REBELPiece by piece, the parasite gnawed away at my patience. Not the marble flooring, the lavish chandeliers, or even the dizzying city vistas from the penthouse windows, but rather being imprisoned in this rich jail, choked me. He was the one. Daniel. His obsessive urge to keep me "safe," his all-consuming infatuation, and his continual monitoring Secure? From what? The entire world? Me? He was unable to comprehend. Then there was his devoted friend Michael, who had likewise determined that I needed to be protected and pampered. Every move I took and every breath I took was tracked by the two of them. Months had passed. Months of oppressive attention to detail, guards following me like shadows, and Daniel's refusal To give me even a moment of solitude. However, tonight was different. Daniel had a crucial meeting that he was unable to cancel for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. His second-in-command, Klaus, was left to watch me while he was away. Klaus with his hundre
DANIELI waited patiently as my penthouse's floor-to-ceiling windows let in the soft glow of the city lights. With each slight twist of my wrist, the rich red liquid swirled in the wine glass in my palm, which remained undisturbed. The world was asleep outside, oblivious to the tempest that was building inside of me. The time was 2:51 a.m. Unnoticed, she had sneaked out. My men were trained professionals, and none of them had noticed her absence. It served as a sharp reminder of her independence. She left because she didn't have to. Because she wanted to, she stayed. Since sSinceerished me. However, she conveyed a different message tonight, reminding me of her true self, her abilities, and the reasons why even my mention of her name made deadly rivals shudder. The last several hours had flown by. Bids from competitors are being withdrawn. Overnight, my stock increased. My adversaries shook as if they had seen a ghost and dispersed like leaves in the wind. Her face was not concealed. S
HAILEYThrough the curtains, the evening light created a lovely glow, but the tension in the room was anything but mild. The hours I spent entangled in Daniel's arms left my body hurting. I was left feeling exhausted and hurt by his unrelenting enthusiasm, which was a combination of possessiveness and desperation. It felt like he was reclaiming me with each touch and word he uttered as if he was afraid I would elude him. I didn't put all the blame on him. Even though I meant to protect him, I had set off his deepest insecurity. Daniel's intense affection for me was accompanied by a risky fragility. I was his greatest asset and his unwavering compass, but I was also his weakness. Klaus came in with news that sent a chill down my spine: "Your father sent someone to assist us," Klaus said, his tone carefully neutral, "His name is Robert." Daniel wouldn't let me leave his sight. He carried me when I needed to use the restroom, insisted on helping when I tried to bathe alone, changed me i
HAILEYThe plan was to spend the afternoon shopping with Klaus's wife, Catya, to unwind. As an alternative, it became a scene from a soap opera. I spent hours trying on dresses in a posh boutique, from flirtatious sundresses to exquisite evening gowns, before I eventually discovered a handful that made me feel amazing. Ready to pay, I walked up to the desk and took out my sleek black card. The cashier gave a tense smile. "Oh, Miss Rebel, payment is unnecessary. All of this has already been resolved. I blinked. "Paiď for?" Indeed. Actually. She paused, her gaze darting between her computer screen and me as though she was concerned about how I would respond. "It appears that you own the deed to this shop. I went nùmb. How can I own something and no nothing of it? Catya leaned against the counter and gave a low whistle. "You know your man can make a statement, don't you?" "A Statement? This is outright ridiculous! I fumed as I fumbled to dial Daniel on my phone. My thoughts were racing.
REBELA quick afternoon's shopping with Klaus's wife, Catya, was to be an easy solution for passing the time in the afternoon. It was instead a scene from a soap opera.After hours of slipping on dresses at a high-end store—varying from ravishing nightgowns to racy sundresses—I had finally found a number of them that made me look and feel like a million bucks. Approaching the checkout station, I got out my black glossy card, ready to pay.The cashier gave a wary smile. "Oh, Miss Rebel, there's no need for that. Everything's taken care of."I raised my eyebrows. "Taken care of?""Yup. Actually…" She hesitated, looking back and forth between me and her computer monitor as if concerned about my reaction. "The deed to this shop is actually in your name."I went still. The deed?Catya whistled softly and leaned against the counter. "Your guy certainly knows how to make an entrance, doesn't he?""Statement? This is on the brink of lunacy!" I cried, wrestling with my phone to dial Daniel. My
KLAUSThe entire office is seriously tense; Daniel is barely holding on; he's like an addict whose drug was taken away from him. We've been stuck here for about a week, Rebel calls occasionally, and this is the only time he's at peace, even for a while, and because she's currently not in the country, it's a very tense atmosphere. How did he think he could think this Tempest of a being? I keep wondering if she's trouble, but she centres on him and can hold her own anywhere she finds herself. I'm brought out of my reverie when I hear Daniel snap at Mia, who is once again barely dressed and trying to shoot a shot at him, but she doesn't get it; if she had a chance to get back with him before it's gone now. He'd never leave Rebel because he's locked."I will tell you this again, Mia: I am not interested in whatever,r fantasy you're cooking, and unless I meet your boss in person unless representatives come in, we don't need to collaborate on anything. You've given me enough headache as it
DANIELBoth Catya and Klaus likely consider me crazy right now, but I don't care; I run up to my, or should I say, our room after seeing the bullet because it's hers.No one in their right senses will kill people with bullets that carry their initials; most people not Rebel, my crazy daredevil of a lover. Law enforcement agencies from different parts of the world have tried everything to recruit her, but she doesn't respond to them. She plays by no one rule but hers, but by some miracle, she loves me just as I love her, so I get away with a lot (I chuckle as I think about this).As I step into my very luxurious room, I hear the shower running and immediately remove my clothing; I had been so irritated all wèeweekouldn't get a single job done and meetings were disastrous despite Kĺaus" efforts and that's mostly because she had to travel and didn't allow me to send anyone to be with her or even let me visit because according to her it's healthy to stay away from each other for days to a
ROBERTAT HIS OFFICEI stare into space as the blond hair lady suc** my dic*, she's making so much sound enjoying herself bobbing her head up and down but I'm unmoved; she isn't the one I desire the one I desire is too far away from me, unreachable so while I get frustrated and tired of not being able to have her in the meantime to have a good time I imagine them all to be her. This is how I even get to enjoy sex now. I hold her head still, then fuc* her mouth till I cum, and she swallows.I spin her around with her back facing me while I sheath myself, raise her very tiny skirt to see her bare with her folds extremely wet while simply slamming into her. She feels good, but I know she could never feel as good as Rebel, and with this thought in my head,d, I quicken my pace and drill hard into her before cumming. I dispose of the foil, then adjust my clothing, and then her annoying voice speaks. "Why do you still use condoms with me when you're the only man I'm sleeping with?""Is that
ROBERT The club was dark, throbbing with slow, hypnotic rhythms that shook the floor. The conversations were submerged under the music, and that was exactly why we were there. Somewhere like this guaranteed discretion—nobody paid attention to anyone unless they were half-naked or waving cash. I slid into the frayed leather booth in the back, my back against the wall. A waiter hovered nearby, but I pushed him aside. I wasn't here to drink. The man across from me, on the other hand, had a glass of whiskey in front of him, twirling it slowly like we had all the time in the world. He was older, around forty maybe, with a tailored suit that yelled money. There wasn't anything particularly conspicuous about him—no scars, no tattoos to flash, nothing that would make him stand out in a crowd. That was precisely what made him so deadly. He was the kind of man who worked behind the scenes, the kind you did not see approaching until it was too late. "You're late," he said to me, voice smoo
MIA I didn't need Robert, not really. But I was here anyway.I came because no matter what it is that I do, he'd never even look at me. Once upon a time he cared, he never loved me but he cared. He used to give me every material and I never cared about his many whores yet immediately he met her, he wouldn't even let any female close to him. What is it that she has that I don't?, What makes her different or special? Now, I've discovered that she is the daughter to my employers who are practical royalties rolling in their billions, their heiress. She has everything without even trying. The restaurant was upscale, the kind of place where corporate executives cut deals over hundred-dollar steaks and old whiskey. Dark, quiet, reserved. The perfect place for a conversation that no one else needed to hear about. I smoothed my silk shirt over, ignoring the tightness in my chest. The last I'd had the displeasure of seeing Robert was when he'd stood in the shadows, watching with that sneeri
MICHAEL The restaurant was quiet, the kind where people whispered and the air stank of expensive wine and aged wood. I sat at a table in the rear corner, back against the wall, eyes on the door. Old habits never died, no matter how much time passed. Jacque Rhodes walked in five minutes later, his presence commanding even in the dim lighting. He was tall, with a build of a man who'd never known frailty, and he had on a crisp black suit that probably cost more than most individuals made in a year. His eyes found me right away. I didn't stand when he approached, but when he reached the table, I did rise, extending a hand. "Jacque." "Michael." His handshake was strong, the kind that betrayed strength and dominance, but I missed the stiffness in his posture. He was a man used to being in control, used to repairing things with power and money. But this? This was something that power and money couldn't fix. We sat, and Jacque shooed the waitress away before she had a chance to
REBEL The house was too quiet as we returned, yet I was pissed, so much so that I hadn't spoken a word as we returned home. It wasn't the quiet of a peaceful stillness that had settled over the house when everything was all right. It was the heavy, crushing quiet—the kind that sat on my chest and made breathing difficult. I stood in the middle of the living room, my arms crossed so tightly they ached. Daniel sat opposite me, his posture unselfconsciously loose. But I knew it for what it was. His hands were jammed into pockets, his feet firmly planted, and his face impassive. But the tension emanating from him was tangible. He knew I was mad this time around. He's always gone overboard but this was crossing a line he shouldn't have and the consequence is dawning on him now. He knew what was going to happen. I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice level. "How long?" Daniel didn't pretend not to know. He breathed slowly and deliberately before speaking. "A while." I cle
CARLY RHODESI had a hollow in my chest for twenty-two years.A hollow where my daughter should have been.When I first heard her name spoken aloud-Rebel-I came close to collapsing. My husband steadied me before my knees could strike the floor, but nothing could catch the breath that left my body.Rebel.My little girl.All these years, I had dreamed about this moment. A reunion, a miracle. I had dreamt of the time when I would have her in my arms, kiss her hair, and say how much I had missed her.But standing there before me now, staring at the young woman standing before me, I realized something awful.She didn't recognize me.And worse-she didn't care.She stood stiffly by a man whose presence alone had the air thick with tension, a man whose fingers lay possessively at the base of her spine, poised for her to run at any moment. His dark eyes fixed me, unreadable and calculating.But it wasn't him I was afraid of.It was her.Her cold, hard eyes. The way she stood like a soldier go
KLAUS The vehicle was too damn quiet.Not quiet enough to give you calm. This was more the sort that clung to the air, heavy on your chest, forcing it to struggle to breathe. It was oppressive, thick with things unspoken, tension so fragile it would cut you.Daniel was beside me in the passenger seat, as stiff as a rod of steel. His hands had not moved since he got into the car-still fists, still pressed against his thighs like he was holding himself together with determination.In the back window, Rebel was sitting back there with her back to the glass. I couldn't tell what she was feeling, but I could see the tension in her posture. Her shoulders were back, she was rigid. Like she was steeling herself for something.She didn't know.Daniel was not just angry. He wasn't just irritable.He was scared.And I'd never seen him do that before.I gritted my teeth and gripped the wheel. The ride went on, nothing but the vibration of the road beneath the wheels and the occasional shift of R
JACQUE RHODES I used to think that there were only so many moments in life that would move a man to his very foundations. The birth of a child. The death of someone he loved. The realization that he wasn't as in control as he had once thought.Finding out my daughter had been alive all these years? A moment that splintered everything.Carly had cried when we met her. She hadn't cried that way in years-not when we buried the child we believed was gone, not when the years went by with no answers. But there she was, real and alive, standing before us with piercing eyes and a suspicious look that said of struggles we had never stood beside her to fight.And then, just as abruptly as she came-she left.I held the edges of my desk so tightly my knuckles whitened. The glass of whiskey before me went untasted. The storm outside the house matched the one raging inside me.She left with him.That man. Daniel.A stranger. But within that one look, I hated him. Not for believing him unworthy. Bu
DANIELI found her.The moment I stepped into the grand estate, my gaze locked onto Rebel. She sat stiffly on an ornate velvet chair, her expression unreadable. The opulence of the place was suffocating—high ceilings, crystal chandeliers, and furniture that screamed old money. But none of it mattered.What mattered was the way she looked at me.Relief flickered in her eyes, but it was buried beneath something heavier—confusion, doubt. The kind of uncertainty that twisted my stomach into knots.Seated beside her were two people I recognized from my research: Jacque Rhodes, billionaire mogul with power in all the wrong places and more, and Princess Carly Rhodes, royalty with an air of untouchable grace. Rebel’s birth parents.Carly turned her sharp gaze on me, assessing, already deciding I wasn’t good enough. Jacque, on the other hand, looked more amused than anything, like he was waiting to see how I’d react.I knew their type. People who thought they owned the world. People who though
REBEL The moon threw a chill silver glint over the tops of trees as I picked my way silently through the heavy forest, the wet ground cushioning my tread. Every tension in my muscles was drawn to a taut thread of intent, every respiration measured. I had snuck out unbeknownst, moving around the security of the compound like a woman with a lifetime experience of evading those who had thought they could keep her pinned. I didn't need anyone. Not Daniel. Not my father—or handler, as he preferred to refer to himself. This was my problem to solve. Robert had betrayed me. Robert had abandoned me, knowing exactly what it would cost. He knew me well enough to expect that I'd go looking for him. But what he failed to realize—what no one ever quite did—was that I wouldn't hesitate when I found him. I would end it all here once and for all. I tailed him for hours, following a digital trail of breadcrumbs he had so casually left behind. It was too simple, but I was not about to let an oppo