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Chapter 2
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2026-09-22 18:16:51Dawn broke over the skyline, casting sharp golden rays through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the hotel suite.
Lorei opened her eyes, instantly hit by a blinding, throbbing pain behind her temples. She groaned softly, clutching her forehead as the room spun in dizzying circles. "My head..." she whispered, her voice rasping. She tried to sit up, but the weight of heavy silk sheets pulled around her waist. She looked down and froze. She was completely bare beneath the blankets. Cold terror spiked through her veins, instantly washing away the haze of her hangover. Lorei turned her head slowly toward the other side of the massive king-sized bed. A man lay beside her, his broad back turned toward her. His dark, messy hair brushed the pillow, and a heavy white sheet was draped casually over his waist, exposing broad, muscular shoulders scarred with raw authority. Lorei pressed a trembling hand against her mouth to smother a gasp. ‘What did I do?’ She racked her brain, desperately trying to pull up a single image, a single name, or a voice. Nothing came. Her memory was a pitch-black void filled only with hazy fragments, crying in a leather booth, the taste of cheap tequila, and the overwhelming, terrifying heat of a stranger’s arms. ‘Fisher broke up with me... Maya brought me to Club Velvet... and then what?’ Panic clawed at her throat. She could not remember the man's face. She could not remember how she had gotten into this opulent penthouse suite. The alcohol had completely erased every detail of the night. "Get up," she whispered frantically to herself, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. "Lorei, get up right now!" She threw back the sheets, scrambled onto the cold carpet, and grabbed her clothes scattered across the marble floor. Her hands shook violently as she pulled her dress over her head and zipped it up. She shoved her feet into her heels, snagged her clutch from the nightstand, and backed toward the heavy wooden door. She cast one last, terrified glance at the bed. The broad silhouette shifted slightly in his sleep. Lorei turned the handle, slipped out into the silent hallway, and ran toward the elevators without looking back. ***** Twenty minutes later, Lorei burst into her apartment, slamming the door locked behind her. She collapsed against the heavy wood, sliding down to the floor as tears finally spilled over her lashes. Her phone buzzed loudly in her bag. She pulled it out with numb fingers and answered. "Lorei? Where on earth are you?" Maya’s voice burst through the speaker, thick with relief. "I searched the entire club for you last night! I called you ten times!" "I am home," Lorei choked out, her voice trembling. "Are you crying? What happened?" Maya demanded. "Did you go home with someone?" "I woke up in a penthouse suite at the Grand Imperial," Lorei sobbed, pulling her knees tight against her chest. "Maya, I do not remember anything. I do not remember his face, his name, or how I ended up in his bed." Silence stretched across the line for two sharp seconds before Maya gasped. "You blacked out?" "Completely," Lorei whispered. "I woke up at dawn beside a stranger, panicked, and ran out like a criminal. I feel sick, Maya. I feel completely disgusted with myself." "Listen to me right now, Lorei," Maya said, her tone suddenly firm and fierce. "You were completely devastated. Fisher ripped your heart out yesterday and threw it in the gutter. You drank too much and made a stupid, reckless mistake. That is all it was." "It feels worse than a mistake," Lorei murmured, staring blankly at her living room rug. "Did he hurt you?" Maya asked softly. "No," Lorei admitted, her breath trembling. "No, he did not. But I do not even know who he was." "Then let it go," Maya urged. "It was a one-night stand born out of heartbreak. You are never going to see that man again. The city has millions of people. Wipe the slate clean, block Fisher's number, and focus on putting your life back together." Lorei closed her eyes tightly, letting Maya’s words sink in. "A one-time mistake," she repeated, trying to anchor herself to the thought. "You are right. It means nothing. I will bury it and move forward." "That is my girl," Maya said softly. "Take a warm shower, get some sleep, and call me later." Lorei hung up the phone. She took a deep, shaky breath, convincing herself that the nightmare was officially behind her. She was dead wrong. ***** Three days passed in a quiet, heavy blur. Lorei threw herself into organizing her father’s business files, using work as a shield to keep her mind from drifting back to Fisher, or to the shadowy stranger whose face she could not remember. On Thursday afternoon, as she sat at her dining table reviewing financial statements, her phone rang. The screen displayed her mother’s name. Lorei picked it up instantly. "Mom? How are you…" A sharp, hysterical scream cut through the receiver, shattering the quiet room. "Lorei! Oh God, Lorei!" her mother wailed, her voice fractured by pure agony. Lorei stood up so fast her chair scraped violently against the floor. "Mom? What is wrong? What happened?" "It is your father!" Mrs. Lorei sobbed hysterically. "The police... they just called... his car went over the barrier on the mountain highway!" Lorei’s world stopped spinning. The blood drained completely from her face. "What? No... no, that is impossible! Dad is at his office!" "He is at Saint Jude’s Hospital!" her mother screamed. "Come right now, Lorei! Please, hurry!" The call disconnected. Lorei dropped her phone, grabbed her coat, and sprinted out the door.
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Lorei stood paralyzed in the center of her new bedroom, her knuckles turning bone-white as she clutched the edges of the glossy photographs.The high-resolution images were damning beyond words. They showed her fast asleep in a lavish hotel suite, tangled in dark silk sheets with her bare shoulder exposed. Beside her in the bed was Elias Walker, his dark eyes staring directly into the camera lens with a predatory, victorious smirk.The heavy oak bedroom door swung open without a knock.Elias walked into the room with quiet, menacing authority. He wore a crisp dark silk shirt with the top two buttons undone, revealing the sharp line of his collarbone. He reached behind him, turned the silver lock, and let the heavy metallic click echo through the quiet room like a trap closing shut."Get out of my room," Lorei demanded. Her voice trembled violently, but she forced her chin up, refusing to show the sheer terror clawing at her throat.
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Four months vanished in a relentless haze of grief, empty police reports, and mounting financial ruin.Without the crushed vehicle or her father’s missing briefcase, Lorei could not prove his death was a murder. Her father’s logistics company collapsed overnight, leaving her mother shattered and drowning in sudden, unpayable debt.Then came Richard Walker.A powerful corporate tycoon, Richard stepped into their crumbling lives, cleared the debts, and offered her mother protection in the form of a diamond ring."You do not have to worry about rent, medical bills, or safety ever again, Lorei," her mother said, nervously adjusting her pearl necklace in the back of the black town car. "Mr. Walker is a good man. He loved your father, and he wants to protect us."Lorei stared out the tinted window as the massive iron gates of the Walker estate opened. "You married a man you barely know four months after Dad died, Mom.""I had no choice!"
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The smell of disinfectant hit Lorei the moment she pushed through the sliding glass doors of Saint Jude’s Emergency Ward.She spotted her mother sitting on a plastic chair in the hallway, weeping uncontrollably into her hands."Mom!" Lorei rushed forward, dropping to her knees in front of her mother and grabbing her cold hands. "Mom, where is he? Where is Dad?"Before Mrs. Lorei could answer, a doctor stepped out from behind the blue privacy curtains, his surgical mask hanging loosely around his neck. His face was grim."Mrs. Lorei? Ms. Lorei?" the doctor asked softly.Lorei stood up instantly. "How is my father? Can we see him?""I am deeply sorry," the doctor said, bowing his head. "Mr. Lorei sustained severe blunt-force trauma to his head and chest when his vehicle crashed. We performed emergency surgery, but his heart gave out ten minutes ago. He passed away.""No!" Mrs. Lorei shrieked, collapsing against the wall."No, no,
Stolen Bride: Dark Tycoon's Obsession Chapter 2
Dawn broke over the skyline, casting sharp golden rays through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the hotel suite.Lorei opened her eyes, instantly hit by a blinding, throbbing pain behind her temples. She groaned softly, clutching her forehead as the room spun in dizzying circles."My head..." she whispered, her voice rasping.She tried to sit up, but the weight of heavy silk sheets pulled around her waist. She looked down and froze. She was completely bare beneath the blankets.Cold terror spiked through her veins, instantly washing away the haze of her hangover. Lorei turned her head slowly toward the other side of the massive king-sized bed.A man lay beside her, his broad back turned toward her. His dark, messy hair brushed the pillow, and a heavy white sheet was draped casually over his waist, exposing broad, muscular shoulders scarred with raw authority.Lorei pressed a trembling hand against her mouth to smother a gasp.‘What
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"It is over, Lorei."Fisher did not look her in the eye when he said it. He stood near the doorway of her apartment, his posture rigid and his dark coat damp from the rain outside."Over?" Lorei repeated. The word felt completely hollow, stripped of meaning. "Just like that? After three years?""I cannot do this anymore," he said softly, keeping his face turned toward the corridor. "Do not search for me. Do not call me.""Give me a real reason, Fisher! You owe me at least that much!" Lorei stepped forward, her voice cracking as panic clawed at her chest. "Yesterday you told me you loved me. Today you walk in here and erase everything?""I owe you nothing," Fisher snapped. His voice trembled for a fraction of a second before he slammed his emotions behind a wall of ice. "We are finished. Accept it and move on.""Fisher, please…"He pulled open the heavy wooden door, stepped out into the dimly lit hallway, and closed it firmly behi
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