Damien Cross built his empire on power, control, and calculated revenge. Cold, ruthless, untouchable—he never forgave betrayal, and Ryan Hastings had committed the ultimate sin. Damien has spent years waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Then Chloe Bennett walks into his world. Smart, confident, completely unaware that she’s just become his greatest weapon. She’s here for business, but Damien sees an opportunity—one that will bring Ryan to his knees. She was never supposed to matter. She was never supposed to get under his skin. But the deeper he pulls her into his game, the more she consumes him. Chloe fights him at every turn, challenging him in ways no one else ever has. And for the first time in his life, Damien is losing control. Revenge was everything—until her. Now, Damien is faced with an impossible choice: destroy the man who betrayed him or surrender to the woman who just might be his ruin. She was supposed to be his leverage. Instead, she’s becoming his obsession.
View MoreRyan Hastings was a man hunted—not just by Damien Cross, but by his guilt and paranoia. The shadows in his rambling apartment emerged larger these days, whispering Damien’s name at every corner. His eyes darted towards the clock every few seconds, it had been days since he’d last heard from Damien.And for those days, he’d been living on the edge, waiting for the inevitable. The silence was worse than an outright attack. It meant Damien was planning, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And that was far more terrifying than any impulsive act of violence.Ryan sat in his dimly lit house, a half-empty whiskey bottle on the table, glasses piled up in the sink, untouched food sat at the counter—he was falling apart in plain sight, but he didn’t care. Each sip of alcohol was an attempt to quiet the dread, but it only intensified it.Dozens of unanswered calls and texts stared back at him—contacts who had once been allies were now too afraid to associate with him. He had no one left.
Noah Sinclair had always been the guy people could rely on. The dependable one. The one who had a plan, a strategy, an answer for every problem. It was why he was good at what he did—consulting for Bennett Industries, ensuring everything ran smoothly, and finding solutions before problems even arose. It was a skill that had taken him far in his career. But when it came to Chloe Bennett, things had never been simple. He met Chloe back in college. She had walked into his life with a solid presence without even trying. Sharp-tongued, brilliant, and ambitious—Chloe had never needed saving, never needed anyone to fight her battles. And yet, Noah had always found himself wanting to stand by her, wanting to be the person she could lean on if she ever allowed herself to. They had been friends, close ones. The kind of friends who stayed up late talking about everything and nothing, who understood each other in a way that made words almost unnecessary. But there had been a time when
It had been a long day for Damien. Meetings. Business deals. The final day of The Morelli Auction. A headache that refused to go away. He had thought that drowning himself in work would keep his thoughts occupied, but it hadn’t. Damien was still fuming from his last phone call with Ryan. How dare he ask him if he was playing games?Did anything look like a game to him?Before Damien could entertain more aggressive thoughts, his phone vibrated against the desk.A single glance at the screen made the night take a different turn for him.Chloe? Chloe had never called Damien since the day they met, so why was she doing so now?He stared at the phone, the call ringing out as he sat motionless.He didn’t answer.Seconds passed and the ringing stopped.And then, a voicemail notification popped up.Damien hesitated before pressing play.“Damien… it’s me….Chloe.” A shaky voice started. Damien listened to the voicemail until the end. A deep frown creased his forehead as he replayed the messag
The tension in the room heightened as Chloe pinned Sienna against the wall. Her eyes weren’t the same as they used to be. The soft gentle look that she had, now turned into something much darker.Sienna’s eyes flashed, but her smirk didn’t waver. She had not expected Chloe to come off this strong but she couldn’t let her guard down either.“Get your slimy hands off me,” she snapped pushing Chloe as much as her strength could.Chloe staggered, trying to steady herself.“Is this what you do? Go ahead being a nuisance in everyone’s lives.” Her voice thundered across the room.“No Chloe, just yours.” Chloe rubbed her fingers against her forehead.“I can’t believe you.”“Oh, please. Drop the act, Chloe.” Sienna stepped closer, voice dropping to a whisper, anger laced in every word.“You know what? I’m tired of you. It must be exhausting, pretending to be something you’re not. That perfect little daughter. That strong, self-made woman.” She tilted her head. “You want to know what’s pathet
The night stretched on, but for Damien, It was far from over. Midnight had settled over the city like a heavy cloak, muffling the usual hum of life. The streets below Damien’s penthouse were quiet. Only the occasional glitching of a streetlight captured attention. The distant howl of wind rushing between buildings. The city outside had gone into a quiet still, but Damien was more on edge than ever. Damien stood by his window, hands crossed behind his back, his reflection a shadow against the glass. He had been staring out at nothing for the past few minutes but in his mind? His mind was a mess. His patience was wearing thin. As the weight of the night settled into his bones, Damien felt a sharp pain strike his chest. Enough was enough. Ryan had made unforgivable mistakes and now he was going to pay for it. A sharp vibration broke through the silence. Ethan’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He glanced down at the screen before lifting his eyes to Damien. “Well?” he asked,
The silence in the car didn’t last long.Sienna’s hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white, her foot pressing harder on the pedal. The city lights blurred past them, but Ryan barely paid attention to the road—his focus was on her, the rage rolling off her in waves.“Can you slow down? I don’t plan to end up dead because of your recklessness.”“I cannot believe that bastard,” Sienna snapped, her voice sharp with fury. “Who the hell does Damien Cross think he is? Throwing me out like I’m some—some nuisance? And Chloe—ugh! Sitting there all high and mighty while I was being humiliated.”Ryan bit the inside of his cheeks, “You embarrassed yourself, Sienna.”Her head snapped toward him, eyes blazing in anger “Excuse me?”“You heard me.” His tone was even, but the weight of his words made her grip the wheel tighter.“You barged in there like a damn lunatic and expected what? A warm welcome? Damien obviously doesn’t tolerate drama, and you made yourself one.”Sie
The night had started well enough.Sienna sat on the edge of Ryan’s bed, one leg crossed over the other as she watched him try to knot a tie. He muttered a curse under his breath as his face tightened in frustration. She shook her head. “You’re hopeless.” “I don’t see you offering to help.” He grunted. Sienna pushed herself off the bed, strutting barefoot across the room. She plucked his wrist from his neck and expertly knotted the tie. “There, now you won’t look like a mess in front of all the rich folks we’re about to dine with tonight. Ryan snorted. “Right, because you’re not one of them.” “Oh, I am, but at least I’m fun.” Sienna was already dressed in a deep emerald silk gown that clung to her curves, she did one final check in the mirror before slipping into her heels. Ryan watched her as she painted her lips. “You’re going all out tonight.” “Well it has been a while since we did this, don’t you think?” He hummed, running his hand through his damp hair st
Chloe spent the entire day trying to push thoughts of Damien out of her mind. It wasn’t easy, not after what happened at the auction. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the way he had kissed her. The way he had looked at her like he had done something terrible. She had buried herself in work, hoping that if she kept herself busy enough, she wouldn’t have the time to dwell on it. Chloe leaned back in her chair as she stared at her desktop screen. 12:36 pm, she jolted up, like the time sent electric waves through her body. “Oh shit….Nina’s gonna kill me” she groaned. She stepped out of her office building. The weather was hot and the air was thick with the scent of coffee and freshly baked bread from the café across the street. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder, her phone pressed against her ear as she navigated through the lunchtime crowd. “I’m literally on my way, Nina,” she said, dodging a man carrying an overstuffed briefcase. “Just order me the usual.
A sharp tug at the blanket yanked Ryan out of the fog of sleep. His head pounded, a dull, insistent ache, and the grogginess clung to him like a second skin. He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut against the dim morning light filtering through the blinds. “Get up.” The sharp bite in Sienna’s voice sliced through the haze. Ryan cracked an eye open, just in time to see her standing over him, arms folded, her expression a mixture of impatience and barely restrained irritation. “I said, get up.” She deepened her words with another tug, nearly ripping the blanket off the bed. Ryan exhaled through his nose, raking a hand down his face. “What the hell, Sienna?” His voice was raspy, his throat dry from whatever the hell he had downed last night. She scoffed. “You dare to ask me that? After the stunt, you pulled at the auction?” He sat up slowly, his body protesting the movement. A hangover wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but paired with the frustration radiating off Sienna in
Chloe Bennett tasted betrayal on her tongue. It wasn’t the tequila. No. It wasn’t the burn of the liquor sliding down her throat. That would have been much easier to handle. It was the sight of them—her sister, her ex—wrapped in each other’s arms like she had never existed. She felt her chest tighten as she wallowed in self pity. The club pulsed around her, but she didn’t hear the music. All she heard was the echo of his words, the ones that shattered her into nothing. Stabbing her like a blunt pocket knife twisting deeper into her back. “It was always her, Chloe.” She had replayed those words over and over again, her mind desperately trying to find some loophole in their meaning. Some ridiculous way to make them mean anything but what they did. But no, the truth was there, raw and unyielding. She should have known, the late-night calls he ignored, the way his gaze lingered a second too long whenever her sister entered the room. The tightness in his voice when he swore...
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