CHRISTIANI tightened my grip on Olivia’s wrist, dragging her through the crowd in Zaydan’s mansion. I could feel the nervous and anxious energy coursing through her veins as we walked. And I despised it. What annoyed me most about Olivia was her lack of confidence. She had no idea how beautiful she was—how much power she could wield if she only realized it.As we moved through the crowd, heads turned, admiring the striking couple we made. Yet beside me, she trembled like a wet puppy, completely unaware of the attention she commanded.“Stay close to me,” I ground out in a whisper, “And stop panting like a dog.”She glared at me, challenging me with her eyes, her usual way of reacting to me, because she was too scared to actually utter a word.Well, except for that one night. After the family dinner. She’d looked me in the eyes and uttered the cruelest words ever. I shouldn’t forgive her so easily.“Ahhh. Christian, my old friend!” Someone exclaimed from behind me, and I turned aroun
OLIVIA The moment we stepped into the suite, the anger I’d been bottling up burst free like a dam breaking. “What the hell were you thinking?” I snapped, kicking off my shoes and tossing my purse into the corner. “Why would you do that?!” “Well, I should be asking you that, Olivia!” Christian shot back to my surprise and slammed the door shut. I blinked, caught off guard. “W-what? What do you mean?” My voice wavered as confusion crept in. “One word!” He yelled again, “A simple instruction, Olivia. Smile. That was all I asked you to do,” He threw his hands in the air, his eyes boring into me with anger, “You disobeyed me. You decided to go ahead and show Zaydan your beautiful dentition. You’ve done well.” The words cut me like a sharp knife, and I took a step back. I couldn’t believe he was saying this. How could he? “But I…I was only trying to help,” I stammered, watching him carefully. “And did I ever ask for your help?” He shot back immediately. “Did it ever occur
OLIVIAI woke up slowly, my body sore but I still felt the lingering warmth of last night. The silk sheets glided against my bare skin as I shifted, stretching lazily. The pillow was thick with a masculine scent as I inhaled.And in an instant, I felt it: a presence in the room, someone watching me.My eyes flew open, sweeping across the vast room, until they fell on a shirtless figure.I was right.Christian stood at the far corner of the room, watching me carefully, one hand jammed into his pocket, the other wrapped around a coffee mug.I bolted up from the bed, a little taken aback by the sight, and as I did, the sheets slipped down, exposing my naked frame.“Oh my god!” I panicked, scrambling to grab the sheets and cover myself but it was pointless. Christian had already seen everything.I caught a small smirk tugging at his lips, slight mockery staining his features. His expression told me exactly what he was thinking: I saw everything last night, so what’s she trying to hide now
OLIVIAThe scorching sun burned against my bare back as I sat at the entrance of one of the tents Benjamin had provided, feeling as if it were peeling my skin away, layer by invisible layer.“I can’t believe this,” I scoffed, my frustration bubbling over as I glared at Christian. He was lounging a few feet away in another tent, scrolling through his phone like we weren’t in the middle of a furnace.When he’d said he came here to relax, I hadn’t imagined this.This wasn’t relaxation, it was torture.My gaze drifted outside, where tourists and locals were actually enjoying themselves—playing sand games, riding horses, making the most of the desert. Meanwhile, I was roasting alive in a tent, watching a man who clearly had no intention of moving anytime soon.Enough.Unable to take it anymore, I shot to my feet and marched over to him. “Are we just going to sit here all day?”Christian finally looked up, lowering his sunglasses just enough for his piercing blue eyes to meet mine. The sunl
OLIVIA“The sandstorm happens once in a while,” Benjamin had mentioned earlier as the storm settled, “And when it does, driving is restricted.”Which explained why Christian and I were stuck here for the night.I stole a glance at him. He was clearly not handling the situation well. With no service, his ever-present phone was practically useless, leaving him with nothing to scroll through or type away on. For someone who insisted on coming here, he sure didn’t seem to like the desert at night. He looked bored out of his mind.The silence between us stretched and I felt uncomfortable, just sitting there.I considered saying something to strike up a conversation but I didn’t know what to say exactly. We barely talked as it was, except when we were arguing, and this felt like a rare opportunity for an actual conversation.After all, I hardly knew anything about him… other than the fact that he was the man I was bound to by contract.The file he had given me to study about him was vague.
CHRISTIAN I had shared my bed with women before, but with Olivia, it was different. The problem wasn’t that she snored—because she didn’t. I had just been flustered, watching her sleep, and grasping for an excuse. I never knew what to say when she caught me staring so openly. Now, lying rigidly in the small bed we shared, I kept a careful distance, afraid that even the slightest touch of her skin would spark something I wasn’t ready to handle. Damn this sandstorm. We were trapped here, my heartbeat a little louder than normal. She shifted beside me, and I instinctively edged closer to the mattress’s edge, nearly toppling off. I wasn’t giving in to temptation tonight—intentional or not. “Christian?” Her voice was soft, and hesitant. “Are you still awake?” A few heartbeats passed as I debated whether to respond and how to handle whatever followed. Our conversations were usually hasty because she insisted on interrupting me every time. No one else did that. Even Michael knew b
OLIVIAI clutched my purse tighter as I walked down the hallway toward my lecture hall, my thoughts stuck on Christian. Yesterday morning, I had woken up in his warm arms and felt a sense of comfort I should have known better than to trust. Because as soon as he opened his eyes, the warmth vanished. Just like that, he was back to his usual self that was cold and distant. I let out a frustrated sigh, struggling to make sense of him.That night in the desert, I saw something different in him. We shared a moment. A real one. He had let his guard down, and given me glimpses of his past. And for the first time, he pulled me close not because of the contract but simply because he wanted to.So why was he acting like none of it happened?Had I imagined it all?“Forget what I said last night,” he’d said in a cold tone in the morning, “I’m not emotional enough to have a strong stance against love, you see. I think it’s absolutely meaningless.”His words had left me shocked. I couldn’t under
OLIVIA Every single person in the hall was staring at me now, their eyes sharp with scrutiny, trying to determine if Sam was right—if I really did look like Christian’s mystery fiancée. The one they were all dying to uncover. My hair matched the one in the photo exactly, and my body size too. Of course, that was me in the picture. A mask and scarf had covered most of my face, but anyone who knew me well enough would be able to tell. But these people didn’t know me well. They’ve been around for years but they never truly saw me. To them, I was just background noise, never worth paying any attention to. Well, except, whenever they ridiculed me. I swallowed hard, silently praying that my classmates wouldn’t put the pieces together. “Oh, please!” Ivy’s sharp voice cut through my panic, dragging me back to reality. “That’s like comparing a unicorn to a pig. Olivia, our pig, looks nothing like that sophisticated unicorn in the picture.” Laughter erupted around the room, loud and
Olivia’s POV“I’m glad you joined us, Lydia.”I looked from Mr. Blackwood to Lydia, who beamed at each other, a slow burn rage and discomfort working up my spine.When Christian had told me about this dinner, I didn’t expect that Lydia would be attending too.If I had known, I probably wouldn’t have attended, because now, I felt like leaping across the table and clawing the bitch’s face out.Sliding into the seat next to Michael, she flashed me a sly grin, which I didn’t even bother acknowledging, noticing instead, that Michael’s wife was absent tonight.I slid my gaze back to Lydia.Was she the reason his wife wasn’t here?Ophelia sat at the far end of the table, next to her grandfather, glaring at Lydia quite angrily. Guess no one wanted her here, after all. Well, aside from Mr. Blackwood and Michael, from the look of things.Christian on the other hand, who sat beside me, looked and seemed totally unbothered, acting like no one of significance was at the table with us.Letting out
Michael’s POV“When is he going to show up?”I glanced over at Lydia, who wouldn’t stop tapping her foot against the gazebo.I let out a small sigh, scratching my brow. “Should be here anytime soon.”Just as the words left my mouth, the butler showed up with a man trailing behind him.Finally..I rose to my feet, stretching out my palm as the man behind came forward. “Cain,” I greeted with a slight nod of my head.“Michael, you bastard,” he responded with a smirk, and I smiled, offering him a seat.“Thank you for coming,” I replied, adjusting my suit and letting out a whoosh of air.“So,” I turned towards Lydia, pointing a hand in her direction, “this is Lydia, and Lydia, this is Cain.”“Hey,” he said to Lydia, with so much of a nod in her direction, and Lydia returned the gesture in the same exact manner.“So,” he continued, returning his gaze to my face, “you contacted me for a job—come on, have a seat, will you?” He gestured me towards a seat, and for a moment, I felt embarrassed t
Olivia’s POVThe banging on the door penetrated my dream, and I bolted up from the bed, banging my head against the headboard.Who could be banging so heavily on my door?“Olivia!” My mother’s voice came from the doorway in a yell, and I sighed, relaxing fully against the headboard. So it was her…“Go wash your mouth and come down,” she continued, “bath of you. Breakfast is ready.”The shuffling of feet indicated she’d left, and I yawned heavily, stretching my arms and body.Just then, I felt Christian move beside me, and I glanced down at him, thinking he would wake up, but he doesn’t.Staring down at him with so much curiosity and inquisitiveness, I reached down and traced the lines on his face with my index finger, a smile tugging on my lips as I thought about how someone could be this handsome.I like you, Olivia.I blushed deeply as the words re-echoed in my head, pressing my lips together.I couldn’t really say the Christian I’d met months ago, cold and staunch, was the same one
Christian’s POVWhat am I doing? Good question.Because if someone had told me months ago, that I would be doing this, kneeling between her thighs, my only desire to make her happy, to satisfy her own pleasures before mine, I would have gotten them arrested. Yet, here I was. The overwhelming desire to tongue-fuck Olivia, coursing through my veins.Oh, how I’ve missed the sight of her writhing underneath me. In pleasure.It took a real man to admit when a woman had swayed his entire life, and I was a real man.So yes, I had no freaking idea what I was doing, but the end result would most probably be cum all over my face. Soon.She shivered in my palms as I kissed a path up her thighs, to her visibly pulsating core.“Relax,” I breathed against her skin, and that somehow seemed to make her quiver even more.Letting out a sigh, my eyes strayed to her pink, soft wetness, and a small groan escaped my throat. I loved the way she looks for me. I could stare at the beautiful sight all day.Gen
OLIVIAHis lips tilting up in a small smirk, he lifted his palm and caressed my chin, and very visibly unable to stop himself, he pulled me into another hug.“I’m glad we’ve cleared the air,” he mumbled into my hair, splaying his fingers against my lower back, “so you can stop seeing Nicholas now.”As if I’d just been stung, I quickly pulled away from him, glancing up at him. “Do you think I’m meeting Nicholas because of you?”He scoffed, shaking his head. “Even though jealousy is a lousy emotion, it makes people do things.“I knew it!” I exclaimed. “You stalked us, didn’t you? Nicholas and I?”“I regret it, you know, because I found out you truly do have terrible taste in men,” came his sarcastic reply.“Uh,” I scoffed in derision. “How—“The words were snatched from my mouth as he suddenly reached out and grabbed me by the waist, smashing his lips down on mine.It was a hungry, fervent kiss that has been long overdue, fired up by all pent up emotions, and I melted into him, relaxing
The door creaked open, and Christian stepped into my room, locking the door behind him.For some reason, that makes my heart skip.In the minutes that followed his entrance, a heavy silence hung between us, as we stared at each other from where we stood.After a while, I cleared my throat quietly. “So, did you mean what you said downstairs?”He looked at me for a while, a quiet expression on his face. “Of course.”Tears immediately rushed to my eyes, and I blinked them back, trying to not think about how his answer had filled my heart with warmth.“What about Lydia?”At the question, he moved closer towards me. “I didn’t fuck her, Olivia, or whatever assumptions you have in your head.”I shook my head, still not satisfied. “Then just come clean,” I replied.“Tell me why you think I’m lying,” he urged, “and say something that could be the problem, other than me dancing with her at the party.”Sniffling, I wiped the back of my hand against my face. “When I went to shop for a dress for t
Olivia’s POVThe ride home was hellish.My mother had always had a temper with small things, and now that it was actually something big, she was crashing out real bad.She’d been yelling nonstop ever since we got in the car, making the ride as hot and uncomfortable as it could get.I remained mute, because I knew there was nothing I could say in this moment.What could I even say?That Christian offered to pay me to get pregnant for him? And I used that same money to pay for my brother’s surgery?Would she understand?“Ma’am, we’re really sorry you had to find out this way,” Christian’s voice penetrated my thoughts, and I whipped my gaze to the side to look at him, shocked.Christian Blackwood…apologizing?But just as I’d expected, his apology did nothing to soothe her anger, neither did it stop the yelling. It continued right until we got home.No…it got worse. As soon as we stepped through the front doors.“So what was it you were saying?!” She yelled, flinging her purse on the couc
Olivia’s POVMy face terribly flushed, I stared up at the nurse, who stood a few feet away from the bed, a patient chart in her hands.“We’ve run a series of tests,” she started, “and you’re fine.” She paused, studying the chart meticulously. “Apparently, you were just stressed out.I nodded as she spoke, touching my wrist. Actually, I felt okay now, almost like nothing had happened to me in the first place, although I’d literally passed out earlier.Maybe it was the IV fluid that was coursing through my veins right now, but I really wanted to leave there.Letting out a small sigh, I turned my head to the other side of the bed to see Liam standing there, staring down at me, and I couldn’t tell if he looked shocked or appalled by the sudden, unplanned discovery that I was pregnant.There was no way this was avoidable.He was going to find out sooner or later, because coincidentally, I’d been rushed to the same hospital where I’d registered for prenatal care.“How long do I have to stay
Olivia’s POV Wiping her nose with the handkerchief I offered her, she sniffled, then zeroed her gaze into space. “When I was twelve,” she started after a few moments, her tone laced with a deep emotion I couldn’t put a finger on, “my mom would always tell me to make friends with girls that are in the same bracket with me.” She scoffed, lifting her arms. “You know, status-wise,” she added, bracketing the last two words with her fingers. I stared at her as she spoke, my attention rapt and silent. “Guess what?” She continued. “She even forbade me from being friends with a girl whose mother was a hair stylist. Can you imagine that?” “And at 17,” she continued without missing a beat, not giving me a chance to respond to her possibly rhetorical question, “she started taking me to parties filled to the brim with old men. Passing me around and asking me to climb my way to the top on their backs.” She tilted a corner of her lips in a small smirk then, her eyes darkening in pain, “I mean,