Mag-log inHe became crippled because of me,but I ran away from the man I loved…and fell into the arms of his father. One reckless night with a stranger should have ended there, until I learned the stranger was Lucien Sinclair, the self-made billionaire CEO of the Sinclair Empire. My ex-boyfriend’s father. Now I’m trapped in a contract marriage with a devil, who forces me to watch my past and present collide under the same roof. And betrayal? It’s my daily dose…especially when my best friend steals my husband right before my eyes. Then the nightmare turns fatal. I’m pregnant… with twins. One child belongs to the father. The other belongs to the son. No matter who I choose…...someone I love will burn.
view moreThe keys dropped into my palm like a warning.
Cold. Heavy. Expensive. “Take care of it,” the man said. I looked up, and immediately knew I had failed my only rule to stay invisible. He stood beside a black Lamborghini, tall, silver hair and well built body. His eyes didn’t wander. They stopped. Fixed. Pierced through me. My chest tightened. My pulse betrayed me. “Yes, sir,” I murmured, already reaching for the door handle. The engine purred when I slid inside. Smooth leather. Quiet power. Money humming in every detail. I gripped the wheel as if it were a lifeline. One wrong move, one scratch, and I’d lose the only job keeping me alive in this city. When I glanced in the mirror, his gaze followed. Not the car. Me. I stepped out, trying to walk casually, my heart hammering like a drum in my ears. He studied me. And then, deliberately, he brushed his fingers against mine. My breath hitched. “What’s your name?” His voice was low, controlled. “And your age?” Poverty has a way of silencing pride. “Ophelia. Twenty-four,” I whispered. A pause. Then a card slid into my palm. “Call me at noon,” he said. Before I could speak, he pressed a kiss to my knuckles and walked away, leaving me standing there, frozen. A horn blared behind me. Reality snapped back. By the end of my shift, the card was still in my pocket yet unwanted. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Back at the apartment, I tossed my bag onto the bed like it was a threat. Tessa’s eyes were already on me. “Spill it,” she said, half-excited, half-suspicious. I threw myself onto the mattress, exhausted. “You’re not going to believe this.” She perched beside me, “Try me.” I recounted everything. Every glance. Every deliberate touch. Every impossible, commanding word. “Girl… Ignore his annoying attitudes, that’s how wealthy people do!” “But what you won't ignore is the dinner invitation” “Ophie girls like us don’t get chances like this” “Rich men walk by everyday, you should be happy one stopped for you and even invited you to dinner” she added. Hunger flashing through her smile like a denied stepdaughter. My face went from “finally someone understands me” to “girl, what??”. I looked at her disappointed and confused at the same time. Just when I tried to express my disappointment, my phone buzzed just once. It read “Don’t be late” from an unknown number My blood ran cold I hadn’t given anyone my number. Could it be him? A soft knock echoed through the room. Once Twice Then the third time, deliberately. The knock came again. Soft. Careful. Like whoever was knocking already knew, I was afraid.Tessa got up from the bed quietly, her bare feet barely making a sound against the floor. She stood behind me, close enough that I could feel her warmth against my back. “Ophie,” she whispered, “who knocks like that?” I swallowed hard and reached for the door handle anyway. “Who is it?” I asked. “Delivery,” a young male voice answered from the other side. Calm. Neutral. Unthreatening. I heaved a sigh of relief. Delivery? At this hour? I cracked the door open a little, just enough to see him. A young man stood there, neatly dressed in black and a fitted jacket, holding a long garment bag in one hand and a small envelope in the other. He smiled politely, the kind of smile people practice for customer service. “Ophelia Logan?” he asked. “Yes,” I replied slowly. “This is for you. It has already been paid for.” Before I could ask who sent it, he handed everything over, nodded once, and turned away, disappearing down the hallway like he had never existed at all. I shut the door and leaned against it. My heart was racing. Tessa wasted no time. “Open it.” “I don’t think I should,” I said, staring at the envelope like it might be a letter bomb. “You’re already shaking, might as well know why.” She wasn’t wrong. I gently opened the envelope first. Inside was a thick card that read “wear this tonight,Ophelia”. Just one letter. No name. No explanation. No apology. He definitely believed I didn't need one. How rude and controlling. Tessa snatched the garment bag from me and zipped it open. Our mouths opened in awe. It’s a red silky dress. The kind of red that screamed control. The fabric looked expensive, heavy, the type that fell against the body instead of clinging to it. I lifted it carefully, almost afraid to wrinkle it. “Oh my God,” Tessa breathed. “Girl, that man is not playing,he knows his onion.” I shook my head slowly. “This is insane.” “No,” she corrected. “This is an opportunity, one that life offers only once. Relax, is not that deep” I laughed, sharp and humorless. “You call this opportunity? He doesn’t even ask. He commands, can’t you see?.” Tessa crossed her arms, studying me. “And yet… he sent a dress that fits your taste and completely elevates you without knowing you. That’s power.” “Can’t you see?”, she mimicked back. I looked down at the dress again, then at Tessa who was almost worshipping the dress at this point. I hate to admit she might be right. This kind of power terrified me, but poverty terrified me, even more. By 8:40 pm, I was standing in front of the cracked mirror in our room, dressed in the red gown. It fit perfectly, hugging my curves in a way that made me feel exposed and powerful all at once. I didn’t recognize the woman staring back. She looked expensive and bossy. I knew I wasn’t. She looked like she belonged somewhere far away from this room. “You look so unreal,” Tessa said softly. “I feel like I’m lying,” I replied. She stepped closer. “You’re surviving baby. Don’t hesitate to text me when you get there and you feel uncomfortable”. The hotel lounge glowed against the night sky, high above the city like a secret only the wealthy were allowed to know. Soft music played in the background. Glass walls revealed New York stretched beneath us, glittering and endless. I spotted him immediately. It can only be him.The cemetery was quiet in the late afternoon light. Late autumn leaves drifted across the grass in slow spirals, gold and crimson against the gray stones. Ophelia walked the familiar path alone, coat wrapped tight against the chill, a small bouquet of white roses in her hand.She hadn’t come here since the funeral. Not out of fear. Out of necessity. She had needed time. To breathe. To heal. To become someone who could stand here without breaking.Lucien’s grave was simple, black marble, his name etched clean, no epitaph. Just dates. A life reduced to numbers. She knelt. Placed the roses at the base. For a long moment she didn’t speak. Just looked. At the man who had caged her. At the man who had tried to break her. At the man who had died smiling, believing he’d won. Ophelia exhaled. Long. Slow. Then, softly, she spoke.“I forgive you,” she said. The words felt strange on her tongue. Not for him. He didn’t need it. He was gone. She said it for herself. For the girl who had once believ
The same stretch of sand. The same arch of white roses and sea grass, now weathered slightly by wind and time, but still standing. The same waves rolling in, slow, steady, eternal. But everything else was different. No secrecy this time. No fear. No empty chairs. The family was here, all of them.Elara had arrived first that morning, barefoot and carrying a small wooden box of seashells she’d collected along the shore. She arranged them in a heart shape around the arch, then sat cross-legged in the sand, sketching the scene before anyone else showed up, capturing the light, the salt air, the quiet anticipation.Lucy came next, carrying a simple white shawl she’d knitted herself, soft cream wool, delicate lace edges. She draped it over Ophelia’s shoulders later, whispering, “For when the wind turns cool, mothers need warmth too.”Marcus and Sloane walked down the beach hand in hand, Sloane in a flowing ivory linen dress she’d designed herself, simple, elegant, with tiny embroidered wav
The next morning after Tessa’s surrender, the house woke slowly, like it was catching its breath for the first time in decades. Sunlight poured through every open window, turning dust motes into tiny gold flecks that danced across hardwood floors. The air smelled of fresh coffee, warm bread, and the faint salt of the Hudson still clinging to everyone’s clothes from the night before. No one had slept much. No one had needed to.Ophelia stood at the kitchen island, sleeves rolled up, hair in a loose knot, stirring a pot of oatmeal she hadn’t planned to make. It was instinct, something grounding, something normal, something that said we are still here.Chase leaned against the counter beside her, arms crossed, watching her with that quiet, steady gaze that had anchored her through every storm. He hadn’t shaved. His shirt was wrinkled from holding her half the night. But his eyes were clear, bright, proud.The rest of the family filtered in one by one.Elara first, barefoot, oversized hoo
Tessa stood in the center of the empty space, black coat open, arms crossed, face half-shadowed. Sloane sat tied to a metal chair ten feet away, gagged, wrists bound, eyes wide with fear but not panic. She saw Ophelia. Her shoulders sagged in relief, then tensed again.Tessa didn’t move, just watched Ophelia approach.“You came,” Tessa said, voice flat, almost disappointed.Ophelia stopped five feet away. Looked at Sloane first, then at Tessa. “I came.”Tessa laughed, short, hollow. “You always were predictable, always the martyr, always thinking love would save you.”Ophelia didn’t flinch. “Did you hurt her?”Tessa glanced at Sloane, a flicker of something, guilt, regret? “No,” she said, “she’s fine, I didn’t need to hurt her, I just needed you here, alone.”Ophelia nodded once. “Then let her go.”Tessa’s smile was thin, cold. “Not until you sign.”She pulled a folder from her coat, tossed it at Ophelia’s feet. “Full transfer, empire, accounts, everything, sign, and Sloane walks out,
I knew it before I saw it.That sense, the one that crawls up your spine when you’re being watched. Not imagined. Not paranoia. Real. Heavy. Intentional.The Sinclair mansion had mirrors everywhere. Polished walls. Reflective surfaces. Glass that gleamed too perfectly. I used to think it was for lu
I stood at the top of the staircase that morning, one hand resting on the banister, the other pressed lightly to my stomach. The house was already alive below me. Voices. Footsteps. The soft clink of porcelain.I used to walk down and the room would be still.Not out of respect.Out of awareness.B
I felt it the moment I woke up.The silence wasn’t peaceful. It was thick, pressing against her ears, her chest, her thoughts. The curtains were already drawn open by unseen hands, sunlight spilling in like it had permission to exist here when she didn’t.I lay still, staring at the ceiling, afraid
The sound of the door slamming shut behind Lucien echoed through the office like a gunshot.Not because it was loud.But because it wasn’t.No yelling.No shattered glass.No curses flying through the air.Just silence.And somehow, that was worse.I felt it immediately. The way the temperature in












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