Falling for the CEO's brother
Elise thought her life was finally falling into place. She turned down her father's company to work as executive assistant to Marcus Grey-the boy she's loved since childhood, now the powerful CEO she's devoted her life to.
But when Marcus proposes to another woman, Elise's world crumbles. Enter Sebastian Deluca-Marcus's tattooed, ruthless, long-estranged brother. He's everything Marcus isn't: dangerous, magnetic, and determined to take back his place in New York.
But, there's something odd about him.
Something changed since he arrived.
Bound by family secrets and a mutual desire to expose Marcus's fiancée, Elise and Sebastian form an uneasy alliance. But as sparks ignite between them, Elise must choose: remain loyal to the boy she thought she loved, or risk everything for the man who sees her as more than a shadow.
Some loves are safe. Others are consuming. Which one will she survive?
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Chapter 4
Elise's pov
Sebastian.
He straightened, hand in his pocket as he stared down at me. I opened my mouth to question him but Marcus dragged my attention back to him.
"Elise, thank you so much for everything." Why was he thanking me? "After the breakup you told me that the best way to heal is to revisit what once made me happy and I realized that I was happiest with Victoria. So I talked to her and we sorted things out."
That's not what I meant you idiot! I meant, me!
I wanted to scream and cry but all I could do was offer a weak smile as he planted a soft kiss on her lips which made me want to throw up.
Victoria's eyes slid to me and I saw that smug look in her eyes. "Elise," the way she said my name made me sick. "Can you believe it? We're getting married."
My throat felt like it was closing up but I managed to force out, "Yeah... congratulations."
She moved closer to him, making sure to show me her ring and let me know that she had won.
***
After the celebration died down we all sat at the table to have dinner. I couldn't even look in the direction of anyone so I kept my eyes fixed on the tablecloth
I didn't understand why he had brought my family but I didn't want to talk to them. No one even noticed as they all spoke amongst themselves.
Then, someone drew the chair next to me and sat down. Their presence made the table go silent, I looked up and saw Sebastian. This made me remember his statement from earlier.
"Sorry for keeping you guys waiting, I had to take a call." He said smoothly.
I could see the confusion in my family's eyes but when I looked at the Greys they had this tense look in their eyes.
"Who is this?" My mother finally asked
Mr Grey cleared his throat, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Sebastian Deluca. My son."
All eyes snapped to Sebastian including mine. Something was amiss, how did they have another son and all these years they parade Marcus as the only child.
Also, Deluca? Why did he have a different surname? What was the unspoken tension going on between them? And why did his name sound a bit familiar?
My mom opened her mouth to ask another question but the sound of Marcus's ring tone interrupted her. He gave an apologetic smile then excused himself.
This was my shot.
"Umm... excuse me. I need to use the bathroom." I didn't wait for anyone's response as I got up and hurried after him.
I stayed in the hallway waiting for him to finish his call and once he did, I approached him. He smiled at me, "hey, Lise. Why are you back here?"
"I don't think you should get married to Victoria." I blurted out.
His smile dropped and he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "What's the problem now, Elise?"
The way he said my name stung. "I-i just think you are rushing things and should find a better person to settle down with."
"Rushing things? Jesus, Elise. Victoria isn't a stranger, we have dated for years and just had a little misunderstanding and went on a break which all couples have." He said. "I am a grown man and I know the difference between right and wrong, I don't need you to tell me."
"I'm just saying-"
"Saying what? Elise." He snapped. "That I should find a better person?"
I remained silent.
He scoffed. "And who do you think this 'better person' would be? You?" He laughed. "Please come off. Tonight is going to be a happy night. I don't need your moodwings-or whatever this is-getting in the way."
He walked past me, calling out. "Sort out yourself before you come back to the table. I don't need this negative energy to ruin everything."
I stood rooted to my spot, eyes blurred with tears as I remembered the way he had laughed when he said "you?", like it was the most unimaginable thing he had ever heard.
I knew he didn't mean to hurt me and was just overstimulated but that didn't make it hurt any less.
A broken sob escaped, making me clamp my hand over my mouth as my shoulders shook. Was it too much to ask him to love me?
After a few minutes of crying I heard a voice behind me. "You should just give up."
Sebastian. Quickly wiping my tears, I turned to face him, not caring that I looked like hell.
"Look, I don't know you and I don't want to know you so can you please stop following me around and stop talking to me?" I was tired of him just popping up at times when I felt like my world was shattered.
He raised his hand in surrender. "I'm not here to make you feel worse, I'm just saying the truth."
This made me scoff. "The truth? You know nothing about me, Marcus or our situation so whatever 'truth' you think you know is false. Keep it to yourself."
I turned to walk to the bathroom, I needed to splash some cold water on my face before facing Marcus again.
"Give up."
He said it again. I turned angrily on my heels and matched up to him. "I will not give up on Marcus because I love him." Eyeing him up and down I continued. "From the look of things you probably don't know what it means to be loved or to love someone or else you wouldn't be casually throwing the word 'give up' around like it was that easy."
He visibly flinched at my words. Good.
He was silent for a moment, staring down. I guess he had finally gotten the message.
Turning, I continued on my journey to the bathroom then- "Alright, I'll help."
I turned, confused. "What?"
"You're right, I know nothing about love and you seem to do. I want to see what it's like for someone to love a person and you need to learn that not all love is worth fighting for and what better way to do that than team up, try to get you your man and see how that works out?"
Why was he offering to... help me? "What do you gain in all this?"
"Nothing, I'm just bored."
I shot him a dry look which made him chuckle. "Okay, okay." He held his hand up in mock surrender then turned serious. "It might not seem like we have the best sibling relationship but I don't even need to know much to know that Victoria isn't the right person for him. I have failed to be there all his life but what's a better way to redeem myself then to help him escape and claws and be with someone who is actually right for him?"
It all sounded so suspicious but still... he was willing to help me get Marcus. I had been fighting alone for so long and a little help would go a long way.
I must have been silent for a while so he urged me, "so...? What do you say?"
"Let's do it." I stretched out my hand. "But if I find out that you lied to me, I will not hesitate to ruin you."
"Ouu, feisty." His hand was warm as it enveloped mine. "Okay, little vixen. We've got a wedding to stop."
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7.8
Alayna was working a grueling catering shift in worn-out heels to support her broke college boyfriend, Caiden, who claimed to be studying at the library.
But through the crack of a VIP suite door, she saw him wearing a bespoke suit and a Patek Philippe watch, sipping expensive liquor.
"It's a little poverty role-play. Keeps things interesting."
He was laughing with his rich friends, mocking her as his clueless "charity case."
To make matters worse, she was forced into a humiliating mascot costume just in time to watch him passionately kiss his wealthy ex-girlfriend.
That same night, Alayna's mother collapsed with gastric cancer, requiring a half-million-dollar surgery.
When a desperate Alayna begged Caiden for help, he refused.
"Why don't you just apply for Medicaid? That's the path for people like you."
For two years, she had starved herself to buy his textbooks, his tickets, and his shoes.
He had stolen her sweat and her sacrifices, all for a cruel game.
The sheer audacity of his betrayal made her blood run cold.
When a billionaire stranger stepped in to pay her mother's medical bills in exchange for a one-year fake marriage, Alayna didn't hesitate to sign the contract.
She slipped the flawless diamond ring onto her finger, opened a spreadsheet, and sent Caiden an invoice for every single cent.
This time, she was going to dismantle his entire life.
9.3
Ginny was chained to a concrete pillar in an abandoned warehouse, bleeding and betrayed by the two people she trusted most.
Her fiancé, Brant, and her adopted sister, Coretta, had just slashed her face open. Brant coldly admitted she was nothing but a disposable key to a vault, right before he tossed a lighter onto the gasoline-soaked floor.
As Ginny burned alive in the roaring inferno, the heavy iron doors were violently smashed open. Bedford Parks—the notoriously ruthless, germaphobic "monster" of Silicon Valley whom Ginny had always feared—charged straight into the flames. Ignoring the blistering heat, he shielded her charred body with his own. A massive steel beam collapsed, snapping his spine.
"I love you."
He coughed up blood, whispering his final words against her blackened skin before dying to protect her.
Hovering as a ghost, Ginny's soul screamed in agonizing realization. She had spent her life terrified of Bedford, yet he was the only one who truly loved her, while her supposed family laughed at her gruesome murder.
Suddenly, a blinding white light swallowed the warehouse.
Ginny gasped for air, opening her eyes to find herself sitting in the back of a luxury Maybach. She was eighteen again, wearing the humiliating clown makeup Coretta had tricked her into wearing on the day she was brought back to the wealthy Steele estate.
Ginny stared at her reflection, her dark eyes turning cold and sharp.
This time, she would tear her betrayers apart piece by piece, and she would protect her "monster."
8.8
Alaia Dudley spent her life playing the devoted partner, completely unaware that her fiancé Austen was sleeping with another woman.
She thought the worst he could do was break her heart, until she found herself pinned to a cold operating table.
Austen held her down with a cruel smirk while a scalpel sliced through her sternum.
They cracked her chest open while she was still fully conscious.
The agonizing pain of her heart being cut out burned into her nerve endings.
She realized then that to him, she was never a lover—just a spare organ, a boring piece of wood to be discarded the second his true love needed it.
She died in excruciating agony, choking on her own blood while the man she loved walked away with her heart.
Until her last breath, she didn't understand why she had to suffer so brutally.
Why did she waste her life begging for a monster's attention? Why did they get a happy ending while she was carved up like an animal?
But then, ice-cold water flooded her lungs, and Alaia violently broke the surface of her bathwater.
Her trembling fingers touched her smooth, flawless chest. No scars. Her heart was still beating.
The date on her phone glared back at her: it was exactly five years ago.
Tonight was the exact night Austen first took his mistress to a hotel room.
This time, she wouldn't just expose them. She would use Wall Street's most terrifying tyrant as her personal weapon to strip them of everything they had.
8.6
To save my father's failing workshop from ruthless loan sharks, I sold one year of my life.
I signed a fake marriage contract with Cameron Fox, an icy billionaire who needed a wife to pacify his sick grandmother. The rules were strict: it was purely a commercial transaction, with absolutely no physical contact and no emotional attachments.
Soon after, that cold hearted man seemed different to me. Wait, is he pursuing me?
8.6
Ellery was trapped in a suffocating marriage with Manhattan's most ruthless billionaire, Holland Sutton.
She silently endured his blatant affairs, even measuring his mistress for custom lingerie at her own design studio. She drank foul, black fertility potions forced on her by his cruel mother, who treated her like nothing more than a breeding machine.
She only tolerated the endless abuse because her own brother blackmailed her. He threatened to pull the plug on their dying mother's life support if Ellery didn't secure Holland's massive investment for his company. So, she swallowed her pride. She let Holland drag her around like a trophy, let his mother demand she quit her business, and allowed herself to be stripped of all dignity.
But then, the devastating news broke.
Holland's cousin had just welcomed a baby boy, securing the family inheritance. Ellery's womb was suddenly useless to the Sutton empire. The promised investment for her brother was instantly revoked. Every humiliation, every bitter potion she had choked down, was for absolutely nothing. She had been the perfect, silent puppet in a sick game she could never win.
Yet, Holland simply dragged her to the closet and threw a black haute couture gown at her feet.
"Put that on. Tonight, you are going to smile and show all of New York that my marriage is perfectly intact."
Staring at the heavy dress on the floor, a cold, terrifying clarity replaced her despair. If the rules of his twisted game had changed, then so had hers.
8.5
Kelsi Owens stood in front of the mirror in a six-figure gown, ready to marry into the wealthy Harrington family.
But her fiancé, Jeb, didn't even look at her. He abandoned her right in the middle of the fitting because his widowed sister-in-law, Seraphina, called crying.
That same night, Kelsi collapsed on her apartment floor with a ruptured appendix. Sweating and in blinding agony, she called Jeb for help.
Instead of concern, she heard Seraphina laughing and party music blaring in the background. Jeb just snapped at her.
"Stop being dramatic. Seraphina is the guest of honor tonight. I can't leave."
He hung up, leaving her to call her own ambulance. Kelsi woke up from emergency surgery completely alone, only to receive a cold text from Jeb calling her fragile.
To make matters worse, her toxic adoptive family didn't care that she almost died. They demanded she crawl back and apologize to Jeb just so they could keep leeching off her connections and trust fund.
Lying in that cold hospital bed, the illusion finally shattered. For three years, she had always been the one left waiting. She realized she meant absolutely nothing to the people she loved.
Kelsi didn't cry, and she didn't beg.
She calmly texted Jeb to call off the engagement, blocked his number, and cut ties with her greedy relatives forever.
She was finally walking away. What she didn't know was that the city's most ruthless billionaire had been watching her, and he was already weaving a golden net to claim her for himself.