Chapter 2 I Don't Mind Facing Death

Five years ago, Daniel Douglas publicly called off their engagement and sent her to prison himself. On the day of her release, Daniel took her to the hospital, demanding, "Serena Avery has been in a car accident and needs a kidney transplant. Give her yours." She refused, but he coerced her by all means. On the day of the surgery, her heart suddenly stopped and resuscitation failed. It was said that the man who wanted her dead wept at her grave for three days and three nights. Later, Daniel saw her again at the Douglas family home. She was already holding a five-year-old child, having married his elder brother Ethan and become his beloved and spoiled wife. Daniel: "Jasmine, I know I was wrong,please come back!" Ethan: "Get out! She's your sister-in-law now."

5 years ago, Summer Rodriguez was framed for a murder she did not commit. Her mother betrayed her. Her twin sister walked away from her. The world chose to believe the worst. Summer lost her freedom, her future, and the life she had worked for. Now she is out of prison, and she wants everything stolen from her. That includes the man her sister is about to marry. Kirill Volkov is a Russian trillionaire CEO who is brilliant, cold, and haunted. He lives with obsessive compulsions and a mind that sometimes forgets recent events and sometimes forgets faces. Whenever he starts to feel anything close to it, his body responds with frightening physical collapse. But the moment Summer appears at his wedding disguised as her sister, something inside him wakes up. He does not expose her. He takes her hand and tells the world, She is my wife. What starts as revenge turns into a consuming game of desire, control, and secrets. Summer came to take her life back. She never planned to become the one thing Kirill refuses to let go of.

"There's no sleeping and spooning, Robyn. Just fucking. I will fuck you. Hard and fast. I will fuck you until I lose interest in you. I will fuck you every night, and I'll make sure you beg for more. That's for a year. You will be naked in bed for 365 nights. After that, your debt is paid. I will forget you exist. You will forget that anything happened between us. Unless you have my three million dollars right now, then you have no choice but to bend to my will." *** One night is supposed to be fun, not waking up sold to the highest bidder. Before I knew it, my boss, the beast with an ice-cold heart and a nightmare to work for, bought me and owned my very existence, turning me into his little bird in his golden gilded cage with impossible choices until I agreed to his dark bargain. Being at the mercy of a man like Spade Kolby with wealth, power, and an enigmatic past as dark as the night, I soon realized that having your boss save your life comes with a price. Nothing's free. The only way to pay my debt is to be his wife and surrender my freedom. But the second our skins touch, there's fire. The longer I try to resist his scorching touch and fight his death grip on my heart, the harder it gets, and I know nothing good comes out of falling for him.  Knowing the unimaginable consequences of escaping- how a snap of his fingers can destroy me, his words can rip me apart, and the unbreakable bond that binds us. After all, maybe once he gets what he wants, his obsession with me stops. Or maybe he's not as cruel as I imagined him to be.

When Zora was sick during the early days of her pregnancy, Ezrah was with his first love, Piper. When Zora got into an accident and called Ezrah, he said he was busy, when in actual fact, he was buying shoes for Piper. Zora lost her baby because of the accident, and throughout her stay at the hospital, Ezrah never showed up. She already knew that he didn't love her, but that was the last straw for the camel's back, and her fragile heart could not take it anymore. When Ezrah arrived home a few days after Zora was discharged from the hospital, he no longer met the woman who always greeted him with a smile and cared for him. Zora stood at the top of the stairs and yelled with a cold expression, "Good news, Ezrah! Our baby died in a car accident. There is nothing between us anymore, so let's get a divorce." The man who claimed not to have any feelings for Zora, being cold and distant towards her, and having asked her for a divorce twice, instantly panicked.

I stepped out of the bedroom, sleep having abandoned me. I needed something-anything-to silence the noise inside me. But I wasn't alone. He was there. Standing in the dark, by the window... The top buttons of his shirt undone, a glass of whiskey between his fingers. He turned to me slowly. "Couldn't sleep?" I nodded, my voice barely a whisper. "I don't want to sleep." He took a step. Then another. Until he was right in front of me-close enough for the heat of his body to kiss my skin. He said, "You know you're playing with fire, don't you?" I looked into his eyes-those eyes that shattered all my defenses. And I whispered, voice trembling, "I'd rather burn... than stay this cold." I don't know who moved first. All I know is that suddenly, I was in his arms. Surrounded by his breath. And in that moment-I forgot my name, my marriage... everything. He leaned in, his breath rough against my ear. "I'm your husband's father... this is wrong." Then after a beat, "But I want it to happen." --- I married him to escape the pain. But my heart only beat for one man-his father. I thought marriage would bring peace. A shelter from a bleeding past. But I didn't realize I was stepping straight into the storm. A storm named Leonardo Ricardo. A man who knows no mercy. A man who never accepts defeat. And worst of all? He's my husband's father. His eyes trap me. His voice chains me. And his touch... His touch brands me with sin. What happens when a woman shifts from obedient wife to prey caught between two flames? One gave her his name. The other stole her soul. Forbidden Romance · Age Gap · Family Drama · Steamy · Dark Passion

Elena Hart is a genius scientist mired in debt and can't even afford her mother's life-saving surgery. Her rescuer can only be one man: Dominic Blackwood, a ruthless billionaire who doesn't believe in love but needs a wife for some mysterious reason that Elena can't fathom. When he offers to marry her for a relaxed, contractual wedding in exchange for paying off her debts, she signs on. What begins as a bargain slowly becomes something more when both of them begin questioning one another's faith, battling foes, and fighting emotions they had not expected. However, love's journey is not one to be taken lightly. With lies revealed, the foes closing in, and open wounds biting back, they must decide if love can conquer any pact.