What happens when the life you wake to isn't yours? Aria Williams wakes from a coma to find out she’s been mistaken for her identical twin, Ava, and trapped in a contract marriage to the merciless billionaire Damon Stone. Convinced she's the woman who swindled him out of his finances and trust, Damon is determined to make Aria’s life a living hell. As a perilous game of revenge, passion, and secrecy unfolds, Aria must walk a thin line where love and hate blur, and ultimately face the truth: the greatest deception is not her twin sister's, but the one she hides from herself.
Lihat lebih banyakAriaThe lights inside the mansion are blinding after the dimness of the garden. I blink against them, pulse still raging, my breath catching with each step. The argument outside plays on a loop in my head—Damon’s cold accusation, the slap, his warning.I push open the doors to the dining room, and everything screeches back to life. Everyone’s still seated. Joshua walks in a moment after me, all too pleased with himself. He’s still smirking. I can feel Damon’s presence behind me—rigid, burning with restraint.I walk past Joshua without looking at him and take my seat beside Damon. His chair scrapes slightly as he sits last, his expression carved from stone. I don’t acknowledge him.Grace’s voice slices through the room like a knife. “So, Aria, tell us more about your family. You said they’re from Maryland? What kind of business did they run again?”My eyes widen in surprise. “Hardware. My—my father ran a chain of hardware stores.”“Really? What’s the company called? Maybe I’ve heard o
Aria"Yes. You."Joshua's smirk irritates me in a way that makes me want to both slap him and look away. Yet, I can’t seem to pull my eyes from his. The heat creeping up my cheeks is undeniable.I shoot him a glare, my disbelief evident. "Excuse me?" I snap. "Are you seriously hitting on me outside the bathroom?"He shrugs, completely unfazed by my reaction. "Relax, Aria. I'm joking. Sort of. You’re beautiful, though. And technically, you’re not married yet."I fold my arms, a wave of disgust washing over me. "You followed me out here just to say that?"He raises his hands in mock surrender. "Okay, okay. I’m just saying, if my brother ever messes up—and trust me, he will—you have options. Namely, me."My jaw clenches, anger bubbling just beneath the surface. I open my mouth to retort, but before I can say anything, a familiar voice cuts through the tension."Babe?"Damon.My heart skips a beat as I turn to see him striding towards me. His movements are deliberate, but I can sense the
AriaI plaster a wide smile on my face as Damon leads me to sit.“It’s nice to meet you all. I’ve heard so much,” I say, bowing slightly on my seat beside Damon. His mother is sat at the right, while his father is at the head of the table. She must be his favourite wife.There’s an awkward silence as I look around the dining table, scanning their faces to gauge their reactions to my presence. Michael Stone looks at me with an unreadable expression, studying me in an attempt to find something that gives me away. Damon has so much resemblance to his father, especially with his eyes.I smile at him and avert my eyes, shifting it to the person sitting by his left. It’s Damon’s stepmother, Grace Stone. I spent the past week familiarising myself with their names, looks, traits – you name it.She meets my eyes and shoots me a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Her son, James, is sitted beside her, gaping at me like he just saw a ghost. He averts his eyes from me quickly when I meet his
AriaThe doorbell blares just as I strap on my shoes.Talk about perfect timing. I head to my bed to grab my purse. The ‘nannies’ Damon hired had just left a few minutes ago, but I have to admit, they did a fantastic job on my face - I look ravishingly beautiful.I open the door to find Damon standing outside, his hands tucked into his pockets, looking annoyingly handsome like always. I look up to meet his gaze, but his eyes are elsewhere, scanning me from head to toe with an assessing glance. I step out of the apartment and close the door behind me“Do I meet your expectations, Mr Stone? I’m not dressed like I’m going to a park, am I?” I ask, the sarcasm in my voice finally catching his attention.He clears his throat, “This will do for tonight,” He says, then turns away without another glance and walks to the elevator.Would it kill this man to be civil? Who raised him? Wolves? I shake my head and proceed into the elevator on his tail.“The ‘nannies’ you hired did a pretty good job,
AriaThe nerve of that bastard.I sat at the edge of the fountain I found when I stormed out of the room— not trusting myself to keep my composure around him any longer— running my fingers through the cold water, hoping it’d calm me down.Who does he think he is to kiss me without my permission? He must think I’m some toy he can play with and toss around just because I signed a contract with him. He's got another thing coming if he thinks he’ll have his way with me, whenever and however.I’m so angry at everything, including myself. At Damon, for always being an asshole. At myself, for not entirely hating the kiss, for as short as it lasted, my lips still tingled from it. At Ava, for putting me in this mess. She has a lot of explaining to do when I see her. Where the heck is she anyway?“I just proposed to you, and you run off like that? How do you think that makes me feel?” The voice behind me says, filled with amusement.I don’t have to look back to know who’s talking. I’d recognise
DamonI warned her.She wouldn't stop running her mouth, not even with the cameras on us. So yeah, she had it coming. The second she pushes one word too far, I crush my lips onto hers. She gasps—caught off guard—and I take full advantage, deepening the kiss before she has time to process it. Her hands push against me instinctively, but I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her in, trapping her hands between us, right against my chest.I hold the kiss for a bit longer before pulling back, ignoring the lush feel of her lips on mine. I step back and hold her hands on my chest firmly— she looks like she wants to slap me, her eyes filled with so much anger and hatred. I get the anger, I shut her up while talking. But that look? I thought she’d like the kiss. It’s not like it’s our first rodeo. She tries to release her hands from where they’re trapped on my chest. Her chest heaved from both anger and breathlessness. I drag her with her hands on my chest, and she jerks forward, basically
Aria “Thank you,” I say as Mark opens my door. I’m greeted by two waiters immediately I enter the restaurant. “You’re welcome, ma’am. Mr Stone is waiting on the rooftop. Follow me, please,” the blonde waiter says.“Thank you,” I smile at the waiter as she retrieves my coat.I look around the restaurant while following the waiter. Dim lights are everywhere, giving it a romantic ambience. The slow music in the background gives it a sophisticated but homely feeling. I can see why it’s a five-star restaurant. I lean against the elevator as soon as it closes, slipping back into my thoughts. How the hell am I supposed to act surprised about something I already know about? I roll my eyes. What was I thinking agreeing to this? I should have fought and disagreed with this whole sham.'Sure, you should have. I’m sure you’ll enjoy life in prison more than here,' the voice in my head mocks me.Shut up, I silently snap at the voice, 'Do you think I’ll be here if Ava didn’t go AWOL? I’m so goin
Aria If there was a way I could claw my fingers into that smug face of Damon’s, I’d do that in a heartbeat. I've lost count of the number of nights I've lain awake, tossing and turning, in deep thoughts of the best way to gather any information about the whereabouts of my parents and Ava. Somehow, I feel even more trapped in “my” apartment, especially with the number of men standing guard on the other side of my bedroom door, and the countless CCTV cameras. How Ava put me in this mess in her absence is beyond my understanding. She had always been trouble, and this was the umpteenth time I was suffering for her wrongdoings. It happened every other day, as we were very similar. One time, I narrowly escaped being raped by her boyfriend – he could have sworn I was Ava. From a distance, you’d never guess the contrast in our personalities. She has a lot of explaining to do. Does she even think of me? Are my parents somewhere out there, actively searching for me the way I search for th
Damon “You know you didn’t have to go haywire on her like that,” Kingsley's voice, always my much-needed moral compass, resonates through the hallway as we make our way out of the building. He's always called himself my lost conscience.“She's a fraud and needs to be taught a lesson," I say. I had just shipped Ava home with the guards. "Come on. I wouldn’t say that of her," he says. "Well, you know nobody gets away with playing funny games with Damon Stone,” I say, refusing to see things his way. "Well, that’s-" "She can’t eat her cake and have it, Kingsley. She owes me, big time, and you know this," I continue, cutting him off. There’s no way I would believe she wasn’t Ava - not in this life, not in the next. Not after she played with my head and heart, and left me high and dry. I’ll make sure she pays for the damages. “Don’t you think there’s a slim chance she isn’t Ava as she says and is her twin sister?" "What trash are you spewing, Kingsley? Don’t you know who Ava i
Aria It’s loud. Too loud. It sounds too far away and near at the same time. I squint my eyes open and close them back immediately. Too bright! I try again—slowly this time—and adjust my eyes to the bright light. I take in my surroundings. The white ceiling is filled with bright fluorescent light right above me, and my bedside is filled with machines and monitors plugged into my body on my right. I look to my left and — Is that a person? Standing with his hands in the pockets of his three-piece suit, while facing the window, his broad back fills most of the window overlooking the hospital view. The rays of the sunshine on his hair make it a colour blend of salt and pepper. It looks messy, like it’s been run through several times. He certainly looks attractive from the back. Who’s that? I try to make out how familiar that build is from the back. It’s not. As if he read my thoughts, he turns around and meets my eyes. “You’re awake.” His face remains expressionless as he stalks t...
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