The Ruby Shackle: Bound To The Billionaire

Chapter 2 No.2

Word Count: 633 | Released on: 04/02/2026

under her bare feet. She clutched the ball of her cheap dress aga

the reflection in a gilded oil p

ned the

s Wi

was shar

than Audie's entire cover identity. As Basil's stepsister and the co-trustee of his estate, Corine's p

ress higher to cover the fact that sh

t over Audie's disheveled hair, the bare

rk, wet stain

il had spilled it w

. Her nose wrinkled.

d up his medication. She'd lock him dow

n't risk her voice betraying the lie she was about to construct. "No, ma'am," Audie stamm

n eyebrow. "I b

I squeezed the burger too hard. The sauce... it went everywhere. It was so embarras

of the cheap, fruity shampoo Audie used w

ed her lip. It was the look one ga

rine repeated.

Morrow. I'll wash

ou do. And

, ma

. difficult tonight? I hea

ap. Corine

" she mumbled, the lie tasting like ash. "He said I

narrative. Basil was unstab

o elevate your standards. Yo

, ma

lf to trip over her own feet near

rs. It was small, windowless. She locked the

d bleach over the stain. She scr

The frightened girl was go

ank and pulled out a waterproof

Her fingers flew

sil Dean.

transfers that looked like errors. But to Audie, they were a patter

ilding a

arked. Duchess.

e narrow bed, staring at the ceiling. Basil Dean was

nding right in

Chapter End

Claim Your Bonus at the APP

Open

The Ruby Shackle: Bound To The Billionaire

ANASTASIA GRAVES Modern

“I'm a CIA operative known as "The Auditor," and for months, I've played the role of a pathetic, abused ward in Basil Dean's mansion. My mission was simple: gather intel on a paranoid billionaire while pretending to be a girl who flinches at her own shadow and knows nothing of the world. The balance shattered when Basil found a photo of me smiling at a local mechanic. He didn't just get angry; he dragged me into his soundproof vault, his leather-gloved thumb pressing into my carotid artery to feel the frantic, terrified thrum of my heart. He tagged me with a ruby bracelet-a high-tech tracking device that reported my GPS and biometrics to his phone every second. His stepsister, Corine, smelled blood in the water, accusing me of theft while Basil watched my heart rate spike on his screen like a lab rat in a cage. I was trapped in a gilded nightmare, forced to scrub floors and endure his predatory stares while a fifty-thousand-dollar shackle recorded my every breath. I couldn't tell if he was a grieving recluse or a shark playing with his food, but every time my signal dropped, he was there, looming in the shadows, waiting for me to slip up. I was drowning in a game where the rules changed every time I tried to fight back, and the agency was starting to think I'd turned. To end the charade, I handed the bracelet back to him in front of the entire kitchen staff, a public rejection of his twisted ownership. Basil didn't blink; he took a heavy meat mallet and smashed the ruby to dust right in front of me before making a phone call that turned my mission into a death trap. "Get the prenup ready," he hissed, his eyes burning with a terrifying, sane obsession. "I'm marrying her."”