LOGINAfter being fired from her job as a reporter, Eva Langston returns to San Francisco, only to find her family on the brink of financial ruin. Her once-thriving father now drowns in debt, and his last hope lies in a man she never wanted to see again, Lucian Thorne, her cold, calculating billionaire ex. Lucian agrees to save her father's company, but under one cruel condition: Eva must become his wife. Dragged back into the world of power, manipulation, and unsaid truths, Eva realizes Lucian has his own reasons for dragging her into this nightmare. As old wounds resurface and dark truths are uncovered, Eva must decide- can love survive their shattered past, or will the secrets lurking in both families destroy them for good?
View MoreThe boardroom lights glowed like interrogation lamps—sharp, cold, merciless. Isabelle Dubois stood at the head of the table, immaculate in her navy suit, the picture of calm authority. Her hair was pinned back, flawless. Her expression? Pure, calculated sympathy.The kind that wasn’t sympathy at all.And Lucian wasn’t there to defend himself.“We need to discuss the events of yesterday,” Isabelle began, hands folded neatly. “Thorne Capital suffered an unprecedented destabilization. The markets reacted violently. Our investors are demanding answers.”A board member shifted uncomfortably. “Where is Lucian? Has anyone spoken to him?”Isabelle sighed softly. “He’s… indisposed.”Her voice carried a perfect blend of regret and concern.Julian’s jaw tightened. “He’s working. You all know how he gets after a surge—”Isabelle cut him off gently but firmly. “Julian. This isn’t about work style. The data shows erratic decision-making. Emotional volatility. Vanishing for hours at a time.”Another
The lab smelled of burnt metal and ozone. Screens still flickered from the power surge that had nearly blown out the quantum interface. Shattered glass glittered on the floor like frost. Somewhere deep in the system, a low hum persisted—a wounded machine trying to breathe.Eva stood in the middle of it, chest tight, heart hammering. She’d seen market crashes before, but nothing like this. Thorne Capital’s entire trade system had collapsed in seconds, erased by a surge that hadn’t come from any external source.It came from them.And Lucian knew it too.“You feel that?” Eva whispered. Her voice trembled as she stared at the residual light still pulsing faintly across the holographic screen. “It wasn’t the algorithm, Lucian. It was us.”Lucian didn’t answer at first. He stood motionless, hands pressed against the lab table, eyes on the shattered monitor. His reflection looked like someone she barely recognized—pale, shaken, stripped of the usual composure that made him so untouchable.“
Eva didn’t wait a second.The moment Isabelle’s cryptic words echoed in her head—“Let’s see how far the instability can go before it breaks you”—she ran.By the time she burst into Lucian’s office, her breath was ragged, and her hands were still shaking from adrenaline.“She was in the lab again,” she said, slamming the door behind her. “She bypassed the system lockdown. She touched the core projection—and she talked about containment, Lucian.”Lucian looked up from a table filled with holographic data streams. His eyes were bloodshot, his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows, the tension in his posture electric. “Containment?” he repeated slowly.Eva nodded. “She’s not just studying us anymore. She’s testing limits. Ours.”Lucian’s jaw clenched, but his gaze drifted back to the swirling data. “She was probably just curious.”Eva stared at him. “You can’t be serious.”“She’s a strategist, Eva,” he said, his tone clipped. “You said it yourself—she studies patterns. She might’ve been anal
From the outside, Isabelle Dubois looked like perfection carved in human form.Every move, every smile, every headline—calculated. Polished. Untouchable.Lucian often said, “She’s the kind of woman the world trusts instantly,” and he wasn’t wrong. Isabelle carried herself with the poise of someone who never stumbled, never broke, never once showed a crack in the marble.And that was exactly why Eva didn’t trust her.“Do you ever sleep?” Eva asked one morning, stepping into the office.Isabelle was already there—immaculate in a navy suit, typing with quiet precision.“I find rest overrated,” Isabelle replied, not looking up. “There’s always another crisis waiting at dawn.”Lucian smirked from behind his desk. “You sound like me five years ago.”“I take that as a compliment,” Isabelle said, finally meeting his gaze.Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. It never did.Eva tried to convince herself it was paranoia.That her unease around Isabelle came from stress, not intuition.But every time






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