Page 1 of Claimed By the Billionaires

Chapter One

“Oh, my sweet child. You look like a bride. Your father is going to be so proud of you.I’mso proud of you.”

Winter Creer offered her mother a small smile as the older woman cupped her face and kissed her forehead. The familiar scent of her perfume lingered in the air between them, and for a moment, Winter just wanted to hug her mother and never let go.

But with everything going on around her and inside her head, she had to work hard to maintain a pleasant but brave expression on her face.

She wasn’t a bride, even if her mother thought she looked like one.

This wasn’t her wedding.

No.

This was something else entirely.

Instead of having confetti showered over her, she would be getting a gold-handled whip raining down on her.

Containing the need to rip off the dress and run away grew harder every minute that passed. While she was going to make her parents proud, she couldn’t quite dull the fear bursting from her pores at what was going to happen to her.

“Nope.” Amelia Creer, Winter’s aunt, and her father’s younger sister waved her stylus between Winter and her mother. “You two are not going to make me cry,” she said with an exaggerated glare before she started to tick things off on her tablet. “But you do look beautiful, Winter,” she mumbled under her breath, her fingers flying across the screen as she scrolled furiously now.

“Right. Everything is on schedule,” Amelia continued, all business-like now. As an events coordinator by profession, Amelia was their go-between person, while she also ensured that everything ran smoothly for Winter and her family.

“The caterers are ready apparently. The stage is set. The torches lit. Guests should be arriving soon. The car is waiting for us. And no one is going to shed a single tear. Understood?”

“Says the one who will be the first to ball her eyes out,” Winter’s mother said as she teased her younger sister-in-law. They always got along really well, but because Amelia was only a few years older than Winter, the two of them had formed a tight bond since they basically grew up together.

“Just watch; Amelia will be the first to cry, and it won’t be pretty,” Catherine continued, then whispered. “She’s going to miss you. You two were more like sisters than aunt and niece.”

“Nope, not going to happen, Catherine,” Amelia huffed with determination, tossing her thick, curly hair over her shoulder. “Once this is over and a huge success, then I’ll cry, but not a moment sooner. I’m not messing up my makeup.”

“We’ll see. Right, I’m going to put the finishing touches to my own makeup, and we’ll meet in the foyer?”

“Five minutes,” Amelia said as she watched Winter’s mother leave the bedroom. She then placed her tablet and stylus on a table and flipped a crystal teardrop on the bodice of Winter’s dress the right way around. The gown, made with mulberry silk and hand-embroidered lace, weighed down on Winter as heavily as her heart. Not to mention it had cost her family a fortune to buy.

“There,” Amelia said, smiling. “Princess Perfect. This is all your father ever wanted. From the moment he became head of the family. I remember being five years old the day you were born, and he said you were going to give him back his status. You were going to put the Creer family name back where it belonged. Amongst the ‘man gods,’ that is,” she said, scoffing good-naturedly. “But hey, the man has been dreaming of this day forever, so I guess I’m happy for him and you?”

“What about me?” Winter asked innocently, even though she understood the question clearly enough.

“Am I supposed to be happy for you as well, Winter?The truth this time. It’s different when it was just all talk and preparation. Three days ago, we had no idea this was going to happen, and now bam. You were supposed to be going toItaly, for crying out loud and painting with that hot painter, Winter. Remember?”

Winter pursed her lips together. She had just put those plans on hold. They weren’t canceled.

“Seriously, none of us expected it wouldeverhappen, and it bothered me that you had to stay a virgin on the slim chance they would initiate things. But this is real. The call was made. It’s going to happen, and I don’t have to tell you what’s going to happen because you went to school,” she said, air-quoting the wordschool, “to learn shit I can’t even imagine if you drew pictures for me. The Pegasus billionaires are not known for the warm, fuzzy feeling they leave behind when you meet them, either. I know, I met them, and I almost peed myself out of fear. Talk about glowering. They invented the expression. Facts.”

Winter laughed. Amelia, if nothing else, had a way of exaggerating everything, and rambling nonstop was also her thing. Winter couldn’t imagine not seeing her best friend every day, but with the onset of her new reality changed everything.

Dear god, her whole life was bound to change, and there was nothing she could do about it now.

“I mean, fuck, Winter, you went toschoolto learn how to give a blow job. I just never thought a time would come when you’d actually have to give them the blowjobs you learned how to do. Like what?”

“Blow jobis for the commoner, Amelia; as the elite few, we prefer the termfellatio,” Winter said in clipped tones, mimicking one of her teachers at finishing school.

“Well, elite, my ass. And finishing school is such an ancient thing, and no finishing school I know teaches youthat."Amelia bobbed her head and clicked her fingers.

“And for the ten millionth time, they didn’t teach me how to give a blow job. Just how to be.”

“And how were you supposed to be?”

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