The Forbidden Throb

"The Prescott family has more than one son, Emma." I blinked, my fever-addled brain struggling to process the words. I was lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV, completely alone. My ex-boyfriend Nicholas hadn't picked up my calls. My mother was too busy. But Daniel Prescott—the head of surgery, the man who intimidated everyone he met—was sitting by my bedside at 2 AM, reading my chart. "What are you saying?" I whispered, my throat dry. He closed the folder and looked at me. His gaze was clinical, precise, yet intense. "You need to fulfill the marriage agreement to please your grandmother. I need a wife to stop my family's matchmaking." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Nicholas was a boy. He didn't know what he had. But I do." "Are you proposing to me?" I asked, stunned. "A fake marriage?" "Oh, it will be a real marriage," Daniel corrected, his eyes darkening. "I don't do anything halfway. If you wear my ring, you take my name. And you forget my brother ever existed." ad.readinkapp.com

"I need you to pick me up... please." I sobbed into the phone, my mouth tasting of blood. 😭💔 But the deep, commanding voice that answered wasn't my boyfriend—it was his older brother, Daniel. Just hours ago, I had caught my boyfriend kissing another woman. Now, stranded in a sketchy bar with a strange man aggressively grabbing my arm, I was completely out of options. "The lady isn't interested," a dangerous voice suddenly echoed from behind me. Daniel Prescott, the brilliant, untouchable Harvard Medical School surgeon, stepped out of the shadows. He forcefully pried the stranger's hand off me, wrapping his expensive suit jacket around my trembling shoulders. Instead of taking me back to his cheating brother, he drove me away in his sleek car. He spent the entire night caring for my fever, showing me more gentleness than my boyfriend ever had. I thought he was just fulfilling his duty as a responsible older brother. But the next morning, he locked the hospital door, sat on the edge of my bed, and made a shocking proposition that would change our family dynamics forever. ad.readinkapp.com

"Remove your hand from her arm now, or I'll personally ensure you're barred from every establishment in this district." 😱 The voice was dangerously quiet, yet it instantly froze the sleazy man harassing me. My knees were weak from the alcohol and the heartbreak of catching my boyfriend cheating just hours ago. Through my blurred vision, I recognized the imposing figure stepping between me and the creep. It was Daniel Prescott—my cheating boyfriend's older brother. His hard gaze fixed on the man's gripping hand, radiating an icy authority that sent the creep running. Without a word, Daniel draped his warm, custom-tailored jacket over my shivering shoulders. "Let me take you home," he said, his eyes softening. I thought it was just a random act of kindness. But I had no idea that days later, when I woke up in his hospital, this cold, untouchable surgeon would lean over my bed with a proposition that would destroy his brother: "Be with me instead. Wouldn't you like to see Nicholas's face when he realizes we're together?" ad.readinkapp.com

Watching my boyfriend passionately kiss another woman shattered my heart into pieces. 💔😱 I ran out into the freezing rain, biting my lip so hard I could taste my own blood. Desperate, I dialed his number, but the man who answered wasn't him. "Stay exactly where you are," commanded Daniel, his older brother, sounding furious. While my boyfriend was busy entertaining his new lover in a hotel suite, Daniel found me collapsed and burning with a 103-degree fever. He rushed me to the hospital, his usually calm demeanor replaced by genuine panic. When I woke up, Boston's most elite surgical director was asleep in a chair beside my bed. He had paid all my medical bills and bought my favorite breakfast, doing everything my boyfriend had failed to do. "Why are you helping me?" I asked, my voice trembling. I thought Daniel pitied me for being the pathetic girl his brother had discarded. But instead of walking away, he leaned in close, his dark eyes locking onto mine. He didn't offer sympathy—instead, he presented a ruthless, irreversible plan designed to make his brother regret everything. ad.readinkapp.com

My fiancé groaned loudly as his fingers violently squeezed the mistress's bare breasts, kissing her deeply. I stood outside the private VIP room, watching them press naked against the leather couch. The sound of wet, sloppy kissing echoed through the cracked door. "If it weren't for my family's expectations, I would've dumped her months ago," my fiancé panted. He forcefully thrusted his hips forward, rubbing against her wet entrance. "She is so boring in bed," he added, biting the blonde woman's neck hard. The mistress moaned with pleasure, opening her eyes to stare directly into mine. She smirked victoriously while my fiancé's hands grabbed her firm a*s. I stepped back, my chest tight, sickness rising rapidly in my throat. I stumbled away from the wet slapping sounds, seeking the dim hallway. My body shook violently as the betrayal completely crushed my naive heart. I bumped hard into a muscular chest clothed in an expensive dark suit. I looked up to see my fiancé's older brother standing there, looking imposing. He was the hospital's dominant surgical director, famous for his ruthless control. He looked down at my trembling hands and heaving breasts, his gaze darkening immediately. "Did he leave you alone again?" the older brother asked, his voice dangerously rough. I tried to step around him, deeply humiliated and wanting to hide. "It is none of your business," I whispered, avoiding his intense masculine stare. He grabbed my waist firmly, pulling my soft curves against his hard body. "I stand on the right side of this issue," he stated, his heat burning through my thin dress. He trailed a large, warm hand down my spine, making me gasp. "What do you want to do? I will help you punish him right now." ad.readinkapp.com

When your grandmother is on her deathbed, sewing your bridal veil and telling you that you’ll be the most beautiful Prescott bride of all time— 😭 you have absolutely no idea how to tell her that you just caught your fiancé cheating, threw away the ring, and called off the entire damn wedding. 💔 Then a pair of expensive Italian leather shoes stops right in front of you—as you’re sobbing uncontrollably in the hospital corridor. It’s your fiancé’s older brother. The brilliant, stone-faced surgeon. The one who hates you so much he never says a single word to you. But now he speaks. One command: “Dry your tears, Emma.” “I can’t… Grandma… the veil… she thinks I’m going to marry a Prescott.” A long silence. Then you hear the rustle of fabric—and his voice, absolute and unwavering: “She’s right. Just not the Prescott she thinks.” And then—a black velvet box snaps open. Inside is a DIAMOND that makes Nicholas’s cheap little stone look like a pebble. 👠💎🔥 ad.readinkapp.com

"University policy states married students cannot live in standard dorms." I stared at the eviction notice, my packed boxes scattered across the floor. Nicholas, my ex-boyfriend who cheated on me last week, leaned against my doorframe with a smug smirk. "Getting kicked out because you can't afford rent without my family's help?" he mocked. "If you beg, I might let you stay in my guest room." Before I could tell him to go to hell, a custom-tailored suit stepped into the doorway. Daniel. Nicholas's billionaire older brother. He ignored Nicholas completely, lifting my heaviest suitcase with effortless ease. "The penthouse is ready for you, darling," Daniel said softly, brushing a stray curl behind my ear. Nicholas's smirk vanished, his face turning pale. "Daniel? What are you doing with her?" Daniel wrapped a possessive arm around my waist, his cold gray eyes locking onto his brother. "Taking my wife home. Is that a problem?" ad.readinkapp.com

I found out my boyfriend was cheating when a girl in a towel answered his hotel room door. 😱 His brother Daniel was standing right behind me in the hallway. "What do you want to do?" he asked quietly. "Whatever it is, I'll help you." 😤 Three weeks later, I was standing in my grandmother's doorway with Daniel beside me. 😏 She stared at him in confusion. "Nicholas? Did you get plastic surgery?" 😮 Daniel smiled and took my hand. "I'm the older brother, Mrs. Johnson." Grandma's mouth fell open. 😂💕 ad.readinkapp.com

"You shouldn't look at an engaged woman like that." Emma's champagne glass was suddenly too heavy. Daniel Ashworth smiled. "And yet you're the one who hasn't looked away." "I'm about to be married to a man I didn't choose. That's not the same as being taken." "No." He stepped closer. "It's worse. It's being caged with a ring." "Then stop making it harder." "I can't. And neither can you. I see it every time you pass a window, wishing you were on the other side of the glass." "What would you have me do?" she whispered. "Dance with me. Just once. In front of all of them." ad.readinkapp.com

I was wearing his brother's dress shirt, lounging on the main sofa of his family estate, watching his entire family serve me tea. Nicholas froze in the doorway, the smug smile completely sliding off his face. Just three days ago, he broke my heart and dumped me for a rich heiress. He told his friends I was a pathetic nobody who would come crawling back to him. Instead, his intimidating father was personally handing me a porcelain teacup. "What the hell is going on here?!" Nicholas yelled, his face turning pale. Daniel, the ruthless billionaire surgeon and head of the family, walked out of the master bathroom. He wrapped his strong arms around my waist from behind, burying his face in my neck. "Lower your voice, Nicholas," Daniel growled, his eyes dark with warning. "You're scaring your new sister-in-law." ad.readinkapp.com