Falling for the Starlet
"You're shaking?"
Lucy's breath caught as Caleb's deep voice wrapped around her.
"I-I'm sorry, sir... this isn't right" she whispered, not daring to look up.
"You don't have anything to worry about," he murmured, stepping closer. "I will protect you, just be obedient."
---
Lucy never expected crying outside a locked audition room to change her life. But when the cold, untouchable CEO of Sinclair Studios secretly gave her a chance, she found herself on screen and in his sights.
The more Lucy rises in the industry, the more Caleb seems to appear, watching, guiding... claiming.
But Caleb isn't single. His girlfriend, Theresa, is an A-list actress who won't let some rookie take her place... not on screen, and definitely not in Caleb's heart.
When passion turns possessive and the cameras keep rolling, Lucy must choose: keep her head down and protect her career, or fall for the man who could destroy everything she's built.
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Chapter 6
Caleb stared at Theresa's photo on his phone screen, her smile frozen in digital perfection. Three rings. Four. He could still hear Lucy and Tiana's hushed voices from the kitchen.
On the fifth ring, he swiped to accept.
"Hey baby, I was starting to think you were avoiding me," Theresa's voice was warm, affectionate.
"Never. Just had a long day." He walked toward the living room, away from the kitchen sounds. "How's New York?"
"Exhausting but amazing. The Vogue shoot went perfectly, and I just finished dinner with the director for that Netflix series I told you about. I think I'm going to get it."
"That's incredible. I'm proud of you."
"Are you? Because you sound distracted."
Caleb forced himself to focus. "The press conference today took more out of me than expected."
"Speaking of which, I saw the whole thing online. You were magnificent. Very sexy, Mr. CEO."
Heat crept up Caleb's neck. "Just doing what needed to be done."
"Is everyone safe now? The people who were targeted?"
"Yes. It's handled."
"Good. I hate thinking about you dealing with crazy people. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the best part about today. Guess who's been fired from three projects because of the scandal her sister caused?"
Caleb frowned. "Who?"
"Jennifer Walsh. Apparently having a sister who commits federal crimes makes you unemployable in this town. Karma's a bitch, isn't it?"
"That seems harsh. Jennifer wasn't involved."
"Maybe not directly, but she should have known what kind of person her sister was. Anyway, enough about work drama. I miss you. Only two more days and I'll be home."
After they hung up, Caleb stood in silence, processing what Theresa had said. Jennifer Walsh had been nothing but professional and kind to Lucy. Now her career was destroyed because of her sister's jealousy.
"Food's ready," Lucy called softly from behind him.
He turned to find her in the kitchen doorway, wearing one of his old t-shirts over her jeans. The sight made his chest tight.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
"Fine."
In the dining room, Tiana had set the table with candles. The pasta smelled incredible, and for a moment, Caleb let himself pretend this was normal. That he came home to Lucy cooking dinner every night.
"This is amazing," he said after the first bite.
Lucy smiled but stayed quiet, letting Tiana carry most of the conversation. She seemed lost in thought, picking at her food more than eating it.
Halfway through dinner, Caleb's phone buzzed with a text from his assistant Sarah: "Jennifer Walsh is here. Says it's urgent and concerns Miss Martinez."
Caleb frowned. "I need to step out for a moment. Work call."
In his home office, he called Sarah back.
"Put her through to my office line."
Jennifer's voice was shaky when she came on. "Mr. Sinclair, I'm so sorry to bother you at home, but I didn't know who else to call."
"What's going on, Jennifer?"
"It's about Lucy. And about what my sister did. I've been blacklisted from every studio in town because of Amber, and now I'm hearing things. Dangerous things."
Caleb's attention sharpened. "What kind of things?"
"There's a group of casting directors and producers who are planning to make sure Lucy never works again. They're calling it protecting the industry from troublemakers. They blame her for exposing how dirty this business can get."
"That's ridiculous. She was the victim."
"I know that. You know that. But these people see her as a threat to their way of doing business. They're planning to sabotage any project she's attached to."
Caleb's jaw clenched. "Who specifically?"
"Robert Chen, David's father. He runs Chen Casting. Patricia Hoffman from Hoffman Entertainment. A few others. They're meeting tomorrow night to finalize their strategy."
"Where?"
"The Chateau Marmont, private dining room. Mr. Sinclair, they have serious influence. If they decide to bury Lucy's career, they can do it."
After hanging up, Caleb returned to the dining room to find Lucy and Tiana clearing dishes.
"Who was that?" Tiana asked suspiciously.
"Jennifer Walsh. She wanted to warn us about something."
Lucy looked up, concerned. "Is she okay? I heard she lost her job."
"She's fine. But there might be more complications with your situation."
"What kind of complications?" Tiana demanded.
Caleb hesitated. The smart thing would be to handle this quietly, use his influence to shut down the conspiracy before it could hurt Lucy. But looking at her trusting face, he realized she deserved to know what she was up against.
"Some people in the industry blame you for exposing how corrupt things can get. They see you as a threat."
Lucy went pale. "What does that mean?"
"It means they want to make sure you never work in Hollywood again."
The color drained completely from Lucy's face. Tiana immediately moved to her side, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders.
"They can't do that," Tiana said fiercely. "She didn't do anything wrong."
"In this town, doing nothing wrong isn't always enough," Caleb said grimly. "But they're not going to succeed."
"How can you be sure?" Lucy asked quietly.
Caleb looked at her, sitting in his dining room wearing his shirt, vulnerable and scared but still beautiful. The urge to protect her was overwhelming, stronger than any business instinct.
"Because I won't let them."
His phone rang again. This time it was Marcus Rivera.
"Caleb, we've got a situation. Someone just broke into Lucy Martinez's apartment. Trashed the place completely."
Caleb's blood turned cold. "Any idea who?"
"Security cameras were disabled, but this wasn't random. They were looking for something specific. Went through all her personal documents, computer, everything."
"Looking for what?"
"That's what worries me. What could a struggling actress have that someone would want badly enough to commit breaking and entering?"
Caleb looked at Lucy, who was watching his face with growing alarm.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."
After he hung up, both women were staring at him.
"My apartment," Lucy said. It wasn't a question.
"Someone broke in. I'm sorry."
Lucy sank into her chair, looking overwhelmed. "I don't understand. What could they possibly want from me?"
"That's what we need to figure out," Caleb said. "But first, we need to make sure you're completely safe."
"She's safe here," Tiana said firmly.
Caleb nodded, but his mind was already racing ahead to tomorrow night's meeting at Chateau Marmont. Whatever these people were planning, he was going to stop it before it started.
His phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "Stop protecting her or everyone you care about will pay."
Caleb stared at the message, ice forming in his veins. This wasn't about Lucy's career anymore. Someone was threatening him directly, using her as leverage.
And that was a mistake they would regret making.
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7.3
Laura Brooks thought she was just an ordinary woman working a normal job-until one reckless night with a stranger changed everything.
Damien Blackwood isn't just dangerously handsome-he's the ruthless Alpha of the most feared werewolf pack in the region. For ten years, he ruled with violence and strength, but the moment he saw Laura, a human, he knew the truth: she was his mate. His Luna. His obsession.
Terrified, Laura tried to run. But fate was cruel. Caught between two rival Alphas-Damien, who would burn the world to keep her, and Kael, who wanted her as a weapon to destroy him-Laura was dragged into a world of blood, betrayal, and war.
Laura's fate is sealed in violence. To save her life and their unborn child, Damien makes the one choice that changes everything: he turns her.
Now Laura is no longer just human. She is Alpha's mate. She is Luna. And the world will learn why no one steals from Damien Blackwood.
7.7
The Cameron family clinic smelled like lemon polish and impending death. For three years, I'd been a vessel in a cold, forced marriage to Underboss Kade Cameron. But today, the doctor's words would shatter everything.
"No heartbeat," Dr. Finch declared, then, "Stage IV gastric cancer. Terminal." A double death sentence. As the world tilted, a news alert flashed: Kade, my husband, parading his mistress, Carla Shaw, across Europe-"a love that defies family lines."
Dying and carrying his dead child, I overheard nurses gossip Kade wanted me gone for his "true love." I chose to feel the D&C agony, cleansing him from my soul. Stumbling out, Kade accused me of killing his child, then rushed Carla, feigning illness, to OB/GYN, ignoring my bleeding and dying state.
Back at the mansion, I vomited blood, my body failing. Kade watched with disgust, dismissing my terminal diagnosis as a "performance." He called me "collateral," a "debt payment," then left me for his mistress. The last shred of loyalty shattered, replaced by chilling clarity.
I signed the divorce papers he dismissed as a "tantrum," leaving his ring. No longer a Cameron, no longer his possession. With Fluffy, I made one call, choosing to die on my own terms, finally free.
9.5
The first clue my life was a lie was a moan from the guest room. My husband of seven years wasn't in our bed. He was with my intern.
I discovered my husband, Brendan, was having a four-year affair with Kiya-the talented girl I was mentoring and personally paying tuition for.
The next morning, she sat at our breakfast table in his shirt while he made us pancakes. He lied to my face, promising he'd never love another, just before I learned she was pregnant with his child-a child he'd always refused to have with me.
The two people I trusted most in the world had conspired to destroy me. The pain wasn't something I could live with; it was an annihilation of my entire world.
So I made a call to a neuroscientist about his experimental, irreversible procedure. I didn't want revenge. I wanted to erase every memory of my husband and become his first test subject.
8.3
Sandra was a mistress: a temporary escape for billionaire David Kingsley.
But in the shadows of his study, "temporary" turned into a dangerous addiction.
When David brutally casts her back into the poverty she fought to escape, Sandra plays her final card: a lie about a pregnancy to keep him tied to her.
The lie becomes a terrifying reality just as David announces his "perfect" life is expanding with a child of his own.
Now, Sandra isn't just a discarded mistress; she's a woman with a secret that could topple an empire.
How far will a woman go when she has nothing left to lose but the life growing inside her?
7.2
I went to the bank to set up a trust fund for my twins, only to have the manager look at me with pity.
"Mrs. Dunlap, the trust requires the *biological* mother's signature."
I froze. I *was* their mother. Or so I thought.
That day, I learned my husband, the most powerful Mafia Don on the coast, had used his ex-lover’s frozen eggs.
For six years, I wasn't his wife. I was just the incubator.
When his "true love," Iliana, returned from exile, my life disintegrated.
My children, poisoned by her lies, pushed me down the stairs and called me "just the nanny."
Gavyn didn't help me up. He stepped over my bleeding body to take his "real family" out for ice cream.
But the ultimate betrayal happened on a windswept cliff.
Staged by Iliana, we were both tied up, allegedly rigged to explode.
Forced to choose who to save, Gavyn didn't hesitate.
He cut Iliana loose.
"You did this to yourself, Alex," he said, driving away with the children, leaving me to die.
He thought he was leaving behind a corpse.
He didn't know I had skimmed ten million dollars from the household accounts.
"Cut me loose," I told the hitman, transferring the money. "And tell him the ocean took me."
Two years later, the Don is on his knees in my garden, begging for a second chance.
Too bad he has to get through my new fiancé first—the head of the rival cartel.
9.7
He leaned in, inhaling her sweet scent as his hands traveled from her back to her waist, and then down to her thigh. She felt her breath hitch as she let out a small gasp.
"We shouldn't be doing this." She said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Then tell me to stop." His voice was low, daring, as his fingers traced slow circles on her skin.
***
Lucy had always lived life on her own terms, until the night everything changed. One moment, she was free; the next, she was bound to Barry Cooper, a cold, dangerous man who ruled the underworld with an iron fist.
She never expected to be trapped in a world of power struggles, deceit, and unspoken desires. But as the lines between captor and captive blur, Lucy realizes she's caught in a deadly game, one where trust is a luxury and survival is not guaranteed.
Will she escape the ruthless mobster who owns her... or will she become his greatest obsession?