AURORA'S POV Daniel stood tall, calm as usual. “So dramatic, Knight.” “So over confident, Sterling.” After a lot of arguing, we started walking on the trail. I felt nervous and excited, even though Henry was riding close to me on Jay and kept leaning over to pat Hamilton, giving me instructions with his words and by sight. Behind us, Annabelle was on Washington, Daniel on Madison, Ariella on Adams, and Devon on Jefferson. Devon and Annabelle seemed to get over their coldness. They were joking and getting along like old friends, while Ariella tried talking to Daniel but kept getting ignored. Thirty minutes up the trail to the mountains, I heard a horse running fast behind us. Henry turned his head and sighed then he pointed his finger at his head like a gun and joked like he was shooting himself with a silly "poof!" sound. “Please don’t tell me you didn’t tell your husband you’re riding.” “Ok. I didn’t tell my husband I was riding.” Then I stared straight ahead, trying to ignor
AURORA'S POV “You’re the worst husband any woman could ask for.”Okay, maybe that wasn’t fully true. Thomas still held the crown for worst husband this year, but I wanted to hurt Aiden the way he kept hurting me.“Are we just going to have sex once a month and hope I get pregnant? How is this whole thing supposed to work? Tell me now, because it’s clear you didn’t think your brilliant plan through!”My voice echoed through the trees, loud enough to startle Hamilton beneath me. From the nearby path, I heard soft voices.“…my sister!”“…she can handle herself.”“If he hurts her, I swear…”“She’ll hurt him back. You said it yourself, Annabelle. She’s not a little girl anymore.”Our friends weren’t sure if they should get involved. Now everyone knew how messed up our marriage was. Whatever hope I had that this could turn into something real just disappeared.“You’re acting like a spoiled kid,” Aiden said calmly.“And You’re acting like a coward.” I was shaking with anger.Hamilton grew r
AURORA'S POV I was crying loudly, and there was nothing he could do to make me stop. So he didn’t try. He just held me, letting me cry while keeping his arms around me like he was holding me together. “I don’t even know what I did wrong. Ariella said Hamilton is your best horse for beginners.” He saw I was too shaken to ride back, so he sat down on the grass, keeping me on his lap. My arms stayed wrapped around his shoulders. Franklin stood near us, watching quietly while chewing grass. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Hamilton’s had a rough few years. His back legs got swollen and he wasn’t ridden much. When winter came, he couldn’t handle it. I knew I had to retrain him in the spring. He wasn’t ready yet. When I saw you on him without a helmet…” Aiden closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. “I’m going to tear Henry apart and throw him to the polar bears he keeps trying to protect.” “Henry doesn’t like oil drilling in the Arctic either?” I asked with a hiccup. “Don’t ev
AURORA'S POV Ariella rolled her eyes and sat on the bed next to us. “Don’t worry, Annabelle is too busy thinking about how to get Devon Whitehall into her bed to care about your husband.” We group-hugged, me squeezed in the middle. I looked at my sister and raised my eyebrows. “Oh, really? I don’t think you need to worry. The guy was all over you like glue.” “He’s such a smooth talker,” Annabelle sighed, lying down on my pillow. “What about you and Daniel?” I asked Ariella. “Any luck?” “If it’s not happening this year, it’s not going to happen at all,” Ariella said with a sad smile. I rubbed her arm. “I’m sorry.” Dinner before we left was really good. Sandy cooked bacon potato soup, fried chicken, and cornbread all by herself and for dessert, she made pie. “Anyone else want to complain about how I invited the girls over?” Henry asked, raising his eyebrows behind his coffee cup. He had three servings of cornbread and ate enough food to last a week. "This is so delicious. Ho
AURORA'S POV Aiden was stacking his chips slowly, not even looking at her. I didn’t even know how to play poker, so both of them were being silly. “I swear to God, Aiden” “Leave it alone.” My husband looked up from his chips. “Her ex boyfriend once lost everything she owned in a poker game. Think she wants to remember that, genius?” Nobody said anything after that. He picked up the cards Henry gave him and shook his head. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.” “If I were her, I’d still play, just to annoy you,” my sister Annabelle said. The fire in her tone was gone. Everyone else at the table was playing except Ariella and me. “That’s the difference. You’re not her. That’s why she’s married to a billionaire, and you run a club with dancers,” Aiden said flatly, his sharp eyes focused on his cards. “Madame Mayhem is classy. Burlesque is not the same as stripping, jerk.” Annabelle blew a raspberry at him. “I like burlesque,” Devon groaned and shifted in his seat. “You’d lik
AURORA'S POV Thirty minutes later, everyone was focused on the game. Sandy, the most competitive woman, kept wiping her forehead every time she drew a card. Annabelle didn’t join the conversation, keeping her focus on the game. My husband sat in his chair, looking bored and relaxed, occasionally saying something about the stock market, which Henry and Devon talked about for a long time. “So, you want a divorce?” Aiden’s deep voice made me feel it in my body. He picked up the conversation we had earlier when I asked him to let me go if he was going to keep ignoring me. “If I’m just going to spend my life chasing you, begging you to sleep with me, then yes, I want a divorce. You should’ve never married me if you don’t find me attractive.” “I do find you attractive but the problem is I find you too attractive.” He said then frowned at the card he drew, acting like it was just business. “I’m confused,” I said even though I was anything but. I just wanted him to say something nice. B
AURORA'S POV Aiden picked up his new cards just as I reached my peak. I grabbed his thick wrist under the table, guiding his hand to where I needed it most and began riding his hand in a wave like motion. My climax hit deep. All my muscles got tight, I stopped breathing, and my mouth opened and I orgasmed as if a strong earthquake ran through my whole body “Are you sure you're okay, Aurora? You look like you're in pain,” Ariella asked gently while my eyes were still shut. I blinked, feeling dazed and pleased. “Just another cramp. Sorry.” I Knew my cheeks were red due to my blushing. Aiden threw a card into the pile, then picked another, looking calm and uninterested. He slowly moved his hand away from between my legs, pulling my panties back into place. He wiped my wetness on my thigh and fixed my dress to hide the evidence. “I think I need to walk a bit. Stretch my legs.” I stood up quickly. “Anyone want something from the kitchen?” “Cognac,” Aiden said, still focused on his
AIDEN'S POV Devon: We need to buy some time. Sit down with Landon and make a deal. Me: Wrong number. Devon: You pay me for good advice. My advice is to sign a quiet deal and figure out your long-term plan after you handle this problem. Me: The only thing Landon will get from me is something that’ll send him to surgery. He hurt me once. This time, I’d be the one hurting him. Devon: I get that you hate him, Aiden, but we were young. Give him some money, make him feel good, and move on with your life. You could lose your CEO job, a lot of money, and face jail time if you mess with this trial. Me: He was a monster who made me a better monster. Now we are both dangerous. Let’s see who can cause more damage. I threw my phone on the leather seat and looked out the window of the car. Herold wasn’t going to stop until he saw me lose everything. It wasn’t about money. It never was for me. It was about being a better CEO than my father, because he was better than his father. A long ti
AURORA'S POV Ariella shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, like she didn’t know.“Mom said the one year Herold and Aiden spent in Evon together almost made her lose a son. My older brother lost a lot of weight, stopped playing polo, and stayed away from everyone. He’s always been cold and different, but after that year, everyone agreed he became… well…” Ariella took a deep breath and looked down at the old table in front of us. “Soulless.”That word hit me hard, like a punch. I wanted to flip the table and shout, He does have a soul. So much soul. More than you can ever imagine.Annabelle handed me a glass of water, sensing I was losing my control. I was sure that Herold had done something terrible to Aiden. And because of that, Aiden became who he was today.“Thanks for telling me, Ariella.” I reached out and squeezed her hand.She held my hand tightly. “That’s what sisters in law are for, right? Just please don’t tell Aiden. He won’t forgive me.”“Your secret is safe with us,”
AURORA'S POV Annabelle’s eyes went straight to my half-open shoulder bag hanging from my seat. A drawing from one of my students, Riley, for Greta Reynolds was peeking out. It had her name on it with flowers and hearts.“Does he know you still see Thomas’s grandmother every week?” Annabelle asked.“He found out yesterday,” I said, cutting a meatball with my plastic fork.“Yikes,” my sister winced. “How did you tell him?”“I didn’t. Someone else did.”“Who?” Ariella’s blue eyes went wide.I wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t hard to guess that it was Herold Landon or his wife who told Aiden. I shrugged. “Not sure. But it’s out now. He told me to stop seeing her.”“Ugh, he has no right to tell you what to do,” Annabelle said, clearly forgetting her promise to stop badmouthing my husband after losing a poker game. “Your marriage has a big price, but being a feminist isn’t one of them.”“I refused,” I said calmly.Ariella rubbed my arm. “At least you tried.”“And succeeded,” I added, taking ano
AURORA'S POV The next day, I stayed in the teachers’ lounge during lunch, holding my leftover sandwich . I kept moving from one foot to the other, feeling like a kid who got in trouble. My butt still hurt, but the pain Aiden left inside me hurt even more. Sex with Aiden wasn’t just good. It was amazing. Powerful. Like nothing I’d ever felt before. But the way he quickly pulled away and acted like nothing happened made me dizzy. Not because I wanted cuddles and sweet talk but because the way he changed so fast from warm to cold shocked me. The strong feelings I had for him scared me, and wanting to keep him safe made me feel sick. Not just sick. Crazy. Wrong. I never gave up my values for Thomas. Now I understood why Aiden paid for sex. It wasn’t just because he liked strange things. It was because he lost control when he was with someone. He came alive, he cursed, he stopped holding back. He dropped the careful mask he always wore, like a snake losing its old skin leaving him exp
AIDEN'S POV "Gladly. You’re excused. Have been for the six minutes since we finished," I said, waving her away. Her breasts looked amazing, especially when she suddenly stood up. They were full and shaped like pears, with pink nipples that looked like tiny diamond studs. My wife picked up her dress from the floor and put it back on, shaking her head. “Petar will call the driver for you,” I said, putting the cigar between my lips and texting my estate manager while she shoved her feet into those awful Manolo Blahnik heels that always gave her blisters. “Screw you, Aiden.” “Sure. How about tomorrow? I’m free at lunch. If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to wait until I get home around nine-thirty.” She didn’t answer. Just turned around and marched toward the door. She stopped at the door, her hand on the wall, and looked back at me over her thin shoulder. “I’m just like you, you know.” “Highly doubt it,” I said, not looking up from my phone and already replying to an email from m
AIDEN'S POV I was trying to push her to her limit, hoping she’d give up, agree to the IVF, and leave me alone. But she did what I told her. She played with her pussy by touching, pulling, and holding her full breasts. The older man looked up from his roses and froze, staring up at our window. Aurora Knight was supposed to be good, polite and innocent but she was wild and dirty, just like me. That made her dangerous for me. Like a drug I couldn’t quit. “That’s it,” I whispered into her ear, moving harder inside her as goosebumps covered her skin. “Open your legs and rub yourself on my window. Show the neighbor what your husband does to you, my sweet, beautiful slut.” I thought this would finally break her. That she couldn’t and wouldn’t, but she surprisingly did. She opened her thighs and touched herself as I kept thrusting from behind. The man didn’t move. He stood there, staring at my wife rubbing herself on the glass while I fucked her hard from behind. Her clit pressed again
AIDEN'S POV It felt nice. “Now show me why you moved far away from your exes. What kind of wild things did you do with them?” I asked. Then without waiting for an answer, Aurora grabbed my hand and dragged me to the hallway, looked around and waited for me to lead the way to my bedroom. I did even though I knew she snooped around my house when I wasn’t home. I saw it on the cameras when Petar gave her a tour. I closed the door and locked it, just to be sure. She stood in front of me, slowly sliding off her dress and letting it fall to the floor like soft snow then grabbed my hand and placed it gently on the front of her pale neck. "Is this what you like?" she asked. Her chest moved fast with her quick breaths, and her eyes were full of excitement. "You did this that day… that time…” The day I threw her out, screaming. “Or…” She moved my hand down her body to her backside and slid it between her cheeks. “Maybe this? I don’t mind doing things with you, Aiden. I’ll do anything, a
AIDEN'S POV She moved closer to me without waiting, soft and ready. Perfect. I had never met someone so easy to touch, yet so hard to control. We were pressed against each other. Her sweet, flowery smell filled my nose. “Seen your Aunt Tia lately?” I asked, touching her cheek with my hand. She took a shaky breath, her whole body shaking from just that small touch. I wondered if she reacted like this with her ex-husband. Did she shake like this when she was with the man she had picked?. The man I had sent her back to. “Yeah… I did,” she said, her voice unsure. “I think it was… Tuesday?” She couldn’t think clearly. And, sadly, neither could I. I lowered my head as she lifted hers. Her lips opened for me. I kissed her, pressing my knee between her legs. Her body pressed tighter against mine. She let out a small sound and pushed her chest to mine, rubbing against me like she needed more. My tongue played with hers as I held her face and kissed her deeper then moved my mouth down
AIDEN'S POV She turned pale under her makeup and stepped back, almost falling. I reached out, grabbed her arm, and helped her stand. And still maintained the polite smile on my face to onlookers. "That’s what I thought. If you tell anyone that my wife visited her old grandmother in law, I’ll make sure everyone in America finds out your husband cheats on you. Have a good night, Mrs. Landon." "Aurora will sleep at my house tonight. No need to stop at her apartment," I told my driver as we got into the back of the car. Aurora took off her high heels with a happy sigh then leaned her head against the cool leather seat, too tired to talk about what just happened. She had danced with every important man at the party tonight. She was passed from one man to another, like a shiny toy. Everyone wanted to see the woman who had won over The Villain. Since most people had stopped trying to talk to me, Flower Girl was the next best thing. "Looks like you’re starting to like me," she said,
AIDEN'S POV If Aurora felt weird, she didn’t show it. She put her hand in Herold’s. I had to try really hard not to jump in and pull her away from him.It was just a dance. And maybe it was good practice because one day, I’d have to see her with someone else. That would happen in a few years, after she gave me kids and finally gave up on me and my cold heart.We’d end up like my parents. Polite strangers, staying together only because of deals, shared stuff, and what people expected.Now I was stuck alone with horse faced Morgana and her annoying twins. Morgana leaned on the bar with a sly smile and lipstick that didn’t look right.“She’s sweet,” she said.“She’s fine,” I answered.I should have looked away from Aurora in Herold’s arms, but I couldn’t. Watching them made me feel strange. My head started to hurt. Mrs. Landon’s eyes lit up with interest.“That’s not a great thing to say about a wife you can’t stop staring at. How’s married life so far?”I looked at her face. No wonder