Love And Spotlight

Love And Spotlight

E. Mercury

5.0
Comment(s)
20.1K
View
142
Chapters

"I can put an end to all your problems." "And what exactly are my problems?" "I can get you back to the top. Make all your scandals disappear. People need to start talking positively about you again. All the lawsuits can be taken care of. And all this can happen with just a snap of my finger." "And what would you take in return?" "In return, you ass would be mine!" "What?" "Just what you heard!" "You're so weird!" After working tirelessly to break free from his controlling parents and chase his dreams, Edwin Thorne finally ascended to the pinnacle of success. As one of the top actors in the country, he enjoyed money, fame, and a beautiful woman he planned to marry soon. But a dangerous scandal struck, and in a single day, he lost everything, leaving him mired in lawsuits and disgrace. Desperate to reclaim his former glory, Edwin encounters Lance Castellan, a billionaire footballer with the power to erase his scandals and restore his fame. Lance offers Edwin a chance to regain everything he lost, but the price is something Edwin is unsure he can give. Lance Castellan isn't just a wealthy athlete; he's a man obsessed with Edwin and willing to flaunt his immense wealth to get what he desires. In a battle of power, ambition, and desire, Edwin must decide if he's willing to pay the ultimate price to reclaim his life-or if some sacrifices are too great.

Chapter 1 The Awakening

Edwin Kasper's eyes fluttered open, immediately assaulted by harsh sunlight streaming through unfamiliar curtains. His head pounded with the unmistakable throb of a hangover, each pulse sending waves of nausea through his body. As he struggled to focus, the plush comfort of high-thread-count sheets registered against his skin, a stark contrast to the chaos in his mind.

Where am I?

Slowly, the opulent surroundings of a luxury hotel suite came into focus. Crystal chandeliers hung from coffered ceilings, while ornate furniture dotted the spacious room. This wasn't his bedroom, nor any set he recognized. The air smelled of stale alcohol and something else-a cloying, metallic scent he couldn't quite place.

Edwin pushed himself up, wincing at the effort. His tailored suit from the previous night was wrinkled beyond salvation, the crisp white shirt now adorned with mysterious stains. As he swung his legs over the edge of the king-sized bed, a glint of red caught his eye.

There, on the plush carpet mere feet from where he sat, lay a woman. She was face-down, her cocktail dress riding up inappropriately. But it wasn't her position that made Edwin's blood run cold – it was the pool of crimson slowly spreading beneath her still form.

"Oh God," Edwin whispered, his voice hoarse and unfamiliar to his own ears. "Oh God, no."

He scrambled off the bed, nearly losing his balance as he rushed to the woman's side. With trembling hands, he reached out to check for a pulse, praying to a deity he'd long since stopped believing in.

A faint flutter against his fingertips sent a wave of relief through him, quickly replaced by rising panic. She was alive, but badly hurt. And he had no idea how or why.

As Edwin fumbled for his phone to call for help, fragmented memories from the night before flashed through his mind. A charity gala. Flowing champagne. His costar, Mike, insisting on just one more toast. After that... nothing. A complete blank.

The woman stirred, a low moan escaping her lips. Slowly, painfully, she turned her head. Edwin found himself staring into eyes wide with terror.

"Get away from me!" she screamed, her voice raw and filled with fear. "Don't touch me!"

Edwin recoiled as if struck. "I'm not... I didn't... What happened?"

But the woman's screams only intensified, piercing through the luxurious suite and surely alerting the entire floor to the unfolding drama.

As the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps echoed from the hallway, Edwin Kasper – Hollywood's golden boy, America's sweetheart – realized his life was about to change forever. And not for the better.

He stumbled backward, his emerald eyes wide with shock and confusion. The room seemed to spin around him, the lavish decor blurring into a dizzying whirl of colors. His gaze landed on a mirror across the room, and for a moment, he didn't recognize the man staring back at him.

His usually meticulously styled dark hair was a disheveled mess, sticking up at odd angles. There were dark circles under his eyes, and a small cut on his lower lip he didn't remember getting. But it was the expression on his face that truly startled him – a combination of fear, confusion, and something else... guilt?

No, he thought fiercely. I didn't do this. I couldn't have.

The door burst open, revealing two burly security guards, their faces smeared with concern and barely contained aggression. Close behind them, a petite woman in a crisp hotel uniform pushed her way into the room, her eyes widening as she took in the scene.

"Sir, step away from the lady," one of the guards commanded, his hand hovering near the taser at his belt.

Edwin raised his hands, stumbling backward. "I didn't... I don't know what happened," he stammered, aware of how guilty he must look – disheveled, confused, standing over an injured woman.

The hotel manager rushed to the woman's side, speaking in soothing tones as she assessed the situation. "It's alright, ma'am. You're safe now. Can you tell us what happened?"

The woman on the floor pushed herself up slightly, wincing in pain. Her mascara-streaked face contorted fused with agony and fury as she pointed a shaking finger at Edwin. "He... he attacked me," she choked out between sobs. "I told him no, but he wouldn't stop."

The accusation hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. Edwin felt the world tilt beneath his feet, disbelief warring with the growing horror in his gut.

"That's not... I would never..." he started, but the words died in his throat as he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror again. Blood – her blood – stained his shirt cuffs. Scratches he hadn't noticed before ran down his forearms.

The security guards moved forward, their expressions hardening. "Sir, you need to come with us," the second guard stated firmly.

As if on cue, two police officers appeared in the doorway, summoned by the hotel's efficient staff. Edwin watched, feeling oddly detached, as they conferred briefly with the manager before approaching him.

"Mr. Kasper?" one officer asked, though it was clear from his tone that he recognized the famous actor. "We're going to need you to answer some questions down at the station."

Edwin nodded numbly, his mind racing. This couldn't be happening. He wasn't that kind of man. He would never... But the evidence was damning, and the gaping hole in his memory offered no defense.

As the officers led him from the room, Edwin caught a glimpse of movement near the elevators. A small crowd had gathered, smartphones raised to capture Hollywood's latest scandal in real time. Among them, he spotted a familiar face – an entertainment reporter he'd once considered friendly.

Their eyes met for a brief moment. In that instant, Edwin knew his carefully constructed world was about to come crashing down around him. Every tabloid, every news channel, every social media platform would soon be plastered with his face and the most damaging headline of his career.

The golden boy had fallen, and the whole world would be watching.

As they walked towards the elevator, Edwin's mind whirled with the potential consequences. His new movie, set to start filming next month – would the studio pull out? The children's charity he'd worked with for years – would they distance themselves from him now? And Laura, oh God, Laura. His fiancée. How would she react to all this?

The elevator dinged, and as they stepped inside, Edwin caught his reflection once more in the mirrored walls. The man staring back at him looked like a stranger – pale, shaken, with eyes that seemed to plead for help.

Just yesterday, he had been on top of the world. Fan-favorite actor, philanthropist, soon-to-be husband to one of Hollywood's most beloved actresses. Now, in the span of a few confusing, terrifying hours, it was all crumbling around him.

As the elevator descended, so did Edwin's hopes. Each floor that passed felt like another nail in the coffin of his career, his reputation, his life as he knew it.

The doors opened to reveal a lobby teeming with even more reporters and curious onlookers. Camera flashes exploded in a dizzying barrage, momentarily blinding him. The screeching of shouted questions assaulted his ears:

"Edwin! Did you assault that woman?"

"Is this the end of your career?"

"What does Laura think about these allegations?"

Edwin lowered his head, allowing the officers to guide him through the crowd. He caught snippets of hushed conversations as they passed:

"I always knew there was something off about him..."

"Such a shame, he seemed like such a nice guy..."

"I bet it's drugs. It's always drugs with these Hollywood types..."

Each word was a dagger, piercing the careful image he'd built over years in the public eye. As they finally reached the police cruiser waiting outside, Edwin felt a sense of surreal detachment. This couldn't be real. Any moment now, he'd wake up from this nightmare.

But as the car door closed behind him and the flashing lights receded, Edwin Kasper knew the nightmare was only beginning. And he had no idea how to wake up from it.

Continue Reading

You'll also like

Secret Baby: The Jilted Wife's Final Goodbye

Secret Baby: The Jilted Wife's Final Goodbye

Cait
5.0

I sat on the cold tile floor of our Upper East Side penthouse, staring at the two pink lines until my vision blurred. After ten years of loving Julian Sterling and three years of a hollow marriage, I finally had the one thing that could bridge the distance between us. I was pregnant. But Julian didn't come home with flowers for our anniversary. He tossed a thick manila envelope onto the marble coffee table with a heavy thud. Fiona, the woman he'd truly loved for years, was back in New York, and he told me our "business deal" was officially over. "Sign it," He said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. He looked at me with the cold detachment of a man selling a piece of unwanted furniture. When I hesitated, he told me to add a zero to the alimony if the money wasn't enough. I realized in that moment that if he knew about the baby, he wouldn't love me; he would simply take my child and give it to Fiona to raise. I shoved the pregnancy test into my pocket, signed the papers with a shaking hand, and lied through my teeth. When my morning sickness hit, I slumped to the floor to hide the truth. "It's just cramps," I gasped, watching him recoil as if I were contagious. To make him stay away, I invented a man named Jack-a fake boyfriend who supposedly gave me the kindness Julian never could. Suddenly, the man who wanted me gone became a monster of possessiveness. He threatened to "bury" a man who didn't exist while leaving me humiliated at his family's dinner to rush to Fiona's side. I was so broken that I even ate a cake I was deathly allergic to, then had to refuse life-saving steroids at the hospital because they would harm the fetus. Julian thinks he's stalling the divorce for two months to protect the family's reputation for his father's Jubilee. He thinks he's keeping his "property" on a short leash until the press dies down. He has no idea I'm using those sixty days to build a fortress for my child. By the time he realizes the truth, I'll be gone, and the Sterling heir will be far beyond his reach.

Marrying My Runaway Groom's Powerful Father

Marrying My Runaway Groom's Powerful Father

Temple Madison
4.5

I was sitting in the Presidential Suite of The Pierre, wearing a Vera Wang gown worth more than most people earn in a decade. It was supposed to be the wedding of the century, the final move to merge two of Manhattan's most powerful empires. Then my phone buzzed. It was an Instagram Story from my fiancé, Jameson. He was at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris with a caption that read: "Fuck the chains. Chasing freedom." He hadn't just gotten cold feet; he had abandoned me at the altar to run across the world. My father didn't come in to comfort me. He burst through the door roaring about a lost acquisition deal, telling me the Holland Group would strip our family for parts if the ceremony didn't happen by noon. My stepmother wailed about us becoming the laughingstock of the Upper East Side. The Holland PR director even suggested I fake a "panic attack" to make myself look weak and sympathetic to save their stock price. Then Jameson’s sleazy cousin, Pierce, walked in with a lopsided grin, offering to "step in" and marry me just to get his hands on my assets. I looked at them and realized I wasn't a daughter or a bride to anyone in that room. I was a failed asset, a bouncing check, a girl whose own father told her to go to Paris and "beg" the man who had just publicly humiliated her. The girl who wanted to be loved died in that mirror. I realized that if I was going to be sold to save a merger, I was going to sell myself to the one who actually controlled the money. I marched past my parents and walked straight into the VIP holding room. I looked the most powerful man in the room—Jameson’s cold, ruthless uncle, Fletcher Holland—dead in the eye and threw the iPad on the table. "Jameson is gone," I said, my voice as hard as stone. "Marry me instead."

He Thought I Was A Doormat, Until I Ruined Him

He Thought I Was A Doormat, Until I Ruined Him

SHANA GRAY
4.5

The sterile white of the operating room blurred, then sharpened, as Skye Sterling felt the cold clawing its way up her body. The heart monitor flatlined, a steady, high-pitched whine announcing her end. Her uterus had been removed, a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding, but the blood wouldn't clot. It just kept flowing, warm and sticky, pooling beneath her. Through heavy eyes, she saw a trembling nurse holding a phone on speaker. "Mr. Kensington," the nurse's voice cracked, "your wife... she's critical." A pause, then a sweet, poisonous giggle. Seraphina Miller. "Liam is in the shower," Seraphina's voice purred. "Stop calling, Skye. It's pathetic. Faking a medical emergency on our anniversary? Even for you, that's low." Then, Liam's bored voice: "If she dies, call the funeral home. I have a meeting in the morning." Click. The line went dead. A second later, so did Skye. The darkness that followed was absolute, suffocating, a black ocean crushing her lungs. She screamed into the void, a silent, agonizing wail of regret for loving a man who saw her as a nuisance, for dying without ever truly living. Until she died, she didn't understand. Why was her life so tragically wasted? Why did her husband, the man she loved, abandon her so cruelly? The injustice of it all burned hotter than the fever in her body. Then, the air rushed back in. Skye gasped, her body convulsing violently on the mattress. Her eyes flew open, wide and terrified, staring blindly into the darkness. Her trembling hand reached for her phone. May 12th. Five years ago. She was back.

Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

Dorine Koestler
4.1

I watched my husband sign the papers that would end our marriage while he was busy texting the woman he actually loved. He didn't even glance at the header. He just scribbled the sharp, jagged signature that had signed death warrants for half of New York, tossed the file onto the passenger seat, and tapped his screen again. "Done," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. That was Dante Moretti. The Underboss. A man who could smell a lie from a mile away but couldn't see that his wife had just handed him an annulment decree disguised beneath a stack of mundane logistics reports. For three years, I scrubbed his blood out of his shirts. I saved his family's alliance when his ex, Sofia, ran off with a civilian. In return, he treated me like furniture. He left me in the rain to save Sofia from a broken nail. He left me alone on my birthday to drink champagne on a yacht with her. He even handed me a glass of whiskey—her favorite drink—forgetting that I despised the taste. I was merely a placeholder. A ghost in my own home. So, I stopped waiting. I burned our wedding portrait in the fireplace, left my platinum ring in the ashes, and boarded a one-way flight to San Francisco. I thought I was finally free. I thought I had escaped the cage. But I underestimated Dante. When he finally opened that file weeks later and realized he had signed away his wife without looking, the Reaper didn't accept defeat. He burned down the world to find me, obsessed with reclaiming the woman he had already thrown away.

HIS DOE, HIS DAMNATION(An Erotic Billionaire Romance)

HIS DOE, HIS DAMNATION(An Erotic Billionaire Romance)

Viviene
4.9

Trigger/Content Warning: This story contains mature themes and explicit content intended for adult audiences(18+). Reader discretion is advised. It includes elements such as BDSM dynamics, explicit sexual content, toxic family relationships, occasional violence and strong language. This is not a fluffy romance. It is intense, raw and messy, and explores the darker side of desire. ***** "Take off your dress, Meadow." "Why?" "Because your ex is watching," he said, leaning back into his seat. "And I want him to see what he lost." ••••*••••*••••* Meadow Russell was supposed to get married to the love of her life in Vegas. Instead, she walked in on her twin sister riding her fiance. One drink at the bar turned to ten. One drunken mistake turned into reality. And one stranger's offer turned into a contract that she signed with shaking hands and a diamond ring. Alaric Ashford is the devil in a tailored Tom Ford suit. Billionaire CEO, brutal, possessive. A man born into an empire of blood and steel. He also suffers from a neurological condition-he can't feel. Not objects, not pain, not even human touch. Until Meadow touches him, and he feels everything. And now he owns her. On paper and in his bed. She wants him to ruin her. Take what no one else could have. He wants control, obedience... revenge. But what starts as a transaction slowly turns into something Meadow never saw coming. Obsession, secrets that were never meant to surface, and a pain from the past that threatens to break everything. Alaric doesn't share what's his. Not his company. Not his wife. And definitely not his vengeance.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
Love And Spotlight
1

Chapter 1 The Awakening

30/06/2024

2

Chapter 2 The Accusation

03/07/2024

3

Chapter 3 Sanctuary

03/07/2024

4

Chapter 4 The Unfolding Storm

03/07/2024

5

Chapter 5 The Eye of the Storm

03/07/2024

6

Chapter 6 Disastrous Conference

03/07/2024

7

Chapter 7 Overnight Change

03/07/2024

8

Chapter 8 Renowned player

03/07/2024

9

Chapter 9 Collision course

04/07/2024

10

Chapter 10 The Fall from Grace

04/07/2024

11

Chapter 11 The Final Confrontation

04/07/2024

12

Chapter 12 Spiraling

04/07/2024

13

Chapter 13 Unexpected Lifeline

04/07/2024

14

Chapter 14 Unexpected comfort

15/08/2024

15

Chapter 15 Morning Light

15/08/2024

16

Chapter 16 Growing attraction

17/08/2024

17

Chapter 17 Unlikely Allies

17/08/2024

18

Chapter 18 The Stand

22/08/2024

19

Chapter 19 Confronting the Lion

22/08/2024

20

Chapter 20 Revelations

22/08/2024

21

Chapter 21 Unbreakable Bond

22/08/2024

22

Chapter 22 A New Perspective

22/08/2024

23

Chapter 23 Unexpected Connections

26/08/2024

24

Chapter 24 Revelations and Reflections

26/08/2024

25

Chapter 25 Family Ties and Future Stakes

28/08/2024

26

Chapter 26 Wisdom and Warmth

28/08/2024

27

Chapter 27 Path to Vindication

28/08/2024

28

Chapter 28 The Turning Tide

28/08/2024

29

Chapter 29 Cheers to New Beginnings

30/08/2024

30

Chapter 30 Bittersweet Homecoming

30/08/2024

31

Chapter 31 Wake-up Call

03/09/2024

32

Chapter 32 Shattered Hope

03/09/2024

33

Chapter 33 Whispers in the Dark

03/09/2024

34

Chapter 34 A New Day, A New Chance

03/09/2024

35

Chapter 35 Starlight Shadows

06/09/2024

36

Chapter 36 Spotlights and Shadows

06/09/2024

37

Chapter 37 Liquid Courage

06/09/2024

38

Chapter 38 Kiss and Dare

15/09/2024

39

Chapter 39 The Game Begins

15/09/2024

40

Chapter 40 Pleasant Surprise

25/09/2024