All Chapters of Married To The Devil's Heir : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The door jerked open the instant Ivy turned the key. She froze on the threshold, grocery bag still hooked over one arm, staring at the two men standing in her brother's living room like they owned it. One of them had Leo by the collar, shoved back against the wall, his sneakers barely touching the floor. "Let him go." Her voice came out steadier than she felt. The man holding Leo turned his head, slow, unbothered. "You must be the sister." "I said let him go." "Ivy, don't." Leo's voice cracked. "Just go, get out of here, I'll handle it." "You'll handle it." The second man laughed, short and ugly. "That's cute. You had two months to handle it." Ivy set the grocery bag down without looking away from them. Her hands trembled, but her spine stayed straight, the way she'd learned to stand when landlords threatened eviction or collectors called for the fourth time in a day. Still. Calm on the outside. Let them think stillness meant she wasn't already calculating exits, distances, whe

"Arms out."Ivy stared at the man in the black suit standing between her and the mansion's front entrance, his hands already gloved, his face giving her nothing to read. Behind him, the house rose up floor after floor of dark stone and darker windows, the kind of building that didn't need a name on the gate because everyone already knew what it was."Excuse me?""Arms out," he repeated. "Standard procedure. Everyone gets searched before they go in, including you.""I'm supposed to be marrying into this family in a few days. You're frisking me like I'm a threat.""Everyone's a threat until they're not." He didn't smile. "Arms out, or the car takes you home and someone else collects your brother's debt tonight."She raised her arms.His hands moved fast and impersonal, checking her jacket, her bag, the lining of her coat, and it took everything in her not to flinch away from the contact, not to let her face show how much she hated being handled like inventory. When he finished, he stepp

"You're in the wrong wing."Ivy stopped mid step, coffee cup still in hand, and turned to find a woman standing in the hallway watching her with an expression that managed to be warm and assessing at the exact same time. Dark hair, effortless elegance, the kind of beauty that didn't need to try, which somehow made it more intimidating instead of less."I'm sorry?""The kitchen you're looking for is on the other side of the house. This hallway just loops back to the studies." The woman smiled, easy and disarming. "I'm Sable. Kade's cousin. You must be Ivy.""I am." Ivy shifted the empty cup in her hands, embarrassed despite herself. She'd woken early, disoriented in the unfamiliar room, the ceiling too high and the silence too complete for her body to recognize it as safe enough for real sleep, and set out to find coffee with nothing but instinct guiding her, which had apparently failed spectacularly within the first ten minutes. "Nobody gave me a map.""Nobody ever does. This house wa