Signed In Silence
Tara signed hospital papers she believed would save a stranger's life.
Weeks later, she learns the truth, she is legally married to him.
Ethan Hale needed a wife to protect his sister.
Tara never agreed to be one.
They have six months to undo the marriage.
Living together was never part of the plan.
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Chapter 3
The first night passed without interruptions, incidents or drama.
That, somehow, made it worse.
Tara lay awake long after the house settled into the silence, gaze fixed on an unfamiliar ceiling, mind unsettling to a thought, room too quiet, walls so distant like an outer space, every sound felt amplified, the faint hum of electricity meddling in her thoughts, the distant air conditioner sending shivers down her spine, leaving goosebumps off her skin, the subtle reminder that she wasn't alone in the house, even if she felt completely isolated.
Across the room, Ethan was awake too.
She could feel it, her instinct lingered, not because she heard him but because her body refused rest, as though it had been warned.
Morning arrived slowly, more like it had gone on a vacation and refused to return.
Tara made for the kitchen sluggishly, still half expecting to wake up from the sham that's supposed to be her reality. The space was immaculate, untouched by personality.
Coffee machine in sight that questioned her literacy. She settled for water, leaning against the counter as if grounding herself.
She was mid-sip when footsteps sounded behind her.
She turned.
Ethan stood in the doorway, sleeves rolled up, his hair slightly messy in a way that suggested he hadn't slept either. No suit. No armor. Just a man in a quiet house that didn't know what to do with two people.
"Good morning," he said.
The words felt strange coming from him.
"Is it?" she replied.
A corner of his mouth twitched. Not quite a smile but a smirk.They stood there for a moment, neither moving, neither sure where to place themselves.
Tara became suddenly aware of how close he was. Not close enough to touch but close enough to notice the warmth of him, the way his presence altered the air.
"I'll be out most of the day," he said.
"You're free to...do whatever you need." she stuttered, raising an eyebrow. "Generous."
He ignored that. "There are rules."
Of course there are.
She folded her alms. "Let's hear them."
"No guests without notice," he began.
"No mentioning of this agreement to anyone. And if we're seen together...."
"We act married," she finished exhaling.
"Yes."
Her jaw clenched. "And what does that mean, exactly?"
He met her gaze steadily. "It means respect, distance, boundaries."
Breath seized, but caught immediately. "Good, because I'm not here to play house."
"Neither am I."
Something about the way he said it, firm, almost careful, made her pause.
He grabbed his keys, attempting to leave but hesitated, tilting towards her, then added,
"there's food in the fridge. If you need anything else, speak to my staff."
"Right," she said. "Your invisible army."
He gave her one last look before leaving. When the door closed, the house felt larger, emptier.
Tara wandered the house like a lost sheep and finally made for her room, pacing aimlessly, absorbing the reality poco a poco. Everything here belonged to Ethan Hale. The wealth, the silence, the control. And now, inexplicably, so did she, at least on paper. By evening, she was restless.
When Ethan returned, she was sitting on the couch, legs tucked beneath her, scrolling through her phone without actually seeing anything.
"You're back early," she said.
"The meeting ended sooner than expected."
He loosened his tie, then stopped half-way on remembering she was there. The moment lingered, too intimate for something that wasn't supposed to be real.
Dinner was awkward. Not hostile. Just cold and cautious.
"So," she said eventually, pushing her food around. "Your sister, what's her name?"
He looked up, surprised. "Elena."
"How old did you say she was?"
"Sixteen."
Tara nodded slowly. "That's young."
"Yes."
"She must be scared."
His hand froze. "She doesn't show it."
"That doesn't mean she isn't."
There was a slight shift in his gaze. Not something defensive but something more quiet.
"She'll be home this weekend," he said.
"Home?" Tara froze.
He nodded. "She'll meet with you."
Her heart stopped as though it was warned. "You didn't tell me that."
"I am telling you now."She exhaled finally, "and what am I supposed to be to her?"
He met her gaze. "My wife."
The word felt like a bomb that had finally gone off in her ears.
Tara looked away first.
This wasn't just six months anymore.
This came with a child. This was a lie with a face. A role she hadn't auditioned for but was expected to perform flawlessly.
Far gone into the late pms, she made for the hallway leading to her room, she paused, her head titling half-way towards Ethan's direction, "so we are clear," she said quietly.
Ethan looked up from his phone.
"I'll protect her," Tara continued. "I won't hurt her. But don't mistake that for forgiveness."
He nodded once. "Understood."
She stepped into her room and closed the door, leaning against it as her breath finally escaped her.
Forced proximity wasn't loud.
It was subtle, persistent, unavoidable and it had only just begun.
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8.0
I sat at a table for two in the center of Le Coucou, clutching a gift box that had cost me two months of savings. It was our three-year anniversary, and I was waiting for Gavin to finally ask the big question.
But when the heavy oak doors opened, Gavin didn't walk toward me with a ring. He walked in with a polished blonde heiress tucked under his arm, her hand resting protectively over a small baby bump.
"This is Tiffany Stone. My fiancée," he said, his voice devoid of any warmth. He didn't apologize for being late or for the three years we'd spent together. Instead, he pulled out a checkbook, scribbled a number, and slid a ten-thousand-dollar check across the white tablecloth.
"Consider it severance for your time," he added, as Tiffany mocked my cheap drugstore dress. "Don't contact me again. Tiffany doesn't need the stress." I was the entertainment for the entire restaurant—the pathetic girl dumped for a better model. By the time I walked out into the rain, I had lost my boyfriend, my home, and the funding for my secret medical research project.
I was an orphan with no safety net, facing an eviction notice and a ruined career. I had given Gavin everything, and he had discarded me like a broken tool. The injustice burned in my chest, a hot, sharp rage that replaced my tears.
Desperate and freezing, I ducked into a coffee shop where I met Colton Bentley, a reclusive billionaire in a wheelchair. After I defended him from a cruel date, he offered me a contract: a marriage of convenience and a seven-figure payment to act as his shield. I signed the papers that night, ready to use his wealth to rebuild my life. But as I watched my new husband navigate his penthouse, I noticed his "paralyzed" legs tense with a strength that shouldn't exist.
7.7
A Whitmere Family Romance
Ten years ago, Sloane Hart ran from the only man she ever loved.
Not because she stopped loving him-
but because loving Rhett Whitmere meant risking everything.
Now she's back in Whitmere County, standing inside the luxury hotel he built from heartbreak, legacy, and a love he never let go of. Rhett is no longer the boy she left behind. He's a powerful CEO bound by family expectation, haunted by the past, and still hopelessly in love with the woman who shattered him.
Sloane only planned to stay long enough to complete a high-profile spa expansion.
She never planned to fall for him again.
But in a town that remembers everything, whispers turn into scandals, and old wounds reopen fast. When a dangerous betrayal threatens Rhett's empire and puts Sloane at the center of a storm, they're forced to face the truth they've both been avoiding:
Some loves don't fade.
They wait.
And this time, Rhett Whitmere isn't willing to lose her again.
Forever Yours, Almost is a slow-burn, second-chance romance filled with family legacy, small-town secrets, emotional tension, and a love worth fighting for
7.5
To save my dying father, I made a deal with the billionaire Christopher Kirkland. I became his secret, a bird in a gilded cage he paraded around when it suited him.
But I was just a pawn in his twisted game to win back his ex-girlfriend.
He proved it when he publicly outbid me for my own mother's heirloom necklace, only to gift it to her right in front of me.
Then he threw me out of the penthouse. My few cherished belongings-my books, a photo of my parents-were tossed out.
"Chaney doesn't like clutter," he told me, erasing my entire existence for her.
A text on his phone confirmed the brutal truth.
"Our little game is working perfectly," she'd written. "She's completely fooled."
Years later, after she betrayed him and his empire nearly crumbled, he came back begging. He thought he could buy my forgiveness. He was about to learn that my freedom had no price tag.
7.3
Seraphina Serenity Miller has spent her entire life putting her parents' happiness above her own.
When they arranged for her to marry Hans Continental in the name of a business merger, she didn't protest. She followed the rules-just as she always had.
Everything was fine until River Sage Palmer entered her life. He's stubborn, vile, and a rule breaker-Serenity's complete opposite.
Where she clings to order, he thrives in chaos. And where she draws lines, he's determined to cross them-all for her.
Bound by blood as they were cousins, Serenity knows they can't be together. But River has never been the kind to take no for an answer.
He's always gotten everything he wanted. Serenity will not be an exemption.
7.7
Jaclyn woke up in the sterile hospital room after falling down the stairs. The nurse delivered the devastating news: she had bled heavily and lost her baby.
But before she could even cry, her trusted cousins, Katelyn and Cherri, locked the door and revealed the horrifying truth.
"It wasn't an accident," Katelyn smirked, pinning Jaclyn's arm down. "The lubricant on the top step was a very deliberate choice."
They needed her broken and unstable. They had forged her signature, draining her massive trust fund to save their uncle's bankrupt business.
What shattered Jaclyn's world was the fresh hickey on Cherri's neck. Her lover, Bradford, had helped plan the entire murder.
When Jaclyn tried to scream, they smothered her with a pillow, framing her as a lunatic having a mental breakdown.
Two weeks later, when she confronted them, Bradford violently shoved her through a second-story glass window to silence her forever.
As she fell to her death, the husband she had spent her life hating—the ruthless billionaire Gaines—burst through the doors.
He threw himself forward, his face filled with pure terror, desperately trying to catch her.
When her body hit the stone patio, Gaines fell to his knees in her blood, weeping and begging her not to close her eyes.
Until her last breath, Jaclyn was consumed by suffocating regret. Why did she trust the monsters who killed her, and hate the only man who truly loved her?
Opening her eyes again, she was back in the penthouse, exactly one month into her marriage with Gaines.
7.2
Ade had sacrificed the life she loved, the things she liked doing to please James. But it was never enough for him. Somehow, the one woman he just couldn't get, was the price, she was the gem.
And so once the opportunity presented itself, Ade became a past chapter of his life. A reject.
Betrayed and scorned, Ade is on a quest to reclaim her life back and face off adversaries.
But now what is she to do with the two men in front of her. One of them her ex James who can't seem to forget her and keeps stepping in her way, and the other, a billionaire who wants her at all costs.