Between Heartbeats
Celeste Moreau vanished from CEO Jae-won Choi's world three years ago, stealing critical research and a secret: his daughter.
When their child falls ill, Celeste is forced to return to Seoul and strike a desperate deal with the man she betrayed: her medical expertise for their daughter's life. Trapped in his corporate fortress, their past becomes a volatile war of bitter resentment and forbidden attraction.
As corporate sabotage threatens everything, Celeste must decide if the secret she protects is her greatest curse or her only remaining power, and if the man who wants to destroy her is the only one who can save their child.
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Chapter 1
CELESTE
I woke before the sun touched the rooftops of Montmartre, my eyes snapping open like they did every morning, searching for a danger that wasn't there. The name slipped from my lips before I could stop it.
"Clara Dupont."
My chest tightened. I hadn't been Clara in three years, but she still lived somewhere inside me, whispering in the dark. I turned my head on the pillow and found Luna curled beside me, her small body rising and falling with each peaceful breath. Her dark hair spread across the white pillowcase like ink in water. I watched her sleep, counting each breath like a prayer.
She's safe. She's here. She's mine.
The morning light crept through the curtains, painting everything gold. I didn't move. These moments, these quiet, stolen moments before the world woke up, they were sacred. Fragile. Like holding water in my hands, knowing it would slip through my fingers no matter how tightly I held on.
Luna's eyelids fluttered. "Maman?"
"I'm here, mon cœur." I brushed my fingers through her hair, and she smiled without opening her eyes.
"Pancakes?"
"Always pancakes."
She giggled, and the sound filled every dark corner of my chest. I would burn the world down to keep hearing that sound.
We moved through our morning routine like dancers who knew every step by heart. I measured flour while Luna dragged her stool to the counter, chattering about the dream she'd had-something about flying cats and chocolate rivers. I poured batter into the pan, watching it bubble and brown, then cut the finished pancakes into stars with a cookie cutter.
"One, two, three, four, five stars!" Luna counted, her finger hovering over each one.
"Five wishes," I said, sitting beside her at our tiny table.
"What should I wish for?" She looked up at me with those eyes-his eyes-dark and endless.
My throat closed. "Anything you want, baby."
"I wish we could stay here forever." She bit into a star, syrup dripping down her chin.
Forever. Such a big word for such a small mouth.
"Me too," I whispered, wiping her face with my thumb.
After breakfast, we dressed for our walk. Luna chose her yellow raincoat even though the sky was clear, insisting that puddles might appear. I didn't argue. I never argued about the small things anymore. The small things were all we had.
We stepped onto the cobblestone streets, mist still clinging to the buildings like ghosts refusing to leave. Our footsteps echoed through the narrow alleyways, and I held Luna's hand tighter than necessary.
"Maman, you're squishing my fingers," she complained.
"Sorry." I loosened my grip but didn't let go.
Nina's café sat on the corner where our street met the main square, its red awning bright against the gray morning. The bell chimed as we entered, and Nina looked up from behind the counter, her face breaking into that warm smile I'd grown to depend on.
"Mon Dieu, you're early!" she called out. "The croissants are still warm."
"We couldn't wait," I said, and it was true. This place, this safe, warm place that smelled of butter and coffee, had become our anchor.
Nina slid two croissants across the counter and poured me a coffee without asking. She knew. She always knew what I needed before I did.
"Luna, ma chérie, I saved you the chocolate one," Nina said, winking.
Luna bounced on her toes. "Merci, Tante Nina!"
We sat by the window, and I watched Luna eat while I pretended to drink my coffee. Really, I was watching the street. Always watching. Looking for faces that didn't belong, cars that slowed down too much, shadows that moved wrong.
"Can we go to the park today?" Luna asked, chocolate smeared across her cheek.
"Of course."
The park was three blocks away, tucked behind iron gates that squealed when I pushed them open. Luna ran ahead, her yellow coat a burst of sunshine against the green grass. Other children played on the swings, their mothers chatting on benches. Normal people living normal lives.
I sat on our usual bench, the wood worn smooth from countless mornings just like this one.
Luna ran in circles, her arms spread wide like wings. "Look, Maman! I'm flying!"
"I see you, baby!" I called back, my chest aching with a love so fierce it felt like dying.
She spun faster, laughing at the sky, and then...
She stumbled.
Not a normal stumble. Not a trip over her own feet or a rock in the grass. She went down hard, her knees hitting the ground, and when she pushed herself up, I saw it.
Her hand.
Her little right hand, shaking. Trembling like something inside her was breaking loose. The tremor was violent, uncontrollable, her tiny fingers jerking in ways fingers shouldn't move.
I was running before I realized I'd stood up.
"Luna!"
Three seconds. That's how long it lasted. Three seconds that felt like three hours, three years, three lifetimes. Then it stopped.
Luna stared at her hand, her eyes wide and confused. "Maman, what... what happened?"
I dropped to my knees in front of her, grabbing her shoulders. "Are you okay? Does it hurt?"
"I don't know." Her voice was so small. "It felt funny. Like... like buzzing."
My blood turned to ice. Cold, sharp ice that cut through every vein in my body.
No. No, no, no.
"Let's go home," I said, pulling her to her feet.
"But we just got here..."
"Now, Luna."
I didn't let go of her hand the entire walk home. I couldn't. If I let go, she might disappear. She might shake apart. She might...
That night, I tucked her into bed early. She fell asleep quickly, exhausted from crying when I wouldn't tell her what was wrong. I sat beside her in the dark, watching her breathe, and waited for a sleep I knew wouldn't come.
When it finally dragged me under, the nightmare was waiting.
Not Jae-won. Not his fury or his fists or his promises to find us.
My father.
His voice cutting through smoke and flames: "Protect the work, Cee. Whatever happens, protect the work."
I woke up gasping, my arms wrapped around Luna's sleeping body, my face wet with tears.
The walls of our safe world weren't just cracking.
They were already broken.
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7.7
CONTENT WARNING ⚠️🔞
This book is strictly for a mature audience only. Reader's discretion is advised.
On her eighteenth birthday, Sabrina's life is stolen from her. She was sold into marriage to Scott Wendell, a ruthless and powerful billionaire more than twice her age. A man she's never met. A man who claimed her as payment for a debt she never owed
But the real problem wasn't the vows she took or the marriage document she signed.
It's his son. The revelation that Ace Wendell, the one boy in school that she's always fantasized about, the boy she's secretly loved from afar, is now her stepson.
Now living under the same roof, Sabrina finds herself torn between duty to her marriage and the dangerous pull toward the stepson who has wanted her just as desperately.
7.2
I didn't hear it from my mother or from family... I saw it online, just like everyone else. A headline, a picture, a ring on her finger. And the man standing beside her? Philip Davenport. Billionaire. CEO. Untouchable. The kind of man who takes what he wants and keeps it. Including my mother.
I was supposed to hate him-the man who replaced my father, the man I swore I'd destroy. So I made a plan: get close, get under his skin, make him want me... then watch everything fall apart. It was simple.
Until he looked at me like I was the only woman in the room. Until his touch lingered longer than it should. Until every glance, every word, every moment started to feel like something I couldn't control.
Now I'm caught in a dangerous game of desire and deception, where the lines I drew are slowly disappearing. The closer I get to him, the harder it is to remember why I started. My mother trusts me, my boyfriend loves me, and the man I was supposed to ruin is becoming the one I can't resist, and every step I take only pulls me deeper into something I was never meant to feel.
I wanted revenge. What I got instead was something far more dangerous. And now? I might lose everything. Because falling for my mom's fiancé was never the plan. And if I'm not careful, I won't just lose the game... I'll lose myself.
9.8
They say when life throws you a lemon, you should turn it to a lemonade, even though some things weren't just intentional.
"For the next three years, you will work under my son, Anthony. You will obey him unconditionally and assist him in developing the first humanoid robots. It's all stated in the contract."
Melissa, a brilliant first-class robotics engineer, signs a binding contract to save her only sister who urgently needs surgery. Not only must she work for Anthony-the arrogant CEO of the Morgan Group-but she must also marry him.
Throughout the contract, Anthony treats her like a lowlife, belittling her at every opportunity and even stealing credit for her achievements, convinced she would never dare to leave. But as the three years draw to a close, her supposed knight in shining armor, Josh, shows up as he promised.
Will Melissa walk away from Anthony, reclaim her freedom, and rekindle the spark with Josh? Or will Anthony realize too late just how much he stands to lose when the countdown to their divorce begins?
And what if there was more to the accident that left Melissa's sister in need of surgery-and forced Melissa into this contract?
If you want to feel first hand what it means for a lady to possess her possession, then get over here!
8.8
I was the despised adopted daughter of the Sanders family, hiding behind heavy gothic makeup and enduring their daily disgust.
The day my adoptive father died in a severe car crash, my adoptive mother and stepsister didn't even bother to call me.
Instead, while his body was still warm, my mother filed a multi-million dollar life insurance claim.
"I am not feeding a useless freak for another day. Pack your trash and get out."
She kicked me out into the freezing rain, but that wasn't the worst of it.
My stepsister Cornelia stole my greatest secret. Five years ago, I saved the life of Fidel Vaughan, a ruthless billionaire heir, from a burning estate.
Cornelia claimed my identity, accepted a million-dollar reward, and secured a marriage proposal from him, burning my only proof to ashes.
They thought I was just a helpless, pathetic high schooler they could discard and replace.
But when I hacked the police files, I discovered my father's crash wasn't an accident. It was a targeted hit, and the Vaughan Group had hijacked the traffic cameras to cover it up.
I washed off the ugly black makeup, shedding the disguise of a pathetic outcast.
I am Spectre, the world's most elusive hacker and underground doctor.
I intercepted the billionaire heir's heavily armed convoy in the dead of night. They thought they could steal my life and murder my father, but now, I hold the needle that controls Fidel Vaughan's sanity, and I will make them all pay.
8.4
The night her father is arrested outside their Manhattan townhouse, Amara Bennett's world collapses under flashing cameras and whispered accusations.
Behind the chaos stands one man.
Damian Wolfe.
New York's most feared billionaire CEO - ruthless, controlled, untouchable.
Years ago, Amara's father betrayed him.
Now Damian wants revenge.
He offers her a deal:
Marry him for one year.
Play the perfect wife.
And he will make her father's charges disappear.
It's supposed to be punishment.
A calculated humiliation.
But inside his glass penthouse high above Manhattan, hatred begins to blur into desire.
And when Amara uncovers a secret that proves her father may have been framed, she realizes she didn't just marry her enemy...
She married a man who might destroy everything she loves.
Because in New York, power is everything.
And love is the most dangerous weakness of all.
8.7
I was pregnant with the future heir of the Blackwood Pack, but my fated mate, Alpha Gavin, was nowhere to be found when sharp, tearing agony ripped through my swollen belly.
Instead of rushing to my side, he was in a luxury penthouse with his mistress, Piper.
When I desperately called his human number for help, it was Piper who answered the phone.
"I'm Piper. His future Luna."
Minutes later, I received a leaked audio file of Gavin promising to formally reject me the moment our pup was born.
Before the heartbreak could even set in, my armored SUV was violently rammed off the road by a massive truck.
It wasn't an accident. It was a targeted hit paid for by Piper's pack.
I woke up in the clinic with an empty womb. My pup was dead.
Gavin didn't even show up. He just mind-linked the butler to say he was "too busy" to deal with my loss.
He let his mistress murder our child and treated me like disposable trash, assuming my grief would make me a weak, compliant victim.
He thought he could just bury my trauma and move on with his perfect new life.
He was wrong.
I faked my own death in a fiery crash, leaving him with nothing but my signed rejection papers and the bloody receipt proving his mistress hired the killers.
Now, armed with a new identity and untraceable wealth, I am stepping out of the shadows.
I am going to bankrupt their packs from the inside out and make my former Alpha watch his empire burn.