LOGINThe night I ran, I left everything behind. My dead fiancé's ghost. His brother's cold hands reaching for me. A father who won't meet my eyes because he's already sold me to the highest bidder. I thought I was escaping. Then a stranger pulled me from the darkness, and I learned what real danger looks like. Damon moves like he owns the world. Talks like every word matters. Looks at me like I'm the only woman who ever made him feel something. He says he's the son the Kings family erased, the bastard they tried to bury. He says Evan loved me and that's why I should trust him. He wants me to sign a contract. One year as his wife. One year to help him destroy the family that destroyed us both. One year pretending to belong to a man who makes my heart race and my skin burn every time. He touches me like I'm fragile. Looks away when I ask about Evan. Holds the truth behind his teeth like it might cut us both. And the whole time, I'm falling. Falling into his warmth. His danger. His impossible kindness that feels too real to be fake. But if I've learned anything from the Kings: the men who save you are always the ones who need you most. And the ones who need you? They're the ones who hurt you in the end. Evan knew something. About my father. Something about the deal that would make the Kings the most powerful in the country. Damon knows too. And the only way he'll tell me? Is if I say yes. Say yes to the contract. Say yes to the fire between us. Will the man holding me survive what comes next? And more terrifying: Will I survive loving him?
View MoreGina's POV:
The night seemed endless.
I stepped out of the train as it screeched to a sudden halt. The sound was deafening, disturbing both me and everyone else who might be trying to recognize me at the station.
I readjusted my overcoat and the baseball cap I was wearing. The cloth was quite uncomfortable but perfect for a disguise—the best I could think of.
I buried my head slightly, cramming my golden blonde hair into the baseball cap. I straightened the coat’s collar and summoned the courage to move forward.
“No one would recognize me,” I whispered. For sure.
My phone chimed and I brought it out. I stared at it and frowned; a slight headache flashed through my forehead.
It was Father’s message, and I could guess it was another threatening message telling me to come back home right now.
I refused to be intimidated and left the message unread.
The sky kept getting darker, and a flash of lightning traveled fast over the resting earth. Rumbles of emerging rain echoed across the busy immediate surroundings.
I looked carefully at the surroundings like some code-scanner machine examining a QR code. The onboarding and arriving passengers, workers, people waiting for their arriving relatives or seeing them off.
I clearly had no one to wait for me because I expected no one to. Everyone who could do that all wanted me to be somewhere: home, preparing to be the bride I could never be.
Everyone would blame me for altering the loyalty of my father to the Kings Group, but I don’t care. Why wouldn’t they put themselves in my shoes and see how it goes? I just lost my fiancé, and his father kept forcing me to marry the new heir. Either way, the alliance between him and my father would grow stronger. I can’t get to the root of it, but I’m clearly just a pawn.
Even though I have done many things for my family, I can’t do this. I’ve made my father proud so many times, but not now.
I don’t know anyone here in Sunshine City. I just have to blend into the environment and live my life. Freely.
My father or the Kings’ men could be anywhere, stalking or tracking me.
I walked down the station and passed by the exit with the inscription: Crestford Station.
“Over there.”
A man’s voice shouted from afar, behind me, and a storm of footsteps ran toward me. I was quite frightened.
“Bring the young master.”
I spun around, and a league of hefty men ran toward me. All in black suits. I got on my heels.
“Get her.” Kaint, their leader and the Kings Group chairman’s personal bodyguard, shouted. “The master wants her right now.” The others marched toward me.
I ran into the busy city streets, as fast as my legs could carry me. I needed to hide somewhere urgently. If I kept running, they would get me for sure.
I looked back and saw them, hot on my trail. They would not give up. They might all lose their jobs if they did, or even their lives.
They chased after me like water penetrating a crack in erosion. I would not give up either.
“How did they find me?” I mumbled, still at full speed.
I ducked around a corner and halted. Then I realized: my phone. They had been tracking it all this while.
I removed it from my pocket and threw it to the ground. “Damn,” I mumbled, and pressed it to the ground with my heel.
“Check over there,” Kaint said, his voice shaking— probably from the fear of losing me. A step approached the corner, and I froze.
“Is this the freaking end?” I thought silently, and the steps stopped.
I sighed, but it was quite loud. He noticed and continued coming closer.
I quickly ran, and my steps attracted them all. “It’s that corner,” the man approaching shouted, and they all followed.
Then I stopped.
I reached a dead end. A tall fence with no way of escape. I looked back, panting, removed the baseball cap, straightened my hair, and faced them.
“You’ll regret this,” I shouted, still panting.
They didn’t seem moved by my threats.
Kaint entered, also in a black suit. The slightly deep scar still visible on his forehead.
“Get her to the car gently,” Kaint ordered, pointing to two of the men. He was really panting, with sweat flowing down his neck.
“Please,” I begged. Broken, I felt hopeless.
“I should beg you to cooperate,” Kaint walked toward me. “The chairman is really mad at you, so don’t make any other scene out of this. It might irritate him more.” He whispered into my ear and hissed.
“You.” He called the ones he ordered. “Be fast and let’s get going. The chairman is growing really impatient.”
I frowned as two hefty men came forward. I felt like crying and shouting at the same time. I just wished I could vanish into thin air or be swallowed by the floor.
“Just kill me,” I shouted at Kaint as the two men held my arms. I struggled, and they released me.
“That would just complicate everything.” Kaint went ahead to their car without looking back. He signaled to the men, and they all prepared to leave.
“What’s going on here?”
A voice said from the front, right before Kaint.
“Young man,” Kaint said and patted him. “Just go on your way. This is none of your business.”
I stretched my neck and saw the man. Dressed in a black suit and a white shirt. He had his tie on, holding a suitcase. Probably a hustler on his 9-to-5.
“It looks like you guys are trying to kidnap that lady.” He pushed away Kaint’s hand and readjusted his suit. “I can’t overlook someone being bullied.”
“Whoa!” Kaint sighed. “What now?”
“I’ve been in that situation before, and I can’t let anyone be a victim anymore.” He walked past Kaint and stopped in front of me.
“Are you okay?” His voice was gentle, unfazed by the number of huge men surrounding him.
I grew uneasy. My stomach clenched. This foolish man, with his steady gaze and foolish courage, would die because of me. The thought made my blood run colder than the threats from Kaint.
“Poor him,” I thought and whispered to his ear, “They could kill you. Just go, please.” I pitied him.
“No,” he whistled.
The men froze. On standby.
Kaint signaled to them, and two of them moved toward my rescuer.
They both clenched their fists and stood before him.
One of them, with a broad face and a weird beard, faced him. “Just go now.”
“Unfortunately,” he folded his arms and stared at the haggard man, “I must take her with me.” He pointed at me.
I didn’t even know him.
Why would he wish to die when they would relentlessly bring me back home to my father and the chairman?
I sighed loudly.
Jax’s POV:I didn’t give a fuck about how he would finish his statement–my favor or not. He was already saying bullshit. “My own role to play?”I pressed against the table and stood tall. I felt like saying a word. Like “how dare you send him out to the world while I rot here because of you?” But I felt that might spoil more than it would amend.This was how it all started with Evan too. It was completely nostalgic. He started raising him up little by little. At first I felt it was just a little child luring thing. But as time went by he started showing that he meant business. That Evan was more capable than I could be. That I was not worth investing in like Evan was.Maybe the worst decision he’d made his whole life.He trying to prioritize Evan was the cause of his death. And now, he wasn’t learning from it, he was pushing Damon into the same den. The same fall. The same death. Maybe setting a bait to catch Evan’s murderer, or just stupid. But either way he would be bringing down th
Damon’s POV:The moment I sat, the greatest doubt dropped on my heart. Why the hell was he doing this? And Gina? I couldn’t just wait the end of it all.The chairman coughed as silence overwhelm the room. He stood at the head of the table, hands behind his back, glasses resting on his nose. The room was so quiet I could hear the clock ticking.My heart hammering to the clock ticking sound. Everything sound louder than they should. I steadied myself and face up. At him.His eye caught mine. I tilted on the chair. Shifted my view. I looked back at him, his eyes focused on Jax. Then to the rest of the room.“I have watched this company grow from nothing. I have bled for it. Killed for it. And I will not—“ His voice sounded as serious as ever. With that rage mixed with full command.This voice carried to every corner of the room. Everyone eye gulped out. The fear they had for him."I will not watch it fall to peril," he said. The words landed like stones. "The reorganization might be hars
Gina’s POV:The sound of the engine woke me.Not loud. Just the low growl of a car pulling away, the soft crunch of tires on gravel. I knew it was him. I opened my eyes. Stretched lightly, and I stood.I went to the window. The gate was closing. His taillights disappeared into the morning gray, swallowed by the mist like they'd never been there at all.He was gone. To a battle.I stood there for a moment, watching the empty driveway, feeling the weight of being left behind. He was walking into something I couldn't protect him from. Something I couldn't even see.I felt unease. I couldn't stay here. Not today. I had to do something. I dressed quickly— a black over all coat on a black trousers. Not Kinglike for a wife like me. But I had to prepare myself like I belonged to the boardroom too. I took my keys and drove myself. No chauffeur. No guards. Just me and the road and the questions burning in my chest.The deal. It struck my mind. Now was the time of its best use.I hadn't forgot
Damon’s POV:Gregory didn't wait. Like the sigh was his sign to make an attack."First of all. The timing is wrong," he said, his voice calm, measured, like he'd practiced the words in the mirror. "The company needs stability, not upheaval. Your reorganization is aggressive. Too aggressive. It would spoil more than it would amend."Murmurs spread around the table. Nods. Some of them weren't even looking at me. They'd already decided.“The company has existed on this organization for the past years why disturbing it? Hope all is well?”"The numbers don't lie," I said. Kept my voice steady. Gregory was intentionally trying to make feel bad before saying anything at all. "We've lost seven percent market share in the last year. Efficiency is down. Client retention is falling. The current structure is bleeding money. And we have the recourses we need. We only need to replace them. It shouldn’t be hard or aggressive as you said."A board member interrupted me. Mr. Donald, a fierce stakehol
Gina’s POV:The door clicked shut behind Damon.I stood there. Alone. With him.The chairman didn't move from his spot behind the desk. Didn't offer me a seat. Didn't speak. He just looked at me—his eyes old and cold and patient. Like he had all the time in the world. Like I was a clock he was wait
Gina's POV:I stared blankly, my jaw dropped.“Uhm! I’m the master of the house.” he said lightly, like I needn’t to ask more.“How? And why am I supposed to be here when you are the master of the house.” Overly confused. I can’t even have a correct guess of ten percentage about what’s going on.“Y
Gina's POV:My eyes blurred open slowly, vision still unclear.The first thing I noticed was silence. Real silence.No loud footsteps coming for me. No threatening words from my father. No muffled whispers from relatives and maids. And most of all—no Jax. No cold voice telling me my duty. No presen
Gina's POV:Gina’s POV:I ducked around a corner at the end of the street and paused.I hid behind the wall and peered at the store.I wanted to make sure he was gone before making my final run.He was about leaving the store owner, when I leaned against the wall swiftly. My hand shook a bit—I don’
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