CRAVING THE FORBIDDEN BILLIONAIRE'S SIN
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.
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Chapter 5
CHAPTER 4 – THREADS OF TEMPTATION
Sunlight came in through the tall windows of the atelier, smiling at us all, and made materials like satin and silk glow. The place smelled of warm fabrics and power. Everybody moved and worked fast, getting ready for the upcoming Paris event. But even in the midst of the numerous activities tying me down, I could feel him.
Adrian.
He sat near the stairway, taking in the sun, basking in the ambience. Then he deliberately rested his eyes on me. No, it wasn't casual. It was the kind of look that makes you miss your step. Each time I turned, he was looking at me... as if studying me. When I bent down to pick up my pencil, he watched me... his eyes following my movement. When I pinned a fabric on a mannequin, my sixth sense informed me of his presence. It was totally inappropriate and nearly drove me crazy.
"Rain, Focus," I told myself.
Katherine had put me in charge of planning how the runway activities would play out. The fabrics were to move like music, and the models were to move in concord with that music. My brain was supposed to be occupied with ways to perfect that presentation and not disappoint Katherine, not the man sitting ten feet away whose green eyes were addictive.
When I finally gathered the courage to look up, Adrian was coming over to my table. Calculatedly. Confidently. Every step he took made the air between us feel hotter.
"Why do you work so hard?" he asked, standing close. His cologne intimidated me. Oud, purely masculine and rich.
"To achieve the perfection that Katherine is paying me for," I replied, trying to sound unfazed.
He bent his head slightly, smiling, "Are you sure, Rain?"
The way my name rolled off his tongue did something dangerous to me. I looked away, pretending to arrange pins and chalk, "Yes."
"That's a safe answer," he said.
Before I could say anything else, his hand touched mine as he reached and picked up a sketch. The contact was short, but it gave me goose bumps. His eyes held mine for a moment too long before he backed away. My breathing was shallow. He was married... to my boss... he was Katherine Knight's husband. And yet, every part of me felt like none of that mattered.
That afternoon, while supervising rehearsals on the Academy runway, Katherine sent me to pick up fabric samples from her office; the very same office no one but her entered. Her office was chilly, and the air was thick with expensive perfume. A partially closed drawer behind Katherine's desk caught my attention. Curiosity asked me to peek inside. Curiosity again asked me to pull it out.
With my sweaty and shaky palms, I skimmed through the folders I picked up. Some had international bank seals. In the transaction histories were unending lists of transfers from Knight Enterprises to several foreign accounts. They all had Katherine's signature. I heard footsteps coming, I quickly returned the documents and snapped the drawer shut, eyes wide, pulse racing. I barely had time to gather the fabrics I came for before Adrian appeared at the door.
"Lost?" he asked calmly, but his eyes were sharp.
I forced a smile. "No, on an errand."
He came closer, his face unreadable. "Katherine doesn't usually allow anyone in here."
"She sent me to..."
He held up his hand, smiling, "Relax, Rain. Just... be careful. Some rooms in this house contain more than just silk and stitches."
Our eyes met, and I could swear he heard my heart pounding in my chest. There was this knowledge in his stare... as if he already knew exactly what I had seen earlier. He held my wrist as I made to leave. Gently yet firmly. His palm was warm and comforting. I forgot to breathe.
"Rain, breathe," he whispered.
I resumed breathing, almost gasping.
"Don't lose yourself in this glamorous world of beauty and lies." He finished.
The air between us was boiling. Blood rushed through me as his fingers drew invisible lines on my face, sending fire through my veins. I should've pulled away. I didn't.
"Adrian..." I breathed hard, his name feeling too heavy on my tongue.
His eyes did most of the talking. For a moment, it felt like time stood still. His hand caressed my arm, his breath heavy on my neck and my cheek, and then, as if realizing himself, he took a step back, tension written all over him.
"I leave for a business trip in a week," he said abruptly. "From there, I'll join you guys in Paris for the presentation."
The change in his tone was annoying. He was clearly trying to regain control, to rebuild the distance we both destroyed just a few minutes ago.
I nodded, stiffly, "OK."
"At least, I will get to focus completely on my work," I told myself.
He chuckled. "Yes, Rain. Focus on your work."
I didn't even realize I had said that aloud. My face silently pleaded with his mind to forget what he just heard me say.
He turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the hallway until they faded away completely. As I watched him go, I hated the way my body was already missing the heat of his closeness.
As I returned to the studio, my mind was in shambles. Guilt, thrill, fear, I felt all of them at once. I had touched something forbidden today, not just Adrian's hand, but a dark chamber of Katherine Knight's empire. I wasn't sure which was more dangerous.
That night, as I lay in bed, my heart was very far from calm. I kept perceiving his perfume, seeing his face, and hearing his voice. I told myself I would regain control in his absence. Deep down, I knew that was a lie.
Adrian Knight was a temptation I wouldn't survive unhurt. And the secrets hidden behind Katherine's desk were only the beginning.
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7.2
I am a resident surgeon, secretly married to Dr. Barrett Walters, the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery. It was a transactional marriage; he paid my mother's mounting medical bills, and I was his secret, obedient wife in the dark.
But at the hospital, he was a cold-blooded tyrant who deliberately made my life a living hell. During a major medical conference, he viciously tore apart my successful surgical repair, looking me dead in the eye as he called me incompetent in front of all my colleagues.
The humiliation didn't stop there. With his tacit approval, the senior residents bullied me, assigning me every brutal night shift. When his beautiful, wealthy heiress "girlfriend" visited the ward, he publicly mocked my background to make her smile.
"Some people get in through the back door. They're not fit for the front lines."
Even when I was forced to work as a secret banquet waitress to cover the medical copays he ignored, he found me, ruined the job out of pure possessive jealousy, and then fined my meager resident salary the very next morning just to show his absolute control.
I endured his punishing kisses and cruel rebukes, sacrificing my dignity just to keep my mother alive. But I couldn't understand why he had to destroy every shred of my peace. If he wanted the perfect heiress, why did he refuse to let me go?
Staring at his cold, controlling eyes in the stairwell, my exhaustion finally overpowered my fear. I was done being his victim, and it was time to tear up this contract.
9.4
Six years ago, Breanna was shoved into a pitch-black hotel suite by her own uncle.
She was forced to endure a brutal night with a drugged stranger just to keep her grandmother's ventilator running.
Nine months later, she gave birth in a cold underground clinic.
But her uncle immediately snatched the crying newborn from her trembling hands, coldly announcing the baby had died.
For six years, Breanna lived in agonizing grief, working as a lowly hotel cleaner just to survive.
But a cruel setup threw her directly into the path of Elliot Finch, the arrogant billionaire from that dark night.
He did not recognize the woman whose life he had completely ruined.
Instead, he looked at her like she was rotting garbage, had his guards drag her into a wet alley, and mercilessly got her fired.
"If I ever see your face again, I will make sure you cannot get a job cleaning toilets."
Breanna was suffocating from the injustice, stripped of her dignity and her family's only lifeline.
Yet, when she instinctively protected a traumatized little boy from bullies, she discovered he was Elliot's son.
The boy clung to her neck, crying and desperately begging his father to let her stay.
But Elliot just threw a massive check at her chest, violently accusing her of brainwashing a sick child for a meal ticket.
Looking at the toxic disgust in his eyes, something inside Breanna finally broke.
She picked up the check, ripped the millions into tiny shreds, and let them rain down on his expensive shoes.
"Keep your dirty money."
She turned her back on the crying boy and the stunned billionaire, deciding she would no longer be their victim.
8.2
For two years, I was the Alpha's secret wife, a duty he resented. But the positive pregnancy test in my hand was a miracle, a blessing from the Moon Goddess. This baby, our heir, was supposed to be the bridge that finally mended our broken mate bond.
That night, he left without a word. I saw on a gossip site that he'd gone to pick up his ex-lover, Isadora. Reaching for him through our bond, I wasn't met with his usual coldness, but with her emotions bleeding through him-triumph and smug possession.
The next morning, I went to his office, ready to tell him about our baby, believing our child could fix us. But I stopped when I heard him talking to our Pack Healer about me.
The healer said I looked fragile, that he should care for his mate. My husband laughed.
"You seem to care for her more than I do," Demetri said, his voice dripping with ice. "Do you want me to give her to you? Take her. She's of no use to me."
My world shattered. I wasn't just unloved; I was a thing to be discarded. I looked down at the pregnancy report, the proof of the life inside me, and made a vow. He would never know about our child, and I would sever our bond myself.
8.0
Billionaires Collerction...
In this collection of high-stakes passion, the elite meet their match. Whether it's an unexpected fire that ignites in a boardroom or a slow-burn obsession that begins in the shadows, these men are about to discover that the heart follows no contract. Those who enter their orbit find themselves caught in a whirlwind of luxury and leverage, where every touch is a negotiation and every kiss is a risk.
7.5
Bryn hovered as a translucent soul over her own fresh grave, just three days after she was buried.
She had been shoved off a cliff by Keifer, the boyfriend she provided for, while her adopted sister Fabiola watched and laughed.
Now, they stood at her grave crying fake tears, ready to steal her massive inheritance.
Suddenly, Dominic Hutchinson, the arrogant school tyrant who made her life a living hell, arrived.
He didn't come to mock her. He dug up her grave with his bare, bleeding hands, hugging her freezing urn as he sobbed in pure despair.
He ruthlessly exposed Keifer and Fabiola's murder plot, sending them to federal prison.
Three months later, Dominic stood before her rebuilt headstone in a pristine white tuxedo.
"It's finally over. I can finally come pick you up."
He pulled out a silver scalpel and slit his own wrist, leaving a bloody kiss above her carved name as he died.
Bryn fell to her knees, screaming and sobbing uncontrollably.
The boy she thought hated her had loved her with his entire life, while the parasites she trusted had killed her.
Why had she been so utterly blind?
A blinding light swallowed her soul, and Bryn suddenly snapped her eyes open.
She was standing by her high school lockers, completely alive.
She had returned to exactly three years before her death.
8.2
Framed. Disowned. Forgotten.
Thira Calderon lost everything in one night-her reputation, her family, and the man she loved. Five years later, she returns to New York with three secretive little geniuses and a high-powered job at a billionaire's company.
What she doesn't know?
Her new boss, Riven Dax, might be the man she's spent years trying to forget.
What her kids know?
He might just be the dad they've been searching for.
"He has Kai's eyes."
"And Niko's ears."
"Let's get proof," Elara whispers. "Real proof."
And three kids determined to uncover the truth their mother's too afraid to ask.