Chapter 4

They are from different worlds but have one thing in common. The same enemy. The Gilberts. He wants them down to pay for the assassination of his father. She wants them down to regret messing with a lowlife when her lover was given away in an arranged marriage in place of her. Together, Amelia and Andrey must crush the most influential family in the city while fighting the feelings that grow between them after having sworn never to fall in love again.

The smoky air of the private club was my weekly escape, a poker game with the only family I had left after my life fell apart. Then a sharp knock on the door, uncharacteristic and unwelcome, shattered the peace. It was my daughter, Emily, standing there, dressed in expensive clothes that screamed wealth but fit her poorly, her face a mask of impatient demand. "Are you Liam?" she asked, her tone sharp. The name "Emily" hit me like a physical blow. Not the sweet girl with pigtails I remembered, but a cold stranger who now sneered with her mother' s malicious confidence. She was getting married, she announced, but her intent wasn't sharing joy. It was a thinly veiled directive, a command for me to be present for the "family's image." The look of disgust in her eyes, a mirror of my ex-wife Sarah' s, confirmed it. She saw me as a pathetic relic, just as Sarah had poisoned her mind into believing I was an unfit father, a failed businessman, the reason for all their problems. My heart, long numbed, flickered with a bitter anger. The sheer audacity, the entitlement-it was all Sarah, channeled through the daughter I no longer knew. "I don't," I told my friends, eyes hard. "Not anymore." But as I said it, a new thought began to form. A wedding was a public affair, a stage. Maybe it was time to collect a debt.

"My engagement party is tomorrow," Cecilia said calmly. "But I'm missing one thing." "What?" he asked. She smiled. "A fiancé." "My pleasure," he said, voice low and steady. "Miss Fiancée." *** The night before her engagement party, Cecilia is betrayed by her ex and her own cousin. But humiliation won't be her ending. In a bold move, she picks a devastatingly handsome stranger to play the role of her fiancé. What she doesn't know is-Liam Sinclair isn't someone you simply "choose." He's dangerous, powerful, and far from ordinary. By the time Cecilia realizes who he really is, it's already too late. Because Liam never lets go of what's his.

I watched him kiss his mistress. There were a lot of things Lorenzo did that broke my heart, but this has crossed the line. His soft touch on her cheeks, his hand snaking her waist, his warm smile, and that look of love in his eyes. Those things he never did to me. But what else can I do? I'm also here in my penthouse with a man pleasuring my night. He would gently touch my body, claim me over and over again, give warmth in this cold night, but I couldn't look at this man with love in my eyes. My husband is in love, but not with me. I want him, but he wants someone else. I watched the divorce papers he sent me. A sinister smile crept to my lips. He wants a happy ending with his mistress? "You're stuck with me, Lorenzo." I watched as the divorce papers burnt to ashes. Like they said, in sickness and in health. For better or... worse.

"Thank you for saving me, gummy bear. I will repay you after all this is done," Carlton promised. "I have told you not to call me that again. I am now a woman," Stacy frowned deadpan to his face. She didn't like that Carlton could not acknowledge her as a woman, could not see her love for him, and could not decipher that she wasn't doing him but herself a favor. She married him because she wanted it! ********* Despite being aware that he was out of her league, Stacy had been in love with her elder brother's friend, Carlton, for a long time. She was determined to make him hers at all costs, without the knowledge of anyone around her. Unfortunately, Carlton's announcement of his marriage to another lady shattered her heart mercilessly. One thing led to another, and she was the one standing on the altar to say the vows as his wife without the knowledge of her family. It was to save him, and to save her desire too. However, he could never look at her with affection. Could not love her no matter how hard she tried, and could not fully accept her as his wife. And they ended up divorcing bitterly despite Stacy's pleas because he wanted it. His ex-girlfriend was back! Picking her life from scratch after a stormy divorce, a miserable lady who became a Certified Physiotherapist is finally healing from disownment from everyone. Stacy Hall had now become the most sought-after. ********** "My heart is broken, Stacy. I have not been able to breathe since you left," He begged with tears. "Mr. Howard. My job is to fix broken bones, not hearts," Stacy replied to him curtly.

A woman of your caliber doesn't deserve to be cheated on," Amelia Connels thought Jake was her forever. She loved him, trusted him, and even helped him rise to success. But on the night of his surprise birthday party-a night she planned to celebrate their love-he didn't show up. Instead, Amelia met Logan Wills, a captivating billionaire with a devilish smirk and a devastating revelation. "Does he look familiar?" Logan asked, as he held his phone up. The image of Jake, tangled in bed with another woman, shattered Amelia's world. Heartbroken and furious, she didn't know what hurt more: Jake's betrayal or the truth that she'd given everything to someone who didn't value her. Logan, however, offered her a proposal-a fake relationship. "A relationship with me for three months," Logan proposed, his gaze steady. "Make him regret ever cheating on you." What Amelia didn't know was that Logan's motives ran deeper than revenge for her heartbreak. But as their staged romance heats up, so do real feelings, and secrets neither of them expected threaten to ruin everything. "You used me, didn't you?" Amelia whispered, tears streaming down her face. "And you helped him to ruin me!!," Logan shot back, his voice cracking. In a battle of love, betrayal, and redemption, Amelia and Logan must decide if they can overcome their pasts or if their connection is just another casualty of revenge.