FALLING FOR MY MOM'S FIANCÉ
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.
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Chapter 6
Maya
The cab ride back to my apartment is quiet-too quiet. The driver keeps glancing at me in the rearview mirror, probably wondering why a woman in a red silk dress is sitting in the back seat with tears streaming down her face. I don't bother wiping them away, I let him think whatever he wants.
When we pull up to my building, I hand him a twenty without waiting for the fare, then practically fall out of the car. The door to the lobby is locked, of course it is, it's almost midnight-but I manage to get my key in the lock on the third try, my hands still shaking.
I'm halfway up the stairs when my phone buzzes in my dress pocket. Chloe: u home yet??? i've been texting u for an hour. i'm outside ur building with chinese food and tequila.
I push open the door to my floor to find her sitting on the hallway carpet, a paper bag in one hand and a bottle of silver tequila in the other. She's still in her party dress. It's short, black, covered in sequins that catch the light from the hallway fixture.
"I knew you'd need this," she says, pushing herself to her feet. "I got your favorite...kung pao chicken with extra peanuts. And I brought salt and limes, because we're doing this right."
I don't say anything-just throw my arms around her and start crying again, hard enough that my shoulders shake. She holds me tight, rubbing circles on my back like she did when we were in college and I'd just gotten dumped by my first real boyfriend.
"Okay, okay," she says, leading me into my apartment and kicking the door shut behind us. "Let's get you out of that dress and into something comfortable. Then we're getting drunk and you're going to tell me everything."
Twenty minutes later, I'm in sweatpants and an old college t-shirt, sitting on my couch with a plate of food in my lap and a glass of tequila in my hand. Chloe's sitting cross-legged across from me, her hair piled on top of her head, already halfway through her second drink.
"Start talking," she says, pointing her fork at me. "And don't leave anything out. Did you punch him? Did you tell your mom off? Did the twin brother ask you to run away with him?"
I take a long sip of tequila, it burns going down, but it clears my head a little. "No punching. No running away. But I found out some things."
I tell her everything...about how Philip said he didn't start seeing my mom until after the divorce, about how Ethan said they'd been friends first, about the way Philip looked at me when we were standing by the window. I even tell her about the note Ethan slipped me, though I leave out the part about his fingers brushing mine, about the way his breath felt warm against my ear.
Chloe listens quietly, her expression serious. When I finish talking, she takes a sip of her drink and shakes her head.
"So what are you going to do?" she asks. "Are you going to give him a chance? Try to get to know him?"
I laugh, but it comes out bitter. "Give him a chance? He's engaged to my mom, Chloe. Even if he didn't break up my parents, he's still going to be my stepdad if they get married. I can't just... forgive him."
"Maybe not. But you don't have to hate him either." She leans forward, setting her glass on the coffee table. "What do you really want to do?"
I think about it-about the way my mom looked tonight, happy and bright in a way I haven't seen in years. About the way my dad sounded last time I talked to him, tired and sad and pretending everything was fine. About Philip; his steady eyes, his calm voice, the way his hand almost touched my arm.
"I want him gone," I say, the words coming out clear and sharp. "I want him out of her life so she'll realize what she's lost. So she'll go back to Dad."
Chloe raises an eyebrow. "And how exactly do you plan to do that? You can't just walk up to her and say 'Mom, break up with your fiancé...he's bad news.' She won't listen to you."
"I know." I take another sip of tequila, my mind already racing. "But what if I can make him leave her? What if I can make him want me instead?"
Chloe's eyes go wide. "Maya... are you serious? That's insane. He's twice your age, he's engaged to your mom-"
"He's human." I set my glass down, leaning back against the couch. "Everyone has weaknesses. Everyone makes mistakes. If I can get close to him, like, really close. Then I can make him choose me. And when my mom finds out, she'll hate him. She'll go back to Dad, and everything will be the way it's supposed to be."
"Everything won't be the way it's supposed to be," Chloe says, her voice firm. "You'll get hurt. Your mom will get hurt. Your dad will get hurt. This is a terrible idea."
"Maybe. But it's the only idea I've got." I stand up, walking to my bedroom and pulling the red dress out of the closet. I hold it up against myself, looking at my reflection in the mirror...angry and determined, ready to play a game I know I might not win. "He ruined my family. Now I'm going to ruin his engagement."
Chloe opens her mouth to argue, but my phone vibrates on the coffee table-three times in quick succession. I walk back to pick it up, my heart sinking when I see the sender: Admissions Office – Davenport Innovations Internship Program.
I'd applied for the marketing internship months ago, back when I still thought my life was going to be normal-graduate school, a good job, maybe even marry Noah someday. I'd forgotten all about it.
I tap the email open, my hands starting to shake again as I read the words on the screen:
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS- YOUR INTERNSHIP PLACEMENT
Dear Maya Wilson,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected for the Summer 2026 Marketing Internship at Apex Industries, a division of Davenport Innovations.
Your placement has been approved by our CEO, Philip Davenport, who has requested that you be assigned to the Executive Marketing Team.
Please report to our headquarters at 8:00 AM on Monday morning for orientation.
We look forward to welcoming you to the team.
Sincerely,
Human Resources Department
Davenport Innovations
I drop the phone on the couch like it's burned me. Chloe leans over to read the screen, her face going pale.
"Oh my god," she whispers. "Maya...what are you going to do?"
I look from the email on the screen to the red dress in my hand, a dangerous smile spreading across
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8.1
Content Rated 🔞🔞
This book contains explicit sexual scenes, obsession, morally grey characters, toxic desires, raw emotions, family dramas, dark romance themes, and psychological tension.
Stay off or get burned.
Just kidding! Dive dive in and enjoy the fire.😉😉
.............
"These sharp lips," he growls against my throat, grazing his teeth on my pulse, "they already cost me my soul. And now they'll moan my name...." his hand drags down my waist, gripping it harder, finding its way to my bare throbbing core. "and learn exactly who they belong to."
*******
One brother owns her future.
The other is addicted to her ruin.
Meeka Clemson is engaged to marry Nathaniel DeWitt, the billionaire heir her family chose, the man she's secretly loved for years. But one reckless mistake changes everything.
One forbidden night with a stranger she should never have touched. A man who held her like he intends to keep her.
Slade is everything she shouldn't want. He's dark, obsessive, scarred and dangerous.
And worst of all? He's Nathaniel's older brother.
Slade doesn't believe in restraint. He doesn't believe in sharing. And the once he tastes Meeka, he refuses to let go.
Every stolen touch becomes a betrayal. Every secret meeting pulls her deeper into the obsession. And the closer the wedding gets, the more ruthless Slade becomes, willing to destroy his brother, his family, and even his own name just to claim her.
Now Meeka is trapped between duty and desire, safety and sin. Between the man she's meant to marry, and the man who will burn the world before letting her walk away.
Because Slade doesn't do mercy, he does destruction, and he possesses. And he'll stop at nothing until she's his.
8.4
For twenty years, I lived as the adopted daughter of the wealthy Hill family.
But today, they forced me to sign a severance agreement and kicked me out so their precious biological daughter, Malia, could marry my fiancé.
To ruin me completely, they framed me for stealing Malia's engagement bracelet, threatening me with prison.
I calmly exposed the "sapphire" as cheap glass, then rolled up my sleeves to show the reporters my scarred, punctured arms.
For two decades, I wasn't a daughter. I was Malia's living blood and bone marrow bank.
They drained my health to keep her alive, even ordering doctors to ignore my failing organs just so she could attend a gala.
"Take this million dollars and shut your mouth," my adoptive father sneered, throwing a check at my feet.
My ex-fiancé looked at me with disgust, and Malia screamed that I was a crazy, vindictive liar.
They had stolen my life and my health, yet they still looked down on me like I was garbage.
I ripped the check into pieces and threw it in their faces.
Just as they ordered the butler to drag me out, a group of men in black suits shattered the chaos.
The heir of the untouchable Montgomery dynasty stepped through the door, ignoring the Hills' fawning, and handed me a DNA report.
I wasn't a disposable blood bag. I was the long-lost true heiress of old New York money.
And now, I was going to take back everything they stole from me.
7.2
I was securing the diamond clasp of my necklace when the security monitor blinked to life, revealing my husband burying his face between his assistant's thighs.
Just an hour later, Dante Moretti stood by my side at the Gala, playing the part of the devoted Capo, while his mistress smirked at me from across the room in a dress that screamed for attention.
I wanted to leave. I had packed my bags, ready to disappear.
But then the doctor told me the news: I was six weeks pregnant with the Vitiello-Moretti heir.
I thought the baby might save us. I thought it would stop the madness.
I was wrong.
When his mistress accused me of betrayal to cover her own tracks, Dante didn't listen to his wife. He listened to the woman warming his bed.
In a blind rage, the man who swore to protect me struck me down.
I felt the sharp, tearing pain in my abdomen before I even hit the stone floor.
As blood stained my pristine white dress, I realized he hadn't just broken his vows.
He had killed our unborn son.
So, when the opportunity came to detonate the gas line and fake my own death, I didn't hesitate.
I let the world believe Seraphina Moretti died in that explosion.
Ten years later, I returned to a city that thought I was a ghost.
I dismantled his supply lines, froze his assets, and watched his empire crumble piece by piece.
And when he was finally on his knees in the rain, broken and destitute, I stepped out of the shadows.
I didn't come back for his money.
I came back to hand him the ultrasound photo of the child he murdered.
"Hello, Dante."
8.2
Alex never expected his anonymous online connection to be Damien Cross, the intimidating billionaire CEO he works for. Three months of late-night confessions. One shocking revelation.
What started as fantasy becomes dangerously real when they can't deny their chemistry. But hidden enemies and buried secrets threaten to destroy them both. When Alex discovers a devastating truth linking their pasts, he's forced into an impossible choice that could cost him everything,including Damien's heart.
In a world of power and deception, can two men build something real, or will their secrets tear them apart?
8.3
I grew up feeling like an adopted child. They made me feel I was not part of them. They said I could not do as good as my sister. They said my younger sister was better in every aspect. It was understandable coming from my step mother. But my step father should have protected me. But he joined them.
That day my sister announced:
"My billionaire, Jordan, has asked me to marry him, and I said yes."
They were all happy and they told me again:
"Laura, learn from your sister. Do something productive with your life."
I took their advice, and married my sister's fiance.
7.1
Bonnie Galvan woke up to the suffocating scent of lilies, staring at the mirror in the exact same seven-figure wedding dress she had worn seven years ago.
In the doorway stood her so-called best friend Itzel and her secret lover Erwin, desperately urging her to elope.
They warned her that her soon-to-be husband, the billionaire Arlington Townsend, was a crippled monster, and marrying him would ruin her life forever.
In her previous life, she blindly believed their lies and ran away from the altar.
Because of her public betrayal, the ruthless Townsend family completely bankrupted her father's company in retaliation.
Erwin and Itzel swooped in as her saviors, only to steal whatever was left of her family's wealth and power.
When she was finally stripped of her value, Erwin pushed her down an icy mountain slope during a brutal blizzard.
With a shattered ankle, she could only watch as Itzel smirked and Erwin coldly walked away, leaving her to be buried alive under the freezing snow.
As her lungs burned and her heart gave out in the agonizing cold, she was consumed by hatred.
Why did the man who swore to protect her and the friend she trusted with her life plot so meticulously to destroy her?
Opening her eyes again, Bonnie was back in the bridal suite, minutes before the ceremony.
This time, she didn't run.
She walked straight down the aisle, looked the terrifying Arlington Townsend in the eye, and firmly said her vows.
"I do."