Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé. Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one? Wrong. One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol. Enter him. Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised. But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life. And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made. Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with. And now, he’s not letting me go.
Lihat lebih banyak“We need to talk.”He stood in front of me, voice disturbingly calm—like he was announcing the fridge had broken, not that I had thrown him onto a bed the night before.Talk?My brain instantly began filtering keywords. Talk about what? A debrief? A review? Or was he proposing some sort of… “long-term sexual partnership”?Definitely not a proposal. That only happens in soap operas written by people with chronic romance brain.Was he worried I’d cling to him?After all—it was me who started this.I was the one who dragged him out of the bar.I was the one who opened the hotel door.I was the one who pinned him down without a second thought.“Look,” I said, adopting the most adult, accountable tone I could muster, “last night was a mistake. A reckless, impulsive, but… undeniably enjoyable mistake.”I tried not to look at his shoulders. Not at his chest. Not at the water droplets sliding down his clavicle, tracing the path over sculpted muscle.“I’m not going to ask you to take responsib
As soon as they were gone, Ivanna dragged me out of the club.Damn it. I hated that Katherine had predicted every single thought running through my mind.Yes, I had still been considering salvaging my relationship with Rhys.But now? The truth was right there, unmistakable and raw—they’d been sleeping together behind my back all along. And me? I was just the foolish, unnecessary third wheel in their twisted little story.What I couldn’t wrap my head around was—why had Katherine faked her disappearance four years ago? What exactly had she been hiding? And why come back now?My eyes stung. I tilted my head toward the sky, forcing the tears back.Fine. Katherine’s back. Perfect. Now they could all reunite like a happy little four-piece family™, and I… I was finally free.“Mira… I’m so sorry. I had no idea they’d be there tonight. I didn’t even know Katherine was back.” Ivanna’s eyes were full of regret.I gave a bitter laugh and shook my head. “Neither did I. But I heard it loud and clea
“Is this really necessary?” I stood at the end of the line, shivering, tugging desperately at the hem of my tragically short skirt. I could practically feel it—if I opened my mouth to speak, my underwear would be on full display.“Sweetheart, we paid a fortune to get into this place. Of course we’re going all kill. Do you not get it?” Ivanna declared like a mafia queen, standing tall against the icy wind in her five-inch heels without the slightest trace of fear.“But isn’t this a little too—” I didn’t even get to finish before a brutal gust of wind slapped me across the face like it had a personal vendetta. I immediately yanked up the zipper of my puffer jacket and curled into myself like a frozen shrimp.Ivanna let out a dramatic groan. “Mira, come on. We’re going to a bar, not an Arctic expedition.”“I’m just glad I won’t be hospitalized for hypothermia tonight, thanks,” I snapped back.She rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might fall out of her head, gave me a once-over full
For the next forty-eight hours, I became one with my bed.No calls. No outside world. Just me, a pile of blankets, and the crushing weight of humiliation.That slap from Rhys wasn’t just a blow to the face. In so many ways, it was a slap across my entire life—one steeped in desperation, delusion, and pathetic longing. It forced me awake. It forced me to look back on everything I’d ever done to make him notice me, everything I did for a fantasy called “us” that had never truly existed.God, where do I even begin?Like the time he casually mentioned he liked girls with smooth, silky hair. That night, I ordered three bottles of the shampoo he’d once praised. My scalp broke out in hives. I smiled through the pain and said, “It’s fine—some allergic reactions are worth it.”Or when he told me he was too busy with work to grab dinner, so I stayed up learning how to bake and brought him a box of pastries in the rain. He didn’t even open the door—just had the receptionist tell me, “Don’t bothe
Cracks!My fiancé hit me.Three minutes ago, I had been daydreaming about how to decorate our ridiculously expensive penthouse apartment, where every corner looked like it belonged on the cover of a magazine.Two minutes ago, I accidentally broke a mug.Then, Rhys slapped me across the face—hard.My cheek burned like it had been seared by fire. It took a full thirty seconds before my brain restarted, slowly piecing reality back together.“Are you fucking insane?” I gritted my teeth, forcing the words through the cracks of my jaw.Rhys’s lips were pressed into a cold, tight line, his expression dark and resolute. “It was just a mug with Katherine’s face on it,” he said, like my reaction was an overblown performance, not the result of something horrifying he had just done.“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” I stared at him in disbelief, chest heaving as rage and humiliation churned violently inside me, ready to explode.For half a second—just half—something like guilt flickered ac
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