ALEX“I did it. I fucking did it,” I growled to the phone as satisfaction filled every inch of me. I was on board my private plane, heading back to New York, and I wished I wasn't too tired to properly celebrate this achievement.“Congratulations!” On the other side, Grayson chuckled. “Marseilles is going to have one hell of an amazing hotel.”“Damn right,” I said, fisting my hand.The negotiations and transaction went smoother than I thought. I knew that my presentation was convincing, especially since I had placed some of the drafts Sarah had made as an example of what this place could turn into, but I hadn't predicted making the entire deal in less than twenty-four hours. It felt fucking incredible, and if the last transaction went equally well, I could call for a shareholders' meeting in less than two weeks and then call off that fucking wedding with Jeanette.I could almost taste my freedom. I could finally tell Gregory Duncan to go fuck himself. I would never have to deal with h
SARAH“Joy, I can't help it. I'm simply happy.” I laughed as we spoke on the phone. “Every time I see Alex and Liam together, my heart swells, and when I saw my son hug Alex and call him Daddy, I started crying.”Joy sighed. “I don't want to rain on your parade, but you do remember that he still keeps your relationship secret and that his wedding hasn't been called off yet, don't you?”I clicked my tongue and slumped on the bed in the nearly empty bedroom in our wing of the residence. “I see that you're working hard on spoiling my mood,” I grumbled.She chuckled. “I'm your voice of reason.”“Just let me be unreasonable for a while. I want to enjoy such beautiful moments,” I said.“Fine, I won't mention Jeanette or the wedding for the rest of this conversation,” she promised. “Better tell me, how's living in the Ravenfords' Residence?”I looked around my room, and my lips twisted wryly. “Liam's bedroom is finished. I painted every wall like he wanted me to, and now he has his own littl
ALEXI still couldn't believe this was happening. I had received the deed to the final hotel, and now all I had to do was present the project in front of the board of directors and shareholders. I knew I had the board on my side, but the shareholders were much harder to please. If it had been up to me, I would have gladly bought out all of those fuckers just so I wouldn't have to see their fucking faces anymore. The problem was that they didn't want to sell their shares. The Ravenford Corporation was their golden goose, their financial security for generations to come. And since they were all old and conservative jerks, dealing with them was an amazing pain in the ass.“Have you considered the worst-case scenario?” Grayson stared at me from the sofa while I sat by my desk, correcting the final detail in my presentation.I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Mind elaborate?”He leaned back in his seat and gave me a crooked smile. “What if the shareholders disagree? What if you end up with
I was always able to control fear and transform it into a will to fight against whoever threatened me. One deep breath and my heart rate slowed down. Another deep breath, and I regained my focus. Two more breaths and the fear stopped bothering me, giving way to anger. Then I began to fight back. It had always been this way… until now. I had been threatened before. It was always about either blowing up my house, my car, our company building, slitting my throat, or cutting some specific piece of me. It always caused a wave of chills to rush down my spine, but then the chills were gone, and rationality came to action. This time, it was different. This wasn't about me. It was about her. Someone threatened me with HER life! My ribs shrank, immobilizing my lungs. No breath moved below my throat, and as I struggled, the air began to burn above my windpipes. My body trembled. My guts twisted, and raw, strangled sounds started to escape through my squeezed throat. Then my hands fisted. My nai
SARAHThe anxiety that had been growing within me for the last few days had expanded vastly, covering every cell in my body. The message from Alex had only made everything worse. Why couldn't we see each other? This whole secrecy thing was supposed to end soon. He had everything he needed to begin the hotel project with Philip Corbin officially, so why?My worry turned into rising fear the moment Jun knocked on the door. He had never contacted me on his own. I knew he had his room in our wing, at the end of the corridor, but I had rarely seen him unless he was driving. Now he was standing outside my bedroom, and everything within me screamed that whatever reason he had to come here couldn't be good.“There are a few things you need to know. May I come in?” I sensed massive tension in his voice, and a shudder coursed through me.“Please, come in.” I smiled faintly, stepping away from the door and letting him inside.He nodded and quickly took a seat in the chair opposite my bed. Drawin
My mouth opened and closed. How could I explain something I couldn't comprehend myself? I shifted my gaze to Alex, praying to find any sliver of guilt since he must have been aware I had seen that kiss. We weren't that far away, for God's sake. But… he didn't even look at me.“Sarah!” Jeanette called out cheerfully as she glided my way. If her act weren't so obviously fake, I would have assumed she had hit her head. “You did a marvelous job in here. I'm sure that Mr. Corbin was pleased.”She extended her hand toward me. I stretched my lips into a thin line, realizing far too many people were watching us. I grabbed her hand and shook it. “Why, thank you, Jeanette,” I said, giving her my trained smile before straining through my teeth, “I'm glad that you and your fiancé could make it.”I saw Alex's gaze finally snap toward me. I wanted him to meet my glare, but instead of firmly looking into my eyes, he swiftly turned his to Liam. “Come here, son.” He smiled at him, spreading his arms w
ALEXI looked at the right side of my bed and saw Sarah lying stiffly with her back to me. I rolled toward her and slid my hand through her waist, pulling her closer. She didn't move or say anything, but I knew that she was awake. I nuzzled her hair, inhaling her scent. “Are you still mad at me?” I whispered.She didn't answer.I lifted my head and angled it to kiss her shoulder. “It's hard for me too, you know?” I breathed out, moving my lips to the crook of her neck. “It's just safer this way. Relationships are too complicated, too demanding…” I paused, awaiting any kind of reaction.A brief shudder coursed through her, but it only made me pull her closer against me.My fingers brushed the silk that covered her stomach, then traveled higher to the valley between her breasts. “I care about you, Sarah. You should never doubt that. Just wait a while. I will fix this. We can be together after I fix this.” My fingers grazed her nipple through the thin fabric.No reaction.My brows knitte
I stared at the almost-empty crystal decanter, pondering whether or not I should refill it. I wasn't sure how many glasses of whiskey I had drunk. It must have been around ten-ish. I wasn't drunk. My overly-working brain was hell-bent on keeping me sober no matter how much alcohol I consumed. Fucking perfect. Tonight, of all the nights, I wanted to drink and forget about everything. But I couldn't.I closed my eyes, and the image of Sarah appeared. I wanted to hold her so fucking badly. How the fuck was I going to fix things between us? And even if I fixed this, everything I could offer her was becoming my mistress. Not to mention that it would not magically solve the problem of someone trying to kill her.A peal of humorless laughter broke through my throat. It took one meeting to shatter my entire confidence. This was the moment I felt absolutely pathetic and helpless, but as soon as I realized that, anger came to life. There was no way I would allow Gregory Duncan to control not on
ALEX Four and a half years later I opened my eyes to see Sarah's gorgeous sleeping face, and my lips instantly stretched into a wide smile. God, I would never have enough of watching her sleep. There were only two other faces I loved more: her face when she smiled and the blushing face that appeared shortly after she reached her climax. Actually, I would gladly work to see that blushing face right now, but I couldn't risk being late today. This day was going to be perfect. I dipped my head to brush my lips against hers. I did it carefully so as not to wake her up. Then I slid out of bed and quietly walked out of our bedroom. Of course, it was way easier to sneak out of our room than to pass Liam's bedroom, and passing the twins' bedroom without them waking up or noticing was nearly mission impossible. Fortunately, none of them decided to wake up at six in the morning on Saturday, and two minutes later, I successfully entered the kitchen. Usually, this place belonged to Sarah. It wa
I vaguely recalled what had happened in the last few hours. I remember Jun calling my name as he all but tore me away from Alex, taking over the reanimation until the paramedics appeared. Then the words “temporary stable” rang in my head as they transported Alex to the hospital in Nassau. I refused to leave his side. I held his hand almost until he had been taken to the operating room. Philip and Jun dragged me away so that doctors could patch me, even though I said I didn't need it. They insisted, and Jun might have even said something about knocking me out if I'd refused. The doctors asked me if I needed painkillers. When I said I wasn't sure, they asked me if I needed something to soothe my nerves. I took neither. I didn't want anything that could dull my senses as I waited for Alex's operation to be over. The surgeon said that the bullet vaguely missed the heart but also that removing it would be complicated. Still, there was a chance. There was hope that he would survive. He had
I heard two gunshots, yet there was no pain. Well, there was no new kind of pain, and I could feel the heart pounding in my chest… But dead people shouldn't have a heartbeat, should they? My mind was struggling to process what was happening. My eyes snapped open just in time to see two guards fall to the ground, exposing the one who stood on the threshold. Alex.My breath caught in my throat as our eyes met, but my relief lasted less than a second. In my peripheral vision, I saw Lucius reaching for his gun and shifting his stance to shoot. “No!” I screamed for a split second before he aimed his gun at Alex and pulled the trigger.Alex leaped into the corridor and hid behind the door. “Sarah, get down!” he thundered, and that was what I did. I jumped to the side before Lucius could grab me and use me as a shield, and I dove behind the bed, lying face-down on the floor. Lucius roared like a wild animal, and more shots came. “I'll kill you, Ravenford!” he bellowed.I flinched every time
SARAHThree days passed since I had woken up in my luxurious prison. My ribs still hurt, but at least I could move on my own… more or less. The bruises I found all over my body were slowly fading. The worst were those on my shoulder, which, according to Lucius, had been dislocated. Once the mass of sedatives and painkillers left my system, the pain had become almost unbearable, but now I learned to function despite it.Lucius had been showing up in my room at least three times a day. Each time, he brought me food or snacks. It might have been his twisted definition of caring about me. Never had he raised his voice on me, but I knew better than to trust his fragile kindness. The cold glow in his eyes remained, and the smiles he had often given me betrayed cruelty. I couldn't let my guard down around him. I had to put on my best act, even though his slightest touch filled me with sheer disgust. It terrified me that he became more daring. He enjoyed tracing every bruise on my neck and sh
ALEXI was sitting in my office and trying to focus my eyes on the screen. My current struggle had nothing to do with Ravenford Corporation. I was tracing the old metro plans, hoping to find that one place we had missed.“You shouldn't stay here all night again.” Grayson sighed before grabbing a chair and sitting in front of my desk. “Staring at those plans won't bring her back.”“She is not dead, Grayson,” I hissed.“You don't know that,” he argued but raised his hands in surrender as soon as he met my glare.“I know that because we haven't found her body.” Anger raised the volume of my voice, but that only made Grayson look at me with more pity.“If you're convinced that she's not dead, then why not call off the search inside the tunnels?” His brows rose. “It has been more than a week now. Even if she survived the fall, she must have been injured and lying there alone—”“Shut. The fuck. Up.” The knuckles in my fisted hands bleached.“I don't want to see you torture yourself,” he sai
SARAHI heard myself drawing a breath into my lungs. It was a wheezing sound, and the movement of my chest came with a great deal of pain. Then I heard something else—voices. I couldn't understand what they were saying… It was… Chinese?The realization triggered an alarm that spread throughout my aching body. Fear clung around me tightly, forming a thick, almost material cover, nearly as real as the sheets on my body. Then I heard one voice I recognized. The sound doubled the terror consuming me. Lucius. He and someone else were arguing about… something. Their voices were raised, their edges sharp, their tones cold…I opened my eyes and blinked, trying to adjust my sight, but it remained blurry no matter how hard I tried to focus. I struggled for another few seconds before I could see more clearly. Wherever I was, it looked like an enormous bedroom. The bed I was lying in was double the size I had in my penthouse. A huge window was several feet to the left of the bed, and the palm tre
The outer corridor had been completely annihilated by the explosives, and more than four of our men had lost their lives. Their bloodied bodies lay close enough for some of the guests to see, and the cries and screams became unstoppable in seconds. The alarms went off, and an automated steel shield quickly covered every glass wall. At the same time, the recorded voice announced that the main hall had been secured and separated until the situation was under control. That, of course, didn't lessen the panic devouring almost everyone inside.My eyes shifted to Sarah and Liam. They were still standing on the round podium in the middle of the hall while some of the terrified guests ran in every direction, ineptly trying to find the way out, as if it weren't obvious that they could get shot if they did. Sarah hugged Liam tightly, moving to the center of the dais, trying to stay away from the crowd of panicked people. My first instinct was to get them far away from that podium, but with the
ALEXI was sitting by my desk, rubbing my thumb over my still-swollen knuckles. Well, that's what you get after punching the wall hard enough to stain it with your blood. Let's just say that I hadn't taken the news about Natasha Collins well. Not only did she betray our family—the family she had been working for for years—but she had nearly killed my grandmother. Perhaps it was fortunate that it was Sarah and her bodyguards who exposed her. If it had been me, I would have snapped her neck before I could have willed myself to exhibit reasonable behavior.“I thought you would be celebrating.” Grayson eyed me as he entered my office. “With all the accusations, the Duncans will sure as hell end up in jail.”“They found Marisol Martinez dead this morning. Someone slit her throat,” I said, rubbing my knuckles again as I struggled to contain my rising anger. “It's obvious to think that someone did it to silence her, but I somehow doubt that Gregory Duncan was behind this. Her testimony would
“I still can't believe that I can officially meet with Alex without hiding,” I said softly, holding Eleonor's hand. “Of course, that doesn't mean that everything's OK between us, but I cannot deny that he's trying.” I couldn't stop the smile from parting my lips as I thought of all the roses he had sent to my apartment. I was probably blushing, and Eleonor would have laughed if she had seen me looking like this… I missed her laugh and her remarks. Every day, I prayed that she would finally wake up. My chest tightened at the thought that she might never—No. I couldn't think about it. She was going to wake up. I had to believe she would. I sucked in a shaky breath and cleared my throat. “Anyway,” I continued. “Alex officially announced that he and Jeanette Duncan are no longer engaged. He said that they parted due to insurmountable differences. That, of course, doesn't change the fact that Jeanette is pregnant and that the child is Alex's.” I sighed and brushed a strand of hair off Ele