All Chapters of Fated Dynasties : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

CHAPTER 2: NO STRINGSRyanI wasn't planning to stop at Vesper tonight. Had a dozen other places to be, obligations stacking up like poker chips on a table I never asked to sit at. The family business doesn't stop just because I need to breathe. The empire doesn't pause just because the heir is drowning.But something pulls me through those doors. Instinct. Fate. The universe's twisted sense of humor.Then I see her, and everything stops.She's alone at the end of the bar, wrapped in solitude like a silk dress—all dark hair and darker eyes, holding herself with the kind of control that only comes from years of practice. There's something about her that should repel approach, a Do Not Disturb sign written in the language of body language.Should, but doesn't.Matt brings my drink without asking,Johnny Walker Blue, neat. I've been coming here long enough for the staff to know my poison. But I don't break eye contact with this mysterious woman who's decided tonight is the night she stop

Chapter 4MayaI wake to pre-dawn light filtering through the windows and the solid warmth of Ryan's body wrapped around mine.For one perfect, stolen moment, I let myself have this. Let myself be Stella,the woman who spent the night with a beautiful stranger and has no regrets. Let myself feel his breath warm against my neck, his arm heavy and possessive across my waist, the delicious ache between my thighs that reminds me of everything we did. He brought his A game. Everything I let him do to me.Everything I never want to end.As reality hovers at the edges, waiting to crash in. I can feel my phone buzzing somewhere in my discarded clothes—probably has been all night. The missed calls, the questions, the obligations I ignored for one night of selfish pleasure.I should slip out now. Should leave before he wakes, preserve the fantasy, keep this perfect and untainted by morning-after awkwardness.I don't want to.I turn in his arms, carefully, and just look at him. In sleep, he's ev

Chapter 6MayaThe Rossi estate looks like a postcard in the morning ligh all white stone and manicured gardens, money and power displayed with tasteful restraint. I grew up here, in this beautiful prison, learning to smile while I bled.Today, I'm bleeding more than usual.I pull up to the main house at 8:55 AM early enough to not be late, not so early that Papa thinks I'm eager. The game within the game, the dance I've perfected over twenty-eight years.Carlos, our head of security, opens my car door. He's been with the family since before I was born, probably buried more bodies than I want to know about. He's also the closest thing I had to a father figure when I was young, when Papa was too busy building empires to notice his daughters."Miss Maya.You look tired.""Rough night.""The good kind or the bad kind?"I think about Ryan's hands on my skin, his voice in my ear, the way he made me forget everything but the feeling of being wanted. Really wanted, not for my name or my usefu

Chapter 8 Ryan The Zurri Enterprises offices occupied the top five floors of one of Cape Town's most buildings. All glass and steel and unobstructed views—a monument to my family's power.I hate it here.Father's office is on the top floor, naturally."Ryan. Come in." He doesn't look up from his computer."Dad. " "Close the door."I do, taking the seat across from his massive desk. The power play is intentional,him elevated, me lower, the dynamic clear."The city council is voting on the docklands development next month," he begins. "We need to ensure they vote our way.""How do you want to handle it?""The usual. Donations, favors, carefully applied pressure." He finally looks at me."why the the war ." "The Rossis are playing dirty. They've got someone running a very effective media campaign against us. Painting us as outsiders, carpetbaggers, only interested in profit."I think about Maya's words: I traffic in narratives. I take messy, complicated realities and turn them into

Chapter 9 ( Caution, this chapter ahead contains mature content) Ryan The elevator ride to the penthouse is different this time. No pretense of strangers. No careful distance. Maya's in my arms the moment the doors close, her mouth on mine, desperate and hungry and real. "This is insane." she gasps between kisses. "Completely." I back her against the mirrored wall, my hands already sliding under her jacket. "We should stop." "We really should." But her fingers are working my belt, her hips rolling against mine. "Why aren't we stopping?" " I've been dying for three days." I kiss down her throat. "Three days of thinking about you, wanting you, imagining this. I burn for you. " "Me too." She yanks my shirt free, her hands sliding over my skin. " Ryan, me too." The elevator opens to my floor, and we stumble out still kissing, still touching, still unable to keep our hands off each other. I'm trying to unlock my door while she's kissing my neck, her hands roaming