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She was the maid who vanished without a trace. He was the CEO who signed away their bond. Years later, Elena Weaver returns-not as a servant, but as a threat to everything Damien Thorne built. When a scandal forces them into a contract marriage to protect the empire, sparks fly, secrets unravel, and old scars bleed anew. But beneath the velvet contracts and cold boardroom walls lies a history neither of them can escape. He broke her once. She plans to return the favor-until the lies turn deadly, and the only person she can trust is the man who once betrayed her. In a world of power, legacy, and deception... love might be the most dangerous game of all.
Chapter 1 The Deal
The Voss estate didn't belong on this side of the city. It belonged in a magazine. Or a dream. Not here, where train horns echoed through cracked windows and the rain never stopped tasting like metal.
Elena Hart wiped her hands on her apron and exhaled. Third floor. Marble floors that didn't scuff. Mirrors that reflected versions of herself she didn't recognize. She wasn't supposed to be cleaning this late-definitely not the CEO's private wing.
But someone had spilled scotch on the hall runner, and someone else had decided the maid could handle it.
She bent to scrub the stain out, muttering curses under her breath.
"Try lemon. Cuts through blood too."
The voice stopped her cold.
She looked up.
Damien Voss stood at the end of the hall, black suit immaculate, tie loosened just enough to suggest exhaustion-or danger. His eyes, cold steel framed by darker lashes, flicked from the scotch stain to her face.
"Elena, isn't it?"
Her pulse skipped. She didn't remember giving him her name.
He started walking toward her, each step sharp against the silence. "I find it impressive," he said, "how invisible the help becomes. Until they're not."
She rose slowly, wiping her palms again. "Apologies, sir. I didn't realize this floor was off-limits."
"It isn't."
He stopped a foot away.
"It is now."
She started to step aside when his gaze sharpened.
"What did you hear?"
That stopped her again. "Excuse me?"
"In the hallway. Five minutes ago. My office door was cracked. You paused outside."
Elena's spine went stiff. So he *had* noticed.
"I didn't hear anything, Mr. Voss."
"That's a shame," he said. "Because if you had, I might be inclined to offer you something you can't afford to refuse."
She blinked. "Excuse me?"
Damien smiled. It wasn't kind. It was the smile of a man who knew ten different ways to trap someone without ever raising his voice.
He pulled a small velvet box from his pocket and flipped it open. A ring sat inside-diamond, sharp as glass. Expensive enough to choke on.
"Marry me."
Elena stared. "What the hell is this?"
"A proposal," he said. "Technically. Mostly a business arrangement."
She laughed once, bitter and small. "Is this some kind of joke?"
He stepped closer.
"My company's in trouble. Someone close to me is leaking intel. I need to shut it down before the board throws me to the wolves. A sudden marriage-especially to someone outside my circle-will stall the rumors. Reset the press. Flush the mole."
"And you want to marry your maid," she said flatly.
He shrugged. "I don't care about the title. I need a name on a license. Someone the press can't dig into. Someone who knows how to keep secrets."
Her breath caught.
He didn't know.
He couldn't.
"I don't need money," she said, voice low.
"No. You need a clean record. A way out of debt. Protection."
Her chest tightened. "How do you know that?"
"I know everything about my employees," he said. "And I know a fake name when I see one, Elena Marsh."
Her blood turned to ice.
"Don't look so shocked," he added. "You disappeared five years ago. Faked your death, changed cities, picked up a mop."
She swallowed hard.
"You shouldn't be able to find that."
"I shouldn't," he agreed. "But I did. And now you're going to marry me."
"Why me?" she asked, voice shaking. "You could pay someone else. Anyone else."
He looked at her-really looked.
And for a second, something flickered in his eyes. Recognition. Regret.
Or something darker.
"Because we have unfinished business."
She said nothing.
Damien stepped back. "You have twenty-four hours."
"To decide?"
"To pack."
He turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing like gunshots.
Elena stood alone in the hall, staring down at the velvet box.
The ring shimmered.
And behind her ribs, a wound she thought had scarred over pulsed like it had never healed at all.
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Chapter 1 The Deal
09/05/2025
Chapter 2 Terms and Conditions
09/05/2025
Chapter 3 Terms of Proximity
09/05/2025
Chapter 4 Ashes in Silk
09/05/2025
Chapter 5 Echoes from the Ashes
09/05/2025
Chapter 6 The Morning After the Fire
09/05/2025
Chapter 7 The Groom in the Shadows
09/05/2025
Chapter 8 The Velvet Noose
09/05/2025
Chapter 9 Shadows of Her Name
09/05/2025
Chapter 10 The Woman in the Mirror
09/05/2025
Chapter 11 No Safe Place
09/05/2025
Chapter 12 The First Cut
17/05/2025
Chapter 13 Clauses and Crossfires
17/05/2025
Chapter 14 Bloodlines and Backdoors
17/05/2025
Chapter 15 Ashes Don't Lie
21/05/2025
Chapter 16 The War Room Was Never Silent
31/05/2025
Chapter 17 The Watcher's Silence
01/06/2025
Chapter 18 Shadows and Reckonings
01/06/2025
Chapter 19 Echoes of Betrayal
01/06/2025
Chapter 20 Flames of Reckoning
01/06/2025
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