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Natalie Carter is the daughter of Charles Carter, a powerful real estate tycoon known for his colossal financial empire. She left her family home to live among ordinary people after a humiliating rejection from her fiancé, an influential man she thought was her soul mate. Her escape caused a scandal, bringing shame on her family. Three years later, Natalie leads a discreet life in Manhattan. She lives in a modest apartment in a picturesque neighborhood and works as an executive assistant in a small advertising agency. She is in a relationship with a simple and unremarkable man. All seems peaceful until her neighbor mysteriously disappears. This disappearance is followed by a series of disturbing events, including murders linked to influential figures in high society. Her mother, Elizabeth Carter, contacts her to alert her of an imminent danger linked to their past. Driven by circumstances, Natalie crosses paths with her former fiancé, Alexander Drake, an enigmatic and ruthless billionaire. Faced with plots, betrayals, and shocking revelations, Natalie finds herself forced to return to the world she fled, ending her simple and anonymous life. But can she navigate this whirlwind of lies and power without losing who she has become? And is Alexander an ally or a threat?
Manhattan exuded a deceptive tranquility that morning, shrouding its cobblestone streets in a light mist that softened the contours of the cityscape. Natalie Carter, snuggled up in her gray sweater, savored this rare tranquility while sipping her coffee near the window of her apartment. The walls of her modest home were decorated with minimalist frames and simple objects, echoes of a discreet life that she had carefully built far from her tumultuous past.
The streets below rustled faintly, a sign of the city's gradual awakening. Natalie loved this precise moment of the day, this moment when the world seemed suspended between silence and excitement. As she put down her cup, a loud noise coming from upstairs startled her. It came from Clara's apartment.
Clara was his immediate neighbor, a young woman with delicate features and often feverish manners. Their relationship was limited to brief greetings and a few exchanges of small talk on the landing. Yet there was something intriguing about Clara, a palpable nervousness that suggested she was hiding a secret.
Intrigued, Natalie opened her door and went out onto the landing. She listened. A heavy silence reigned now, as if the noise heard a moment earlier had never existed. She hesitated to knock on Clara's door but thought better of it. Maybe it was nothing, she thought.
A few hours later, while she was writing a report for work, there was a sharp knock at her door. She opened it to find Clara, visibly agitated, with disheveled hair and shifty eyes.
"Natalie, I... I'm sorry to bother you," Clara stammered, out of breath.
"No problem, come in," Natalie replied, surprised.
Clara refused to enter and cast furtive glances around her, as if afraid of being observed. She handed Natalie a small notebook.
"Keep it for me, please." If something happens to me..." She stopped, her voice trembling.
Natalie frowned, confused.
"Clara, what are you talking about? Everything is fine ? »
Clara shook her head, visibly terrified.
"I have to go. Just do what I ask you. Please. »
Before Natalie could ask any more questions, Clara disappeared down the stairs. Natalie stood in the doorway for a moment, notebook in hand. She wanted to open it but held back, respecting her neighbor's strange request.
The next day, Clara's absence became evident. His mailbox was overflowing, and no light was coming from his apartment. Natalie finally decided to knock on his door. No response. Worry rose within her.
She went to the building manager, Mrs. Collins, a woman in her fifties, known for her invasive curiosity.
"Clara? Ah, that girl... I haven't seen her in two days," Mrs. Collins said, shrugging her shoulders. "But she's the discreet type. »
"Two days? Don't you think that's strange? » insisted Natalie.
Mrs. Collins sighed. "Maybe she left without warning. It happens often. »
But Natalie wasn't convinced. That same evening, she decided to enter Clara's apartment. She had a spare key that Clara had given her a few weeks ago, just in case. Her heart was pounding as she unlocked the door and stepped inside.
The apartment was plunged into oppressive darkness. The closed curtains blocked any light from entering. Natalie looked for the switch and turned on the light. What she saw made her blood run cold.
The living room was upside down. Overturned furniture, papers scattered everywhere, and a strange metallic smell hung in the air. A broken lamp groaned beneath his feet. Natalie felt a cold sweat running down her back.
She cautiously walked towards the kitchen, where she found a cup of coffee still half full on the counter. This meant Clara left in a hurry, or worse, was forced to leave.
Natalie noticed a disturbing detail: a hastily scribbled note on a piece of paper hanging on the refrigerator. He simply said: *'They know. »*
She stepped back instinctively, her heart pounding. Who were "they"? And what did they know?
Suddenly, a noise in the hallway startled her. She turned off the light and cowered behind a piece of furniture, holding her breath. The footsteps approached, then moved away. Once silence returned, Natalie ran out of the apartment, her legs trembling.
Back at home, she carefully locked the door and collapsed onto her couch, Clara's notebook still in her hands. This time she decided to open it.
Inside she found a series of messy notes, names, phone numbers, and addresses. Some names were circled or crossed out, but none were familiar. In the middle of the pages, a complex diagram linked nouns to words like "blackmail," "murder," and "secret."
Natalie felt panic growing inside her. Was Clara involved in something dangerous?
The next morning, Natalie went to the police station to report Clara missing. But the welcome she received only added to her discomfort.
"Your neighbor, you say? » asked the officer in charge, visibly not interested.
" Yes. She hasn't given any sign of life for three days, and her apartment... was a mess. It was weird," Natalie explained.
The officer shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe she went on vacation without warning. You know, it's not that rare. »
Natalie felt her irritation rising. "No, you don't understand. She was terrified before she disappeared. She gave me this notebook..."
She took out the notebook to show it, but the officer pushed it away with a nonchalant gesture.
"Look, unless we have evidence of a crime, there's not much we can do. If you have other information, you can come back. »
Frustrated, Natalie left the police station. She felt like she was going in circles, like she was alone in this quest. Yet one thing was certain: Clara had tried to send him a message, and it was her duty to figure out what had happened.
As she was returning home, a black car, parked a few meters from her building, caught her attention. Two men in dark suits seemed to be watching him. When she stopped, they looked away, but she knew they were watching her.
His heart raced. Who were they? And what did they want?
That evening, Natalie did not sleep. She spent hours analyzing Clara's notebook, looking for a clue, an answer. But the more she read, the more the questions multiplied.
The anonymity she had cherished so much seemed to slip through her fingers, replaced by growing worry and invisible danger. Clara had disappeared, but her shadow still loomed, heavy with mysteries and secrets.
Under the gaze of a fallen mafia, Elvie, a young woman with a troubled past and victim of a brutal ex, seeks to rebuild her life. Working as an assistant in the villa of the Corleone, an influential crime family, she tries to avoid conflict with the three Corleone brothers, all as dangerous as each other. But everything changes when Adriano, the eldest brother and heir, breaks his arranged engagement to embrace the war between enemy families and must quickly remarry. Cold and calculating, he sees Elvie as a simple piece in his game. For her, he is just another nightmare to flee. But as they interact, appearances crumble and unexpected bonds are forged. As her ex resurfaces, Elvie will have to choose between her new life, her secrets and the growing violence that threatens everything she has rebuilt.
Alice's life has been devastated by the betrayal of those she believed to be her allies. Five years ago, her fiancé, in the grip of a professional failure, convinced her to sacrifice her dreams to help him get back on his feet. But her best friend, hungry for glory and power, made a decision that would change their friendship forever, by secretly becoming a surrogate mother. When Alice's fiancé, now at the top of his career, left her, claiming that she no longer met his expectations, Alice, broken, accepted the proposal of the mysterious billionaire, Gabriel Hartman. Known for his coldness and indifference, Gabriel seemed to offer Alice an escape. What she didn't know was that he was the one who had orchestrated her best friend's request for maternity... But what if everything she thought she knew was just a decoy? What if, deep down, the price of her redemption is much higher than she imagined? Can the truth really mend broken hearts, or will secrets destroy everything in their path?
Zoe's dreams of marriage are shattered when she catches her fiance in a compromising situation with his best friend. Devastated, she seeks to recover what she has lost. That's when an enigmatic man, a warm billionaire named Maxime Delacroix, offers her an unexpected solution: a loveless marriage, a contractual alliance with the aim of destroying his ex's career. Although reluctant, Zoe accepts, ready to do anything to get revenge. But as their relationship grows, Zoe realizes that the stakes are more complex than she imagined. Between revenge and a budding passion for this distant man, she finds herself torn between her desire for justice and her budding feelings. How far will she be willing to go to get revenge without losing everything in the process?
Lily thought she had a simple life, surrounded by her adoptive parents in a small town. But everything changed the day she learned that her real parents were industrial tycoons and that she had a twin brother, heir to a family empire. Welcomed into a world of luxury, she found herself facing a reality very different from the one she knew. Her brother, a cold and ambitious man, had always hated her. "You're just an intruder, Lily," he told her. But another secret resurfaced: a mysterious businessman claimed that Lily was the rightful heir to a huge hidden fortune. "It's time you knew the truth," he told her. Between betrayals and revelations, Lily must choose between wealth and family loyalty.
Lara Sanders and Ethan Cole had been together for five years, but Lara had never been his priority. Ethan, obsessed with his work, did not see the soul of the woman he had married. Lara had tried to rekindle the flame, but in vain. She had had enough. One day, she left everything: the house, the promises, and Ethan. Years later, Lara reappears. She has become a successful entrepreneur, an icon of the business world, and no one recognizes her anymore as the fragile young woman she once was. Far from the shy and discreet Lara, she is now a queen of industry, admired and respected. At a public event, a journalist asks her: "Lara, you are the most influential businesswoman of the moment. What is the key to your success?" Lara, with a mysterious smile, answers: "Never let a man define you. Take charge of your life. » The next day, to everyone's surprise, Ethan appears at Lara's door. The man she thought had been forgotten, who had let her go without a glance, returns with a surprising proposition: "Lara, I made a mistake. Can we start all over again... Together?"
Luca Moretti, an influential businessman, is forced to marry Amélie Lefevre, a woman he considers a simple family obligation. Already in love with another, he vows to make Amélie's life hell so that she will ask for a divorce. However, he does not know that Amélie is hiding a secret that could change his life forever. Behind her calm facade, Amélie is much more determined and intelligent than he thinks. What will happen when Luca finds himself caught in his own game? Will he succeed in breaking their union or will he succumb to the hidden truth?
Rachel used to think that her devotion would win Brian over one day, but she was proven wrong when his true love returned. Rachel had endured it all—from standing alone at the altar to dragging herself to the hospital for an emergency treatment. Everyone thought she was crazy to give up so much of herself for someone who didn’t return her feelings. But when Brian received news of Rachel’s terminal illness and realized she didn’t have long to live, he completely broke down. "I forbid you to die!" Rachel just smiled. She no longer needed him. "I will finally be free."
"You're a creepy bastard." His eyes smolder me and his answering grin is nothing short of beautiful. Deadly. "Yet you hunger for me. Tell me, this appetite of yours, does it always tend toward 'creepy bastards'?" **** Widower and ex-boss to the Mafia, Zefiro Della Rocca, has an unhealthy fixation on the woman nextdoor. It began as a coincidence, growing into mere curiosity, and soon, it was an itch he couldn't ignore, like a quick fix of crack for an addict. He didn't know her name, but he knew every inch of her skin, how it flushed when she climaxed, her favourite novel and that every night she contemplated suicide. He didn't want to care, despising his rapt fascination of the woman. She was in love with her abusive husband. She was married, bound by a contract to the Bratva's hitman. She was off-limits. But when Zefiro wanted something, it was with an intensity that bordered on madness. He obsessed, possessed, owned. There'd be bloodshed if he touched her, but the sight of blood always did fascinate him. * When Susanna flees from her husband, she stumbles right into the arms of her devilishly handsome neighbour with a brooding glare. He couldn't stand her, but she needed him, if she was ever going to escape her husband who now wanted her dead. Better the devil you know than the angel you don't. She should have recalled that before hopping into Zefiro's car and letting him whisk her away to Italy. Maybe then, she wouldn't have started an affair with him. He was the only man who touched her right, and the crazy man took no small pains in ensuring he would be the last.
After three years of loveless marriage, Kira was slapped with divorce papers. She has shown him her unrequited love throughout her entire marriage with him, but he decided to turn blind eyes all because of his lover. Distraught and heartbroken, Kira choose to sign the divorce papers with bitter heart. But then and there, she promised herself that when she's back, he will come crawling to her, but she will make him pay for hurting her. Join Kira as she transform to a wealthy heiress and soared as the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar empire, a remarkable healer and make her ex-husband pay!
Natalie used to think she could melt Connor’s icy heart, but she was sorely mistaken. When at last she decided to leave, she discovered that she was pregnant. Even so, she chose to quietly leave his world, prompting Connor to mobilize all of his resources and expand his business to a global scale—all in a bid to find her. But there was no trace of Natalie. Connor slowly spiraled into madness, turning the city upside down and leaving chaos in his wake. Natalie finally surfaced years later, with wealth and power of her own, only to find herself entangled with Connor once again.
Melanie married Ashton out of gratitude, but she quickly found herself entangled in a web of relentless challenges. Despite these struggles, she stayed true to her commitment to the marriage. In the hospital room, Ashton indifferently attempted to draw her blood, disregarding her discomfort. This callous act was a harsh revelation for Melanie, awakening her to the grim reality of their relationship. Resolved to prioritize her own welfare, she decided to sever ties. With newfound resolve, Melanie filed for divorce. In the process, she unveiled her concealed identities, leaving everyone in shock. Throughout these turbulent times, Melanie realized that Derek, Ashton’s uncle, had been discreetly protecting her all along.
Elena, once a pampered heiress, suddenly lost everything when the real daughter framed her, her fiancé ridiculed her, and her adoptive parents threw her out. They all wanted to see her fall. But Elena unveiled her true identity: the heiress of a massive fortune, famed hacker, top jewelry designer, secret author, and gifted doctor. Horrified by her glorious comeback, her adoptive parents demanded half her newfound wealth. Elena exposed their cruelty and refused. Her ex pleaded for a second chance, but she scoffed, “Do you think you deserve it?” Then a powerful magnate gently proposed, “Marry me?”