Triple C

Chapter 1 The blindfold slipped over my eyes, and the world went black just as his deep voice brushed my ear. "Relax, little spy. Let us show you what The Veil really is." My heart slammed against my ribs. The masked party in the Brooklyn warehouse had been loud with moans and music only seconds ago. Now everything narrowed to the heat of three bodies surrounding me in the private room. Strong hands guided me backward until my thighs hit the edge of a leather bench. Fingers-long and confident-traced my collarbone, then dipped lower, brushing the swell of my breasts through the thin black dress. I sucked in a sharp breath as cool ice suddenly pressed against my neck, melting instantly against my flushed skin. A second set of hands slid up my thighs, pushing the hem of my dress higher, exposing lace panties already damp with traitorous arousal. "Who are you?" I whispered, even as my nipples tightened painfully. The man behind me chuckled low, the sound vibrating through my chest. "Tonight, we're the ones asking questions." The ice trailed down between my breasts, leaving a wet path that made me shiver. Then warm lips replaced it, sucking gently on the sensitive skin just above my bra. A soft moan escaped me before I could stop it. My hands were gently pulled behind my back and secured with something soft-silk, maybe. The restraint wasn't tight, but it sent a rush of heat straight to my core. Another hand-rougher, more commanding-cupped my ass and squeezed. "So responsive already," the voice murmured, approval thick in his tone. "Good girl." The praise hit me like a drug. My knees weakened. I hated how much I loved it. The ice moved lower, circling my navel, then lower still until it pressed against the lace covering my clit. I gasped, hips jerking forward involuntarily. The cold burned deliciously against my swollen flesh. Fingers hooked into my panties, pulling them aside. Hot breath ghosted over my exposed pussy right before a warm tongue replaced the ice, licking one slow, torturous stripe from entrance to clit. "Oh fuck-" My head fell back against a hard chest. Strong arms wrapped around me from behind, holding me upright as the tongue between my legs circled faster, sucking lightly. Pleasure coiled tight in my belly. My thighs trembled. I was supposed to be gathering evidence, not melting under their touch. But God, the way they played my body-like they already knew every secret I'd never told anyone-made my mind spin. The man behind me pinched my nipple through my dress, rolling it between his fingers. "Let go, beautiful. We've got you." I came hard, sudden and shocking, a cry tearing from my throat as waves of pleasure crashed through me. My legs gave out completely, but they caught me, holding me between their bodies as I shook. The blindfold stayed on. My breathing was ragged. Then a calm, authoritative voice cut through the haze. "Take it off." The silk was removed. Three devastatingly handsome men stood before me-tall, powerful, radiating raw dominance. The one with icy blue eyes and sharp features stared at me like he could see straight into my soul. The playful one with warm brown eyes and a dangerous smirk licked his lips slowly. The third, broad-shouldered and intense, watched me with barely restrained hunger. The blue-eyed man tilted his head. "Your real name isn't Elena Voss, is it... Nova Kane?" My stomach dropped. They knew. Before I could speak, the door to the private room clicked shut behind us. The blue-eyed man stepped closer, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "We have a proposal for you, little journalist. One that involves a 90-day contract... and your complete surrender." My pulse thundered in my ears as his fingers brushed my still-sensitive clit, making me jolt. "Or we can ruin your career right now."

I've been hiding my face from the world for seven years. He's been hiding his heart for just as long. When Grammy-winning musician Dante Rivers offers me $150,000 to be his fake girlfriend for six months, I should say no. I'm Veil-the anonymous digital artist with millions of fans and a face no one has ever seen. I don't do cameras. I don't do crowds. And I definitely don't do fake relationships with devastatingly private men whose studio walls are covered in my artwork. But my father's last dream is slipping away-and this contract is the only way to save it. The rules are simple: No real feelings. No crossed boundaries. No falling for Dante Rivers. Except nothing about him is simple. Not the way he shields me from paparazzi like I matter. Not the way his music sounds like secrets meant only for me. Not the way he looks at me like he sees through every wall I've built. What he doesn't know is that I'm already part of his life. I'm the anonymous artist behind his album covers. The one he's trusted with his most private thoughts. The ghost he's been searching for without ever meeting. And now I'm falling for him twice- once as the girl in his guesthouse and once as the mystery he doesn't know he's already holding. When the truth comes out, it won't just break the contract. It might break us.

They say you can't have it all. I'm about to prove them wrong-or destroy myself trying. When my struggling mother married billionaire Richard Stone, I thought I was gaining a family. Instead, I found three stepbrothers who became my obsession, my downfall, and my salvation. Dominic, the eldest, cold and commanding, who kisses me like he's claiming his kingdom and looks at me like I'm the only thing he can't control. Julian, the charming playboy who hides a vulnerable soul beneath his perfect smile, making me feel like I'm the only woman he's ever truly seen. Asher, the brooding artist who paints me like I'm his muse and touches me like I'm his masterpiece, seeing parts of my soul I didn't know existed. They're forbidden. They're dangerous. They're everything I shouldn't want. But when I discover my father didn't die by suicide that he was murdered by the very man who now calls himself my stepfather, these three powerful men becomes my unlikely allies. First it was a forbidden attraction, now it's an arrangement that defies every rule. The rules are simple: I'll give each of them a chance. I'll take everything they offer. And in the end, I'll have to make the hardest decision of my life: Choose one of them. Choose all of them. Or choose myself.

I was the President's Old Lady - and the only reason his MC was still breathing. For three years, I ran every legal business the Serpents of Redemption owned. While Craig chased road glory across state lines, I turned a failing auto shop and a tattoo parlor into the money that kept the brothers fed, the bikes fueled, and the clubhouse lights on. Then he rode home from a two-month run with a sweetbutt on the back of his Harley - and her son. Ginger, he said, had saved his life on the road. So he put her in the main residence, in the room directly across from our bed. He handed her my ledgers and called it repayment. When her son dumped a cup of scalding coffee over my hand, Craig never checked my burns. He scooped up the boy and blamed me. His grandmother - the club's Matriarch - stood before every patched brother and accused me of hurting "family." That night, Craig told me Ginger held a place in his heart I could never reach. A debt of blood he'd honor above me. Three years. My family's fortune. My scarred hand. All of it - worthless next to his roadside savior. So I did the one thing a President never expects his Old Lady to do. I gave back his patch. Now they can keep their empty ledgers. They can play happy family in a clubhouse I built. And when this motorcycle club burns - I'll be the one holding the match.

I was in the hospital, enduring the agonizing pain of labor, while my husband, a famous hockey captain, refused to show up. When I called him for the twelfth time, begging for him, he lost his patience. "Giving birth is a woman's job, don't bother me with this stuff." Then, I heard my stepsister's sweet voice offering him a drink, and he immediately softened before hanging up on me. I gave birth to twins all by myself. The nurses treated me with cold indifference, and the family in the next bed loudly mocked me as a pathetic "Puck Bunny" who was just an adopted orphan about to be dumped. They were right. A month ago, my husband had thrown divorce papers at me, demanding I make way because my stepsister was pregnant with his child. I thought my life was a joke. I was just a discarded prop he married to satisfy his grandfather, a fake daughter my adoptive parents only used to elevate my stepsister. I was completely alone, ready to sign the papers just to protect my two babies. But then, the head of the hospital rushed in, transferred me to the top-floor VIP suite, and handed me a DNA test. It turned out I wasn't an unwanted orphan, but the long-lost daughter of the ultra-wealthy Sinclair family who had been searching for me for twenty years. Looking at my billionaire parents and three powerful brothers who just flew in on their private jets to protect me, I picked up my phone to call my arrogant husband. This time, I was going to make him leave with nothing.

Five years ago, I stood in the freezing rain at my mother's funeral, waiting for my husband. Blake Knight, the billionaire NHL superstar, was two hours late. When he finally showed up, he brought his rumored girlfriend, the woman he had just rented a hotel rooftop for to celebrate her birthday. Watching him defend her fake tears, my heart completely died. I took off my diamond wedding ring, placed it on my mother's headstone, and walked away from my marriage forever. I fled to London, changed my name to Ava, and secretly raised the triplets he never knew existed. I thought I was finally safe from him. But today, my kids vandalized a silver Aston Martin in our apartment's parking garage, and the owner caught my youngest daughter. My phone rang. The voice on the other end was Blake's. He had moved into my building, and he was holding my little girl in his penthouse, demanding her mother come get her immediately. Panic suffocated me. If I walked through that door, my five years of hiding would be instantly destroyed. He would recognize me, realize I didn't get rid of our child like everyone thought, and he would use all his power to take my babies away. I couldn't let him ruin my life again. "I'm just her nanny," I lied through my teeth. I frantically begged my best friend to go upstairs and rescue my daughter in my place. He bought the disguise, but now, the King of the Ice is dangerously obsessed with investigating my new identity.

"Sign the contract, or lose everything." I stared at the papers that would seal my fate-a three-year marriage to Julian Blackwood, the ruthless billionaire they call the Ice King. My family didn't ask. They demanded. My father's company was drowning, my stepsister's engagement had exploded, and I was the replacement bride they could sacrifice. Just another transaction. Julian made it clear on our wedding day: "Don't expect affection. Don't expect companionship. Certainly don't expect love." He refused to kiss me at the altar. He gave me a bedroom down the hall and told me to stay out of his way. I was Mrs. Blackwood in name only-a contract, a convenience, a means to an end. I accepted it. I had survived twelve years of abuse in my own home. I could survive three years of indifference in his. But then Nate, Julian's best friend, showed me kindness, and suddenly my cold husband became possessive. When my sister attacked me, he became protective. Now the man who promised me nothing is fighting his own father to keep me. The marriage that was supposed to be fake is becoming terrifyingly real and the secrets about my mother's death are threatening to destroy everything. They said Julian Blackwood destroys everything he touches. What they didn't tell me... is that sometimes destruction is exactly what you need to be reborn. With a pregnancy involved, how was I going to end this three-year marriage peacefully?

Chloe had just given birth to twins, lying exhausted in a cramped, bustling hospital ward. When she called her husband, Julian, he was busy partying with his actress mistress. He coldly hung up on her, having already drafted a brutal divorce agreement that would leave her with a pittance. Strangers in the next bed loudly mocked her pitiful state, gossiping about how Julian was dumping her. For years, Chloe had erased her own identity to fit into his elite world, only to be thrown away like garbage. She was completely alone, clutching her helpless babies, bracing herself to sign the cruel papers just to survive. She couldn't understand why her absolute devotion was met with such chilling indifference. Why did she have to suffer this ultimate humiliation while he celebrated with the woman who ruined her life? But then, a senior doctor noticed a unique mole on her wrist and ran a secret DNA test. The results were staggering: Chloe was the long-lost daughter of the billionaire Beaumont family. With her fiercely protective parents and three powerful brothers suddenly forming an impenetrable fortress around her, Chloe picked up her phone and texted her arrogant husband. "City Hall tomorrow at 10 AM. If you don't show up, my lawyer will handle everything. And trust me, you won't like their terms."

After six years away, I returned to my hometown with a single suitcase and a picture of my fiancé tangled up with my stepsister. I thought it was just a simple, disgusting betrayal, but when I planted a bug in their private suite to get a confession, I heard a truth that froze my blood. My fiancé, Leo, laughed about how my own father had already signed over my mother's legacy-The Nightingale Ranch-as collateral to his powerful family. "Once this is all done, Claire will have nothing. And the woman you marry will be me," my stepsister Jenna cheered. Leo cooed back, calling me a stray dog he'd kick to the curb once he was bored, a worthless woman who couldn't even hold onto her family's land. My family had sold me out, and the man I loved was planning to leave me with absolutely nothing. I didn't cry. The pain burned away into a cold, hard hate. How could my own father conspire with them to destroy the only thing I had left of my mother? I crashed their prestigious charity auction and played their filthy recording over the speakers for the entire town to hear. But when Leo charged at me in a murderous rage, a wall of leather and muscle stepped in front of me. Kade "Chaos" Peterson, the terrifying President of the rival motorcycle club, crushed Leo's wrist and announced to the stunned room, "She's with me now."

For three years, Hilary played the perfect, devoted wife to billionaire Julian Carlisle to save her family from financial ruin. But her husband didn't love her; he was busy throwing a birthday party for the five-year-old son he secretly had with his college sweetheart. To keep up appearances, Julian bought Hilary a million-dollar Cartier bracelet, but she soon discovered the exact same jewelry on his mistress's wrist. During a heated confrontation about his lies, Julian accused her of being a hysterical madwoman and violently shoved her away. But he didn't care that her head smashed against the sharp edge of a nightstand, causing a life-threatening cranial hemorrhage. So she was left bleeding and unconscious on the cold floor, while he simply sneered at her. "Stop pretending. I don't have time for these pathetic games." He walked out the door, leaving her alone to die. After a brush with death, her years of unrequited love and hope were completely gone, and she finally gave up. Waking up in the ICU, she calmly looked at Julian's terrified, regretful face and made her final decision. "Mr. Hayes, please deliver the signed divorce papers to my husband immediately."

I was sweating on a stained cot in a rundown clinic, enduring agonizing labor to deliver my twins. My boyfriend, Viper, the President of the Raven MC, was right next door. But he wasn't there to support me. He was buying the whole clubhouse a round of drinks to celebrate his new girlfriend's birthday. Instead of coming to see his newborn children, he sent a thug with a loaded Glock and a legal contract. The prospect shoved the cold steel against my forehead, demanding I sign my parental rights over to the club and walk away with nothing. If I refused, he promised to dump our bodies in the swamp. In the hallway, the club girls laughed, calling me a worthless charity case. "Sign the paper, or I leave three corpses in this bed." I clutched my fragile babies to my chest, my heart turning to dead ash. I had given that man my youth and loyalty, only to be discarded like trash. I didn't understand how someone could be so ruthlessly cruel to his own flesh and blood. Before the hammer could drop, a mysterious man in a tailored suit calmly walked in and shattered the prospect's wrist. He took one look at the faded scar on my shoulder, ran a rapid blood test, and revealed a truth that shook my world. I wasn't an unpatched stray, but the long-lost daughter of the most feared motorcycle club president in the country. Now, with a two-hundred-bike army at my back, it was my turn to hunt.

For three years, Caddie gave up her aerospace engineering career to be Julien's secret girlfriend, quietly writing the core algorithms for his tech company. On their anniversary, she stood outside his apartment with a rare gift, only to hear his friends laughing inside about his "charity project." Julien's voice was ice-cold as he called her a stray puppy. He said she was only useful for debugging his code, and once her final algorithm was finished, she would have no value left. He was already planning to announce his engagement to the wealthy Kiersten Parrish. He bragged that he would just write Caddie a check and kick her out, mocking that without him, she couldn't even afford next month's rent. Caddie leaned against the cold wall, her world shattering. She had turned down top research fellowships and poured her soul into his work, only to be treated as a disposable tool. He actually believed she was just a helpless nobody who relied on his charity. She didn't scream or cry. She simply threw the expensive gift into the trash chute. Logging into his company's secure server, she permanently deleted every single line of code she had ever built for him. Then, she packed her single suitcase, walked out the door, and dialed a number she hadn't called in years. "I'm ready. I want to come home." It was time to reclaim her place as the true billionaire Kensington heiress.

"From tonight on, Farrah is my one and only Old Lady! As for you, Sloane... you're just my personal bed-warmer." In the deafening roar of the crowded motorcycle club, my boyfriend of five years hauled another woman against his chest, publicly stripping me of my title. The entire room erupted in laughter, waiting for the "helpless orphan" to break down and cry. His bloodsucking mother and sister smirked in the crowd. For five years, I had served their family like an unpaid maid, secretly bleeding my dead father's legacy dry just to pay off their debts. Now, they were thrilled to see me thrown into the dirt. Beau pinched my chin, offering his mercy like a king to a beggar. "As long as you know your place and stay in the basement to do the chores, I'll generously let you be my secret baby mama. It's the greatest mercy a cursed orphan with a dead bloodline will ever get." They thought they had stripped me of everything. They expected me to crawl on my knees and beg for their scraps. The very next morning, I broke into their safe, took back my stolen inheritance and the keys to my father's legendary motorcycle, and rode straight to the National President-the man who held the absolute power of life and death over the entire outlaw world. When Beau smugly swaggered into the President's office, fully expecting to find me begging on my knees for him to take me back, he was instead slapped in the face with a wax-sealed document of formal severance. "She is a free agent now. Anyone who touches her answers to my gavel." I straddled my father's roaring heavy chopper, looking down at my ex's humiliated, panicked face. "This is just the beginning, Beau. I'm going to make your family bleed out everything you stole." But what I didn't realize was that the moment I took my first step toward revenge, the dangerously wild man I collided with in the dark the night before-the one wearing the forbidden insignia of the absolute royal bloodline-had already locked his sights on me like a predator claiming his prey...