Kieran stared at the pool doors, where he had unmistakably heard voices echoing earlier. But he wasn't going to deal with that right now. That could wait.
Instead, he looked down at Genesis—her chest rising and falling in heavy breaths, her back pressed firmly against his front. Though he had just finished fucking her, he could already feel himself stirring again.
He pressed his face into the curve of her neck, his large left hand gliding up to caress and squeeze her breast. She didn't resist. She simply leaned back into him, resting her head on his shoulder as she gazed up at the moonlight.
He pulled back slightly to look at her face, watching the way the silver glow danced in her eyes. His heart clenched.
She was so damn beautiful. And she was his.
He couldn't believe he'd once considered rejecting her—just because she wasn't his usual type. Now, the mere thought of not having her made his chest ache like madness creeping in.
His hand left her breast, gliding up the smooth slope of her neck. His fingers wrapped around her throat, slow and possessive. Her mouth parted slightly, but she didn't look away from the moon.
He shuddered.
Not because she flinched—because she didn't. She let him hold her like that, unafraid. She trusted him with her fragility.
His fingers flexed gently against her throat, feeling the steady flutter of her pulse. So delicate. So breakable. He could end her right here if he wanted to.
But God—he didn't want to.
He wanted to keep her. Own her. Drown in her.
He wanted to make sure no one else even looked at her again.
"Do you know what you do to me, little dove?" Kieran whispered, voice rough and hoarse. "You rewire my brain every time you breathe near me."
Genesis blinked slowly. Her lashes fluttered like butterfly wings. She didn't move. Didn't react. Just stared up at him with those wide, doe-like eyes.
"I could kill for you," he murmured, dragging his lips along the slope of her shoulder. "And I have. I will. Again and again. I'll snap necks with this same hand holding you... then come home and kiss your sweet little mouth with the blood still on me."
His breath caught, but his eyes gleamed—feral, unhinged, hungry.
"You were made for me, weren't you?" he whispered, his other hand rising to cup her face, forcing her to look at him. "Soft. Pure. Mine. You don't fight me… You just exist to keep me from losing my mind completely."
Her lips parted. Her chest rose faster now.
"You don't even need to speak to own me," he growled. "And that's fucking crazy. I'm yours."
And with that, he crashed his mouth onto hers—not soft, not tender, but searing. A kiss full of obsession, fire, and possession.
A kiss that screamed mine. Mine. Mine.
A kiss that promised she'd never escape.
The next day…
Damon was mid-sentence when Kieran cut him off.
"What was that about last night?" he asked casually, not looking up from the phone in his hand.
Damon stiffened.
"Last night? What do you mean?" His voice was careful—measured. He already knew Kieran wasn't in the best mood today. Hadn't been since morning.
Kieran finally looked up from his phone, his gaze cold.
"Should I have to explain myself?" he asked quietly.
Damon was silent for a beat. Then it clicked.
Of course Kieran had noticed.
Even balls-deep in his wife, the man never lost awareness of his surroundings. Damon had assumed he wouldn't notice he'd been in the pool area—with someone.
Damon smiled, trying to play it off, to bury the truth.
He didn't want to admit what had happened.
Didn't want to imagine having to end the life behind those angry, pretty gray eyes.
Wait. Pretty gray eyes?
He tensed.
What the hell? Why did I think her eyes were pretty?
He shook the thought away. Whatever. He didn't want the Kitten to die...yet .There was just… something more he needed to know.
"It was nothing serious," Damon said with a shrug, careful to keep his tone light. "I just saw a maid heading that way last night and stopped her from interrupting you."
Kieran's gaze lifted slowly, sharp and unblinking. His eyes locked on Damon like a predator sizing up its prey. His face remained still, but Damon knew that look—Kieran was analyzing every twitch, every flicker of emotion.
Kieran was the kind of man who could smell a lie before it even hit the air.
Damon fought the urge to shift his weight.
"Which maid, Fang?" Kieran asked, voice calm, but the use of Damon's underground name made his blood run cold.
He never used that name unless the situation was deadly serious.
Damon didn't flinch.
If he said the name—if he said her name—that maid was as good as dead.
"Katherine," Damon lied smoothly, his tone easy.
Kieran stared at him for another long second. Then, without a word, he looked back down at his phone.
"Okay."
Damon let out a barely audible breath.
He knew what "okay" meant with Kieran. It didn't mean forgiveness. It meant: If I find out you're lying, I will remove a part of you that you probably need.
He opened his mouth to say something else—he wasn't sure what—when the office doors burst open.
Carlos stormed in without knocking. Julian followed close behind, both pale and tight-jawed.
Under normal circumstances, that alone would've earned them a bullet to the foot, maybe two.
But the expressions on their faces made even Kieran pause.
Carlos didn't speak. He just slammed a tablet down in front of Kieran.
"You need to see this," he said, breath short. "It's everywhere."
Kieran frowned slightly. Damon stepped closer, just in time to catch the headline from Veritas Now, the biggest viral news app in the country.
BREAKING: SHOCKING TWIST—Blackwood Heir SECRETLY MARRIED to Late Anthony Caldwell's Daughter!
Inside the Forbidden Union of Kieran Blackwood & Genesis Caldwell
The country's most notorious bachelor, ruthless CEO of Blackwood Enterprises and Forbes' reigning "Most Desired Man," is officially off the market... and it's not who you think.
In a bombshell leak that's set social media ablaze, sources confirm Kieran Blackwood has been secretly married for months to Genesis Caldwell, the only daughter of the late Anthony Caldwell, founder of Caldwell Tech.
Even more chilling? Insiders claim the marriage wasn't just private... but forced. Rumors suggest the heiress was taken into Blackwood custody and married against her will, days after her father's funeral.
A photo has surfaced, showing the two in an intimate moment—fueling public outrage and calls for a formal investigation by multiple human rights organizations.
Who is Genesis Caldwell?
A former debutante lost to the public eye, Genesis disappeared as a child after her father's death. No records. No appearances. Not a single trace. Until now.
This is her first public sighting in over a decade… and it's beside the most attractive and infamous man in the country.
Developing story: What else is Blackwood hiding? How deep does the corruption go? And… Why has Genesis Caldwell remained silent all this time?
Silence fell over the room like a noose.
Kieran didn't move.
Didn't blink.
His thumb slowly scrolled down the screen—until he saw it.
The photo.
A candid shot. Genesis, her body flush against his, his mouth on her neck. It looked raw. Possessive. Intimate.
Undeniable.
"Shit," Damon muttered, jaw clenching.
Julian cursed under his breath. "Boss… this is already viral. Every major platform. Every news network. They've tagged Caldwell Tech, Blackwood Enterprises, even the Human Rights Tribunal."
Still, Kieran didn't speak.
His eyes stayed glued to the screen, black and unreadable.
And then the tablet cracked slightly under his grip.
When he finally spoke, his voice was soft—too soft.
"Who. Leaked. This?"