Beneath the billonaire's gaze
Hana never planned to fall into the world of Kang Jae-Hyun.
She was just a struggling young woman trying to support her family when a single mistake brought her face-to-face with Seoul's coldest and most powerful CEO. What began as a contract - a fake engagement meant to satisfy a ruthless family and protect a fragile empire - quickly turns into something far more dangerous.
Behind Jae-Hyun's flawless image lies grief, pressure, and a heart he locked away long ago. Behind Hana's warm smile is quiet resilience and scars she never talks about.
As secrets surface, enemies close in, and the line between pretend and real begins to blur, Hana must decide:
Was this relationship ever just business - or was it always fate?
A slow-burn romance filled with tension, secrets, and a love that wasn't supposed to happen.
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Chapter 4
“Are you serious about this?”
Lee Hana’s voice trembled as she flipped through the contract, eyes scanning the neatly typed clauses over and over as if they might change if she stared long enough.
“Like… seriously serious?”
Kang Jae-Hyun leaned back in his chair, one eyebrow lifting slightly.
“Do I look like someone who jokes?”
She looked up at him, then back down at the papers. “This is insane. I don’t know you. You don’t know me. And you want me to pretend to be your fiancée?”
“You’re understanding the situation perfectly.”
Her fingers paused at a highlighted paragraph.
“This clause about public displays of affection,” she said cautiously. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” he replied calmly, “that in public you’ll hold my hand, smile, and behave like a woman in love. And if necessary—kiss me.”
“K-Kiss you?” Her voice jumped.
“It’s a relationship, Miss Lee. You’ve kissed someone before.”
“That’s not the point!” she snapped. “This feels like a drama plot.”
“And yet,” he said evenly, “here you are. No one is forcing you. You’re free to walk away.”
Her gaze drifted to the numbers at the bottom of the page.
₩10,000,000 upfront.
Additional payments per public appearance.
Performance bonus.
Her throat tightened.
She could pay her mother’s medical bills.
Secure Ji-Ho’s education.
Breathe for the first time in months.
“You said one month?” she asked quietly.
“Thirty days.”
“And after that?”
“We announce a mutual breakup. Clean. Quiet. You return to your life.”
“What if someone finds out?”
“Then I handle it,” he said, eyes sharpening. “But if you betray this agreement, there will be legal consequences.”
She closed the folder slowly.
“…Can I sleep on it?”
“You have until tomorrow morning. Eight a.m.”
Later That Night — Hana’s Apartment
Hana lay awake on her narrow mattress, staring at the ceiling.
Her mother coughed softly in the next room.
Ji-Ho mumbled in his sleep.
She reached into her bag and pulled out the contract, spreading it across her bed.
“Just thirty days,” she whispered.
Thirty days of pretending.
Thirty days of survival.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Next Morning — JH Group, 7:58 a.m.
Hana stepped into Jae-Hyun’s office, the signed contract clenched in her hand.
Without a word, she placed it on his desk.
“I’ll do it.”
He glanced up, unsurprised.
“A wise decision.”
“I have conditions.”
That caught his attention.
“One,” she said firmly, “no kissing unless absolutely necessary.”
“Define absolutely.”
“When cameras are in our faces.”
He smirked. “Accepted.”
“Two. I keep my part-time jobs.”
“I’ll adjust your schedule.”
“Three. Separate rooms.”
“You think I want to share a bed with a stranger?”
She huffed. “You’re the one paying me to act in love.”
“Fine. Separate rooms.”
She hesitated.
“And don’t fall in love with me.”
Silence.
Then—he laughed. Genuinely.
“I can promise you,” he said, “that won’t be a problem.”
“Why me?” she asked quietly.
“You’re invisible. No scandals. No ambition toward me.”
He stepped closer. “And you follow rules.”
“I’m not a puppet.”
“No,” he agreed softly. “But you’re reliable.”
She swallowed.
“And what do I get?”
“A new apartment. All expenses covered. And enough money to change your life.”
The room went still.
That Evening
Hana returned once more.
She placed the signed contract on his desk.
“I’m in.”
Jae-Hyun opened a drawer and removed a velvet box.
He opened it.
A diamond ring caught the light.
“We need it to look real,” he said calmly. “My grandmother notices everything.”
As he slid the ring onto her finger, Hana’s breath hitched.
Fake or not—
Something had just changed.
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9.7
Luna Elena Frost was never chosen, only assigned.
Bound to Alpha Alaric Ashbourne through a cold contractual marriage, she endures three years as a Luna in name only. He never comes home, never defends her, and never looks at her, while his heart belongs to another woman.
At his grandmother's funeral, Alaric publicly dissolves their marriage, humiliating Elena before the entire pack. In that moment, she finally understands the truth. She was never wanted.
But the Moon has not abandoned her.
A forgotten night resurfaces. Her long-silent wolf begins to awaken. And secrets buried within her bloodline start to surface, drawing danger from every direction.
Cast out by the pack that once used her, Elena must flee, survive, and uncover her true power.
Only then does the Alpha realize his mistake.
By the time he turns back in regret, the Luna he rejected may already be gone forever.
9.7
"Be my wife for eight months and I will save you from this hell. But if you fall in love with me? I will destroy you."
She wasn't sold for a price. She was lost in a bet.
A dark deal made in the shadows between a father who sold his own daughter without thinking twice and the man who runs the Blackwood empire. The CEO who doesn't just own money. He owns the city. He owns the law. He owns the men and their fates.
She was just a normal designer until she became his wife on paper. A wife to a man who knows no mercy. A man who never loses a deal. A man who refuses to let the woman carrying his name be weak.
Eight months. A marriage with no love. Strict rules. Forbidden feelings.
But what happens when the deal turns into a deep hunger? What happens when the contract becomes a cage? What happens when she finds out that running away from her father put her in the trap of a man who is a thousand times more dangerous?
Her father sold her in a bet. And her only escape was the man who owns the city.
8.4
Twenty-four-year-old Rain Hart has fought to be seen all her life. Getting admitted into the prestigious Katherine Knight Fashion Academy with nothing but talent was a sign to her that things were finally falling into place in her life... until she encountered Adrian Knight, the billionaire CEO. She never planned to fall for the most dangerous man in it.
Adrian Knight is power, control, and temptation wrapped in a suit, and completely off-limits. He is everything Rain should avoid: married, connected to the Academy. But stolen glances turn into secret meetings, and before Rain can stop herself, she's trapped in an affair that could destroy them both.
Because Adrian doesn't belong to her. He belongs to a world built on dominance, legacy... and ruthless women who don't lose. When their secret explodes, it doesn't just trend...
It detonates. The headlines are merciless. The academy turns toxic. Jealous rivals circle like vultures. Then a blackmailer ends up dead. Adrian is arrested for murder. And Rain becomes the girl everyone loves to hate.
But the scandal isn't the most dangerous thing lurking in the shadows.
It's the truth.
A truth so devastating it shatters everything Rain thought she knew about love, loyalty... and herself.
Now pregnant, hunted by the press, betrayed by the powerful, and drowning in a world where trust is a weapon... Rain runs.
But in the Knight empire, power doesn't forgive. Jealousy doesn't forget. Survival comes at a price. And some secrets?
They should never be uncovered.
7.1
They ruined her face. Stole her child. Now she's back-and nothing will stop her.
Five years ago, Raina Carrington lost everything: her beauty, her family, and her newborn baby.
Now she's returned-unrecognizable, unbreakable, and with one goal in mind: to find her son and make them pay. But revenge is never simple, especially when it draws the attention of Leif Vexley-the most powerful and dangerous man in the city-who just might hold the key to her child's past.
Yet she's not the victim anymore.
She's the storm-and she's ready to strike.
8.7
I was trapped in a greasy diner by my own mother.
She was forcing me to marry my abusive cousin because he had paid her twenty thousand dollars.
To escape, I used a contract marriage app and begged a complete stranger to marry me at City Hall that very day.
Ethan drove a cheap Ford and wore a plain suit. I thought he was just an ordinary guy needing a fake wife.
When my mother found out, she brought thugs to destroy my flower shop—my only home and livelihood.
To protect Ethan from her endless extortion, I shielded him and screamed that he was bankrupt and drowning in credit card debt.
My mother fled in disgust, and Ethan took me into his apartment for the night.
But out of trauma and habit, I locked my bedroom door, muttering that he must be old and desperate.
He stormed out into the freezing night, leaving me terrified that I had ruined my only lifeline.
I didn't understand why he was so furiously offended, completely unaware that my "broke" husband was actually the most ruthless billionaire in New York, and I had just trampled his massive ego.
The next morning, his face was a mask of ice as he dragged me back to City Hall to annul the marriage and get rid of me.
"Annulment. Now," he demanded.
But the clerk just popped her gum and slid a pink paper across the counter.
"State law changed. Mandatory thirty-day cooling-off period."
7.8
Warning : This book is filthy, addictive, and dangerously addictive.
Once you start... you won't want to stop.
NAUGHTY DESIRES - because some cravings are too wicked to resist.
In the velvet darkness where pleasure and pain entwine, surrender is the only choice.
A dominant stranger pins you beneath him on a bed of crimson rose petals, his hand wrapped possessively around your throat as your body trembles in helpless ecstasy. A ruthless billionaire demands your complete submission in a candlelit penthouse, turning your whispered "no" into a breathless "more." A dangerous lover drags you into the shadows, where every touch brands you, every command unravels you, and every climax leaves you aching for the next forbidden taste.
These scorching stories plunge deep into the rawest, darkest corners of desire-where powerful men take what they crave and willing women beg to be taken. No limits. No mercy. Only raw, dripping, heart-pounding heat that will ruin you for anything tame.