STOLEN MEMORIES

When Selene, a brilliant intern with a buried past, enters the empire of ruthless billionaire Darius Vane, everything unravels. But she's not just there to learn - she's there to destroy. As secrets surface and a forgotten brother reappears, Selene must choose between revenge and redemption before the truth erases them all.

Chapters

Chapter 2

Selene didn't sleep.

She lay on her mattress, staring at the ceiling, replaying every moment from the day before. The folder. The photo. The note. The message.

"I know who you are."

And then the text:

"If you want answers, come alone. Tonight. 11 p.m. 17th and Mercer."

She hadn't responded. She hadn't told anyone. There was no one to tell.

At 10:45 p.m., she stood outside the building. It was old, brick-faced, tucked between a shuttered café and a pawn shop. No cameras. No signs. Just a single flickering streetlamp and the hum of distant traffic.

She stepped inside.

The hallway smelled like dust and secrets. A single bulb buzzed overhead. At the end of the corridor, a door opened.

He was there.

Darius Vane.

No suit. No assistant. Just him - in a black shirt, sleeves rolled, eyes unreadable.

"You came," he said.

"I want answers."

He gestured to a chair. "Sit."

She didn't move.

He sighed. "You're not here to intern. You're here because of your mother."

"You ruined her."

"She tried to ruin me first."

"She was defending herself."

He leaned against the wall. "She was brilliant. But she underestimated me."

Selene's jaw tightened. "She trusted the wrong people."

"She trusted herself too much."

Silence.

He stepped closer. "You think I'm the villain."

"You are."

He smiled. "Then why are you here?"

She didn't answer.

He walked to a cabinet, pulled out a file, and tossed it on the table. "Your mother's case. Everything she tried to hide."

Selene opened it. Photos. Emails. Contracts. And a letter - signed by her mother.

Her hands trembled.

"She had been secretly planning to sell her company to a competitor. Behind your back. Behind everyone's."

"No," Selene whispered.

"She wanted out. She just didn't want you to know."

Selene stared at the letter. The handwriting. The date.

"She was protecting me."

"Or protecting herself."

He sat across from her. "You came for revenge. But you don't know the whole story."

"I know enough."

"Do you?"

He leaned in. "What if I told you she asked me to destroy it?"

Selene blinked. "You're lying."

"I have the recordings."

She stood. "I don't believe you."

He didn't stop her.

"Tomorrow," he said, "you'll see the truth."

She left. The night swallowed her.

But the file stayed in her hand.

Back in her apartment, Selene opened the file again. And there - tucked between the pages - was a photo she'd never seen before. Her mother. In Darius's office. Smiling. The timestamp read: two weeks before the collapse.

She stared at it for a long time.

The next morning, she arrived at Vane Holdings at 6:58 a.m. Darius was already there, standing by the window, watching the city wake up.

"You're early," he said.

"You said 7."

He turned. "I meant emotionally."

She didn't respond.

He handed her a flash drive. "Play it."

She plugged it into her laptop. The screen flickered. A video loaded.

Her mother. Sitting across from Darius. Laughing.

"I want out," her mother said. "I'm tired. I want to disappear."

"You know what that means," Darius replied.

"I do."

"You'll lose everything."

"I've already lost too much."

Selene paused the video. Her throat tightened.

"She was sick," Darius said quietly. "She didn't tell you."

Selene looked at him. "Why are you showing me this?"

"Because you deserve the truth."

She stood. "You think this changes anything?"

"I think it changes everything."

She walked to the door.

"Selene," he said.

She turned.

"I didn't destroy her. I honored her request."

She left without answering.

That night, she sat in her apartment, staring at the flash drive.

Her phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

"You're not the only one with secrets. Ask him about Project Ember."

She froze.

Project Ember.

She'd never heard of it.

She typed the words into her browser.

Nothing.

She tried again.

Still nothing.

She stared at the message.

Who sent it?

Why now?

And what was Project Ember?

She didn't sleep.

Continue to next part

Amara Daniels doesn't believe in destiny or happy endings; having survived from the dark shadows of her past, her life no longer has room for mistakes or attractive billionaires like Ethan Cole. Ethan enters her life with his charming persistence, and she becomes worried after he meets her four-year-old son, her past that she has carefully buried. He is her dangerous distraction. But their chemistry conceals shocking secrets and connecting fates - that might either bring them together or set them apart forever. In a game where hearts and careers collide, can she have it all or will passion cost her everything?

Action Billionaire Modern

7.2

Her Icy Comeback: A Vengeful Heiress

7.2

Five years ago, my guardian, Fitzgerald Kirk, sent me a video of my childhood horse being led to a slaughterhouse. Then he cast me out, broken and penniless. Tonight, I returned to his family' s annual gala, no longer a helpless ward but a powerful woman ready for my revenge. But he and his fiancée, Cassondra, still saw me as the trash they threw away. She taunted me, asking if I' d run out of money, before "tripping" and drenching my white silk gown in red wine. She looked at me with glee, expecting the broken girl from five years ago to cry. Fitzgerald just watched, a bored smirk on his face as he told me to crawl back to whatever gutter I came from. They wanted a reaction. They wanted the hysterical girl they had destroyed. They had no idea that the memory of my horse' s death had frozen everything inside me, fueling a cold rage that had simmered for half a decade. I didn' t even glance at the stain. Instead, I calmly picked up a full bottle of champagne from a passing waiter' s tray. "Don' t worry," I said, my voice dangerously soft. "Accidents happen." Then I swung the bottle and smashed it against her head.

Action Billionaire Modern

7.7

I'm Pregnant, And It Isn't My Husband's

7.7

Olivia Pearson is just a pawn – a wife bought to rescue her father's ailing business. Her husband, Sebastian, maintains his icy grip over her life and escape feels like a pipe dream. But when Olivia uncovers the secrets of his empire filled with lies and illicit dealings, she decides to take control. The more she tries to figure things out, the more she realizes that the only person who can assist her might be Ethan Blackwood, Sebastian's brother, and the man who has captured her heart. Now Olivia is sandwiched between two brothers. The choice to make is simple but painfully difficult; the husband who owns her or the difficult, yet enticing lover who comes with freedom. It remains to be seen what is more perilous: that decision, or the consequences that follow. THIS IS A SIZZLING NEW ROMANCE – NO HANDS!

Action Modern Romance

7.8

Married To The Vulture Of Wall Street

7.8

I had exactly forty-five minutes to get married, or I would lose the voting shares needed to stop my father from laundering millions through our family foundation. Everything was riding on this one legal signature at the City Clerk’s office. But just as I reached the front of the line, my phone buzzed with a high-definition photo of my fiancé, Preston, tangled in sheets with a junior associate at a SoHo hotel. The man I was about to tie my life to was a fraud, and my deadline was ticking toward zero. When I shoved the evidence in his face, he didn't even flinch. Instead, he gripped my wrist until the bone ground together, whispering that I was just a "junkie" fresh out of a Swiss clinic and that no one else would ever marry a liability with a personality disorder. My father was already standing by with a fraudulent medical affidavit, ready to force me into a conservatorship and strip me of my freedom the moment the clock hit 5 PM. They had spent years using my fake "instability" as a leash, treating me like a broken doll while they bled the company dry. I was the only one with the evidence to take them down, yet I was being discarded like a sunk cost by the very men who were supposed to protect me. I looked at Preston’s smug face and realized I didn't need a husband; I needed a predator. I scanned the room and spotted Dominik Mack, the "Vulture of Wall Street," a man who specialized in hostile takeovers and stripping men like my father of everything they owned. I walked straight up to the most dangerous man in New York and offered him a business transaction. "Do you want to get married?" I asked. He looked at my trembling hands, then at the man chasing me, and adjusted his collar with clinical detachment. "Deal," he said. I didn't just find a groom; I found an accomplice. This wasn't a wedding anymore—it was a declaration of war.

Action Modern Romance

7.4

My Love Was Gone

7.4

My husband, Rodger Hayes, was a renowned chief negotiator, famous for his integrity and firmness within the circle. When my son and I were kidnapped, with three hostages at the scene, the kidnappers agreed to release only one. Among the women and the boy, Rodger should have chosen to save the boy first. Yet, I heard him saying in Spanish fluently, "Release the woman in white." His first love, Jolene Chapman, was freed, while my son, Jacob Hayes, died from a gunfire. Later, Rodger explained the situation flatly. "The kidnappers chose to release Jolene." I cradled Jacob's ashes and smiled sadly. Rodger didn't know that I was fluent in Spanish, as I had been a special forces member. His lies crumbled before me. My phone vibrated, and I confirmed the encrypted message. "Falcon returns to base."

Action Modern Romance

8.2

The Architect's Vengeance: Empire Falls

8.2

My husband, Caden, was a real estate mogul who built his empire on our love story. The world swooned when he named his latest skyscraper the "Allisson Tower," calling it a modern-day Taj Mahal. But it was my design, and his grand gestures were just a cover for a grander theft. I discovered he wasn't just cheating with his pregnant mistress. He had stolen my architectural blueprints-the very foundation of his celebrated career. He' d bring me to the same restaurant where he' d just entertained her, recycling his romantic gestures. I watched him smile genuinely at her livestream while holding my hand, sending her virtual gifts with the message, "My princess deserves all this and more. You' re the only one for me." The man who swore "absolute honesty" on our wedding day had built our entire life on a mountain of lies. He didn't just break his vows; he pulverized them, turning our love into a public spectacle. So I planned my escape. I signed the divorce papers, packaged them with irrefutable proof of his plagiarism inside a model of the first building he stole, and handed it to him as an "anniversary gift." "You can't open it for two weeks," I told him. He had no idea that in two weeks, his wife would be a ghost and his empire would be ashes.

Action Modern Romance

STOLEN MEMORIES

Chapter 2

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