🌹 Damien 🌹I waited until Aurora left before moving.The moment the door shut behind her, I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadn’t used in a long time.It rang twice before a familiar voice answered.“Damien. Didn’t think I’d hear from you again.”“Spare me the pleasantries, Logan,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair. “I need information.”Logan chuckled. “And here I thought you only called to check in on old friends.”“We were never friends.”“Ouch.” He didn’t sound offended in the slightest. “Alright, what do you need?”I hesitated, choosing my words carefully. “I want everything you can dig up on Bryan Sterling’s movements for the last twenty-five years. His business dealings, his private arrangements, anyone he’s worked with in the shadows.”There was a pause on the other end.“You’re serious.”“I wouldn’t be calling if I wasn’t.”Logan sighed. “You know this isn’t the kind of thing people just hand over, right? If Sterling catches wind of this—”“I’ll handle
🌹 Aurora 🌹I had spent the past few days pretending everything was fine.Pretending Damien’s words hadn’t lodged themselves in my mind like a splinter.Your father isn’t 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 wasn’t dropping hints about something far worse.But I couldn’t 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 father’s house.---The drive to the Sinclair estate was too quiet.The last time I’d 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 wife—composed, 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.“Miss Sinclair?” a voice
🌹Aurora 🌹I stood outside my father’s study, my pulse thrumming in my ears.The heavy mahogany door loomed before me, a symbol of the power my father had wielded for years—power 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 truth—at least, his version of it. But I needed to hear it from my father’s lips. I needed to know if the man I had idolized my entire life had really sold our family’s future to a man like Bryan Sterling.Taking a slow breath, I knocked.Silence.Then, a low voice. “Come in.”I pushed the door open and stepped inside.The study was exactly as I remembered—floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a grand oak desk cluttered with documents, and the lingering scent of my father’s 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
🌹 Aurora 🌹The weight of my father’s words followed me long after I left his study.A marriage. A deal. A betrayal.I couldn’t 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 chip—an 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 didn’t belong here anymore.But I needed answers.I couldn’t just take my father’s word for it. I needed proof—something 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 father’s study.The door was closed, but the lock was old—I had picked it before.I pressed my ear against the wood,
🌹 Aurora 🌹I 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 signatures—the evidence of my father’s 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 wasn’t, I wouldn’t just be uncovering secrets—I’d 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 didn’t hear my mother’s 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
🌹 Damien 🌹Secrets 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 families’ corruption ran.Aurora’s 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 wasn’t just shock—this was betrayal, curling around her like a vice.“We were never meant to have a choice, were we?” she murmured, her voice eerily calm.I clenched my jaw. “No.”Our engagement, our so-called arranged marriage, hadn’t been about tradition. It hadn’t even been about business.It had been about control.The Sinclair and Sterling empires were built on more than just wealth—they were built on a foundation of lies, deals made in shadows, and blood debts passed down like an inheritance.Aurora flipped through another page,
🌹 Aurora 🌹For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like I belonged to my family.Everything I thought I knew—the empire my father built, the legacy my parents spoke of, the marriage I had been forced into—was 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 wasn’t 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.“This is bigger than us,” I murmured, running my fingers over the inked pages. “This is about control. About power that stretches far beyond our families.”Damien stopped pacing and looked at me. “Exactly. And if we don’t play this right, we’re going to be their
🌹 Damien 🌹Vincent Morelli leaned back in his chair, the dim light casting sharp shadows across his face. His smirk was gone now, replaced by something colder—something that told me we weren’t 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 didn’t give her one.Instead, I kept my gaze locked on Morelli. “You like games, don’t you?” I said, my voice steady.His lips twitched. “Only when I know I’m winning.”I folded my arms. “Then tell us what’s coming on June 18th. Because if you think we’re just going to sit back and let whatever happens destroy us, you don’t know us very well.”Morelli chuckled, a slow, deliberate sound that sent a chill down my spine. “See, that’s the thing. You two weren’t supposed to know about any of this
🌹 Aurora 🌹The weight of betrayal sat heavy on my chest.The past few days had been a whirlwind of chaos—public 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 Damien’s 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.“This isn’t just a smear campaign,” he muttered. “Caldwell knows exactly where to strike.”I crossed my arms, pacing the room. “Because someone is feeding him information.”Damien’s fingers froze on the keys. He lifted his gaze to meet mine, his expression unreadable. “You think there’s a leak?”I swallowed hard. “I know there is.”The things Caldwell had exposed weren’t just public knowledge. He had target
🌹 Aurora 🌹The 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 family’s legacy like vultures tearing into a fresh carcass.“Reynolds Pharmaceuticals in Crisis: Allegations of Fraud Surface”“Hawthorne Biotech’s CEO Exposes Corporate Corruption”“Aurora Reynolds and Damien Sterling: The Faces of a Dying Empire?”Aurora clenched her jaw and scrolled through the articles, each one worse than the last. Every accusation, every leaked document, every carefully placed “anonymous source” was designed to erode trust in Reynolds Pharmaceuticals.The worst part?This wasn’t just corporate warfare. This was personal.Alistair Hawthorne wasn’t just trying to dismantle the company—he 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 wouldn’t stop buzzing—calls 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:“Reynolds Pharmaceuticals: A Legacy Built on Lies?”Aurora’s 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 exposé released by Hawthorne Biotech’s CEO, Alistair Hawthorne, the evidence is damning.Her hands clenched around her phone as she scrolled through the attached documents—bank transactio
🌹 Damien 🌹The drive to my father’s 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 wasn’t resisting this time, wasn’t 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 wasn’t anything good.I reached over, resting a hand on her thigh. “You don’t have to come in.”She turned to me, her gaze locking onto mine. “I want to.”I exhaled through my nose, gripping the steering wheel tighter. I wasn’t sure what I was about to walk into with my father, but I knew it wouldn’t be pleasant. Aurora didn’t 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
🌹 Damien 🌹The 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.I’d 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, I’d 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 hadn’t known in years.And yet, as I lay there, staring at her, a dull ache settled in my chest.Because peace wasn’t something men like me could afford.And she had no idea what she was walking into.My father’s words from last night echoed in my mind."You think you can protect her from this world, Da
🌹 Aurora 🌹The night air was thick with tension.As Damien and I stepped out of his father’s 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 power—he was power itself.His words lingered in my mind, laced with condescension and veiled threats."You think you’re in control? You’re nothing but a pawn in a game you don’t 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 hadn’t said a word since we left his father’s office, but his grip on my wrist was firm, his movements controlled—too 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
🌹 Aurora 🌹The 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 wasn’t already seared into my mind.Our names were on it.I had never been naïve 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 didn’t 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. “What are we supposed to do now?”His eyes didn’t leave the road. “We go to my father.”I snapped my head toward him. “Are you insane?”“No.” His tone was clipped. “We don’t have a choice.”I let out a sharp breath. “Victor Sterling is part of this. He knew what was happening. You really think he’s just going to hand us the trut
🌹 Damien 🌹Vincent Morelli leaned back in his chair, the dim light casting sharp shadows across his face. His smirk was gone now, replaced by something colder—something that told me we weren’t 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 didn’t give her one.Instead, I kept my gaze locked on Morelli. “You like games, don’t you?” I said, my voice steady.His lips twitched. “Only when I know I’m winning.”I folded my arms. “Then tell us what’s coming on June 18th. Because if you think we’re just going to sit back and let whatever happens destroy us, you don’t know us very well.”Morelli chuckled, a slow, deliberate sound that sent a chill down my spine. “See, that’s the thing. You two weren’t supposed to know about any of this
🌹 Aurora 🌹For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like I belonged to my family.Everything I thought I knew—the empire my father built, the legacy my parents spoke of, the marriage I had been forced into—was 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 wasn’t 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.“This is bigger than us,” I murmured, running my fingers over the inked pages. “This is about control. About power that stretches far beyond our families.”Damien stopped pacing and looked at me. “Exactly. And if we don’t play this right, we’re going to be their