Introduction
Her sister, Kimberly, is a glamorous blonde. The two rarely contacted each other, and Casey was shocked to learn that Kimberly was engaged to Hank Williamson, son of wealthy State Senator Henry Williamson II, with the wedding scheduled for October—a fact Kimberly had never mentioned in their few conversations.
Naturally cautious Casey understood her sister's secret, but given the Williamson family's prominent status, the situation became increasingly perplexing.
After meeting the Williamson family—the charismatic Senator Henry, the aloof matriarch Devine, and their charming son Hank—Casey sensed an unease beneath their welcoming exteriors.
Her investigation led her to the Ryder brothers. The enigmatic Williamson family's security chief, Ace, was a brooding and reserved individual; his guarded demeanor hinted at hidden family secrets. Archer, her brother, possessed a rebellious charm; his easy smile was both disarming and captivating. Despite her suspicions about Ace's motives, Casey was irresistibly drawn to him, and Archer's allure only exacerbated her infatuation.
The local sheriff linked Kimberly's disappearance to a series of crimes, but Casey's intuition pointed to the Williamsons. Torn between her affection for the Ryder brothers and her duty, she had to race against time to uncover the truth before it was too late.
Then, one night, a body was discovered… and her investigation plunged into a chilling new frontier.
Chapter 1
Chapter Title: Polished and Pretending
Kimberly
The day started with a headache and a list of things to pretend to care about. I opened my eyes to the blinding Chesapeake sunlight slanting through gauzy curtains of the bedroom of my tiny home, and the sharp, scratchy screech of a seagull with a vendetta against my window. It sounded like it had unfinished business with the glass.
Hank was already gone—again. No goodbye kiss. No whispered farewell. Just the faint scent of his cologne lingering on the pillow next to mine and a text, timestamped at 5:17 a.m.
Early meeting. Coffee’s in the pot. Love you.
Love you. I stared at the words a second too long before tossing the phone face-down on the comforter. They felt rehearsed, like lines from a script Hank had been reciting too often. Not that he didn’t mean them. He did—probably. Just the way someone meant brushing their teeth or tying their tie. Polished. Correct. Expected. Distant enough to make anyone wonder if all of this—us, the wedding, this life—was a beautifully packaged mistake.
I padded barefoot into the kitchen, poured the coffee he left behind, and stepped onto the porch swing. The July heat clung to the air like a second skin. Somewhere down the street, wind chimes clinked. The scent of brine drifted from the bay. If I focused hard enough, I could almost convince myself I liked it here.
But I didn’t.
Not really.
I wasn’t from here. I didn’t grow up on these docks or know the names of the fishermen who waved as they passed. I didn’t crave the daily gossip or the salt in the air that never quite washed off. I came from the city—shopping districts, rooftop bars, Uber Blacks waiting at the tap of a screen.
But I came here for Hank.
Henry “Hank” Williamson III, Crisfield’s golden boy. Son of a senator, heir to a political dynasty, a man with crisp jawlines, cable-knit sweaters, and the kind of ambition that got whispered about in Capitol Hill backrooms. We met two years ago at a campaign fundraiser in Annapolis. I had been dating someone else. By the time dessert was served, I wasn’t.
Now, we were engaged. And when we marry in a few months, we would be moving to D.C., where Hank would take a seat behind his father’s desk—literally. His father had already pulled strings to get him a senior aide position. My role was less clear. Wife. Support system. Polished accessory. Baby-maker.
I was trying to be okay with that.
I took a sip of coffee and tried not to think about her... Kathy, my sister.
Too late.
I missed home. I missed her.
Kathy, my brilliant, stubborn, elusive older sister. The one who vanished into a career I could never quite define. The one who called from blocked numbers and never stayed on the phone for longer than five minutes. I hated how distant we'd grown. Sometimes I told myself it was Kathy’s fault, and sometimes I wasn’t so sure.
We used to be close. We used to tell each other everything. But now it felt like I didn’t even know where Kathy lived. I had tried texting a few days ago. No reply.
Whatever. That’s just how Kathy was. Secretive. Busy. Gone.
Yet, I had dreamed of her again last night—barefoot, bleeding, holding something in her arms I couldn’t quite make out through the murk of dream-logic. Her voice had been low and urgent. “You’re not safe, Kimmie.”
I woke up gasping, heart pounding, with an uneasiness that coiled in my chest.
Despite everything, I texted her again. I always did. Some part of me still believed she'd reply.
Hey. You alive?
No response. No read receipt. No little gray bubbles. Just silence. The kind she was always so good at giving me.
After coffee, I took a long, too-hot shower, dressed, and drove to Sweet and Savory—my bakery, my pride, my refuge. Back in New York, I had been a rising star in a PR firm, armed with a marketing degree and an ego to match. But here in Crisfield, Maryland, I was the girl who served decadent chocolate soufflés and New York cheesecakes that made grown men weep.
The town had its charms. Quaint porches, familiar faces, the predictable rhythm of small-town life. But by noon, I felt the walls closing in.
Crisfield loved its rituals. Oyster trucks, farmer’s markets, church raffles, sunburned boat parades. I played my part. Wore my sundresses. Smiled in the grocery aisles when strangers stopped me with: “Oh, you’re Hank’s fiancée, right?”
I was always “Hank’s fiancée.” Never just Kimberly.
I looked too polished. Too lean. Too “other.” I was contouring and eyeliner in a town that preferred bare faces and work boots. I was jewelry when this place preferred sweat.
Still, I did the rounds. Picked up my dry cleaning from the same gruff old man who always called me “City Girl.” Finalized the table arrangements at the florist for the rehearsal dinner although the wedding was still months away. Hank wanted white roses. I wanted something with color. Something warm, alive—peonies, maybe. Lilies. We hadn’t decided. But I had a feeling I would cave.
Again.
When I got home, I felt hollow. Like something inside me had unraveled thread by thread, leaving only a shape of a woman who was supposed to be excited about her wedding.
I took another shower. Did a face mask. Curled my hair the way Hank liked—long waves, soft, romantic. Even though I wasn’t sure if I was doing it for him anymore. Or for me. Or for the version of myself I was clinging to, like shards of badly glued porcelain.
I tried calling Kathy around four.
Straight to voicemail.
Hey. I know you’re probably busy, but I... I just wanted to talk. That’s all. Nothing big. Just… call me, okay?
My voice cracked on the last word, and I immediately regretted how desperate I sounded.
But after Dad died, she was all I had left. The only real family I still wanted to claim.
Then my phone rang.
Hope bloomed in my chest like a reflex—maybe it was her. Maybe she heard the message and—
The name on the screen killed that feeling instantly.
Divine Williamson.
I took a slow breath, then answered.
“Good afternoon, Divine,” I said, stiffly polite, silently praying she was calling to cancel our pre-dinner negotiations.
“Your accent is improving, Kimberly,” she replied, her voice crisp and dry like over-steeped tea. “I’m calling to remind you of our closed-door meeting at five. Have you and your lawyer reviewed the pre-nuptial agreement clauses?”
Every syllable she uttered sounded like it had been scrubbed clean with bleach. Divine Williamson didn’t speak. She enunciated.
“We have,” I said, injecting as much faux-enthusiasm into my voice as I could. “Thoroughly.”
“Very well. I’ll see you at five. Don’t be late.”
Click.
No goodbye. Of course not.
I tossed the phone onto the vanity and looked at myself in the mirror. My mascara-free eyes stared back, hollow and unsure. I hadn’t even noticed I was holding my breath until I exhaled all at once, like a balloon deflating.
I sat there for a long minute, unmoving. My blue eyes traveled to my sun-kissed blonde hair, the slope of my cute nose, the high cheekbones I inherited from my mother, and my soft pink lips. Without makeup, I already looked… perfect. At least by magazine standards. And in any other world, that would’ve been enough.
But of course, according to Divine Williamson, I needed to cover my pores.
As if pores were a character flaw.
I picked up my makeup brush with fingers that trembled only slightly, dabbed on primer, and started layering on the mask. The cool product spread over my skin, smoothing me into submission. Concealer blurred away exhaustion. Foundation dulled the redness blooming under my eyes. I added contour, bronzer, highlighter—sharp enough to cut glass. Painted color back into my cheeks. Glossed my lips into a pout.
Finally, I looked up at my reflection.
She smiled back—flawless, composed, ready.
Even if I didn’t feel like her anymore.
But it didn’t matter how I felt. Not here. Not now. Not with Divine waiting.
Last Chapters
#96 CHAPTER 96
Last Updated: 4/10/2026#95 CHAPTER 95
Last Updated: 4/10/2026#94 CHAPTER 94
Last Updated: 4/10/2026#93 CHAPTER 93
Last Updated: 4/10/2026#92 CHAPTER 92
Last Updated: 4/10/2026#91 CHAPTER 91
Last Updated: 4/10/2026#90 CHAPTER 90
Last Updated: 4/10/2026#89 CHAPTER 89
Last Updated: 4/10/2026#88 CHAPTER 88
Last Updated: 4/10/2026#87 CHAPTER 87
Last Updated: 4/10/2026
You Might Like 😍
Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate
What? No—wait… oh Moon Goddess, no.
Please tell me you're joking, Lex.
But she's not. I can feel her excitement bubbling under my skin, while all I feel is dread.
We turn the corner, and the scent hits me like a punch to the chest—cinnamon and something impossibly warm. My eyes scan the room until they land on him. Tall. Commanding. Beautiful.
And then, just as quickly… he sees me.
His expression twists.
"Fuck no."
He turns—and runs.
My mate sees me and runs.
Bonnie has spent her entire life being broken down and abused by the people closest to her including her very own twin sister. Alongside her best friend Lilly who also lives a life of hell, they plan to run away while attending the biggest ball of the year while it's being hosted by another pack, only things don't quite go to plan leaving both girls feeling lost and unsure about their futures.
Alpha Nicholas is 28, mateless, and has no plans to change that. It's his turn to host the annual Blue Moon Ball this year and the last thing he expects is to find his mate. What he expects even less is for his mate to be 10 years younger than him and how his body reacts to her. While he tries to refuse to acknowledge that he has met his mate his world is turned upside down after guards catch two she-wolves running through his lands.
Once they are brought to him he finds himself once again facing his mate and discovers that she's hiding secrets that will make him want to kill more than one person.
Can he overcome his feelings towards having a mate and one that is so much younger than him? Will his mate want him after already feeling the sting of his unofficial rejection? Can they both work on letting go of the past and moving forward together or will fate have different plans and keep them apart?
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
The Human Among Wolves
My stomach twisted, but he wasn’t finished.
"You're just a pathetic little human," Zayn said, his words deliberate, each one hitting like a slap. "Spreading your legs for the first guy who bothers to notice you."
Heat rushed to my face, burning with humiliation. My chest ached — not from his words alone, but from the sick realization that I had trusted him. That I had let myself believe he was different.
I was so, so stupid.
——————————————————
When eigteen-year-old Aurora Wells moves to a sleepy town with her parents, the last thing she expects is to be enrolled in a secret academy for werewolves.
Moonbound Academy is no ordinary school. It's here young Lycans, Betas and Alphas train in shifting, elemental magic, and ancient pack laws. But Aurora? She's just...human. a mistake. The new receptionist forgot to check her species - and now she's surrounded by predators who sense she doesn't belong.
Determined to stay under the radar, Aurora plans to survive the year unnoticed. But when she catches the attention of Zayn, a brooding and infuriatingly powerful Lycan prince, her life gets a lot more complicated. Zayn already has a mate. He already has enemies. And he definitely doesn't want anything to do with a clueless human.
But secrets run deeper than bloodlines at Moonbound. as Aurora unravels the truth about the academy - and herself - she begins to question everything she thought she knew.
Including the reason she was brought here at all.
Enemies will rise. Loyalties will shift. And the girl with no place in their world...might be the key to saving it.
Accardi
“I thought you said you were done chasing me?” Gen mocked.
“I am done chasing you.”
Before she could formulate a witty remark, Matteo threw her down. She landed hard on her back atop his dining room table. She tried to sit up when she noticed what he was doing. His hands were working on his belt. It came free of his pants with a violent yank. She collapsed back on her elbows, her mouth gaping open at the display. His face was a mask of sheer determination, his eyes were a dark gold swimming with heat and desire. His hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the table. He glided his fingers up her thighs and hooked several around the inside of her panties. His knuckles brushed her dripping sex.
“You’re soaking wet, Genevieve. Tell me, was it me that made you this way or him?” his voice told her to be careful with her answer. His knuckles slid down through her folds and she threw her head back as she moaned. “Weakness?”
“You…” she breathed.
Genevieve loses a bet she can’t afford to pay. In a compromise, she agrees to convince any man her opponent chooses to go home with her that night. What she doesn’t realize when her sister’s friend points out the brooding man sitting alone at the bar, is that man won’t be okay with just one night with her. No, Matteo Accardi, Don of one of the largest gangs in New York City doesn’t do one night stands. Not with her anyway.
A pack of their own
Surrendering to Destiny
Graham MacTavish wasn't prepared to find his mate in the small town of Sterling that borders the Blackmoore Packlands. He certainly didn't expect her to be a rogue, half-breed who smelled of Alpha blood. With her multi-colored eyes, there was no stopping him from falling hard the moment their mate bond snapped into place. He would do anything to claim her, protect her and cherish her no matter the cost.
From vengeful ex-lovers, pack politics, species prejudice, hidden plots, magic, kidnapping, poisoning, rogue attacks, and a mountain of secrets including Catherine's true parentage there is no shortage of things trying to tear the two apart.
Despite the hardships, a burning desire and willingness to trust will help forge a strong bond between the two... but no bond is unbreakable. When the secrets kept close to heart are slowly revealed, will the two be able to weather the storm? Or will the gift bestowed upon Catherine by the moon goddess be too insurmountable to overcome?
Shattered Girl
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Was that too much?” I could see the worry in his eyes as I took a deep breath.
“I just didn’t want you to see all my scars,” I whispered, feeling ashamed of my marked body.
Emmy Nichols is used to surviving. She survived her abusive father for years until he beat her so severely, she ended up in the hospital, and her father was finally arrested. Now, Emmy is thrown into a life she never expected. Now she has a mother
who doesn't want her, a politically motivated stepfather with ties to the Irish mob, four older stepbrothers, and their best friend who swear to love and protect her. Then, one night, everything shatters, and Emmy feels her only option is to run.
When her stepbrothers and their best friend finally find her, will they pick up the pieces and convince Emmy that they will keep her safe and their love will hold them together?
The Lycan Prince’s Puppy
“Soon enough, you’ll be begging for me. And when you do—I’ll use you as I see fit, and then I’ll reject you.”
—
When Violet Hastings begins her freshman year at Starlight Shifters Academy, she only wants two things—honor her mother’s legacy by becoming a skilled healer for her pack and get through the academy without anyone calling her a freak for her strange eye condition.
Things take a dramatic turn when she discovers that Kylan, the arrogant heir to the Lycan throne who has made her life miserable from the moment they met, is her mate.
Kylan, known for his cold personality and cruel ways, is far from thrilled. He refuses to accept Violet as his mate, yet he doesn’t want to reject her either. Instead, he sees her as his puppy, and is determined to make her life even more of a living hell.
As if dealing with Kylan’s torment isn’t enough, Violet begins to uncover secrets about her past that change everything she thought she knew. Where does she truly come from? What is the secret behind her eyes? And has her whole life been a lie?
Oops, Wrong Girl to Bully
My back hit the desk. Pain exploded through my skull.
"Girls like you don't get to dream about guys like Kai." Bella's breath was hot on my face. "You don't get to write pathetic love letters."
She shoved me again. Harder.
"Maybe if you weren't such a desperate little—"
I fell. My head cracked against the corner.
Warmth trickled down my neck. Blood.
Their laughter turned to gasps.
The door slammed.
I tried to stand. Couldn't. The room was spinning, fading to black.
Someone... please...
Angelina, the most powerful Alpha who conquered forty-nine packs, dies in a yacht explosion—only to wake up as Aria Sterling, a fifteen-year-old Omega's daughter who just died from bullying.
The original Aria's life was a nightmare. Humiliated when golden boy Kai Matthews posted her love letter online, then shoved to death by his girlfriend Bella Morrison. But that's not all her family faces:
"You got until Monday," the tattooed gangster sneered at Aria's mother. "Ten grand cash. Or I'm taking collateral—your kids' organs fetch top dollar. That pretty daughter of yours? She could make us money another way too."
Now Angelina's lethal combat skills awaken in this fragile body. No more hiding. No more fear.
Armed with an Alpha's ruthlessness and a mysterious blood-red pendant, she'll dismantle everyone who hurt this family—one calculated move at a time.
Goddess Of The Underworld
When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armour, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of an orphan pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to be better. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a reverse harem, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
The Prison Project
Can love tame the untouchable? Or will it only fuel the fire and cause chaos amongst the inmates?
Fresh out of high school and suffocating in her dead-end hometown, Margot longs for her escape. Her reckless best friend, Cara, thinks she's found the perfect way out for them both - The Prisoner Project - a controversial program offering a life-changing sum of money in exchange for time spent with maximum-security inmates.
Without hesitation, Cara rushes to sign them up.
Their reward? A one-way ticket into the depths of a prison ruled by gang leaders, mob bosses, and men the guards wouldn't even dare to cross...
At the centre of it all, meets Coban Santorelli - a man colder than ice, darker than midnight, and as deadly as the fire that fuels his inner rage. He knows that the project may very well be his only ticket to freedom - his only ticket to revenge on the one who managed to lock him up and so he must prove that he can learn to love…
Will Margot be the lucky one chosen to help reform him?
Will Coban be capable of bringing something to the table other than just sex?
What starts off as denial may very well grow in to obsession which could then fester in to becoming true love…
A temperamental romance novel.













