Escaping The CEO 2
/1/118699/coverbig.jpg?v=1bf72c7e122ab2ea31302562a1751bd1)
His Defiant Mate: The Lycan King's Chosen Luna
I was waiting at the Registry Hall to formalize my mate bond with Gabe, my childhood sweetheart and the Alpha of our pack. He was thirty-two minutes late. When I finally found him in a private VIP lounge, his hands were buried in my cousin's hair, their lips locked together. Hailee was supposed to be my maid of honor. Instead of apologizing, Gabe looked me dead in the eye and used his Alpha authority to publicly reject me. The severing of our ten-year bond tore my soul apart, but the nightmare didn't stop there. My grandfather immediately called, demanding I clean up a mess Hailee had made. When I refused, he disowned me on the spot, froze every single one of my bank accounts, and stripped me of my family name. Within hours, my entire pack erased my existence, gleefully announcing Hailee as their new Luna. I had given my entire life to a family and a man who discarded me like worthless trash the second I became inconvenient. I was left broken, humiliated, and utterly penniless in the blink of an eye. But as I stumbled out of that sterile hall, a terrifyingly beautiful stranger stepped out of the shadows, radiating a primal power that made my knees weak. He was Caden Sinclair, the ruthless Lycan King, and he was dodging a forced political union of his own. "You need a shield. I need a wife. Marry me." Without hesitation, I signed the Eternal Vow.
Chapter 1
Audriana POV:
"I'm sorry, Ms. Sullivan, but Mr. Black's appointment was for half an hour ago."
The clerk's voice was polite, but his eyes held a pity I refused to acknowledge. I glanced at the sleek watch on my wrist. Thirty-two minutes. He was thirty-two minutes late.
"He's on his way," I said, my voice smoother than I felt. My stomach was a tight knot of cold dread.
I stepped away from the polished walnut desk, the scent of lemon cleaner and old paper filling my nose. The North American Inter-Pack Alliance Registry Hall was designed to be imposing, with its marble columns and vaulted ceilings, meant to impress upon werewolves the gravity of the contracts signed here. Today, it just felt cold.
The air conditioning ghosted across my bare arms, raising goosebumps. I unconsciously twisted the delicate silver chain bracelet on my wrist, a nervous habit I'd had since I was a child. The tiny links were cool against my skin.
My phone buzzed in my clutch. A message from my assistant, Maya.
'Apex Ventures deal is ready for your final review. They're getting antsy.'
I typed a quick reply, my fingers flying across the screen.
'Tell them to hold their breath. I'm handling something personal.'
Personal. That's what this was supposed to be. The final step. Gabe and I, registering our intent to bond, a formality before the ceremony that would tie our packs, our families, our futures together.
I closed my eyes for a second, focusing, trying to pull his scent from the air. It was a game we used to play as kids. I could always find him. That familiar, comforting scent of pine and damp earth.
But all I could smell now was a cacophony of strangers-stale coffee, cloying perfume, the metallic tang of anxiety from a dozen other wolves waiting in this sterile hall. A wave of nausea rolled through me. Something was wrong.
My phone buzzed again. Not a work message this time. An unknown number.
The message was short, brutal.
'VIP Lounge 3. He's waiting for you.'
My breath hitched. VIP Lounge 3. I knew the layout of this building. It was at the end of the private corridor, reserved for Alphas of significant standing. Gabe's father had used it last year to finalize a trade agreement.
My fingers tightened around my phone. It was a trap. A cruel joke. It had to be.
But the knot in my stomach pulled tighter, a cold, hard certainty.
I pushed open the heavy glass door that separated the main hall from the private corridors. The sound of the bustling hall was instantly muffled by the thick, plush carpet. My heels sank into the crimson pile with each step, silencing my approach.
As I moved down the hallway, a new scent cut through the sterile air.
Cherry blossom. Sickly sweet and artificial.
Hailee's scent.
My steps slowed. My heart, which had been hammering against my ribs, gave a painful lurch and then seemed to stop altogether. It couldn't be. She was my stepsister. She was supposed to be my maid of honor.
I reached the door. Room 3. It was heavy, dark redwood, and slightly ajar. Just a crack.
Through the gap, in the dim, intimate lighting of the lounge, I saw them. Two figures, tangled together on a leather sofa.
Gabe.
His hand was buried in her blonde hair, the same way he used to touch mine. Hailee's head was thrown back, her laughter a low, throaty sound that made my blood run cold.
The world narrowed to that sliver of a view. The sound of my own blood roaring in my ears drowned out everything else.
I didn't think. I acted.
My hand shot out and slammed the door open. It crashed against the interior wall with a sound like a gunshot.
They sprang apart, their faces a blur of shock and panic. Gabe scrambled to his feet, his shirt rumpled, his face flushed.
"Audriana! What the hell are you doing?"
Hailee, true to form, immediately dissolved into a picture of terrified innocence. She shrank behind Gabe, her eyes wide and already filling with tears. "Audri, it's not what it looks like."
A laugh escaped my lips, but it was a harsh, ugly sound. "Not what it looks like? You're half an hour late to our registration, and I find you with your tongue down my stepsister's throat. Please, Gabe. Enlighten me."
"You were following me?" he roared, his voice bouncing off the wood-paneled walls. He took a step forward, trying to use his Alpha presence to intimidate me, to make me shrink. It was a tactic that had stopped working years ago.
"Don't be stupid," I snapped, my voice like ice. "I can smell her on you. You reek of cheap perfume and betrayal."
Hailee let out a sob. "We couldn't help it! The bond... it's just so strong between us. We never meant to hurt you."
The bond. She dared to speak of the bond.
I ignored her, my eyes locked on Gabe. On the man I had loved since we were children. The man my wolf had recognized. The man who was supposed to be my future.
"Give me an answer, Gabe," I said, my voice dangerously quiet. "A real one. Now."
He looked from my face to Hailee's tear-streaked one. She gave a little whimper and tugged on his arm, the perfect damsel in distress. And in that moment, I saw his decision. His jaw tightened. His eyes, which I once thought held the whole world, turned to stone.
"I, Gabe Black, Alpha of the Blackwater Pack," he began, his voice formal and loud, ringing with the ancient power of the rite.
The air in the room crackled. The words were a physical force, slamming into me.
"Reject you, Audriana Sullivan, as my mate."
Pain. It wasn't emotional. It was physical. A spear of white-hot agony that started in my chest and ripped through every nerve in my body. It felt like my soul was being torn in two. My breath was stolen from my lungs. My knees threatened to buckle.
I bit down on my lower lip, hard. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. I would not scream. I would not cry. I would not give them the satisfaction.
My fingernails dug into the soft leather of my clutch, the leather groaning under the pressure.
For a flicker of a second, I saw something in Gabe's eyes. A flash of regret. Of pain. But it was quickly smothered by the cold, hard wall of his decision. Hailee's hand was on his arm, a triumphant possessiveness in her touch.
I forced myself to stand taller, to straighten my spine, even as the world tilted around me. I met his gaze, and I let him see the abyss that had just opened between us.
I cleared my throat, my voice a raw, broken thing. But it was steady.
"I, Audriana Sullivan," I rasped, each word costing me a piece of my shattered soul, "accept your rejection."
The bond snapped.
It was a sound no one else could hear, but for me, it was a cataclysm. A final, brutal severing. The pain intensified for a blinding moment, then settled into a deep, hollow ache that I knew would never truly leave.
Behind Gabe, Hailee's lips curved into a small, victorious smile.
I looked at them, and in that moment, the labels fell away-fiancé, stepsister, family-until all that remained were two strangers, standing on the ruins of my life. Two pieces of trash I had found on the side of the road.
Worthless.
Without another word, I turned my back on the wreckage of my life. I walked out of the room, my steps even and measured, down the long, silent corridor, and away from the man who had just ripped my heart out of my chest.
/1/118496/coverbig.jpg?v=77c590ec09719fb27928e68aad7ad1c8)
Divorcing The CEO: Escaping His Cruel Cage
I returned to New York after a three-year exile, just to attend my father's funeral. But my estranged husband, Julian, ambushed me at the airport with divorce papers. He told me that if I didn't sign them immediately, my father wouldn't get a burial plot. And standing right by his side was Janet,
/1/120426/coverbig.jpg?v=17ddd72e7397bcee361c56cd961f0bdd)
Escaping The CEO With His Quadruplets
Camila Conner was resting in the VIP suite of an exclusive clinic, happily stroking her pregnant belly. She was carrying quadruplets, the ultimate blessing of her three-year fairytale romance with Wall Street titan Carlisle Reyes. But the door didn't open to her loving fiancé. Instead, his cold-fac
/1/120036/coverbig.jpg?v=ab4e5dd4362716ac04a75510f69c5a7e)
Reborn And Remade: Escaping The Cold CEO
Avery Harding spent her youth loving Dominic Baxter, only to be rewarded with absolute destruction. In her past life, she dragged his unconscious body from the freezing ocean. But Seraphina Vance slithered in, stole the credit, and became his beloved savior. To protect Seraphina's lies, Dominic re
/1/118635/coverbig.jpg?v=0cbb8d79cd6b2fa866b3ddbb9387ba88)
Escaping The Ruthless CEO With My Baby
I held the positive pregnancy report, hoping it would finally bring a trace of warmth to my cold, transactional marriage with Aloysius Lawson. Instead, he didn't even glance at it. He slid a medical consent form across his massive desk and coldly ordered me to abort the baby. His sister Eloisa's l
/0/31820/coverbig.jpg?v=20260518235340)
Live With 2 CEO
After my mother left my father to be with a rich CEO, my father fell ill and left me for good. Before my father died, he gave me a letter of inheritance that made me have to live in the same house with 2 twin CEOs who have different characteristics. Alex CEO who has a cold and annoying nature Alan C
/1/115025/coverbig.jpg?v=903959cfa30ad82aa35eb2b9c46ee5f8)
Escaping My Cold And Jealous CEO
For five years, I was Barron Santana's elite bodyguard and loyal shadow. I stood between him and bullets, giving him my youth and my entire heart. But last night, the CEO announced his engagement to a flawless socialite on national television. Heartbroken, I got blackout drunk and ended up crashin
/0/75637/coverbig.jpg?v=fb03e7f3dff00a61cab968e3a44b1fc7)
Escaping The Billionaire's Embrace
Caitlin fakes her own death to escape her obsessive billionaire husband, Aidan Gallagher. With the help of Dylan, a plastic surgeon, she reinvents herself, becoming the woman she always wished to be. But Aidan isn't fooled. He knows she's out there. And when their paths cross again, will Caitlin's
/0/62497/coverbig.jpg?v=a6d80cb22138ec374df09f2c5e632e46)
Reborn: Escaping the Shackles
Here's the translation: "I poured my heart and soul into raising my daughter, only to be seen as controlling her. She accidentally pushed me down the stairs, leading to my death. When I got a second chance at life, I decided I no longer wanted to be a 'good mom.' My daughter took the opportunity to
/0/85829/coverbig.jpg?v=c402a250c6386a1df3e44b23e07df69b)
Escaping The Betrayal's Chill
The biting cold was the first thing I felt, deep in the walk-in freezer where Chloe, my wife of five years, had locked me. My punishment for accidentally breaking an outrageously expensive Patek Philippe, a gift not for me, but for Liam O'Connell, her "soulmate" who was returning to the US today.
/0/68320/coverbig.jpg?v=d9295357e1dcdfdb6d5bdc3036983196)
The Seductive CEO Forbidden Affair Season 2
Angeline and Bryan, a couple blessed with a newborn baby named Jason, face a heartbreaking reality when their child is diagnosed with a rare disease. Their dream of building a happy family is tested amid panic and fear. Bryan, the father, works tirelessly to find a cure for Jason. He consults num
/1/116098/coverbig.jpg?v=ab66ff2b71260387a23f1727c5359e7e)
Escaping The Billionaire's Gilded Cage
For three years, my fiancé Jaxon kept me locked away in a top Swiss psychiatric clinic, claiming it was the only way to cure my severe PTSD. But as I was signing my discharge papers, the receptionist handed me a recovery certificate dated a full twelve months ago. She casually mentioned that my he
/1/112816/coverbig.jpg?v=53ee6e5433cee1172dd5d528982f3a1b)
Escaping The Billionaire's Golden Cage
For three years, my billionaire husband Bronson treated me like a fragile glass doll. The media said he worshipped me, but his love felt more like a suffocating collar as we struggled with infertility. The day I finally got a positive pregnancy test, I wanted to surprise him. Instead, I opened his h
/1/115487/coverbig.jpg?v=5c330fb823796c715b9b3d7da6d91dad)
Escaping The Obsessive Billionaire's Cage
For three years, I was imprisoned by Anderson Hopper, the monster who forced me to watch my fiancé, Kendall, plummet into a freezing river. But when I saw the morning news, I realized Kendall wasn't dead. He had returned as Eben Gill, a ruthless tech billionaire. I risked my life to escape and fin
/1/118390/coverbig.jpg?v=f918cf3730c96f0fbaac5ed99b9daa05)
Escaping The Capo: Marrying The Undisputed Don
We were celebrating our ten-year anniversary at the Famiglia's most exclusive luxury restaurant. Before we could even finish our champagne, my fiancé Lorenzo suddenly stood up. "Gianna is panicking. The situation requires my presence." He walked out, leaving me completely alone in a room full of
/1/111082/coverbig.jpg?v=2954a16ffee636d38bfa27d2a4b20d15)
Escaping the Pawn, Ensnaring the Don
"My father sold me to a sixty-year-old monster to clear his gambling debts. So, I made a desperate gamble of my own." Seventeen-year-old Isabella Rossi has two choices: become the broken plaything of a sadistic mafia Capo, or do the unthinkable. She chooses the latter. Sneaking into a high-end spea
/1/115871/coverbig.jpg?v=2278330ee575df11bd5b1d1111eb466d)
Escaping Into The Dangerous Devil's Arms
My father ordered me to marry into the cursed Vaughn family. Their heirs were rumored to die young from a mysterious genetic agony. My sister Kayden laughed, saying she wasn't going to waste her youth planning a funeral. So, I became the sacrificial lamb. When I refused, my father slammed his hand
/1/115510/coverbig.jpg?v=5dec661a4921cc2ae7836189a2418ad9)
Escaping The Billionaire's Deadly Surrogate Trap
Blaire woke up in a Manhattan penthouse, her body covered in bruises and her innocence stolen. Before she could process the terror, her adoptive sister Danita burst in, acting heartbroken and accusing Blaire of shamelessly seducing the powerful Kamryn Lane. Kamryn threw a one-million-dollar check a
/0/87925/coverbig.jpg?v=6a06bbc4611dac70bc379094911a1499)
Escaping The Bewitching Madness Of His Heart
For four years Madelyn had been with Bryson, yet he never once claimed her in public. Barely a month after meeting that other girl, he surged from casual dates to announcing her as his fiancée. He lavished her with gifts and praise, going on about her innocence and simplicity-subtle digs meant for M
/1/113793/coverbig.jpg?v=b0b1e0184eb8d19fc19da9a7b1af7a05)
Runaway Lover: Escaping The Ruthless Billionaire
For fifteen years, I thought my mother had died in a tragic fire. Then the wealthy Ross family's butler knocked on my door, revealing she was alive—locked away in the psychiatric annex of their massive estate. I rushed into the lion's den to save her, only to run straight into Graydon Ross, the ru
