The High Price Of Father's Freedom
I was at a high-end law school mixer, hiding behind a pillar and eyeing the shrimp buffet because my bank account was empty and my fridge contained nothing but expired milk. My father’s name was a national headline for all the wrong reasons, and my only goal was to survive law school without being recognized.
That’s when the room went silent for the arrival of Armond Woodward, the billionaire COO of a global media empire. I froze, because seven years ago in Paris, he was Armond Chevalier, the sweet art student I’d shared a life with. Now, he was a cold-eyed predator in a bespoke suit, and he was staring directly at me like I was a missing asset he’d finally located.
I tried to escape, but the walls were closing in. My tuition payment was forty-eight hours late, and my father was facing a new indictment that would keep him in prison for the rest of his life. While a rich classmate named Miles tried to "save" me by parading me around like a trophy, Armond was working in the shadows. He didn't just offer help; he bought my student loans and my father’s legal liens, effectively making himself my sole creditor.
The realization hit me like a physical blow when Armond cornered me in his private elevator. He knew about my broken apartment lock, my ramen-noodle dinners, and every cent I owed. He hadn't just found me by accident; he had been watching me drown for years, waiting for the exact moment I became desperate enough to be useful.
"I've been waiting for you to hit bottom, Rose," he whispered, using the private name from our past as he trapped me in the back of his black SUV.
With the threat of a two-million-dollar restitution fee hanging over my father's head and the prosecutors closing in, Armond laid out his final terms. He didn't want an apology or a second chance at love; he needed a wife to secure his family trust and defeat a hostile takeover, and I was the only person with enough debt to be completely controlled.
"Marry me, Abbey. A three-year contract, and I make all of this go away."
I looked at the man who had destroyed my life just to own it and realized that to save my family, I had to walk straight into the golden cage he had built for me.
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Chapter 5
The air in the Diamond Lounge smelled of cedarwood and aged tobacco. It was a masculine, oppressive scent that instantly triggered a memory in Abbey's hindbrain-Armond's cologne.
Armond didn't stand up. He remained sprawled on the leather, flanked by three other men in suits who were murmuring about market shares. In the far corner, near the window, Abbey saw Sophie. She was sitting on a stool, looking dazed, while a balding man with a red face leaned uncomfortably close to her, whispering in her ear.
Abbey started to lunge toward Sophie, but Miles clamped a hand on her shoulder.
"Easy," Miles whispered. "We have to pay respects first."
He steered her toward Armond. Abbey felt like a doll being dragged by a toddler.
"Armond," Miles said, extending his hand with a practiced, politician's smile. "Thanks for the pass. Appreciate it."
Armond didn't take the hand. He let Miles's hand hang in the air for three agonizing seconds before he finally, lazily, shifted his gaze from Abbey to Miles.
"Sterling," Armond said. His voice was a low baritone that vibrated in Abbey's chest. "You're wet."
"Ah, yeah, the rain," Miles laughed nervously, dropping his hand. He pulled Abbey closer, his fingers digging into her hip through the silk jacket. "This is Abbey. She's... with me."
Armond's eyes snapped back to Abbey. He looked at Miles's hand on her hip. His expression didn't change, but the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
"With you," Armond repeated. The words sounded like he was tasting something rotten. "Your taste is... unique."
"She's special," Miles beamed, oblivious to the razor blades in Armond's tone.
"Indeed," Armond said softly. He took a sip of his whiskey, his eyes never leaving Abbey's face. "Very special."
Abbey couldn't breathe. She pulled away from Miles. "I need to get Sophie."
She walked toward the corner. The balding man had his hand on Sophie's knee now.
"Hey!" Abbey said, her voice shaking but loud. "Get away from her."
The man looked up, annoyed. "Excuse me? We're having a conversation."
"She's drunk," Abbey snapped. She grabbed Sophie's arm. "Sophie, stand up."
"Abbey?" Sophie blinked, her eyes unfocused. "Is that you?"
"Who invited the wet dog?" the man sneered, standing up. He blocked Abbey's path. "This girl is on my tab. She goes when I say she goes."
"She's leaving," Miles said, coming up behind Abbey. "She's a friend of mine."
The man squinted at Miles. "Sterling? The kid? Go run to daddy. The adults are playing."
Miles flushed red. He opened his mouth to retort, but he looked unsure, weak.
Abbey saw the man reach for Sophie again. Pure, white-hot rage flared in her chest. She grabbed a heavy crystal ice bucket from the table.
"Touch her again," Abbey warned, lifting the bucket, "and I will break this over your head."
The man laughed. "You wouldn't da-"
CRASH.
The sound of shattering glass exploded through the room. But it wasn't the ice bucket.
Everyone froze.
Armond had thrown his whiskey glass against the wall. The shards glittered on the carpet.
He stood up. He unfolded his height slowly, towering over everyone in the room. He adjusted his cuffs, his face a mask of bored lethargy, but his eyes were burning.
He walked toward them. The crowd parted instantly. The balding man took a step back, his arrogance evaporating.
Armond stopped in front of the man. He didn't shout. He didn't posture. He just looked down at him.
"Get out," Armond said.
"Mr. Woodward, I was just-"
"I said get out," Armond interrupted. "And take your trash with you. If I see you in one of my properties again, I'll have security break your legs before they ban you."
The man turned pale. He grabbed his jacket and scrambled toward the elevator without a backward glance.
Armond turned to Abbey.
For a moment, she thought he was going to yell at her. Instead, he reached out and plucked the ice bucket from her hands. He set it down on the table with a gentle clink.
"Violence, Rose?" he murmured, using the name only he knew, a private joke from a Parisian summer about the blush on her cheeks. "That's new."
"Don't call me that," Abbey whispered.
"Armond, man, thanks," Miles interjected, stepping between them again. "I owe you one."
Armond ignored Miles completely. He snapped his fingers. Two massive bodyguards materialized from the shadows.
"Take Miss..." He gestured to Sophie. "Take her to Lenox Hill. Private room. Make sure she's hydrated and safe."
"I'll take her," Abbey said.
"No," Armond said. He took a step closer to her, invading her personal space. He smelled of whiskey and power. "You're staying."
"I'm leaving with Miles," Abbey said, though her voice lacked conviction.
Armond leaned down. His lips brushed her ear. The intimacy of the gesture made her knees buckle.
"Do you really want to owe him for tonight?" Armond whispered. "Or would you rather owe me?"
Abbey looked at Miles, who was checking his reflection in the window. Then she looked at Armond.
It wasn't a choice. It was a trap.
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8.2
A week before my wedding, I went to the airport parking garage to surprise my fiancé with a luxury watch.
Instead, I caught him having sex in his car with my best friend and maid of honor.
Devastated and desperate to forget, I went to an exclusive club and blew my $50,000 trust fund to buy a one-night stand with a gorgeous stranger.
But the nightmare was just beginning.
At work, my cheating best friend stole my hard-earned promotion, and my ex shamelessly defended her.
Worse, the escort I had paid for sex turned out to be the ruthless new CEO of my airline.
He tormented me on a flight to Paris. When I was robbed of my passport and wallet on the freezing streets, he forced me to be his gala date just to get my life back.
But the ultimate trap was waiting for me in New York.
A secretly taken photo of me leaving the CEO's penthouse leaked on the company forum.
"I knew she got that Paris trip for a reason."
My ex and my former best friend led the charge in the comments, framing me as a shameless gold digger who slept her way to the top.
I was stripped of my flying credentials, suspended from the job I loved, and publicly humiliated.
I didn't understand why the CEO was playing these cruel games, or who had orchestrated this perfect trap to ruin my life.
Standing outside the airport with my career in ashes, I realized crying wouldn't save me.
I wiped my tears, accepted my mother's invitation to a high-society mixer, and prepared to make everyone who set me up pay the price.
9.2
She loved him until she lost herself.
Now, behind locked doors and shattered glass, she must learn to breathe again.
When she first met Lloyd, he was magnetic and intoxicating. The kind of man who turned every head when he entered a room, who spoke in promises sweet enough to taste. With him, she felt chosen, cherished, and safe.
But safety was an illusion, and love became a weapon.
And slowly, piece by piece, he dismantled her until nothing of the woman she once was remained.
Now institutionalized after a breakdown, she begins to piece together the brutal truth of what really happened in the shadows of their love story. Memories sting like open wounds: the manipulation disguised as tenderness, the apologies that blurred into threats, the desperate hope that tomorrow he'd be the man she fell for again.
Yet beneath the grief and the shame, a quiet rebellion stirs, a vow to reclaim her voice, her freedom, and her life. Because this is not just a story of how she fell apart. It is a story of how she rises.
Haunting, raw, and achingly intimate, Boys like him peels back the glittering mask of a toxic love affair to reveal the kind of darkness that hides in plain sight, and the unbreakable strength it takes to escape it.
7.0
On her wedding night, Liora Vale expected passion from her wealthy husband. Instead, she got rejection and humiliation.
When his dangerously seductive best friend, Kael Draven, corners her on the balcony and claims her virgin body with raw, unprotected fury, Liora discovers a pleasure she never knew existed.
Now addicted to Kael's brutal touch and filthy promises, the once-innocent bride becomes his secret slut, sneaking creampies in limos, riding him at galas, and begging to be bred while her husband sleeps nearby.
Kael won't stop until he destroys Silas and fills Liora's womb with his child.
She was supposed to be the perfect wife... now she's the shameless breeding whore who belongs only to him.
8.4
My husband, Craig, got the promotion. After three long years stuck in a small town, we were finally going home to corporate headquarters.
But when I went to file our joint relocation paperwork, the HR administrator gave me a pitying look. Craig, she explained, had already filed a single-person relocation, listing a different spouse: his high-school sweetheart, Chanel Murphy.
A single, numb phone call to the county clerk's office revealed the devastating truth. I had signed my own divorce papers two months ago, tricked by Craig, who claimed they were investment documents.
He had remarried the very next day.
He used my talent as a top software architect to secure his promotion, all while orchestrating this cruel deception. I had sacrificed my own career opportunities for our future, a future he was already building with someone else.
The pain was suffocating, but then rage burned through my grief. I picked up my phone, my fingers steady. I called Elek Preston, the VP of Engineering, the man who had offered me a lead role on a high-stakes project.
"Is the offer still open?" I asked, my voice clear and hard.
9.2
"I have a doctor's appointment Thursday," Lily heard herself say. "Nine AM. Midtown Medical Center."
It wasn't an invitation. Not exactly. But it wasn't a rejection either.
Jasper's throat worked. "I'll be there."
"Don't-" She stopped, reconsidered. "Don't come if you're going to treat it like a business meeting. Don't come if you're going to bring contracts or lawyers or-"
"I'll come as your..." He hesitated, searching for the word. "As someone who cares what happens in that room."
The lawyer cleared his throat softly, a reminder of the unsigned documents between them.
9.0
For eight years, Riana Regalia played the perfect Luna.
Loyal wife. Elegant hostess. The silent shadow behind the powerful Alpha Wesley Winters.
When she walked down the aisle, it was for duty, not love.
Her husband gave his heart to another, his fated mate, and her half-sister.
Her own daughter grew to adore the woman who stole her place.
***
The day she signed our divorce papers, she stopped hiding.
The struggling fashion label he mocked? Now a global empire.
The lonely Luna he had ignored became his most powerful rival.
Alpha Wesley thought he was freeing himself from a gold-digger.
He never imagined she'd become the number one threat to his empire.
***
Now, he wants a second chance. His pack is in chaos. And his so-called fated mate is scrambling to salvage his reputation.
But this Luna doesn't answer his calls anymore. She's too busy counting her billions.
He underestimated the quiet wolf.
Now the world will learn who the true Queen is.