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Mariane thought she had lost everything the day her mother was found dead by the roadside. Grief consumed her, leaving her with no choice but to accept a loveless marriage to Heinrich Volkov—a powerful, ruthless man with secrets as dark as his cold green eyes.

But just when she begins to accept her fate, the truth unravels.

Her mother’s death wasn’t an accident. The investigation takes a shocking turn, revealing clues that suggest she might still be alive. The deeper Mariane digs, the more the shadows close in around her. And the worst part?

Heinrich might have known all along.

Betrayal cuts deeper than any blade, and as Mariane pieces together the puzzle, she realizes that the man she shares a bed with—the man who watches her every move—is keeping far more than just business secrets.

Was she forced into this marriage to be protected? Or was she trapped to be controlled?

And if her mother is alive…

Why hasn’t she come back for her?

As Mariane’s world spirals into a web of deceit, power, and deadly desire, she’s left with only one choice: trust Heinrich, or destroy him.

But how do you fight the devil when you’re already falling for him?



THE HAUNTED HEART OF LIES

As the sun dipped below the trees, casting a soft golden hue across the horizon, it still felt surreal to me. Heinrich was awake. Alive. Breathing. Talking. Smiling. And above all... he loved me. My heart still fluttered every time I thought about it. I felt like some teenage girl with a crush, the way my cheeks constantly warmed, and my stomach danced with butterflies. It was ridiculous—adorable and ridiculous. 


Heinrich, the man with the most confusing, infuriating personality—the same man who could be cold as ice in one moment and heartbreakingly tender in the next—had confessed that he loved me. And I believed him. Despite all the walls he’d built around himself, despite the hard exterior, somewhere in the midst of all that complexity, I had found his heart. Or maybe it had found me first. I didn’t know. I just knew that this moment, right now, sitting beside him on our bed, hearing his voice, feeling his presence—it felt like a second chance at everything we almost lost. 


CHAPTER 38