The CEO's Forbidden Desire
When her twin sister falls into coma a day before her wedding, Tiana Palmer is forced to do the unthinkable, pretend to be her twin and act like the perfect wife at a two-week honeymoon, to protect the billion-dollar inheritance of her boss and sister's fiancé, Seth Berkley.
It was supposed to be a business deal, a secret between the two. But secrets don't always stay simple, they turn into obsessions.
The honeymoon ended, the deal was over, but that was just the beginning. Seth Berkley isn't a man who lets go easily. But how can she stay away from a man like him? Cold, insanely attractive, a man whose touch makes her feel things she shouldn't.
Every kiss, every touch pulls them deeper into a love that was never supposed to happen.
And when her sister wakes up...
Their forbidden desire might ruin everything.
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Chapter 2
Tiana's POV
I took a step back as his words hit me. "What?" I frowned at him. "That is nonsense, I can't betray Maddie like that. What are you even saying?"
"Let me explain myself to you, then you can decide if you want to help me or not."
As if what I had heard wasn't crazy enough, I found myself following him to the coffee shop in the hospital. I ordered an ice tea while Seth just had a glass of water. I was curiously waiting for him to spew the rest of his nonsense so I could tell him how crazy he was.
I never thought my boss would suggest something like that to me. This confirms my suspicion that he and Madison weren't truly in love. Why would you even want to get married to someone you didn't love?
"Before I say anything, you should know that your sister knows about this and she agreed to it."
I didn't say a word, I took a sip from my drink and waited for him to continue.
Seth cleared his throat before saying, "In my inheritance trust clause, it is stated that I have to be married before my thirtieth birthday, which is in two weeks or I would lose everything, including the company I've worked so hard on."
I honestly didn't see how that had got anything to do with me or my sister getting married to him, but I let him continue regardless.
"When Maddison and I met at a bar some weeks ago, we hit it off and she talked about how she wanted to get married to a rich man one day and how she would do anything to get one. I saw her determination and proposed the idea to her since I was looking for a wife. She agreed, so I took her home to my parents and we set a wedding date."
I almost couldn't believe that Maddison would just jump at the idea of marrying a man she didn't know just because he was rich. But Seth was right, Maddison loved money and had always wanted a rich man. My sister and I were identical in physical appearance but that was where it ended.
Maddie was feisty, confident and a woman who got everything right. I was the opposite, I was clumsy and had a knack for choosing men who were in the business of breaking hearts. Maddie had always been the star of the show while I was her shadow.
I had never been jealous of Madison. How could I be? Her life was like a tightrope walk that I would surely fall off of if I tried. I was content to stay safely on the ground, out of the spotlight where I wouldn't be noticed.
"No, I can't do it. I can't marry you." I shook my head before he could finish.
"I'm not asking you to marry me, Tiana. You don't have to if you don't want to. I honestly don't want to get married either, but I can't afford to lose my inheritance. You don't have to take Madison's place forever, I just need you to be with me for two weeks."
"Two weeks?"
"The honeymoon." Seth said in a tight voice as he loosened the first button of his shirt, "My father booked a two-week trip to Maui as a wedding present. If I don't go, or if I go alone, then he would know that I didn't get married, he will freeze my assets and pull the inheritance. He also threatened to sell my company, and I can't let that happen. My employees' future is tied to me appearing as a happily married man for those two weeks."
His last words made me gasp. I was one of his employees and if he didn't pull this through, I was going to start a job hunt again. Berkley Empire was the only company that paid a large amount of money to the employees, I couldn't imagine being fired and hunting for a job that didn't even pay as much as I earned before. That would be disastrous.
"You only need me for two weeks, right?"
"Yes, just two weeks."
"But I don't know how to be Maddie, she's..."
"You don't have to be like her, looking like her is more than enough." He dug his hand into the pocket of his blazer and brought out a jewelry box, he opened it and passed the ring to me, "just wear this and I will take care of the Priest and the rest of the things already prepared for the wedding. All you need to do is to be ready by tomorrow evening, I will send my driver to come pick you up."
Christ! I couldn't believe this was going to make me change my mind. I was going to do the one thing I hated the most, lying. I was going to lie to Seth's parents and everyone we met at that honeymoon.
This wasn't how I pictured the next few days going. I thought I would be drowning myself in popcorn and laughter while listening to Maddie's gist about her married life.
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8.2
In her previous life, Eliana took the fall for her adopted sister Iris and lost everything, even being forced into a marriage where her work was stolen to build another man's empire.
Meanwhile, her sister's "perfect" marriage ended in tragedy-her husband turned out disabled and died young.
Reborn, the sisters swapped their fates, Iris claiming the handsome man for herself while Eliana marrying the allegedly sick billionaire.
Eliana only smiled-she knew the truth behind her marriage in the previous life. This time, she chose a different path, bringing her brilliance into the light while using marriage as a mere tool.
Yet the man she married stood firmly by her side, saying, "With me behind you, no one will dare touch you."
8.6
I spent three years being the perfect wife to tech mogul Cash Ferguson, a forensic accountant playing the role of a low-risk asset to stabilize his public image. My world shattered when I saw a live CNBC broadcast from Sundance showing Cash tenderly hoisting a two-year-old boy onto his hip—a secret son born to a socialite mistress while he was supposedly at a business roadshow.
When I confronted him with divorce papers, Cash didn't apologize; he laughed, calling me a "liability" and weaponizing my mother’s history of mental illness to claim I was genetically unfit to carry his heir. He didn't just reject the split; he locked the penthouse elevator and froze every one of my accounts, reclassifying me from a wife to a piece of disputed company property.
"You came from nothing, Isidora," he sneered, tossing a credit card at me like a leash. "Stop being dramatic. I can afford a pet, but don't think you can survive a day in the real world without my name."
The betrayal turned lethal when I discovered Cash had tracked down my mother’s stolen emerald brooch—my only connection to my past—and bought it as a gift for his mistress. He was using my trauma and my heritage to decorate the woman who had replaced me in his secret life.
I realized then that Cash had made a fatal accounting error: he forgot that I was the one who built his shadow accounts and knew exactly where the fraud was buried. He wanted to treat our marriage like a hostile takeover, so I decided to give him a market correction he would never forget.
I escaped down forty flights of stairs with nothing but a burner laptop and a plan to burn his empire to the ground. If he wanted to play dirty, I’d show him what happens when a forensic accountant initiates a liquidation protocol. I’m not just leaving; I’m going to make him crawl.
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.
7.4
I was a broke clinic doctor drowning in debt, so I took a confidential job to evaluate a billionaire heir's fertility.
I marched into the VIP ICU, pinned the struggling patient down, and injected a sedative. I finished the extraction and loudly declared to the family lawyer that the Holt heir was completely sterile.
But then, a chilling laugh echoed from the doorway.
The real heir, Jarrod Holt, the tyrant of Wall Street, stepped in. I had just sterilized his younger brother right in front of him.
Facing a decade in federal prison, I was completely at his mercy. To make things worse, my arrogant ex-boyfriend tried to publicly humiliate me, and my greedy uncle threatened to burn my dead mother's belongings for ransom. I was pushed to the absolute brink of ruin.
But instead of destroying me, Jarrod offered a terrifying lifeline. He bought out a Manhattan high-rise in five minutes just to ruin my ex, then handed me a marriage contract.
I was terrified and deeply confused. Why would this ruthless billionaire force a nobody into a fake marriage? He knew details about my past that no one should know. Did he discover my hidden identity as 'E', the underground surgeon the entire medical world was hunting for?
With my back against the wall, I signed the prenuptial agreement.
"I do," I whispered at City Hall.
He shoved his heavy, antique family ring onto my finger. It was supposed to be strictly business with absolutely no physical contact, but when his lips crashed violently onto mine, I knew I had just sold my soul to the devil.
8.2
Justine abandoned her career as a top trauma surgeon to marry Congressman Carl McConnell. She did it to fulfill her dying sister's last wish: to protect her son, Leo, from this ruthless political family.
But the seven-year-old boy she swore to protect shoved her into a freezing koi pond, then cried to his father that Justine tried to drown him.
Carl didn't even check the security cameras. He hugged his precious heir and looked at his freezing wife with pure disgust.
"Are you out of your mind? Trying to hurt the heir to the McConnell family!"
He locked Justine in a 55-degree wine cellar while she was burning with a 102-degree fever. When she finally told him the truth, Carl flew into a rage and hurled a heavy brass-cornered book at her face, slicing her cheekbone wide open.
His mother even ordered the staff to starve her for seven days to reflect on her sins.
Justine stood in the dark, blood dripping down her face, her heart completely dead. She had sacrificed her brilliant future and her pride for this family, only to be tortured and discarded like garbage. How could they be so utterly devoid of humanity?
She pulled out her old medical kit and stitched up her own face.
Then, she signed the legal documents to permanently relinquish her stepparent rights, threw them at the housekeeper, and calmly looked at her abusive husband.
"I am divorcing you, Carl."
8.0
Billionaires Collerction...
In this collection of high-stakes passion, the elite meet their match. Whether it's an unexpected fire that ignites in a boardroom or a slow-burn obsession that begins in the shadows, these men are about to discover that the heart follows no contract. Those who enter their orbit find themselves caught in a whirlwind of luxury and leverage, where every touch is a negotiation and every kiss is a risk.