Thea stood in front of the mirror that morning, adjusting the strap of her blouse for what felt like the tenth time. Sunlight filtered in through the tall windows, softening the sharp edge of her nerves. Her bag sat neatly on her desk, her notebooks stacked beside it. She had laid everything out the night before, in a bid to prepare herself.School. Zean School of Business.Weeks ago, walking into that campus felt like a kind of battlefield. The rumours of her cheating and her family disowning her floated around the campus. Even people who barely knew her name still managed to make her feel small. But today, everything was different.She didn't need to be told, she could feel it from a hundred miles away. Her phone was still buzzing with notifications. Articles, gossip blogs, comment sections, all screaming the same headline:SETH BLACKWOOD’S SECRET WIFE: THEA BALMERO.Thea pressed her lips together, forcing herself not to scroll again. She’d already lost hours to reading them, and e
The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, and Seth stepped out, his polished shoes striking against the marble floor of the Blackwood Enterprises headquarters. The weight of his presence filled the hallway long before his voice did, the kind of aura that made assistants pause, secretaries hold their breath, and interns press themselves closer to the walls. He had been absent for days since the gala. Rumors had already begun to churn through the veins of the building, carried on whispers and nervous glances. Some said the reclusive CEO had vanished in anger after the night’s revelations. Others said he had gone to settle matters in private, in the shadows where men like him truly thrived. Now, as he strode toward his office, sharp in a three-piece black suit, the truth was simple: he was back, and every inch of him radiated silent command. Dante stood the moment he saw him. He had been with him long enough to read his moods, but even he couldn’t decipher the storm brewing be
Thea woke the next morning with sunlight pressing against her eyelids. She rolled onto her side, burying her face in the pillow, wishing she could sink into its softness and disappear.It's been a few days since the gala and she's been hiding in her room since she read about Seth, finding out the man that he was. She turned on her bed, rolling from one side to another, pulling in her pillow. But reality pressed in from every direction. The gala. The revelation. The limo. Seth’s words.She sat up abruptly, the sheets sliding down her shoulders. Her heart began to race as if the memory itself had claws, dragging across her skin.Seth Blackwood. Her husband.The man who owned Mayqueen, the man whispered about like a myth, had been in her bed all along.Thea swung her legs over the side of the bed, her bare feet pressing against the rug, grounding her for a moment. She needed to breathe. She needed to think. She needed…...to not see him.She decided right then she wasn’t going downstair
The girls giggled, sipping her macha and talking about all the random things that happened during the day. The Star lounge café was bathed in afternoon sunlight, each crystal chandelier scattering light across polished tables. The café was one of those places that screamed exclusivity; only members of Zean’s upper class came here. “I can't believe Carson thinks your family and his are in the same social class.” Yolanda mocked. Camilia, eager to please Yolanda, gives a nervous laugh. “It's unbelievable I tell you!” She chimed in.“You can't have yourself play in the mud with someone like him. He is way out of your league and dating someone like him would be nothing short of embarrassing to say the least.” Camilla laughed again, nervously, "I know right?” She said, flipping her phone screen face down on the center table.The last thing she wanted was for Yolanda to see who and what her screensaver was. Her eyes flickered over to Yumi who glanced from her to Yolanda in silence befor
The crystal goblet shattered against the marble wall, scattering fragments. Runes stood at the center of his father’s study, chest heaving, face red with fury. His eyes were bloodshot, his jaw clenched so tightly it seemed his teeth might crack under the strain.“How dare she?” he roared, slamming his fist onto the desk so hard that the lamp rattled. “How dare that witch stand there married to Seth Blackwood when she should have been mine?”He began pacing like a caged predator, pulling at his tie until it dangled uselessly around his neck. The veins in his temple pulsed with each step.“All of Zean was there! Everyone heard it! They were laughing! Laughing at me! At us!” His voice broke into a hoarse snarl. “That slut! That bloody slut! A Blackwood? How?!” “Runes.” Jay’s voice cut through the storm. He sat on the sofa, his eyes fixed on his troubled son. “You are making a fool of yourself.”“A fool?” Runes whirled on him, pointing at the floor as though the invisible crowd still st
Posy’s scream echoed through the grand hallway of the Runes estate, sharp enough to make the house staff flinch from wherever they were stationed. A vase crashed against the wall, shattering into a hundred glittering shards that scattered across the floor.Her room was already a wreck; perfume bottles overturned, a mirror cracked down the middle from where she had thrown a shoe at it, clothing ripped off hangers and tossed across the carpet. Her hair was in wild disarray, her face flushed crimson with rage.“How dare she!” Posy shrieked, her voice hoarse from screaming. “How dare she do this to me!”She hurled another object, a crystal lamp this time, across the room. It struck the corner of her vanity and toppled over, exploding into pieces.Her chest heaved with each ragged breath, her nails digging into her palms. She could still hear it in her head, the whispers, the reports flooding social media, the headlines screaming the same impossible, unbearable truth.Thea Balmero marrie