Thank you for reading another chapter and continuing to read the story❤️ Unfortunately, I won't be able to add a chapter tomorrow, but I promise to add more frequently next week. Thank you for all your support!!! I'm grateful for every comment, review, thump-up, and gem vote 😍💎
Han led us to the Presidential Suite, an amazing complex placed on the hotel's top floor. The suite had its own terrace secured by the remotely-open windows, a master bedroom, a comfortable study room, a dining room with enough space to hold a private banquet for ten, and a bathroom larger than my apartment in Washington Heights. I would love to relax in this incredible place, but knowing that the one who wanted Aiden and me dead was here filled me with restlessness.The opening banquet was supposed to start in three hours. I took a shower while Aiden studied the documents Han wanted us to become familiar with. I hoped that cool water might help me focus on our goal and wash away all the nerves that clung to me after our conversation with the event's host. Of course, that didn't happen. Wrapped in a towel, I walked out of the bathroom and found Aiden lying on an enormous bed in the suite's master bedroom. He kept flipping the documents, his frown deepening by the second."Something's
"Let the Taiyang Conference begin!" Soon Han called out, standing on the podium of the Golden Ballroom.Waves of applause exploded across the hall. Most of the gathered guests seemed to look forward to the upcoming days. Some came here looking for investors or wealthy clients, while others sought an opportunity to multiply the billions of dollars already gathered in their accounts. Certainly, not everyone could participate in Soon Han's event. Those who wanted to be here had to pay the so-called entrance fee, a round sum of a million dollars per person. Paying two million for staying three days at the hotel didn't mean much to Aiden, but it surely made my head spin when I learned about it…I looked around and saw glamorously dressed people with excitement painted all over their faces. Those who sat at our table weren't different. Mr. and Mrs. Bessette came here hoping to extend their portfolio of investments. Ms. Maya Laskar and her soon-to-be wife, Ms. Larisa Sardar, were going to lo
I froze, staring at the terrifying man in front of me. I should have forced my feet to move, but my eyes were desperate to register as many details as possible, as if I needed proof that he existed. His black hair was slickly combed up, unlike the slightly ruffled waves I recalled in the glimpses of my memory. His complexion seemed to have a lighter shade, but the eyes were exactly like the image engraved in my mind. The emotional void filling the dark irises scared the hell out of me.The black-haired man smoothed the lapels of his jacket and corrected his black tie. Then he glanced at Dominique, who looked like he had stopped breathing. Fear tightened his jaw, and his fisted hands began to tremble."Why are you doing this? You don't need my help," Dominique strained through his teeth.The black-haired man huffed a chuckle. "It's more fun this way. Besides, you wanted revenge. This is your chance."Dominique shook his head. "Not this way. I'm not like you."The black-haired man moved
I couldn't breathe. My heart thundered against my ribcage, pumping blood that turned into raw flames, burning my insides. The constant, single, high-pitched note filled my ears, piercing my brain like a wild scream, one able to tear every nerve apart. Panic.It rose inside me and now scratched the surface, but I had to stop this attack. It was the worst time and place to show my weakness. Aiden's fingers formed a tighter grip on my waist. "Charlie, are you all right?" he asked softly.I clenched my fists and forced air into my lungs. I couldn't allow myself to have a breakdown in front of a potential enemy. I glanced at Landon and saw an almost impeccable mask of concern plastered on his face. What kind of freaking game was he playing?I sucked in another breath and held it until the scorching flames inside me faded. "I'm OK," I said, stretching my lips into a faint smile. "It must be jetlag."Landon chuckled. "Yeah, jetlag can be a real bitch."All the question marks circling around
I couldn't sleep. For the first time, even hearing Aiden's heartbeat and feeling the warmth of his skin were unable to soothe my inner storm. Everything that lay untold between me and Aiden clamped my mouth shut, ending the whole Landon-problem explanation with the fact that it must have been someone else in that hotel room when I was raped. And I would happily let it all go if someone told me why the man with the scar and Landon were so much alike. Not to mention that I could almost sense that Landon knew me, or rather, knew things about me. How? I didn't have a clue. It was in the way he looked at me, as if he were trying to tell me that he knew my secrets and that my single false move would cause him to reveal everything I wanted to keep hidden.The annoying voice in my head kept telling me that I should have predicted this. The weight of my lies grew, slowly crushing every inch of me. If there were no secrets between us, I could have gotten to the truth about Landon. I could have
My eyes zeroed in on the gun held by Dominique Martel. The barrel was pointed at my chest, Dominique's finger on the trigger. Ignoring my loudly pounding heart, fast and shallow breaths, and trembling body, I raised my eyes to face him. He looked just as impeccable as all the other times I had seen him. His blond hair was neatly combed, his gray suit perfectly tailored and smoothed, his tie straight. If it hadn't been for the gun he held, I would have assumed he was here to discuss business."Dominique," I managed, struggling to keep my voice even. "What are you doing?"Barely restraining my panic not to burst out, I studied him. His cold blue eyes sparked with excitement. His mouth cracked into a dark grin while the muscles of his jaw tensed. Tearing my gaze from him, I quickly glanced around the room. What I saw caused my breath to catch in my throat. A body, either unconscious or dead, was lying under the conference table. I could see only one booted leg with pants, resembling thos
AIDENAll for nothing. I walked out of another meeting without a single clue who was after our lives. I entered our suite only to find that Charlie was gone. She probably went for her third meeting with someone terrifyingly boring. I slumped my ass on the sofa and dragged my fingers through my face as frustration grew within me. I hated that feeling, this sickening unknowing, when someone was after me, after her."Sorry, man. I'm not risking my life to help you," said a guy whom I once saved from bankruptcy. He had good connections with the underground and kept collecting information about the recent conflicts. He knew who was after me, or at least he assumed who it was, but he kept his fucking mouth shut. I liked to tell myself that I was nothing like those shitheads I had been dealing with, but that didn't mean that I hadn't thought of resorting to violence and beating the truth out of him. Unfortunately, there were too many guards around for it to go unnoticed.Sighing, I went to t
CHARLIEHow long had it been? An hour? Longer than that? I couldn't tell because I constantly crawled through the tunnels without stopping. I was too scared to take a break, and I sure as hell needed one. My hands and feet were sweaty. My head was spinning from spending too much time in a dark and tiny space. Not to mention that I was bleeding. I wasn't certain how it happened, but I cut my foot when I was taking a turn and sliding through the narrow gate. To avoid leaving tracks, I tore my dress, shortening it by a few inches. Then I used the fabric to wrap it around the cut. Perfect, just freaking perfect. With my dress torn, shoeless feet, and one foot wrapped up with a black cloth, there was no way I could sneak to our suite unnoticed once I got out of those damn tunnels.My thoughts drifted to Aiden. Did he come back from his meeting? How long was it going to take him to find out that something had happened to me? Would he start looking for me? Was he trying to find me… now? God,
Six months later I shifted slightly and felt the pair of strong arms tighten around me. A smile formed on my lips, and I debated whether or not I should open my eyes. A gentle kiss caressed the nape of my neck, and another landed on the side, an inch away from my pulse. A pleasant shiver coursed through my body, and my smile widened. The plush lips moved lower, leaving a searing trail leading to the crook of my neck. I gasped and heard the deep chuckle rumbling in his chest. I would never get tired of this. It was my favorite way to wake up. Twisting my body slowly, I turned around without freeing myself from Aiden's embrace until I could dive into the perfect blue of his irises. "I love you," I whispered. His lips were on mine in less than a second. His tongue darted out, expertly entering me with lush licks. He pushed me to my back, knocking the air out of my lungs as he moved on top of me. "You wear too many clothes," he grunted, breaking the kiss. I raised a brow. "I wear a nig
CHARLIEThirty minutes earlierA series of scorching, shallow breaths scratched my throat and windpipe, barely touching my lungs. I definitely wasn't as strong as Kastor said I was. I felt as if I could break apart at any second, and it apparently didn't take much to break me. Leaving me alone, chained to the bed for hours, was more than enough for panic to burst out. I couldn't stand waiting for the unknown, waiting to be raped, beaten, strangled, or God knew what else with no way to defend myself, no way to escape...My mouth was dry, and my stomach growled. The adrenaline kept my system satiated, but now even the hormones weren't enough to restrain my body's natural needs. I was so damn tired and terrified, I could imagine myself begging to be freed. The helplessness I felt was able to easily drive me to insanity.The brief relief that came with Kastor leaving the room just after Christopher's corpse had been removed was long gone. Now I kept staring a
AIDENMy father had another stroke. He heard about Christopher's betrayal and his crimes. It surely must have been a massive blow for him. My mother spent most of the time by his bed, and for the first time, I regretted that I couldn't be there too, but there were other, important issues I needed to take care of first.Hart Global Corporation was going down. The news about our warehouses being basically robbed and the frequent shipment to the sponsoring terrorism countries spread faster than a bolt of lightning. The bankruptcy was unavoidable, but I had no time to explain to the shareholders why my half-brother decided to screw them all over and disappear. The fact that people expected me to stand before them and apologize seriously pissed me off, but as the still-acting CEO of the dying company, I was obligated to make an official statement.I should have been elsewhere. I should have been looking for Charlie, but currently, I was about to become a source of entertainment for a large
I spent several hours alone in that windowless room, chained to the wall. Perhaps it was nighttime, but since I had no way to check, I could only judge by the fewer sounds coming through the steel door. Dominique's body had been taken away, but the sickening puddle of his blood on the concrete remained. I could only see the place where I was locked properly once Landon was gone, and even if this place was terrifying, I was relieved when everyone left, locking me in here alone. My prison was a hall, resembling the middle-sized space of an empty warehouse. Since everything inside smelled like a decaying basement, I guessed I had to be somewhere underground. My disgusting space was illuminated by several loosely hanging lightbulbs, giving merely a dim light in a few seemingly random parts of the room, leaving more than a couple of square feet sunk in the darkness. It didn't take long for my mind to craft all kinds of horrifying scenarios as I imagined what or who could be lur
*TRIGGER WARNING* The final paragraphs of this chapter contain a description of violence and physical torture.CHARLIEMy head hurt so much that I was afraid that if I opened my eyes, it might explode. My consciousness returned slowly, and a new wave of different pain reached me just several heartbeats later. I was lying on something hard. There were rough and heavy cuffs around my wrists and ankles. My feet were bare, and I was shivering from the cold. As I inhaled through my nose, I sensed something moist and rotting in the air, which made me scared to open my eyes even more.A not-so-distant rustling sound signaled someone's presence. Someone was watching me. I squeezed in a breath that came out more audible than I expected and opened my eyes. The dark, rusty-metal-like ceiling was the first thing I saw. My "bed" was made of wooden boxes that formed a row next to a dirty, black wall. The thick cuffs on my wrists and ankles were chained to a large ring, sticking out a few inches abo
AIDEN I was making my fourth mental note to punch that Murray fucker as soon as this was all over. He insisted on keeping my detainee status, so I was currently cuffed and sitting in the backseat of his car instead of driving mine at full speed. "You're OK in there?" Murray asked, and I could clearly see the smug smirk in the rearview mirror. Deller was sitting in the front passenger's seat, and, fortunately, he turned out to be more rational than his asshole partner. "Not OK at all," I hissed. "You're too slow, and perhaps you're still not aware, but there are lives on the line!" "We're doing our best, Mr. Hart." Deller glanced at me, twisting his head over his shoulder. "We still need to follow the rules, and we can't just—" "Screw the rules!" I snapped. "Those people we're against follow no rules except for the ones they create! If something happened to Charlie because we were too slow, then I swear to God—" "Shut your mouth, Hart!" Murray roared. "Don't you dare say a word ab
CHARLIESixty minutes earlierI forced myself to stop crying. I had no time to shed more tears. I needed to focus. Forcing air into my lungs, I stretched my tightened ribcage. Every inch of my insides burned, but I ground my teeth and willed my hand to lower over Kevin's cold body.I closed his lifeless eyes. It might have been the hardest thing I had ever done, but I had to. I felt like he died because of me. I brought this upon him. I pulled him into this mess. He agreed to be a part of it, but he didn't have to. It was my war, and this time I couldn't save him. I wasn't his super-girl; I was the one who had come too late and let him die.I sucked another breath that seemed too shallow and groaned. "Focus, Charlie, focus!" I pulled the phone out of my jeans pocket and cursed. The battery died. I was too absorbed in everything that had happened to notice it...I looked around and saw Kevin's cell phone lying on the floor. Faint slivers of rationality seeped through, causing me to be
AIDEN I had spent three hours in custody before that asshole, Murray, decided to bring me into the interrogation room. My hands were cuffed, and I was left in those cute bracelets for another hour before my lawyer showed up and demanded to take them off my hands. For the next fifteen or more minutes, Chandler and I were left in that room alone. Fuckers. So much for client-lawyer confidentiality. Luckily, I had nothing to hide, well, almost nothing to hide. Chandler scanned the room, a displeased grimace forming on his mouth. I couldn't blame him. Two cameras were hanging from the ceiling, gaping at us from two opposite corners with their red lights. The large one-way mirror also carried the promise of no privacy. "If anything you did is questionably legal, I suggest you keep your mouth shut," he grunted. I gave him a look. "If you want to know whether you're about to defend a guilty man, then my answer is no. Truthfully, I have no idea what the FBI was looking for or why. And yes,
CHARLIE Feeling a little paranoid, I hid in the toilet until the truck was gone, as if the driver could recognize me and drag me back into that box with machine guns. As soon as I assured myself that the coast was clear, I began to analyze my situation. I was at the gas station right outside Greenwich, Connecticut. My phone was dead—not like battery-dead but literally dead-gone-dead. It seemed like all its circuits had burned out, just like it had happened to my earpiece. Luckily, my wallet didn't suffer, and my credit cards were still in place. I drew a deep breath and stared at the mirror. I looked like I had run a marathon on heels during a desert storm. It took me fifteen or more minutes before I resembled a human being. I washed the dirt off my face and combed my hair using my fingers. I still looked like shit, but I had more urgent matters than improving my looks. I asked the clerk at the station if I could use his phone and called Kevin. He didn't answer. My stomach twisted s