LOGINEvelyn.The first thing I did when I stepped into the penthouse suite was to unpack. After that, I reached for my phone. I knew I shouldn't. I knew I was just going to torture myself, checking the posts about me and the comments. But I couldn't help it. I needed to see how much more of my soul the world had devoured while I was sleeping on a private jet.I held my breath and typed my name into the search bar, my heart hammering against my ribs.I waited for the "Blackthorn Whore" headlines to pop up. But as the page loaded, my eyes widened. There was nothing.The blogs were gone. The Twitter threads that had thousands of retweets were dead links. I refreshed the page, my fingers trembling. I did it again. And again.The only thing that remained was a single, clinical report about my divorce case from a reputable news outlet. It was unbiased and factual. And the comment section was disabled.I sat back on the edge of the plush bed, my mind reeling. I had seen this magic trick before.
Liam.I stepped out of Evelyn’s room and shut the door with a click. My hands were still vibrating from the urge to punch through a wall.The penthouse was quiet, but my head was a war zone, different thoughts just flipping through. As I walked into the living room, staring out at the New York skyline, I pulled my phone from my pocket. It was time to remind the world why you don’t touch what belongs to Liam Kingsley.I dialed my Head of PR, Greg and he picked up on the second ring.“Mr Kingsley?” He sounded breathless. “We’re already monitoring the threads.”“Monitoring?” I asked, my voice dry and cold. “The official outlets didn’t say a word about her being a whore, but the blogs are gossiping about it. I want every post, every tweet, and every slanderous comment regarding Evelyn Rowe scrubbed. Now.”“Sir, some of those sites are independent—”“I don't pay you to give me excuses, Greg. I pay you to control the narrative. Buy the blogs. And if you can’t, threaten them with a lawsuit
Evelyn.The door to the Obsidian clicked shut behind me, and for a second, I just stood there in the dark, leaning my head against the cool wood of the door as I closed my eyes. My heart was beating frantically against my ribs. And all I could see was the look of disappointment on Liam’s face when I told him I couldn’t do dinner.Honestly, I felt like a total bitch.But what was I supposed to do? I had just walked out of a courtroom where a judge officially ended my marriage to a monster. My body still felt like it was recovering from the miscarriage, and my mind was a jagged mess of trauma and what-ifs. I actually wanted Liam. God, I wanted him so much it made my teeth ache. Every time he looked at me, I felt a magnetic pull that made me want to forget every boundary I’d ever set.But I couldn’t just jump from Victor Blackthorn to Liam Kingsley. It was the definition of going from the frying pan and straight into the fire. And let’s not gouge that fact that I wanted Dominic too.
Liam.I climbed into the back of my car, a custom Rolls-Royce Phantom. I needed the silence, and the heavy door shut out the reporters with a solid thud.Settling into the leather seat, I looked over at Evelyn. She was sitting in the passenger seat and staring out the window, completely lost in her own thoughts. She hadn't said a word since we left the courtroom.For a few seconds, I started wondering if she was actually sad about losing Victor. I know it sounds crazy, but I’d heard about things like Stockholm syndrome. What if she had developed some kind of weird attachment to that bastard before I got her out? What if she was sitting there right now, missing him?But then I thought about the Evelyn I’d been working with for the last few weeks. I looked at her profile—her jaw was set firm, and the way she held herself told me everything I needed to know.She wasn’t like that. She had fought too hard for this, and she wasn’t having second thoughts about the divorce. She was just proc
Dominic.I stood under the shower, but the cold water didn’t wash away the memory. If anything, the steam in the shower seemed to thicken the scent of her.Sighing loudly, I leaned my forehead against the damp tile, letting the spray pelt my back. It had been exactly one week since I kissed Evelyn at Kings Group. One week since I had acted like a fool in front of my archenemy, Liam, and one week since her phone had gone dead.Every time I dialed her number and heard that robotic voice telling me the line was unavailable, I wanted to put a bullet through my wall. I knew the game and I knew why my call wasn’t going through. If I were Liam, the first thing I’d have done was crush that phone under my heel and hand her a new one.A leash was still a leash, but at least, the new one would have a different frequency.But the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I wasn’t even angry at Liam or even. I was angry at myself.I looked down at my hands. These were the hands that ran the Ru
Evelyn.Alaric is a nice man.I leaned against my front door, clutching my purse to my chest as a small smile played on my lips. He was cute, maybe even a little bit nervous, but there was something so charming about those dimples and the way his hand had shaken when he reached for my things. It was a refreshing change from the stone-cold, calculated men I usually dealt with.But as I walked further into my apartment, the smile faded. A knot of guilt tightened in my stomach because I had lied to him. I told him I wasn't married, but legally, that was a lie. I was still Evelyn Blackthorn. I was still tethered to a man who had made my life a living hell.I looked at the calendar on my fridge. This nightmare would be over by tomorrow.I had court in the morning, and hopefully, I would finally be able to put the past behind me. I still didn't understand why the judge had adjourned the last session; they could have just granted the divorce then and there so I could move on. But Victor’
Dominic.The man was wheezing by the time I turned to my surgical table. He already had a broken arm and two broken legs, still he refused to give me what I wanted.I was currently in the basement of my house, and as I took my sweet time selecting which blade to go with, I heard him pleading with m
Evelyn.I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the screen. Victor having the audacity to call me morally rotten? His slutty wife?Normally, whenever I saw Victor on the screen, there’s always this fear of him that comes from months of physical abuse. But right now, looking up at him from Liam’s l
Liam. My jaws clenched as I picked up my office phone and dialed my personal assistant. “Mr. Kingsley…” he answered right away. “Why is the video still trending? Didn’t I instruct you to make sure every single video was wiped clean?” “I’m sorry… I was trying to finish the tasks you gave me
Alaric Vale.I woke up to shouting.“Her Majesty the Queen—” The doors slammed open before the announcement could even finish.I groaned and rolled on to my side, blinking rapidly. The morning light peeking through the curtains irritated my sleeping eyes.Just when I thought my biggest trouble was







