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Forcefully Married to His Enemy, the Alpha Syndicate King

WriteWithPride
7
chs / week
The average realized release rate over the past 30 days is 7 chs / week.
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Synopsis
Three years ago, Xu Haoran, the ruthless Alpha syndicate king and the only man Shen Qiang, a low-tier Omega, ever loved, pressed a gun to his temple and exiled him from the country. He fled with his son and a broken heart, vowing never to return. Now, Shen Qiang is forced back when his parents unexpectedly die in a car crash, only to find Xu Haoran waiting. He is colder, more dangerous, and his first act is to force a marriage contract on him. To Shen Qiang, this is nothing but a power play. A way to strip him of control and seize his thriving company, Aura-Shield. He plays the part of a loving spouse while secretly plotting his escape. Every stolen glance and possessive touch is a battle. No matter what, all he can see is the monster who once banished him.
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Chapter 1 - I will kill you if you come near me again

Even under layers of pheromone blockers, Shen Qiang's pheromones leaked. Fear had a way of making even the strongest dose falter.

Shen Qiang was afraid.

Of him.

The question haunted him: What if he ran into him again?

***

[SHEN QIANG'S POV]

My name used to be Bai Qiang. An Omega. A low-tier one. The lowest of the low. Inferior pheromonal control, inferior scent, inferior looks, inferior genes. In a world defined by those rankings, I was at the bottom of the barrel.

It's almost better to be a Beta. They're the average rank. But at least, they're free from the biological rules that govern Alphas and Omegas.

There are four countries in our world. Dayuan: the biggest and brightest. There's Waiyuan: the beautiful tropics. There's Zhuyuan: my home, where everything is made. Then there's... Qiyuan.

I used to live in Dijie, a small zone in Shoujiao District, Jingcheng City—the capital of Zhuyuan.

Most of Jingcheng's zones were ruled by syndicates; Shoujiao was the exception. The entire district belonged to a single power, the most powerful syndicate in the country, headed by the Xu family for generations—the Onyx Serpent Triad.

When I was sixteen, I, Bai Qiang, a low-tier Omega, fell in love with him. Xu Haoran. He was seventeen at the time. The future Laoda of the Xu Triad. A high-tier Alpha heir. Top of the chain. Unattainable. Untouchable. And yet, in what would turn out to be the cruelest twist of fate, he loved me too.

We dated in secret for almost two months until his ex-partner showed up out of nowhere. Pregnant with his child. A high-tier Omega. Fitting.

I graciously stepped aside so that he could have a family with her. How utterly noble of me.

I tried to move on. Tried to forget the feel of our backs pressed to the grass of Dijie Hills, watching the pink skies fade into the horizon. Tried to forget how his eyes always seemed cold, until he smiled—and those same eyes would light up, setting something inside me on fire that I still can't name.

I tried to move on. Finished high school, got into college in the legal district of Jinmen. Studying history. Yet, when Mama Bai called me with the news a year later, it still broke me. Xu Haoran was getting engaged to Lou Shufen. The whole of Shoujiao was locked down for the event. What a grand affair.

In a drunken haze, I stumbled into bed with my best friend, an act of desperation that cost me significantly. Six weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant too.

My parents were schoolteachers. Appalled, they lectured me about the shame I'd brought to them. How I'd disgraced the morals they tried to instill in other people's children. My only path to saving their face, they insisted, was to marry Lin Tian before my bump became visible.

As the wedding approached, every day that passed felt like the countdown of a bomb strapped to my chest. On the morning of the wedding, it finally detonated. If I were this terrified, it couldn't be the right thing to do. I could not spend the rest of my life with Lin Tian when I was still so desperately in love with Xu Haoran.

So, I called it off.

God, how did Haoran do it if he loved me as much as he claimed to?

My parents were so upset, they threw me out of the house.

I craned my neck, hoping Lin Tian was watching from his window. Maybe he'd help me. But his curtains were drawn, the house dark. I tried calling, but my number was already blocked. I guess that's what you get for refusing to marry someone. Even when you're carrying their baby. Especially then.

I was a pregnant seventeen-year-old boy with nowhere to go.

I took my last cash and got on a train to Gaojie Zone. I sat in the subway, praying for a miracle. And it came. Several months later. In the form of a Beta-Beta couple called the Shens. They took me in. Gave me food, shelter, unconditional love, and their name.

That was when I became Shen Qiang.

Mr. Shen was a scientist. Mrs. Shen was in sales. With my new father's knowledge, my new mother's business acumen, and my wit, we started a wellness company called Aura-Shield. I went back to school. Inspired by my new father, I studied Chemistry and graduated with Honors.

Perfect. Beautiful. This should've been my happily ever after.

But it wasn't.

Five years after I'd stepped aside for his family, Xu Haoran walked back into my life. He found me at Aura-Shield.

He was the big boss now. Laoda Xu. He was taller. Broader. The boyish face I remembered had sharpened into something stunning. Something dangerous. A scar ran down his neck—a warning that he wasn't the same boy I knew. Yet, my heartbeat raced the same. The poor fool could never tell the difference.

"I'm here to ask you out a second time," he said.

"You have a family," I objected.

"Daughter. No partner," he said firmly.

I told him I had a son. With Lin Tian. Someone I knew he hated to a degree that could be taught as a course in college.

But he didn't flinch. Well, he did a bit. But he took it a lot better than I thought he would.

He promised to marry me. Make us a family. Me, him, his daughter, my son. A beautiful dream I didn't even know I wanted.

For one year, I let myself believe him.

I did… things—syndicate business. I thought I was helping him. I thought I was protecting him.

Until the day he pressed a gun to my temple with steady hands. Oppressive pheromones suffocated me. I shivered like a wet dog. My pheromones leaked distress, fear, panic, but he only stared at me with empty, bloodshot eyes.

"You're going to disappear," he said, his tone too calm. "If you come near me again, I will kill you."

I took my son and fled to Dayuan.

I couldn't believe it. My heaven and earth had exiled me from my home, cursed me to work at my company from a laptop screen overseas. Sentenced me to see my parents only when they could visit me abroad.

I stayed away for three years.

Until I got the call.

My parents were gone. Their car was hit by a truck on the highway. They had both died instantly. I was parentless once more. And I had to come home.

On the plane home to Shoujiao, only one thing was on my mind.

Have I outlived my exile?

What would happen if I ran into Haoran again?

***

The funeral was held on a Tuesday. A small, somber affair.

At night, Shen Qiang sat by the pool with a glass of wine he couldn't quite taste, staring mindlessly at the still surface of the water.

The sound of car engines cut through the silence. Then the familiar crack of his gate opening.

He frowned. Who did the gatekeeper let in without permission?

He stood and set the glass aside. His hands were shaking.

Then the scent hit him.

The pheromones were a physical assault. They crushed down on him so hard his body seized up. His knees threatened to buckle.

Burnt cedar. Harsh. Bitter with no tinge of sweetness to it.

Uninvited.

Unwelcome.

Familiar.

Xu Haoran.