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 6
The bodyguards had already lifted Sophie, carrying her toward the service elevator with professional efficiency. Abbey took a step to follow, but Armond moved, blocking her path with his body.
"Abbey!" Miles called out, jogging over. "My car is right out front. I'll follow the ambulance."
Armond turned to Miles. He smoothed the lapel of his jacket. "You've been drinking, Sterling."
"I'm fine to drive," Miles bristled. "I had two drinks."
"And in this rain, in a Ferrari?" Armond shook his head, looking at Miles like a disappointed parent. "She needs safety, not a death wish."
Ken stepped forward, holding a sleek black folio. "Mr. Sterling, the floor manager needs you to sign for the damages. The glass Mr. Woodward broke... and the table spilled by your altercation."
"What? Armond broke the glass!" Miles protested.
"Technically, it was your guest who incited the incident," Ken said smoothly. "If you could just step this way..."
Miles looked at Abbey, then at the bill Ken was presenting. He was trapped by social protocol. "Abbey, wait here. I'll be two seconds."
He turned to argue with Ken.
Armond didn't wait. He gripped Abbey's elbow. His fingers were strong, digging into the tender flesh of her arm.
"Walk," he commanded.
He steered her away from the main exit, toward a panel in the wall that slid open to reveal a private elevator. He shoved her inside and hit the button for the garage.
The doors slid shut, cutting off the music, the noise, and Miles.
The silence in the small metal box was deafening. Abbey pulled her arm away, rubbing the spot where he had held her.
"I'm not going with you," she said, backing into the corner.
Armond watched the numbers count down. "Where are you going to go? Back to that rat-hole apartment in the East Village? The one with the broken lock on the front door?"
Abbey's breath hitched. "How do you know about the lock?"
"I know everything, Rose. I know you're eating ramen noodles five nights a week. I know your father's legal fees are drowning you." He turned to look at her. His eyes were tired. "I know you're scared."
"I'm not scared of you," she lied.
"You should be."
The elevator dinged. The doors opened to a private garage bay. The black Escalade was waiting, engine running.
"Get in," Armond said.
"No."
Armond sighed. He stepped close to her, crowding her against the elevator wall. He placed a hand on either side of her head, boxing her in.
"Don't make me carry you," he said softly. "I will do it. And I will enjoy it."
Abbey looked into his eyes. He wasn't bluffing. She ducked under his arm and marched to the car. She climbed into the back seat, slamming the door.
Armond got in the other side. He pressed a button, and the partition between them and the driver slid up, sealing them in a cocoon of leather and silence.
The car glided out of the garage and into the rainy night.
Abbey pressed herself against the door, as far away from him as possible. Armond loosened his tie. He looked at her profile, illuminated by the passing streetlights.
"Why?" he asked.
It was the question that had been hanging between them for five years.
Abbey stared out the window. "It was a summer fling, Armond. It ended."
"A fling?" Armond laughed, a harsh, humorless sound. "You left a note on the pillow. You changed your number. You vanished. That's not how a fling ends. That's how a witness protection program starts."
"I found out who you were," Abbey said. "I found out you weren't Armond Chevalier, the art student. You were Armond Woodward. We were... incompatible."
"So you ran because I was rich?"
"I ran because you lied!" She turned to face him, anger flaring. "And because I knew... I knew I couldn't be what you needed."
"And what did I need?"
"Someone who fits in that club upstairs," she spat. "Someone who doesn't have a felon for a father."
Armond reached out. He grabbed her chin, his thumb pressing against her jaw, forcing her to look at him. His touch was electric, sending a jolt straight to her core.
"You think I care about your father?" he hissed. "I cared about you. I've known where you were for years, Rose." Abbey's blood ran cold. "Then why..." "I was waiting," he cut her off, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous murmur. "For you to hit bottom. For you to be ready to admit you need me."
"My name is Abbey."
"Your name is whatever I say it is when we're alone."
He let go of her face. He sat back, running a hand through his hair. The vulnerability was gone, replaced by the mask of the CEO.
"We're going to my place. Sophie is safe. Tomorrow, we'll discuss your... situation."
"I'm not staying with you."
The car turned onto Park Avenue. It slowed in front of 432 Park, the needle-thin skyscraper that dominated the skyline.
"You are," Armond said. "Because I've bought your debt, Abbey."
Abbey froze. "What?"
"Your student loans. Your father's legal liens. I bought the debt this morning." He looked at her, his expression unreadable. "You don't owe the bank anymore. You owe me."
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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.