My hacker roommate

The doctors called it Tactile Craving Syndrome. A rare condition. I crave control. I crave possession. I’ve only ever told one person my secret—my ex-boyfriend, Kevin. He called me a freak. Later, we became siblings. Today, the craving hit again. I just wanted to beg him for a hug, but he threw all my luggage past the mansion gates. "Claire, you make me sick." That’s when a line of crimson text drifted across my sight. [Don’t be afraid. Your medicine… is on its way.]

Chapters

Chapter 4

Kevin brought the confrontation right to my doorstep.

He must’ve tracked down my address. One weekend afternoon, his flashy Porsche was blocking the entrance to my apartment building.

I was just returning from the grocery store when he cut me off.

“Claire, come back with me.” He leaned against his car door, that old arrogance back in full force.

“No.”

“Don’t be difficult.” He frowned, impatience threading his voice. “I admit I was harsh that day, but it was for your own good. You’re a young woman—living with some guy you don’t even know? How dangerous is that?”

I looked at him and suddenly found it all absurd.

He was the one who pushed me away. Now he was the one worried about my safety.

“Your concern is unnecessary, Kevin. My roommate is perfectly fine.”

“Fine?” Kevin sneered. “A deadbeat who holes up at home all day doing who-knows-what—how fine can he be? Claire, don’t lower yourself like this. Come back with me. The Sterlings can give you the best life possible.”

Before his words could settle, a cool, detached voice spoke from behind me.

“My roommate is none of your concern.”

It was Carl.

I hadn’t heard him come down, but there he stood, right behind me. His hand rested naturally on my shoulder with an unmistakable, possessive weight.

I went rigid—then a wild surge of joy overtook me.

His familiar scent of cedar wrapped around me. Through the thin fabric of my shirt, I could feel the warmth of his palm with perfect clarity.

That acute need for his touch was instantly quelled. The relief was so overwhelming a soft sound caught in my throat.

[Oh my god! The first showdown between the real deal and the ex!]

[Carl’s possessiveness! I’m here for it!]

[Look at Kevin’s face—it’s turning green!]

Kevin’s expression was indeed terrible.

He looked Carl up and down, his eyes full of scrutiny and disdain.

“So you’re the roommate?”

Carl ignored him. He simply looked down at me, his voice softening a fraction. “Let’s go home.”

“Mm.” I nodded obediently.

The feeling of being shielded like that was incredible.

Completely ignored, Kevin flushed with rage. “Claire! Stop right there! Do you even know what this man does? What can he possibly give you? Come back with me, I—”

“She’s not going back with you.” Carl finally shot him a look, his gaze icy and sharp enough to cut. “It’s simple: she doesn’t need you.”

With that, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, turned, and walked away, leaving Kevin fuming alone on the sidewalk.

In the elevator, I could sense Carl’s mood was off. The aura around him was terrifyingly cold, and his arm tightened more and more around my shoulders.

[Darkening level at 99%! About to max out!]

[Kevin’s ‘What can he give you?’ line totally triggered him!]

[Oh no, oh no, Carl’s about to lose it! I’m so excited!]

A strange excitement stirred in me too.

Back in the apartment, he slammed the door shut with a bang and pinned me against it.

His eyes were lowered, long lashes casting shadows beneath them, his expression unreadable. All I could feel was the dangerous energy radiating from him.

“Claire.” His voice was hoarse, ragged. “Do you like him?”

“No.” My answer was immediate.

“Then why… keep tangling with him?” His hand came up to cup my face, his calloused thumb stroking my cheek. “Is it because I can’t give you what you want?”

“No!” I denied urgently.

“Then why?” He pressed closer, his nose almost touching mine. “What is it you want?”

I looked into his eyes, so close. They churned with obsession, madness, and a flicker of vulnerability I’d never seen before.

The live comments exploded across the screen.

[Ask her! Ask her what she wants!]

[He’s scared. He’s scared she’ll really leave, scared nothing he has can keep her.]

[My beautiful, strong, tragic hero! Tell him! Tell him you want him!]

My heart felt wrung tight.

So he could be afraid too.

I rose on my toes and kissed his lips.

His body went rigid. Then, an even more frenzied intensity swallowed me whole.

He took over, deepening the kiss with a punishing force, stealing the air from my lungs.

The cold scent of cedar mixed with his own unique essence, drowning me completely.

Just as I was about to suffocate, he finally released me.

His forehead rested against mine, his breathing ragged, the corners of his eyes tinged with a mesmerizing red.

“Claire,” he rasped, each word deliberate. “What… do you want?”

I looked at him and smiled.

“What I want,” I leaned close to his ear, my voice a whisper meant only for us, “is you.”

Keep Watching!

The story is getting intense! Switch to App to continue reading

Unlock All Episodes

Open the Official Website

The bathroom mirror at the Plaza reflected a woman I barely recognized. I'd spent two hours on my hair alone, twisting it into an elegant updo that exposed the curve of my neck. The dress—navy blue, modest, purchased with money I'd saved from grocery budgets—fit perfectly. I'd imagined Cole's face when he saw me tonight. Imagined him finally looking at me the way he used to, back when we were just two people in love, before DeepSpace Tech consumed everything. Three years. Three years of living in the margins of his success. The ballroom of the Manhattan Grand buzzed with the kind of energy that only comes from old money meeting new ambition. Crystal chandeliers cast fractured light across faces I'd seen in Forbes and Bloomberg. I smoothed my dress and made my way through the crowd, searching for Cole among the tailored suits and designer gowns that cost more than our monthly rent.

Billionaire Modern Romance

9.1

After My Husband Took Our Son to His Mistress

9.1

The steady beep of monitors pulled me from darkness. I blinked against harsh fluorescent lights, my body feeling hollow and strange. The hospital room was pristine—white walls, white sheets, the antiseptic smell burning my nostrils. My hand instinctively moved to my stomach, and that's when the emptiness hit me. Twelve weeks. Our baby was gone. The door opened, and Damon strode in, his tailored suit unwrinkled despite the early hour. His eyes flickered to his watch before settling on me. "You're awake," he said, his voice neutral. No embrace.

Billionaire Modern Romance

9.5

His Secret Heir In Her Arms

9.5

I returned to New York with a broken suitcase and exactly three hundred and forty-two dollars in my bank account. My mother was dying in a public hospital, and the only treatment that could save her required a fifty-thousand-dollar deposit I didn't have. While I was pleading with the billing department, I ran into my billionaire ex, Gannon Sharpe, and his cruel fiancée, Aleta. Without a second thought, Aleta slapped me so hard my lip split, kicking my belongings across the floor and calling me a gold-digging thief in front of the entire staff. I looked at Gannon, the man I once loved more than my own life, hoping for a shred of mercy. Instead, he looked at me with pure revulsion and told me I belonged in the gutter. He believed the lies his grandfather told him—that I had abandoned him after his car crash and vanished with millions. He had no idea I was the one who actually pulled him from that burning wreckage, or that I was currently skipping meals in a moldy motel just so our secret son could have formula. He called me "disgusting" and walked away, leaving me to rot. I wanted to scream that I was the genius scientist who wrote his company’s core algorithms, and that the child he didn’t know existed was shivering with a fever only blocks away. But the ironclad NDA I signed to save my family kept me silent, even as Gannon looked at me like I was something he’d stepped in. Desperate for health insurance to save my mother and son, I took a bottom-tier data entry job in the basement of Gannon’s own tower, intending to stay invisible. But when a billion-dollar error threatened to bankrupt his empire, I couldn't stop myself from hacking the system to fix the code. Now, the man who hates me is standing in my cubicle, demanding to know how a "dropout" knows his most guarded secrets. Gannon is finally digging into my past, and he’s about to find out exactly what—and who—I’ve been hiding for the last four years.

Billionaire Modern Mystery

8.5

Spoiling His Secretary, and Force Me to Abort

8.5

Evelyn was seven months pregnant when her world shattered. Declan, the man she had loved for seven years, publicly claimed his secretary Natalia’s unborn child as his own—all to protect Natalia from the scandal of unwed motherhood. “Natalia is timid,” Declan explained coldly. “She can’t handle the gossip. You’ll understand, won’t you?” But understanding was the last thing Evelyn could muster. Overnight, her child was branded a bastard, her marriage a farce. Worse, Declan’s devotion to Natalia grew unbearable: bedtime stories for her baby, handmade meals for her cravings, even converting Evelyn’s home into Natalia’s domain—while confining Evelyn to a moldy storage room. When Evelyn dared to resist, Declan imprisoned her under house arrest, confiscating her phone and severing all ties to the outside world. His justification? “I want both your child and Natalia’s.” But Evelyn had one last card to play. A phone number left years ago by her long-lost biological parents, with a promise: “If you’re ever unhappy, we’ll come for you.” As Declan whisked Natalia abroad for her “delicate condition,” Evelyn made her move. By the time he returned, she—and the baby he’d failed to protect—would be gone forever.

Billionaire Modern Romance

9.0

The Luna Who Defied Her Fated Mate’s Cruelty

9.0

At the pack’s charity auction, Beckham George, the Alpha heir of the George Pack, bid fifty million dollars on a gemstone necklace symbolizing eternal love. The room buzzed with anticipation as he held up the necklace, his Alpha aura commanding attention. He turned to me, his voice steady yet tinged with arrogance, and proposed. The crowd erupted in applause, their admiration for him evident. They all seemed certain I would accept. After all, I had pursued him relentlessly since I was welcomed back into the Mason Pack, and our four years in college were marked by my unwavering devotion. But they all seemed to forget. Back then, when I was suffering from a rare heart condition and needed urgent surgery, Beckham accused me of faking my illness after Ruby Simmons, the rising influencer from the Simmons Pack, planted doubts in his mind. He cut off all my access to pack resources, publicly denounced me, and left me to face the brutal backlash alone. My biological parents, the Alpha and Luna of the Mason Pack, turned their backs on me, and my friends distanced themselves.

Modern Romance Werewolf

7.4

The Runaway Heiress And Her Secret Triplets

7.4

I opened the door to my penthouse, only to see my stepsister's limited-edition Louboutins discarded on the foyer rug. Walking into the master bedroom, I caught my fiancé and my stepsister tangled naked in my bed. When I went back to the family estate to settle the score, my father didn't even care. Instead, he and my stepmother demanded I take my stepsister's place to save the family's reputation. "You will marry the seventy-year-old billionaire next month. We can't ruin your sister's life," my father ordered. Looking at their hypocritical faces, the last shred of my family affection died completely. They really thought I would just accept being their sacrificial pawn while they stole my mother's legacy. So, I pinned them down with a blackmail video of the affair, extorted my father for my shares, and walked out into the freezing night. To numb the betrayal, I went to an underground club, slept with a terrifyingly powerful stranger, and left a red lipstick note on his forehead. "Your technique sucks. Keep the change." Then, I vanished abroad without a trace. Five years later, I returned to New York with my three children, ready to take back everything that was mine. But I didn't expect that the "cheap gigolo" from that night was actually Kendall James, the most ruthless corporate titan in the city. And he had just spotted my five-year-old son—his exact miniature replica—standing right beside me.

Billionaire Modern Mystery

My hacker roommate

Chapter 4

You may also like