In the arms of two sins
His tie hung loose, his eyes darker than sin. The scent of whiskey lingered on his breath as he leaned closer.
"Tell me to stop," he murmured, the words brushing against my skin like a dare.
"You're drunk," I said, staring into those grey eyes as my heartbeat filled the silence.
He smiled faintly, his gaze trailing from my hair until it fell on my lips.
"Drunk," he whispered, his thumb grazing my mouth as if testing how soft it was, "but not blind. You want this as much as I do."
After her husband's mysterious death, Mara Lawson becomes the center of a scandal threatening to destroy the powerful Lawson empire. Elias Lawson, her late husband's twin, is everything she should resist-dangerous, magnetic, and forbidden. David Hale, her ex-lover, the man who walked away once and now wants forgiveness... and another chance.
Between the man who broke her and the one who could ruin her, Mara is caught in a web of passion, guilt, and secrets that could shatter them all.
Because in the Lawson world, love is never pure-it's just another sin waiting to be punished.
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Chapter 3
David stepped back immediately, clearing his throat. "Oh... yeah."
"Yes," Andrea said, holding his arms before meeting my gaze "If you're hungry, baby, I can call the maids to prepare something for you."
I had no interest in whatever performance she was starting.
I simply walked out.
The next morning, I got ready for my first day at the company.
Elias was already in the car when I came out. I entered without a word.
The drive was painfully quiet. Elias didn't speak, not even once. I kept my gaze glued to the window, pretending I was comfortable with sharing the same space with him.
When we reached the company, he walked ahead, giving me no chance to slow down or look around. Straight into the boardroom.
Everyone stood immediately. A chorus of greetings followed. Elias took the CEO's seat at the center, and I sat on his right.
"I want to introduce Mara Lawson," he said firmly. "She'll be working alongside me here."
I noticed eyes shifting, some nodding politely, others whispering. I looked around until my gaze fell on her.
Purple dress. Sleek hair. Red lipstick too bold.
I recognized that face.
The face that kissed my husband.
Her smile was thin. Mocking.
I looked away before my anger swallowed the room.
The meeting dragged on which I didn't pay attention to. All I could think about was her, sitting there so comfortably, as if she hadn't played a role in destroying my marriage.
When it ended, Elias and I headed to the office. Our office suite was bright, modern, separated only by a glass wall.
Do I really have to share a space with him? How am I supposed to stay away like Clara warned me to?
He unscrewed a bottle of water, took a slow drink, and I stayed standing, waiting for whatever judgment he planned to deliver.
"This company is bleeding," he said finally. "I don't expect you to understand the details, but you'll do as you're told. Don't meddle. Don't interfere. And most importantly, don't embarrass the Lawson name."
I stared at him.
"So you've already decided I'm incapable of anything but destruction?"
His eyes met mine, sharp and cold. "Aren't you?"
The words stung. "You must really dislike me. Why so much hatred for someone you barely know?"
"Because my brother is dead," he raised his voice "and I don't know what part you played in it."
I froze.
What?
Does he...
Does he think I killed Philip?
"You're wrong," I forced out. "Even though I still can't remember everything from that day... one thing I know is that I loved Philip. I did not kill him."
He scoffed.
"You had enough reasons to end his life. And I regret..."
He stopped. Something shifted in his expression. Confusion? Annoyance? Maybe both. He dragged a hand through his hair and stepped closer, invading my space until I could feel the heat of him.
"Miss Lawson, what happened between us that night," he said, voice low "was a mistake. It will never happen again."
He won't win in humiliating me like this.
"What exactly happened that I supposedly can't remember?" I asked, steady and composed even though I was lying through my teeth. "Because from where I'm standing, you're the one who dragged me into this company. Now you're acting like I begged for it."
His eyes flickered in confusion. "You don't remember? Stop playing games with me."
I only stared back.
He stepped away slightly, still studying me like something wasn't adding up.
"Richard will brief you on your duties," he said finally. "You'll oversee Public Relations. You can leave."
I walked into my office and sat down, trying to steady my shaking hands.
His words replayed in my head, cutting deeper each time. My gaze fell on the iron nameplate engraved with my name.
If he suspects me...
Then why give me this position?
To watch me?
Either way, I wasn't going to let him break me.
The least I could do was prove myself.
I stood up and headed to the PR department.
Phones rang, laptops clicked, voices overlapped. They greeted me warmly, and for a moment, I admired how driven everyone looked, until my eyes landed on her.
She approached like she owned the entire floor. "Mara Lawson," she said, stopping in front of me. "We've already been informed that you'll be leading us."
"Yes," I replied calmly. "And I expect professionalism. We're here to work."
She smirked. "We've run this department for years. It isn't as simple as showing up. I doubt Philip would think you capable of handling this if he were alive. By the way, it's Vivian"
Her casual tone toward Philip made my stomach twist.
I tilted my head, matching her tone.
"If Philip trusted you so much, Vivian, the department wouldn't be in the state I found it today. Don't project your insecurities on me."
Her eyes widened-offended, furious-and I walked away before she could speak.
By evening, I finally arrived home, exhausted and emotionally drained. After freshening up, a knock came on my door.
"Come in," I said.
Margaret entered, carrying a tray. "Mrs. Lawson... I brought dinner for you."
"I didn't order anything," I said, stepping forward, then a sharp pain shot through my stomach.
She rushed to me. "Should I call someone? Are you okay Ma?"
"No. I'm fine," I said quickly. "Just... leave it there."
She hesitated, concern etched on her face, but obeyed.
I tried eating, but the pain wouldn't let me. Eventually, I lay down, letting sleep drag me under.
"Why... Did you think I wouldn't know?"
The voice dragged me out of sleep and into the nightmare I'd been running from.
I opened my eyes to find myself standing in Philip's study, the same room he died in. The same dream again. The same haunting replay... but this time, it didn't stop where it usually did. It went further.
Across the room, I saw me.
My other self-drunk, angry, shattered.
Philip stepped toward her, his voice breaking. "Mara... I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to find out this way."
I leaned forward, desperate to hear more, but the sound blurred, like the dream was muting the truth on purpose. My other self stumbled back, face twisted with hurt. Philip reached for her.
And she pushed him.
Hard.
His head slammed against the edge of the table with a sickening thud.
I jolted awake, gasping, drenched in sweat.
The dream was different this time. Sharper. More violent.
Did I kill him?
Did I really push Philip that night?
Could I have ended his life without remembering?
Maybe that's why everything is blank.
Maybe my mind is hiding something I'm not ready to face.
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7.6
On Christmas eve, I had prepared a surprise gift for my boyfriend of five years, but I was surprised instead... He had been seeing another woman. Worse still, I walked in on him, banging her.
Broken, I left in the middle of the night, but what I didn't know was that I would run into a scary creature that night that changed my life forever.
Alpha Kael... The man whom even his presence carries a strong intimidating aura, yet pulls me in. The man who makes me feel safe, yet torments me.
Watch him burn the world for me...
9.3
Chandler was the secret wife of Avery Osborn, a powerful media heir who kept their marriage hidden to avoid the scandal of her illegitimate birth.
After catching him openly flirting with a rival at a gala, Avery mocked her low status and told her she was nothing without his money.
Instead of crying, Chandler immediately signed a zero-payout divorce agreement, left her wedding ring on his glass table, and walked out.
To numb the pain of her shattered life, she went to a notorious underground club.
Drugged by a bartender, she lost her mind and ended up having a wild night with a handsome stranger she mistook for a high-end male escort.
Panicking the next morning, Chandler transferred her entire life savings of $50,000 to the man to buy his silence, then fled to her corporate job.
But at the afternoon executive meeting, her blood ran cold.
The man she had paid off was standing at the head of the boardroom table. He wasn't a gigolo. He was Brennan George, the ruthless new COO of her company.
Cornering her in the women's restroom, Brennan held up a printed copy of her $50,000 wire transfer.
"Wiring a massive sum of cash to your direct superior after a night together is classified as commercial bribery and solicitation," he whispered dangerously.
Chandler was terrified, realizing she had handed him the exact evidence needed to destroy her career and sue her into bankruptcy.
"Marry me," Brennan demanded coldly. "It's the only way to make this HR problem disappear."
8.5
🔞Explicit Content🔞
"Suck my c^ck, Rosabella. That's all you're good at. A hopeless orphan can only dream of luxury. Keep your filthy mouth out of my affair...use it only to make me cum."
******
Bella Hale has known suffering her entire life. Orphaned at sixteen, she survives on scraps and desperation. She does whatever it takes not to starve with only little dignity intact.
She envies the rich-people who seem immune to hardship and pain. Yet she promised herself that if she ever got her hands on one of them, she would never let go. She was done suffering.
Lucian Rodriguez is everything she should despise.
A cold, selfish, ruthless billionaire with little conscience and no mercy...
a man who knows how to smile for the world while keeping his darkness well hidden.
Their worlds collide when Lucian's four-month-old daughter goes missing... and Bella finds her.
Lucian offers no gratitude...and Bella refuses to let the opportunity slip. She demands compensation. Not just money, but security. A lifetime guarantee that she will never be poor again. In return, she will do whatever he wants. Her body. Her life. He can have it all.
Bella is taken into his world-strictly as a deal.
What she doesn't realize is that when you make a deal with the devil, you should never expect it to be fair.
And she will learn too late that being poor was far better than belonging to Lucian Rodriguez.
A deal turns into obsession.
Survival into desire.
Desire into Hate.
Hate into Love.
That love and commitment becomes the biggest and worst mistake.
Will Bella's desperate deal destroy her?
Or Will she become Lucian's destruction?
9.1
When she's preparing dinner for him, he's out there dating;
When she's drinking with men to get a business deal for him, he is announcing to be single for the price of his stock;
When she drags herself to the hospital in high fever, he's at the same hospital, taking care of his ex girl friend.
She loved him for ten years. She did everything for him and gave him everything she had. She thought their love can never die, yet it did.
She doesn't hate him. She's just tired.
She turns and left him, only to see that there was a firm chest that has been waiting for her all this time. She is also the one adored in another man's eyes, and when she finally gets a taste of being loved, she realize--
He has never loved her.
That day he gets back home, only to be shocked that the woman who has always been there for him was gone.
Regret taking over him as he chases after her, only to see another man saying the scared oath on the alter with their hands holding together.
That was when he realized--
The innocent girl who loved him, the most precious treasure that he as ever got in his life, is gone.
He lost the best thing that has ever been his.
Two broken hearts. One fake marriage. A thousand buried secrets.
Eva thought love would be enough to keep them together. Ten years loving Stephan. Five years married to him. And one tragic accident that shattered everything they ever were, she's left with a stranger wearing her husband's face.
Until the day she finally walks away.
And that's when she meets Micah, her ex-husband's enemy, the man who once set her marriage on fire just by existing.
He proposes to her a dangerous deal: a one-year marriage that will make Stephan regret ever letting her go.
But what starts as a game to wound her ex soon spirals into something raw, tender, and terrifyingly real.
Only, Micah isn't what he seems. Behind his easy smile are secrets she was never meant to find, secrets that could destroy them both.
And when the truth comes out, love might not be enough to save anyone.
When the lies unravel... will her heart choose forgiveness - or freedom?
7.3
Seraphina's late mother's business of housing seniors is now in control of her wicked stepfather, Silas Creed. With her loved ones under his hostile care, she is eager to obey his demands to keep them safe. Including acting as a spy in the Thorne Corporation for intel that will dismantle his rival's empire.
But, entangling herself with the stoic, brooding, and infamous billionaire, Jaxon Thorne, throws a wrench in her plan. Intrigued by his ruthless desire for her and knowing lies being his arch enemy, the threat of her stepfather becomes vague in her mind. With Seraphina deeply involved with Thorne, she risks far more than she had expected.
Love. Loyalty. And lives.
9.3
I walked into my apartment dripping wet from the rain, only to hear a guttural moan coming from the bedroom. I told myself it was just the TV, but my shaking hands could barely fit the key into the lock.
When the door swung open, I saw a pair of red stilettos on the floor and my fiancé's favorite silk tie discarded like trash. I pushed the bedroom door open to find Javon in our bed with another woman, the sheets I had just washed two days ago tangled around them.
Instead of apologizing, Javon looked at me with a sneer and barked, "You don't know how to knock?" He claimed he paid the bills, even though I worked double shifts just to keep the lights on while he chased a promotion he'd never get.
When I slapped him, he didn't show remorse-he called me a "stupid bitch" and lunged at me with a look of pure malice. My life was a total wreck; my fiancé was a cheater, and my grandmother was about to be kicked out of her nursing home because I was forty dollars short of the payment.
I felt like I was falling off a cliff with no one to catch me. Why was the man I loved treating me like a cockroach in my own home? Just as Javon moved to strike me, a shadow fell over the room. A man in an expensive black trench coat stood in the doorway, his presence sucking the oxygen out of the room.
It was Carmine Wilkinson, a man I had never met but whose terrifying calm made my heart stop. He didn't look at the trash on the bed; he only looked at me. He handed me a monogrammed handkerchief and asked one simple, brutal question.
"Do you want revenge?"
I nodded, desperate for any lifeline in the middle of my imploding world. He didn't offer me a shoulder to cry on; he looked me in the eye and gave me an ultimatum that would change my life forever.
"Good. Get your ID. We're going to City Hall."