đš Damien đšI waited until Aurora left before moving.The moment the door shut behind her, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadnât used in a long time.It rang twice before a familiar voice answered.âDamien. Didnât think Iâd hear from you again.ââSpare me the pleasantries, Logan,â I muttered, running a hand through my hair. âI need information.âLogan chuckled. âAnd here I thought you only called to check in on old friends.ââWe were never friends.ââOuch.â He didnât sound offended in the slightest. âAlright, what do you need?âI hesitated, choosing my words carefully. âI want everything you can dig up on Bryan Sterlingâs movements for the last twenty-five years. His business dealings, his private arrangements, anyone heâs worked with in the shadows.âThere was a pause on the other end.âYouâre serious.ââI wouldnât be calling if I wasnât.âLogan sighed. âYou know this isnât the kind of thing people just hand over, right? If Sterling catches wind of thisâââIâll handle
đš Damien đšI waited until Aurora left before moving.The moment the door shut behind her, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadnât used in a long time.It rang twice before a familiar voice answered.âDamien. Didnât think Iâd hear from you again.ââSpare me the pleasantries, Logan,â I muttered, running a hand through my hair. âI need information.âLogan chuckled. âAnd here I thought you only called to check in on old friends.ââWe were never friends.ââOuch.â He didnât sound offended in the slightest. âAlright, what do you need?âI hesitated, choosing my words carefully. âI want everything you can dig up on Bryan Sterlingâs movements for the last twenty-five years. His business dealings, his private arrangements, anyone heâs worked with in the shadows.âThere was a pause on the other end.âYouâre serious.ââI wouldnât be calling if I wasnât.âLogan sighed. âYou know this isnât the kind of thing people just hand over, right? If Sterling catches wind of thisâââIâll handle
đš Damien đšI waited until Aurora left before moving.The moment the door shut behind her, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadnât used in a long time.It rang twice before a familiar voice answered.âDamien. Didnât think Iâd hear from you again.ââSpare me the pleasantries, Logan,â I muttered, running a hand through my hair. âI need information.âLogan chuckled. âAnd here I thought you only called to check in on old friends.ââWe were never friends.ââOuch.â He didnât sound offended in the slightest. âAlright, what do you need?âI hesitated, choosing my words carefully. âI want everything you can dig up on Bryan Sterlingâs movements for the last twenty-five years. His business dealings, his private arrangements, anyone heâs worked with in the shadows.âThere was a pause on the other end.âYouâre serious.ââI wouldnât be calling if I wasnât.âLogan sighed. âYou know this isnât the kind of thing people just hand over, right? If Sterling catches wind of thisâââIâll handle
đš Aurora đšI had spent the past few days pretending everything was fine.Pretending Damienâs words hadnât lodged themselves in my mind like a splinter.Your father isnât the man you think he is.I wanted to ignore it. I wanted to believe that Damien was just being cryptic for the sake of it, that he wasnât dropping hints about something far worse.But I couldnât ignore the feeling in my gut.Something was wrong.And the only place I could start looking for answers was the one place I had been avoiding for months.My fatherâs house.---The drive to the Sinclair estate was too quiet.The last time Iâd been here, my father had barely looked at me. He had been distant for months, drowning in work, shutting me out every time I tried to ask what was wrong.And my mother? She had always played the role of the perfect wifeâcomposed, elegant, unwavering. Even when the world around us was crumbling.I pulled up to the iron gates, my hands clammy as I hit the buzzer.âMiss Sinclair?â a voice
đšAurora đšI stood outside my fatherâs study, my pulse thrumming in my ears.The heavy mahogany door loomed before me, a symbol of the power my father had wielded for yearsâpower that had protected and provided for our family. But now, that same power had put us in danger.I curled my fingers into fists, forcing myself to steady my breathing.Damien had told me the truthâat least, his version of it. But I needed to hear it from my fatherâs lips. I needed to know if the man I had idolized my entire life had really sold our familyâs future to a man like Bryan Sterling.Taking a slow breath, I knocked.Silence.Then, a low voice. âCome in.âI pushed the door open and stepped inside.The study was exactly as I rememberedâfloor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a grand oak desk cluttered with documents, and the lingering scent of my fatherâs cologne. The air was thick with the weight of unfinished conversations, of questions I had never dared to ask.My father sat behind his desk, glasses perched
đš Aurora đšThe weight of my fatherâs words followed me long after I left his study.A marriage. A deal. A betrayal.I couldnât wrap my head around it.My father had sold nearly half of Sinclair Industries to Bryan Sterling, and in return, he had offered me up like a bargaining chipâan unspoken promise of unity between our families.I clenched my fists as I paced in my old bedroom. The walls were still painted in soft ivory, the bookshelves lined with novels I had once adored, and yet, the space felt foreign. I didnât belong here anymore.But I needed answers.I couldnât just take my fatherâs word for it. I needed proofâsomething concrete to show me exactly what kind of mess he had dragged our family into.And I knew exactly where to look.The Office of LiesAfter making sure my mother was preoccupied in the kitchen, I slipped down the hallway, retracing my steps to my fatherâs study.The door was closed, but the lock was oldâI had picked it before.I pressed my ear against the wood,
đš Aurora đšI barely slept that night. The weight of the documents I had found pressed down on me like a suffocating fog, my mind refusing to quiet down. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the signaturesâthe evidence of my fatherâs entanglement with Bryan Sterling.I had come looking for answers. Now, I had them. But I was no closer to knowing what to do.Lying in my childhood bed, staring at the ceiling, I realized something chilling. If my father had gone to such lengths to hide this deal, how far would Sterling go to ensure it stayed buried?A shiver ran down my spine. I needed to move carefully. Because if I wasnât, I wouldnât just be uncovering secretsâIâd be painting a target on my back.The house was eerily quiet when I stepped out of my room. The scent of coffee drifted through the halls, but I didnât hear my motherâs usual morning chatter. She must have still been asleep. My father was nowhere to be seen, either.Good. That gave me time.I needed to leave before either of t
đš Damien đšSecrets had a way of festering, growing into something monstrous the longer they remained buried. And now, as I sat across from Aurora in my office, sifting through the mess of documents she had uncovered, I realized just how deep our familiesâ corruption ran.Auroraâs face was pale, her fingers clutching the edges of a worn folder as if it were the last piece holding her together. I had seen her shaken before, but this was different. This wasnât just shockâthis was betrayal, curling around her like a vice.âWe were never meant to have a choice, were we?â she murmured, her voice eerily calm.I clenched my jaw. âNo.âOur engagement, our so-called arranged marriage, hadnât been about tradition. It hadnât even been about business.It had been about control.The Sinclair and Sterling empires were built on more than just wealthâthey were built on a foundation of lies, deals made in shadows, and blood debts passed down like an inheritance.Aurora flipped through another page,
đš Aurora đšThe weight of betrayal sat heavy on my chest.The past few days had been a whirlwind of chaosâpublic backlash, financial losses, and desperate damage control. Every time we thought we had a grip on the situation, something new surfaced, threatening to pull us under.And now, standing in Damienâs penthouse, I could feel the walls closing in on us.Across from me, Damien was seated at his desk, his face illuminated by the glow of his laptop screen. His jaw was set, his fingers moving swiftly over the keyboard as he analyzed the latest reports on Reynolds Pharmaceuticals.âThis isnât just a smear campaign,â he muttered. âCaldwell knows exactly where to strike.âI crossed my arms, pacing the room. âBecause someone is feeding him information.âDamienâs fingers froze on the keys. He lifted his gaze to meet mine, his expression unreadable. âYou think thereâs a leak?âI swallowed hard. âI know there is.âThe things Caldwell had exposed werenât just public knowledge. He had target
đš Aurora đšThe city buzzed with whispers of scandal, but inside Reynolds Pharmaceuticals, the silence was suffocating.Aurora sat in her office, staring at the countless headlines flooding her screen. Every major news outlet had picked up the story, dissecting her familyâs legacy like vultures tearing into a fresh carcass.âReynolds Pharmaceuticals in Crisis: Allegations of Fraud SurfaceââHawthorne Biotechâs CEO Exposes Corporate CorruptionââAurora Reynolds and Damien Sterling: The Faces of a Dying Empire?âAurora clenched her jaw and scrolled through the articles, each one worse than the last. Every accusation, every leaked document, every carefully placed âanonymous sourceâ was designed to erode trust in Reynolds Pharmaceuticals.The worst part?This wasnât just corporate warfare. This was personal.Alistair Hawthorne wasnât just trying to dismantle the companyâhe was trying to ruin her family.And he was succeeding.A sharp knock at the door snapped her out of her thoughts. Dam
The morning the world turned against Reynolds Pharmaceuticals, Aurora knew something was wrong before she even saw the headlines.Her phone wouldnât stop buzzingâcalls from unknown numbers, frantic texts from colleagues, missed calls from Damien. The air in her penthouse felt thick with something unspoken, a warning whispering through the walls.Then she saw it.The headline was everywhere, plastered across news outlets, trending on social media:âReynolds Pharmaceuticals: A Legacy Built on Lies?âAuroraâs stomach twisted as she clicked on the article. The words on the screen blurred together in a haze of disbelief.Leaked documents suggest that Reynolds Pharmaceuticals has engaged in unethical drug trials, falsified reports, and concealed dangerous side effects of its best-selling medications. In an exposĂŠ released by Hawthorne Biotechâs CEO, Alistair Hawthorne, the evidence is damning.Her hands clenched around her phone as she scrolled through the attached documentsâbank transactio
đš Damien đšThe drive to my fatherâs estate was silent, but the tension in the air was thick. Aurora sat beside me, her hands folded neatly in her lap, her expression unreadable. She wasnât resisting this time, wasnât pushing back the way she usually did. But I could see the storm brewing in her eyes.She was thinking. Processing. And I knew that whatever was going through her mind, it wasnât anything good.I reached over, resting a hand on her thigh. âYou donât have to come in.âShe turned to me, her gaze locking onto mine. âI want to.âI exhaled through my nose, gripping the steering wheel tighter. I wasnât sure what I was about to walk into with my father, but I knew it wouldnât be pleasant. Aurora didnât need to be here for it.But she was just as much a part of this as I was now.We arrived at the Sterling estate just as the sun began to set, casting long shadows over the perfectly manicured gardens. The guards let us through without question, and as I stepped out of the car, I
đš Damien đšThe first thing I noticed when I woke up was her.Aurora.Lying beside me, her body still tangled in the sheets, her soft breaths even and rhythmic.Her bare skin glowed under the dim morning light filtering through the massive windows, a stark contrast to the storm she had unleashed in me just hours ago.Iâd meant to be gentle with her. I really had.But she had pushed me, teased me with that defiant fire in her eyes, knowing damn well what it would do to me.And so, Iâd claimed her. Completely.My fingers traced slow circles on her exposed back, watching as she shifted slightly, her face pressing into the pillow. Even in sleep, she looked... at peace.The kind of peace I hadnât known in years.And yet, as I lay there, staring at her, a dull ache settled in my chest.Because peace wasnât something men like me could afford.And she had no idea what she was walking into.My fatherâs words from last night echoed in my mind."You think you can protect her from this world, Da
đš Aurora đšThe night air was thick with tension.As Damien and I stepped out of his fatherâs office, the weight of what we had just uncovered pressed down on me like a vice.Victor Sterling was not just a man who controlled powerâhe was power itself.His words lingered in my mind, laced with condescension and veiled threats."You think youâre in control? Youâre nothing but a pawn in a game you donât even understand."For the first time since I entered this world, I felt small.Insignificant.Like a thread in a carefully woven web of deception that stretched far beyond what I had imagined.Beside me, Damien was tense, his posture rigid as we walked down the grand hallway of the Sterling estate. He hadnât said a word since we left his fatherâs office, but his grip on my wrist was firm, his movements controlledâtoo controlled.I could feel the storm brewing inside him.And I knew it was only a matter of time before it exploded.We stepped outside into the cool night air, the silence b
đš Aurora đšThe city lights blurred as Damien sped through the streets, the black list burning in my lap. I gripped it tightly, as if holding it any looser would make it disappear, as if the truth inside it wasnât already seared into my mind.Our names were on it.I had never been naĂŻve enough to believe we were untouchable, but this was different. Seeing our names among men who had vanished, who had been silenced, sent a chill through my veins.Damien didnât speak. His fingers clenched around the steering wheel, his jaw tight with the kind of rage that simmered just beneath the surface. The kind that meant something dangerous was brewing.My stomach twisted. âWhat are we supposed to do now?âHis eyes didnât leave the road. âWe go to my father.âI snapped my head toward him. âAre you insane?ââNo.â His tone was clipped. âWe donât have a choice.âI let out a sharp breath. âVictor Sterling is part of this. He knew what was happening. You really think heâs just going to hand us the trut
đš Damien đšVincent Morelli leaned back in his chair, the dim light casting sharp shadows across his face. His smirk was gone now, replaced by something colderâsomething that told me we werenât just playing in dangerous waters.We were drowning in them.Aurora stood beside me, her fingers clenched into fists at her sides. She was good at hiding it, but I could feel her tension, the way her breath hitched when Morelli spoke, the way she stole a glance at me like she was waiting for my reaction.I didnât give her one.Instead, I kept my gaze locked on Morelli. âYou like games, donât you?â I said, my voice steady.His lips twitched. âOnly when I know Iâm winning.âI folded my arms. âThen tell us whatâs coming on June 18th. Because if you think weâre just going to sit back and let whatever happens destroy us, you donât know us very well.âMorelli chuckled, a slow, deliberate sound that sent a chill down my spine. âSee, thatâs the thing. You two werenât supposed to know about any of this
đš Aurora đšFor the first time in my life, I didnât feel like I belonged to my family.Everything I thought I knewâthe empire my father built, the legacy my parents spoke of, the marriage I had been forced intoâwas nothing but a carefully woven lie.And now, Damien and I were at the center of it.I sat on the couch in his penthouse, my fingers ghosting over the worn pages of the black book we had uncovered. Each name, each number, each carefully documented exchange was a piece of a puzzle I wasnât sure I wanted to solve.But we had no choice.I looked up to find Damien pacing in front of me, his expression carved from stone. He had always been unreadable, but now, there was something sharper in his eyes. Something dangerous.âThis is bigger than us,â I murmured, running my fingers over the inked pages. âThis is about control. About power that stretches far beyond our families.âDamien stopped pacing and looked at me. âExactly. And if we donât play this right, weâre going to be their