The Billionaire’s Bartered Bride
/1/129726/coverbig.jpg?v=d952b45e9b05aae9f5803a8b2c8d4fc6)
The Hockey Prince's Secret Ice Queen
All I wanted was to find a computer genius to process the non-linear dynamic equations for my ecological model. Instead, I found myself cornered by Julian Andrews, the university's hockey prince, trading a public, staged kiss for his academic support. To finalize our "deal," I was dragged to the campus ice rink. The cheerleaders and puck bunnies immediately swarmed him, mocking my plain clothes and treating me like a pathetic joke. Brooke, the head cheerleader, even set up a figure skating competition with a date with Julian as the grand prize. She performed a basic spin, blew him a kiss, and smugly waited for me to fall flat on my face and humiliate myself. His hockey teammates laughed from the sidelines, watching me try to support Julian as he stumbled around the ice like a newborn giraffe. But as I held his warm hand to keep him from falling, I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Why was a top-tier athlete faking such awful balance? And why did his ice-blue eyes stare at me with such knowing anticipation, as if he already knew about the professional figure skating past I had spent years trying to bury? "Just let go and skate." He whispered, slowly releasing my hand. I took a deep breath, glided to the center of the rink, and landed a flawless double Axel. As the entire rink fell into a dead, shocked silence, I realized I had just exposed not only my own hidden past, but also the biggest secret of the campus god.
Chapter 1 No.1
Sage POV:
"Let me kiss you."
The request was a low, hurried murmur—warm, quiet, and laced with the faintest edge of mortification.
Stunned, I snapped my head up toward the sound.
Julian Andrews filled my vision. He easily towered a head over me, his lean, athletic frame silhouetted against the bright morning glare, casting a long shadow across the cobblestones. Briar University's star forward. Team captain. The athletic department's untouchable golden boy.
Campus rumor had it that Julian was notoriously indifferent, never sparing anyone a second glance.
Behind him, a solid wall of navy-and-gold varsity jackets blocked the brick path. His teammates were whistling, shoving each other, and effectively cutting off my only exit.
The sudden commotion immediately bottlenecked the morning foot traffic. Whispers rippled through the crowd, and within seconds, a dozen students reached into their pockets out of sheer muscle memory, black camera lenses catching the light as they aimed squarely at us.
Julian's sharp eyes tracked the movement, his jaw tightening into a hard, irritated line.
Before I could take a single defensive step back, he closed the distance between us. Leaning down into my space, his broad shoulders shifted in a subtle, fluid maneuver—throwing up an impenetrable physical wall that completely shielded my face from the intrusive glare of the cameras.
His sharp, striking face hovered breathtakingly close. His deep baritone brushed against my ear, lost to the autumn wind, meant for me alone:
"Sorry to drop this on you," he whispered, his pale blue eyes disarmingly earnest, holding a quiet heat that sent a tremor straight down my spine. "The guys backed me into a locker-room dare... but I'm not here to use you as a joke. We can fake it. Angle it so it looks real—whatever you're comfortable with. Just help me get them off my back, and I owe you one."
It was only then that my brain finally rebooted.
What on earth? He's actually trying to kiss me?
A sharp flare of pure absurdity hit me, and my gaze dropped to my reflection in the dark glass door of the adjacent building: an oversized, faded gray hoodie that swallowed my frame whole, soft, thin jeans worn at the knees, bare-faced dark circles carved beneath my eyes from forty-eight hours of non-stop coding, my dark hair hastily twisted into a cheap plastic claw clip, and a pair of oversized, thick black-rimmed glasses sitting heavy on the bridge of my nose, completely hiding my face.
I looked like a refugee from an all-night disaster. How had Briar's golden prince ended up in front of me?
When I looked back up, my breath trapped in my throat anyway. He was too close, his clean scent of winter mint and cedar wrapping around my senses. Having those pale blue eyes staring straight down at me made my chest tighten in a way I really didn't want to acknowledge.
"Clock's ticking, Cap!" Landon howled from the sidelines, hands cupped around his mouth as the rest of the players lost their minds laughing. "Plant one on her, or enjoy the five-AM bag skate!"
A raucous chorus of barks and chest-thumping went up from the team.
A few yards away, two girls heading toward the dining hall froze in their tracks, pointing their phones.
"Wait, who the hell is that?" one of them laughed loudly, zooming her camera in on my face. "She looks like she just crawled out of a dumpster. There's no way Julian's actually kissing her. Post it on Sidechat right now—this is going straight to number one."
The cruel words hit like a splash of ice water, snapping me out of my daze and instantly killing the stupid flutter in my chest.
I hated the attention.
Four years ago, after my family and my former training partner framed me and destroyed my competitive skating career, I swore I would never be public entertainment again. I buried my name, switched majors, and hid behind oversized fleece and thick glasses just to live an invisible life. If I ended up on the campus forums with Julian Andrews, the internet vultures would dox me before noon—and drag up the toxic scandal I had bled to walk away from.
My research was already on the verge of falling apart. I didn't have time for this circus.
I locked my grip around my heavy binders, my knuckles straining white.
"Find someone else for your dare, Andrews," I said coldly, taking a step back to put distance between us, my voice tight with adrenaline. "I'm not interested in being part of your game. Move."
I kept my head down, attempting to brush past him.
"You're Sage Kelley, right?"
The sound of my name brought my boots to an immediate halt.
I blinked up at him, caught completely off guard.
"Professor Beaumont's senior research student," Julian straightened up slightly, his cadence measured and even, carrying an intellectual sharpness that seemed impossible beneath a varsity jacket. "I saw your Havenwood Creek senior capstone proposal sitting on his desk over Sunday dinner."
My heart gave a hard, hollow thud. Professor Beaumont was my academic advisor—and the guardian of the final research endowment my late father had left behind.
Julian leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a near-whisper against the whistle of the wind. "I spent an hour going over your codebase."
My lips parted. "You... read my proposal?"
"Your simulation keeps crashing because your core fluid algorithm strategy is flawed," Julian murmured, his pale blue eyes deadly sharp. "And Uncle Des mentioned that if you don't deliver a working version by this Friday, the department is pulling your grant—which means you don't clear your senior thesis, and you don't graduate in May."
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Friday was the deadline. If the funding was pulled, the project died, my senior capstone failed, and I would be forced to stay another semester without my degree. Worse, my father's final ecological legacy would be reduced to scrap paper.
I had been panicking over that exact deadline for two days straight, and Julian had just laid it out like it was nothing.
Worse, I couldn't even brush him off. I had heard the rumors about Beaumont's nephew—the CS prodigy everyone in the department talked about. I just had never realized it was him.
"I know how to fix your algorithm," Julian stated plainly, laying his cards on the table, his gaze locking onto mine with an unshakeable, quiet certainty. "Help me get through this bet. In return, I'll rewrite your boundary calculations tonight. Deal?"
/0/37137/coverbig.jpg?v=3edea742da5e023bc2f9b7b58f3eb6f6)
The Billionaire’s Bartered Bride
“Natalie, you know you want me, we are married, why are you trying to resist?” He whispered grabbing her neck seductively and pulling her closer, Nicole took in a much needed breath, no he didn’t under, even in this moment, she wanted him so much even though she knew just how wrong it was, she wasn’
/0/27659/coverbig.jpg?v=f7e921d6449f1d51ec496e2497b4bcc6)
Billionaire’s Bride
Hailey Parker, a naive young woman of twenty-one, gets more than she bargained for when she gets into a deal in an attempt to protect her fiancé. Leaving the only place she had known all her life, she soon realizes that she had gotten way more than she'd bargained for and lots of buried secrets spi
/0/41715/coverbig.jpg?v=ae1eec58a2ea23e781226a23a3479b64)
The Billionaire’s Delinquent Bride
For years, Sofia had always dreamed of escaping her privileged and drama-filled life in France. And when her engagement to her boyfriend fell through, she finally had an excuse to make that dream a reality. She packed her bags and left for Los Angeles with the hopes of starting fresh, but she had no
/0/59113/coverbig.jpg?v=733915536397297535f516ffec90dcb9)
Billionaire’s bride..
In the dazzling heart of New York City, Olivia Morgan, a fiercely independent lawyer, finds her world turned upside down when she’s forced into a contract marriage with the ruthless CEO, Alexander Knight, to save her family's legacy. With a sharp tongue and an unyielding spirit, Olivia detests Alex’
/0/47637/coverbig.jpg?v=e18532a742c172b2611209e4099f84d6)
The Billionaire’s Contract Bride
It was a stormy night when Tracey's world fell apart. She lost her father to the storm, and her mother, an alcoholic, blamed her for his death. Tracey worked at a coffee shop to make ends meet, but her life was far from perfect. She had a boyfriend, Tristan, but he was unfaithful, and she felt like
/0/52034/coverbig.jpg?v=d632bf45836ac000a0878458d160d080)
THE TWIN BILLIONAIRE’S BRIDE
A dangerous and forbidden love triangle ensues when Ruby Lakewood finds herself stuck between the famous Riverstone twins. . . Ruby Lakewood's life is going smoothly until her father suffers a heart attack because he's at the brink of losing all that he has worked for. In other to save her father a
/0/32881/coverbig.jpg?v=bc80c2fdf47a3aa4c8d2dfd213cbc55a)
Billionaire’s Runaway Bride
Carissa is caught between two worlds that mean a lot to her; Her family and her lover. She either get married to Ethan; the rich and wealthy billionaire’s son who have helped in her family financial crises. Or her lover and first love, Stan, who is struggling to attain financial stability. Stan lea
/0/49748/coverbig.jpg?v=80db78e76b5ed70ecca96dd2d9d7845d)
Billionaire’s One-Night-Stand Bride
Ixora Benedict, a very shy young lady who was well endowed, considered fat by females but sexually objectified by males. She was full of love, loved to show affection openly and dreamed of having a family someday. She had been in a few relationships but none was genuine. They couldn’t see past her f
/0/54963/coverbig.jpg?v=577f3c30b5c194d3127a7068a5bf8a09)
The Billionaire’s Assistant.
Looking out for him, taking care of him, and prioritizing him are her daily goals. She is like his slave, but little does she know that she started falling for him already. Can her love end up with something positive? Or it will end up with nothing?
/0/45375/coverbig.jpg?v=45534e54ad36109b6f207435dbe4052f)
The Billionaire’s Fate
"When Liam is ostracized by his wife's family for being poor, he sets out on a path to success, becoming wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. He decides to start up a business with the help of his uncle, and fortunately for him the business booms. Fate plays a game on him and he gets to reunite with
/0/49392/coverbig.jpg?v=998d0fdf57b6e92f9f8f94df98806e2d)
The Billionaire’s Secret Affair
Zendaya is a shy but smart young woman who finds herself weaving through the intricacies of life. A graduate with no job and losing her father at the age of eight with a crippled mother to take care of, life does not go well for her as she struggles with bills and responsibilities. Getting a surpris
/0/44663/coverbig.jpg?v=dc7e17fffeb00d7e9564975a591e3b4b)
The Billionaire’s Trapped Wife
"Did you think you could just leave like that after getting married to me?" Blaine Sinclair's voice cut through the air, freezing the room. Yazmin's heart raced as his gaze locked onto her. "We are married, Yazmin, and you cannot walk out of this marriage unless I let you." … In the glisterin
/0/50106/coverbig.jpg?v=20240206171822)
Carrying the Billionaire’s Heir
Hot Billionaire Series #6 Carrying the Billionaire’s Heir Binge and read more with the hot billionaire series! Find out how the second daughter of the Heartwell family fight for her life and correct her past mistakes.
/0/60925/coverbig.jpg?v=c0ea26fa6b3e9ccb6273ebe44463a9e0)
The Billionaire’s Nerdy Secretary
Jayce Smith randomly meets Evelyn Thomas, who is hiding her identity. After her secret is exposed, he forces her to stay with him. They engage in a battle of wits and courage: Evelyn defies the world, and Jayce vows to spoil her. They are close but each has their own secrets. As the internal strugg
/0/41139/coverbig.jpg?v=05c2d07fea1609114a9faa044efab093)
The Billionaire’s Secret Crush
Olivia has only been in love once, and it didn't end well it only led her to becoming a single mom, not that she doesn't love her daughter if there's one good thing the relationship gave her it's Aria her 7yr old daughter. She has sworn off love and focused on her daughter and her business and has n
/0/33736/coverbig.jpg?v=a7db8eb0928dd52f94ecad85f258c761)
Billionaire’s proposal
He was my first love. Shattered me, then left without a goodbye. Eight years have passed, and now he's back. But, I'm engaged. And he will do anything to make sure I'm his...again. I've fought hard to rebuild my life. So when the ever-so-perfect Julian Baker proposes marriage, I'm ready to forget t
/0/47855/coverbig.jpg?v=20260525191148)
The Billionaire’s Betrayal
Allyson a 22 years old lady with lots of ambition. She grew up with zero knowledge about her real mom .She craved the love of a mother while growing up but she never had anyone to fill up that space. Her step mother whom she lived with only made her life miserable . Allyson was a product of a o
/0/37328/coverbig.jpg?v=5b463c799d0aef8b42d14cb745636fd2)
The Billionaire’s Unexpected Baby
Luna Hadid, a young woman with an average background has just gotten promoted to being a full-time worker and was to celebrate with her Boss and other workers. “Do you drink?” She replied; “No Sir, I have zero tolerance for alcohol” “It doesn’t kill, just have a sip” She had no choice but to dri
/0/22199/coverbig.jpg?v=20220121164226)
The billionaire’s Maid
When Davina Dalton a desperate college student moves in with her alluring, arrogant and terrifying boss Aiden Smith. Her life takes a thrilling turn. With his caramel skin, deep brown eyes, defined jaws, masculinity and a mesmerizing voice, Aiden is irresistible. Davina is determined to uncover wh
/0/52623/coverbig.jpg?v=0a9221e5b3a5aac3e004ba96142f6b16)
The Billionaire’s Great Seducer
Liam's visit to Roseville town was to work on a project. The plan was to get everything done in two months: the construction of a wellness center. What Liam didn't expect was to get swindled by a con artist upon his arrival in Roseville. It was a deliberate approach. Delilah needed the money to pay
