The Deal with the Billionaire Devil
"This is not a game." As I wrapped my arm around her waist, I slipped my hand under her dress.
"What are you doing?" She froze, eyes like a deer caught in the headlights.
Kissing the back of her ear, I whispered, "Do you want me to take it out now?" I rubbed my finger against her pussy. As expected, she was soaking. A blaze of lust and need swept through me. My cock was hard, pressed against her ass. "You're drenched, my love. I know you enjoy it. Stop fighting it. Give in. Submit to your desire."
***
TARA
A family practice forces me to run away from home, leaving me disgraced and my family in shame.
Just when I start making new friends, someone threatens to expose who I am and the person behind my nom de plume. The condition- a contract marriage, the very same reason I fled from.
So, what's so different this time? Mad Shanewood- the achingly handsome, with waving red flags, an irrefutable passion, or a magnetic attraction?
With my secrets still haunting me, now the whole world is watching, and our delicately fragile public image is at stake.
After a glimpse beneath his shallow exterior, there is a damaged soul who makes me feel as if I'm everything to him.
And how is it that the one thing I never wanted has me fighting so hard to keep?
***
MAD
I always get the deal done until my recklessness has thrown the company into a tailspin, derailing my path to a billion-dollar project.
With my image under brutal public scrutiny, marriage is my last straw.
Tara Montimer not only intrigues me. She's selfless, kind-hearted, and sexy as hell. And something deep in her eyes makes me question if I'm worthy to be her husband.
For me, it seems that it's not just fixing my reputation anymore- the entrancing deposed princess didn't only steal my breath away. She penetrates the protective wall around my heart that I built for years.
Our goals may be aligned. But then there's a disapproving father who is a King, a law, and constant threats that prevent us from getting married.
Will this razor-thin edge arrangement be enough to fix what's been broken, or is something between us worth fighting for?
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Chapter 5
MAD
When Nites informed me that the woman I picked to be my wife had just arrived at my penthouse, I was nervous and excited at the same time.
Don't get me wrong, I was still pissed at my father, but I wouldn't allow him to win and take over my position, the same position he offered to me three years ago.
I wasn't perfect. I doubted if I was even a good person, but I tried my best to be a good son. In return, all I got was judgment and scrutiny from the people I didn't know and had never met.
But when there was wealth and power in you, and being Vanderford and Shanewood, apparently, everyone had their own opinion about you.
The woman talking to Vysper had a soft, calming voice, as if she were used to conversing with a lot of important people. I hadn't seen her face, yet her voice alone sounded lovely already. And awfully familiar.
She was standing, and I could tell she was of average height compared to most of the women I preferred. She had long, wavy caramel hair, cascading down her shoulders. I hadn't seen her face, but she had an elegant hourglass figure in her white blouse tucked into long pants. And that posture, I wished I wasn't wrong.
I stopped before them the moment they noticed my presence. When she turned to me with the same judgment from the strangers, I felt an instant stabbing pain in my chest.
I learned how to have a thick skin and masked my discomfort and pain, yet somehow the woman whose name I didn't even know affected me.
Those eyes though. I wanted to laugh and scream at the same time. A coincidence? Hell no. But since she judged me first, fuck it. Let us make this more interesting.
She didn't even bat her eyelashes the moment she recognized me, and it hurt me, shockingly, not my ego, but me and my feelings. And she just walked away.
"Tara," I muttered under my breath. So, my Juliet was Tara. Beautiful.
Vysper said something that confused me even more, and I just listened to them discuss while I felt like I was in the dark the entire time.
Who was this woman who supported the same cause as I did?
"Yes, husband," Vysper said.
Tara stared at her for a moment before pointing her finger at me. "Husband?" Then she suddenly burst to laugher. "Husband? This guy?" She laughed some more.
"Yes. He's looking for a wife, and he chose you."
I inwardly groaned. I felt like I could handle this situation better than Vysper. I was a strategist, and I closed deals as many times as I could count. While Vysper handled difficult scenarios, she also wanted to get the job done with less involvement just to get paid.
"You will be well-compensated."
"I want you to stop right there, Ms. Rowe. I'm not looking for a husband. And if I were, I shouldn't have run away the first time I was arranged to be married."
What the fuck? My eyebrows furrowed. At the same time, it shouldn't be surprising because she not only had gorgeous eyes, but she was stunning now that I saw her entire face in broad daylight.
"So, tell me what's so different between my situation before and now?"
"First, he's handsome and young-"
Tara snorted. "Also, reckless, playboy, emotionally unavailable, commitmentphobic, who changes women the same way he changes his clothes. No, thank you. Why don't you tell your client to be responsible so that he can avoid the same situation that happened months ago that traumatized the entire world?" Wow.
"It was not his fault," said Vysper, less convincingly.
"Tell that to the poor woman."
"She got the wrong impression, and I wasn't aware-"
When she turned to me, I met her gorgeous, big, almond sapphire blue eyes. Damn, she had the most expressive eyes I'd ever seen. She was obviously angry, her heart-shaped face flushing, which made her even hotter.
Okay, Mad. Focus.
"What made you think I'm not crazy? You don't even know me to marry me? And why me?"
I was lost in words. I was lost in those deep blue eyes.
Unimpressed by my lack of action, she shook her head. "You're disgusting, Mr. Shanewood. Donate your money. I'm not interested."
"You don't even know me to judge me."
"I think I know enough that we're incompatible." She walked right to the door, and my hopes were slowly vanishing into thin air. When she paused, I held my breath. "And Ms. Rowe, tell Alessia that her threat won't budge me. She can expose me, tell the world why I did what I did. I still stand by my ground. I won't let her control my life the same way my parents did to me. Enough that her family stole a piece of our land, but never a piece of my soul."
I blinked and shook my head, still puzzled by everything that happened. "Well, that went well. And who's Alessia?"
"This is not the end. I'm not giving up. Let me handle this." She grabbed her bag and left, leaving me more confused.
I went to my home office and grabbed Tara's profile. She was really beautiful and young in the picture, with a heart-shaped face, full lips, and a cute, small nose, but what was stunning was her eyes and long, elegant neck.
Juliet. I pulled my drawer. The glittering white flower that I took from the mask was still here, mocking my poor behavior.
A soft knock distracted me from her picture. Seconds later, Nites stood before me.
"Can you call your boss? I need to meet him personally. And tell him it's urgent."
***
I was assaulted by savory melted butter and garlic aroma as the waiter placed a plate full of creamy pasta with seared scallops on the table.
I only took a forkful of my dinner when a tall man with a great physique sat across from me.
"Mad." Gabe Linden extended his hand. "Sorry, I'm late. Something came up at Osmium."
"No worries." I shook his hand and gestured. "This food is great. I commend the chef."
He smiled and told the waiter his usual order. "Pops would be glad to hear that. Show some love, Mad, and give a five-star review online."
I chuckled. "Will do it."
Before I could talk about my purpose, Spade Kolby was just leaving with his wife, Robyn.
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9.1
With only fifteen days of cash flow left to save her tech startup, Aida had no choice but to seek a five-million-dollar bridge loan from Brendan Walls, a ruthless billionaire predator.
He agreed to sign the check, but on one sickening condition. He demanded Aida act as bait to get close to his corporate rival, Grayson Lott, treating her like a high-end call girl for a business transaction.
Forced to comply to save her employees, Aida let Grayson take her to a windowless underground club, where he secretly spiked her whiskey.
As the drugs paralyzed her body, triggering horrific flashbacks of a brutal assault from six years ago, Aida locked herself in the bathroom. She had to shatter a mirror and slice her own thigh open with a jagged shard of glass just to stay conscious enough to call Brendan for help.
Brendan's armored SUV immediately smashed through the club's wall to save her, and Grayson was arrested. But lying in the hospital, the horrifying truth finally clicked in Aida's mind.
The rescue was too fast. Brendan’s men hadn't rushed from Midtown; they had been parked outside the entire time. He had watched Grayson drug her and waited for the felony to happen just so he could legally seize Grayson's company. He had gambled her life and trauma for a hostile takeover.
When Brendan casually tossed a signed contract and luxury car keys onto her hospital bed as hush money, the last thread of Aida's sanity snapped.
"The deal is dead. NovaTech is mine. If you ever come near me again, I will kill you."
Bleeding and shaking with icy rage, Aida threw the keys at his chest, formally declaring war on the monster who thought he could buy her soul.
8.9
My father was marrying a gold-digger, the mother of my cheating ex-boyfriend.
To end the charade, I crashed their luxury wedding with a ten-foot funeral wreath.
In front of hundreds of elites, my father slapped me across the face, calling me a vicious bitch while his new wife smiled in victory.
I triggered the estate's fire system to ruin them, but a terrifying stranger in the VIP section bypassed my military-grade hack in seconds.
He was Kavon Velasquez, a dangerous billionaire heir who had been missing for twelve years.
Instead of exposing me, he shielded me from my father's second blow.
When my pathetic ex tried to drag me away, I grabbed Kavon and kissed him to humiliate my ex.
I shoved a $500,000 check into Kavon's pocket as hush money and left.
I thought that was the end of it.
But why did this apex predator move into the penthouse right next to mine at 2 AM?
Why did he violently crush my ex's face the next morning just for grabbing my arm?
"She is my woman. If you ever come within ten feet of her again, I will bury you."
I didn't understand why a man with lethal skills was suddenly hunting me.
Then I found out he had just blackmailed my father with undeniable proof of corporate money laundering.
His demand wasn't money. It was me.
He ordered my father to announce our engagement by tomorrow sunset, and this dangerous game officially began.
8.4
Everly spent four years playing the perfect, accommodating wife to Carson Moss, swallowing every grievance just to secure medical treatments for their sick daughter.
But at a high-society banquet she exhausted herself organizing, Carson's pregnant mistress crashed the party.
The woman shoved an ultrasound of Carson's "real heir" directly into Everly's frail grandfather's face.
The shock triggered a massive heart attack.
Carson refused to use his private helicopter to save the dying old man, choosing to protect his mistress and his company's IPO instead. Her grandfather died on the hospital table.
Instead of remorse, her mother-in-law demanded Everly publicly cover up the murder.
"You will do exactly as I say, or I will freeze every single cent of the medical trust fund paying for your crippled daughter's treatments."
When a battered Everly returned to the estate, she discovered her three-year-old daughter covered in dark bruises and pinch marks. Her in-laws were deliberately torturing her disabled child.
Everly couldn't comprehend how a family could be so utterly heartless. Her only family was murdered, her child was abused, and her husband threw a five-million-dollar check at her face as hush money.
They thought she would just break and quietly disappear.
But when a terrifyingly powerful billionaire unexpectedly blocked Carson's security team from locking her up, Everly finally saw her window.
She grabbed her sleeping daughter and ran out into the freezing storm, making a blood-bound vow to make the entire Moss family bleed.
9.3
For years, Gabriela believed the man beside her would be the one she grew old with. They had loved each other since they were young, but in the end, all those years meant nothing beside a younger woman's smile.
Returning from a business trip, she uncovered his betrayal with brutal clarity. Still, she did not cry or beg. She took out her phone, recorded every damning second, and filed for divorce the moment she could.
Afterward, she rebuilt her life into something brighter, richer, and stronger, even marrying a powerful tycoon. As for her ex and his shameless mistress, they could rot together.
9.5
Bridget left the office early on her anniversary, her pocket heavy with a custom velvet ring box meant for her fiancé.
But when she pushed open the bedroom door, she found him tangled in their bed with her best friend, Chloe.
"Bridget! Wait, it's not what it looks like!" Jacob stammered, his eyes wide with panic.
"Evidence," Bridget stated coldly, snapping a photo of their naked bodies before fleeing into the freezing New York night.
Desperate to numb the betrayal, she got blackout drunk at an underground lounge and threw herself at a dark, terrifyingly handsome stranger.
She woke up in a penthouse suite alone, finding only a limitless black credit card left on the nightstand.
Humiliated and feeling like a cheap escort, she ran away, swearing to forget the nightmare.
But the nightmare had just begun. When she rushed into the office, she discovered the stranger was Jevon Rocha—the ruthless billionaire CEO of her company.
He didn't fire her. Instead, he trapped her in a twisted, obsessive power game, forcing her into his private life and demanding she report to his penthouse.
Bridget couldn't understand why a ruthless billionaire was so dangerously fixated on a low-level employee.
Until she stumbled upon his secret social media account and saw a crayon drawing of a little kid, captioned with a single word: "Finally."
A wave of absolute horror washed over her. He wasn't just playing games; he was hiding a secret child and a messy, high-stakes family drama.
She refused to be the naive collateral damage in a billionaire's twisted life.
Trembling, Bridget hit "Block" on his profile, determined to escape his dangerous web.
8.6
Eleanor Sinclair always knew her stepmother and stepsister were leeches, but she never expected their betrayal to reach into her private study.
In the dead of night, she caught the family's trusted nanny of twelve years photographing confidential trust documents. The mastermind paying her off was Lillian, Eleanor's stepmother, who had been secretly embezzling estate funds and bribing tutors to deliberately ruin the academic future of Eleanor's younger brother, the only legitimate heir.
Emboldened by their deceit, the parasites grew arrogant. Her stepsister, Isabelle, deliberately flaunted her secret affair with Eleanor’s billionaire fiancé, sobbing fake tears while waiting for Eleanor to suffer a humiliating nervous breakdown.
When the tension finally peaked, Lillian played the victim so perfectly that Eleanor's own father, a powerful U.S. Senator, stormed into the room with a raised hand, ready to strike his own daughter.
"You will apologize to your stepsister immediately! I will not have this family harmony destroyed by your petty jealousy!"
They actually expected her to be a weeping, heartbroken girl. They thought cheap hotel affairs and stolen pennies could outsmart the true Sinclair bloodline. Did they really believe a few fake tears and a weak-willed father could strip her of her empire?
Eleanor didn't feel anger; she felt the cold, detached fascination of a biologist observing doomed insects. She calmly pulled out the forensic audits, locked down the estate's exits, and prepared her stepmother's psychiatric commitment papers. The merciless purge of her family had officially begun.