Thiago’s smirk was a dangerous thing—slow, confident, as if he already knew I’d lose before I even made my first move.But I refused to let him win that easily.I met his gaze head-on. “I want transparency.”His expression didn’t change, but I saw the flicker of amusement in his eyes. “Transparency?”“No more games. No more secrets.” I crossed my arms. “If you want me to trust you, you’re going to have to give me something real.”Thiago chuckled, a deep, rich sound. “You want me to lay all my cards on the table?”“I think it’s only fair.”He stepped closer, crowding my space, his warmth pressing against me like a silent challenge. “And what do I get in return?”I refused to shrink away. “What do you want?”His fingers trailed up my arm, featherlight, sending a shiver down my spine. “You already know the answer to that, mi amor.”I did.And that was the problem.I took a steady breath. “Then let’s make it interesting.”His brows lifted slightly, intrigued. “Go on.”I met his gaze, refus
I stared at the keycard in my hand as if it were a loaded gun.A weekend with Thiago.No contracts. No business. Just us.I should’ve said no.I should’ve tossed the keycard back at him and walked away.Instead, I curled my fingers around it, feeling the weight of my choice settle deep in my stomach.“I’ll text you the details,” Thiago murmured, his voice smooth as silk. “Pack light.”Cocky bastard.I shot him a look, slipping the keycard into my purse. “Don’t expect me to make this easy for you.”His smirk was infuriating. “Querida, I’d be disappointed if you did.”—The drive to the location Thiago had sent me was long enough for my doubts to creep in.Why did I agree to this?I didn’t trust him.I didn’t trust myself around him.Yet here I was, gripping the steering wheel tighter with every mile.When I finally arrived, I understood why he’d told me to pack light.The estate was isolated, surrounded by towering cliffs that overlooked the ocean. It wasn’t a resort, but it wasn’t jus
The next morning, I woke up to the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore. Sunlight streamed through the sheer curtains of my hotel suite, casting golden hues over the pristine white sheets. It would have been beautiful—relaxing, even—if I weren’t tangled up in Thiago Bermudez’s world.I pushed off the covers and stretched, rolling my shoulders. I needed to remind myself why I was here. This was a business trip. Nothing more. I wasn’t some naïve woman who let candlelit dinners and expensive wine cloud her judgment.I took a quick shower, dressed in a fitted navy dress that exuded power, and stepped into my heels. If I was going to walk into a high-stakes business meeting alongside Thiago, I needed to look the part.Just as I was applying my lipstick, a knock at the door made me pause.I opened it to find Thiago, leaning against the frame in a crisp dark suit, looking as effortlessly put together as ever. His eyes flicked down my body, a slow, appreciating glance that sent
I didn’t sleep much.Every time I closed my eyes, my mind replayed the night—the deal, the way Thiago maneuvered every situation, the way he looked at me as if I was both his greatest challenge and his favorite game. It infuriated me. It intrigued me.It was a dangerous combination.By the time the sun rose, I had barely gotten a few hours of sleep. I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom, splashing cold water on my face in an attempt to shake off the exhaustion.I had a long day ahead.And unfortunately, that meant dealing with Thiago.Breakfast with the DevilWhen I walked into the suite’s dining area, he was already there, sipping his coffee and reading something on his tablet. He looked unbothered—always unbothered—like last night hadn’t happened, like he hadn’t spent the evening testing me just to see how far I’d go.I hated how effortlessly handsome he looked. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top, revealing a hint of his tanned skin, and his dark hair was slightly tousl
The air inside the car felt suffocating.Thiago’s smirk lingered, but his fingers tightened around his phone, the tension in his knuckles betraying his calm demeanor. He wasn’t just angry—he was calculating.Whoever did this didn’t just send a warning.They declared war."Victor," Thiago said, voice sharp. "I want every associate checked. No one moves without my knowledge. And find out who Gabriel had been speaking to in the last seventy-two hours."I heard Victor’s clipped response over the speakerphone before the call ended.I exhaled slowly, gripping the leather seat. "Thiago, this isn’t just about your company anymore. Someone wants to prove they can challenge you."His gaze slid to me, amusement flickering behind the storm brewing in his eyes. "And that excites you, doesn’t it, cariño?"I stiffened. "Excites me? A man is dead, and you’re treating this like some kind of game."Thiago chuckled, low and dark. "That’s because it is a game, sweetheart. The only difference is—" He reac
Harlan Westwood’s estate was as grand and intimidating as the man himself. The moment we stepped inside, I felt like I was walking into a trap. The air was thick with old money and something darker—secrets, power plays, the unmistakable scent of control.Leon’s grip on my lower back was firm, a silent reminder that I wasn’t alone in this. But I knew better than to let my guard down.Harlan took his time observing us. He looked exactly as I remembered—sharp, calculating, always one step ahead.His smirk deepened. “I have to say, I didn’t expect you to come knocking, darling.”I kept my expression neutral. “Then you don’t know me as well as you think.”He chuckled, settling into the grand leather chair behind his desk. “Oh, I know you well enough, Margarette. The real question is—why are you here?”Leon spoke before I could. His voice was cold, edged with warning. “Calloway was working for someone. And your name came up.”Harlan’s amusement didn’t fade. If anything, it grew. “Did it now
Thiago didn’t flinch. He kept his gun steady, his aim unwavering as he stared down the man holding Gabriel hostage.“Let him go,” Thiago said, his voice like steel.The man chuckled, pressing the muzzle of his own gun harder against Gabriel’s temple. “Or what? You’ll shoot? We both know you won’t risk it.”Gabriel’s breathing was ragged, his face bruised and bloodied. He looked barely conscious, his body sagging in the stranger’s grip. My heart hammered against my ribs, but I forced myself to stay calm.I had to think.Thiago was tense, his finger hovering near the trigger, but I knew he wasn’t going to fire. Not yet.The man tilted his head, his eyes flickering to me. “And you—” he smirked. “Bridgette Martinez. Thought you’d be sipping champagne in the Maldives by now.”A shiver ran down my spine. Whoever this man was, he knew who I was. That meant this wasn’t some random kidnapping.This was targeted.“Who are you?” I demanded. “What do you want?”He let out a low chuckle. “Now, tha
The SUV sped through the dimly lit streets, the city’s neon glow flashing against the tinted windows. My fingers were trembling, but I clenched them into fists, willing myself to stay composed. I could feel Thiago’s presence beside me, exuding an air of cold calculation.Gabriel groaned in the backseat, his head lolling against the seat. One of Thiago’s men pressed a cloth against his wound, but the bleeding hadn’t fully stopped.I turned to Thiago, my voice sharp. “We need to take him to a hospital.”Thiago didn’t even glance at me. “No hospitals.”“He could die.”“Then he dies.” His voice was emotionless, as if he was discussing the weather.Rage surged through me. “Damn it, Thiago! He was willing to die to protect me. You can’t just—”“I said no hospitals, Bridgette.” He finally looked at me, his dark eyes glinting with something unreadable. “We’re taking him to someone I trust. That’s all you need to know.”I wanted to argue, to scream, but something in his tone made me pause. Thi
We flew low over the coast, the rotors slicing the dawn sky. The cliffs of my family’s estate faded into the horizon behind us, but the weight of what had happened there still pressed down on my chest like a stone.Leon sat across from me, his knuckles bloodied, a gash on his cheek where a bullet had grazed him. Dorian stood at the side hatch, eyes scanning the ground below through the open door, rifle still gripped tight.I clutched the drive to my chest. Inside it—evidence. Records Elise’s father had no right to keep. Photos from the night of my parents’ death. Surveillance logs. Maps. Transcripts. Names.One of them circled in my mind like a predator.Justin.He wasn’t just Elise’s father’s pawn. He was part of this from the beginning. Maybe even earlier.“We’re going dark,” Leon said suddenly, pulling his comms earpiece free. “No transmissions, no signals. Until we know who else is on their payroll.”Dorian nodded in agreement, already powering down the tracking system on his gear
He met me at the rooftop bar of the Grove, as if nothing had changed.Victor leaned back in the booth, looking too polished. Too calm. Like someone who didn’t think his world was about to collapse.“I was wondering when you’d show up,” he said, sipping from a tumbler of scotch. “Is this about Thiago?”I sat across from him, dropped the printouts on the table.He didn’t touch them.“You could at least pretend you don’t know what this is.”He exhaled slowly. “I won’t insult you.”“So it’s true.”“Yes.”A silence stretched, thin and tight as piano wire.“How long?” I asked.“Since before Bermudez Group,” he said. “Since your father needed someone to protect you from the inside. Someone to make sure the sharks didn’t circle.”“By being the shark?”He flinched, just barely.“I never lied to you about what I was,” he said. “You just never asked the right questions.”“You should’ve told me,” I whispered.“I couldn’t. You wouldn’t have believed me. And I needed you to stay clean.”I shook my
It took less than two minutes for the flash drive to crack open.Encrypted, of course. My mother wouldn’t make it easy—that would be too humane for her. But Lucia was a genius, and stubbornness ran through our veins like inherited poison.I watched the loading bar fill, the digital hum of secrets about to detonate vibrating through my bones. It felt like standing at the edge of a cliff, knowing the fall would break me but leaning forward anyway.The folder auto-opened once decrypted. A list of documents. Names. Transfers. Voice memos.Lucia frowned as she clicked into the first file.Then, she cursed.“What?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended.“Bridgette…” she turned the screen toward me. “Your father knew.”I leaned forward, eyes scanning.It was an internal email chain from five years ago.Subject line: “Containment Strategy – Tier II Entities.”The sender: Antonio Martinez.The recipient list included names I didn’t recognize—aliases, most likely. But two names I did know j
I didn’t sleep. Not because I couldn’t, but because I wouldn’t.Sleep meant silence. Darkness. Space for my thoughts to twist around his voice like barbed wire. And right now, I couldn’t afford that luxury. I spent the night combing through my father’s old records, scanning for clues, pieces—anything Thiago might’ve leveraged to bait me.But I came up empty.I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for.That was the most dangerous part.By noon, I was standing at the address Thiago texted—an old, nondescript warehouse tucked between the abandoned ends of the Miami shipping district. Classic. The kind of place where secrets didn’t just get told; they got buried.The guards outside didn’t question me. They just opened the door.Because of course they did.He still thinks I belong to him.The inside was dark, silent, save for the flicker of a single overhead light near the far end of the space. It lit up a long metal table—and Thiago, standing at the head of it like he’d just called a damn
By the time I reached the top floor, the adrenaline had worn off, leaving behind something rawer—like scraped skin under silk. I could still feel the echo of Thiago’s voice in my ear, still smell his cologne in the elevator like a haunting.You’ll never get that.His absence.Maybe he was right.Maybe I’d never truly be free of him, not when every victory I earned still carried the ghost of his hands somewhere in the shadows. But that didn’t mean I had to let him stay in my life. He could linger in memory, in scar tissue—but not here. Not anymore.The executive suite had already been cleared.Victor stood behind my old desk—my new desk again—his tie slightly loosened and his laptop open. He looked up the moment he saw me.“Well?”I dropped the signed resolution on the desk.“Unanimous.”He gave a low whistle. “Damn. You really did it.”“Of course I did it,” I said, collapsing into the leather chair. “I told you I would.”He nodded. “I know. But that was before he strolled in like a Bo
The road north blurred beneath my tires, a straight stretch of asphalt cutting through scrub and sky. I kept one hand clenched on the wheel, the other gripping the key Thiago gave me like it might burn a hole through my palm.Forty-five minutes.That’s what he said.Forty-five minutes, and I’d be at the safehouse. At Lucia.My mind wouldn’t stop racing. Why would she do that? Sacrifice herself for me? What did she think would happen—that I’d just stop?She knew me better than anyone.She should’ve known that taking herself out of the fight would only throw me into a fury. Should’ve known I’d scorch the world if it meant getting her back.And yet… she’d done it anyway.Because that’s what love looks like when it’s not poisoned by control or dressed up in obsession.It looks like loyalty.Like quiet defiance wrapped in silk.Like Lucia.**The safehouse was buried behind a cluster of pines near an abandoned water tower, exactly where Thiago said it would be. The gravel crunched beneath
They say the first blow stuns.But the second?The second breaks.And Thiago knew exactly where to hit me.I didn’t realize anything was wrong until Lucia walked into my office holding a plain envelope—no address, no sender, just my name in perfect block letters. Her face was pale. Eyes shaking.“I didn’t open it,” she said, her voice brittle. “But something’s… off.”I took it from her, sliding my finger under the flap with slow precision.Inside were photos.Printed. Glossy. Intentional.The first was of me and Marcus at our last strategy dinner, leaning too close, heads bent in conversation. Innocent, but easily twisted. The second was Lucia… leaving my building late at night. Alone. Vulnerable. The third was a shot of my driver’s kid—Daniella—playing outside her school.The fourth?Was of me.Asleep.In my bed.In my penthouse.That picture made my stomach hollow out.Same silk pillowcase. Same slight wrinkle in the corner of the duvet. The photo had been taken from the adjoining b
The old safehouse.It was one of our secrets. A quiet, almost-forgotten villa in Coconut Grove with vines creeping up the walls and a keypad entry that only three people knew about—Thiago, me, and the guy who installed it, who died two years ago.I punched in the code. The door opened with a low hiss.He was already there.Standing in the dim light, sleeves rolled, eyes shadowed and unreadable.“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.“And yet, here I am.”He poured himself a drink. Didn’t offer me one. That stung more than I cared to admit.“You’re bleeding my company,” I said, voice low. “One leak at a time.”“It’s not your company anymore.”“That’s funny,” I snapped. “Because I’m pretty sure my name’s still on the door.”He sipped slowly. “You think you can kill a god and not face wrath?”“I never believed you were a god,” I said. “Just a man who got too drunk on the power I helped him build.”He looked up. For the first time, his mask cracked—just a sliver. Enough for me to see something
Every empire has its reckoning.And mine? It was scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m.The Bermudez Group’s emergency board meeting had been summoned under the guise of “financial restructuring”—a phrase that usually meant someone was about to be sacrificed. Thiago was still CEO. On paper. But I wasn’t just paper. I was legacy. Blood. The last woman standing from the Martinez dynasty.And thanks to Eduardo’s intel and Renner’s stupidity, I had more than enough ammunition to light the whole damn building on fire.“I don’t care how you do it,” I told Marcus on the way up to the 40th floor. “Just make sure every board member sees that email chain. I want the full display—projector, screenshots, the works.”Marcus smirked. “You want popcorn with that?”“Extra butter.”We rode the elevator in silence after that, the weight of what was coming pressing down like the top floor itself. Lucia had already taken her seat in the boardroom, flanked by two of our loyalists and a very confused junior ass