All Chapters of THE CEO'S SECRET INDULGENCE: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Morning light filtered through the glass walls of Valmere Tower, clean, white, unbothered, as though the world outside the empire’s reach didn’t exist. The city below pulsed with motion, but up here, on the seventy-fifth floor, everything was silent. Controlled. Perfect.Deborah sat behind the executive desk of her new office, the skyline stretching endlessly beyond her. She’d been awake since dawn, reading reports, checking correspondence, and replaying Knight’s words over and over.“Be ready, Deborah. Someone’s already moving against you.”She’d barely touched her breakfast. Every sound, the soft hum of the air system, the faint rhythm of traffic below, seemed sharper than usual. By now, she’d learned to recognize when danger didn’t announce itself, it arrived quietly.At exactly nine-thirty, her assistant entered. “Miss Valmere, your appointment from Geneva is here.”Deborah didn’t look up from her tablet. “Send them in.”The door opened. A man stepped inside, tall, composed, every

The chandeliers of the L’Archeum Auction Hall glowed like captured stars, suspended high above a sea of silk gowns and tailored suits. The hall itself was an empire of whispers, where fortunes changed hands not with violence, but with gloved fingers, measured smiles, and secrets spoken behind champagne glasses.The Valmere family arrived as they always did, in silence, with presence that needed no announcement.Caelum walked ahead, tall and deliberate, his dark suit a perfect cut of authority. His brothers followed, each with their own version of command. And beside them, shimmering under the soft lights, was Deborah.She wore black. A gown that looked poured from night itself, its fabric tracing her silhouette with quiet grace. Diamonds glimmered faintly at her ears, and the sweep of her hair revealed the sharp line of her neck, elegance carved in defiance.The world slowed when she entered. Conversations paused. Even the click of crystal against glass seemed to soften. It wasn’t van

The soft hum of classical piano floated through Le Château d’Or, a restaurant so refined even silence seemed curated. Crystal chandeliers threw fractured light across the marble floor, catching on polished silverware and perfectly folded napkins. Every detail screamed luxury, the kind of world the Valmere family never needed to belong to, but owned effortlessly.At their private corner table sat the siblings, already the center of attention without trying.Caelum, ever composed, scrolled through morning reports on his phone. Lucio sipped espresso, pretending not to be bored. Deborah stirred her coffee in slow circles, her elegance effortless but her mood unreadable. Only Aston looked too bright, too cheerful for a morning this calm.Deborah noticed first. “You’re smiling like a man about to confess something stupid.”Lucio snorted. “He’s probably bought another racehorse or crashed another one.”Aston grinned, leaning back. “Neither. Though thank you for assuming I’m that predictable.

Deborah sat in silence, the soft hum of the Valmere Tower’s central air conditioning filling the office like white noise. Her hands rested on the glass desk, unmoving, the screen before her long forgotten.Her thoughts weren’t here.They were back in the moment when Aston’s hand had nearly reached her. That single move, flickering second.She could still see the look in his eyes, not rage, but confusion. The kind that comes from losing control of something you didn’t even know you could lose. Aston wasn’t like that. He had never raised his voice to her before, much less his hand. He was her calm, her anchor when the rest of their brothers clashed.But something had shifted.And now, every time she blinked, that half-raised hand replayed in her mind, looping endlessly, digging under her skin.Her jaw tightened. She blinked the memory away just as the door opened.“Spacing out again?”Knight’s voice broke through the silence, steady but curious. He leaned against the doorframe, arms cro

“Unbelievable! I can’t believe he’s actually going to marry that woman!”Deborah’s voice was sharp enough to cut glass. She paced the length of the hotel suite, heels clicking against the marble floor, anger simmering beneath every step. The city stretched endlessly beyond the glass wall, foreign, glittering, uncaring.“I smell something off about her,” she muttered, almost to herself. “And she had the nerve to ask me to be her maid of honor? Hell no! That's not gonna happen.”Across the room, Luther leaned casually against the desk, a faint smirk playing on his lips as he watched her rant. “Still as bold as ever, I see...” he said, his voice low anf smooth, the kind that made people listen without realizing it.Deborah shot him a look. “Don’t start.”He raised an eyebrow. “I’m just saying. It’s been weeks since we seen each other, and you haven’t changed.”Her arms crossed. “And that’s a bad thing?”“Not at all,” he said, walking toward her. “It’s what I’ve missed most.”That last li