I fumbled with the lock, my pulse hammering. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t want this. "Alaric," I breathed, but his name barely made it past my lips before his hands were on me—hot, demanding, unstoppable. "Tell me to stop," he murmured against my throat, his fingers sliding beneath my dress. "Tell me you don’t want this." I opened my mouth—to argue, to push him away—but all that came out was a soft, shuddering gasp as he found the one place that betrayed me. His dark chuckle sent a shiver down my spine. "That’s what I thought." __ Betrayed and humiliated at the altar. Isla never planned to ruin herself in the arms of another man. But heartbreak led her straight into the grasp of Alaric Voss—powerful, ruthless, and twice her age. One night. No names. No future. Or so she thought. Because when the sun rose, Isla came face-to-face with her new boss—the same man who had just claimed her in every sinful way possible. Now, resisting him is impossible. He’s everywhere—watching, teasing, owning her with every smirk, every touch. She swore it was a mistake. He swears it’s just the beginning. And the more she fights him, the more she realizes the truth: She was his from the moment he laid eyes on her. And Alaric Voss doesn’t let what’s his slip away.
View MoreIsla pov It wasn’t Alaric, but James, Alaric’s brother, who stood before me, his cold, chilling expression fixed on me. His gaze sent shivers racing down my spine, my heart pounding harder against my chest, especially at our close proximity as he towered over me with one hand tucked casually into his pocket. For a brief moment, as I stared up at him, I couldn’t stop the thought that crossed my mind, how James looked a little like Alaric. If you saw them standing side by side for the first time, you’d immediately know they were brothers, but you’d also know they were nothing alike. James was nothing like Alaric. He didn’t smile like him. His presence was colder, and while Alaric was taller and more muscular, James had that tall, slender build. But he wasn’t my Alaric. Maybe it was because this was the first time meeting him face-to-face after finding out what he had done to Alaric, but rage surged through me. My hands curled into fists as I stared at him, my gaze narrowing into a
Isla pov Yesterday went by slower than I would have liked but maybe it was because I couldn't do anything all day aside from pace around and try to wrap my head around what was going on, most especially at the fact that I had told Alaric about the stalker. Every time I tried to distract myself, calling Suhyeon or Esther, curling up on the sofa, watching a movie, doing something, anything to make me forget that look in his eyes when I told him. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t escape it. My thoughts were clouded with him. Alaric had always been a man who smiled at me, who made me feel as though I mattered. I was used to rumors saying he was ruthless, used to others being afraid of him and avoiding him because he was scary and unpredictable but to me, he was different. He was the one person who had always been there for me so I couldn’t really believe those rumors or others’ views about him. In fact, I thought he was kind in his own way. But yesterday, for the first time,
Alaric pov I rested my head on my hand, lost in thought, my eyes half-closed as I listened to Liam’s fingers tapping steadily on the keyboard. The room was quiet and as seconds ticked by, it felt as though hours had slipped past. Time moved so fast that I could barely process or comprehend it. My brows furrowed and a frown tugged at the corners of my lips as Liam’s typing grew louder, every other sound fading into the background. The air around me seemed to thicken, and the clicking of his fingers grew sharper and more insistent. Just when it became nearly unbearable to the point I found it hard to breath, the clicking abruptly stopped. And then I heard Liam’s voice. “I apologize if I’m speaking out of line, boss but don’t you think you might have scared Mr. Adam away?” he asked, his voice cutting through the air and making everything immediately still. My breathing returned to normal. I slowly opened my eyes, cold, almost empty and flicked my gaze toward Liam. He was staring
James pov My eyes stayed glued to the phone in my hand as I rested my head against my palm, staring at the ‘read’ sign beneath the message. The more I stared at it, the deeper my frown became. The air around me seemed to grow heavier and the only sound that overshadowed everything else was the ticking of the clock. As each second passed slowly, the whole world blurred around me. She hadn’t responded again. She had read the message and still hadn’t replied. The last time, I’d told my secretary to send her a message about the video from the parking lot and she hadn’t responded either. So I’d gone to find her myself, but before I could speak to her, that incident with her friend had happened and I’d ended up in the hospital. Even then, I couldn’t say anything because that bastard Alaric had interrupted. And now… I tilted my head slightly, holding the phone closer to me as my foot casually tapped against the ground. I had sent her the video and asked her to meet up so we could talk,
Alaric pov After dropping Isla back at the hotel, I drove home in silence, my expression cold and unreadable, eyes fixed on the road as I passed car after car, lost in thought. It wasn’t long before I pulled into my driveway. As I shut off the engine, I spotted Liam and Adam standing in front of the house, Liam lowering his head in a bow the moment he saw me with a bag in his hand, while Adam, for the first time wore a serious expression. I pulled the key from the ignition and stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind me. As I walked toward the entrance of my home, I ran a hand through my hair. Passing by them, I didn’t stop to say anything or acknowledge their presence. Almost immediately, Liam looked like he was about to speak, but Adam beat him to it, his voice low and gruff. “Alaric, what’s going on? Liam told me you’ve been feeling that way again. What changed? I thought—” he paused briefly, his tone dropping even lower, “I thought you didn’t get those urges anymore. W
Alaric pov I had thought that after meeting her, everything would change. That I would no longer feel that overwhelming urge to take a life because back then, that was all I ever felt. The constant, gnawing desire to end the lives of everyone who had made my existence a living hell for all those years. I had truly believed the voices would finally stop. That those sickening whispers in my head telling me to do it, to end them would finally fade. Those voices had told me the only way to make the suffering stop was to end the lives of that so-called family. It was either I live... or they die. And if that didn’t happen, then I would have to die for it to finally end. That night at the club, when James and his little dogs surrounded me and beat me up for landing the contact that made the Voss family what it is today was when everything changed. Sure, I admitted I had been weak before that day. That was why every one of them had felt they could do whatever they wanted to m
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