I remembered his voice — low, apologetic, breaking somewhere around the edges — as the world blurred and dissolved.Now, the world was painfully sharp again.A soft snore drew my eyes sideways.Sabine sat hunched in the chair beside my bed, her head resting awkwardly on her folded arms. Her curls spilled over her elbows, rising and falling with her breaths. She must have fought sleep until her body gave out. Her hand was still on the side of my mattress, like she’d been holding it.But Aaron wasn’t here.The space he’d occupied last night — the shadow in the corner, the anchor when e
IRIS I wake up because something is shaking.Not gentle shaking, like when Mommy tries to wake me up for school and says, “Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”This is rough. Like someone grabbed my shoulder and moved me too fast.My head hurts. My eyes feel sticky. My mouth tastes like when I forget to brush my teeth after eating candy.Everything is blurry.Everything is loud.The car is moving but I don’t know where it’s taking me. The window beside me shows trees, then light, then shadows and I don’t know any of them. There’s a man in the front seat and another beside me. They’re big. Too big. Their clothes are dark and their voices sound like rocks rolling.I try to sit up.The man beside me pushes me back. “Sit still.”I don’t want to sit still.I want George.I want Sabine Jr.I want Mommy.I want Daddy.“Where’s my brother?” My voice comes out tiny. It sounds like someone else. Not me.They don’t answer.“Where’s my mom?” I try again. “Where’s George? He—he was holding my hand. He wa
AARONLucas Derrane’s name was barely out of his mouth before the metallic taste of anger hit my tongue — cold, measured, razor-edged. I leaned back just enough for him to feel the space between us shrink, the weight of my attention locking him in place. His breath hitched.“You staged an interaction to make it look like I was cheating on my wife,” I said.Lucas’s shoulders snapped tight like a man bracing for a blow. “I didn’t stage anything,” he blurted. “I—I was paid to put some kind of substance in the air conditioning. That’s it.”Connor’s jaw flexed beside me. Colton didn’t move, but I felt him lean forward — the subtle shift of a predator catching a scent.I kept my voice level. “Who was your partner?”“P-partner?” His confusion looked real — but fear often did.“There were two of you in the footage,” I said. “Don’t test me, Lucas.”He flinched. “I swear, I don’t know who he is. They said someone would meet me in the lobby and hand me the package. We didn’t talk. We just plante
AARON I stood there for a long moment after she slipped under, my hand still wrapped around hers even though her fingers had gone slack. Sedation had stolen the fight from her body — but not from her face. Even in sleep, she looked like a woman braced for impact, like she might wake any second and sprint barefoot into hell if it meant getting Iris back.God, she’d fought. She’d bled. She’d torn her own body apart to keep those kids alive. And they had still taken our daughter.The thought alone made something sharp and lethal coil inside my chest.I let out a slow breath and finally straightened. The nurse nodded once at me — a small gesture of understanding — then slipped out of the room, leaving me alone with the soft hum of machines and Venus’s even breaths.The quiet was unbearable.I dragged a hand through my hair. Three days of leads and dead ends. Three days of watching systems I controlled, networks I built, and contacts who owed me everything come back with the same infuriat












Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.
Comments