The Replacement Wife

rranean vault turned

ver racks. Down on the floor, her phone screen flickered once, twice, and then died entirely, plunging the per

and the rest of the penthouse. The soft overhead light from the corridor caught the sharp planes of his cheekbones and the dark, unreadab

ing into that low, velvet register that scraped against her nerves like fine

paper stackâ€"the glossy surveillance photos of her own face, the chilling red stamp across the first wife's file. The tactile

tching his unblinking s

surprise even herself. She gestured vaguely to the desk behind her. "Put her in a glass cage, let her p

face. A muscle ticked sharply along his jawlineâ€"the

. Every inch he closed the distance felt like a trap tightening its jaws. "You see a few files, a morbid colle

lance dossier on me," Maya retorted, backing up a step until the edge of the mahogany desk pressed

stantly, his voice slicing t

radiating an intense, suffocating heat. He leaned in, bracing one large, strong hand on the edge of the desk right beside her hip, caging her

ng onto hers with a ferocity that made her breath hitch. "If I wanted you dead, Maya, you wouldn't have made i

bitter sound that held no humor.

Marcus said, the name dropping into the

, searching his face for a lie, a twitch, a flicker of deceit. But she fo

ow. And the men who tore this city apart from the inside out wanted her silenced because she found what you just stumbled upon. The only reason you're breathing righ

vertigo of his words. "That's... that's insane. If you

to her lips before rising back to her eyes, burning with a possessive, terrifying heat. "And right now, the hardest part of

ent, electric shock straight up her arm, bypassing her common sense and striking straight at her core. H

effortless strength. "We have a very public brunch with my board of directors in six ho

warm the sterile, ultra-modern expanses o

ndows and casting sharp shadows across her face. Across from her sat three of Thorne Global's senior board m

His thin lips curved into a thin, synthetic smile that didn't reach his cold eyes. "After everything that happened with Elena

the table. She could feel the heavy diamond ring resting on her fingerâ€

fered a cool, composed smile, tilti

ire career surrounded by people who view relationships as corporate mergers. He needed someone who unders

nting with a sudden, fierce spark of approvalâ€"and something far dee

on the linen cloth. He laced his fingers through hers, his grip firm, pos

d as for our private life, gentlemen, I suggest we keep our focus where it belongs: on the upcoming Q4 infrastructure acquisition. Beca

suffocating, until Cole cleared his throat a

house fell back into its eerie, high-tech silence, Maya stood by the fl

stopped just a fraction of an inch away, hi

arcus murmured, his breath brushing

red at their reflectionsâ€"the cold, powerful tech mogul and the fierce, trapped archivist standing side by side in a

wing her back against his chest until she could

ir, his grip tightening protectively. "Very s