Bound by Secrets

Bound by Secrets

techiveusa · Ongoing · 211.0k Words

784
Hot
784
Views
235
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Lila Anderson never thought fairy tales could exist, but when she enters a contract marriage with the reticent billionaire Ethan Cross, she finds herself in a nightmare from which she is unable to free herself. Lila believed she understood everything there was to know about her new husband and herself, but Ethan's world is murky and full of secrets and whispers.

Upon arriving at Ethan's vast, desolate estate, Lila soon found out that their marriage is more than a mere business deal—it's a risky game. Ethan's trying to escape a formidable foes against him, and their marriage contract is an integral part of a grander and more perilous scheme.

Navigating a labyrinth of deceit, vengeance, and passion, Lila and Ethan find themselves caught between trust and betrayal, with the power to rescue them or lead them to their downfall depending on their actions. Yet, Lila's own sinister links to the plot in which they are entangled become apparent as she exposes Ethan's carefully built veneer.

However, she's also in the sights of their pursuers, not only Ethan. Ignoring the one thing that can rescue them both—a love that was never meant to be—or trusting the guy who started it all is Lila's survival or death.

Chapter 1

Lila Anderson occupied the elegant although impersonal office, sitting stiffly and staring at the document in front of her. The elegant pen she was holding felt far heavier than it ought to have. 

Beside her, her father, Charles Anderson, towered over her, his presence as uncompromising as the circumstances he had forced upon her. 

Charles encouraged her, “Lila, this is our only chance of survival,” the look on his face caressing the scream of desperation in his voice.

Lila's chest tightened as she attempted to reconcile her emotions, giving a deep sigh. She was not interested in the contract—she didn't want to give herself to a man she knows nothing about, whose stories have been that of unpleasant mysteries.

Ethan Cross was a name that evoked equal great respect, dread, and curiosity, but to Lila, he was little more than a stranger. The things she'd heard portrayed a picture of a cold, calculating businessman who rarely expressed his actual feelings. 

Her family had fallen from grace quickly and brutally. The Andersons were once the envy of their peers, with money and influence spanning multiple cities. However, poor investments, a collapsing economy, and a string of terrible occurrences had reduced them to mere shadows of their former selves. Debts accumulated, and creditors hovered like vultures. 

Charles Anderson, a proud man, had attempted to preserve their history, but his efforts only served to hasten their demise. The Andersons were on the verge of disaster, and this marriage was their last, desperate hope. 

Ethan Cross made an unexpected offer, and the terms were almost too good to be true. Too good, Lila reasoned, because they were. She saw that whatever was beneath the surface of this deal was considerably more harmful than her father was ready to admit.

Lila's mother died when she was still a kid, leaving her to grow up in her father's harsh, emotionless environment. Charles was a businessman; love was not a currency he dealt in. Lila grew up surrounded by icy elegance, learning at a young age that duty came before desire. But she never dreamed that duty would call for a marriage of convenience with a man like Ethan Cross. 

She looked at her father, noting that the hard lines on his face had become deeper with anxiety and time. He was a man who had battled tooth and nail to keep their family's status, and the weight of his failures weighed heavily on him now.

Lila experienced a twinge of guilt. She'd never been able to meet his expectations, never been the daughter he expected. This marriage was his final hope, and she couldn't bring herself to end it, even if it meant giving up her own happiness. 

Lila's pulse skipped a beat as the office door creaked open quietly. Ethan Cross entered, immediately controlling the room. Tall and immaculately dressed, he emanated a cool, controlled assurance that sent shivers down Lila's spine. His dark hair was nicely brushed, and his piercing grey eyes scanned through the room before settling down on her.

"Lila," he nodded to her, his voice velvety soft but with a sharp edge that pierced the atmosphere. "Mr. Anderson." With deliberate and calculated movements, Ethan moved like a man who was always three steps ahead. He sat down opposite Lila, his eyes never leaving hers. 

She sensed the weight of his scrutiny, as though he was evaluating her and determining her value in ways that were beyond her comprehension. 

"It's a simple contract," Ethan stated, passing her a second copy. "But there are certain aspects you should be aware of."

Lila reached for the document, her fingers shaking, then stopped and looked at her father. He nodded slightly to her, his face expression vague. Taking a deep breath, Lila opened the contract and skimmed over the legalese that merged into one in her mind. 

Everything, including the terms and conditions, and their respective roles under the contract was simply spelt out in details.

But as she approached the finish line, she felt something else that made her heart race. Ethan made a short step forward and remarked in a hushed, almost mischievous tone. 

"This is not just an ordinary marriage, Lila. The papers before you contain in them some secret consequences that you’ll come to find out later. You don't understand what they are right now, but you definitely will, sooner or later." 

As Lila's mind raced, the room looked to shrink, with walls closing in on her.

She looked up at Ethan to see maybe she could grasp a hint of what he meant from his expression, but his face was a mask. She could only see what he wanted her to see. 

"What do you mean?" Lila asked, her voice just above a whisper, filled with curiosity. 

But Ethan replied, with a small smirk on his face, "All is fine, he winked. All you just have to do now is sign the papers.”

Lila grabbed the pen to sign, her hands shaking heavily. Her instincts whispers to her to reject it and flee. But what could she really do? The sense of duty and devotion to family, and the weight of her father’s expectations that had clinged on her for as long as she could remember held her back.

She sighed! A feeling of closure washed over her as the drew out the pen to sign. She felt the door to a life she once knew closed, and another where she didn't know will end opened.

After signing the contract, Ethan leaned over the table to retrieve the papers, her father gave a relief sigh.

“Welcome to the family Mrs. Cross”, he nodded, with a small grin on his lips that didn't get to his face.

Lila narrowed her gaze on the man that just became wedded to. She couldn't believe what had just happened to her, unable to shake off the ominous feelings that perplexed her. She gnashed her teeth.

Ethan stood up to go away, but hesitated and gave her a look that hinted at things to come—something she wasn't sure she was prepared to face. With a silky as ever voice, he remarked, "Remember, Lila, this is just the beginning."

He then walked away, leaving Lila to bear the consequences of her own choice. She remained bound in her seat for a long time, confused of what to think or say. 

What exactly had she consented to signing the contract? What were the hidden meanings underlying the words she hardly knew? 

As she sat there, the ink on the contract was still drying, Lila knew her life would never be the same again. She'd entered into a marriage that was far more than a contract. Every step she made drew her deeper into the dark and twisted center of this labyrinth of secrets.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms

After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms

826.7k Views · Ongoing · Louisa
From first crush to wedding vows, George Capulet and I had been inseparable. But in our seventh year of marriage, he began an affair with his secretary.

On my birthday, he took her on vacation. On our anniversary, he brought her to our home and made love to her in our bed...

Heartbroken, I tricked him into signing divorce papers.

George remained unconcerned, convinced I would never leave him.

His deceptions continued until the day the divorce was finalized. I threw the papers in his face: "George Capulet, from this moment on, get out of my life!"

Only then did panic flood his eyes as he begged me to stay.

When his calls bombarded my phone later that night, it wasn't me who answered, but my new boyfriend Julian.

"Don't you know," Julian chuckled into the receiver, "that a proper ex-boyfriend should be as quiet as the dead?"

George seethed through gritted teeth: "Put her on the phone!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible."

Julian dropped a gentle kiss on my sleeping form nestled against him. "She's exhausted. She just fell asleep."
Omega Bound

Omega Bound

820.3k Views · Completed · Veronica White
Ayla Frost is a beautiful, rare omega. Kidnapped, tortured, and trafficked to rogue clans and corrupt alphas to do with as they pleased.  Kept alive in her cage, broken and abandoned by her wolf, she becomes mute and has given up on hope for a better life until one explosion changes everything. 

Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life. 

Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
The Prison Project

The Prison Project

747.6k Views · Ongoing · Bethany Donaghy
The government's newest experiment in criminal rehabilitation - sending thousands of young women to live alongside some of the most dangerous men held behind bars...

Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?

Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.

Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.

Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...

At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…

Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?

Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?

What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…

A temperamental romance novel.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

569.8k Views · Completed · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!
Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

215.9k Views · Ongoing · Becky j
"Mate is here!"
What? No—wait… oh Moon Goddess, no.
Please tell me you're joking, Lex.
But she's not. I can feel her excitement bubbling under my skin, while all I feel is dread.
We turn the corner, and the scent hits me like a punch to the chest—cinnamon and something impossibly warm. My eyes scan the room until they land on him. Tall. Commanding. Beautiful.
And then, just as quickly… he sees me.
His expression twists.
"Fuck no."
He turns—and runs.
My mate sees me and runs.
Bonnie has spent her entire life being broken down and abused by the people closest to her including her very own twin sister. Alongside her best friend Lilly who also lives a life of hell, they plan to run away while attending the biggest ball of the year while it's being hosted by another pack, only things don't quite go to plan leaving both girls feeling lost and unsure about their futures.
Alpha Nicholas is 28, mateless, and has no plans to change that. It's his turn to host the annual Blue Moon Ball this year and the last thing he expects is to find his mate. What he expects even less is for his mate to be 10 years younger than him and how his body reacts to her. While he tries to refuse to acknowledge that he has met his mate his world is turned upside down after guards catch two she-wolves running through his lands.
Once they are brought to him he finds himself once again facing his mate and discovers that she's hiding secrets that will make him want to kill more than one person.
Can he overcome his feelings towards having a mate and one that is so much younger than him? Will his mate want him after already feeling the sting of his unofficial rejection? Can they both work on letting go of the past and moving forward together or will fate have different plans and keep them apart?
I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

328.8k Views · Completed · Jessica C. Dolan
Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé.
Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?
Wrong.
One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn’t even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.
So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster—my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.
Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.
Enter him.
Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I’d met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.
It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.
But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.
And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made.
Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.
And now, he’s not letting me go.
The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride

The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride

398.2k Views · Ongoing · Riley Above Story
On the day Evelyn thought Liam would propose, he shocked her by getting down on one knee—for her stepsister, Samantha. As if that betrayal wasn’t enough, Evelyn learned the cruel truth: her parents had already decided to sell one daughter’s future to a dangerous man: the infamous War God Alpha Alexander, who was rumored to be scarred and crippled after a recent accident. And the bride could’t be their precious daughter Samantha. However, when the "ugly and crippled" Alpha revealed his true self—an impossibly handsome billionaire with no trace of injury—Samantha had a change of heart. She was ready to dump Liam and take Evelyn's place as the family daughter who should marry Alexander.
Yet Alexander made his decision clear to the world: “Evelyn is the only woman I will ever marry.”
Invisible To Her Bully

Invisible To Her Bully

157.3k Views · Ongoing · sunsationaldee
Unlike her twin brother, Jackson, Jessa struggled with her weight and very few friends. Jackson was an athlete and the epitome of popularity, while Jessa felt invisible. Noah was the quintessential “It” guy at school—charismatic, well-liked, and undeniably handsome. To make matters worse, he was Jackson’s best friend and Jessa’s biggest bully. During their senior year, Jessa decides it was time for her to gain some self-confidence, find her true beauty and not be the invisible twin. As Jessa transformed, she begins to catch the eye of everyone around her, especially Noah. Noah, initially blinded by his perception of Jessa as merely Jackson’s sister, started to see her in a new light. How did she become the captivating woman invading his thoughts? When did she become the object of his fantasies? Join Jessa on her journey from being the class joke to a confident, desirable young woman, surprising even Noah as she reveals the incredible person she has always been inside.
My Possessive Alpha Twins For Mate

My Possessive Alpha Twins For Mate

764.7k Views · Completed · Veejay
"No... You can't do this to me..." I almost squeezed the words through my teeth, my voice trembling.
My drunk stepfather remained indifferent, his weight suffocating, making it hard to breathe as my heart raced.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, and two figures burst in.
"Get off her!" a deafening roar echoed.
I didn't expect the twin brothers who'd bullied me at school to come charging in like gods to save me.
After my grandmother passed, I had to move in with my mom and stepdad, who treated me like a servant. I prayed every day for my 18th birthday to come, so l could leave and escape this broken home.
However, on my first day at my new school, l encountered the legendary twins everyone feared.
To make matters worse, the Moon Goddess revealed they were both my mates!
After helping me out with my stepdad, my twin mate cornered me, played with my hair, and whispered possessively, "You belong to us, our little mate..."
Rise of the Banished She-Wolf

Rise of the Banished She-Wolf

135.1k Views · Completed · Lily
"White wolf! Kill that monster!"
That roar stole my eighteenth birthday and shattered my world. My first shift should have been glory—blood turned blessing into shame. By dawn they'd branded me "cursed": cast out by my pack, abandoned by family, stripped of my nature. My father didn't defend me—he sent me to a forsaken island where wolfless outcasts were forged into weapons, forced to kill each other until only one could leave.
On that island I learned the darkest edges of humanity and how to bury terror in bone. Countless times I wanted to surrender—dive into the waves and never surface—but the accusing faces that haunted my dreams pushed me back toward something colder than survival: revenge. I escaped, and for three years I hid among humans, collecting secrets, learning to move like a shadow, sharpening patience into precision—becoming a blade.
Then, under a full moon, I touched a bleeding stranger—and my wolf returned with a violence that made me whole. Who was he? Why could he wake what I'd thought dead?
One thing I know: now is the time.
I have waited three years for this. I will make everyone who destroyed me pay—and take back everything that was stolen from me.
The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate

The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate

118.6k Views · Completed · Ray Nhedicta
I can't breathe. Every touch, every kiss from Tristan set my body on fire, drowning me in a sensation I shouldn't have wanted—especially not that night.
"You're like a sister to me."
Those were the actual words that broke the camel's back.
Not after what just happened. Not after the hot, breathless, soul-shaking night we spent tangled in each other's arms.
I knew from the beginning that Tristan Hayes was a line I shouldn't cross.
He wasn't just anyone, he was my brother's best friend. The man I spent years secretly wanting.
But that night... we were broken. We had just buried our parents. And the grief was too heavy, too real...so I begged him to touch me.
To make me forget. To fill the silence that death left behind.
And he did. He held me like I was something fragile.
Kissed me like I was the only thing he needed to breathe.
Then left me bleeding with six words that burned deeper than rejection ever could.
So, I ran. Away from everything that cost me pain.
Now, five years later, I'm back.
Fresh from rejecting the mate who abused me. Still carrying the scars of a pup I never got to hold.
And the man waiting for me at the airport isn't my brother.
It's Tristan.
And he's not the guy I left behind.
He's a biker.
An Alpha.
And when he looked at me, I knew there was no where else to run to.
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

610.6k Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.