Paul Walter Hauser

My husband, Alex Walter, was the head of the Bodyguard Association. When I was about to be killed by the kidnappers, he was comforting his childhood crush, Susan Miller, who was sobbing in his arms. While the kidnappers stopped for a meal, I called Alex five times calmly. He was angry when he finally answered. "Susan was just rescued from the kidnappers, and she needs me. If you want me to come home, stop using your own kidnapping as some excuse to compete for attention. It is pathetic!" Hearing Susan's sweet and delicate voice in the background, I had no time to argue with him. Instead, I called the Bodyguard Association. The operator informed me that Alex had pulled all the city's bodyguards away thirty minutes earlier to rescue Susan. When the kidnappers returned, they mocked Alex's heroic efforts to save Susan, mobilizing the entire force for her. If I remember correctly, this was Susan's twenty-eighth kidnapping this month. As the kidnappers approached me with guns and tasers, I closed my eyes in despair. Before I died, I used all my strength to send Alex one last text message, [No matter what, I loved you. Move on from me.]

Gloria Anderson has been a loyal and devoted housewife to Steven Hartford for four years. Just when she finds out she was pregnant, she discovers that he was the cause of their childlessness, leaving her broken and confused about the father of her child. Dylan Walter, a renowned Billionaire and heir to the Walter family finds out that his surrogacy plans had been diverted. He then pursues Gloria and possesses her since she was pregnant with his child.

By day, Annabel Walter is just another junior concierge at the prestigious Valenrose Suites—smart, quiet, and invisible. To the world, Jake Daniel is the cold, commanding CEO of the luxury hotel empire. Ruthless in the boardroom, unreadable in public, and untouchable to everyone… except her. But behind closed doors, he’s not just her boss—he’s her secret husband. Married in Paris under the stars, their love was supposed to be private, sacred, and temporary. A promise made when they had nothing but time and hope. But two years later, Annabel is still hiding in the shadows, pretending to be a stranger to the man she shares a bed with. In public, he’s terrifying. At home, he’s her clingy baby boy, obsessed with cuddles, jealous of attention, and desperate to be seen—by her, and eventually, by the world. But secrets don’t stay buried forever. As tensions rise at the hotel, scandals brew, and coworkers start to whisper, Annabel is forced to ask: How much longer can love survive in the dark? And what happens when the cold CEO everyone fears decides he’s done hiding his soft side? A romantic, steamy, and emotional tale of hidden love, power games, and the sweetest kind of duality—where the man feared by many is secretly ruled by the woman he calls his home.