LOGINThe morning had barely settled into its usual rhythm, yet Glenn Matthews was already in a foul mood.His patience—never particularly abundant to begin with—had finally snapped.The moment he pushed open the door to Aidan's executive office, the sight before him made his blood boil. Once again, Lucy had found another excuse to throw herself at Aidan before he left to pick up Lea, Raphael Augustin's girlfriend.Without bothering to hide his irritation, Glenn strode across the room and slammed a thick stack of documents onto Aidan's desk with enough force to make the polished wood shudder.The sharp bang echoed throughout the office.Lucy, who had been casually perched on the edge of Aidan's desk while chatting with him as he signed several contracts, whipped her head toward Glenn with an irritated frown.Aidan merely glanced up for a brief second before returning to the paperwork in front of him.He didn't scold Glenn.Frankly, he had grown exhausted by Lucy's increasingly shameless beh
GREENWICH, CONNECTICUTBruce’s car arrived after nearly an hour and a half of driving from Noxtrot. The two of them stepped out onto the front grounds of a housing development company called Ranallo Construction & Housing Developer.The scenery surrounding the office was absolutely breathtaking. It was the kind of view Malikha had never imagined she would find so close to a city as crowded as New York.“This is so beautiful,” Malikha said softly as she looked around.Bruce smiled, pleased to see how much she was enjoying the trip. He then led her inside the construction company’s office, a firm that specialized in residential developments and custom housing projects.“This company hires us for exterior and interior design services. Noxtrot has worked with Ranallo Construction on several luxury homes. Now they’ve asked us to design a retirement house project,” Bruce explained proudly.
Malikha tried her best not to think about what she had just seen. For a brief moment, she had wanted to speak with Aidan about their marriage and perhaps give their relationship another chance, but that desire had now disappeared completely.Eventually, the taxi brought Malikha safely to Noxtrot. She had already arrived late because of the ridiculous confinement she had endured earlier. Reluctantly, she knew she had to meet Bruce and apologize.“Malikha... you’re here? I thought you weren’t coming today either,” Bruce said as he approached her, his face filled with concern.Bruce had been unable to contact Malikha ever since the divorce case.Malikha knew he was referring to the court hearing several days ago. She answered his concern with a gentle smile, pretending that nothing had happened.“I’m fine,” Malikha replied reassuringly.“Where were you? Why didn’t you show up at the hearing?
Desperation could drive a person to do reckless things, even to challenge death itself and risk their own life. That was exactly what Malikha was doing now. To escape from Aidan Caesar, she was willing to do something completely outside the boundaries of her usual behavior.Under normal circumstances, Malikha would have thought twice—or perhaps a thousand times—before making such a dangerous decision. But desperation had clouded her judgment and pushed her to do whatever it took. That included persuading the woman living next door to come to her apartment.At first, Malikha had considered simply jumping from her balcony to the neighboring one, but the woman immediately stopped her.“Don’t do that. Let me come over and get you instead. Just stay there and wait for me,” the woman said after Malikha explained that she had been locked inside by her possessive and jealous husband.Malikha even added a few dramatic details to the story, claiming that her husband had imprisoned her and forbi
Malikha finished her lunch more slowly than Aidan. Before she was done eating, Aidan decided to surprise her, hoping to ease her stress and keep her from dwelling on everything that had happened.“After you finish eating, take a warm bath with a bubble bath bomb. I’ll prepare the bathtub for you. Just give me a moment,” Aidan said with a sweet smile as he rose from his chair.He walked into the bedroom, leaving Malikha staring after him in bewilderment. Aidan’s behavior seemed incredibly strange to her. She glanced at Eva and Jessica, who wore expressions just as confused as her own. The two maids looked back at Malikha and grinned.That day, Malikha was treated like a queen. Aidan did everything he could to keep her from thinking about leaving his apartment again.“Enjoy your bath. I’ll be waiting for you in the living room.” Aidan smiled, gently ruffling her hair before leaving her alone in his luxurious bathroom. Malikha remained confused and had not spoken much since the panic att
“I don’t want this… let me go. I paid for it… I paid you for everything!”Malikha’s sobs became more violent as tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks. Her entire body trembled beneath Aidan’s grip, her voice breaking apart with every desperate word that left her lips.Aidan stared at her, his own breathing uneven.“No,” he said quietly at first. “You haven’t paid for anything.”His eyes darkened.“Not a single thing.”He took a step closer, his voice growing heavier, carrying far more desperation than anger.“If you think everything I did to you, all the pain, all the punishment, was your payment for our past, then you’re completely wrong. That was only the beginning.” His jaw tightened. “You have to stay with me. You have to feel all of it.”His words sounded like threats.To Malikha, that was exactly what they were.Yet beneath the anger, beneath the harshness, there was something else buried inside Aidan’s voice—fear.The fear of losing her.The fear of being abandoned.The
The one thing Malikha regretted more than anything else in her life was that her first love had been a foolish teenage boy who was arrogant, loved showing off, and lacked a decent personality. Jason Holland had probably trapped dozens of girls their age with his charm, including Malikha Swan, the
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Aidan asked softly, his voice carrying equal parts surrender and hopelessness.“In a relationship, love and hate always exist in the same space,” Raphael answered calmly. “A person can love someone deeply, then suddenly hate th
For as long as he could remember, the only sweet, love-filled kisses Aidan had ever given belonged to Malikha. No matter how often his lips claimed he hated the woman who had trapped him, the woman who had nearly cost him his life, the truth hidden deep inside his heart had never once changed.
Fifteen minutes later, the meeting and partnership agreement between Noxtrot and Orcanza had officially been finalized. It was finally time for Bruce and Malikha to return to their office. CEO Nolan Grant personally escorted them toward the main lobby of Orcanza Enterprise. Meanwhile, from the ga







