/1/114934/coverbig.jpg?v=2ab501ab197832ec8b1d5579fee6565c)
I ran through the freezing rain, desperate to escape the Pennington estate. My adoptive family had raised me for one purpose: to be sold off as a bargaining chip in a wealthy arranged marriage. But before I could reach the highway, I was cornered. Not just by my family's cruel guards, but by Hollis Wall-a terrifying, ruthless billionaire who snapped my tormentor's wrist and dragged me into his car. He didn't want a ransom. He threw a prenuptial agreement in my lap. I thought he was insane until he took a scalpel to his own arm, and a burning agony ripped across my flawless skin. Because of a near-drowning accident three years ago, our nervous systems were linked. Every time I bled, he felt the agony. He locked me in his fortress to keep me safe, but when I finally escaped back to my adoptive parents, they didn't protect me. Instead, my adoptive father smiled and showed me a live video of my biological father on life support, a guard's hand hovering over the plug. "You will marry Douglas Cherry tomorrow, or your father dies," he sneered. My own family was willing to murder my only real flesh and blood just to secure their wealth. I collapsed onto the cold marble floor, my heart crushed in a vice of absolute, suffocating despair. "I'll marry him," I sobbed, surrendering to the darkness. But miles away, in his dark study, the ruthless Hollis Wall violently collapsed to the floor, gasping for air as my severe panic attack bled directly into his chest. Our twisted bond was killing him, and I knew he would tear the city apart to find me.
Contents
Bound By Pain: The Billionaire's Captive Chapter 1
The cold rain hit Carole Dawson like a barrage of tiny stones. She slipped on the slick mud, her fingers desperately clawing at the rusted iron bars of the Pennington Estate wall.
She threw her weight over the top. Her boots hit the wet ground on the other side. A sharp crack echoed in her ears, followed instantly by a blinding pain shooting up her right ankle.
Carole bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted copper. She swallowed the scream that tried to tear out of her throat.
She looked back through the iron bars. The main house was a glowing beacon of wealth and suffocation. Eleanora's voice rang in her head, cold and absolute, telling her she was nothing but a bargaining chip for the Cherry family.
The frantic barking of hounds cut through the sound of the rain. Flashlight beams sliced through the dark. The guards were closing in.
Carole pressed her hand over her mouth and nose. She dragged her injured foot and threw herself into the dense bushes. The thorns tore at her clothes and skin.
The rain washed the mud over her tracks, but one of the hounds stopped. It pointed its snout directly at her bush and barked wildly.
Her heart hammered against her ribs so hard she thought it might break them. She did not wait for the guards to surround her.
Carole burst out of the bushes. She ignored the stabbing pain in her ankle and ran toward the highway.
A black SUV sat idling on the shoulder of the road. She raised her hand to scream for help, but the high beams flashed on, blinding her.
It was a family car.
The heavy door swung open. She couldn't see past the blinding glare of the high beams, but she recognized the distinct splash of expensive leather shoes hitting the muddy puddle. It was Adalberto. She could sense the cruel, asymmetrical smirk twisting his face just from the heavy, arrogant way he stepped toward her.
Carole turned to run. Two massive guards grabbed her shoulders. They forced her down. Her knees hit the muddy water with a heavy splash.
Adalberto walked up to her. He grabbed a fistful of her wet hair and jerked her head back.
"You look like a drowned rat," Adalberto laughed. "Did you really think you could run away?"
Carole kept her mouth shut. She reached her hands down into the freezing mud. Her fingers found a sharp, jagged rock. She gripped it tight.
Adalberto leaned down. His breath smelled of expensive cigars and malice.
"Try fighting me again," he whispered. "And I will make sure your adoptive parents disappear before morning."
The fight drained out of Carole. Her chest caved in. Her fingers went numb and the rock slipped back into the mud.
Adalberto smirked and adjusted his left cuff. He raised his hand high, ready to slap her across the face.
His hand never landed.
A massive hand clamped around Adalberto's wrist mid-air. The grip was like an iron vice.
The guards froze. Carole opened her eyes. A tall, broad-shouldered man stood in the pouring rain. His face was a mask of pure violence, though he moved with a barely perceptible limp, his jaw tight as if fighting off a persistent, nagging pain in his right ankle. His eyes were dark and lethal.
Adalberto screamed. The sound of bones grinding together was loud enough to hear over the storm.
Hollis Wall did not blink. He twisted Adalberto's wrist until a loud snap echoed in the air. He kicked Adalberto in the chest, sending him flying backward into the mud.
The guards pulled out their stun batons and rushed forward. Hollis did not even look at them. He moved with brutal efficiency, striking throats and knees. Both guards collapsed into the dirt in seconds.
Carole stared at the stranger. Rainwater dripped from his sharp jawline.
Hollis turned his head and looked down at her. His eyes locked onto the dark bruise forming on her cheek. For a fraction of a second, a muscle in his jaw twitched, and his thumb rubbed hard against his index knuckle.
He took off his custom suit jacket. He threw it around Carole's trembling shoulders. The fabric was heavy and smelled of cedar and danger.
Adalberto rolled in the mud, clutching his broken wrist.
"Let her go!" Adalberto screamed. "She belongs to the Pennington family!"
Hollis ignored Adalberto's screams as if they were merely part of the storm, his demeanor completely devoid of any emotion. He bent down and scooped Carole up into his arms, his movements brutally efficient and coldly indifferent to the Pennington heir's threats.
Carole kicked her legs, trying to push against his solid chest. The pain in her ankle flared, and her muscles gave out. She was completely exhausted.
Hollis carried her to a black Maybach parked further down the road. He shoved her into the back seat and slammed the door shut.
The noise of the rain and Adalberto's screaming vanished.
The car was warm and dry. K. Sterling sat in the driver's seat. He put the car in gear immediately.
Carole pulled her knees to her chest. She watched the dangerous man slide into the seat next to her.
Hollis opened a compartment, pulled out a bottle of whiskey, and took a long drink. The veins on the back of his hand bulged. He was breathing heavily, as if he was fighting off a deep, physical pain.
Carole stared at his furrowed brow. A strange, unsettling feeling crawled up her spine.
The Maybach sped down the dark highway, leaving the Pennington estate far behind. Carole gripped the edges of the suit jacket, her knuckles turning white.
View More Comments on App
Other books by Olivia
More/1/109601/coverbig.jpg?v=68a277f835ccb79e3339d0204156dd4b)
Rebirth of the Mafia Mistress
MafiaMy fiancé Jaret Frazier promised to protect me on my nineteenth birthday. By the next year, he had married a Mafia Princess for power and locked me in a hidden apartment as his secret mistress. When his new wife discovered I was pregnant, she didn't file for divorce. She sent her enforcers to my bedside. They held me down while a back-alley butcher tore my unborn son from my womb. Jaret never came to save me. For ten years, I rotted in that gilded cage, watching him use my money to become an Underboss while I faded into a ghost. I died alone, completely erased. Then, I opened my eyes. I was back in my own bed, unscarred, the calendar turned back to the year my life was destroyed. Jaret was still just my fiancé, not yet my jailer. And this time, I wouldn't be the one who ended up in a cage.
/1/109683/coverbig.jpg?v=a3de8c63b698ab0b4c63f35c3b9d34fe)
Rejected By The Alpha: The Hidden Luna's Revenge
WerewolfFor five years, I hid my identity as a legendary White Wolf, swallowing suppressants that tasted like ash just to protect Alpha Grafton. I played the role of the spineless "Shadow," enduring his pack's ridicule and his cold indifference, all to fulfill a promise I made to his dead twin brother. But when I finally exposed my powers to save Grafton from a rigged car crash, shattering my leg with liquid silver in the process, he didn't thank me. Instead, he stepped over my bleeding body to comfort Cherrelle, a socialite who was faking a wrist injury. He believed her lies over my sacrifice. When I tried to warn him about the poison in his drink, he forced me to swallow the Wolfsbane myself. He watched me convulse on the floor, calling me a "drama queen." He even threw me into a dog kennel, crushing the only photo I had of his brother—the man I actually loved—under his boot. He thought I was a stalker obsessed with him. He didn't know I drank black coffee I hated every morning just to be in sync with him, or that the "jealousy" he saw was actually grief for the ghost of his twin. Broken and done, I stood on the edge of Blackwood Bridge and sent him one final text. "I'm going to be with the man I actually love." Then, I rejected him as my mate, severed the bond that linked our souls, and let the dark river wash away five years of lies.
/0/98759/coverbig.jpg?v=baaa7935cd222b14b61c583ec1d8da75)
After His Engagement, I Deleted Ten Years of Secret Love
ModernFor ten years, I lived in my guardian Ethan Hayes's home, loving him in secret. He was the sun I revolved around. Then, he announced his engagement, introducing the woman he loved as my future female guardian, and spent an entire year showing me I meant nothing to him. The night he came home drunk, he pulled me into his arms, murmuring another woman's name as his lips crashed down on mine. The next morning, his eyes filled with disgust as he accused me of climbing into his bed. "I never thought you would stoop this low," he said. His fiancée cornered me, calling me shameless and threatening to throw me onto the street. In that moment, a decade of devotion turned to ash. The love carved into my bones was finally scraped away. On the day of his birthday, I packed one small suitcase and walked out of the house that had been my prison. I left a final drawing on his desk with a simple note: "Goodbye, Ethan."
/0/96389/coverbig.jpg?v=6c2d36d58cdd42410b02868bcb8f505c)
Annulled Love, Mafia's Fall: She Bulldozed All
MafiaOn my wedding night, I made a vow to Liam Gallo, the most feared man in New York. "If you ever betray me," I whispered, "I will vanish from your life as if I never existed." He laughed, thinking it was a romantic promise. It was an oath. Three years later, I discovered his betrayal. It wasn't just an affair; it was a public humiliation. His mistress, Ava, sent me photos of herself in my places, wearing jewelry he'd given me, taunting me with her presence in my life. And Liam let her. The final blow came at our Hamptons estate. I saw them together, Liam and a triumphant, pregnant Ava, in front of his inner circle. He was choosing her, his pregnant mistress, over his injured wife, demanding I apologize for upsetting her. In my own home, I was an obstacle. In my own marriage, I was a prop. The love I clung to for years finally died. Ava's texts confirmed it all, including a picture of an ultrasound captioned "Our baby," and another of her wearing the necklace he named "Maya's Dawn." So, on the morning after our anniversary party, I enacted my plan. I liquidated my assets, bulldozed the garden he planted for me, and served him divorce papers. Then, with a new identity, I walked out of the service exit and disappeared into the city, leaving the man who broke his vows to the wreckage of the life he destroyed.
/0/94198/coverbig.jpg?v=5e241df54502a2475170c2475c617b18)
My Husband's Sins, My Heart's Revenge
ModernMy marriage was perfect. I was pregnant with our first child, and my husband, Andre, worshipped the ground I walked on. Or so I thought. The dream shattered when he whispered another woman's name against my skin in the dark. It was Kaliyah, the young associate from my firm whom I had personally mentored. He swore it was a mistake, but his lies spiraled as Kaliyah's schemes grew more vicious. He drugged me, locked me in my studio, and caused a fall that sent me to the hospital. But his ultimate betrayal came after Kaliyah staged a fake car accident and blamed me. Andre dragged me out of my car by my hair and slapped me across the face. He then forced a nurse to take my blood for his mistress-a transfusion she didn't even need. He held me down as I began to hemorrhage, leaving me to die while he rushed to her side. He sacrificed our child, who now suffers from irreversible brain damage because of his choice. The man I loved was gone, replaced by a monster who left me for dead. Lying in that hospital bed, I made two calls. The first was to my lawyer. "Activate the infidelity clause in our prenup. I want him left with nothing." The second was to Jude Gates, the man who had loved me silently for ten years. "Jude," I said, my voice cold as ice. "I need your help to destroy my husband."
/0/84206/coverbig.jpg?v=177c4b40ebfbf7835ef622a02f02fe59)
Unmasking the Viper
ModernMy life as a Dallas socialite seemed perfect, dwelling in a grand mansion built with old money and maintained by new. Then, my husband, Ryan Lester, walked through the door with a woman I' d never seen, Sabrina Chavez, announcing she was "staying with us for a while." Her feigned innocence turned sinister as she systematically drugged me, leading to a horrifying assault that was meticulously filmed. Ryan then used that video as his weapon, turning my home into a prison, stripping me of everything, and publicly humiliating me at my father' s charity ball by projecting the assault on giant screens for everyone to see. The world shattered as I collapsed, suffering a devastating miscarriage, left to wonder how my life could be so cruelly dismantled, and who was behind this orchestrated nightmare. But just as despair threatened to consume me, a familiar face from my past, Andrew Scott, stepped into the light, and with him, the promise of truth and a fight for my lost life.
