SUBMISSIVE TO MY BROTHER'S BESTFRIEND
I'm Karima Heart, and I basically live a double life. In school, I'm the quiet, nerdy bookworm. At night, I'm the seductive, high-demand stripper every one screams for.
But everything's about to change. My perfect secret is on the verge of exposure because my brother's best friend just caught me. Now, to keep him quiet, I have to play his little obedient girl... and with him living under our roof, it's getting harder to resist the pull between us...
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Chapter 6
OWAIN LUTHER
The moment Karima said those words, I knew I had lit a fire in her. Exactly what I wanted. She was wild, she just didn't know it yet. But I did. And I was the only one who could unleash it. Let's see what you've got, Karima, I thought with a smirk. She led the way to the car. I followed behind her. The moment we hopped in, I hit the ignition and slammed the gas.
***
KARIMA HEART
The next day, I left class early. I did everything possible to avoid Ellie. Of course, she noticed, but I didn't care. Maybe avoiding conversations with her would make reality slip by... Just two days would be enough. No, maybe a week. Anything, enough to help me erase the whole nightmare I saw yesterday.
As soon as the lecture ended, and God helping me, Owain didn't show up today, I rushed to the cafeteria.
I spotted Tyla and dodged her. For the record, Tyla was the queen bee cheerleader for the TIGERS Team, the swim team Nathan was in. She was obsessed with him and, even now, she hated my guts since I dated him. She still does, actually.
In one swoop, I slipped into the cafeteria, unnoticed. I ordered some chips drowned in ketchup with a soft drink, scrolling through my phone like I had something meaningful going on in it. That was when I heard Ellie.
"So... this was where you were hiding after ghosting me? You think I won't find you?"
She said. I didn't say a word. I didn't look up. I just buried my face deeper in my phone.
"Hello?" she snapped her fingers in front of my face. "I'm not talking to a ghost, am I?"
On a normal day, I would've side-eyed her and pretended to be p*ss*d, just for fun. But this wasn't a normal day... This time, I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried to un-see what I saw that night, I couldn't. It was replayed over and over. And what killed me most? Ellie acted so d*mn normal... I almost doubted my own eyes.
I wanted to scream in her face. Instead, I held back the moment I locked eyes with her. And all I saw was Ellie... my best friend. The one who supported me the most.
"Cat got your tongue now?" she teased.
I chuckled softly. I didn't even realize when I fell for that.
She took that as her cue, pulled up a chair beside me, and tossed her Gucci bag on the table.
My eyes locked on the bag. My breath hitched.
No way.
It was the same designer bag I gifted Juliet, Nathan's sister. A one-of-a-kind graduation present. The same tag. The same custom design.
What the actual hell?
God! This isn't happening, is it?
"Why do you have this, Ellie?" I asked, keeping my voice steady.
She didn't flinch. Her eyes flicked to the bag, then back to me with that same sweet smile.
"Nathan gave it to me," she said casually. "Enough of the bag, Karry. Don't think this little hide-and-seek game you pulled on me will stop me from scolding you, definitely not the changing of topic either... Why on earth did you miss Jace's party?"
My blood bubbled, but I held it back. "I was out with Owain." I said that before I even thought about it.
"Owain?" she repeated with a flash of that look I know, then squealed, covering her mouth in mock shock.
"Are you freaking kidding me now, Karry?" She nudged my arm with excitement.
"What?"
"What do you mean? You're dating our professor."
"What? No! I'm not dating anyone. Stop saying that."
"But you just said you went out with him? What was that supposed to be? Private tutoring on the road? C'mon, Karry. This is hot gossip!"
I rolled my eyes, pulling her hand off my arm. "You're crazy, Ellie. I don't know what you're talking about."
"Well, I do. I knew something was up when I saw you two together yesterday."
"Wait, you did?" I snapped.
"Yes, I did." She rolled her eyes.
"Where?" I blurted out.
"At SWISS Hotel. I didn't think much of it at the time."
Was she seriously talking about the same hotel where I saw them screwing? Did she just say that casually? Was Ellie kidding me right now?
"Who were you with, Ellie?"
I asked, praying she'd just be honest, because I was holding back all the anger gnawing at me right now.
"Whoa. Chill, Karry. Why are you interrogating me? I'm the one doing the asking here, remember?"
"F*cking answer me, Ellie!" I snapped.
Her face changed, instantly. She sensed the seriousness in my tone.
"I was with Jace and the boys. We had a night out at SWISS HOTEL, wanted to tell you about it, but you nailed out. Happy?"
I sprung up, the anger in me clearly making me vibrate. My hands shook as I ran it through my hair.
"A night out?" I repeated.
"You okay, Karry?"
"Stop calling me that, okay? Just... tell me the truth, Ellie. Are you seriously lying to my face right now?"
Her brows scrunched. "What are you talking about for heaven's sake? Say something that makes sense?"
"Really? You seriously want me to say it? Okay then. Are you f*cking telling me I didn't see you screwing my boyfriend last night? Answer me!"
That was when her face froze. And the mask dropped. For a moment, I prayed-hoped she'd deny it... Maybe denying it would make the pain all go away.
But then Nathan's voice cut through the tension.
"And why does she have to answer that, Karima?"
I turned. Ellie shot him a look, silently begging him to stay out of it. But he didn't.
"Ask me. Leave her out of this. She clearly doesn't have the guts to tell you the truth."
"Ellie? Is he telling the truth?" I asked, my voice trembling. "Say something, you b*tch!"
Before I could think of what to say next, Nathan grabbed my wrist. I was already pushing Ellie- maybe too hard.
"Stop it, Karry."
I felt a sting. He sided with her. Right to my face. Seriously?
"Are you for real, Nate? You cheated on me with my best friend, and you're standing there defending her? Is this some kind of joke?"
My voice pitched. People were watching the drama unfold and whispering. But I didn't care.
I tried to charge at Ellie again, but Nathan held me back. Before I thought about it, I slapped him hard across his face.
Ellie immediately sprang to her feet, holding Nathan as if I was the villain. Her face snapped at mine.
Ellie jumped up to defend him, her eyes blazing. "What's wrong with you, Karry?! He said ask him! He literally said that in clear English! Are you deaf?"
"Really?" I hissed,
"Everyone's watching," she muttered. "Can't you take this somewhere else?"
She didn't look like the Ellie I knew... No, she wasn't even talking like Ellie. I am probably going crazy right now. As if I couldn't contain the demon anymore... Something snapped inside of me.
"You goddamn B*TCH," I mumbled before charging at her.
My fingers yanked her hair and slammed her right to the d*mn ground.
Nathan tried to pull me off, but I didn't let go. When he finally did, Ellie was already limp on the floor, un-moving.
My heart leaped from my chest as blood trickled from her nose.
And then... As if the universe wanted to make this worse, Tyla walked in.
She gasped, scrambled for her phone from her purse, and flicked on her camera, with a smirk on her face.
"Oh, Karima! This is so going viral. Say cheese to the camera."
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8.2
I was trapped in a velvet booth at Le Bernardin, Arthur Sterling’s hand crawling up my knee as he whispered that my father would be in handcuffs by morning if I didn't spend the night with him.
Desperate to escape, I lunged at the only man more dangerous than Arthur—Gunnar Kirk, the "Butcher of Wall Street"—and kissed him in front of every camera in the room, thinking I was choosing the lesser of two evils.
I was wrong; Gunnar didn't just play along, he took possession, forcing me into a cold-blooded contract to be his fake fiancée to save his corporate image from an SEC investigation. While my greedy stepmother and sister were busy fighting over the diamonds he sent, I was living in terror, trying to hide the one thing that truly mattered: my infant son, hidden away with a nanny in a cramped Queens apartment. When my baby suffered a febrile seizure and I rushed to the ER, I looked up to see Gunnar standing in the doorway, his glacial eyes boring into me as he realized the "ruined" socialite was hiding a child from her past.
I tried to sabotage the wedding, setting up my fame-hungry stepsister as a decoy bride so I could flee to Switzerland with my son, but Gunnar caught me on the fire escape before I could take a single step toward freedom. He threw me over his shoulder like a sack of flour and told me that if I didn't walk down that aisle, he would personally ensure my father rotted in prison.
We stood at the altar and exchanged vows in a ceremony built on blackmail and lies, but as we walked out as husband and wife, Gunnar didn't look at me with affection; he turned to his assistant and ordered a total deep dive into the medical records I had spent a year trying to erase.
"Find out exactly what happened during those nine months in Switzerland, and tell me who that baby really belongs to."
8.7
My fiancé plunged our SUV into an icy river during a blizzard. He had a choice: save me, or save his childhood sweetheart, Kianna.
He didn't hesitate. He left me to drown.
This wasn't the first time. In my last life, he' d "saved" me after Kianna drowned, only to trap me in a loveless marriage. He blamed me for her death, his silent accusations a constant torment. My own parents didn't care, forcing the wedding to secure a corporate merger. I was nothing more than a pawn.
He married me not for love, but as penance, making me his living scapegoat for the woman he truly lost.
But when I opened my eyes again, I was back in the sinking car, the icy water rising around me.
This time, I smiled and pushed him toward her.
"Save Kianna," I commanded. "She needs you more."
8.7
For years, I was Faron Blackwell' s "whipping post." A cruel pact with his mother forced me to endure one hundred public humiliations for his affairs, a living tally of his conquests. I was a joke to high society, the wife who couldn't keep her husband.
After the final scandal, I discovered I was pregnant. But Faron, repulsed by the scars his family' s punishments left on my body, hadn't touched me in months. He was convinced the child wasn't his.
He ordered his mistress, a doctor, to terminate the pregnancy.
"Make sure she feels every bit of it," he said. "No anesthesia."
To force a confession about a lover who never existed, he trapped me and the children from my non-profit in a building and set off a bomb. As the inferno raged, I heard him screaming my name.
I ran straight into the flames, ready to end the nightmare.
But Faron didn't know his own mother had a different escape plan for me all along.
8.0
After divorcing my cheating husband, I thought I had found my savior in his powerful business partner, Cole.
For three years, he pampered me like a queen, building a perfect, golden cage of devotion.
But on the day I happily discovered I was pregnant, I overheard him talking to my ex-husband's mistress.
"Elinor is just a convenient tool. If she gets pregnant, I'll fake a paternity test and annul the marriage so she leaves with nothing."
My entire marriage was a meticulously crafted lie to secure his position and protect the woman he truly cared about.
Before I could quietly escape, Cole orchestrated a brutal attack.
I was dragged into a dark alley, beaten until my ribs fractured, and my unborn child was violently ripped away from me.
As I lay bleeding out in the freezing rain, my heart shattered into dust.
I didn't understand how the man who kissed me every morning could coldly order his thugs to beat me to death just to appease his real lover.
They left me there to rot, thinking they had finally erased the naive fool who got in their way.
Three years later, the world still believes Elinor Marsh died in a tragic car accident.
But when Cole and his elite circle attend a high-profile Interpol reception, they don't expect the new Chief Liaison Officer to step onto the stage.
I am Helena Fu now, and I have returned to burn their empire to the ground.
7.5
Natalie Brooks, the young lady of the Brooks family, hid her identity to marry Samuel Morgan for love. The three-year cold marriage ended with a divorce when his first love, Lily, returned. Natalie left proudly, returning to her home, the most powerful Brooks family in New York, with her four talented brothers.
Natalie gradually transformed into a strong businesswoman. Samuel was surprised because Natalie was completely different from the image of the weak wife she had been before. He began to waver, remembering the years of living together, but was still surrounded by Lily's weak pretense.
Although Natalie was divorced, she still had lingering feelings, but she chose to strongly confront him, determined to prove her worth. From here, she continuously confronted Samuel and Lily, both to regain what she had lost and to force them to regret ever looking down on her. Meanwhile, Lily always played the role of the "weak girl", taking advantage of Samuel's pity, but she increasingly revealed her jealousy and hypocrisy. Natalie's brothers – especially Nathaniel Brooks and Henry Brooks – were fiercely protective of their sister and wanted Samuel to repent for what he had done to Natalie.
7.1
To survive a forced one-year marriage contract with the ultra-wealthy Chavez family, Averi Marsh disguised herself as a pathetic, ugly duckling.
She caked her flawless skin in muddy yellow foundation, wore thick glasses, and played the part of a trembling, uneducated orphan.
The entire family treated her like literal garbage.
The youngest brother publicly swore he would rather cut off his own hand than marry a piece of trailer park trash.
Her nominal fiancé, Clarke, looked at her with cold disdain, allowing his glamorous companion to humiliate Averi by forcing her into a neon pink clown dress.
At a high-society party, a socialite shoved her into an infinity pool, laughing as the heavy fabric dragged her to the bottom.
They all wanted to see the poor girl broken, humiliated, and driven out of their pristine world.
What they didn't know was that beneath the hideous sweaters was a breathtaking, lethal predator.
They had no idea she was 'Spectre', the undefeated underground racing god who had just humiliated the arrogant Clarke on the track.
They didn't know she could shatter a bully's wrist in seconds or bankrupt their wealthy friends with a single text message.
But when the chlorinated pool water washed away her ugly makeup, the family's ambitious second son caught a glimpse of her true, flawless face.
The game of hide-and-seek was officially over.
The Chavez family thought they were torturing a helpless sheep, but they were about to realize they had locked themselves in a cage with a wolf.