She never liked him. Or maybe she did. Amber Kingston had always been irritated by her boss's lifestyle. She never wanted anything to do with him outside of work, but then he brought a proposition to her table. To marry him. She did it for a price, and now she is breaking his one rule. How would she tell him, she'd fallen in love with him when it was something he'd clearly warned her about?
Amber's POV
"... You have a meeting in five minutes, a newly booked appointment with CadLtd," I glanced up from my tablet to take in the man sitting in front of me, with no ounce of emotion on his devilishly handsome face. Not even a goddamn flick.
His mask was always in place, I doubt it ever slipped. What is he? A statue of a damn Greek god?
His brows raised ever so lightly and my eyes fell back to my tablet and I cleared my throat.
"Well, the CEO of CadLtd wants to meet with you and probably discuss the merging of... "
" Cancel it"
The command was low, so damn low I'd have missed it if I was breathing so loudly. What!
"Cancel it?" I asked, he tilted his head staring at me in that 'do you have a problem with it' manner. I drew in a deep breath and fucking resisted flipping off my boss.
He's an asshole, I would agree with anyone on that. He was a beautiful one at that who had the attention of both male and female and yeah, they flocked around him a lot.
"Do you have a problem with that, Amber?" he asked and I shook my head even though my blood was simmering beneath my veins.
I'd managed to put up with him for three fucking years as his PA, his attitude never gets old but it gets on my nerves the whole time.
He stood up like a predator watching his prey, green eyes fixed on me with so much intensity I almost shuddered, but I managed to pull myself together.
I don't like this one bit.
"Good. I have a meeting to attend" he said before leaving the office in smooth, long strides without sparing me another glance.
I waited for a second, glaring at his back. If I had my way, I'd have knocked some sense into his 'not dumb head'.
Getting my feet to move, I knew better than to lag around.
When he said he had a meeting to attend, he was flatly biased... because we were both attending the meeting. That's how it's always been from the start.
If I wasn't present in a meeting, it pisses him the hell off. But I knew better than to say Xavier had an obsession with me because ha! The man was a stone.
Hurrying after him, I was fast enough to see him get into the elevator. I raised a finger, silently pleading with him to hold it for me as the doors were already sliding shut.
His face was impassive and he didn't even move a muscle. The doors shut right in my face and yeah, I lost my cool.
"Asshole!" I cursed my face and ears hot from either anger or embarrassment.
Luckily, we were the only ones occupying this floor of the company. My office came before his, I was doing both the job of a Secretary and a Personal Assistant and because my boss was Xavier, it sucked.
I ran my fingers through my hair before I stiffened, my eyes almost fell out of their sockets when the elevator slid open and my eyes met with that of Xavier's.
Oh shit!
The silence hung in the air thick and heavy. What does one say after calling their bosses assholes?
I took the easier route. Cleared my throat, straightened my spine, and walked right into the elevator avoiding his hunter's eyes and pretending I did nothing wrong. Well, I didn't.
"Thank you" I muttered, expecting him to be quiet just as he'd always been, but I was in for a big surprise.
He pressed the button leading us to the second floor which had the conference and meeting room.
"Did you call me an asshole?" He asked, his voice dry and dead serious. I shifted uncomfortably on my foot.
I lowered my head a fraction.
"No sir. You probably didn't hear right" I said, staring at my shoes. I loved my job too much to lose it, well I meant the pay.
There was silence and I risked glancing at him. His broad shoulders leaned against the elevator wall, his hands tucked into the pocket of his Tuxedo pants, and...amusement danced in his eyes for a slight second before it disappeared.
I was sure I'd seen it.
" I don't have hearing issues, '' he said and I almost huffed. Everyone thought he did. I wasn't going to touch that topic.
I won't be the one telling him he had hearing issues because the man heard right.
"I doubt" it was a grumble. Under my breath, he wasn't supposed to pick on it but he did.
Of course! Psychopathic abilities.
"You think I have hearing issues? Seriously?" I closed my eyes. I'd have pinched the space between my brows to wedge off the headache that I could sense brewing.
Before I could come up with a reply, his phone rang, cutting off our awkward little chit chat and I was grateful for the interruption.
His face darkened. His eyes once held a little warmth hardened and turned into frosty green slits. His lips pulled into a hard line, tension oozing off him.
I took a step back.
I know there was a lot to Xavier Castillo, he was a beautiful surface with the deepest and darkest secrets lurking beneath.
The elevator dinged and the doors parted, I stepped out of it almost too quickly.
But Xavier remained in it, his jaws set hard, his eyes staring into nothing, and his fingers wrapped tightly around his phone that I feared for the poor phone.
Whoever had called was a trigger or an enemy or... I don't know. The doors slid shut, but not before his gaze rested on me.
I shivered, his eyes weren't as predatory as they'd been earlier... they instead looked calculative.
And a calculative Xavier was dangerous.
It could never mean a good sign.
Alessia De Luca is determined to prove to her family that she has moved on from the man who left her at the altar two years ago. Desperate to avoid their pity, she enlists her arch-nemesis Noah Wilson, a moody colleague, to pose as her boyfriend during a summer trip to Italy, where her ex-fiancé, Antonio, is getting married. But circumstances changed and she's thrown into a dilemma that almost ruins everything. However, things get more complicated when Noah plays his role a little too well, and Alessia realizes that she's falling for her perfectly 'fake' boyfriend.
Her fiance and her best friend worked together and set her up. She lost everything and died in the street. However, she was reborn. The moment she opened her eyes, her husband was trying to strangle her. Luckily, she survived that. She signed the divorce agreement without hesitation and was ready for her miserable life. To her surprise, her mother in this life left her a great deal of money. She turned the tables and avenged herself. Everything went well in her career and love when her ex-husband came to her.
After hiding her true identity throughout her three-year marriage to Colton, Allison had committed wholeheartedly, only to find herself neglected and pushed toward divorce. Disheartened, she set out to rediscover her true self-a talented perfumer, the mastermind of a famous intelligence agency, and the heir to a secret hacker network. Realizing his mistakes, Colton expressed his regret. "I know I messed up. Please, give me another chance." Yet, Kellan, a once-disabled tycoon, stood up from his wheelchair, took Allison's hand, and scoffed dismissively, "You think she'll take you back? Dream on."
After two years of marriage, Sadie was finally pregnant. Filled with hope and joy, she was blindsided when Noah asked for a divorce. During a failed attempt on her life, Sadie found herself lying in a pool of blood, desperately calling Noah to ask him to save her and the baby. But her calls went unanswered. Shattered by his betrayal, she left the country. Time passed, and Sadie was about to be wed for a second time. Noah appeared in a frenzy and fell to his knees. "How dare you marry someone else after bearing my child?"
To the public, she was the CEO's executive secretary. Behind closed doors, she was the wife he never officially acknowledged. Jenessa was elated when she learned that she was pregnant. But that joy was replaced with dread as her husband, Ryan, showered his affections on his first love. With a heavy heart, she chose to set him free and leave. When they met again, Ryan's attention was caught by Jenessa's protruding belly. "Whose child are you carrying?!" he demanded. But she only scoffed. "It's none of your business, my dear ex-husband!"
Yelena discovered that she wasn't her parents' biological child. After seeing through their ploy to trade her as a pawn in a business deal, she was sent away to her barren birthplace. There, she stumbled upon her true origins—a lineage of historic opulence. Her real family showered her with love and adoration. In the face of her so-called sister's envy, Yelena conquered every adversity and took her revenge, all while showcasing her talents. She soon caught the attention of the city's most eligible bachelor. He cornered Yelena and pinned her against the wall. “It's time to reveal your true identity, darling.”
June Rivera was divorced by her husband after three years of marriage because he wanted to be with her sister who was pregnant for him. Kicked to the curb with a divorce and rejected by her parents,she struggles to make ends meet and get a job until she saves Luis Ambrose from an accident - the only child of Rafael Ambrose, a widowed man and the CEO of Ambrose Corporation. When little Luis asks to have her as a nanny, and Rafael's mother pressures him to get married, they draw a contract. To be Luis's nanny and his fake wife for one year in exchange for 50 million dollars!