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A WEB OF DECEPTION
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๋ฐ์ดํธ:
2025-03-19 01:26:25
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THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย A GAMBLE TOO FAR
Patrick's POVThere was tension in the air. I was stuck, as Debbie pranced around smiling like a fool, hugging our mom and Becky as they oohed and ahhed over Debbie's pageant adventure to Miami. But I couldn't help but feel that something was not quite right.My gut was telling me that this was not just a pageant trip. It was better. I cleared my throat. "Debbie, I have to talk to you. Alone."She emitted a melodramatic sigh. "Patrick, if this is another of your so-called overprotective homilies, I just don't have timeโ""It's not a choice," I interrupted coldly, asking and giving no quarter. She raised an eyebrow and followed me into my study and shut the door."What is it?" she asked, folding her arms. I drew in a breath, not wanting to sound authoritative. "Exactly who called you concerning this private transportation?"She dismissed her hand. "I said already! Some representatives of the rival." "Did they provide their name? Company?" She pondered. "Noโฆ but they explained that the
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-03-20THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย SURPRISE GUEST
Giselle's POVI leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples because the lighting on my computer screen was hurting. I worked the whole day in the office, and already I was worn out. The last thing that I could ill-afford to squander is attention.And then evidently, I reminded myself that the universe has more interesting things to do with my attention span than leave me alone."Ma'am, you have a package," my assistant Clara announced as she walked into my office, carrying in her hands a black and gold box wrapped in a silk bow. How she struggled to push it into my office, I knew that it must be heavier than it looked.I frowned. "From whom?" Clara hesitated, then put the box on my desk. "It's from Mr. Victor."My stomach knotted. Victor. I stared at the package as if it were a bomb. With Victor, it might have been."Did you sign for it?" I asked. She nodded. "The delivery man just kept saying it was urgent."I released an irritated breath. "Shoo it from my life. And block all his ca
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-03-20THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย A FATHER'S DISCOMFORT
Giselle's POVAntiseptic burned my nostrils as I sat in Dr. Lin's office, doodling distractedly on my dress with my fingers. My head swirled, still attempting to wrap my head around the fact that I'd taken my own health for granted.Dr. Lin, whose brown eyes looked out at me over the edge of her spindly glasses, flipped through my medical records with a flick of her wrist. A gentle sigh escaped her lips before she put the records aside and looked at me. "Giselle, you have to stop stressing yourself," she said quietly but firmly. "You're body is showing signs, and you can't just keep pretending and you're not hearing them."I gulped hard as a surge of guilt swept through me like a clammy cold had around my heart. "I , I didn't mean to," I admitted. "There's just too much that's going on in my life currently."Dr. Lin bent in close, her own face blazing with color. "I know, but you have to look out for yourself and baby. Stress can do horrible things, and if you don't watch yourself, y
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-03-21THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย A BROTHER'S DISCOMFORT
Giselle's POVSunlight poured through my window, filling my bedroom with sunbeams that cut across my bed. I awoke slowly, feeling wonderfully refreshed for the first time in weeks. No meetings to be at, no office, no vile surprises, me and my bed, alone quiet.I lingered there for a moment, relishing the silence, my hand automatically drifting to my belly. A tiny smile tugged at tge corner of my mouth.My baby. Whatever else was happening in my life, this tiny being developing inside me was my highest joy. But as Serene as my morning was, I knew I couldn't spend the entire day in bed. I needed to get up and be productive, something that would put a smile on my face. So I had an idea. Baby shopping.I hadn't even completed arranging everything for giving birth to my baby, and what better time to keep my hands full than going shopping for the softest blankets, the cutest onesies, and all of the little things that my baby would require?Delighted at the prospect, I leapt out of bed and
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-03-21THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย A STORM IN THE CALM
Giselle's POVI slept that next morning better, my body still warm with the sinful bath that Nicholas and I had shared the night before. I felt peaceful for the first time in years. It was strange, the way something as ordinary as a shared moment with my brother had stilled the fears I'd hidden so deep.But in bed, staring up at the soft shaft of morning light that filtered through my curtains, the insistent thought crept into my mind. That odd feeling yesterday still lingered.Something wasn't right. I just didn't know what. I had decided to master the emotion and, instead, eagerly await the day I was going to meet the Miss World delegates to find out what my responsibility as a judge would be. It was something that excited me, something which I had longed for very long.When I dressed, I went downstairs expecting a quiet breakfast before I left. But to my complete surprise, when I walked into the large dining room, my dad was already sitting at the long wooden table.And he wasn't a
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-03-22THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย A RANSOM FOR BECKY
Patrick's POVThe drive to the Miss World registration bureau was longer than I'd expected, and the weight of my own paranoia made every moment seem like it took forever. Debbie, however, rode alongside me in the front seat, talking nineteen to the dozen."I still can't get over the fact that I did it," she said for apparently the hundredth time, scrolling on her phone. "Patrick, how many girls ever get to dream about this? This is huge!" I grinned involuntarily, gripping the steering wheel tighter. "Sure, it's a big thing. But I just want to be sure that everything is alright for you."She arched an eyebrow. "Oh, here we go again. You're paranoid. Nothing is going to happen to me."I wished I could believe what she was saying. I really did. But my gut was telling me otherwise. Ever since that first of the strange phone calls--telling me I needed to marry Becky in a hurry, threatening Von Howard, and all the rest who were going to rebuild my business--I'd been living on pins and need
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-03-22THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
Patrick's POVI walked back and forth across the living room, my fists pushed through my hair, my head a mangled jumble of anger and fear. Becky's life hung in the balance, and I didn't know how to save her. Five million dollars. Where was I going to get that sort of money?I couldn't remove it from my businessโnot without financial disaster. The Hilton Group was already in the doldrums, and to withdraw at short notice would shake up the investors so that it would fold altogether.Patrick, we have to do something," my mother wept, her arms wrapped tightly around her chest as she sat on the couch. Her normally placid face was now etched with raw horror. "We can't just sit here and let those fiends carry Becky away.""I know, Mom," I growled. "But we need a plan. And right now, I don't have one.". My head pounded. I had attempted everything, and time was short. My phone rang again then. Unknown caller. I grabbed the phone on the table and brought it to my ear. "Who is this?"A low, muff
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-03-22THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย A FLIGHT TO FREEDOM
Giselle's POVI'd had enough. I'd been attempting for months to act like my father's secrets and lies didn't affect me. I'd convinced myself that I could just disregard them and focus on my baby. But I wasn't acting anymore. I was repulsed.Every time I saw my dad, I saw a stranger. The wealthy tycoon, the cunning businessmanโwas that all there was to it? A flesh-and-blood man who worked so hard at deceit and lies that he lost his family? I just couldn't do it anymore. I had to get out. I had to breathe."I need some space," I told him that morning, my voice icy. "I'm going on vacation."My father barely flinched. He just breathed out and rubbed his temples, like I'd said something trivial. "Giselle, come on. You don't have to go running off because you're upset."I laughed. "This isn't running. This is me choosing my sanity over your constant lying." His face became a glare. "I don't lieโ" I cut him off. "Stop. Just stop. I don't want to hear it.".He took a deep breath, but I did no
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2025-03-22
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THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย WHISPERS IN THE MIRROR
(Giselle's POV)I was wide awake. The hotel room was too quiet, too quiet for the chaos of thoughts churning in my brain. The ceiling fan creaked pointlessly above me, creating shadow performances on the cream-colored walls. I flipped onto my side, the silk sheets sticking, and stared at the bright face of my phone. No message. No call.Patrick hadn't called in days.I was predestined to be consumed by the Miss World pageant of beauty—the repetitious rehearsal runs, dress fittings, and television spots. I was the face everyone longed to see, the name on every billboard, the woman who had it all. It was all only illusion for me today, though, a sparkly diversion from hurt set on clinging.I winced and sat up, wrapping a robe around me. The door to the balcony was ajar, and the smell of sea breeze wafted in. I went out barefoot, arms wrapped around myself as cold tiles tiptoed acros
THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย WHISPERS IN THE MIRROR
(Giselle's POV)I was wide awake. The hotel room was too quiet, too quiet for the chaos of thoughts churning in my brain. The ceiling fan creaked pointlessly above me, creating shadow performances on the cream-colored walls. I flipped onto my side, the silk sheets sticking, and stared at the bright face of my phone. No message. No call.Patrick hadn't called in days.I was predestined to be consumed by the Miss World pageant of beautyโthe repetitious rehearsal runs, dress fittings, and television spots. I was the face everyone longed to see, the name on every billboard, the woman who had it all. It was all only illusion for me today, though, a sparkly diversion from hurt set on clinging.I winced and sat up, wrapping a robe around me. The door to the balcony was ajar, and the smell of sea breeze wafted in. I went out barefoot, arms wrapped around myself as cold tiles tiptoed across my toes. Miami city lights glowed far away, a city of dreams and deception."Why are you doing this, Pat
THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM
(Patrick's POV)Sunlight fought with the thick cream curtains over the hotel window. I leaned against the window, phone and coffee in hand. Nothing. No call. No missed call. Still nothing from Giselle. The silence shattered as oppressive as ever, weighing on my chest like a boulder.Becky slept on the couch in the living room. She had insisted on being near me, but I had not been talkative with her. I had not been capable of fighting or of explaining. My mind was with Giselleโher vanishing, uncertainty, question marks that fill every moment of consciousness.I flipped through my album, where I stopped on a picture of Giselle taken at her last public appearance. She had worn that stunning blue dress, the one that shimmered as moonlight on rippling water. I remembered her laughter that evening, how it stayed in my head even when the paparazzi had stopped snapping pictures.A knock at the door broke my concentration. I opened it to Clara, my assistant, who stood in the doorway with a fol
THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย BY SHADOWS AND TRUTH
(Patrick's POV)The sun dipped low as I stood by the balcony door of the hotel suite, a wind in Miami's air brushing my face with whispers of destiny. I barely slept in the last two nights, and Giselle's silence was becoming too deafening. I checked my phone again, trying hard to call hers. Still busy.Becky had been quiet all morning. Too quiet. And I was too distracted to realize it. I just needed to hear Giselle, see her, know that she was alive."Patrick," my mother had tried to say a little while ago, trying to deflect the subject, "Becky's issue. she needs your help.""She needs my help because she fell trying to get my phone," I had answered, my voice colder than I intended it to be.Becky hadn't spoken to me since. And I hadn't spoken to her. I couldn't pretend, not with everything unraveling inside me.My ringing phone jolted me out of sleep. It was Debbie."Hey, Debbie," I said, already sensing the panic in her voice."Patrick, please. I need you to drive me to the contestan
THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย SHADOWS OF REALITIES
Giselle's POVMy silence and Patrick's lingered behind us once we'd spoken. Not the type that creeps up and skinnies and tickles with anxiety, but instead a dense variety, filled by both parties and left untouched due to neither wishing to add any more bulk into the world. I had plopped on the couch, wrapped my legs tightly into my center, soft light from the lamp in the room casting limp shadow on the ceiling.He hadn't pushed. He hadn't insisted. That alone was reassuring and unnerving. Patrick was the one who always stepped back when I stepped back, and for some reason that always made me feel safer with him. But tonight I had wished he would have insistedโwished he would have pushed me to tell him everything I had kept locked inside.Because the truth was choking me.Victor had called me again.I didn't reply. I couldn't. His final message he ever sent just lingered in my inbox, unread: "You'll never be safe without me."He was right, at leastโeverything had felt unreal. Because I
THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย FRACTURED REALITIES
Patrick's POVThe pounding waves on the beach was the raw, distant sound of the thunder. I was standing in front of the balcony of the suite, looking out over the ocean. The sky was a darker blue with an orange tint to it as the sun started to set. The peace of what I was seeing was such a contrast to the storm that raged inside of me.I had hoped that time would mend the gap between me and Giselle. But distance and silence could not remove the pain, the disillusion, or the deceptions that had built up between us. I had hoped that if I came here, if I was merely there, I could mend everything.But even then, after I'd made the reconciliation gesture, part of me was like walking on glass.I hadn't spoken to Giselle in reality since we'd talked on the beach. She'd retreated again into her silence, and this wall was there between us. One I wasn't sure I could climb.The ring of my phone reminded me of what was real. It was Grace on the phone."Patrick," her voice grated across the phone.
THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย WHISPERS OF FIRE
Giselle's POVThe ocean breeze swept over my hotel room floor-to-ceiling sheer flowing curtains, stroking my skin with the softness of silk. I was standing at the glass, arms crossed, looking out toward the horizon where the sky was dancing with the waves. Miami was another type of wildnessโnoisy and restive. But I was weary of twinkly lights and further cacophony of applause.My phone went quiet once more. No calls. No texts. Patrick hadn't called or texted me since that strange message he'd sent two nights beforeโthe one where his voice broke, like he was holding something fragile and already letting it go.I wrapped my robe more securely around me and went to the dresser. My hair smelled of vanilla and gardenias, my skin still warm from the bath I'd indulged in a little while ago. Today was meant to be peaceful, but this ache was in my breast. As if something was waking up, something was moving. and I wasn't prepared."Ma'am," one of my guards knocked on the door, entering. "Miss G
THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย THE WEIGHT OF CROWNS
Giselle's POVI couldn't breathe.Not because my practice corset was too tightโthough it was stuck to me like a viceโbecause the dressing room walls kept closing in with every untexted moment, every unspoken one, every time I blinked and Patrick's face flashed before me in the darkness.He was there for me.I knew the moment he walked into the lobby. My father had eyes and ears everywhere, but even if he hadn't, I would have known. The air around me shifted. My heart shifted. My phone was in off mode when Becky called me, crying, accusingly, bewildered. I did not need the explanations. Not yet. My world had swerved too far from its axis. I had wished for silence to put it on a straight axis once more.But silence was treacherous. It betrayed things into me I did not want to know."Giselle," my assistant Sarah had called at the door. "Five minutes before last rehearsal. Ready?" "Coming," I had replied, rising from the velvet couch and regarding myself in the mirror.The woman in th
THE CEO'S SECRET WIFEย ย ย BENEATH THE SURFACE
Patrick's POVI couldn't sleep.I reclined on the hotel bed looking up at the ceiling fan, its soft whirring mingling with the hum in my head. I was in Miami but felt more distant from all I ever knew. The soft glow of the bedside lamp cast shadows with dance motions on the wall. My phone was silent, face down on the nightstand.Giselle had yet to call me back.I rolled over on my side, pulling the comforter up over my chest like it could shield me from the shame crawling all over my body. Why wasn't she answering? Why wasn't her number still open? Dozens of questions ran through my mindโhad something happened to her? Or was she just. done with me?Becky's face remembered, scowling in anger when she pilfered my phone from off my person earlier. How she crumpled. The terror in the shriek she let out. The crying, the trembling of her hands laid over her belly. And I? I had taken a step back. Like a coward.I groaned and sat up straight, running my hand through my hair. I needed some air
