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Chapter sixty two
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-02-25 00:13:30
Bab terkait
Love and deceit Chapter sixty three
🌹 Aurora 🌹Aurora awoke to the steady rhythm of Damien’s breathing beside her. The room was dimly lit now, the glow of the lantern casting soft shadows across the walls. It took her a moment to remember where she was—and why she was still here.Her heart stammered as she turned her head slightly, finding Damien resting just inches away. His face was relaxed in sleep, the sharp edges of his usual guarded expression softened. Without the weight of his usual arrogance or smirks, he looked almost peaceful. Almost human.Aurora swallowed hard and glanced at the door. She should leave. This was too dangerous—whatever this was between them.But as she moved to sit up, Damien stirred. His hand, which had been resting on the mattress, shifted and brushed against hers.“Aurora,” he murmured, voice rough with sleep.She froze, her breath catching. He wasn’t fully awake, but the way he said her name sent a shiver down her spine. It wasn’t teasing or demanding. It was… gentle.“I—” She stopped h
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-26Love and deceit Chapter sixty four
🌹Damien 🌹The night was deep and clear, the full moon casting a silver glow over the estate. I found myself on the terrace, away from the stifling formality of the day—a quiet refuge where the noise of duty was replaced by the gentle rustle of leaves and the soft chirping of crickets. The cool night air wrapped around me, and for a rare moment, I allowed myself to breathe freely.Aurora had joined me there. Earlier, she had excused herself from the bustle of the reception to seek solace under the open sky. When she appeared at the terrace door, I almost didn’t notice her through the soft light. But then our eyes met, and something in that glance spoke of unspoken dreams and fragile hopes. I motioned for her to sit beside me on the stone bench.For a long while, we sat in silence, our shared quiet punctuated only by the distant sound of the city and the whisper of the wind through the trees. I felt a stirring inside—an emotion I had long kept buried beneath layers of duty and strateg
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-26Love and deceit Chapter sixty five
🌹 Damien 🌹The knock on the door was sharp and urgent. Who could that be, at this early hour of the day.I was already expecting bad news. It always came when things felt too quiet.Pulling the door open, I found one of my men standing there, his face grim. “Sir, Victoria sent a message. It’s urgent.”Behind me, Aurora tensed at the mention of her name.I took the sealed envelope from him, tore it open, and scanned the words. My grip tightened.“She’s summoning us.” My voice was cold. “Apparently, she wants to ‘discuss’ Reynolds Pharmaceuticals.”Aurora stood from the couch, her arms crossed. “You don’t think she’ll try anything, do you?”I met her gaze. “Victoria doesn’t call unless she’s already set a trap.”Aurora frowned. “Then why go?”I exhaled, already irritated by this game Victoria was playing. “Because avoiding her gives her power. And I’m done playing by her rules.”She hesitated, then stepped closer. “I’m going with you.”“No.”“Yes.”“Aurora—”She lifted her chin, refu
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-26Love and deceit Chapter sixty five
🌹 Damien 🌹The knock on the door was sharp and urgent. Who could that be, at this early hour of the day.I was already expecting bad news. It always came when things felt too quiet.Pulling the door open, I found one of my men standing there, his face grim. “Sir, Victoria sent a message. It’s urgent.”Behind me, Aurora tensed at the mention of her name.I took the sealed envelope from him, tore it open, and scanned the words. My grip tightened.“She’s summoning us.” My voice was cold. “Apparently, she wants to ‘discuss’ Reynolds Pharmaceuticals.”Aurora stood from the couch, her arms crossed. “You don’t think she’ll try anything, do you?”I met her gaze. “Victoria doesn’t call unless she’s already set a trap.”Aurora frowned. “Then why go?”I exhaled, already irritated by this game Victoria was playing. “Because avoiding her gives her power. And I’m done playing by her rules.”She hesitated, then stepped closer. “I’m going with you.”“No.”“Yes.”“Aurora—”She lifted her chin, refu
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-26Love and deceit Chapter sixty five
🌹 Damien 🌹The knock on the door was sharp and urgent. Who could that be, at this early hour of the day.I was already expecting bad news. It always came when things felt too quiet.Pulling the door open, I found one of my men standing there, his face grim. “Sir, Victoria sent a message. It’s urgent.”Behind me, Aurora tensed at the mention of her name.I took the sealed envelope from him, tore it open, and scanned the words. My grip tightened.“She’s summoning us.” My voice was cold. “Apparently, she wants to ‘discuss’ Reynolds Pharmaceuticals.”Aurora stood from the couch, her arms crossed. “You don’t think she’ll try anything, do you?”I met her gaze. “Victoria doesn’t call unless she’s already set a trap.”Aurora frowned. “Then why go?”I exhaled, already irritated by this game Victoria was playing. “Because avoiding her gives her power. And I’m done playing by her rules.”She hesitated, then stepped closer. “I’m going with you.”“No.”“Yes.”“Aurora—”She lifted her chin, refu
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-26Love and deceit Chapter sixty six
🌹 Aurora 🌹 The tension from Victoria’s threat still lingered, thick as smoke. Damien didn’t bring it up again. Neither did I. Instead, we drove in silence, the morning sun casting long shadows across the road. My fingers still tingled from the brief kiss I had given him, and my heart pounded against my ribs—not from fear, but from something far more dangerous. I hadn’t planned to do it. It just happened. And now, I had no idea what he was thinking. Damien kept his eyes on the road, his grip firm on the wheel, his expression unreadable. No reaction. No teasing smirk. No reprimand. Just silence. I stole a glance at him. The sunlight illuminated the sharp lines of his face, making it impossible to decipher his thoughts. Fine. Two could play that game. I turned my gaze back to the road, crossing my arms. If he wanted to act like nothing had happened, then I wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up. When we pulled into the estate, Damien killed the engine and sat there for a mom
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-26Love and deceit Chapter sixty seven
🌹 Damien 🌹The morning had been quiet. Too quiet.Aurora had spent most of it in the kitchen, surprising the staff and herself with how easily she fit into the estate’s daily rhythm. I hadn’t expected to see her like that—at ease, laughing, throwing a damn piece of bread at me.She was settling in.And that should have been a problem.Instead, it was the only thing keeping me from putting a fist through the nearest wall.Because today, I was going to face my father.The hallway leading to Bryan Sterling’s study was longer than I remembered, or maybe it just felt that way now. The walls, lined with portraits of ancestors I didn’t care about, watched me like silent judges.I shoved open the heavy oak doors without knocking.Bryan Sterling sat behind his mahogany desk, his graying hair perfectly in place, his posture as composed as ever. A man who had built an empire on control. On power.He looked up, his eyes sharp, assessing. “Damien.”I closed the door behind me with more force tha
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-26Love and deceit Chapter sixty eight
🌹 Aurora 🌹Something was wrong.I knew it the moment Damien walked back into the estate.His stride was controlled—too controlled. His jaw was tight, his fingers flexing at his sides like he was restraining himself from breaking something.The few staff members in the hall quickly stepped aside, sensing the storm brewing beneath his carefully composed exterior. He didn’t acknowledge them. He didn’t acknowledge me, either, as he passed.He just kept walking.Straight to his office.I hesitated, watching the door swing shut behind him.I should leave him alone.I knew that.But my feet moved before I could stop myself.I knocked once. No response.I knocked again, harder this time.Still nothing.I exhaled and pushed the door open.Damien stood by the window, his back to me, shoulders tense as he stared out at the estate grounds.For a moment, he didn’t react. Then, without turning around, he said, “Go away, Aurora.”His voice was low. Rough.I ignored him and closed the door behind m
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-26
Bab terbaru
Love and deceit Chapter eighty three
🌹 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
Love and deceit Chapter eighty two
🌹 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
Love and deceit Chapter eighty one
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
Love and deceit Chapter eighty
🌹 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
Love and deceit Chapter seventy nine
🌹 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
Love and deceit Chapter seventy eight
🌹 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
Love and deceit Chapter seventy seven
🌹 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
Love and deceit Chapter seventy six
🌹 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
Love and deceit Chapter seventy five
🌹 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
