The Ballerina's Puzzle

The Ballerina's Puzzle

P.M.I Charlotte · Completed · 139.0k Words

814
Hot
817
Views
244
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

Kenya Anderson is a 23 year old ballerina, who teaches young girls ballet at a small dance school.

She always wanted to get a big break as a lead ballerina but never did, because of the slight limp in her right leg.

She usually gets to perform as a back up dancer in the ballet shows.

But on this particular show, she attracts the attention of U.S Senatorial aspirant, Levi Ruthford.

Teetering both their worlds, completely...

Unraveling this mysterious, Senatorial aspirant, Levi Ruthford, bit by tiny bit...

Chapter 1

Warning!!! Please this book may contain adult themes!!! But It's all fiction!

Levi.

Manhattan, New York City.

Present day...

I sat spellbound in the Ruthford family box, watching the show as the graceful dancers, leapt in the air, in synchrony to the music that filled the entire theater. I couldn't remember the last time I sat enraptured by a show. The entire theater, filled with golden lights was quiet, except for the music played by the orchestra on the stage. Everyone, it seemed was as entranced as I was, watching the dancers. But while they were all mesmerized by the lead dancer, I was captivated by the gracefulness and beauty of the ballerina, dancing at the rear end of the performers. Sure the lead dancer was extremely beautiful. Her skin flawless and her steps like a beautiful swan. But the dancer at the rear, she was a goddess.

The young beauty, an earth nymph. Her satin, sable skin, shiny, like the earth. Her limbs moved lightly, like a goddess of the night, pouring her dark hues on the earth. My gaze was fixed on her face, which radiated such beauty. Her lush lips, ripe and whispering to me to place soft, scintillating kisses on them. My eyes travelled down her long, graceful neck, all the way to her cut-low neck line and I imagined myself drinking from the nectar of her neck. I imagined licking down her throat to the bare top of her breasts. As my eyes lingered on her, I wished to peel off the white, little dress, which she had on. My groin tightened pleasurably in the pants of my black tux, a feeling I had not excitedly entertained for a long time. A feeling that I had not felt, since Belle. A great distaste threatened to climb up my throat, due to the unpleasantness attached to that name and I forcefully shoved the feeling aside.

The thunderous claps that erupted from below, forced my thoughts back to the dancers, who were taking their bows in readiness to exit the stage. My eyes fixed on the same ballerina that had caught my attention. And I decided to send her a little gift. An appreciation for her exceeding performance.

"Blake." I called to my manager from beside me, "I want you to do something for me." I turned my gaze back to the ballerina, who was still waving to the audience, along with the other dancers.

"Find out about that ballerina at the rear." I made certain that Blake followed my eyes. "The one at the rear to the right."

"Yes, Sir." Blake nodded, preparing to exit the box.

"Send her a bouquet of red roses from me, while you are at it..."

"Yes, Sir..."

"As a matter of fact, once you are before her, call my number, so that I can speak with her." I added. Blake nodded his head and exited the box, while I sat back, to watch the dancers exit the stage.


Kenya.

I sat before the mirror of my cubicle, in the backstage rooms and cleaned off my makeup. While I sat quietly, I listened to the talks of my colleagues. Everyone was in high spirits tonight, because the performance had turned out to be highly applauded by the anticipating audience. An audience, which had voted for this show on the online polls, when it was thrown out to them to choose, months ago.

I smile at my friend and colleague, Andrea, animatedly talking, some distance, to a couple of the male ballet dancers; Mike and Rory. I caught the look of affection in Mike's eyes as he watched Andrea. Both Mike and Andrea were in this enviable relationship, since three years, which to everyone's surprise was still waxing strong. I wished my relationship with Hank had even managed to span longer than 3 months before it ended, awfully. Sighing heavily, I put away my make up items. I was happy that the tickets for this act had sold out well, at least it was going to please the producers and everyone involved. I faked a smile.

Walking towards the clothes hanger to change out of my costume, someone called my name. I turned and responded loudly, only for me to be approached by the show's director, Billy and an unfamiliar man.

"Hey Kenya, this here is Mr Blake Dickson. He is the manager to Senatorial aspirant, Levi Ruthford. A top patron of the theater." I turned a befuddled gaze to the man, who was holding a large bouquet of beautiful, red roses.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Anderson." Blake greeted, extending a palm to me, which I calmly took. Billy soon left us to go and attend to other matters, while I waited for the man before me to speak.

"These here are for you. I have been asked by Mr Levi Ruthford to give these to you." He handed me the roses, which I looked at with amazement.

"But...You must be mistaken. I was not the lead ballerina in the show?" I helplessly asked, as I accepted the flowers. I was confused. My mind mentally recalled the face of Levi Ruthford. Yep, I remembered him. The extremely sexy, handsome 35 year old owner of STA Constructions; running for New York Senatorial seat. But what was he doing sending me roses?

The man let out a little smile as he brought out his phone and made a call. Then he handed the phone to me, as the phone was answered on the other end. I looked at him, perplexed, but accepted the phone at the nod of his head.

"H...Hello?" I said, nervously.

"Hello, Kenya." I heard, quietly. A warm, rich voice, so raw and velvety that I felt a whoosh of air leave my lungs. I wondered at it, but controlled myself. A heady feeling, overwhelming me. There was a sudden excitement in me. Alien, but delightful.

"I am Levi Ruthford. I wanted to congratulate you, on a splendid performance."

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice

The Contract Wife: Marriage Of Malice

79.6k Views · Completed · Cherie Frost
"Tell me to stop, and I will," he murmured against my ear. "But if you don't..."
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
I didn't tell him to stop.
Instead, my fingers curled into his shirt, clutching the fabric as though it was my only anchor. Something in him snapped—something he had been holding back for too long. His mouth found mine in a kiss that wasn't tender, but hungry, desperate.
I gasped into him, his hand sliding up to cup my jaw, holding me as if afraid I might vanish.
"You drive me insane," he breathed against my mouth, his lips trailing to my throat. "I can't lose you, Ella. Not you."
My head fell back, a soft sound escaping me as his fingers memorized my waist. My anger melted beneath his desperation.
"James..." I whispered, more plea than protest.
His hand caught mine, fingers threading together tightly. "I'll bring him back. I swear it. Just... don't turn away from me. Please."
The word please—low, ragged, almost broken—undid me more than anything else could have.


Ella never imagined she would marry the man she had secretly loved for years in such a way.
When her brother Theo faced twenty-five years in prison for massive embezzlement, the ruthless business tycoon James Lancaster offered her a deal: marry him in exchange for her brother's freedom.
This wasn't a fairy tale proposal, but a carefully orchestrated revenge. Because in James's heart, Ella was the culprit who had killed his sister Cecilia. He wanted her to pay the price—to atone with a lifetime of suffering.
The Dragon's Last Fae Queen

The Dragon's Last Fae Queen

6.5k Views · Ongoing · Sylvia Sylvester
Hidden all her life in the slums of Emberveil, Aerith has one rule: never let the dragons see her eyes. Fae are extinct, hunted, burned, and erased from the kingdom. Or so everyone believes. But on the night of her eighteenth birthday, when her forbidden magic stirs awake and her grandmother falls deathly ill, Aerith breaks the one rule meant to keep her safe. She enters the royal dragon pharmacy… and collides with a werewolf princess who drags her straight to the dungeon. There, in the deepest shadows of the palace, the youngest dragon prince sees her glowing eyes and instantly knows what she is. A fae. A secret the entire kingdom would kill for. What would be her fate? Another dead Fae? Or the Last Dragon's Fae Queen?

“Prince? Dickhead? Asshole? Or stalker?” A slow, dangerous smile curved his lips. “Maybe I should show you the one title I want you to use.” Before I could react, his hand closed around my chin, tilting my face up. His lips crashed into mine, hard, claiming, breath-stealing. When he finally pulled back, his voice was a rough whisper against my lips. “You could call me yours… because you are mine.”
Tempted By The Enemy

Tempted By The Enemy

3.9k Views · Completed · rituparna darolia
Twenty-two-year-old Alyssa Van Every is in a dilemma. Her close friend, Sienna, is marrying billionaire, Lucas Donnelly who, along with his brothers, happens to be her older brother, Alex's sworn enemy.
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
From Sacrificed Slave to the Dragon King's Obsession

From Sacrificed Slave to the Dragon King's Obsession

2.7k Views · Completed · Ellis Carter
"Ten years of atonement, and you flee?"

His fangs glinted as he gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. Dragon scales shimmered along his neck, breath scorching my skin.

"Your Majesty... I beg—" He shoved me onto the bed. Silk tore with a sharp rip, cold air rushing over my exposed body.

"Scared?" He smirked, palm sliding down my waist, fingers tracing slow, burning circles. "Yet you shiver... not from cold."

I lunged for the candlestick, but he caught my wrist, pinning it overhead. His knee forced my legs apart.

"When your father gave you to me," his lips brushed my ear, voice a dark rumble, "you were already mine."

On the eve of freedom after ten years of servitude, Lina Valeria stood one night away from reuniting with her betrothed. But Dragon King Augustus condemned her to the Abyss Mines on false charges—a trap forged from obsessive desire.

Augustus Ashenwing, Supreme Sovereign of Skyhold Citadel, is ruthless and feared by all races. His obsession stems from ancient grudges and dragonkind's most dangerous instinct: possessive desire. He demands her submission, binding her to his throne as his consort.

From prisoner to queen, Lina battles him through court intrigue and twisted passion—fighting for her mother, her freedom, her dignity.

Yet this cold-blooded tyrant reserves all tenderness for her alone. He indulges her temper, bends his pride, compromises without limit—anything to see her smile. Gradually, her heart wavers. But loving him means betraying Kain, who waited eleven years. Torn between duty and desire, she drowns in agonizing guilt.

Love and hatred intertwined—a forbidden dragon romance in a realm of oppression.
The mafia princess return

The mafia princess return

911k Views · Completed · Tonje Unosen
Talia have been living with her mother, stepsister and Stepfather for years. One day she finally get away from them. Suddenly she learn she have more family out there and she have many people that actually love her, something she have never felt before! At least not as she can remember. She have to learn to trust others, get her new brothers to accept her for who she is!
Where The Ice Gives Way

Where The Ice Gives Way

27.2k Views · Ongoing · Sheridan Hartin
Charlotte Pierce is used to surviving in motion. New towns, new schools, the same old house on the edge of nowhere, and the same rule that keeps her standing. Keep her twin brother, Charlie safe. Keep his hockey dream alive. Keep her own needs quiet. She works too much, sleeps too little, and saves the one thing that still feels like hers for the middle of the night, when she can lace up her worn skates and carve freedom into dangerous frozen ice. Charlotte and Charlie shifted once, years ago, and never understood what it meant. They had no pack, no guidance and no protection. Just two twins clinging to each other and pretending the voice in their heads was stress, imagination, or loneliness. Then they move to Wellington.
Blake Atlas scents his mate the moment Charlotte arrives. The bond hits hard and unmistakable, but Charlotte doesn’t recognise it. She doesn’t know why her chest keeps pulling toward the one boy she absolutely cannot afford to want. Blake is Charlie’s new hockey captain. Charlie’s chance at making something good. Charlie makes it clear; his sister is off-limits and Blake tries to do the right thing, but secrets don’t stay buried forever. Rogues prowl the edges of town. The ice cracks. The bond tightens. Then Charlotte’s rare white wolf awakens, the very thing that makes her powerful, also makes her a target.
Shanti needs Shakti. (Peace needs strength.)

Where the Ice Gives Way is a slow-burn YA paranormal romance filled with fated mates, protective alpha energy, fierce sibling loyalty, found family pack bonds, hurt/comfort, and quiet, aching tension. It’s a story about first belonging, learning to be cared for, and what happens when the girl who has always held everyone else up finally falls, and someone catches her.
The Spy Who Left

The Spy Who Left

1.3k Views · Completed · Orion Vale
"She's naive. A pretty little socialite who got lucky marrying above her station."
"I still can't believe she actually did it. Aria Hart, filing for divorce. Who saw that coming?"
"How long do we think it'll take before she comes crawling back?" Another voice joins the conversation.
"Three days," Victoria declares. "Five at most. She has no money, no skills, no family. Where's she going to go?"
When Aria Chen divorced billionaire Leon Hart, New York's elite sneered, betting she'd crawl back within days. She never did.
Three years later, the world is rocked when Dr. Aria Vale, CEO of a revolutionary cybersecurity empire, steps into the spotlight. The mysterious genius who built a billion-dollar company from nothing is none other than Leon's discarded wife, the woman everyone thought was just a pretty ornament.
Now, every powerful man wants the queen Leon threw away a renowned scientist seeking partnership, a financial titan proposing an empire, and an actor offering devotion. Each sees the brilliance Leon ignored.
Then Leon discovers the truth: Aria's sacrifices, her secret double life, and the daughter she's been raising without him. For the first time, the man who once took her for granted must fight for her love. But can he compete with men who valued her from the beginning?
A story of love, betrayal, and power where the king must kneel before the queen who never needed saving.
Omega Bound

Omega Bound

2.3m Views · Completed · Veronica White
Ayla Frost is a beautiful, rare omega. Kidnapped, tortured, and trafficked to rogue clans and corrupt alphas to do with as they pleased.  Kept alive in her cage, broken and abandoned by her wolf, she becomes mute and has given up on hope for a better life until one explosion changes everything. 

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 Rogue King II

The Rogue King II

1.6k Views · Ongoing · MishanAngel
The hole left by Aelia’s death has a ripple effect through the world. The Alpha King retires, ushering in a new era. The Rogue King title now left vacant for the time being. Silas losing his sister, again. Nate losing his mate. Finn and Noah losing their Alpha and their lover.
Under the weight of his grief and pain, along with of the uncertainty of the new mate bond forged between Silas and Nate, Silas decides that he needs help. The weight of being Alpha that nearly just lost his pack if his little sister hadn’t been there, Silas decides to push everything away to be a better and stronger Alpha. Using magic is father gave him, Silas loses so much more than his way.
Nate, struggling with the mate bond, what the bond means for him, has continued to fight Silas, his Alpha, his best friend, and now his mate. When their fight goes too far, both Silas and Nate must deal with the consequences. It both pulls them together and tears them apart. Eventually leading to a full break in any relationship they had ever had.
On his own, Silas has to navigate through the next chapter alone. Coming to realize his actions, the consequences, and just how much it’s going to take to repair the damage he has done.
Nate, also on his own, works through what it means to step up in more ways than one. Somehow, even after her death, Aelia is still reaching out and helping Nate navigate the world on his own. He vows to grow and step up into the wolf that she knew he could be.

Book 2 in The Rogue Kings following immediately after The Rogue Kings I - Solaris' Reign. Trigger Warnings. Rated 18+.
The Shattered Moon King

The Shattered Moon King

1.6k Views · Ongoing · Hannah Kalu
In a world shattered by monsters, the only thing more dangerous than a lost memory is a forgotten identity.
Lena is a survivor. For years, she has weathered the harsh, post-apocalyptic landscape by following one rule: trust no one. But when she finds an amnesiac man near death in the wilderness—a man with kind eyes and a strength that is anything but human—she makes a choice that will unravel her solitary existence.
She calls him Cain, but the shattered-moon tattoo on his back brands him as Kaelen, the long-dead Alpha of the powerful Sky-Fall pack. His return triggers a brutal civil war with the usurper who stole his throne and his fated mate. Hunted by Lycan assassins and a fanatical human commander desperate for the secrets locked in Lena's own past, their only hope lies in embracing the very power Kaelen can't remember and Lena has always feared.
As they uncover a conspiracy that threatens not just the pack, but the future of every living thing, Kaelen must fight for a kingdom he doesn't know and Lena must confront a legacy she tried to bury. In a world of broken thrones and fated bonds, they will discover that the greatest choice is not between love and duty, but between who you are told you must be, and who you choose to become.
A pack of their own

A pack of their own

2m Views · Completed · dragonsbain22
Being the middle Child ignored and neglected, rejected by family and injured, She receives her wolf early and realizes she is a new type of hybrid but doesn't know how to control her power, she leaves her pack with her best friend and grandmother to go to her grandfather's clan to learn what she is and how to handle her power and then with her fated mate, her best friend and her fated mate little brother and grandmother start their own pack.
Goddess Of The Underworld

Goddess Of The Underworld

885.1k Views · Completed · Sheridan Hartin
Left at a pack border with a name and a stubborn heartbeat, Envy grows into the sharpest kind of survivor, an orphaned warrior who knows how to hold a line and keep moving. Love isn’t in the plan…until four alpha wolves with playboy reputations and inconveniently soft hands decide the girl who won’t bow is the only queen they’ll ever take. Their mate. The one they have waited for. Xavier, Haiden, Levi, and Noah are gorgeous, lethal, and anything but perfect and Envy isn’t either. She’s changing. First into hell hound, Layah at her heels and fire in her veins. Then into what the realm has been waiting for, a Goddess of the Underworld, dragging her mates down to hell with her.

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.