LOGINVictor’s announcement made my heart race with fear and excitement at the same time.
“I am leaving for London tonight for three days,” Victor said during breakfast. “Important meetings. Behave yourself while I am gone, Ava.” “Yes, Victor,” I replied quietly, keeping my eyes down. The moment his private jet left New York, something inside me shifted. I tried to fight it all day. I stayed in my room, but my mind kept replaying Damien’s kiss against the piano. I felt terrible. I had sold myself to an old man, and now I could not stop thinking about his son. Evening came. I drank more whiskey than I should have. The alcohol made my skin feel hot. I stood in the living room when I heard his footsteps. Damien walked in slowly. His eyes looked dark and hungry. “You have been avoiding me again,” he said. “I had to,” I whispered. “What we did last night was wrong. I am your father’s wife. I feel so guilty.” He stepped closer. “Guilty? You kissed me back like you wanted it.” I looked away. “I should not want it. I sold myself to your father. He is old enough to be my dad. Every time I think about him touching me, I feel sick. But when you look at me… I feel something else. Something I should not feel.” Damien poured two glasses of whiskey and handed me one. “Then stop fighting it, Ava. Tell me the truth.” I took a big sip. The warm liquid gave me courage. “I hate myself for wanting you. I feel dirty for marrying him for money. But ever since you touched me, I keep thinking about you. I should not want my stepson. This is so wrong.” He drank his whiskey in one gulp and put the glass down. “I hate what you did too. But I need you. I need to fuck you so badly it hurts.” We started circling each other in the living room. My heart beat faster with every step. The air felt thick with tension. “Damien, please,” I said softly. “We should stop before we do something we cannot take back.” “No. I am done holding back.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the master bedroom. Victor’s bedroom. Inside the room, he closed the door. My legs felt weak as I stood near the huge bed. “This is his bed,” I said. “We cannot do this here.” Damien moved fast. He grabbed the front of my silk dress and ripped it open. “I hate you for making me want you like this,” he growled. “But I need to fuck you more than I need air.” I gasped as the dress fell to the floor. Instead of pushing him away, I grabbed his shirt. “I want you too,” I admitted in a shaky voice. “God help me, but I do. I feel so ashamed, but my body aches for you.” He pushed me onto the massive bed. I lay back and spread my legs for him. Damien dropped to his knees and buried his face between my thighs. His tongue licked me with strong, hungry strokes while his fingers pushed deep inside. “Oh my God, Damien,” I moaned loudly. “That feels so good. I should not want this, but please do not stop.” He sucked on my most sensitive spot and moved his fingers faster. “You are so wet for me. Say it, Ava. Tell me you want your stepson.” “I want you,” I cried out. “I want you so much it scares me.” The pleasure built fast. I clutched the sheets tightly as my body shook. I came hard, screaming his name while waves of pleasure crashed over me. Before I could catch my breath, Damien flipped me onto my stomach. He pulled my hips up and thrust into me in one deep stroke. “Fuck, Ava,” he groaned. “You are so tight and wet.” He started pounding into me hard and fast. I pushed back against him, meeting every thrust. “Harder,” I begged. “Please, Damien.” He fisted my hair and pulled my head back. “You are dripping for your stepson while your husband is gone. Say it.” “Yes,” I moaned shamelessly. “I am dripping for you. Fuck me harder.” He slapped my ass and drove deeper. The pleasure was intense. I came again violently, my whole body trembling as I moaned his name. Damien pulled out and lay on his back. “Ride me. I want to watch you.” I climbed on top of him without hesitation. I sank down slowly, taking every inch of him. It felt so deep. I started moving my hips faster. My breasts bounced as I rode him. “Look at you,” he said. He grabbed my breasts and sucked hard on my nipples. “You are mine now.” “I should not be doing this,” I panted, still riding him desperately. “But I cannot stop. I want you too much.” We came together. I cried out as he filled me completely. We were still not satisfied. Damien carried me to the shower. Hot water poured over our bodies. He pressed my back against the tiles, lifted one of my legs, and thrust into me again. “I want you,” I whispered against his mouth as he fucked me deep. “Even though it is wrong, I want you so badly.” He pounded into me until we both came once more. My legs shook when he finally turned off the water. We collapsed onto the ruined bed. I lay against his chest, breathing hard. Reality slowly came back. “What have I done?” I whispered. Tears filled my eyes. “I sold myself to your father and now I begged his son to fuck me in his own bed. I feel so guilty, but I cannot regret it. I wanted you too.” Damien lit a cigarette and took a long drag. He looked down at me with dark, possessive eyes. “You belong to me now, Ava. Not him.” I wanted to argue, but deep down I knew he was right. My body still hummed with pleasure from everything we had done. Suddenly, Damien’s phone rang on the nightstand. He reached over and answered it. His face became serious. “What? When?” He listened quietly then ended the call. He looked straight at me. “Victor is cutting his trip short. He will be back tomorrow morning.”Julian’s smile never reached his eyes and I knew right then that this conversation was about to go very wrong.I stood in the safehouse living room with the gun still in my hand. Julian sat on the couch like he owned the place. Rain beat against the windows outside. Maya slept in the next room. I had told the guards to stay back. This was between me and him. No one else.“You really think I would leave Damien?” I said keeping my voice flat. “After everything he has done for us? For our daughter? You must be out of your mind.”Julian leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. “Think about it Ava. Damien is dangerous. The raids. The violence. He is turning into his father. Maya deserves stability. The De Witt family can give her that. Schools in Europe. Protection that lasts. A future without the constant fighting. All you have to do is walk away from him. Simple.”I laughed but there was no humor in it. “Simple for you maybe. You show up
The knock on the safehouse door came at 2:17 a.m. and I knew Julian had found me before I even checked the camera.I grabbed the gun from the nightstand and moved quietly to the monitor. Maya slept in the next room under the watch of two guards. The Paris safehouse was supposed to be off the grid. Thick walls. No windows on the lower floors. Yet here he was. Julian De Witt stood outside in a dark coat rain dripping from his shoulders. He looked straight into the camera like he knew I was watching.I pressed the intercom button. “What do you want Julian? You have no business here.”His voice came back smooth and calm. “Open the door Ava. We need to talk. Alone. Your daughter is safe for now. I give you my word.”I laughed short and bitter. “Your word means nothing. Leave before I call the guards.”He did not move. “If I wanted to take her I would have done it already. This is about choices. Ope
The dock lights cut through the fog like knives and I knew Julian’s men would kill me on sight if they spotted me first.I crouched behind a stack of shipping containers my back against cold metal. The Rotterdam docks smelled of salt and diesel. Rain mixed with the river water under my boots. I had left Ava in the safehouse in Paris with strict orders to stay put. She had fought me on it but I needed her safe with Maya. This job was mine alone. The container Julian wanted sat under a single spotlight fifty yards away. Guards walked slow circles around it. I checked my watch. Three minutes until the next shift change. Time to move.A low voice crackled in my earpiece. “Damien you there? I have eyes on two more guards at the east gate. You sure about this?”I whispered back keeping my head down. “I am sure. Just keep the boat ready. If this goes bad I need a fast exit.”The voice belonged to an old contact from my
The flashlight beam caught the skull wall just as the first gunshot echoed through the narrow tunnel and I knew we had walked straight into Julian’s trap.I grabbed Charlotte’s arm and pulled her behind a pile of bones as Damien fired back. The air smelled of dust and old death. The Paris Catacombs stretched around us like a maze of the dead. We had come here to meet Charlotte in secret thinking the underground tunnels would keep us hidden from Julian’s men. Instead they had followed us down. The mercenary team moved fast their boots scraping on the stone floor.“Stay low,” Damien shouted over the noise. “They want us alive. Do not give them a clear shot.”Charlotte pressed against the wall her voice shaking. “I told you this was a bad idea. I should have stayed in my studio. Who are these people?”I crouched beside her keeping my body between her and the gunfire. “Julian De Witt&rs
Charlotte slammed her paintbrush down on the table and stared at me like I was the problem she never asked for.I stood in the middle of her small studio in Montmartre with rain still dripping from my coat. The place smelled of turpentine and fresh coffee. Canvases leaned against every wall showing city streets and faces full of life. Charlotte wiped her hands on an old rag her dark hair tied back loose. She looked nothing like the polished people from Victor’s world. She looked real. Tired. Like someone who had already decided the Langford name meant trouble.“You really came all this way,” she said crossing her arms. “After everything you told me last night. Sit down before you drip water all over my floor.”I pulled out a wooden chair and sat. The rain tapped against the window making the small room feel even smaller. “I had to. Julian De Witt is moving fast. He showed us the contract. He thinks he can use you
The rain came down in sheets over Montmartre and I knew we were chasing more than just a name.I pulled my coat tighter around me as Damien and I hurried down the narrow cobblestone street. Water soaked through my shoes but I kept moving. Paris at night felt alive and dangerous all at once with the fog rolling in thick and the lights from little cafes cutting through the mist. We had landed only hours ago and already we were on the hunt for Charlotte Vance. The artist who might be Victor’s secret daughter. The half sister we never knew existed.Damien kept close his shoulder brushing mine. “The gallery owner said she works late most nights. This should be the place. You ready for this?”I nodded gripping his arm. “Ready as I will ever be. What do we even say to her? Hey your dad was a monster who hid you from the world and now his old business partners want to use you like a chess piece?”He let out a short laug
The cold wind whipped across the private airport hangar and I watched from the shadows as the man who once pretended to be our savior stood broken before Damien with nowhere left to run.I held Maya close against my chest in the armored SUV parked just outside the hangar ligh
The thick legal folder slipped from my hands and scattered across the study floor when I realized I had found the one thing that could finally make Victor pay from beyond the grave.I dropped to my knees right there on the cool marble gathering the papers with shaking fingers. Maya slept p
The security chief’s face went pale when he pulled the small black device from behind the nursery wall and I felt Victor reach out from his grave to touch my daughter one last time.I stood frozen in the doorway of the nursery holding Maya in my arms as the team worked around us. She
The moment the lawyer spoke the words, I felt the ground shift beneath me like the floor of the world had opened up to swallow us all.I stood in the sterile conference room of the private hospital wing, my hand resting on my rounded belly, six months of life kicking steadily inside me as







