Steeling Her: A Romance Novel

They say marrying a billionaire is easy, until you’re the one standing at the altar. Ethan Steele is everything I swore to avoid: cold, controlling, and emotionally unavailable. But when death came knocking, I had no choice than to accept a deal that would change everything….

In Cordelia's marriage, she is the other woman. First, it was to the memory of her sister, Angelica, the woman who should have been his bride. And now, she is still only second best, cast aside for any pretty face that reminds him of his lost love. After five years of marriage, and one night of passion that turned into heartbreak, she gains the strength to start over on her own. But there are things about her marriage that she never knew. Strange things are happening all around her and it turns out that she has bigger skeletons in her closet than the ones she put there herself. What really happened to Angelica? And what will she do, once she learns the truth? ________ The first time our eyes met my heart stopped. “Hello,” I smiled in his direction, “My name is Cordelia Grayson.” His returning smile was hesitant, uncertain, and small. “Atlas Steele.” He was beautiful with his golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes. I could tell he was a little too old for me, but I have always been attracted to older boys. His age didn't discourage me, if anything I think it made him even more dashing. And from that moment on my heart was his. Utterly and completely. Unfortunately it was not my heart that he wanted to hold. When he raised his gaze to mine a second time, his eyes skipped over my face to focus on someone standing behind me. I turned to look. It was my sister. He asked me if I knew her. I could tell he was more interested in her than he was in me, and even though it hurt to do it, I nodded in confirmation. “That's my sister, Angelica.” “Angelica,” he said her name slowly, savoring each syllable.

He saved her from a lifetime of slaving away at a strip club, but the next thing she knows, she's plunged into the dark and dangerous world of organized crime...

I didn't buy her out of kindness. Sophia Reeves came with a price tag — her father's debt, cleared in full. She became my wife on paper, a calculated move in a game of power and business. Nothing more. I built my empire by keeping emotions out of every equation. I never lose control. I never let anyone close enough to matter. But Sophia refused to follow my rules. She didn't bow to my money. She didn't flinch at my coldness. Every wall I built, she saw straight through — not because she was trying to break me, but because she was simply everything I never knew I was missing. I thought owning her legally meant I had the upper hand. I was wrong. The night she walked out with her head held high and nothing but the clothes on her back, I realized the truth I'd spent months denying: Somewhere between the contracts and the cold silences — she hadn't just taken pieces of my carefully guarded heart. She had taken all of it. And I would burn everything I built to get her back.

I stumbled over my own feet as he shoved me through the doorway, barely catching myself before I hit the polished marble floor. A gasped escaped my mouth as I straightened up, eyes wide as they scanned the unfamiliar surroundings. Or should I say - a mansion, everything about it screamed wealth, power and danger. I blinked rapidly, trying to push back those tears, smearing them away with my shoulder because my hands were bound tightly in front of me. The ropes bit into my skin, a cruel reminder that this wasn’t a nightmare. It was my new reality. “Welcome to my world, princess,” he said, voice like velvet over broken glass. ---- Lewis. The name alone makes my stomach churn. The man I once thought I loved. The one who walked into my life with a smile, too perfect and eyes too deceptive. At first, he was everything I ever wanted. Until he became everything I feared. He didn’t just hurt me, he broke me. And just when I thought there was no way out of his twisted love, his brother appeared. Like a storm. I thought I saw a savior in him. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. I never sought his attention. I never wanted his eyes on me. But he gave it anyway unrelenting, consuming, obsessive. He didn’t offer me freedom from Lewis. He offered me a different kind of captivity. One laced with soft touches and sharp edges. One that didn’t hurt my skin, but carved into my soul. He stole my sanity with his silence, my breath with his gaze, and my heart with his wickedness. I was a puppet of two devils - one who broke me openly, and the other who worshipped my broken pieces like treasures he owned.

VIOLET-He left me because of his secrets that he refused to share with me. He didn't care how he shattered already broken pieces and left a mess. My family was the one to put me back together with their love & care. And now I'm a completely different person, the girl who was abused & the woman who was left behind are nowhere to be found. Now I'm here with an armor that I'd built in his absence, with a heart incased behind walls of steel & I refused to let him fool me again. He might've been the one to heal my body with his soft touches but my heart was too tender to believe in him again despite that one dream that could be possible only with him. He says he'd his reasons, that he'll do anything for my forgiveness. But should I trust him again? Should I give him the chance he's begging for? Or should I just fool him like he did me & get what I really want? COLE-I made a mistake when I left her. But now I'm back to beg for forgiveness. The problem is My broken princess has turned into one with steel heart & ironclad armor. She doesn't care about my sweet words or tender touches anymore. She's not the woman I'd left behind. She knows how to hurt me & she hurts me where it's fucking painful. She says she won't forgive me but she'll have to because there was nothing else I wanted more than her forgiveness. I'll do anything she wants, give her everything she needs except that one thing that she really wanted from me. For the second time I'll do something she'll hate me for but at least I'll have her where I wanted her. By my side-In my heart-As my wife.