Webs of Deception
Katherine Petrova · Completed · 122.3k Words
Introduction
Slowly, he moved his hand from my pussy. I tried my best to catch my break, trying to ignore how embarrassed I was.
He turned to the men who watched in shock, placing his two fingers in his mouth and licking off my every drop.
"Dinner was lovely, Tino." Saint smiled.
Reyna Fields is invisible to the world, hiding behind a common appearance and an impenetrable digital fortress. With an exceptional IQ and a unique skill for hacking complex systems, Reyna risks everything in a desperate search for her missing mother. But her path takes a dangerous turn when she unknowingly breaches the database of Santino "Saint" Venturi, a ruthless mob boss with power few dare to challenge.
To Saint, Reyna's intrusion is the perfect opportunity. Captivated by her mystery and intelligence, he decides to keep her under his control—not just to protect his secrets, but for something darker and more intense. Caught between power plays and undeniable attraction, Reyna and Saint find themselves entangled in a web of forbidden desires and deadly danger.
Chapter 1
I wasn't hungry, but I was trying my best to eat all my food. My mom always tells me to eat so I can grow to be big and strong. Growing big and strong didn't matter to me, though. I was already tall for my age.
From where I sat at the dining room table, I could see my mom cleaning up the dishes she used to cook our food. A smile graced her appearance as she sang along to her favorite song.
My mother liked nostalgic things—things that remind her of the past. Nostalgia lurked behind the vinyl player she had and the lack of technology in our household. It was quite ironic because technology was my safe space. I felt more me with my laptop perched on my lap.
Mom walked over to me with a slight sway to her hips to match the beat of the music.
"You're not eating," she pointed out.
I could only look down at my full plate. "I no longer wish to eat, mom."
My mother picked up my plate while shaking her head in disappointment. Mom wasn't really disappointed in me. There was a smile on her face along with a pep in her step as she strolled back over to the kitchen with a look of content.
"You'll want to eat later," she stated. Later. Five letters with two syllables. It's a word so common used in such a direct way, yet so vague. How long is later, mom?
"Are you coming to my violin recital tomorrow? I got the solo!" I cheered happily.
"That's good, baby! I'll be there. I'll always be there," Mom smiled. My face broke out into a smile as I wrapped my arms around my mother's leg. She squatted down to meet me with a grin brimming in her eyes.
"I love you, mom."
"I love you, too, Reyna," she said. My smile grew even more when she embraced me in a hug. Her hand rubbed my back soothingly right before she pulled away.
"Go upstairs and get ready for your bath. You have school tomorrow," Mom demanded. She brought her finger up to the tip of my nose, where she poked it playfully. I couldn't help but giggle as I ran up the stairs.
—
"You're up, Reyna," my violin teacher called out. I looked out at the crowd of people as I worked so hard to search for my mom.
My brows pulled together before I shook my head at the teacher. "We have to wait for my mom. She always comes, Mrs. Tensley. She wouldn't miss my first solo."
My teacher held a sad look on her face as she gently caressed my shoulder.
"I can give your mom two minutes, but we're on a timed schedule, honey," Mrs. Tensley frowned. I could only nod my head before my eyes strayed back out into the crowd. Where was mom?
I couldn't stop looking at the door. Time was running all around me, but I couldn't pay it any attention. The chatter amongst the large gathering of people made me frown. There were a few hundred faces, but none was Mom. I couldn't get on stage without her; she needed to be there.
"I tried to call her, Reyna, but she didn't answer. I'm so sorry, sweetie," Mrs. Tensley spoke. I glanced over at her with a deepening frown.
"Her phone is always on... for work," I whispered. Perspiration was beginning to touch the hairs on my neck as it trailed down my back. I wiped my sweaty palms on the edges of my black pants. The tension in my brows doubled as my feet tapped against the flooring.
"Maybe you can skip out on this performanc-"
"No, it's okay. I will go," I found myself saying. Mrs. Tensley held a droop to the corner of her lips. She looked as though there was more she wished to do.
"We will find her when you finish, okay? Go out there and show them how talented you are!" She tried her best to cheer me up. It didn't work. I delivered her my best tight-lipped smile. Even she could see the blandness in my eyes.
After being introduced to the crowd, I picked up my violin and walked out. There was a chair waiting for me on center stage. My sheet music was displayed on a stand to beckon me. It was there to show me the rules so that I can play the game of music.
The moment my bottom pressed down onto the cool plastic of the chair, everything felt off. My sight would typically be caught onto my mother's, but I found nothing but empty faces.
My heart was hammering in my chest. I had to count down from ten so many times to slow my thoughts. I looked around for my mother again, but I couldn't find her. Where are you, mom?
The spotlight beamed onto my body. It illuminated me and erased everyone else. I eased the tension in my brow before attempting to search for my mom once more. It was more difficult to see now with the darkness swallowing away every soul.
The darkness made it easier to pretend. I could pretend like she was there... watching me. She had that big smile on her face with a proud look in her eye. Mom was sitting right in front of me with a cliché thumbs-up taking over her fingers. Mom could see me, and I could see her.
With a smile, I placed my chin on the chinrest to my violin. My bow made contact with the strings. Steadily, the music began to fill the silence in the room like water coats a dry mouth. It quenched the eardrums of emptiness to fill them with a beautiful thing called music.
My eyes shut as I focused on the friction from my bow to the movements of my fingers. My body swayed with the soothing sound as each heavenly stroke filled my body with colorful vibrations.
I glanced over at my mother once more to see that she was never there at all. My hand immediately halted as I stared at the space my mom would've sat. Everyone began to clap as if I finished the song, but I wasn't even halfway done. I couldn't finish.
I hurriedly got up from the seat and ran backstage. Mrs. Tensley embraced me in a hug as tears racked from my eyes.
"Come on. Let's go find your mom," she said. I nodded my head, trying my best to end my tears, but I couldn't. Mom has never missed a single performance of mine. If she had to, she would walk from another state to watch me play. It didn't make sense why she would miss my first solo.
"Something is wrong, Mrs. Tensley. I just know it!" I exclaimed.
Time moved so fast. We had walked over to the security office to my elementary school. They took my name and my mother's name. Police officers later replaced the security guards. The policemen didn't tell me much. I tried my best to hear what was happening when they talked to Mrs. Tensley in private. She would glance over at me with an anguished look on her face. It was then that my tears would fall and never stop.
Minutes turned into hours. It was dark outside, and I was still stuck at school with Mrs. Tensley and many police officers.
"They can't find her, can they?" I asked.
"Re-"
"If you aren't going to tell me the truth, I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is where my mommy is and why she missed my violin solo," I cried out. Mrs. Tensley tried to pull me into her arms, but I pushed her away.
"Reyna, the police are doing all they can to track down your mom, okay? You have to be patient," Mrs. Tensley requested. "Are you hungry?"
"No."
I'll eat later. Later. Mom promised me later, and now she is nowhere to be found. Later should never be promised. It's a myth. There was no such thing as later, and there would probably never be.
Even if Mrs. Tensley didn't say it, I could see it in her eyes—mom was gone. Mom was gone, and I plan on doing everything I can to find her. No matter what.
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
Pregnant by My Husband's Rival Alpha
Those words should have destroyed me, but the truth was worse: I'd been used as a broodmare by the man who swore to love me, set up in a hotel room with a stranger because My husband Alexander Cross couldn't father children himself, and now I carried the secret babies of Damon Lester—the most powerful and dangerous Alpha in San Loris—while my own family replaced me with the daughter they'd always wanted. But when that same stranger's doctor appeared at my door, when twenty million dollars exchanged hands over a fake perfume bearing my secret identity, and when Damon's gray eyes locked onto mine with recognition I couldn't afford, I realized my carefully hidden life as the legendary perfumer Vera was colliding with a pregnancy that could cost me everything.
Could I protect my babies from the husband plotting my death, hide my true identity from the Alpha who's been hunting me for years, and reclaim the freedom I'd buried along with my dreams—even if it means standing alone against the wolves who see me as nothing more than a womb to be used and discarded?
Cursed Fates
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother
"What is wrong with me?
Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?
It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.
He’s my boyfirend’s brother.
This is Tyler’s family.
I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.
**
As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.
Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.
When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.
I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.
**
I hate girls like her.
Entitled.
Delicate.
And still—
Still.
The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.
Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.
I shouldn’t care.
I don’t care.
It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.
It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.
I’m not here to rescue anyone.
Especially not her.
Especially not someone like her.
She’s not my problem.
And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.
But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Where The Ice Gives Way
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.
Accidentally Crossing the Tycoon
Four years ago, the Bailey family faced a devastating financial crisis.
Just when bankruptcy seemed inevitable, a mysterious benefactor emerged, offering salvation with one condition: a contract marriage.
Rumors swirled about this enigmatic man—whispers claimed he was hideously ugly and too ashamed to show his face, possibly harboring dark, twisted obsessions.
Without hesitation, the Baileys sacrificed me to protect their precious biological daughter, forcing me to take her place as a pawn in this cold, calculated arrangement.
Luckily, in those four years, the mysterious husband never asked to meet in person.
Now, in the final year of our arrangement, the husband I've never met is demanding we meet face to face.
But disaster struck the night before my return—drunk and disoriented, I stumbled into the wrong hotel room and ended up sleeping with the legendary financial mogul, Caspar Thornton.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?
The Alpha & The Vampire Queen
Whips crack against her skin, blood pooling on the cold stone floor, while her mother's pleas fade into silence, abandoning her to the monster's wrath. Xander's protective cries turn to accusations under Penny's dark spells, fracturing their sibling bond into shards of mistrust and isolation.
The mafia princess return
After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms
I’d appreciate all your support, thank you so much!
From first crush to wedding vows, George Capulet and I had been inseparable. But in our seventh year of marriage, he began an affair with his secretary.
On my birthday, he took her on vacation. On our anniversary, he brought her to our home and made love to her in our bed...
Heartbroken, I tricked him into signing divorce papers.
George remained unconcerned, convinced I would never leave him.
His deceptions continued until the day the divorce was finalized. I threw the papers in his face: "George Capulet, from this moment on, get out of my life!"
Only then did panic flood his eyes as he begged me to stay.
When his calls bombarded my phone later that night, it wasn't me who answered, but my new boyfriend Julian.
"Don't you know," Julian chuckled into the receiver, "that a proper ex-boyfriend should be as quiet as the dead?"
George seethed through gritted teeth: "Put her on the phone!"
"I'm afraid that's impossible."
Julian dropped a gentle kiss on my sleeping form nestled against him. "She's exhausted. She just fell asleep."
Mated to Her Alpha Instructor
Weeks later, our new Alpha combat instructor walks in. Regis. The guy from the woods. His eyes lock on mine, and I know he recognizes me. Then the secret I've been hiding hits me like a punch: I'm pregnant.
He has an offer that binds us tighter than ever. Protection… or a cage? Whispers turn ugly, darkness closes in. Why am I the one without a wolf? Is he my salvation… or will he drag me to ruin?
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
First Taste in a Century
But Lysander’s arrival spells disaster. In a clumsy accident, he doesn't just ruin dinner; he obliterates her state-of-the-art scientific instruments. With her life’s work destroyed and her synthetic supply cut off, the scent of his living blood overwhelms her engineered senses. Forced to break a century-long abstinence, she takes what she needs, only to find herself addicted not just to his taste, but to the man himself.
Using the equipment as a flimsy excuse to lure him back, Vivienne battles a terrifying new obsession. She craves his body despite believing he’s taken, despising her own weakness. Meanwhile, Lysander’s initial terror curdles into a forbidden fascination. Can a relationship survive when one person feels everything, and the other only hungers?
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
