Vanessa Wynter, a 25-year-old heiress, has been living a life of luxury under the care of her grandmother, the formidable matriarch and mistress of the Wynter family. The rich heiress world takes a huge turmoil when her grandmother presents her with an ultimatum - marry within two months or lose the family fortune and be sent to live with her wicked uncles in the states. Desperate and panicked, Vanessa turns to the one person she trusts - her ruggedly handsome bodyguard, Caleb Thompson. She proposes a marriage of convenience hoping to save her family fortune and maintain independence. Caleb, a former special operative has been secretly in love with Vanessa for years. He agrees to the proposal but if only they follow one rule; no feelings allowed. As Caleb and Vanessa work to maintain the illusion of their marriage, they scale through the complex world of villains and secrets that surround them. Can they keep with up the charade or will the fake relationship grow into real love?
"Trrrring Trrrring" the phone rang. Vanessa has been calling Julian all day but couldn't get across to him.
"Caleb !" She called out with so much rage.
"Yes, ma'am ", He answered.
"Put a call to Julian; let him know we will be in his place in 10 minutes" "She ordered.
Vanessa has been dating Julian for the past six months. She does not feel a thing for him. She feels like she is doing him a favor by dating him as she is the granddaughter of the Wynter group Heiress.
On the other hand, Julian is just a family friend who wants only the wealth of the Wynter group and doesn't see any other way of having it except by marrying Vanessa.
She had the shower heating up while she got her clothes and jewelry box out. She paced around the room calmly, wondering why Julian had been unavailable all day after he pleaded with her to take her out to the park.
"Knock knock"
"Come in", she answered. It was Caleb, her bodyguard of four years.
"Yes?" She said to him.
"I can't seem to reach Julian," he replied. He continued, "The call was sent to his voicemail".
"Get the car ready" she ordered, "We are going to his apartment"
Vanessa got into the shower quickly and dashed across her dressing mirror. She put on her yellow dress and gave her lips a pop with the Kardash lip gloss her grandmother gave her from their last trip to Paris. She walked down the stairs, heading to the car.
As Caleb sighted her from afar, he walked very fast to get the door of the car open for her. "Thank you, Caleb," she said with a warm smile.
While they drove to Julian's house, Caleb played some soft music that he believed would help Vanessa relax. "Ma'am, I could get you a cup of iced coffee if you don't mind," Caleb said to Vanessa. She moved her eyes and looked at Caleb through the rare view mirror, then she replied, "That won't be necessary, Caleb".
They got to Julian's apartment and parked opposite it. She lowered the window of the car, looked straight to Julian's apartment and sensed a usual movement from behind the window blinds of his apartment as the window blinds were not covering well enough.
"What could be the problem" she whispered to herself.
She stepped out of the car and headed to Julian's apartment. She steps back a bit and decides to give Julian another phone call. She watched from afar to see that Julian intentionally did not pick up her call and it got her furious.
"Bang bang" she hit the door open. Vanessa strutted across the living room and noticed a pink hairpin sitting on the sofa. She sat elegantly on the sofa with the hairpin in his hands while Caleb stood at the door scanning through the living room and its entrance.
"We should get going ma'am. He is not here" Caleb said to her.
Vanessa stared closely at the hairpin and felt she must have seen something that looked just like it before, but she could not remember where she had seen it before. She quickly went through the chart of her last purchase in Paris to see if she had any sort of hairpin in her list, but she did not see anything like that in her purchase list.
"This hairpin looks pretty familiar,", She thought to herself while she heard a coy chuckle from the bedroom. She took hesitant steps towards the bedroom door and calmly opened the door. Her face flushed to see Julian and Evelyn unclad with her eyes like saucers as she looked straight into their eyes.
"I guess I know why you sent my calls to voicemail," she said to Julian.
"Hi Evelyn," she said out loud and slammed the door behind her.
Julian threw on his boxers as fast as he could. "Nessa! Nessa" Julian screamed and followed her immediately. "I am sorry. Forgive me" he said.
Caleb intercepted Julian before he could get any closer to Vanessa. "Let me go, man", he said to Caleb.
"Call off the wedding. We are done" she spoke to Julian in a clear voice.
Vanessa and Caleb got into the car and zoomed past with a roar. They were headed to the Wynter group head office as Vanessa had some work to do that she had left overnight.
She got into her office and swiveled in her chair to face the window. She gazed right into the sunset and tapped her feet restlessly.
"Bwahaha" she laughed. "I knew nothing good could ever come from that boy"
"Vanex !" Called Maria Wynter, Vanessa's grandmother as she opened her office door.
Maria is the founder of the Wynter group and is uncontrollably fond of her granddaughter, Vanessa, as she reminds her of her late son - Vanessa's father, who died in an automobile crash alongside his wife during a family trip and Vanessa was five years old and happened to be the only survivor in the crash.
"Where have you been little girl?" Maria asked Vanessa.
"I... I ..." she stuttered.
"We had a meeting with the board, and I expected you to be there ", Maria spoke with disappointment to Vanessa.
"I am sorry, Mama", she apologized to Maria with her head bent down and interlocking her fingers.
Maria pats her cheeks and leaves the office.
"Argh!" Vanessa exclaims with so much stress.
She picks up the phone and calls Caleb.
"Take me to April's."
April's is a bar mostly for the very rich and classy people of Manhattan town. They stopped by April's and she was recognized by the security personnel, no doubt remembering her and her wealth ,as she was taken straight to the VIP.
"I do not want the attention. I just want to sit with the regulars in the open bar" she whispered to the security personnel.
Vanessa and Caleb were directed to the open bar.
"What can I offer you, ma'am ?" The bartender asked her.
"I just want a drink with so much ice" she replied.
She sat down and sipped her drink while subtly swinging her legs to the rhythm of the music.
"Can I have a refill ?" She asked the bartender
Vanessa looked at Caleb with a giggle on her face and pulled him closer to herself. "Let's dance" she whispered to him while holding onto his wrist so firmly.
Chapter 1 Shattered Facades
12/01/2025
Chapter 2 Boundaries Blurred
12/01/2025
Chapter 3 Entangled in Secrets
12/01/2025
Chapter 4 Beneath the Surface
12/01/2025
Chapter 5 Entangled Emotions
12/01/2025
Chapter 6 Fractured Loyalties
12/01/2025
Chapter 7 Two Months to Forever
12/01/2025
Chapter 8 Shadows of the Past and Storms of Tomorrow
12/01/2025
Chapter 9 Shattered Reflections and Broken Promises
12/01/2025
Chapter 10 Shadows of the Past and Silent Promises
12/01/2025
Chapter 11 Shadows of Power and Fragile Bonds
19/01/2025
Chapter 12 Shadows of Ambition
19/01/2025
Chapter 13 Shadows of Tension
19/01/2025
Chapter 14 A Night of Disappearances
19/01/2025
Chapter 15 Vanishing Point
21/01/2025
Chapter 16 The Search for Vanessa
21/01/2025
Chapter 17 The Silent Pursuit
21/01/2025
Chapter 18 The Chase
21/01/2025
Chapter 19 Fragile Bonds and Faint Hope
28/01/2025
Chapter 20 Shattered Memories
29/01/2025
Chapter 21 Delicate Recovery
31/01/2025
Chapter 22 Deception
03/02/2025
Chapter 23 Whispers
05/02/2025
Chapter 24 Shocking Revelation
05/02/2025
Chapter 25 Storm Unleashed
05/02/2025
Chapter 26 Boardroom Wars
06/02/2025
Chapter 27 She Called My Name
07/02/2025
Chapter 28 Playing Both Sides
07/02/2025
Chapter 29 Wrong Dinner Date
09/02/2025
Chapter 30 A Quick Recovery
09/02/2025
Chapter 31 Sketchy Sketchpad
09/02/2025
Chapter 32 Delusional Princess
09/02/2025
Chapter 33 Sketchy Problems
09/02/2025
Chapter 34 Flipping through the pages
10/02/2025
Chapter 35 A Wynter Plate Number
10/02/2025
Chapter 36 Unexpected Visit
11/02/2025
Chapter 37 In 24 hours
11/02/2025
Chapter 38 A Mother's Protection
11/02/2025
Chapter 39 The Massage
11/02/2025
Chapter 40 Coming From the Outhouse
12/02/2025
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