THE VALENTINE PROPOSAL
Liora Jovan's life shatters the moment she catches her boyfriend cheating, her Valentine proposal ruined. In a reckless act of humiliation and fury, she proposes to a stranger in the lobby... who turns out to be Everett Montague, her ex's billionaire boss. Amused and dangerously charming, Everett offers a fake three-month engagement to serve his own needs-and her revenge.
The rules are clear: no real feelings, separate lives, public affection only. When fake turns into something intoxicatingly real, a buried secret threatens to tear them apart.
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Chapter 2
LIORA
Before I could process what just happened, Everett Montague grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the elevator. Flynn tried to follow but the bodyguards blocked his path.
"Mr. Montague, please, I can explain,"Flynn called out.
Everett didn't even look back. We stepped into the elevator together and the doors closed on Flynn's panicked face. I stood there holding the ring box, my brain trying to catch up with my mouth. What the hell did I just do?
"I'm so sorry,"I blurted out. "I don't know what came over me. I just caught my boyfriend cheating and I wasn't thinking straight and I saw you and I just—"
"Proposed to a complete stranger in front of fifty witnesses?"Everett's lips twitched like he was holding back a laugh.
"Yes."My face burned with embarrassment. "I'm really sorry. You can just forget this happened. I'll tell everyone it was a joke or a prank or—"
"Why would I do that?"
I blinked at him. "What?"
The elevator doors opened on the top floor. Everett led me down a hallway with glass walls overlooking the city. We stopped at a massive conference room. He held the door open and gestured for me to go inside.
I hesitated. This man was a billionaire CEO. He could do anything to me right now and nobody would believe my side of the story. But he looked more amused than he would cause me danger, so I entered, my mind going a million thoughts per second.
"Sit,"he said.
I sat. He took the chair across from me.
"You just publicly proposed to me in my own building,"he said. "That takes either courage or insanity."
"Insanity,"I said, quickly. "I had no idea it was you. I just wanted Flynn to stop following me."
He smiled. "Tell me what happened."
I told him about planning the proposal for two months, buying the ring, booking the Maldives tickets, and walking into Flynn's office to find him with Sage. When I was done, I 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 better. It was like I had relived the entire scene.
"Flynn West,"Everett said, his voice cold now. "Your boyfriend is my executive assistant."
"I know. I'm the one who got him the job actually."I looked down at my hands. "My friend works in HR."
"Interesting."Everett pulled out his phone and typed something. "He's been impressing me lately with marketing concepts. I wondered where the sudden burst of talent came from."
My head snapped up. "What do you mean?"
"Those weren't his ideas, were they?"
The realization sunk in. So he wasn't just cheating on me. He also took credit for my ideas to get to the top. "I helped him with a few presentations. He said he wanted my input because I have a marketing degree and he valued my opinion."
"He stole your work and passed it off as his own."Everett's jaw tightened. "For how long?"
"Six months maybe?"My voice came out small. "He always asked me to look over his presentations. I thought I was being supportive."
"You were being used."
The words stung because they were true. I'd spent three years putting Flynn first, helping him succeed, sacrificing my own career advancement so he could shine.
I closed my eyes. This was the third time today I was shutting my tears in. "I'm an idiot,"I whispered.
"You're not an idiot. You trusted someone who didn't deserve it."Everett leaned forward. "But that proposal in the lobby? "That was perfect timing."His gray eyes met mine. "I have a proposition for you."
My stomach flipped. "What kind of proposition?"
"Let's do a fake engagement for three months. I want to avoid my parents' matchmaking attempts, I help you get revenge on Flynn."
I stared at him, my mouth hanging loose.
He tapped his fingers on the table. "My parents have been trying to marry me off to Diella Ashford for five years. She's from old money, well connected, everything they think I need in a wife. The problem is I don't love her. I don't even like her. But they won't stop pushing until I'm engaged to someone else."
I finally found my voice. "So you want to use me as a shield."
"And you want to make Flynn regret ever betraying you. This arrangement benefits both of us."
I should have said no. But the thought of Flynn seeing me with someone like Everett Montague, seeing me happy and successful while he rotted in his guilt, that thought was too tempting.
"What would this arrangement involve?"I asked carefully.
"They'll be a lot of public appearances. The media would be heavily invested. You would meet my family, and you'd need to move into my penthouse to make it convincing."
"This is insane,"was my reply.
A chuckle left his lips and I nearly melted. "You proposed to a stranger in a corporate lobby. If that's not insane, I don't know what else it is. Finally, You'd receive fifteen thousand dollars a month as compensation. After three months we have a quiet breakup and go our separate ways."
My mouth hung open again. I'd never seen that amount of money in my life before.
"Any questions?"
I shook my head.
"Any remarks?"
I leaned forward. "Don't you think this would be awkward since Flynn works for you?"
He waved dismissively. "Oh, about that. He's getting a transfer to the site office in Chicago. He'll be far from both of us." His voice was cold.
"I need to think about it,"I said.
"Take your time."Everett stood up. "But not too much time. My mother is already calling about meeting my mystery fiancée. News travels fast in this building."
Before I could respond, someone pounded on the conference room door.
"Liora, please. I need to talk to you. Mr. Montague, please let me explain."
I sighed. Flynn.
Everett looked at me. "Do you want me to have security remove him?"
I looked at the door. Flynn at the other side, begging for another chance because he saw that I piqued his boss interest, then I looked back at Everett Montague with his expensive suit and amused gray eyes and completely insane proposal.
"I accept your deal,"I said.
"Excellent."He walked to the door and opened it. Flynn stumbled inside.
"Liora, thank God. Listen to me. Sage means nothing. It was a stupid mistake. I love you. I want to marry you. Please don't do this."
Never have I ever met a more confused bloody liar.
Flynn gestured wildly at Everett. "You don't even know him. This is crazy. You're just upset and acting out but we can fix this…"
"I said yes,"Everett interrupted. " We're engaged."
Flynn's mouth fell open. "You can't be serious."
Everett's hand circled around my waist and pulled me against him. "Isn't that right, darling?"
My heart hammered in my chest. This was really happening. I was really doing this. "Yes,"I managed to say. "We're engaged."
"Liora, you're being ridiculous,"Flynn snapped. "You met him five minutes ago. This is insane."
"You're right,"I said. "It is insane. But you know what else is insane? Finding out the man I loved for three years has been cheating on me for months while stealing my work to advance his own career."
Flynn's face went pale. "I didn't—"
"Save it. We're done. I'm moving on." My eyes landed on Everett's lips.
Everett's hand tightened on my waist. Then he did something I didn't expect. He leaned down and kissed me.
It was supposed to be for show. But the moment his lips touched mine, electricity shot through my entire body. My hands came up to his chest, feeling the expensive fabric of his suit, the solid chest underneath.
I wanted more of him, and he pushed me closer to him to deepen the kiss. My entire body was on fire.
Flynn's face crumbled. "Liora—"
"The engagement announcement goes out tomorrow,"Everett said, his voice cold again. His hand never left my waist. "Clear your desk, Flynn. You're transferred to the Chicago office. Effective immediately."
Flynn's mouth opened and closed. No words came out. He looked at me one last time, his eyes pleading. I looked away.
"Get out,"Everett said.
Flynn left. The door slammed behind him.
I stood there in Everett Montague's arms, my lips still tingling from the kiss, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might explode. What did I just agree to?
Everett's hand was still on my waist. His thumb moved in small circles against my hip, sending shivers up my spine. "Pack your things,"he said, his voice low. "You're moving in tonight."
"Tonight?"My voice came out breathless.
"We need to make this convincing. The faster we move, the more real it looks."His gray eyes met mine. "Unless you've changed your mind?"
"I haven't changed my mind,"I said.
"Good."Everett finally stepped back, breaking the contact between us. "I'll send a car for you at seven. Pack light. You can buy whatever else you need."
"Okay,"I whispered.
He walked to the door, then paused. "And Liora, Welcome to the family."
Then he was gone and I was alone in the conference room, my lips still tingling, my heart still racing, wondering what the hell I just got myself into.
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8.3
I was the long-lost Donovan heiress, finally brought home after a childhood in foster care. My parents adored me, my husband cherished me, and the woman who tried to ruin my life, Kiera Reese, was locked away in a mental facility. I was safe. I was loved.
On my birthday, I decided to surprise my husband, Ivan, at his office. But he wasn't there.
I found him at a private art gallery across town. He was with Kiera.
She wasn't in a facility. She was radiant, laughing as she stood beside my husband and their five-year-old son. I watched through the glass as Ivan kissed her, a familiar, loving gesture he’d used with me just that morning.
I crept closer and overheard them. My birthday wish to go to the amusement park had been denied because he’d already promised the entire park to their son—whose birthday was the same day as mine.
"She’s so grateful to have a family, she’d believe anything we tell her," Ivan said, his voice laced with a cruelty that stole my breath. "It's almost sad."
My entire reality—my loving parents who funded this secret life, my devoted husband—was a five-year lie. I was just the fool they kept on stage.
My phone buzzed. It was a text from Ivan, sent while he stood with his real family.
"Just got out of the meeting. So exhausting. I miss you."
The casual lie was the final blow. They thought I was a pathetic, grateful orphan they could control.
They were about to find out just how wrong they were.
7.8
Elie Joyce’s entire life was controlled by Ebert Ewing, a ruthless billionaire who held her sick grandmother's survival and her family's freedom in his hands.
But on a freezing, stormy night, he forced her into a scandalous scrap of red silk and handed her over to a notorious, disgusting predator.
"You aren't an escort. You're just a free gift."
Ebert mocked her, using her as a disposable bargaining chip to secure a corporate funding round.
When the predator humiliated her, forced high-proof vodka down her throat, and violently pinned her to the floor, Ebert simply watched with dead eyes.
And when Ebert finally intervened to brutally beat the man, it wasn't out of mercy.
"She is my property. Even if she is trash that I threw away, a filthy pig like you doesn't get to touch her."
Afterward, he dragged her battered, barefoot body into his car, only to kick her out into the torrential rain, leaving her on the dark streets to die.
Standing in the storm, shivering and bleeding from broken glass, the last shred of Elie's hope shattered.
She had sacrificed her dignity and soul, enduring his violent bites and cruel control, just to keep her family alive.
Why did she have to suffer this endless, twisted humiliation for a psychopath who only saw her as trash?
But she didn't break.
Tearing a strip of his expensive shirt to bandage her bleeding foot, Elie gripped her broken stiletto like a knife.
With her eyes turning cold and calculating, she limped out of the shadows.
She was going to survive, and Ebert Ewing would soon realize she was no longer his obedient prey.
9.6
Brenda Vincent thought her biggest nightmare was catching her boyfriend cheating with her roommate on her own sofa.
But her life truly derailed after a drunken night led her into the bed of Bryon Reeves, the ruthless billionaire CEO and older brother of the student she tutored.
Trying to pay off the most dangerous man in New York with a crumpled twenty-dollar bill was her first mistake.
Fleeing the hotel, she accidentally rear-ended his custom Maybach. Bryon used the massive repair bill to blackmail her into being his fake date, parading her at a gala just to make his sister-in-law jealous.
When Brenda finally snapped and fled the humiliation, only to be rescued by his biggest corporate rival, Bryon's twisted possessiveness turned completely destructive.
"If you feel kidnapped, call the police. But your teaching license will be permanently revoked."
He didn't just threaten her. He systematically dismantled her life, using his influence to force the university to freeze her tenure and suspend her without pay.
Brenda couldn't understand why this terrifying man was going to such extreme lengths to ruin a simple tutor who just wanted to be left alone.
Now, stripped of her career, her income, and her independence, she was forced into the sprawling Reeves Manor.
Hearing the heavy mahogany door lock from the outside in her signal-jammed bedroom, Brenda's panic slowly morphed into a cold, clinical rage.
She was trapped, but she refused to be his helpless pawn.
8.4
For twenty years, I lived as the adopted daughter of the wealthy Hill family.
But today, they forced me to sign a severance agreement and kicked me out so their precious biological daughter, Malia, could marry my fiancé.
To ruin me completely, they framed me for stealing Malia's engagement bracelet, threatening me with prison.
I calmly exposed the "sapphire" as cheap glass, then rolled up my sleeves to show the reporters my scarred, punctured arms.
For two decades, I wasn't a daughter. I was Malia's living blood and bone marrow bank.
They drained my health to keep her alive, even ordering doctors to ignore my failing organs just so she could attend a gala.
"Take this million dollars and shut your mouth," my adoptive father sneered, throwing a check at my feet.
My ex-fiancé looked at me with disgust, and Malia screamed that I was a crazy, vindictive liar.
They had stolen my life and my health, yet they still looked down on me like I was garbage.
I ripped the check into pieces and threw it in their faces.
Just as they ordered the butler to drag me out, a group of men in black suits shattered the chaos.
The heir of the untouchable Montgomery dynasty stepped through the door, ignoring the Hills' fawning, and handed me a DNA report.
I wasn't a disposable blood bag. I was the long-lost true heiress of old New York money.
And now, I was going to take back everything they stole from me.
8.1
Arnetta had been married to a wealthy man for three years, but she had never even seen his face.
After a wild night of drinking, she woke up in a hotel room next to a handsome, ruthless stranger.
He coldly kicked her out, mocking her as just another desperate woman trying to sleep her way to the top.
To her shock, she soon discovered the stranger was Brennan Kirkland—her firm's top-tier client and a legendary Wall Street billionaire.
Hiding her true identity as a corporate spy, she manipulated her way into becoming his executive assistant to steal his data.
During a business dinner, Arnetta received a humiliating text from her absent husband, demanding a divorce and calling her a greedy parasite.
"He is a deadbeat coward who thinks money solves everything," Arnetta spat in anger.
"A man who hides behind lawyers is weak," Brennan agreed coldly.
He had absolutely no idea he was insulting his own actions, nor did he realize the wild, gold-digging wife he despised was sitting right across from him.
The next day, her husband's legal team sent a brutal twenty-million-dollar settlement offer, threatening to ruin her if she didn't take the payoff and disappear.
Staring at the degrading ultimatum, Arnetta's hands shook with blinding rage.
She looked at Brennan, who was busy plotting to destroy his own wife, and a terrifyingly calm smile touched her lips.
She wasn't just going to take the money; she was going to completely destroy him.
8.9
I sold three years of my life to a billionaire to save my mother. I was his pretend fiancée, a stand-in for his ex, counting down the days until the contract ended and we could finally be free.
But just as we were about to escape, his real girlfriend returned and publicly accused me of faking a pregnancy to trap him.
My fiancé, Drake, didn't hesitate. He called me a disgusting gold-digger and threatened to pull my mother's medical funding to force me into an abortion.
The shock of his cruelty sent my mother into cardiac arrest. She died right there in the hospital.
They demanded I abort a child that could never exist, a lie built to destroy me.
But they didn't know my secret. After my mother' s death, I finally told him the truth that shattered his world: I was born without a uterus. And with her last letter in my hand, I walked away from him forever.