Lahat ng Kabanata ng TABOO (A DEAL WITH THE SHADOW ALPHA): Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

ADDISONThe polished marble floor of my parents' dining room felt like ice under my feet. I pushed a piece of meat around my fancy plate, the quiet so thick you could hear the clock ticking in the hallway. I had to tell them, and I had to do it now. There was never a good time, but with the whole family here for Sunday dinner, it felt like now or never.I put my fork down. The sound was too loud and I knew with the next words I was about to cause a massive explosion, but I was hear to bare it that live in torture with that bastard. "Mom, Dad... I broke up with Feign."The clinking of silverware stopped dead, I swallowed down, not just the food but my fear of what their reaction would be. I swayed my legs beneath the table anxiously, thinking of what mom might say next. My mother's head snapped up. Her eyes, the same color as mine but always so much colder, turned narrow. "You broke up with Feign?" she asked, her voice too calm. Mom’s voice was always calm; she never raised her voice,

ADDISONFour days.The number was a drumbeat in my head, a constant, panicked rhythm counting down my doom. Five days since the suffocating dinner, and I had precisely forty-eight hours left to produce a human shield wealthier and more powerful than Feign Paxton.My “research” had been a spectacular failure. The list from Devin was a graveyard of maybes and no-chances. The tech bro, the London-based heir, the notoriously rude old money… all dead ends. The only viable, terrifying option was Bane Killian, the womanizer. My brother had, in a last-ditch effort, actually set up a date with him for tomorrow night. The thought made my skin crawl.Which is why I was currently lurking around the Castino’s lobby like a total creep for the fifth day in a row. My target: Axel Rex. I’d spent hours perched on a plush velvet bench, pretending to read a magazine while my eyes were glued to the private elevator bank that led to the penthouses. I’d seen no one who even remotely matched his description.

ADDISONThe silence in the back of the town car was a living thing. It was thick and heavy, pressing in on me from all sides, it was suffocating. Outside, the city lights blurred into streaks of gold and white, but inside, it felt like we were frozen in time. I could still feel the heat of his hand on my back, a brand that hadn’t faded. I could still see the pure, cold fury on Axel’s face when he’d looked at Feign. It was murderous in all forms. I had to say something. The quiet was going to make me scream.“Thank you,” I started, my voice sounding too loud. “For what you did back there with Feign. You really didn’t have to… I mean, the threat was a little…”“It wasn’t a threat,” he said, his voice a low rumble. He wasn’t even looking at me, his profile a sharp, dark cut-out against the window. “It was a fact. I would have done what I said and so much more Addison, I’m not your typical gentleman.”A shiver went down my spine. It was the way he said it. So sure. So final. Like he was

CHAPTER SEVENADDISONIt had been three freaking days already since not just me but even my brain had gone radio silent, I just couldn’t come up with any ideas at all. I used to have a thousand ideas packed and locked in my brain but now nothing, I looked down to see the heaps of crumpled papers that littered the floor. It was everywhere any way I would fix that later but now I had to keep thinking. I wanted to design a male suit, but it would be something different from my other designs, typically I had always designed female clothes but this time around for some weird reason I wanted to, and my resolve was strong. I wanted something new, that would strike my customers and fans, something that would leave people speechless before the year runs out. I was already running late, normally by this time I would have dropped a new design and new clothing but time had flown so fast, it was no November and I had to finish this design as soon as possible, I couldn't afford to break my streak.

ADDISON POVMy brain short-circuited for a minute. I just stared at him, his hand still hot on mine. “Wait, what? You would do that?” I finally managed to sputter. “But… you know you’d have to take your shirt off and all that. I really don’t want to stress you out. I can just call Phillip to do it. You have to work, and your company probably needs you to…”The words tumbled out in a nervous rush. The idea of Axel Rex, shirtless, in my studio, while I tried to draw him was both thrilling and utterly terrifying.“You won’t be calling anyone at all,” he said, his voice firm, his eyes locked on mine. “Not Phillip. Not anyone else. I will do it.” He let go of my hand, the intense heat fading. “I have free time. And if my company can’t survive a few hours without me, then I haven’t done a good job as CEO. So, let’s get started. Where do you want me?”He was serious. I just swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. “Uh… okay. Uhm, let me take you to my studio.”I led him further into my apartment, t