Masuk
WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-11-29
18
Share:
Lapor
Sinopsis
Contemporary
Survival Game
Steamy
Possessive
Intelligent
Contract Marriage
Hate to Love
Love after Marriage
Their marriage was a transaction. Their war was personal. Their passion was unforeseen. Elara Vega is an artist whose life is painted in bold, rebellious colors. When a devastating betrayal by her own family threatens to destroy everything her father built, she is given a brutal choice: sell her freedom to save his legacy. Kaelan Sterling is a billionaire fortress of ice and ambition. To secure a crucial merger and shield his empire from a lurking threat, he needs one thing: the perfect, untouchable wife. He doesn't want love; he wants a business partner. Bound by a cold, clinical contract, they are enemies from the start. He sees her as a chaotic liability. She sees him as a heartless tycoon. Their forced proximity is a battle of wills, filled with sharp words and even sharper attraction. But in the gilded cages of penthouses and high-society galas, a dangerous fire ignites. As a common enemy closes in, their fake relationship begins to feel terrifyingly real. The lines between strategy and surrender blur. But when hidden truths surface and old wounds are ripped open, their fragile trust shatters. Now, Elara must decide if the man behind the fortune is worth the ultimate risk, and Kaelan must learn that some bonds are too powerful to be broken-even by a billion-dollar contract.
Lihat lebih banyakBab 1
Chapter 1 : The Gilded Cage
Kaelan
The only sound in the penthouse was the quiet tick of the Breguet clock on the wall and the soft whisper of central air. Kaelan Sterling stood before a wall of glass, looking down at a New York City that was, for all intents and purposes, his. The sprawling, glittering grid of lights was a circuit board of power and commerce, and he held the master switch.
At thirty-five, he had the weary posture of a king who had won his throne too young. His dark hair was impeccably styled, not a strand out of place, and the custom-fit charcoal suit was his daily armor. He swirled the amber liquid in his crystal tumbler, the ice cubes clinking a solitary melody.
“The Thorne Group is making another move,” his grandmother, Eleanor, said from the leather wingback chair behind him. Her voice, like the rustle of old money, cut through the silence. “They’re courting our Asian partners. A show of instability now would be… costly.”
Kaelan didn’t turn. “There is no instability.”
“Perception is reality, Kaelan. A lone wolf CEO is a risk. A stable, married man is a fortress. It signals legacy. Permanence.” She paused, letting the word hang in the rarefied air. “The Vega situation has presented an unexpected opportunity.”
Finally, he turned. His ice-blue eyes were neutral, assessing. “Alistair Vega’s company is a sinking ship. He’s desperate.”
“Precisely,” Eleanor said, a faint, cold smile touching her lips. “Desperate men make advantageous partners. He has a daughter. Elara. An artist. Unrefined, but presentable. The connection would be beneficial. It quiets the whispers about the… other matter.”
Kaelan’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. The “other matter” was the betrayal by his former mentor, a wound that had never fully healed and one his grandmother knew how to press. He saw the logic, cold and flawless as a diamond. A marriage of convenience. A business transaction disguised as a union. It was the most efficient solution.
“Draw up the preliminary terms,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion. “I’ll meet her. Assess her suitability.”
It was just another merger. Another acquisition. The only difference was the asset in question would wear a wedding ring.
---
Elara
The air in Elara Vega’s Brooklyn studio was thick with the smells of turpentine, oil paint, and ambition. Music from a local indie band spilled from a speaker, competing with the distant wail of a siren. Canvases leaned against every wall, a riot of color and emotion—bold slashes of crimson, deep pools of cobalt, textures built from layers of paper and paint.
Elara, dressed in faded jeans and a paint-smeared smock, stepped back from her latest piece. It was a stormy seascape, but the waves looked more like grasping hands. She wiped her brow with the back of her wrist, leaving a faint smudge of cerulean blue on her skin.
The studio door creaked open, and the scent of expensive cologne invaded the space like a toxin. Her uncle, Alistair, stood there, his designer suit looking profoundly out of place.
“We need to talk, Elara,” he said, his voice smooth as silk, but with a sharp edge underneath.
“If this is about another ‘networking event’ with your boring associates, the answer is no,” she said, not turning from her canvas. “I have a gallery showing next month that actually matters.”
“This is about your father,” Alistair said, and the change in his tone made her finally look at him. His face was a mask of grave concern. “The company… it’s worse than we thought. The embezzlement by his former partner ran deeper than anyone suspected. If we don’t secure a significant capital infusion by the end of the quarter, Vega Designs will collapse. Completely.”
The paintbrush slipped from Elara’s fingers, clattering to the floor. “What? No. There has to be another way. A loan? Investors?”
“There are no investors willing to touch this,” Alistair said, stepping further into the room, his eyes scanning her chaotic workspace with thinly veiled disgust. “But there is a solution. One that saves your father’s life’s work, his reputation, and ensures his medical bills are paid.”
A cold dread began to coil in Elara’s stomach. “What solution?”
“The Sterling Group,” he said, as if presenting a gift. “Kaelan Sterling is seeking a… strategic partnership. A marriage. It would be a business arrangement, for a fixed term. In return, he clears all the company’s debts and provides a substantial settlement.”
Elara stared at him, her world tilting on its axis. The vibrant colors in her studio seemed to bleach out. “You can’t be serious. You’re selling me? To Kaelan Sterling? The human ice cube?”
“I am saving this family!” Alistair snapped, the mask slipping to reveal the desperation beneath. “This is not a request, Elara. This is the only option. You will meet him tomorrow. You will be civil. You will do this, or you will watch everything your father built turn to dust, and him along with it.”
He turned and left, closing the door with a soft, final click.
The silence in the studio was suddenly oppressive. Elara looked at her painting, at the chaotic, grasping waves. She felt like she was drowning in them. Her freedom, her art, her future—all of it was being traded to settle a debt she hadn't created. She was a brushstroke in someone else’s painting, a splash of color to be contained within someone else’s lines.
She picked up a tube of crimson paint, squeezing it hard in her fist. The gilded cage, thousands of miles away, had just opened its door, and she was being forced to walk inside.
Bab terbaru
WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 6: The Stylist's Gambit
ElaraThe promised stylist arrived precisely at 4 p.m. on Friday. Her name was Colette, a woman who moved with the sharp, efficient grace of a bird of prey, her all-black outfit costing more than Elara’s entire monthly rent back in Brooklyn. She was followed by two assistants rolling a rack of garments shrouded in protective black cloth.“Ms. Vega,” Colette said, her eyes performing the same rapid, dispassionate assessment Kaelan had. “We have a great deal of work to do and very little time. Let’s begin.”For the next hour, Elara was poked, prodded, and measured in the center of her sitting room. Colette made quiet, clinical notes on a tablet. “The bone structure is excellent. The skin tone, warm. The hair… we will have it professionally tamed before the gala. But the posture… you slouch. You carry yourself like you wish to be smaller. That will not do.”Elara, who had always thought she carried herself just fine, felt a f
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-11-29WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 5: The First Test
KaelanThe penthouse felt different.It wasn't anything tangible, nothing he could pinpoint on a financial statement or a security report. It was a shift in the atmosphere, a subtle vibration in the air that had not been there before. The scent of turpentine and linseed oil, faint but persistent, had infiltrated his sterile environment. It was the smell of her.He found himself pausing outside the closed door of her wing each morning, listening for any sound. He heard nothing, but the mere presence of the barrier felt significant. The variable was contained, but it was not quiet.His focus was supposed to be on the impending merger with the Japanese tech firm, Synapse Corp. It was the entire raison d'être for this marital arrangement. Yet, during a crucial video conference, his eyes drifted to the live security feed of the common areas on his secondary monitor. He saw her cross the living room, a sketchbook in hand, heading toward th
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-11-29WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 4: Crossing the Threshold
ElaraThe movers had been efficient and impersonal, just like the man who was now her husband. They had taken only what she had specified: her art supplies, a trunk of personal mementos, and her clothing. The rest of her life—the worn-in sofa, the bookshelves crammed with novels, the collection of strange rocks and seashells—remained behind in the Brooklyn studio, a life put on pause.Lena stood with her on the sidewalk, a solid presence in the swirling autumn wind. "Remember the safe word," Lena said, only half-joking. "If it gets too unbearable, you text me 'Vermeer,' and I'll call in a bomb threat or something."A weak smile touched Elara's lips. "I think that might violate the 'no public scandals' clause of the contract.""Details, details." Lena pulled her into a fierce hug. "Don't let him sand down your edges, El. You're all edges and color. That place needs it."With a final, deep breath that did nothing to calm her racin
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-11-29WHEN FORTUNE BECOMES A BOND Chapter 3: The Unwelcome Guest
KaelanThe penthouse was too quiet after she left.Kaelan remained at his desk, the signed contract a stark, black-and-white victory on the polished wood. He had won. He had secured the necessary asset to project stability, to fortify his empire against the Thorne Group’s encroachment. It was a flawless strategic move.So why did the silence feel so… loud?He replayed the meeting in his mind. The defiance in her hazel eyes, the way her voice had sharpened when she called herself a “mannequin.” Most people he negotiated with were either sycophantic or terrified. Elara Vega had been neither. She had been hostile, a cornered artist with the spine of a warrior queen. It was an inconvenient variable he hadn’t fully accounted for.His intercom buzzed, a welcome intrusion. “Mr. Sterling,” Marcus’s voice came through, “the team from Architech is here for the 11 a.m. briefing.”“Send them in,” Kaelan said, his voice returning to its
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-11-29
Vous vous intéresseriez aussi à
Romans liés
To Readers
Welcome to GoodNovel world of fiction. If you like this novel, or you are an idealist hoping to explore a perfect world, and also want to become an original novel author online to increase income, you can join our family to read or create various types of books, such as romance novel, epic reading, werewolf novel, fantasy novel, history novel and so on. If you are a reader, high quality novels can be selected here. If you are an author, you can obtain more inspiration from others to create more brilliant works, what's more, your works on our platform will catch more attention and win more admiration from readers.
