Kiss me, Then Hate me

Kiss me, Then Hate me

The Shadow Weaver

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They were never supposed to fall in love. Not after what he did. Not after what she became. In the high-stakes world of Manhattan's elite business scene, Ariella Blake is a fiery, self-made marketing executive with a sharp tongue, a red dress, and a past no one dares ask about. She's brilliant, bold, and absolutely untouchable-until the day Damien Cross returns. Damien-ruthless, wealthy, wickedly handsome-was her high school tormentor. He made her life hell a decade ago. Now? He's the CEO of the very firm about to buy out her company. And worse... she still feels something when he walks into a room. What begins as venom-laced boardroom battles and icy insults quickly unravels into midnight meetings, heated arguments, and forbidden touches that shouldn't happen but do. Again and again. But Ariella has secrets. And Damien has demons. And when their games turn too personal, and the line between passion and revenge begins to blur-someone's going to get hurt. Badly.

Chapter 1 The Devil Wears a Signature Scent

The elevator chimed like a war bell.

Ariella Blake didn't flinch, though her manicured fingers tightened slightly around the stem of her espresso shot glass. Standing in four-inch stilettos, with her legs crossed at the ankles like a dancer in first position, she stared out the floor-to-ceiling window of the 47th floor conference room of Blake & Bloom, the marketing agency she had bled to build.

Outside, Manhattan glittered like a cold queen's crown, but inside, tension was thick and waiting-like gunpowder begging for a spark.

Her assistant, Lucy, practically vibrated as she stepped in, heels whispering apologies on the marble floor.

"He's here," Lucy whispered like it was a funeral announcement.

Ariella didn't turn. "Let him wait."

Lucy blinked. "But-"

"Five minutes."

The girl swallowed and left without further protest. Ariella took one slow sip from her espresso shot. No cream. No sugar. Just bitterness and bite.

She hadn't seen Damien Cross in ten years.

Not since that night in the rain.

Not since he'd humiliated her in front of the entire senior class.

Not since she'd left that godforsaken town, bruised but unbroken, vowing one day, she'd be richer, stronger-and absolutely untouchable.

And now the universe, with its wicked humor, had placed him on her boardroom doorstep.

The CEO of Cross Global.

The man acquiring her firm.

The boy who used to call her "Scarlet the Scarecrow" in the hallways.

The man she now had to work with.

A cruel, perfect full circle.

She straightened her posture and fixed the collar of her blood-red silk blouse. Her lipstick matched the shade. Her signature.

Five minutes, sharp.

She stepped into the hallway, her heels slicing through the silence, and pushed open the thick, frosted glass door to Conference Room B-the one with no window to the outside world, only reflections.

And there he was.

Damien Cross.

The man had no business looking like that.

Tall. Dark hair slightly tousled, like he'd just run a hand through it in annoyance-or desire. Slate gray suit tailored to slice hearts. A jawline cut by vengeance. And those eyes-icy, assessing, amused.

Their gazes locked.

His lips curved, slow and sinful. "Well, well. Scarlet blooms in glass towers now."

Ariella's smile was sharp enough to wound. "And the devil still wears Tom Ford."

"Ah, you remember." He straightened, and the scent hit her. Expensive, magnetic, layered with something dangerous beneath. "I missed our conversations. Always so... sharp."

"I wasn't aware torment counted as conversation."

"Oh, come now. Don't flatter yourself. You think I remembered you all these years?"

Her smile didn't flicker, but her voice was laced with lethal calm. "You remember everything you destroy, Damien."

The air in the room thickened.

His smirk faltered-just for a moment.

Then he stepped closer.

Ariella refused to step back. Let him feel the heat. Let him remember that the girl he broke became the woman who could set his world on fire.

"I've done my research, Ms. Blake," he said smoothly, voice a deep velvet threat. "Impressive numbers. Fast growth. A little reckless, but smart. And fiercely independent, of course."

"I've also done mine, Mr. Cross. A trail of acquisitions. One scandal buried per quarter. No woman stays. No partner dares argue twice."

His brows lifted. "And yet, you still signed the deal."

Ariella's smile didn't reach her eyes. "I don't mind dancing with the devil. I just don't let him lead."

Damien chuckled, low and rich, and something in her chest tightened despite her resolve.

"I came to meet the real Ariella Blake," he said, his voice suddenly dropping, more serious. "The woman who took a no-name startup and made it a contender in five years. Who told my board to go to hell before accepting a merger. The girl I knew... she never would've dared say no."

"The girl you knew died." Her voice was ice. "The woman you're looking at rebuilt herself without your name in her mouth or your shadow on her back."

He took a slow step closer.

Then another.

They were inches apart now.

"Tell me," he murmured, gaze falling to her mouth. "Do you still taste like fire when you're angry?"

Her pulse roared in her ears.

She slapped him.

The sound cracked like lightning in the room.

His face turned with the impact. And then, maddeningly, he laughed.

"Ah," he whispered, rubbing his jaw, "there she is."

---

Three Days Later

Tuesday, 8:03 PM

Downtown Manhattan – Gala Event

The gala was glass, gold, and gossip.

Ariella glided through it like a blade in silk. Her black gown clung to every curve with quiet authority, a single slit up the leg the only hint of rebellion.

She hated these events-fake smiles, expensive champagne, men who stared too long. But she was here for optics. For press. For power.

And because Damien would be here.

She saw him before he saw her.

Or maybe he did. Maybe men like him always knew when danger walked into a room.

Their eyes met across the crowd, and just like that, every lie she'd told herself-about time healing, about indifference-crumbled.

He didn't smile this time.

He stalked toward her like he had every right to.

"Ms. Blake."

"Mr. Cross."

"You look like sin."

"You look like you've been drinking since noon."

He tilted his head. "I've missed you."

"I haven't missed you at all."

Silence.

Tension.

Then he stepped close enough that the heat between their bodies rose like a slow fever.

"Liar," he whispered.

She didn't move.

Didn't blink.

Because maybe... maybe she was.

---

Hours later.

It shouldn't have happened.

But it did.

In the back of a black SUV, the gala long forgotten, words were replaced by mouths, insults turned into hands that clutched and clawed, memories dissolved into a kiss so savage and desperate it could've scorched the city.

He tasted like power and apology. Like all the nights she cried over him. Like everything she shouldn't want.

Her hands were in his hair. His mouth was on her neck.

And when he whispered her name like a man finally finding oxygen, she wanted to hate him.

She wanted to.

But she moaned instead.

---

2:47 AM

Her Apartment

They didn't make it to the bedroom.

The living room floor witnessed what ten years of bitterness had built.

She arched beneath him, eyes locked to his, nails digging into his back.

"You still hate me?" he breathed, his voice raw as he moved inside her.

"I hate you," she gasped.

He grinned darkly. "Say it again."

"I hate you."

But her hips rose to meet him.

And her mouth found his again.

And it was all lies.

---

Later.

Ariella lay still, breathing ragged.

Damien sat beside her, shirt half-buttoned, tie gone, his skin glowing faint in the city light.

She turned her face away.

"What is this?" she asked, her voice barely audible.

"A mistake," he said, after a pause.

She nodded, jaw tight.

"Good," she said. "Then we won't repeat it."

He leaned down, brushing her jaw with his knuckles.

"You can lie to me, Ariella. But your body already told the truth."

She slapped him again.

He caught her wrist this time.

And kissed her palm.

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Chapters
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Kiss me, Then Hate me
1

Chapter 1 The Devil Wears a Signature Scent

15/07/2025

2

Chapter 2 Let the games Begin

15/07/2025

3

Chapter 3 Scarlet Lipstick and War Paint

15/07/2025

4

Chapter 4 Lies Between Sheets and Shadows

15/07/2025

5

Chapter 5 His Secrets, Her War

15/07/2025

6

Chapter 6 The Taste of Betrayal

15/07/2025

7

Chapter 7 Wolves Don't Cry

15/07/2025

8

Chapter 8 The girl in White Heels

15/07/2025

9

Chapter 9 Velvet and Violence

15/07/2025

10

Chapter 10 The Color of Vengeance

15/07/2025

11

Chapter 11 Ashes of desire

18/08/2025

12

Chapter 12 Shadows of silk and gunpowder

18/08/2025

13

Chapter 13 When Blood Remembers

18/08/2025

14

Chapter 14 The Anatomy of Betrayal

18/08/2025

15

Chapter 15 Ashes and Confessions

18/08/2025

16

Chapter 16 The Devil's first Strike

18/08/2025

17

Chapter 17 The Cost of Fire

20/08/2025

18

Chapter 18 The Weight of Fire

20/08/2025

19

Chapter 19 Serpents in the Smoke

20/08/2025

20

Chapter 20 The House of Serpents

20/08/2025

21

Chapter 21 Blood in the Pavement

21/08/2025

22

Chapter 22 In the Serpent's Lair

21/08/2025

23

Chapter 23 Hell Hath No Fury

21/08/2025

24

Chapter 24 The Gathering Storm

21/08/2025

25

Chapter 25 Inferno at the Docks

21/08/2025

26

Chapter 26 The Lion's Embrace

24/08/2025

27

Chapter 27 The Morning after Fire

24/08/2025

28

Chapter 28 Whispers in the Dark

06/09/2025

29

Chapter 29 The Man With Shadow in His Eyes

06/09/2025

30

Chapter 30 The Knife Between Us

06/09/2025

31

Chapter 31 The Silence Between Lies

07/09/2025

32

Chapter 32 Midnight at Pier 17

07/09/2025

33

Chapter 33 Ashes in The Veins

07/09/2025

34

Chapter 34 The Devil's Whisper

07/09/2025

35

Chapter 35 Shadows of Venice

07/09/2025

36

Chapter 36 The Wolve At The Door

07/09/2025

37

Chapter 37 A House of Glass

07/09/2025

38

Chapter 38 Ashes And Crowns

07/09/2025

39

Chapter 39 The Serpent's Den

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40

Chapter 40 Ashes of Trust

07/09/2025