Tag: Scheming

  • The Alpha’s Destined Mate: Similar Book to Alpha Hayley’s Destined Mate novel

    The Alpha's Destined Mate: Similar Book to Alpha Hayley's Destined Mate novel

    Overnight, Alora went from being the Alpha’s daughter in the Gemini wolf pack to a fugitive with a shattered family. Her uncle, who had seized power, had murdered her father, and her mother had been imprisoned and was being sought by her uncle’s men. She gave it everything she had but couldn’t get away. She was led to the edge of the cliff, but she refused to give in. After jumping off the cliff, she ended up falling to her death.
    On the lakeside, Xavier, who was on his way back to his wolf pack, saw Alora. A quick check of her breathing revealed that she was still alive, so he dashed over.
    “Hey! What are you doing?”
    Alora struggled to open her eyes. Her eyelids reflected a handsome face. She made a painful lip movement.
    Save me, save me, I want my vengeance.”
    “What’s your name?”
    “Alora”
    After uttering a few words, she collapsed to the ground.
    Finally, Xavier came to the conclusion that he couldn’t risk getting himself into any more trouble. The voice in his head that had been silent for years returned just as he was about to abandon her and let her die.
    “Her life is in danger! Alora! Your situation is in her hands.”

    The Alpha’s Destined Mate Chapter 1 One

    Damon stared through the sky, he could picture the rising the of the moon, this was the third full moon that set for the year, there was one thing werewolves enjoys in full moons, the warmth of the full moon which radiates on their body when they change to their wolf form.

    Damon smiled, but that wasn’t the only reason he loves full moons, full moons meant seeing Anna, the woman who had been forcefully taken away from him right from the moment he laid his eyes on her.

    As if knowing he was thinking about her, he felt a slender hands on his shoulders, slowly, he turned to stare at the woman who had captured his heart, her scent alone was able to relax his inner battles.

    “You aren’t asleep yet?”

    Anna asked, staring at Damon, the brother to her mate.

    “A wounded lion can never be found asleep.”

    Damon whispered, touching her face tenderly, he heard a gasp emit from her lips, he smiled, she was so damn beautiful.

    “What Is the issue? you can share your thoughts with me.”

    Anna said, her eyes glistened with unwavering affection for the man who had first captured her heart right from the start.

    “I want you……”

    Damon phrased, he stared at her longingly, slowly tracing her lips with his fingers…..slowly and affectionately

    “….but…. I can’t have you. You aren’t mine, the goddess have always been cruel with me, first taking my birth right, then taking one thing I always desired which is you.”

    Damon said, watching as she quivered under his touch, he affected her in so many ways but that was where it all end. His touch on her body was to have a little glimmer of hope.

    “Your birth right wasn’t taken by the goddess, it was taken away from you forcefully by the culture, our tradition took you away from your right and me.”

    Anna said, smiling bitterly as a tear fell off from her tender face.

    “Don’t cry my love. I promise to fight and take you away with me to a far away land, there you will get pregnant for me and bear my pups.”

    Damon said, quickly holding her two cheeks, he smashed his lips on hers.

    The full moon covered their entwined body as they savored each others tongue. Damon wasn’t ready to quit tasting every inch of her mouth, she always tasted like vanilla, the flavor that always draws him closer to her.

    Slowly they detached from each others hold, Anna bent low as she stared down at him.

    “But that can’t happen, you are only lucky to be alive, your brother only keeps you alive because he promised your parents to do so.”

    Anna said, quickly hugging him as she cried sorrowfully.

    “Shhhh, you don’t need to cry, I hate hearing you cry.”

    Damon said, each choke that wobbles out from her lips caused his heart to squeeze with anger.

    “But I can’t be with you.”

    Anna said, staring at him.

    “Perhaps that is our fate, but I promise to be with you always. That is a promise.”

    Damon said, slowly detaching her from his body.

    “You brought more twins to the pack?”

    Damon asked.

    His brother Damien, who was the alpha of the pack immediately after their parents had died always came to the barren land which belongs to his pack whenever there was twins to deliver.

    He was in charge of taking care of this twins which have been brought to the barren land.

    That was the price he had to pay to survive until he leaves the barren land.

    “Yes, your brother brought more twins, since you have been kept alive, there wasn’t a need to kill the last twins in the pack. The pack will term it to be partial. I wish this whole tradition will stop.”

    Anna whispered, but something kept raking in her mind, something terrible which she was about to do.

    “I see, my brother is treating you well?”

    Damon said, staring at her.

    Anna stared at him for a while, slowly closing her eyes, all she could see was light blue eyes which stared back at her in pain.

    How could she forget that day, the first day she had been sent to the banished land to cater for the little twins who have been forcefully taken. Then Damon parents ruled the pack of the Gemini, at first when she saw Damon, she had taught him to be the arrogant son of the alpha who had been wooing her before they found out they were true mates. 

    Later on she realized he was the second twin whose story have been constantly discussed within the pack.

    Damon had captured her heart totally at first sight and It was the same for him too, his bare chest which had shun under the sparkling sun had captivated her teenage self and at that moment she decided he was the one for him, but fate had her ways of playing games. They could not be together, her parents been one of the great elders of the werewolf clan cannot allow her be mated to an abominable child. 

    But that never stopped them from seeing each other, every little chance she had, she would use it to visit the barren land which was almost seven hundred miles when she uses a horse.

    “Anna….you seem lost, is my brother treating you well, if he is not treating you well, I won’t waste a single moment to rip him apart, I don’t care about the consequences.”

    Damon said, glaring down at the threshold that lead to where his twin brother might have been laying.

    “I got carried away by the past. Damien is still Damien.”

    Anna whispered, there wasn’t much to say about the other twin, Damien was an arrogant bastard whom she had been forced to marry.

    “That is not an answer, my brother is an arrogant man who doesn’t know how to treat anyone with respect. I can sue him to death if he ever tried harming you……”

    “Shuuuuu, you need to keep your voice low, your voice might be heard and if that happens, we both will be in a big trouble. Damien will have a reason for detaching your body.”

    Anna said, touching his beards slowly, watching as his breathing calmed down a little. There was something peculiar about this two brothers, they are hot blooded fellow.

    “I am sorry for throwing such an outburst.”

    Damon said, circling her within his arms as he placed his forehead on hers.

    He breathed in her scent slowly and deeply, his one wish was to have her but he could not have her.

    “It’s fine, you care so much for me that is why you threw such an outburst.”

    Anna said, hugging him back.

    “When do you leave with the others.”

    Damon asked, they never stayed less than two days when ever they visited the barren lands, watching her leave the barren land was the hardest thing he had learned to endure.

    “We leave by first light tomorrow morning.”

    Anna said, she felt his breath stopped for a while and she felt her heart broke into pieces.

    “There is a problem.”

    Damon said, still hugging her.

    “There Is always a problem.”

    Anna said, laughing lowly.

    Damon chuckled at her words.

    “Well it is true. We always have problems and I wish for that to stop.”

    Damon said, smiling quite sadly.

    “I won’t see you anymore.”

    Damon said, Anna slowly detached her self from his hug.

    “What do you mean I won’t see you anymore. Are you planning on running away, while I remain with your brother.”

    Anna said, watching as Damon shook his head frantically.

    “No I am not running away. My brother must have suspected our closeness. In the meeting he mentioned something about him coming alone to the barren land from now on and if I ever said a word in the discussion, he will question me and perhaps find the truth about us, then he will hurt you at the end of it, which I don’t want it to happen.”

    Damon said, Anna nodded her head in understanding.

    Damien was a bitch, Anna thought.

    Anna breathed in slowly, there wasn’t any other option left, she will have to do the last thing in her mind.

    “Come let’s have some drink in your chambers, who knows when I will meet you again, maybe In two years or ten years or so.”

    Kira said, leading him to his room in the dark night when no eyes was watching.

    Damon followed after her, he needed a drink to clear his mind off.

    When they reached his room, she dragged him to sit on the wooden bed.

    “I came to your room with wine but I couldn’t find you so I decided to check on you.”

    Anna said, handling him a glass as she filled it with wine, she took a glass for her self, filling it with wine.

    “You came prepared already, hmmm I love the taste of this wine.”

    Damon whispered, gulping the wine at once, the wine was insanely sweet and makes one forget themselves for long.

    “Yes it is, take more, sometimes you got to free your mind by drinking.”

    Anna said, she only but tasted a single drop of the wine.

    “Yes I will, you aren’t drinking?”

    Damon asked, watching as her cup still have a huge amount of wine left in it.

    “Of course I take wine but a little, I am a terrible drinker.”

    Anna said, adding more wine to his cup, watching as he drowned it shakily.

    “I feel drunk already but I need more wine.”

    Damon said, stretching his hands towards the cup.

    Anna smiled down at him, filling his cup with more wine, she quickly walked to close the door, her plans had been activated, this was the last moment she might spend with him, so she had no other option than to make him drunk, she will bear her actions alone. He was drunk and it was time to make him hers, she was not going to regret this when she wakes up the next morning, Never!

    The Alpha’s Destined Mate Chapter 2 Two

    The whole pack gathered around, only consisting of men and women within the range of eighteen since it was considered to be a great welcome, but Alora, the daughter of the alpha of the Gemini pack, was seen, standing with the entire pack which consist only of the people within the age of eighteen but Alora was not eighteen yet, she was two years and a month old, she was a little child, but she had every right to attend to a meeting which was only meant for the grown ups.

     They were awaiting for the arrival of someone who they have been told was unknown, someone who they have been told belonged to the Gemini pack, but was never accepted at birth, because it was an abomination to accept a being like him in the pack. 

    The carriage made a stop, slowly two guards stepped down from the carriage, slowly opening the carriage door, a young man within the age of the alpha stepped down from the carriage, his light blue eyes, was enough to capture the whole attention of the entire pack.

    Then there came a gasp, coming from the pack members, they whispered in hushed tone among themselves, their voices got louder at every minutes they spent staring at the strange but familiar man who stood few feet away from them.

    “Who is he?”

    “Why is he familiar and look just like the alpha”

    “Why is he strange”

    “Who is he”

    The little Alora stood amidst them, she was been carried by her mother, Luna Anna, her few years old self could not understand what was going on in the pack. Not knowing what was going on among the pack, sucked unto her fingers.

    But whatever it was, she could not wait to leave the scene, and instead play with her toys and have a good sleep.

    Anna stared at the second twin, Damon, who had been hidden for years, away from the law which had placed him on a death sentence. 

    But he survived through all odds.

    Damon looked around the whole pack, his eyes in search for a light blue eyes, with thick dark hair just like his. 

    Slowly his eyes met his twin, he stoic form standing amidst the crowd, glaring down at him.

    Alpha Damien was not the type who could accept his twin so quickly into the pack, but that was the rule, a rule given by their parents, when his twin brother who had been hidden away from the law, when he have been crowned the alpha of the pack for three years, then he shall be brought back to stay among the people. Among his fellow pack and he shall not be killed.

    The noise in the pack was getting louder and quickly, alpha Damien turned towards the Beta of the pack, giving him a light stare, Beta Zach understood what he meant, slowly turning to stare at the members of the pack, his eyes filled with anger.

    “Be quiet everyone, the alpha stands with you, yet you cause a chaos among your selves. Please behave!”

    Beta Zach said, and quickly, the whole pack became still at his words, no words were whispered, no words was spoken.

    When the pack became silent, alpha Damien cleared his throat, he knew the whole pack was confused about the new member of the pack, who have a striking resemblance with him. 

    “Welcome Damon, my twin, welcome to the Gemini pack, the pack of our late parents.”

    Alpha Damien said, but his smiles were fake, because he was not happy to accept his twin into the pack.

    Another whispers broke through the entire pack.

    Everyone knew the law, the rule which had taken lives, that it was a crime for a second twin to live, when two twins were born, the younger would be killed and the older will remain living among them.

    But it seems the former alpha and Luna had hidden the second twin away from them, they had not killed him as the rule had said, but not just him, other twins.

    “I know everyone of you is confused, why would a younger twin survive, everyone knew the rule, any twin born in the Gemini pack will have its younger one killed in a second, but, I was not in the position to change what had happened, if I was, I wouldn’t have kept him Alive.”

    Alpha Damien said, glaring at his brother, he hated competition and seeing his brother here felt like a competition.

    “And he is back today, to live among us, but first, he will live like a commoner, he will till the soil like each and every one of you and he will pave a way for himself. But one thing for sure, he would not take my crown, I still remain your alpha.”

    Alpha Damien said, glaring at his brother once more, he walked out from the scene. 

    But not without throwing a glance at Anna, who held their child. 

    Damon stared at the his brother as he left the scene, slowly he turned to stare at Anna who gave him a light stare before quickly leaving the scene.

    Waving his head lightly, he turned toward the carriage, still feeling the heavy stare the pack gave him, some were leaving while some remained standing, whispering in hushed tones. 

    They knew not to anger the alpha by speaking behind his backs, so quickly, they walked out, leaving the alpha twin standing to tender to his business.

    Damon looked around, he had returned only with two bags, which contained his clothes and arrows, his sword was carefully kept behind his torso, making him more dangerous and sexy.

    The guards were not there to help him out, because his brother had commanded that he should not be given any help what so ever.

    Slowly he turned, walking towards the pack mansion, where his brother and family resides. 

    He still has some little right, which was, living in the family’s house.

    As he passed through the corridors, he could hear the whispers which came forth from the pack.

    He waved his head, quickly, turning to the other direct, but instead, a figure came, crashing on him so hard, making the bags he held fall on the floor. 

    Quickly he held the figure from falling, the person who had crashed into him was slender woman, her thick dark hairs cascading on his arms. He had rammed into his twin brother’s wife.

    Quickly, she left his hold, bending her head low. 

    He could feel how she trembled under his stare, he looked surprised, marveled at the sight in front of him.

    She haven’t changed for once, she was still beautiful, slender, yet she looked scared, and for a Luna like her, she had no right to be scared, especially of someone like him. Her first love and a mere wolf who had been detached from his birth right.

    “I am sorry Luna Anna.”

    He said, staring at her, as she still kept her gaze on the floor, hiding her face.

    The Alpha’s Destined Mate Chapter 3 Three

    Anna looked down, she knew the alpha was watching her, she could feel his intense gaze on her, he watches her, and if she looks up, the mark on her face would be visible, and that was something she never intend on showing to any one.

    “Are you ok Luna Anna?”

    Damon asked, walking closer to his brother’s mate, his love, but quickly, she backed off from him, taking four paces back.

    “I am fine and sorry for not looking.”

    Anna said bluntly, then quickly, she strode out from his presence.

    He watched her as she left his presence.

    Damon closed his eyes for a moment, he was playing the games of been cool with her, he knew his brother was watching and he knew not to put her in danger. Slowly waving his head, he picked up his items, slowly walking to the room which have been prepared for him.

    Anna stepped into the room, her body shook with fear, she knew she could be in another trouble, for talking with her mate’s brother.

    “You spoke with my brother, why?”

    She heard a hard voice said, it was coming from her back, quickly she turned back, her slender form became stoic with fear.

    “I had mistakenly rammed into him, by mistake. I never spoke to him intentionally. You know I wouldn’t.”

    Anna said, hoping she believed him. But Damien was not someone who you could place your hope on, In the bedroom, he was ruthless, a devil, a beater, but In the eyes of the pack, he was the best alpha with a cheerful face. 

    “Why do you think I would believe you, you both once had a thing, also knowing the fact that you had been forced to marry me, so why would I believe you, why do you think I won’t believe the fact that you both were planning on escaping or maybe…..”

    Damien said, striding towards her like a predator, who was about to capture his prey. 

    “You both are planning on committing treason, taking away my crown and making him your alpha.”

    Damien said, Anna gasped at his words, how would the alpha said such foolish words, such insane words.

    She have been forced to marry Damien, who had done nothing but abuse her on a daily basis.

    “Damien, you know I would never do t….”

    Before she could be finish her words, she felt her body, been slammed on the wall, a low scream escaped from her lips. 

    This was the second time he was hitting her for the day and this was not going to be the last either.

    “How dare you lie to my face. How dare you speak back to me.”

    He said, this time he picked her up, throwing her on the bed, quickly mounting on her.

    Anna stepped back, she knew what he was planning on doing.

    “You spoke back to me, how dare you, I am your mate, your half, not that bastard.”

    Alpha Damien said, quickly dragging her legs back, tearing her clothes into shreds.

    Anna cried In pain, she hated him, she hated his guts.

    “Lay low and spread your legs apart now!”

    Damien said, it was few words, which she was meant to obeyed.

    Anna knew she had no option, she knew what would happen to her If she disobeys his words.

    “Please do not do this.”

    Anna begged, Damien was trying to have sex with her, when she was not ready to do so, and she knew if she disobeys his words, he would not hesitate to maybe, slash her throat.

    “NOW!”

    Damien said, glaring at her as he removed the last remnant of his clothes, leaving him standing stark naked In front of her, with his huge length which had instantly became hard, he was a man of no patience and he could not bear the pathetic plead that escaped from her lips.

    Slowly, Anna parted her legs, slowly but widely.

    But as said, Damien was no man of patience because quickly, he pushed her legs apart, quickly opening her legs wider, to his delight, the sight of her clit sent him wild, making his wolf growl with excitement. 

    Anna whimpered weakly, Damien was always a beast, a wild terrible beast and she hated his guts, and there was no option for her than to allow him do what so ever he planned on doing on her.

    Quickly, she felt him thrust his huge length into her, a heavy cry elicited from her lips, she groaned, feeling the heavy thrust he was giving her.

    Damien was not the type of man to do romance, so his pace on her was fast and rough. 

    Quickly dragging her head, trying to elicit more pain from her, this sure made Anna to scream with more pain and he got delighted at it.

    And with a heavy grunt, he cum in her, filling her with his release, he hated her guts, so damn well, and he do have to inform her to whom she belonged to. 

    He hated the fact that his twin was here and his guts kept informing him that his mate would or might run into the hands of his twin, he gritted his teeth, quickly throwing her off the head board as he walked out from the room to the bath.

    He loved her, but there was a feeling that kept cladding in his mind that his mate would leave him for his brother, so the best option was to make her know whom she belonged to.

    Maybe, he could lower Damon and make him look like a threat in the eyes of the entire pack, sure that would make him leave the pack and then he would not have anything to worry of.

    Slowly Anna stepped out from the bed, her thighs still hurt over what the alpha had done to her. 

    Slowly wearing another clothes since the former one had been thorn into shreds.

    Quickly, she walked out from the room, she needed to be far away from him, normally, Damien would hit her until maybe she passed out, but today, he had not just hit her, instead, he had taken her forcefully. 

    She was so lost in thoughts that she did not see a figure coming from the other direction, she groaned in pains, hissing again, thinking she had made a contact with a wall.

  • Untouchable: The Alpha’s Miracle Doctor by Yue Rujing

    Untouchable: The Alpha's Miracle Doctor by Yue Rujing

    I was the wolfless disgrace of the pack, traded like cattle to a dying monster.

    When a royal decree stripped away my engagement, my own father gave my fiancé to my cruel sister, Charly. My punishment for being born without a wolf? A forced marriage to Demetri Contreras—the crippled, disgraced Alpha left to rot from silver poison.

    They threw me into a frozen, forgotten estate, waiting for my new husband to die so I could be buried as a silent widow.

    Charly laughed as she stole my life, my mate, and my future. My family discarded me, just like they murdered my mother years ago.

    They thought this exile would break me. They thought I was a helpless pawn.

    They didn’t know that inside this fragile body lived the soul of the top interstellar miracle surgeon.

    Looking at the ruined, festering Alpha bleeding on my wedding bed, I didn’t see a corpse. I saw the deadliest weapon in the realm.

    The fallen Alpha needs a miracle to survive. Lucky for him, I am the miracle.

    I will drag this monster back from the gates of hell—and together, we will burn my enemies to ash.

    Untouchable: The Alpha’s Miracle Doctor Chapter 1

    Haven Kramer POV:
    The silence in the living room was thick, but it didn’t weigh on me. I sat comfortably on the edge of the silk armchair, my hands resting loosely in my lap, calmly observing the theater playing out around me.
    My father, Alpha Gordon Kramer, stood by the mantelpiece with his back to me, staring into the unlit fireplace. His rigid posture was a performance of grim authority, but to my trained eyes, the overextension of his shoulder muscles betrayed pure, anxious tension. He was nervous. I found that amusing.
    A heavy tread on the marble floor signaled the arrival of the King’s envoy.
    A severe-looking wolf with graying temples stepped into the room, clad in the King’s formal uniform. His face was a mask of absolute neutrality. The air in the room crackled with tension, but my heart rate remained a steady, resting sixty beats per minute.
    My father finally turned, his expression a carefully constructed mask of solemn welcome. “Emissary,” he said, his voice a low rumble. He pointedly did not look at me. It was a classic evasion tactic. He thought he was breaking my heart; in reality, he was just confirming his own cowardice.
    The envoy gave a curt nod, wasting no time on pleasantries. He drew a parchment scroll tied with a royal blue ribbon from his inner pocket and unrolled it with a soft crackle.
    “By decree of the Alpha King,” the envoy began, his monotone voice echoing in the vast room. “Regarding the union between the houses of Contreras and Kramer.”
    I leaned back slightly.
    “It is noted that Alpha Darren Contreras is an exemplary heir, beloved and strong. And it is noted that his brother, Alpha Demetri Contreras, was grievously wounded by silver in the Western War, his connection to his wolf severed, leaving him a broken shell.”
    The formal descriptions of the two brothers hung in the air. One a golden boy, the other a crippled outcast.
    “It has been confirmed by the council that Haven Kramer is wolfless,” the envoy continued, casting a brief, pitying glance my way. “A wolfless mate is an unacceptable match for a future leader. Therefore, the betrothal between Alpha Darren Contreras and Haven Kramer is hereby declared null and void.”
    Beside the mantelpiece, my father’s expression remained placid, his eyes distant. He looked exactly like a merchant watching a trade deal close. To him, I was just damaged goods being offloaded at a steep discount to preserve an alliance.
    “In her stead,” the envoy read, “her sister, Charly Kramer, a true wolf of good standing, shall be joined with Alpha Darren Contreras. And to honor the original alliance, Haven Kramer shall be given to the crippled Alpha, Demetri Contreras.”
    “The weddings will be held simultaneously in three days’ time,” the envoy concluded, neatly rolling the scroll and handing it to my father. With a curt bow, he turned and walked out.
    The silence returned. My father finally looked at me, likely bracing himself for the hysterics, tears, or begging that the “old” Haven would have provided.
    Instead, I stood up smoothly, smoothing down the skirts of my dress.
    “Three days,” I said, my voice cutting through the quiet room, entirely devoid of tremor. “I will be ready.”
    Before my father could recover from his visible shock, I turned on my heel and walked up to my lavish bedroom.
    I was sitting at my vanity, listening to the quiet night outside, when my door opened without a knock. The cloying scent of sweet pea perfume, heavily laced with unearned triumph, announced her arrival.
    My sister, Charly.
    “Oh, my poor sister,” she cooed, her voice dripping with fake sympathy as she glided into the room, wearing an expensive white lace dress. She came to stand behind me, her fingers reaching out to stroke my hair as if comforting a pet. “I was so heartbroken to hear the news.”
    I remained perfectly still, watching her reflection in the dark glass of the window.
    When I gave her no reaction, her facade quickly cracked. The corner of her mouth twitched into a smug smirk. “But you know, being wolfless, you were never worthy of Darren anyway. This is for the good of the family.”
    She leaned in close, her breath warm against my ear, dropping her voice to a venomous whisper. “Besides, Darren was always mine. You were just keeping his spot warm.”
    I slowly lifted my head, meeting her gaze in the mirror. My eyes were completely flat, cold as chips of ice.
    Charly flinched, the triumphant smile freezing on her face. She took an involuntary step back, unnerved by the lack of tears.
    Slowly, deliberately, I rose from the chair. I picked up a heavy, silver-backed comb from the vanity and began to rhythmically, elegantly pull it through my hair.
    “Marrying a broken man is better than marrying a piece of trash,” I said softly, my voice even and calm.
    The color instantly drained from Charly’s face. “You—”
    “Our wedding is in three days, isn’t it?” I turned to face her directly, letting the full weight of my detached, icy gaze fall upon her. “Go plan your ceremony, Charly. I accept the arrangement completely.”
    Charly stood there, utterly baffled. I thought she had come prepared for tears, hysterics, and a desperate sister she could kick while she was down. My utter lack of distress disarmed her entirely.

    Untouchable: The Alpha’s Miracle Doctor Chapter 2

    Haven Kramer POV:
    Charly’s shock quickly curdled back into anger. My composure was a greater insult than any screaming match could ever be. Her face flushed a blotchy red.
    “Accept? What choice do you have?” she spat, her voice sharp and brittle. “A filthy wolfless. Marrying into the Contreras family at all is a gift from the Moon Goddess you don’t deserve!”
    I ignored her, turning my back to walk to my wardrobe. I began to sift through the dresses, my movements unhurried. As if I were merely choosing an outfit for a mundane dinner party.
    This utter dismissal was more than she could stand.
    She lunged, grabbing my arm. Her nails dug into my skin. “I’m talking to you! Are you deaf?”
    Her face was inches from mine, her expression twisted with vicious glee. “Do you know why Father agreed so easily? The Contreras family paid a fortune! Your ‘funeral trousseau’ has secured our family’s prosperity for the next decade!”
    The words were meant to crush me, to remind me of my worthlessness. She leaned closer still, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial hiss. “And Father already knows Demetri is dying. The silver poison is in his bones. The healers say he won’t last the month. You’re marrying him to be his widow. To spend your life guarding a corpse and an empty title.”
    I still didn’t give her the satisfaction of a breakdown.
    Frustrated by my absolute silence, Charly’s face distorted with pure malice. She shoved me roughly, shouting in my face, “Why aren’t you crying? You think you’re still the precious eldest daughter? Your mother was nothing but a low-born old bitch, and you’re just a little bitch!”
    That was the line.
    My movements ceased.
    Slowly, inch by inch, I turned my head. The ice in my eyes was gone. In its place, a fire blazed, so hot and furious it felt like it could melt steel.
    Charly saw the sudden murder in my gaze and her hand flew from my arm as if she’d been burned.
    Before she could process what was happening, I moved.
    My speed was a blur. My hand shot out and clamped like an iron vice around her throat. With a surge of overwhelming strength, I slammed her backward against the solid oak of the wardrobe.
    Thump.
    The impact rattled the heavy wood. Charly’s head cracked against the surface, and a strangled gasp escaped her lips as the air was forced from her lungs.
    Her eyes, wide with terror, stared at me. The face she had known for twenty years was now a stranger’s mask, a harbinger from hell. This was not the weak, yielding sister she loved to bully.
    My fingers were bone-white from the force of my grip, but my expression was eerily calm. The contrast was monstrous.
    “Apologize,” I said. My voice was a raw, cold rasp, like a blade scraped over stone. “Apologize to my mother.”
    Charly’s face was turning a horrifying shade of purple. She clawed frantically at my wrist, her throat making wet, gagging sounds. She couldn’t form a single word.
    “Say it again,” I whispered, tightening my grip just enough to cut off her pathetic whimpers. “Say another word about her.”
    Her struggles weakened. Tears of pure terror streamed down her face. She began to beat a weak tattoo against the wardrobe with her free hand, a desperate, silent plea for help.
    Seeing her pathetic, sniveling state cooled the inferno in my chest. Killing her here would be too quick. Too merciful.
    I released her.
    Charly slid down the wardrobe like a discarded doll, landing in a heap on the floor. She clutched her throat, coughing and retching, desperately sucking in air. Snot and tears smeared her perfect makeup. She looked up at me, her eyes filled with a new kind of fear. A primal fear.
    I stood over her, my own expression one of utter disgust.
    “Get out,” I said. One word.
    She scrambled to her feet, a clumsy, pathetic mess of limbs. She didn’t dare look at me again. She stumbled to the door, fumbling with the handle. Just before she pulled it open, she risked a final, hateful glare over her shoulder.
    “You’ll regret this!” she choked out, the threat utterly hollow.
    A cold smile touched my lips. It sent a visible shiver down her spine.
    She yanked the door open and fled, her footsteps pounding down the hall.
    The door slammed shut, leaving me in silence once more. I leaned against the wall, my body trembling slightly from the rush of adrenaline. I lifted my hand, staring at my fingers. They were steady now.
    Tonight, they had tasted violence for the first time.
    And it was only the beginning.

    Untouchable: The Alpha’s Miracle Doctor Chapter 3

    Haven Kramer POV:
    The silence that followed Charly’s flight was absolute. I walked to the window and watched her frantic, scurrying figure disappear across the manicured lawns. My expression was flat, my heart a cold, steady drum.
    I uncurled my hand, palm up. The feeling of her throat under my fingers lingered—a foreign sensation of power that sent a cold thrill through my veins. I knew Charly. She was already running to our father, spinning a tale of victimhood. There would be consequences.
    But I no longer cared. If they wanted to push me into the abyss, I would claw my way back out from hell itself and drag them all down with me.
    My gaze fell upon a small, locked wooden box on my nightstand. It was the only thing I had left of my mother, Elara Beaumont. After I was born, my mother died in a so-called “hunting accident.” A convenient fall from a cliff. I believed it was murder.
    I walked to it, my steps measured. From a chain around my neck, I pulled a small, tarnished key. The lock clicked open with a sound that seemed to echo in the quiet room.
    Inside, there were no jewels, no gold. Just a few faded, leather-bound diaries and a single, thick vellum envelope.
    I lifted the envelope, unfolding the paper soft with age. It was a letter written in my mother’s elegant, flowing script, its words of love underlined with a deep, aching sorrow. She told her story—how she had used her family’s resources and her own strength to help Gordon Kramer challenge and win the title of Alpha. But once he had the power, he grew ashamed of her and began an affair with Concetta, Charly’s mother.
    My dearest Haven, the last lines read, if you are reading this, I am gone. Do not trust Gordon Kramer. Do not trust any of them. Survive. At any cost, you must survive.
    A single, hot tear finally escaped and fell onto the page, smearing the ink. My heart broke for my mother.
    But I would not share her fate.I was not helpless.
    I had knowledge from another world, memories of a life where I held power not in bloodlines, but in skill. That was my weapon.
    Yes. Two lifetimes.
    Seven days ago, I almost lost my life to betrayal. Back then, I was deeply and innocently in love with my betrothed, Alpha Darren Contreras. But Gordon Kramer, swayed by Concetta’s malicious scheming, forced me to hand over my beloved and my entire future to my sister, Charly. To me, Darren was my world. Unable to endure the suffocating grief, the humiliation, and the sight of my sister stealing the man I loved, I chose to end my own life.
    Perhaps the Moon Goddess took pity on me, because I did not die.
    During the seven days I lay in a coma, my soul traveled to a highly advanced interstellar world called Astraea. Although I was born an orphan there, living in a crowded shelter, that technologically superior society allowed me to graduate from the top Imperial Medical Academy through my own relentless efforts and the help of a kind benefactor. After I repaid my debt of gratitude to that benefactor, I threw myself entirely into the work of saving lives, mastering the complex biological structures of various humanoid and beast-kin species. My surgical skills reached a level that commanded absolute reverence. In the final years of my long and fulfilling life there, the patients I had cured bestowed upon me a legendary title—”The Miracle Healer.”
    When I closed my eyes for the last time on Astraea, I thought my journey had ended. Yet, I woke up back in the werewolf realm, returning to this body exactly seven days later.
    My past infatuation with Darren means nothing to me now. But my lingering resentment and my mother’s tragic fate remain. Since fate has granted me a second chance, I will use it to collect every single debt. Everything they owe me, everything they owe my mother, I will take back piece by piece. Those who deceived and humiliated me will face retribution. I am a healer, and I possess a merciful heart. But that mercy will never be granted to my enemies.
    I carefully folded the letter, placed it back with the diaries, and locked the box. This box would go with me. It was my anchor and my mission.
    I wiped my eyes. When I looked up, my reflection in the vanity mirror was a stranger. Pale face, green eyes, a mane of brown hair. But behind the eyes, the soul of a surgeon who had stared down death a thousand times was now fully in control.
    The faces flashed through my mind, a gallery of smiling betrayers. The last face was one I’d never seen, only imagined: the pale, ruined face of Demetri Contreras. The dying Alpha.
    Choosing to marry the crippled Alpha was an act of survival forced upon me by the council. But it was also the first calculated step of my grand design. He was the hell they were sending me to, but his broken body was a patient only a master surgeon could rebuild. A powerful, indebted Alpha, brought back from the brink of death by my hand, would be the sharpest blade I could possibly wield against the Kramer family.
    After he was healed? A cold smile touched my lips. I trusted no one, least of all powerful men. This was a transaction. My skills for his power. A platform for my revenge.
    A soft, respectful knock came at the door. A maid’s voice, timid. “Miss, the Alpha requests your presence in his study.”
    Charly’s tears had worked their magic. Gordon was ready to deliver his judgment.
    Even though I forced myself to remain detached, a tight knot of nerves twisted in my stomach as I stood up.
    But I quickly smoothed my dress, my expression shifting, melting back into the mask of a meek, fragile girl. The avenger vanished, hidden deep inside.
    “Of course,” I called out, my voice soft and pliant. “I’ll be right there.”

  • Married To My Ex-FiancĂ©’s Silent Uncle by Ming Yue

    Married To My Ex-Fiancé's Silent Uncle by Ming Yue

    Twenty minutes before the “Wedding of the Century” at The Plaza, I stood outside the Presidential Suite in a fifty-thousand-dollar Vera Wang gown. I was the girl from a West Virginia trailer park about to marry Hugh Maxwell, the golden heir to a billion-dollar defense empire.

    I pushed the door open only to find Hugh pinned against the bed with my own stepsister, Floy. She was wearing my bridal diamond necklace, and the sounds of their laughter scraped against my eardrums like sandpaper.

    I didn’t scream; I listened as Hugh grunted that once the wedding was over and the trust fund unlocked, he’d dump “that hillbilly trash” on a bus back to the mountains. They weren’t just cheating; they were planning to steal my family’s land deeds and leave me with nothing. When I set off the sprinklers and exposed their naked bodies to the paparazzi, the Maxwell family didn’t apologize. They called me a “greedy peasant” and threatened to ruin my life unless I signed a new deal to save their crashing stock.

    I realized then that I was never a bride to them. I was a transaction, a rounding error in a ledger to be used and discarded. They thought my poverty made me weak and my silence made me a victim.

    “If we don’t have a marriage certificate by midnight, the bank freezes thirty percent of our liquidity,” their lawyer warned.

    So, I gave them exactly what they wanted. I used a loophole in their hundred-year-old family covenant and married the only other direct heir available. I didn’t marry Hugh. I walked into the ICU and married his uncle, Fleet Maxwell-the legendary war hero who had been in a vegetative state for months.

    Now, I am the matriarch of the Maxwell dynasty. I’ve suspended Hugh’s executive powers, exiled my mother-in-law to the Swiss Alps, and taken control of the family vault. They think I’m just a gold-digger waiting for a “corpse” to die so I can collect a fifty-million-dollar widow’s payout.

    But last night, as I lay beside my comatose husband, the man they called a vegetable gripped my hand back.

    Married To My Ex-FiancĂ©’s Silent Uncle Chapter 1

    The corset of the Vera Wang gown was a vice, crushing Darcie Mayo’s ribs until shallow breaths were the only option.
    She stood outside the mahogany double doors of the Presidential Suite at The Plaza, her hand hovering over the gilded handle. Her palms were slick. Not with excitement, but with a cold, greasy sweat that made the metal feel foreign.
    “Give me two minutes,” she told the makeup artist hovering behind her. Her voice sounded thin, like stretched wire. “I need to see him alone before the cameras start.”
    The artist nodded and retreated down the plush hallway.
    Silence settled. Darcie closed her eyes and counted backward from ten. It was a habit from home, from the days when the debt collectors banged on the trailer door. Ten. Nine. Eight.
    The door wasn’t locked.
    It was cracked open just enough to let a slice of golden light spill onto the carpet. And with the light came a sound.
    A low, guttural moan. Followed by a giggle that scraped against Darcie’s eardrums like sandpaper.
    Floy. Her stepsister.
    Darcie’s hand froze. Her brain, usually so good at calculating odds and solving complex equations, stalled. The variable didn’t fit. Her stepsister shouldn’t be in her fiancĂ© Hugh Maxwell’s suite twenty minutes before the ceremony.
    Darcie pushed the door. Just an inch.
    The foyer was lined with mirrors. The reflection hit her with the force of a physical blow.
    Hugh was bent over the edge of the king-sized bed, his back to her. His hands were gripping hips. Floy was underneath him, her head thrown back, the diamond necklace-Darcie’s bridal necklace, the one meant to signify her acceptance into the Maxwell dynasty-glittering obscenely against her neck.
    Darcie didn’t scream.
    She expected to. She expected the hysteria, the tears, the collapse. But instead, a terrifying, arctic calm flooded her veins. It started in her toes and worked its way up, freezing the nausea in her stomach.
    She stepped inside. The thick Persian rug swallowed the sound of her heels.
    “God, Hugh,” Floy gasped. “Faster. Before the hillbilly gets here.”
    “Don’t worry about her,” Hugh grunted. The sound was animalistic. “Once the wedding is over and the trust fund unlocks, I’m dumping that trash on a bus back to West Virginia. Or wherever the hell she came from.”
    “But the land,” Floy teased. “You need the Mayo land deed.”
    “I’ll have it by noon,” Hugh promised.
    Darcie looked to the coffee table.
    There it was. The Prenuptial Agreement. A stack of crisp, white paper that she had signed an hour ago. It was the only thing binding the merger. The only thing that made her valuable to them.
    Beside it lay a silver Zippo lighter.
    She picked it up. The metal was cool against her skin.
    Click.
    The sound of the lid flipping open was as loud as a gunshot in the quiet room.
    On the bed, the motion stopped. Hugh froze. He turned his head slowly, his eyes widening until the whites showed all around.
    “Darcie?” His voice cracked.
    She didn’t look at his face. She looked at him like she looked at a rounding error in a ledger. Something to be corrected.
    “Darcie, wait! Let me explain!”
    He scrambled off the bed, naked and pathetic. He tried to pull the sheet with him, but Floy was clutching it to her chest, screaming.
    Darcie struck the flint.
    The flame was orange and blue, dancing in the draft from the air conditioner. It was beautiful.
    “No!” Hugh shrieked, realizing what Darcie was looking at. “Don’t! That’s a ten-billion-dollar merger!”
    She touched the flame to the corner of the document.
    The paper was high quality. It caught instantly. The fire curled the edges, turning the legal jargon into black ash.
    “Darcie!” Hugh lunged.
    She took a step back, holding the burning pages high. The heat licked at her fingers, stinging, but she didn’t drop it.
    She looked up.
    Directly above her was the smoke detector.
    Darcie stood on her tiptoes, the burning contract acting as a torch. She held it right under the sensor.
    Three. Two. One.
    The alarm didn’t just ring; it screamed. A piercing, electronic wail that vibrated in her teeth. The red strobe lights began to flash, turning the room into a chaotic disco of panic.
    Then came the pop.
    The sprinkler system exploded overhead.
    It wasn’t clean water. It was the stagnant, black sludge that had been sitting in the pipes for years. It erupted in a high-pressure torrent, coating everything in a foul-smelling, oily rain.
    Hugh slipped on the marble floor as he tried to reach her, landing hard on his hip. Floy was shrieking, her hair plastered to her skull with black goo, looking like a drowned rat.
    Darcie dropped the charred remains of the contract into a puddle of sludge.
    The water soaked her veil. It ruined the fifty-thousand-dollar dress. But she didn’t care. She felt clean.
    She turned to the door.
    Outside, the hallway was filling with people. Guests in tuxedos, hotel staff, and-crucially-the paparazzi who had been camping out for the ‘Wedding of the Century.’
    Darcie pulled the door wide open.
    “Help!” she cried out, her voice trembling with a performance worthy of an Oscar. “Please!”
    The cameras flashed. Pop. Pop. Pop.
    They didn’t just see a distressed bride. They saw past her. They saw the naked heir to the Maxwell fortune, covered in black slime, scrambling on the floor with his fiancĂ©e’s sister.
    The shutter clicks were a machine gun of humiliation.
    While the mob surged forward, hungry for the scandal, Darcie stepped back.
    She kicked off her satin heels.
    She didn’t run toward the elevators. She turned toward the heavy fire exit door.
    As the chaos consumed the suite behind her, Darcie slipped into the concrete stairwell, the cold air hitting her wet skin. She was shivering, but her heart was beating a steady, rhythmic drum.
    She started to run down the stairs, leaving the ashes of a million dollars behind her.

    Married To My Ex-FiancĂ©’s Silent Uncle Chapter 2

    The conference room at Maxwell Industries smelled of stale coffee and fear.
    Gwendolyn Maxwell, Hugh’s mother, slammed her iPad onto the mahogany table. The screen cracked, a spiderweb fracture splitting the image of Hugh’s naked, sludge-covered backside.
    “Do you have any idea,” she hissed, her voice trembling with a rage that made the veins in her neck bulge, “what this has done to us?”
    On the wall, the giant monitor displayed the real-time stock ticker. MDI—Maxwell Defense Industries—was in freefall. A red line plunging straight down.
    MaxwellMeltdown was the number one trend on Twitter.
    “It’s a catastrophe,” Preston, Hugh’s father, moaned. He was wiping sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. “Just let him marry Floy! She’s a Mayo. The contract says a Mayo.”
    Mr. Sterling, the family’s chief legal counsel, pushed his glasses up his nose. He looked like an undertaker who was tired of the bodies.
    “The contract specifies a legitimate Mayo heir,” Sterling said, his voice dry. “Floy is a product of… an affair. The Trust Committee won’t accept her bloodline. The deed to the Appalachian land is in Darcie’s name.”
    “Then find her!” Gwendolyn shrieked. She turned to the head of security. “Where is that hillbilly bitch?”
    The security chief, a man who looked like he chewed rocks for breakfast, looked down at his boots. “She’s gone, Mrs. Maxwell. She dumped her phone in a trash can on 5th Avenue. No credit card activity. She vanished.”
    Gwendolyn’s phone buzzed. She looked at the caller ID-Senator Valentine-and paled.
    “The Senator,” she whispered. “If we lose his backing because of this scandal…”
    The door burst open.
    Hugh stumbled in. He was wearing a bathrobe, and his skin was scrubbed raw, but he still smelled faintly of stagnant water.
    Gwendolyn didn’t hesitate. She walked over and slapped him.
    The sound echoed like a gunshot.
    “You idiot!”
    “It was Darcie!” Hugh whined, clutching his cheek. “She’s crazy! She burned the prenup! She set me up!”
    “If we don’t have a marriage certificate by midnight,” Sterling interrupted, checking his watch, “the bank freezes thirty percent of our liquidity. That’s payroll. That’s the defense contracts. That’s everything.”
    “Find her,” Gwendolyn ordered, her eyes cold and reptilian. “Turn New York upside down. Hire every PI in the city. Drag her back here by her hair if you have to.”
    While they were scouring the city, Darcie was less than a mile away.
    She was sitting in the back of a catering truck, wrapped in a stolen oversized gray jumpsuit that smelled of onions.
    She hadn’t run away. Running away requires money, and she had none. Running away meant going back to the trailer park, where her stepmother would sell her to the next highest bidder to cover her gambling debts.
    No. She needed a solution.
    The truck rumbled through the service gates of the Maxwell Estate. The guards waved it through. They were looking for a crying bride in a white dress, not a delivery boy in a cap.
    Darcie slipped out near the kitchens and moved through the shadows of the garden. She knew this house. She had spent the last six months here, being groomed, being measured, being ignored.
    She knew where the blind spots were.
    Darcie shimmied through a loose window into the library. The room was massive, two stories of books that nobody in this family ever read.
    She went straight to the antique desk in the corner.
    Her heart was hammering against her ribs, a frantic bird in a cage. “Calm down,” she told herself. “Do the math. What are the variables?”
    She ran her fingers along the underside of the heavy mahogany desktop, searching not for a keyhole, but for a seam. She had seen old Alfred, the butler, access it once, his movements too precise for a simple lock. Her fingertips found it-a nearly invisible biometric panel.
    Her breath hitched. They wouldn’t make it easy. She pressed her thumb to the scanner. Access Denied. Of course. It was keyed to a Maxwell.
    But next to it was a keypad, a failsafe. A twelve-digit code. Her mind raced. Not random numbers. A pattern. It had to be a pattern. She thought of the company’s founding date, the stock ticker symbol converted to ASCII, the launch dates of their most famous missile systems. She closed her eyes, visualizing the numbers as constellations. It was a prime number sequence, interwoven with the Fibonacci spiral. A beautiful, elegant equation hidden in plain sight.
    Her fingers flew across the keypad. The final digit was pressed.
    A soft, electronic click echoed in the silence.
    A drawer slid open.
    Inside lay a piece of parchment that smelled of dust and history. The 1920 Maxwell-Mayo Alliance Covenant.
    Her fingers trembled as she unrolled it. She scanned the calligraphy, looking for the clause she had memorized during her “grooming” lessons. Marriage to any direct male heir of the Maxwell bloodline…
    Any. Not just Hugh.
    A cold smile touched her lips. She looked up, through the rain-streaked window, toward the East Wing.
    The East Wing was a mausoleum. Dark. Silent. It was where they kept him.
    Fleet Maxwell.
    Hugh’s uncle. The legend. The war hero. The man who had built this company into an empire before a helicopter crash turned him into a vegetable. Or so they said.
    The library door handle turned.
    Darcie dove behind the heavy velvet curtains, holding her breath until her lungs burned.
    The butler Alfred shuffled in. He picked up a remote and turned on the TV.
    “Breaking News,” the anchor announced. Gwendolyn’s face filled the screen. She looked devastated. Fake tears shimmered in her eyes.
    “We are so worried about Darcie,” she sobbed. “She has been under so much stress. We just want her home safe.”
    Liar. Darcie thought.
    She dug her fingernails into her palms until the skin broke. The sharp pain grounded her.
    Alfred sighed, turned off the lights, and shuffled out.
    Darcie stepped out of the darkness.
    She wasn’t the victim anymore. She wasn’t the poor girl from the mountains who should be grateful for scraps.
    She looked at the contract in her hand.
    She was going to burn their house down. And she was going to use their own laws to do it.

    Married To My Ex-FiancĂ©’s Silent Uncle Chapter 3

    The main doors of the Maxwell manor flew open, banging against the stone walls with a violence that made the crystal chandelier tremble.
    Rain and wind swept into the grand foyer.
    Darcie stood on the threshold. Her hair was plastered to her skull, the gray jumpsuit was soaked, and she was shivering. But she didn’t look down.
    She looked straight at them.
    The family was gathered in the living room like a coven of vultures. Gwendolyn, Hugh, Preston, and Mr. Sterling. They’d all gotten Darcie’s message and must have sped home without a second thought.
    “You!” Hugh roared. He lunged across the room. “You bitch! You have the nerve to come back?”
    “Stop!” she shouted.
    Darcie held up the parchment.
    “One step closer, Hugh, and she rips this original document in half. The ink is a hundred years old. It will crumble.”
    Hugh froze.
    Mr. Sterling stood up, his eyes narrowing. “Hugh, stand down.”
    Gwendolyn stepped forward, her heels clicking on the marble. “What do you want, Darcie? Money? An apology? We can write a check.”
    Darcie walked to the fireplace. The fire was roaring, offering the only warmth in this cold, hateful house. She stood with her back to it, using it as a shield.
    “I want to fulfill the contract,” she said. Her voice was steady, surprising even her.
    Hugh let out a bark of laughter. “I knew it. You can’t walk away from the money. You’re just a greedy little hillbilly.”
    “Not with you,” she said softly.
    The silence that followed was heavy.
    Darcie looked at Sterling. “The covenant says ‘direct male heir.’ It doesn’t specify which generation.”
    Sterling’s face went slack. He looked from Darcie to the document, his legal mind racing.
    “Fleet Maxwell is a direct heir,” Darcie said. “In fact, as the former CEO and Hugh’s uncle, his claim supersedes Hugh’s.”
    “You’re insane,” Gwendolyn spat. “Fleet is a vegetable! He’s brain dead! He can’t consent to marriage!”
    “Actually,” Sterling interrupted. His voice was quiet, calculating. He pulled out his tablet. “Under the state’s conservatorship laws… if the marriage is deemed in the ‘best interest of the estate’ and the patient… a legal proxy can sign.”
    “Best interest?” Gwendolyn screeched. “How is marrying this… this gold-digger in his best interest?”
    “The stock,” Darcie said.
    Everyone looked at her.
    “The stock is tanking because of a sex scandal,” Darcie explained, channeling every ounce of math-brain she had. “Imagine the headline tomorrow: ‘Devoted Bride Stands by Family Hero.’ ‘Darcie Mayo Marries Comatose War Hero to Honor Alliance.’ It’s romantic. It’s tragic. It cleans up Hugh’s mess instantly.”
    Sterling looked at the stock ticker on his phone. It was down 40%.
    “She’s right,” Sterling said. “The narrative works. It saves the merger. It saves the liquidity.”
    “I won’t allow it!” Gwendolyn yelled. “Fleet is my responsibility!”
    “And I want to be near him,” Darcie said, forcing a tremor into her voice, playing the part of a lost, desperate girl. “He was always kind to me. It feels… right. To honor the agreement this way.”
    “Absolutely not,” Gwendolyn said, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.
    Darcie let the parchment drift closer to the fire, the heat curling its ancient edge.
    “Gwendolyn, stop,” Sterling commanded, seeing the bigger picture. “We need to control this. If she marries Fleet, we contain the damage. For this to be legally binding and satisfy the trust, she would require proxy rights. Medical power of attorney would be a necessary component to legitimize her role as caregiver and seal the PR narrative. We give her a cage, but it’s a gilded one we control.”
    He looked at Darcie. “We’ll grant you residency in the East Wing and the necessary legal authority. In return, you save this family from ruin.”
    Darcie looked down, hiding her triumphant smirk. She let a tear roll down her cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I just want to take care of him.”
    “Fine,” Gwendolyn hissed through gritted teeth. “Marry the corpse. See if I care. Sterling, when he dies, the contract is fulfilled, we keep the land, and she gets nothing. Make sure that’s ironclad.”
    Hugh looked at Darcie, disgust curling his lip. “So what do I call you now? Auntie?”
    Darcie gave him a razor-sharp smile. “Not yet, nephew. But soon.”
    Sterling was already typing on his tablet. “The chaplain is on his way. We’ll do it in the East Wing ICU. Thirty minutes.”
    Darcie turned to look out the window, hiding the trembling in her hands.
    “I’m sorry, Uncle Fleet,” she whispered to the reflection in the glass. “But I need you.”