Wanting My Step-Daddy
"We should not be doing this." Julian groaned, trying to pull away but I grabbed on to him, pressing my burning body against his.
"It's okay... No one has to know." I whispered, rubbing my lips against his neck and breathing in his scent.
"What about your mother?" He muttered, an undercurrent of panic in his voice.
"Forget about her." I muttered before slamming my lips on his, kissing him deeply.
.
.
.
She didn't know the man she seduced was her new stepfather.
He didn't expect the girl in his bed to be his fiancée's daughter.
When Ivy Hart flees a charity event and ends up in the arms of a mysterious older man, it feels like the perfect escape. One night. No names. No rules.
Until the next morning-when that same man walks into her mother's mansion as the soon-to-be husband.
Now caught in a forbidden spiral of lust, lies, and family secrets, Ivy must choose between exposing the truth... or surviving it.
Some secrets should never be touched. But she already has.
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Chapter 3
Julian's Pov
No way this is happening.
Is this some kind of twisted karma the universe is playing on me? The same woman I had rescued from a bar and almost slept with is standing in front of me, being introduced as my fiancée's daughter. It was hard to believe.
She stood in front of me, her electric blue eyes still wide in shock and disbelief. It was clear she recognized me and was doing a terrible job trying to hide it. Finally glancing at my outstretched hand, she pursed her lips and took it, not giving any response.
Her hands were small and soft against mine, and I felt her flinch, electricity zapping through us at the contact. Pulling away a moment quicker, I glanced back at Clarissa.
"Wow... She is a beautiful lady. I didn't expect her to be so grown," I said in a steady voice, putting some needed distance between us as I took several steps back.
"Oh... Did I fail to mention that?" Clarissa said with a chuckle, reaching to wrap her hands around my arm as she stood beside me. "Well, she is. She just moved in recently. Had some trouble at work and needed to lay low for a bit," Clarissa explained, a genial smile on her face.
Ivy's gaze moved from me to her mother's, and her eyes narrowed, filled with anger and contempt. She was yet to say a word.
"Have... you told her about the engagement?" I asked when the silence became unsettling. Clarissa nodded, beaming at me before turning to her daughter.
"Yes, I have. She's quite happy for me," she said, giggling as she rested her forehead on my arm, and I stiffened as I turned back to Ivy. That didn't look like the expression of a daughter happy for her mother. I cleared my throat, making to speak.
"As you already know, I am Julian Ashford, and I'm engaged to marry your mother. I hope I can receive your blessings," I said with a tight smile. She glared at me, a muscle ticking in her jaw.
"When is the wedding?" she suddenly asked, her voice curt.
"Um, soon. We're yet to pick a date."
She glanced at the both of us yet again. "Good. I'm happy for you." Turning around, she started to leave the room. "I'm going out."
"No, you aren't," Clarissa immediately shot out, running to reach her. "We're having dinner together, remember?" she asked, reaching for her hands. Ivy jerked her hands away, narrowing her gaze.
"I don't like what the chef whipped up," she forced through clenched teeth, her voice thick with loathing. Throwing a sideways glance at me, she added, "I'm sure you would enjoy your intimate time together. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Her voice trailed off as she exited the living room, her steps hurried as she climbed up the stairs. We stood there in surprise, watching her go.
She returned a while later, already having a change of clothes, her dark hair flying across her shoulders as she rushed out of the house, slamming the door behind her a bit too loud. Clarissa turned to me, an embarrassed smile on her face as she made her way towards me.
"She always had a rebellious streak to her, but she'll fall in line eventually," she said as she stood in front of me. I glanced at the door she had just stepped out from, then at Clarissa.
"That's Edward's daughter, right?" I asked, and she nodded, letting out a sigh as she rubbed her arms. The weight on my chest became heavier. I had almost slept with my dead best friend's daughter. Oh God.
"Was it hard raising her?" I asked carefully, watching as the expression on Clarissa's face contorted into one of sadness.
"Well, it wasn't going to be easy, now was it?" she added with a dry chuckle. "But I did struggle for a bit."
"You did your best. She seems to have turned out fine," I muttered, and she beamed up at me.
"Really? I'm glad you think so."
A comfortable silence settled between us as Clarissa looked at everything but me. Eventually, she managed a peek, a light flush staining her cheeks. "You're staying for dinner, right?" she asked almost hesitantly.
I nodded, placing my hands into my pockets. "Yes. There are very important things we need to discuss," I said, feeling tension creep into my system. She straightened as well, the ease in her features disappearing.
"It's about your money laundering activities disguised as charity. The man you're working for now is the man I've been hunting down for decades," I announced, and she stiffened, her face blanching.
"H-he is?" she stuttered. I nodded, my voice grim.
"Yes. I believe he's the one responsible for Edward's death," I announced, and the atmosphere thickened. I heard Clarissa swallow.
"Oh... Please, have a seat."
.
.
.
The conversation was long and heavy, and by the time we got to the end, I was already exhausted. As one might have expected, the marriage wasn't borne out of love or commitment but of duty. I had dedicated the past two decades of my life to finding the people responsible for my best friend's death and bringing them to justice, and was down to my last victim.
Unfortunately, I had found out that he had ties with Clarissa, and further investigations made me discover she was Edward's mistress and mother to his only daughter and heir. Knowing the operation would put both of them at risk, I found Clarissa and offered to protect them. She had offered the deal of marriage, pending the time I would be done with the operation. We would live as husband and wife.
What I hadn't counted on was almost sleeping with the said daughter. Well, I was glad I held back that night, or else I would be regretting it right now. Speaking of her-where the hell was Ivy? She had stepped out all day, and it was already evening. I hoped she wasn't drinking herself to stupor. Once the marriage documents were finalized, I would begin to keep an eye on her.
Deciding to wait for her, I took a bottle of premium wine from a rack, pouring myself a glass and seating at the barstool provided. Long minutes passed, dusk became twilight, and Ivy hadn't resurfaced. Clarissa tried to wait as well but had to retire early. Ivy didn't return home until past midnight.
She sauntered in, reeking of alcohol and sweat-but thankfully, no sex smell. I didn't know why that made me feel relieved. Standing at the door, I watched as she drunkenly made her way in, still holding a bottle of whiskey, slurring a tune. She stiffened when she felt a presence, her eyes slowly moving up to meet mine. The drunken haze in her eyes cleared when she realized who it was, a frown framing her lips.
"You're still here?" she asked, hiccuping.
"Yes, I was waiting for you," I muttered in a calm voice. "You're late." I growled. She hissed, trying to walk past me.
"Don't need to do that. Get... out of my way." She growled, already close. She tripped over herself and I caught her just before she planted her face to the ground. She slapped me with her free hand. My head whipped to the side, the side of my cheek burning with the sting.
"Get. Your. Dirty. Hands. Off. Me."
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8.1
The day my husband, Marco, was supposed to be promoted in the Lombardi crime family, I went to file our official union papers. It was the culmination of three years of work, the foundation for the family I so desperately wanted.
That’s when I found out he’d already registered a wife two months prior. It wasn’t me. It was Isabella Moretti, the daughter of our most bitter rivals.
At his celebration party, he introduced me to the entire family as an obsessed analyst from his team. He stood with his arm around Isabella, who clutched her stomach and claimed to be carrying his child. A moment later, she faked a fall and screamed that I'd pushed her, trying to kill her baby.
He moved her into our home, replacing my professional awards—the proof of the work that built his entire career—with their smiling portraits. He didn’t just betray me; he erased me.
That night, after he accused me of poisoning Isabella and trying to induce a miscarriage, I finally understood. He hadn't just left me; he was trying to destroy me.
So I walked away from the life I had built for him and accepted the one job he was terrified I would take. The Don's Consigliere had offered me control of the Chimera project, the most powerful intelligence network in the organization. I was done being the ghost in Marco's machine. Now, I was going to be the monster in his nightmares.
7.6
At the family dinner, the waiter stumbled, sending a tray of boiling onion soup flying toward the table.
My husband, Marcus, moved instantly.
But not for me.
He threw his body over my cousin Chloe, shielding her completely in his arms.
I was left exposed. The scalding liquid hit my chest and arm, burning my skin instantly.
While I screamed in agony on the floor, Marcus was frantically checking Chloe for scratches, whispering, "Thank God it missed you. You are more important than her. Always."
In the hospital, he handed me a check for fifty thousand dollars.
"It was an instinct," he said, avoiding my eyes. "Don't make a scene."
He didn't notice my hollow expression.
He didn't ask why the doctors were looking at him with pity.
And he certainly didn't know that the shock and trauma had caused me to miscarry our six-week-old baby.
For four years, I had been his perfect doll. I dressed like Chloe, painted like Chloe, and waited for him to love me.
I thought I was his wife.
I didn't realize I was just a placeholder until he sacrificed our child to save his true love from a splash of soup.
When he left to comfort Chloe again, I pulled the IV from my arm.
I placed the signed divorce papers on the bedside table.
Underneath them, I left the medical report confirming the miscarriage of his child.
Then, I vanished.
7.4
I was Z, the world's most lethal hacker. But after I died, I woke up gasping for air in a massive, freezing bathtub.
Memories that didn't belong to me slammed into my brain. I was trapped in the body of Zero Vance, a notorious "trashy young master" of a wealthy family, who was actually a girl hiding in plain sight.
The original owner of this body was a pathetic, lovesick stalker obsessed with an esports god named Maverick Thorne.
She wore ridiculous rainbow hair and cheap makeup, sending him thousands of desperate, unread texts every single day.
When he completely ignored her, she became the ultimate laughingstock.
Bullies at her elite academy spray-painted "freak" on her locker, shoved her around, and her own family looked at her with exhausted disappointment.
Unable to take the endless humiliation and his cold rejection, she swallowed a bottle of pills and slipped into the icy water.
Looking at the ruined, tear-stained reflection in the mirror, physiological disgust washed over me.
Why would anyone throw their life away for an arrogant, frozen block of ice?
I grabbed the grooming scissors and sheared off the neon hair until only a sharp, silver-blonde crop remained.
I deleted his contact, blocked his number, and put on a perfectly tailored black suit.
When the school's head cheerleader pointed a finger at my nose, warning me to stay away from Maverick, I snapped it backward.
"I have zero interest in Maverick Thorne."
I am alive. And as the new Zero, I am going to take everything back.
7.6
One Night. One Mistake. One Deal That Changes Everything.
Sienna thought her four-year anniversary dinner would end with a ring, not a breakup. Shattered and drowning in heartbreak, one reckless night leads her into the arms of a sinfully attractive stranger. But when morning comes, reality hits hard, and she flees without a trace.
Back home, her life is anything but stable. A wicked adoptive mother, a spiteful sister, and looming medical bills for the only father figure she's ever known weigh heavily on her shoulders.
Just when she thinks things can't get worse, she meets her new boss at Weston Corp-Lucas Jones. The same tattooed stranger from that unforgettable night.
Lucas, bruised by her disappearance, wastes no time making her squirm. Then he offers a shocking deal: pretend to be his fiancée for six months and he will pay off her father's hospital bills in full.
Now Sienna must survive working under the gaze of her arrogant, dangerously charming boss while keeping their past, and their growing chemistry, a secret. But enemies lurk in the shadows, and secrets from the past begin to unravel.
What will happen when Sienna discovers that her tangled fate with Lucas isn't a coincidence but destiny?
A sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance filled with secrets, revenge, and a love that might just rewrite the past.
9.0
Irina Volkov has three rules: no emotions, no real names, and never meet in person. For two years she has survived on those rules alone - running romance scams on wealthy men, funneling every stolen dollar toward the crushing debt her abusive stepfather signed in her name before she escaped. She is not greedy. She is desperate. And she is very, very good.
Until she targets Nikolai Dragunov.
What Irina doesn't know is that Nikolai has known about her from the beginning. He created the perfect bait - a lonely businessman with money to burn - and waited for her to find him. Because in a world Nikolai controls down to the last detail, Irina Volkov is the only unpredictable thing left. He wanted to see how far she would go.
Now the game is over. The con is exposed. And Nikolai isn't asking for his money back. He's keeping her.
Trapped in his penthouse with nowhere to run and a Bratva boss who looks at her like she's both a puzzle and a prize, Irina has to survive the most dangerous mark she's ever made - and somehow stop herself from falling for him in the process.
She's a liar. He's a monster. And neither of them expected to fall.
"You took my money, malyshka. Now you belong to me."
8.1
Six years ago, I stole from a stranger.
I was desperate, broken, and trying to save the only family I had left.
I never expected that stranger to be a billionaire.
Or that one reckless night would bind our lives forever.
Now he's back-powerful, haunted, and dangerous.
He doesn't remember me... but he remembers the theft.
I work in his hotel.
He signs my paychecks.
And the secret I've carried for six years could destroy us both.
He wants answers. I want redemption.
But when desire burns hotter than guilt, and the past refuses to stay buried, loving him might cost me everything, including the truth he deserves.