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The Man Beneath The Suit

Marcus Vale lives two lives with surgical precision. By day, he is the refined owner of a luxury leather boutique in SoHo, respected in elite business circles and known for his quiet discipline. By night, he controls a discreet underground network that moves high-value goods across New York. His empire is built on control, intelligence, and careful loyalty. The two worlds have never collided. Until Ryan dies. Ryan, one of Marcus’s most trusted couriers, is found dead in a Midtown hotel room under suspiciously clean circumstances. There are no signs of struggle, no witnesses, only a chilling message sent to Marcus hours later: You’re being watched. Recognizing a calculated threat, Marcus shuts down operations. As law enforcement reopens dormant investigations and rival groups grow bolder, he realizes someone strategic is working from the inside. Amid rising pressure, Marcus meets Imani at a small Chelsea art gallery. Intelligent, thoughtful, and uninterested in status, she offers him something he hasn’t allowed himself in years — ease. Their connection deepens quickly, and for the first time, Marcus begins imagining a life not ruled by secrecy. But the attacks escalate. Warehouses are raided. Financial accounts are flagged. A second courier disappears. Evidence suggests betrayal within his inner circle, pointing toward either Terrance, his oldest ally, or Adrian, the trusted lawyer who protects his legitimate façade. Then Marcus discovers Imani has been under surveillance since before they met. When confronted, Imani reveals that years earlier, her brother was imprisoned due to a chain of underground operations linked indirectly to Marcus’s early expansion. She did not know his identity when they met, but she has been researching powerful criminal networks tied to her brother’s downfall. Their relationship fractures under the weight of truth. Soon, the real enemy surfaces: Adrian. The lawyer Marcus trusted has been quietly leaking information to authorities and rival groups, positioning himself to take financial control once Marcus collapses. Ryan uncovered the betrayal and was eliminated to keep him silent. Adrian also orchestrated the surveillance of Imani, knowing she would become Marcus’s emotional vulnerability. Forced into action, Marcus executes a calculated counterstrike. He exposes Adrian’s financial crimes to federal authorities while simultaneously dismantling the rival alliances threatening his network. Adrian is arrested, and the external war ends. But the victory forces a deeper reckoning. Marcus realizes his empire, no matter how controlled, has caused collateral damage. Choosing Imani means choosing transparency. He dismantles his underground operations and restructures his business entirely within legitimate international expansion. Imani, torn between anger and understanding, ultimately stays — not because she ignores his past, but because he finally stops hiding from it. In the end, Marcus is no longer two men divided by darkness and respectability. He is one man — accountable, vulnerable, and no longer beneath the suit.
Jolly_Ifeoluwa · 117 Views

Blackmail and roses

Excerpt... We were too close. I knew we were too close, but neither of us moved. The office was dark except for the glow of our laptops. It was past midnight. We'd been working for hours, building the case, connecting pieces, and somewhere along the way we'd ended up on the same side of the desk. Shoulders almost touching. Close enough that I could smell his cologne "This is a bad idea," I whispered. "I know." "We agreed. Fake engagement. Professional. No complications." "I remember." His eyes dropped to my mouth, lingered there. "Doesn't change the fact that I want to kiss you." My breath caught. "Roman..." "Tell me you don't want it too." His voice was rough, low. "Tell me I'm reading this wrong and I'll move. I'll go back to my side of the desk and we'll pretend this never happened." I should have said it. Should have lied. But I was so tired of lying. "I can't," I whispered. "Can't what?" "Tell you that you're wrong." Something flashed in his eyes, dark and hungry. He leaned in slowly, giving me time to pull away. I didn't. Journalist Amara Reyes has spent sixteen years chasing the truth about her father's death. Heart attack, they said. Case closed. Everyone moved on except Amara. Now someone is watching her every move, roses appear where they shouldn't, messages turn from warnings to threats, and the closer she gets to the truth about what really happened sixteen years ago, the more dangerous everything becomes. Roman Vale is a billionaire CEO who doesn't tolerate loose ends, cold and ruthless, the kind of man who can destroy you with a single phone call. When Amara starts digging into Vale Industries, he sees a problem that needs to be eliminated. But Amara isn't easy to eliminate. When blackmail forces them into a fake engagement, the line between enemies and allies disappears. She needs his resources, he needs her silence, but the deeper they dig, the more they realize their fathers' deaths sixteen years ago weren't coincidences but murders. Two fathers, two deaths, one killer who's been hiding in plain sight for over a decade. The threats are escalating, the stalker is getting bolder, and falling in love might be the most dangerous thing they've ever done because the person who killed their fathers is still watching, still waiting, and won't stop until both of them are dead.
Kathywrites · 5.7k Views

The Mistress He Regrets Losing

For three years, Sienna loved a man who would never choose her. Alessandro Castellano kept her tucked away in his penthouse like a secret he was ashamed of—expensive gifts, whispered promises, and late-night confessions that felt real until morning came and he went back to his fiancée. Sienna told herself it was enough. That what they had was love, even if it lived in the shadows. She was wrong. The night she overheard him confirming wedding details with Vanessa, laughing about honeymoon plans while Sienna waited for him in silk lingerie he'd bought her, something inside her finally broke. Not dramatically. Not with screaming or thrown objects. Just quietly, like a door closing on a room she'd never enter again. When Alessandro walked in and saw her packed bags, he didn't believe she'd actually leave. "You'll be back," he said, so certain of his hold on her. "You always come back." But Sienna didn't come back. Six months later, she's not the same woman who cried in his elevator. She's built a life without him—a real career, real friends, therapy sessions that taught her she deserved more than crumbs from a man's table. She's even dating Dante Moretti, the charming businessman who looks at her like she hung the moon and doesn't hide her from the world. There's just one problem. Dante is Alessandro's biggest rival, and he knows exactly who Sienna used to be. Alessandro's perfect life, meanwhile, is crumbling. His marriage to Vanessa is a cold business transaction that leaves him hollow. Every woman he looks at reminds him of Sienna. Every night feels empty. He thought he could have it all—the socialite wife his family demanded and the woman who actually made him feel alive on the side. Turns out, you can't have it both ways. When he sees Sienna again at a gallery opening, transformed and glowing on another man's arm, something primal awakens in him. She's not his secret anymore. She's not his at all. And for the first time in his privileged life, Alessandro understands what it means to lose something irreplaceable. He'll do anything to win her back. Burn down his marriage. Destroy his reputation. Fight his own family. Prove he's not the same coward who let her go. But Sienna's not the desperate girl who waited by the phone anymore. She's found her power, her voice, her spine. And watching Alessandro grovel? There's a dark satisfaction in that she probably shouldn't enjoy as much as she does. The thing is, hearts don't follow logic. Chemistry doesn't care about self-respect. And when Alessandro looks at her with those desperate, hungry eyes and says, "I was a fool, and I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you"—part of her wants to believe him. Part of her still loves him. But love isn't always enough, is it? Not when trust is shattered. Not when Dante's offering her stability and devotion without games. Not when Alessandro's vengeful soon-to-be-ex-wife is determined to destroy anyone he cares about. Sienna has to choose: the dangerous, intoxicating man who broke her heart but might have actually changed, or the safer path with a man who's never made her cry. Except Dante has secrets too. And Sienna's about to learn that sometimes the person who seems perfect is just better at hiding their flaws. In a world of billion-dollar business deals, family expectations, and old grudges, Sienna's caught in the middle of a war she never asked to fight. Both men claim they love her. Both men want to possess her. But this time, Sienna's not anyone's prize to win. This time, she gets to decide her own worth. And whoever ends up with her heart will have to earn every single piece of it—because she's done giving herself away to men who don't understand what they have until it's gone.
2game · 7.6k Views

Eye of Appraisal

March 15, 1972. Antique restorer Samuel Blackwood was found dead at his workbench. The night before his death, he sealed a shard no larger than a fingernail into the chamber of a spectrometer. On a yellowed note beside it, he left a single line—addressed to a grandson who had not yet been born: “For Eli. He can see.” November 15, 2023. 2:17 a.m. Twenty-seven-year-old Elias Blackwood opened his grandfather’s old cigar box. The shard sliced into his palm. Blood welled up, soaked into the fragment— and in exchange, his eyes awakened. There was no blackout. No pain. No price to pay. No rules. He only blinked once. And suddenly, the pocket watch in his coworker Bob’s hand changed. A thin veil of pale blue mist drifted across its surface, flowing like smoke in slow motion. Eli knew what it meant. A Patek Philippe. 1923 edition. Bob had bought it for eighty dollars. Eli saw its true value: One hundred and twenty thousand. From that moment on, the world revealed all its hidden cards to him. From scavenging at Los Angeles flea markets… to walking away with $470 million from the Antwerp diamond auctions. From challenging the century-old monopoly of the Nine Crowns Consortium… to forcing Middle Eastern princes to kneel and offer him private islands. From restoring a Madonna statue burned fifty-one years ago… to rewriting the global diamond pricing system under one name: Blackwood. He spent twenty-seven years entering this world. And only twenty-seven months making the world remember him.
Daoistdl9TFj · 1.2k Views