Claimed By My Billionaire Stepbrothers
They say you can't have it all. I'm about to prove them wrong-or destroy myself trying.
When my struggling mother married billionaire Richard Stone, I thought I was gaining a family. Instead, I found three stepbrothers who became my obsession, my downfall, and my salvation.
Dominic, the eldest, cold and commanding, who kisses me like he's claiming his kingdom and looks at me like I'm the only thing he can't control.
Julian, the charming playboy who hides a vulnerable soul beneath his perfect smile, making me feel like I'm the only woman he's ever truly seen.
Asher, the brooding artist who paints me like I'm his muse and touches me like I'm his masterpiece, seeing parts of my soul I didn't know existed.
They're forbidden. They're dangerous. They're everything I shouldn't want.
But when I discover my father didn't die by suicide that he was murdered by the very man who now calls himself my stepfather, these three powerful men becomes my unlikely allies.
First it was a forbidden attraction, now it's an arrangement that defies every rule.
The rules are simple:
I'll give each of them a chance.
I'll take everything they offer.
And in the end, I'll have to make the hardest decision of my life:
Choose one of them. Choose all of them. Or choose myself.
Chapters
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Chapter 1
The espresso machine hissed like an angry snake, and my hands shook as I twisted the portafilter into place. Three hours of sleep. That's all I'd managed between closing the diner at midnight and opening Lumineux Café at five a.m.
"Grande oat milk latte, extra hot!" I called out, my voice cracking.
The customer-a woman dripping in diamonds at seven in the morning-wrinkled her nose as she took the cup. No tip. Of course.
My feet screamed in my worn sneakers. Two more hours until my break.
"Excuse me."
The voice cut through the café noise like warm honey. Deep. Smooth. Dangerous.
I looked up.
My breath caught.
He sat in the corner booth, perfectly positioned in morning sunlight that made him look like something out of a magazine. Dark hair, artfully disheveled. A jawline that could cut glass. And eyes-God, those eyes-watching me with an intensity that made my skin prickle.
How long had he been there?
"Can I help you?" I asked, proud my voice came out steady.
He smiled. Slow. Devastating. "I hope so."
He stood, and my brain short-circuited. Tall. Broad-shouldered. A suit that probably cost more than my rent.
"I've been watching you," he said, reaching the counter.
"That's creepy," I shot back before I could stop myself.
His laugh was genuine, surprised. "Fair. Let me rephrase. I've been admiring how you handle the morning rush."
"Is that what we're calling it? Because I call it survival."
"Then let me buy you a coffee. When you're off shift. Or dinner. Or both."
My heart hammered. Men like this didn't ask girls like me out.
"I don't even know your name," I said.
"Julian." He extended his hand. "And you're Maya. Your name tag."
His hand was warm, his grip firm. The touch sent electricity up my arm, and from the slight widening of his eyes, he felt it too.
"So, Maya." He leaned against the counter. "Dinner?"
"I have another job after this."
"Tomorrow then?"
"I work doubles most days."
Something flickered in his expression. Concern? Pity? My defenses slammed up.
"Look, I appreciate the offer, but-"
"What time do you get off? Tonight. I'll wait."
"It's one a.m."
"I'm a night owl."
I stared at him. He was serious.
"Why?" The word slipped out.
Julian's expression softened. "Because the moment you looked up and told me I was creepy, I knew I had to know you better."
Despite myself, I smiled. "You're insane."
"Probably." He pulled out his phone. "Your number? I promise I'm not a serial killer. You can Google me. Julian Beaumont."
Beaumont. My fingers froze. That name was familiar. Why was it familiar?
"Grande iced Americano!" someone shouted from the line.
"That's me," Julian said, still holding my gaze. "So? Take a chance, Maya. What's the worst that could happen?"
Everything, my brain screamed. But my traitorous mouth gave him my number.
His fingers brushed mine as he took his coffee, and my stomach flipped.
"Until tonight then." He started to walk away, then turned back. "And Maya? Wear something comfortable. We're not going anywhere fancy."
He left, and I stood frozen.
"Girl, you better give me details."
I jumped. Shanice had materialized beside me, eyes wide.
"Who was that?"
"Some guy named Julian Beaumont."
Shanice's jaw dropped. "Beaumont? As in Beaumont Hotels? As in billionaire Beaumont?"
The world tilted.
No. No, no, no.
My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.
Looking forward to tonight. And Maya? I meant what I said. You're extraordinary. -J
My hands shook. I'd just given my number to a billionaire.
My phone buzzed again.
BTW, your coffee art is incredible. The swan you made for that little girl? Made her whole day. Made mine too, watching you. -J
He'd been watching me that long?
My chest tightened. This was wrong. Men like Julian Beaumont didn't date baristas. They used them, played with them, broke them.
But God, the way he'd looked at me.
"I'll be fine," I said to Shanice, not sure if I was lying.
The door chimed.
I looked up automatically, customer service smile ready.
And froze.
A woman stood in the doorway. Late forties, elegant, with the kind of beauty that came from expensive maintenance. She wore a cream dress that probably cost more than my car.
Our eyes met.
Her expression shifted from neutral to shocked recognition.
"Maya?" she whispered.
The world stopped.
I knew that voice. Knew that face, though it had aged, hardened.
"Mom?"
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8.1
Born into luxury, Hermione Watson-Pierce has always felt like merely a pawn in her parents' ruthless game of power. She learned to suppress her emotions, earning herself the title of the "Ice Queen."
Just then, Aiden Mendes bursts into her life-a charming playboy known for his reckless reputation. Aiden chooses to cope with his inner turmoil through a lavish lifestyle, using his charisma and striking looks to keep others at bay.
A looming threat forces them to face a contracted marriage or risk losing their inheritance. When they first meet, Aiden is struck by an unexpected attraction, as if it were love at first sight. Yet, his notorious reputation precedes him, and Hermione makes no effort to hide her disdain.
As their contractual marriage evolves into a battle of wills, Aiden must work to melt Hermione's icy heart, proving that he is more than what meets the eye. But can he persuade her to rise above her prejudices and bravely pursue love?
7.8
Elie Joyce’s entire life was controlled by Ebert Ewing, a ruthless billionaire who held her sick grandmother's survival and her family's freedom in his hands.
But on a freezing, stormy night, he forced her into a scandalous scrap of red silk and handed her over to a notorious, disgusting predator.
"You aren't an escort. You're just a free gift."
Ebert mocked her, using her as a disposable bargaining chip to secure a corporate funding round.
When the predator humiliated her, forced high-proof vodka down her throat, and violently pinned her to the floor, Ebert simply watched with dead eyes.
And when Ebert finally intervened to brutally beat the man, it wasn't out of mercy.
"She is my property. Even if she is trash that I threw away, a filthy pig like you doesn't get to touch her."
Afterward, he dragged her battered, barefoot body into his car, only to kick her out into the torrential rain, leaving her on the dark streets to die.
Standing in the storm, shivering and bleeding from broken glass, the last shred of Elie's hope shattered.
She had sacrificed her dignity and soul, enduring his violent bites and cruel control, just to keep her family alive.
Why did she have to suffer this endless, twisted humiliation for a psychopath who only saw her as trash?
But she didn't break.
Tearing a strip of his expensive shirt to bandage her bleeding foot, Elie gripped her broken stiletto like a knife.
With her eyes turning cold and calculating, she limped out of the shadows.
She was going to survive, and Ebert Ewing would soon realize she was no longer his obedient prey.
8.5
Synopsis
It still feels so unreal being dumped by my boyfriend at the courtyard on the day of our wedding.
David didn't show up and when I called him to know the reason why.
He told me right to my face that he had found love with another woman who happened to be my best friend.
My heart was shattered into a million tiny pieces.
I was wallowing in self-pity when I overheard Lucas talking on the phone about needing a replacement for the woman who has collected a part-payment to be his wife.
I agreed to be his wife without thinking twice wanting to get back at my Ex.
What would happen when two strangers' hearts intertwined?
And what started as an arrangement became a bedrock for something real?
Read to find out.
7.6
My father raised seven brilliant orphans to be my potential husbands. For years, I only had eyes for one of them, the cold and distant Damien Paul, believing his distance was a wall I just had to break through.
That belief shattered last night when I found him in the garden, kissing his foster sister, Eve—the fragile girl my family took in at his request, the one I had treated like my own sister.
But the true horror came when I overheard the other six Fellows talking in the library.
They weren't competing for me. They were working together, orchestrating "accidents" and mocking my "stupid, blind" devotion to keep me away from Damien.
Their loyalty wasn't to me, the heiress who held their futures in her hands. It was to Eve.
I wasn't a woman to be won. I was a foolish burden to be managed. The seven men I grew up with, the men who owed my family everything, were a cult, and she was their queen.
This morning, I walked into my father's study to make a decision that would burn their world to the ground. He smiled, asking if I'd finally won Damien over.
"No, Dad," I said, my voice firm. "I'm marrying Hunter Beach."
9.6
I was the dedicated, "wolfless" Luna of the Blackwood Pack, bound to Alpha Damien for seven years.
Just three days before our marriage contract expired, Damien burst into my clinic carrying his mistress, Allena.
He used his Alpha Command to clear the room, humiliating me in front of my own medical staff.
The ultrasound revealed Allena was suffering from internal bleeding due to their uncontrolled mating frenzy.
Instead of feeling shame for his weakness, Damien shoved me brutally against a metal counter to protect her.
He threw a $100,000 check at me to buy my silence, treating my broken soul like a cheap transaction.
Later, when I refused to kneel and apologize to his mistress, he pushed me again, shattering my arm against a glass table.
As my blood soaked the pristine white rug, he stood over me, demanding my absolute submission.
He thought I was just a pathetic, weak Omega who would endure his cruelty forever because I had nothing else.
He didn't know that five years ago, after he threatened to kill any pup I bore him, I secretly built a massive offshore empire.
I calmly tied a tourniquet over my bleeding arm and wiped my blood right over his heart.
"I am done with you."
Then I liquidated his thirty-five-million-dollar penthouse assets and walked out into the night, ready to show him who the real monster was.
7.5
I was the architect of my husband's billion-dollar tech empire, but he repaid me by bringing his mistress to our son's funeral-the very woman whose negligence killed him.
To protect her, he had me committed, tortured, and then burned every last memory of our son, systematically erasing our past.
Then I discovered he'd secretly divorced me years ago, so I faked my own death and gave the source code to his rival, ready to watch his world burn to the ground.