Hostile Heart, Soft Kisses

Hostile Heart, Soft Kisses

Lady Bamz

5.0
Comment(s)
870
View
68
Chapters

He's the man she was raised to ruin. She's the woman he was told to destroy. But once enemies start touching... they stop playing by the rules. Amelia Roth is ice in stilettos, the razor-sharp heir to a billion-dollar empire, built on bloodlines and betrayal. Leo Vance is the reckless charmer in the rival tower, all sinful grins, expensive suits, and a dangerous past he keeps locked behind smirks and smoke. Their families have waged a corporate war for decades. But when a scandal threatens to bring both legacies crashing down, Amelia and Leo are forced into a fake partnership. Public truce. Private hell. The problem? Their hate simmers too close to lust. Their arguments come with tension hot enough to blister. And every night they spend trying to outmaneuver each other brings them one breath, one glance, one button away from giving in. Boardrooms turn into bedrooms. Secrets get whispered in the dark. And when a hidden enemy makes their move, Amelia and Leo will have to decide: Walk away to protect everything they were born to inherit... or burn it all to the ground for the one thing they were never meant to have.

Chapter 1 The Enemy's Smile

"Tell me this isn't your fault, Vance."

Amelia Roth didn't bother standing when Leo stormed into her office. She didn't flinch when the glass doors slammed shut behind him. Her heels were propped on the corner of her desk, a leather folder open in front of her, and her voice sharp enough to leave marks.

Across the room, Leo Vance's jaw ticked just enough to betray that she'd already hit a nerve.

> "Good morning to you too, Roth. Coffee? Or just caffeine-free aggression today?"

He was dressed in sin: a black-on-black suit, undone collar, and that goddamn smirk that had sunk more negotiations than scandal ever could. Amelia's pulse didn't flicker. Not for him.

> "Spare me the charm," she said, shutting the folder. "Because unless you can explain why our stock just tanked twelve percent in three hours, I'm calling your father and suggesting we burn your name off this deal before the SEC has a chance."

Leo's lips parted amused, not surprised.

> "You think I leaked it?"

> "I think you exist to be a problem. I think this is exactly your brand of sabotage. And I think I'm one call away from crushing your company and salting the ground it was built on."

> "Always such violent metaphors," he said, walking toward her desk. "Tell me, Amelia. Do you speak to everyone like you're auditioning for the role of Ice Queen? Or am I special?"

> "You're not special. You're a headline waiting to happen."

> "Aren't we all?" He pulled out the chair across from her and sat like he owned the floor beneath it. "But here's the thing. This leak hurts me too. And I don't like bleeding in public."

Amelia's eyes narrowed. She folded her hands over the desk.

> "Talk."

Leo's cocky grin faded just enough to make room for something dangerous.

> "This wasn't a random hack. The files that went out were internal. Confidential. They had both Roth and Vance merger plans attached. That means someone on the inside of this joint venture wants us dead."

> "Then find them and fire them."

> "Oh, I intend to. But first, we have a press conference in two hours. And like it or not " he leaned forward, dropping a printed headline in front of her, " the press already thinks we're screwing."

She didn't look at the paper. She looked at him. Hard.

> "We aren't."

> "That's not what this says." Leo's finger tapped the bold red title: Roth and Vance: Bedroom Deal or Corporate Merger?

He grinned again. More wolf than man.

> "I guess we're trending."

Amelia stood, slowly. She walked around the desk, each step a calculated threat.

> "If you think I'll play along with some tabloid fantasy "

> "Then I'll show them the truth." Leo's voice dropped. "That you're ruthless. Cold. And completely under my skin."

They stood chest to chest. Her perfume hit him like a sin he'd regret. His breath tickled her jaw.

> "This isn't high school, Vance."

> "Could've fooled me. You just called my dad."

Her mouth twitched. Not a smile. Not quite.

> "Leave."

> "I will. After we make a deal."

> "What deal?"

> "We fake it," he said, simple. "A truce. Public unity. You and me, playing nice for the cameras. Hell, let's give them what they want. Let's flirt at galas, smile for the media. Pretend we don't want to slit each other's throats."

Amelia's nails dug into her palm.

> "Pretend we don't?"

> "Pretend I haven't wanted to touch you since I saw you destroy that VP in Singapore last year."

Silence slammed between them.

Then, he turned for the door.

> "I'll send the PR team your measurements for a joint photo shoot," he said. "Try to wear something soft. It'll make you seem human."

He left before she could throw something at his head.

Amelia sat stone-still in the Roth-Vance conference room as Charles Vance paced and her father polished his rage behind thin glasses.

> "This is beyond damage control," Charles growled. "This is an all-out attack."

> "We've been undercut," William Roth agreed. "By someone with access to both infrastructures."

> "And the press already has their narrative," Leo added, lounging like a prince at war. "Us. Together. Destroying everything."

> "Then lean into it," Charles said. "Give them what they want."

Amelia's head snapped up.

> "You're suggesting we stage a relationship?"

> "I'm suggesting you become the solution to the scandal. Co-leads. Public partnership. And yes if the chemistry looks real, let them believe it."

> "It's a lie," she bit out.

> "It's strategy," Leo corrected. "You know, the thing you're so famous for."

She wanted to slap him. She wanted to kiss him.

She hated that both urges felt the same.

Later that evening, a sleek black envelope waited on her desk.

Roth-Vance Charity Gala

Tomorrow. 7PM. Arrive together.

Underneath, Leo had written in his lazy, scrawling pen:

> We should at least pretend to like each other. Wear red. I'll match your sin.

Amelia stared at the note for a long time.

Then she picked up her phone and dialed Chloe.

> "What's the sexiest, most 'fuck around and find out' dress I can wear to a PR gala?"

The next night, Amelia walked into the gala on Leo's arm.

Flashes erupted around them like fireworks. His hand grazed her bare back. Her body betrayed her with goosebumps.

> "Careful," she whispered. "I bite."

> "Good," he murmured, lips near her ear. "I bruise."

They smiled for the cameras.

Enemies. Liars. Lovers in the making.

And somewhere across the ballroom, a pair of eyes watched through the scope of a hidden lens.

A red laser blinked once on Amelia's dress.

Click.

Photo captured.

> You're playing a dangerous game, Roth.

And someone just raised the stakes.

The ballroom glittered with billionaire arrogance chandeliers like galaxies, champagne flowing like it wasn't being billed to shareholders, and more scandal than satin on the floor.

Amelia moved like fire in a red backless gown that was one wrong breath away from indecent. She felt Leo's gaze crawl down her spine the moment he saw her.

> "Well?" she asked when he joined her by the bar.

> "You wore sin," he said. "Good girl."

Her eyes cut to his throat. The top three buttons of his shirt were open, no tie in sight. Casual defiance. Controlled chaos. Just like him.

> "You're lucky I didn't bring a blade."

> "You brought better," he murmured, eyes flicking to her lips.

> "Don't flatter yourself."

> "Not yet."

The press swarmed, then peeled off in waves after snapping a dozen shots. Leo's hand stayed on the small of her back, possessive enough to sell the lie but his thumb brushed her spine just once.

It wasn't accidental.

And her body wasn't innocent.

She hated him for that.

> "One dance," he said. "For optics."

> "You just want to touch me."

> "I always want to touch you."

They moved onto the marble floor as the string quartet shifted into something slow and indulgent.

Leo pulled her in. Close. Too close.

> "You know," he said into her ear, "you could've worn black and played it safe."

> "Safe is for people who lose."

> "Is that what this is, then?" His palm flexed against her waist. "You trying to win?"

> "Always."

> "So what happens when you lose to me?"

She didn't answer. She didn't have to.

Her body gave her away.

Her fingers gripped his shoulder too tightly. Her breath hitched when his thigh pressed between hers. And when he dipped her low just to watch her eyes widen her back arched on instinct.

He held her there for one long, heavy second.

> "Admit it," he whispered. "You've thought about it."

> "About what?"

> "Me. Between those ice-sheet thighs of yours."

She snapped up. Pulled back.

Slapped him.

Not hard. Not soft either.

The room noticed.

He smiled.

> "There she is," he said under his breath. "My favorite war."

Back in her penthouse suite shared with Leo now, for "branding purposes" Amelia stormed in first.

He followed. Calm. Too calm.

> "You crossed a line."

> "Which one?" he asked. "I'm losing count."

> "You humiliated me."

> "Correction: you hit me. The press thinks it's foreplay. Our stock's up six percent. You're welcome."

She turned. Angry. Flushed. Aching.

> "You think this is funny?"

> "I think you're scared." He closed the door behind him. Locked it. "Because for the first time in your perfect little life, you don't control the game."

> "You want to see scared?" she said, stepping up to him. "Try crossing me again."

> "You want to see control?" he murmured. "Try telling me to stop."

Her breath caught.

His hand cupped her jaw firm, not rough. He didn't move in, didn't kiss her. Just looked.

> "I'm not your father," he said, voice low. "You don't have to be ice with me."

> "You don't know me."

> "I do. I know you'd rather be hated than touched. I know you're afraid of wanting anything you can't weaponize."

Silence.

She hated how close he was. How steady his voice sounded. How warm his hand was when the rest of the world was cold.

> "I don't want you," she whispered.

> "Liar," he said.

And then

He backed off.

Left the room.

Not because he couldn't have her.

Because he wanted her to come to him.

And it almost worked.

Later that night, Amelia sat on the terrace, wrapped in a silk robe and an expensive kind of fury.

The press was still ablaze.

Enemies turned lovers. Public enemies. Private partners?

Her phone buzzed.

A text. No name. No number.

> That red dress makes you easy to aim at.

Next time, don't give me a reason.

A second text followed. A photo.

Her. And Leo.

On the dance floor.

Laser sight marked on his back.

A third message:

> You're sleeping with the enemy.

And someone's going to bleed for it.

> This wasn't just a scandal.

It was a warning.

And someone out there wanted Amelia Roth dead.

Continue Reading

You'll also like

Flash Marriage To My Best Friend's Father

Flash Marriage To My Best Friend's Father

Madel Cerda
5.0

I was once the heiress to the Solomon empire, but after it crumbled, I became the "charity case" ward of the wealthy Hyde family. For years, I lived in their shadows, clinging to the promise that Anson Hyde would always be my protector. That promise shattered when Anson walked into the ballroom with Claudine Chapman on his arm. Claudine was the girl who had spent years making my life a living hell, and now Anson was announcing their engagement to the world. The humiliation was instant. Guests sneered at my cheap dress, and a waiter intentionally sloshed champagne over me, knowing I was a nobody. Anson didn't even look my way; he was too busy whispering possessively to his new fiancée. I was a ghost in my own home, watching my protector celebrate with my tormentor. The betrayal burned. I realized I wasn't a ward; I was a pawn Anson had kept on a shelf until he found a better trade. I had no money, no allies, and a legal trust fund that Anson controlled with a flick of his wrist. Fleeing to the library, I stumbled into Dallas Koch—a titan of industry and my best friend’s father. He was a wall of cold, absolute power that even the Hydes feared. "Marry me," I blurted out, desperate to find a shield Anson couldn't climb. Dallas didn't laugh. He pulled out a marriage agreement and a heavy fountain pen. "Sign," he commanded, his voice a low rumble. "But if you walk out that door with me, you never go back." I signed my name, trading my life for the only man dangerous enough to keep me safe.

Rising From Wreckage: Starfall's Epic Comeback

Rising From Wreckage: Starfall's Epic Comeback

Huo Wuer
4.5

Rain hammered against the asphalt as my sedan spun violently into the guardrail on the I-95. Blood trickled down my temple, stinging my eyes, while the rhythmic slap of the windshield wipers mocked my panic. Trembling, I dialed my husband, Clive. His executive assistant answered instead, his voice professional and utterly cold. "Mr. Wilson says to stop the theatrics. He said, and I quote, 'Hang up. Tell her I don’t have time for her emotional blackmail tonight.'" The line went dead while I was still trapped in the wreckage. At the hospital, I watched the news footage of Clive wrapping his jacket around his "fragile" ex-girlfriend, Angelena, shielding her from the storm I was currently bleeding in. When I returned to our penthouse, I found a prenatal ultrasound in his suit pocket, dated the day he claimed to be on a business trip. Instead of an apology, Clive met me with a sneer. He told me I was nothing but an "expensive decoration" his father bought to make him look stable. He froze my bank accounts and cut off my cards, waiting for the hunger to drive me back to his feet. I stared at the man I had loved for four years, realizing he didn't just want a wife; he wanted a prop he could switch off. He thought he could starve me into submission while he played father to another woman's child. But Clive forgot one thing. Before I was his trophy wife, I was Starfall—the legendary voice actress who vanished at the height of her fame. "I'm not jealous, Clive. I'm done." I grabbed my old microphone and walked out. I’m not just leaving him; I’m taking the lead role in the biggest saga in Hollywood—the one Angelena is desperate for. This time, the "decoration" is going to burn his world down.

The $300 Husband Is A Zillionaire

The $300 Husband Is A Zillionaire

Nap Regazzini
5.0

I woke up in a blindingly white hotel penthouse with a throbbing headache and the taste of betrayal in my mouth. The last thing I remembered was my stepsister, Cathie, handing me a flute of champagne at the charity gala with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Now, a tall, dangerously handsome man walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his hips. On the nightstand sat a stack of hundred-dollar bills. My stepmother had finally done it—she drugged me and staged a scandal with a hired escort to destroy my reputation and my future. "Aisha! Is it true you spent the night with a gigolo?" The shouts of a dozen reporters echoed through the heavy oak door as camera flashes exploded through the peephole. My phone lit up with messages showing my bank accounts were already frozen. My father was invoking the 'morality clause' in my mother’s trust fund, and my fiancé had already released a statement dumping me to marry my stepsister instead. I was trapped, penniless, and being hunted by the press for a scandal I hadn't even participated in. My own family had sold me out for a payday, and the man standing in front of me was the only witness who could prove I was innocent—or finish me off for good. I didn't have time to cry. According to the fine print of the trust, I had thirty days to prove my "rehabilitation" through a legal marriage or I would lose everything. I tracked the man down to a coffee shop the next morning, watching him take a thick envelope of cash from a wealthy older woman. I sat across from him and slid a napkin with a $50,000 figure written on it. "I need a husband. Legal, paper-signed, and convincing." He looked at the number, then at me, a slow, crooked smile spreading across his face. I thought I was hiring a desperate gigolo to save my inheritance. I had no idea I was actually proposing to Dominic Fields, the reclusive billionaire shark who was currently planning a hostile takeover of my father’s entire empire.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book
Hostile Heart, Soft Kisses
1

Chapter 1 The Enemy's Smile

10/08/2025

2

Chapter 2 Two Lies, One Suite

10/08/2025

3

Chapter 3 Touch Her and Die

10/08/2025

4

Chapter 4 The Softest Knife

10/08/2025

5

Chapter 5 The First Real Betrayal

10/08/2025

6

Chapter 6 The Heir and the Mole

10/08/2025

7

Chapter 7 A Name Written in Ash

10/08/2025

8

Chapter 8 The Devil in the Frame

10/08/2025

9

Chapter 9 The Fall Before the Fire

10/08/2025

10

Chapter 10 Blood in the Silence

10/08/2025

11

Chapter 11 The House That Lied

10/08/2025

12

Chapter 12 Ghost Protocol

10/08/2025

13

Chapter 13 The Name She Buried

10/08/2025

14

Chapter 14 The Vault Beneath Her Skin

15/08/2025

15

Chapter 15 Soulmate by Algorithm

15/08/2025

16

Chapter 16 What Love Was Never Meant to Be

15/08/2025

17

Chapter 17 Kiss Me Like a Lie

17/08/2025

18

Chapter 18 She Was the Weapon

17/08/2025

19

Chapter 19 One Bullet From Forever

17/08/2025

20

Chapter 20 The Other Roth

22/08/2025

21

Chapter 21 Begin With Blood

22/08/2025

22

Chapter 22 The Fault Line Between Us

22/08/2025

23

Chapter 23 Trigger Point

22/08/2025

24

Chapter 24 Blood Oaths

22/08/2025

25

Chapter 25 The Wolves at the Door

22/08/2025

26

Chapter 26 Wolves in the Dark

28/08/2025

27

Chapter 27 Blood in the Water

28/08/2025

28

Chapter 28 Subject Prime

28/08/2025

29

Chapter 29 The Bloodline Divide

28/08/2025

30

Chapter 30 PICK ME APART

28/08/2025

31

Chapter 31 Fire in the Veins

29/08/2025

32

Chapter 32 The Key They'll Kill For

29/08/2025

33

Chapter 33 The Passage of Shadows

29/08/2025

34

Chapter 34 The Collapse of Codes

29/08/2025

35

Chapter 35 Buried Fire

29/08/2025

36

Chapter 36 Ashes and Oxygen

29/08/2025

37

Chapter 37 Blood in the Sand

29/08/2025

38

Chapter 38 The Edge of Allegiance

29/08/2025

39

Chapter 39 The Stranger in the Dark

29/08/2025

40

Chapter 40 The Breach

29/08/2025