Novels by StarVessel

Whispers exploded into shouts. Phones appeared. Cameras flashed.Velmoré Group. Lily's company. The one that had died six months ago.Vivian's face went from pale to gray. "That's impossible. There must be some mistake." Her voice climbed higher with each word. "Yesterday's press conference confirmed everything. I haven't received any termination notice—"Her phone buzzed.Once. Twice. Three times in rapid succession.She fumbled it from her purse with shaking hands. The screen lit her face blue-white as she read, and Lily watched her expression crumble like wet paper."No." The word barely made it past her lips. "No, this isn't—"Ryan grabbed the phone. Read. His tan drained to ash."Suspected violations," he said quietly. "Three days to submit evidence or face formal investigation.""Fix this." Vivian snatched the phone back, her perfectly manicured nails digging into Ryan's arm hard enough to leave marks. "You know people. You have connections. Fix this right now."Ryan said nothin

The guards moved closer with professional efficiency.Lily's heart hammered against her ribs hard enough to hurt. She had no pass, no invitation, no explanation for why she was here except that Ethan had gestured her into his car and she'd innocently followed.She tugged at Ethan's sleeve. "We should go."He didn't move. Didn't even look at her. Just stood there perfectly calm and still, like he was waiting for something.The lead guard stopped in front of them. "Sir. Ma'am. I need to see your passes."Lily's throat closed. Former business partners were staring at her now—people she'd begged for investments, people who'd deleted her number after the bankruptcy. All of them watching her about to be thrown out like garbage.She tugged at Ethan's sleeve again, harder this time. "Ethan, we should really go now."He remained perfectly still."Sir." The guard's voice sharpened into authority. "Your passes. Now."Ethan looked at him with calm, dark eyes. "We don't have passes."Triumph blaze

Lily hesitated at the hotel entrance, keys heavy in her palm. Should she go back to the penthouse? Start this strange new chapter of her life?Before she could decide, Ethan's phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, and something shifted in his expression—subtle, but there. He gestured toward his car."Get in.""What? Why—""Please."The word wasn't a command. It was a request that somehow felt more binding than any order could be.She got in.The city blurred past as they drove in silence. When the car finally stopped, she looked up and felt her stomach drop."The Nasdaq celebration banquet?" Her voice came out smaller than she intended. "Ethan, I can't just walk into—""You can." He opened her door, waiting. "Come on."The entrance gleamed under spotlights, red carpet stretching toward massive doors. Lily felt every borrowed thread of her dress like a lie written on her skin as they walked toward the wealth and success she'd been exiled from six months ago.Ethan's hand found the sm

The elevator doors closed, and Diane turned to her friends with victory shining in her eyes like sunlight off broken glass. "Well. That was entertaining."Mrs. Parker's expression was uncertain. "Diane, maybe you were a bit harsh—""Harsh?" Diane laughed and waved her hand dismissively. "That parasite needed to hear the truth, and that girl—whoever she is—needed to know what kind of man she's dealing with.""Still." Mrs. Bennett glanced at the closed elevator doors. "You did threaten to tear his skin off.""Figure of speech." Diane started walking toward the penthouse door with renewed purpose. "Come on. Let's not waste time on trash. We came here to see the apartment."Mrs. Sullivan nodded slowly. "The one Ryan bought?""The penthouse." Diane pulled the key card from her purse and held it up so light caught the gold embossing. "Forty-three floors of luxury. Floor-to-ceiling windows. Marble everything. The kind of home my daughter actually deserves."Her friends followed, hesitant but

"I think there's been a misunderstanding."Ethan's voice was calm—too calm for someone being accused of breaking and entering.Diane's face cycled through confusion, then fury. "Misunderstanding? You broke into my apartment—""I didn't break in." Ethan gestured toward the elevator. "I have nothing else to do here. Excuse us."He moved forward, and Lily followed, but Diane's arm shot out to block the elevator doors."Stop right there. Did I say you could go?"The command rang through the hallway, and her friends shifted closer to form a wall of judgment and designer handbags. Lily felt their eyes cataloging every inadequacy written on her borrowed dress.Ethan's jaw tightened. "Diane, I've already discussed the divorce with Vivian. Wherever I go from now on has nothing to do with your family.""Oh, really?" Diane stepped closer, her voice dripping condescension. "So just because you're divorced, you think you can do whatever you want? Disregard your elders? I'm twice your age, boy. It'

The hotel rose forty-three stories above the city, glass and steel catching morning light like a blade.Yesterday, Vivian Cross's celebration banquet. Today, Lily Morgan's new beginning.Neither woman knew they were about to collide.Lily stood at the entrance, staring up. Places like this used to be normal for her—back when she had a company, a title, a future. Now they just reminded her of everything she'd lost."Are you having second thoughts?" Ethan's voice was quiet beside her."No." She forced her feet to move. "Just some... memories. Bad memories."He didn't ask. That's what she appreciated about him—he didn't pry. Didn't demand explanations for the shadows that crossed her face when she saw expensive things, heard champagne corks, felt silk under her fingers.The lobby swallowed them whole. Marble. Chandeliers. Women in designer heels clicking past, men in thousand-dollar suits checking phones worth more than her last three months of rent combined.Lily's borrowed clothes felt