LOGIN"I can help you destroy them both, if you let me." Scarlett's perfect -well, almost perfect- life shatters when she catches her husband with another woman—on the same day she discovers she's finally pregnant after three years of trying. But when his mistress pushes her through a window fifteen stories high, it's her husband's bitter business rival who catches her fall. Dominic Blackwood offers a cold proposition: marry him and gain the resources to destroy the man who betrayed her. It's a business arrangement—revenge wrapped in a wedding ring. No love. No pretense. Just mutual benefit. But as Scarlett navigates her new marriage of convenience with the enigmatic billionaire who saved her life, she discovers that the line between vengeance and desire blurs dangerously with each passing day. When her heart begins to betray her plans for revenge, will Scarlett discover that falling for her devil's bargain is the most dangerous fall of all?
View MoreMaya’s POV
“She is two months pregnant.”
“I can’t believe it,” Mason’s voice carried through the cracked boardroom door, low and reverent, the way he used to speak to me only in our earliest days before the miscarriages, before the silence grew between us like frost on glass.
“Two months?”
My fingers tightened on the door handle until my knuckles bleached white. I’d come to drop off the revised merger documents myself instead of sending my assistant. A small gesture. A wife’s gesture. Now I couldn’t move
Dr. Hargrove answered, calm and clinical as always. “Yes, Mr. Mason. The hCG levels and ultrasound are conclusive. She’s eight weeks pregnant.”
A soft exhale, almost a laugh slipped from Selina.
My Selina. My best friend since college, the one who’d held my hair back while I vomited through fertility drugs, who’d brought lavender candles to the hospital after each D&C, who’d whispered “next time” like a prayer every time my body failed me again.
Silence stretched, thick and intimate
Then the unmistakable sound: lips against skin. Slow. Tender. Celebratory.
My knees nearly buckled.
I slid sideways, pressing my back to the marble wall beside the double doors, hidden by the tall fiddle-leaf fig that Mason insisted on keeping in every executive space because “it looks expensive.” My silk blouse stuck to my spine with sudden sweat.
“How do you feel, love?” Mason asked her, his voice dropping to that velvet register he reserved for boardroom victories and bedroom promises he no longer kept with me.
“Terrified,” Selina admitted, a tremor beneath her usual confidence. “But happy. So happy. We’ve waited so long for this”
Waited….
The word sliced clean through me.
Mason My husband has been having an affair with my bestfriend….
Mason chuckled softly, indulgent, the sound I hadn’t heard directed at me in years. “Every time she lost one, I told myself maybe we weren’t meant to have children together. But you…” His voice lowered further, almost worshipful. “You were always the one”
I clamped my hand over my mouth so hard my teeth bit into my palm.
Almost Eight years.
Eight years of basal body thermometers at 5 a.m., of scheduled sex that felt like clinical appointments, of negative pregnancy tests that landed like verdicts. Eight years of watching his jaw tighten with every doctor’s “I’m sorry.” Eight years of believing, if I just tried harder, sacrificed more, loved deeper…. he would finally look at me the way he once promised he would
And through every loss, Selina had been my rock
She’d sat with me on cold bathroom tiles at 3 a.m., rubbing my back while I sobbed that my body hated me. She’d fielded calls from nosy relatives so I wouldn’t have to explain another failure. She’d told me Mason adored me, that men just didn’t know how to show it when they were hurting too…
Lies.
All of it
I remembered the night I introduced them, my twenty-third birthday, rooftop bar overlooking the harbor. Selina had arrived in a crimson dress that clung like sin, hair tumbling loose, skin glowing under the string lights. Mason’s gaze had snagged on her and stayed. I’d laughed, looped my arm through hers, said, “Isn’t she stunning?” like a fool proud of her beautiful friend.
He’d never denied it
Not once.
Our marriage had never been about romance. Our fathers…. best friends since boarding school, had engineered it when both family empires teetered on collapse. Mason’s shipping conglomerate needed my father’s logistics network and capital. My father needed Mason’s ruthless expansion strategy to survive. Together they became untouchable
I became the bride in white lace who smiled for the cameras and signed the prenup without complaint.
I told myself convenience could grow into love. That if I poured enough of myself into the company, learning the routes, memorizing the ledgers, charming the Chinese investors at 2 a.m. conference calls…..he would see my devotion and choose me anyway.
He never did.
He looked at me with polite tolerance at best, quiet disdain at worst.
And all the while, he looked at her.
Then thr boardroom door opened
I shrank deeper into the shadow of the plant, heart slamming against my ribs.
“I’ll walk you down,” Mason said. “We have to be discreet. No one can know yet.”
“Of course.” Selina’s voice was soft, conspiratorial.
The word landed like a guillotine.
Their footsteps approached, his measured, commanding; hers lighter, confident. They passed within arm’s reach. I smelled her jasmine perfume tangled with his cedar-and-bergamot cologne, the same scent that used to cling to his shirts when he came home after “late meetings.”
They didn’t glance my way….
Why would they? I’d spent years making myself small enough to disappear.
As their voices faded toward the private elevator, I stayed frozen, breath shallow.
My phone vibrated, my assistant, probably wondering why I hadn’t appeared for the branding presentation. I ignored it.
Tears burned tracks down my cheeks, but I didn’t sob. Not here. Not where someone might hear or see me.
I waited until the corridor was silent, then slipped away, tiptoeing like a thief in my own husband’s empire.
The service elevator carried me to the underground garage. No one used it except the maintenance staff. No cameras. No witnesses.
In the dim fluorescent light, I leaned against the cold concrete wall and finally let the sobs come out ugly, wrenching, soundless gasps that shook my whole body.
Almost eight years of loyalty to a marriage not built on love but hope.
Ten years of friendship to Selina.
Both of them thrown away like yesterday’s financials.
I thought of the pale-yellow nursery I’d painted in secret after our second pregnancy, the crib still boxed in storage because I’d been too afraid to assemble it after the third loss.
I thought of every time Selina hugged me and promised, “You’ll have your miracle”
She’d been planning her own, to snatch my husband…
The elevator dinged at the garage level. I stepped out, heels echoing in the empty space.
I needed silence. I needed air. I needed to think.
Because this wasn’t the end of my story.
This was the moment their fairy tale cracked open.
Victoria's penthouse felt like stepping into a different world after the chaos of the warehouse. Soft lighting, fresh flowers, and the kind of quiet that came from actual security instead of just the illusion of it. She was sitting in her favorite chair by the window, looking out at Central Park with a cup of tea in her hands."You look like hell," she said without turning around when I walked in."Good to see you too, Grandmother," I said, settling into the chair across from her. "How are you feeling?""Like a woman who got shot three weeks ago and is tired of everyone asking how she feels." Victoria's eyes moved to the bandage on Jules's forehead, then to the way I was unconsciously protecting my stomach with my hands. "But I'm guessing you've had a worse day than me.""You could say that."Jules dropped into the couch with a grunt. "Your granddaughter almost got trampled to death by a mob of fake reporters sent by your son-in-law's psychotic mother.""I heard." Victoria set down he
The Titan agents formed a protective circle around me, giving me space to breathe for the first time in what felt like hours. I collapsed against Dominic's chest, my whole body shaking with adrenaline and terror."Are you hurt?" he asked, his hands running over my arms and shoulders, checking for injuries."The baby," I whispered. "I think the baby's okay, but Jules—""We've got her," one of the Titan agents said, helping Jules to her feet. Blood was still streaming from the cut on her forehead, but she was conscious and swearing creatively at the reporters who'd caused the chaos.Dominic's attention turned to the crowd of journalists, who were now looking significantly less aggressive faced with a wall of professional security personnel."Harrison," Dominic called out, his voice deadly calm. "I want every single one of these people detained and brought to the warehouse. Now.""Sir—" one of the reporters started to protest."You just participated in a coordinated attack on a pregnant
The Van Alston building lobby felt like a war zone.I stepped out of the elevator with Jules flanking me, both of us trying to look calm despite the chaos erupting around us. Reporters had somehow gotten past building security and were packed into the marble space like vultures fighting over a carcass. The moment they spotted me, the noise level went from loud to deafening."Ms. Blackwood! Is it true you've been receiving psychiatric treatment?""Scarlett! How do you respond to allegations that you're unfit to run Van Alston Industries?""Are you planning to step down from your position?"The questions came from all directions, overlapping and aggressive. Camera flashes went off like strobe lights, making my vision blur. I could feel my heart rate spiking, that familiar panic starting to claw at the edges of my consciousness."Keep walking," Jules murmured beside me, her hand on my elbow. "Don't stop, don't engage."But they weren't interested in letting me walk. The crowd surged forw
The call from Titan Security came at five in the morning, ripping me from the first decent sleep I'd managed in weeks. "Mrs. Blackwood," the voice was crisp, professional. "This is Director Harrison. We need to meet immediately. We've found something." I was dressed and in the war room within thirty minutes, Dominic beside me looking like he'd rather be facing a firing squad than whatever Harrison was about to show us. Jules arrived moments later, carrying enough coffee to fuel a small army and wearing the kind of expression that meant someone was about to have a very bad day. Harrison was already there, surrounded by laptops, financial documents, and what looked like surveillance photos. He was a man who'd probably seen every kind of human cruelty imaginable, but something about his face told me this was bad even by his standards. "What did you find?" I asked, settling into my chair. "A money trail," Harrison said, pulling up a series of financial records on the main screen.
The ICU smelled like disinfectant and broken dreams, but Victoria looked better than she had in weeks. The color was coming back to her cheeks, and when I walked into the room, her eyes actually tracked my movement."Well, look who's finally awake," Jules said, settling into the visitor's chair lik
The silence in the penthouse was a physical thing. It pressed in on my ears, a low hum of electricity and recycled air that was somehow heavier than any noise. I stood at the window, the city lights a blur of cold, distant fire. They weren’t beautiful tonight. They were just… there. A reminder of a
The private dining room at Le Bernardin felt like a different planet from all the corporate bullshit and inheritance drama. Candlelight bounced off crystal glasses, good wine sat breathing in fancy decanters, and for the first time in weeks, I was eating dinner with people who actually gave a damn
Dominic's POVThe Blackwood estate looked exactly the same as it had when I was twelve years old and terrified of disappointing the woman who'd raised me to be ruthless.Funny how some things never change.I sat in my car outside the wrought-iron gates, staring at the mansion that had shaped me int






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