Akesia Lienyl Vanguard- Lawrence
CEO. Strategist. Ice-Queen turned Empire Matriarch.
Born into prestige, Akesia Locke - Vanguard was the only daughter of the Parisi estate-a family of old money, political power, and calculated legacy. The "Locke" in her name came from her mother's side: sharp-minded economists and reformists who were feared in boardrooms but praised in history books. Akesia was raised to lead with both elegance and ruthlessness. From a young age, she was trained in business strategy, global politics, and the art of restraint. She didn't just inherit her family's legacy-she sharpened it.
Akesia built her reputation in business management, becoming one of the youngest women to sit on global corporate boards. Her style? Methodical, unyielding, and cold. She didn't chase power-power gravitated to her.
But even the most unshakable can be rattled.
Enter Tristan Lawrence-brash, brilliant, and utterly infuriating.
Their first encounters were volatile. He was everything she hated: reckless, ambitious to a fault, and impossibly persistent. Every business deal turned into a verbal sparring match. Every meeting ended in a storm of sarcasm and slammed doors. They couldn't agree on anything... except that they couldn't stay away.
Their rivalry burned hotter than most romances. And somewhere between corporate warfare and public scandals, hatred turned into tension. And tension turned into something deeper.
They became partners-in power and in passion.
Marrying Tristan Lawrence wasn't a fairytale. It was a merger of empires, a gamble of hearts, and a truce between two alphas. But together, they were unstoppable. He expanded their underground legacy while she reigned in the public eye, perfecting the family's elite image.
To the world, she is the poised matriarch of the Lawrence dynasty. Calm. Composed. Calculated.
But behind that icy façade is a woman who once burned with fire-and still carries embers of the love-hate war that made her a queen.
A painful breakup pushes Kyla Evans to get into a fake relationship with the person her ex-boyfriend hates the most: Seth Everett. But what will she do when the game starts to feel too real?
*****
Seventeen-year-old Kyla has sworn off love. After getting dumped all too suddenly by her longtime boyfriend Cedric, she becomes convinced that people are never really who you think they are. So when notorious playboy Seth Everett suggests that Kyla fake date him to get back at Cedric, it seems like the perfect plan... as long as she doesn't end up falling for him.
Content and/or trigger warning: This story mentions cancer, which may be triggering for some readers.
[[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]