Chapter 1
By day, I’m the landscape designer for the Castellan estate–by night, I’m Lucien Castellan’s dirty
little secret.
For four years, he’s been fucking me senseless in those gardens, whispering “I love you” every time he comes, making me believe I could be more than just his personal fuck doll–that maybe, just
maybe, I had a chance at becoming his wife.
Until he brought his legal wife, Lorelei Arceline, home.
The bitch takes rose thorns to my face, and Lucien doesn’t even blink.
She torches part of the garden and barely gets a scratch, but when I end up with third–degree burns
trying to put out her little tantrum fire, Lucien makes me grovel on my knees for three whole days
like it’s my fault.
Looking at her face–God, we could be twins–and watching how he actually gives a damn about her,
reality finally smacked me in the face:
I’m nothing but a slutty stand–in with her face.
A cheap whore he kept around because I reminded him of what he really wanted, and I was never
going to be anything more.
So I did what I should’ve done years ago–I got the hell out.
Funny thing is, word on the street now is that Lucien’s gone completely mental, tearing the city apart looking for me.
Selene’s POV
“Harold, my contract’s up in three days. I won’t be renewing.”
I looked at Harold, the butler, laying it all out there.
“You’ve been with the Castellan family for so many years. Are you really sure you don’t want to stay?” Harold’s face showed genuine regret.
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When Flowers Turn to Fire Watch Me Bloom Watch Him Burn.
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Chapter 1
I rolled up my sleeve, revealing the ugly scars covering my arm, and gave him a bitter smile. “The Castellans don’t need me anymore.”
Lucien and Lorelei were already engaged. His fiancée tortured me every chance she got, and he just sat back and watched. Why the hell should I stick around?
Harold sighed deeply but promised to keep my departure under wraps.
I headed back to the kitchen–had to make Lorelei’s breakfast.
Lorelei demanded I become her personal maid, and Lucien didn’t hesitate to demote me from landscape designer to her servant.
There was a time when Lucien actually cared about me. Back then, aside from tending the gardens, we shared meals from the same plate, fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms every night.
Now I was stuck doing all the dirty work for Lorelei.
When I brought her the pancakes and oatmeal she’d requested, Lorelei smirked with satisfaction.
She pretended to take a bite of oatmeal, then frowned dramatically. “This oatmeal tastes awful. Selene, you’re trying to get back at me, aren’t you?”
Before I could respond, she threw the scalding hot oatmeal all over me. I screamed as the burning mixture hit my skin, cold sweat breaking out across my back.
But she wasn’t done. Every dish on that table came flying at me–plates, bowls, everything.
The shattered pieces sliced through my exposed skin. Blood trickled down my forehead, and the burns on my arms that hadn’t even healed yet split open again.
I crouched on the floor helplessly, taking every bit of Lorelei’s assault.
All the noise brought Lucien storming out of his study.
He frowned and asked softly, “Lorelei, what’s wrong?”
See? There I was, bleeding and broken, and his first concern was still for her.
“Lucien! Selene made me disgusting oatmeal–I think she’s trying to poison me!” Lorelei ran to him, crying and clinging to his arm.
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When Flowers Turn to Fire:Watch Me Bloom.Watch Him Burn
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Chapter 1
Blood from my forehead was blurring my vision as I looked up at Lucien’s hazy figure. “Lucien, I
didn’t-”
But he didn’t believe a word I said. He pulled Lorelei close and snarled at me, “Selene, you’re nothing but my whore who I pay to keep house. Know your fucking place and stop trying to replace Lorelei, you pathetic little slut!”
“I know you’re allergic to shellfish, Selene. Mr. Stellan just sent over some fresh shrimp for me. Eat. Every. Single. Piece. Now.”
When I heard that, all the color drained from my face.
I was just a landscape designer who’d saved an injured Lucien out in the countryside, and he’d hired me at a generous salary to work at the Castellan estate.
I’d planned to just tend the gardens, but he was the one who wanted more. He took my body, stole
my heart, and now he was calling me nothing but his paid whore.
He knew damn well that shrimp could put me in the hospital, but because of one lie from Lorelei,
this is what he was putting me through.
The Castellan staff moved fast. They held me down, grabbed my chin, and started shoving piece
after piece of shrimp into my mouth.
Every time I tried to gag, they forced me to keep going. And Lucien–watching me suffer like
this–turned to Lorelei with the gentlest voice:
“Feel better now?”
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