1202 Book(s) Related to world cup temptation falling for daddy

Sold by her own aunt out of pure greed, Serena, an orphan, never expected to become the secret bride of not one, but two billionaire heirs.

Saint Rivers: cold, calculating, the public face of Riverdale Corporations. He is an iceberg in a tailored suit who needs a quiet, scandal-proof wife to secure his empire.

Sinclair Rivers: his hidden twin, all dark charisma and unrestrained hunger, the shadow weapon kept out of the spotlight until now.

One contract, two husbands and zero escape. Dragged into a glittering cage of wealth and danger, Serena is trapped between Saint’s glacial control and Sin’s feral possession.

Every touch is punishment, every kiss is a claim, and every command is a test she refuses to fail. Saint punishes with glacial control, while Sin devours with feral hunger.

The twin heirs aren’t just buying a bride, they’re sharing her, breaking her, owning her… and the more she fights, the more they burn for her surrender.

In a world where power is currency and secrets are weapons, one defiant woman will either shatter the Rivers dynasty, or be consumed by the fire of the men who bought her soul.

Wren's POV

I had an unexpected one night stand with my boyfriend's brother, Hayden Miracle.

Just as I felt guilty and struggled with whether to confess to my boyfriend, Ralph Miracle, I discovered that my boyfriend and my best friend were lying in the same bed!

A massive shock engulfed me, what should I do?

Ralph's POV

"I, Wren Allen of the Doomclaw Pack, reject you, Ralph Miracle of the Lightcrest Pack as my mate and Alpha!"

Wren's rejection was like a sharp steel nail, driving deep into my heart. I clutched at my chest, feeling an unbearable pain deep within.

Everything in front of me began to blur, and it was as if everything around me ceased to exist.

All I could see was Wren and Hayden holding hands tightly...

After three years of marriage, Marina finally got the baby she had always dreamed of. But on the very day she received her pregnancy report, she caught her husband, Kean, cheating with his secretary.

He played the role of the perfect husband at home while secretly accompanying his mistress to prenatal appointments and even getting her pregnant.

Everyone expected Marina to forgive him like she always had. This time, she quietly hid her pregnancy, gathered evidence of his affair, hired a lawyer, and prepared to leave with her unborn child.

Just when Kean believed she would never walk away, the woman who had loved him unconditionally turned her back on him. Meanwhile, the man she once rejected reappeared in her darkest moment, offering her the love, protection, and devotion she had never received.

Later, Kean knelt in the pouring rain, begging for another chance.

But Marina simply rested a hand on her baby bump and smiled.

"Sorry. Your love came too late."

King Lorenzo spent fifteen years dreaming of one thing.

Revenge.

After watching his family slaughtered, his country stolen, and his people enslaved, he escaped with one promise burning in his heart: one day, he would make the monster who destroyed his life pay for every drop of blood that had been spilled.

And he did. Lorenzo murdered the devil and reclaimed the throne.

Only one person remained.

Princess Daisy.

The spoiled, untouchable daughter of the man who ruined everything.

Now stripped of her crown and held captive inside the very palace that once belonged to Lorenzo’s family, Daisy becomes the living reminder of a past he can’t forget. Every scar on his body carries her father’s name. Every nightmare ends with the same vow:
She will pay.

But revenge isn’t as simple as he imagined.

The more Lorenzo tries to break the princess, the more he begins to see the frightened woman hiding beneath the crown she never asked to wear. And Daisy soon realizes the ruthless king holding her captive isn’t the monster she was raised to believe he was.

In a kingdom built on blood, hatred is easy.
Falling for the enemy is the real danger.

He wants revenge. She wants freedom. Neither of them is prepared for what happens when hate turns into obsession.

They killed his whole family. They left the boy alive, thinking he was nothing. A pup with no den, they said. The city would eat him soon enough.

They were wrong about that. The city did not eat him. It forged him.

Ten years later, Kaelen comes home to Charter. He is not a boy anymore. He carries a cold magic that was born from his own pain and suffering, the ability to pull bad memories out of places and make them real for a while. A scream trapped in a wall, the shadow of a victim, the last feeling of someone who died wrong: it is all fuel for him now.

But the power is wild and untamed. Every time he uses it, it hurts him and costs him something valuable. His enemies are still here, rich and comfortable, three of the most powerful people in the city. They do not know he is coming for them. They are about to learn.

To destroy them, Kaelen must first master himself. He must grow stronger and learn the full depths of his power. Because the echoes do not just haunt his enemies. They haunt him too. And the stronger he becomes, the less of his original self remains behind.

Betrayed by the one she trusted most, Aurora, the vampire queen, met her end at the hands of her lover. In her final moments, she desperately pleaded with the moon goddess for another chance at life.

But fate has a twisted sense of humour—she awakens as an Omega, a mere slave. As she plans to run away,Her path takes an even darker turn when Alpha Jason, her ex-lover who ended her life, becomes her unexpected savior.

Now she must get her close to the Alpha and take her revenge on him, as they both guard secrets that could shatter their worlds. In a pack where even whispers of the vampire queen are forbidden, how long can Aurora survive when her enemies are out for her?

What happens when secrets are unravelled and love starts to blossom again? Will Aurora be able to survive the perilous journey ahead?

I gave up five years of my marriage for nothing.

My son is dead. He died on his fifth birthday, waiting for his father to come home. But instead of his dad, a car accident took him. And his father? He was a thousand miles away, with another woman.

For five years, I put up with my husband's coldness and his family's constant humiliation. I thought having a child would melt his icy heart. I was wrong—so terribly, laughably wrong.

He couldn't even focus at our son's funeral—his eyes were only for his old flame, his "true love." It wasn't until I was on my deathbed that he finally shed those fake tears of regret. But it was too late. My child was gone. My love had died. And soon, I would be gone too.

This marriage, this whole life—it's all been one big joke. I just want to find my son as soon as I can. To tell him that his mother never gave up on him. To promise him that in another world, we'll never be apart again.

Six months after our bonding ceremony, I was ambushed by rogue wolves while searching for rare herbs in the Black Forest.
Their poisoned claws shredded my abdomen—and with it, any chance of ever carrying pups.
But my mate held my hand and wept. My mother swore she'd save me. My father said everything would be fine.
How pathetic—
Right before they wheeled me into surgery, I heard them through a cracked door, calmly discussing how to harvest my heart for the adopted sister who'd been waiting six months.
Turns out the "accident" was a gift from my loving family of four.
Turns out the last six months of "coming home" was just them fattening up my heart for harvest.
What they don't know? The voice memo on my phone caught everything.
What they really don't know? Six months from now, I'm coming back—
With a Dark Moon Alliance badge. And a heart much colder than the one they stole.
Shh. Listen.
That stolen heart? It's starting to reject.

I took a submachine gun bullet for Mafia Don Vincenzo Lombardi. I drank poisoned wine for him and bore his heir. To the the entire syndicate, I was his loyal cleaner and lucky talisman.
But the moment he seized ultimate power, he brought her home—my "pure and fragile" adopted sister, Vanessa.
For her, Vincenzo shattered my knees, handed over my title as Donna, and turned my own son against me. He dismissed my broken heart, claiming I was being petty and that she was merely "joining the family."
Yet, the innocent Vanessa was a monster in disguise. She ruthlessly slit her own mother’s throat—the woman who raised me—and locked me in a sub-zero freezer.
When Vincenzo finally pried the heavy iron door open, there was no pity in his eyes. He only offered a cold command: crawl and beg his pregnant new Donna for forgiveness.
Wiping the bloody ice crystals from my lips, I looked at the man I had loved with my life, and rasped my final words: "Vincenzo... I'm dying."

Have you ever been treated like a stand-in for your dead sibling by your own mother? I have.

Have you ever been murdered by your own mother? I have.

My name is Aira, and today is my sister Lily's birthday. It's also the anniversary of my death—the day the washing machine became my coffin.

"Why couldn't it have been you who died?"

After four long years, my mom finally got her wish.

"You're the one who deserves to die, you bitch!"

I couldn't control myself anymore. I slapped Olivia across the face—hard. She had forced her sapphire necklace into my bag, then accused me of stealing it to pay for my dying dog's surgery. "You and that pathetic dog of yours—you both deserve to die," she whispered in my ear, her voice dripping with venom.

Before I could strike her again, a brutal force slammed into my stomach. Ethan kicked me. I crashed to the floor, gasping for air. "You're beyond saving," he spat, looking at me like I was garbage. He scooped Olivia into his arms, checking her face with infinite tenderness.

I lay on the cold hospital floor, gaunt and skeletal from late-stage leukemia, bleeding from my nose. My husband was cradling the woman who framed me, while my dog lay dead in the next room. "Stay home and think about what you've done," he commanded. He didn't know I would never go home again.

My pack's golden girl—my adopted sister—vanished. On my eighteenth birthday—the day my wolf should have awakened—my parents dragged me to a witch.
"Show us what you did to her."
Fine. Let them look.
Let them see who drugged me the day I came home. Who stole credit while I bled. Who smiled while planning my destruction.
They chose their precious Rosalie over me for three years.
They wanted the truth?
They were about to choke on it.

I'm dead.

Died that rainy night, desperate because I couldn't scrape together five thousand dollars to save my dog.

Liam laughed at me over the phone—my childhood friend told me to quit the sob story. His new girlfriend Sarah said I should get on my knees and beg if I wanted her to toss me some scraps. They had no idea every dollar I owed those loan sharks was to cover up Liam's hit-and-run.

My dog died. So I jumped into Black Lake.

It wasn't until they pulled my body from the water that Liam found the surveillance footage in that tin box and realized what a massive mistake he'd made. Then he snapped, dragging Sarah and everyone else who killed me down into the depths, one by one.

Too bad it was already too late.

Everyone knew Ethan Blackwood and I were Professor Richard Hartwell's two proudest students. From childhood easels to Columbia studios, inseparable for over a decade.

Everyone assumed we'd get married, stand together on the Pritzker stage someday. Until he fell in love with Sophia Crane, daughter of our mentor's academic rival.

I let him go. Love isn't something I can design.

But I never thought he'd destroy our mentor's entire life for her.

Five years later, he's back in New York riding high on his success, excited to "make amends" with Professor Hartwell.

I laugh.

Go ahead, Ethan Blackwood. You'll spend the rest of your life searching.

Fay is a psychologist and her patient is the most ruthless mafia king. He's in jail.
And he's the father of Fay's ex ?!
One day, he caged Fay against bars and unbuttoned her shirt
Fay tried to push him away but she was wet.
Him："You know, doc. I wanted to do this the first day we met."

You spend a whole year carefully prepping for pregnancy… only to find out your husband cheated on you with his stepsister—and got her pregnant. 💔
So, you divorce that piece of trash and decide to have a baby on your own. But plot twist… the sperm donor you chose? Turns out he’s a freaking foreign prince?! 👑😱

When you give up your dream job for an abandoned baby at your doorstep,
Five years later, a mysterious billionaire sends you to the police station?!
Him: How dare you steal my daughter?!
Turns out, his daughter and your adopted girl are twins?
And now, you're forced to move into his mansion...

[WARNING: EXPLICIT MATURE CONTENT] Dahlia thought that she would be marrying the man of her dreams when she took her twin sister’s place in a political marriage. After spending a passionate night with her groom, she wakes up to find that he wasn’t who she thought he was. Instead of marrying her twin’s fiancé who was her first and forbidden love, she ended up marrying Bradon, the man known as the Mafia King of the underworld.

With her sister gone after eloping with her lover and with the country’s economic stability at stake, Dahlia has no choice but to continue playing the role of Bradon’s willing wife. Little does she know that being the Mafia King’s wife would be so physically and emotionally demanding. Being married to the cold, calculating, and dominant Mafia King changes Dahlia’s life forever as his seductive touches tame her body and ignites her soul. With each kiss and caress, he teaches her of pleasures unlike any she has ever known and shows her a way to escape her dark past.

Shunned by society and her parents since childhood for always being second to her twin sister, Dahlia’s life had never been easy. With no one to take her side, Dahlia was used to fending for herself, but what if her only way to survive this time around is to find the key to unlock her husband’s cold heart?

My other books: Love Slave to the Mafia Boss's Passion, Forbidden Heat, Love Slave to My Devil CEO Boss, Conquering the Emperor, The Alpha Prince's Purchased Maid, and Lust Contracts

He is a 33-year-old Lycan King, I’m a high school graduate.
It’s rumored that he was cursed by his first love, a dark witch who betrayed him, rendering him unable to feel the presence of a mate and sire offspring.
To break the curse, he needed to find an 18-year-old virgin in the human world to serve as a surrogate.
That's when I was chosen, and my stepmother sold me to him, signing the contract.
During our first meeting, he coldly said, "Human, after giving birth to my child, you must return to the human world immediately."
The reason I was chosen is that I resemble his first love. Could it be that I'm just a substitute for him?
When I finally left the werewolf clan, he unexpectedly came looking for me with twin wolf cubs.
"Methis, please, be the mother of my pups."

Eliana Reyes only wanted two things: to survive university and build a future far away from the life she grew up in. But one betrayal destroys everything.

After being secretly sold for one night by her own boyfriend, Eliana wakes up alone in the bed of Blackthorn University’s most feared athlete, Darian Blackwood, the cold and dangerously handsome hockey captain rumored to come from a powerful werewolf bloodline.
She tells herself it meant nothing until two pink lines changed her life forever.

Now carrying the child of an Alpha heir, Eliana becomes trapped in a world she never knew existed… One filled with ruthless werewolf families, dangerous secrets, possessive instincts, and a man who cannot seem to stay away from her no matter how hard he tries.
Darian never planned to fall for anyone. Not with the pressures of his bloodline, a forced engagement hanging over his head, and a wolf that only brings destruction whenever he loses control.

But the more he learns about the girl he unknowingly hurt, the more obsessed he becomes with protecting her. Even from his own family.
As enemies close in and buried truths begin unraveling, Eliana realizes the terrifying Alpha athlete may be the only person willing to fight for her. And Darian realizes something. She was never just the girl from one reckless night.

She was his mate.

On the run from the Alpha Kieran of the North Pack, Tish, a human, needs to figure out where to turn next.All she knows is that she has to get as far away from the North Pack as she can. Hoping to leave her mistakes behind her, she takes off with nothing to her name. While she is hitchhiking South, she is picked up by an unlikely ally who knows about her past. Instead of returning her to Alpha Kieran, he takes her under his wing and makes her a member of his pack.

Is this the fresh start that Tish is looking for? Or will the mistakes from her past come to light and ruin her life for good?

"The daughter of Alpha Holmes would be my breeder from henceforth."
Celeste was an abandoned princess, and a wolf-less she-wolf who held no value to her father. Horres was the ruthless Alpha of the Iron Fang Pack-a ticking time bomb.
As a peace offering to a rival pack, Celeste Holmes knew her life would be difficult as the Luna to an Alpha who would give anything to wipe her pack from the surface of the earth. Even then, she felt it was her ticket to escape her father's clutches, yet nothing prepared her for the horror awaiting her.
People said Alpha Horres was scary, but to Celeste, he was a demon. Alpha Horres Thorne had everything planned out for the daughter of his nemesis.
The humiliation, pain, torture, and everything that could break her was set the moment her father thought of offering her to him. Horres enjoyed watching her bleed. Relishing her despair, and seeing the helplessness on her face gave him the energy to plot more schemes against her evil father. Everything was supposed to move perfectly, but there was a flaw in his plan.
After that fateful night, he experienced every single pain he inflicted on her, just the way she felt it. Even her subconscious fears and insecurities were felt by him.
Didn't they say Celeste Holmes had no wolf? How then did she do it, or did Alpha Holmes' daughter succeed in bewitching Horres while he was enjoying his time torturing her? Did he lose in his own game of chess? How would he take revenge when he couldn't even hurt her anymore? Was he supposed to just surrender and love her now? What about his grievances?

“I really appreciate you coming tonight.” She said, nervously fidgeting with her keys.

“It was my pleasure.” I said, refusing to break eye contact with her.

I took a step closer to her. She blushed and her breathing became shallow.

“So, class tomorrow?” She asked, nervousness in her eyes.

“Mmhm.” I said, leaning into her.

She didn’t stop me. I kissed her. She pulled away for a moment. I could tell she was considering the pros and cons. She came right back and kissed me again. Fire was alive in my bones.

Luna is a Spanish woman who is passionate about teaching her native language. Lucas, the CEO of an energy company that wants to invest in a latin american country. He never expected to feel attracted to his Spanish tutor, she feels confused by the feeling he provoques in her, and the worst part of it all is that she can't stop thinking of him.

A Spanish Tutor for the Billionaire is written by Amelie Bergen, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

Oliver was a nerdy omega werewolf whose life could only be described as boring. He spent most of his time taking care of his four-year-old siblings and doing tailoring work from home. He had never been to the Alpha King’s castle, nor had he ever imagined he would be chosen as a bartender for the Mate-Finding Party.

Oliver was excited—it was a chance to earn some money and possibly find his mate, a win-win situation. So he left for the party the next day.

During the night of the event, Oliver saw the Alpha King from a distance. Then he heard a word he never expected to hear so soon, and a strong pull formed toward the Alpha King.

Mate.
The pull was immediate and undeniable.

But Oliver did not know then that being a weak omega would make that bond something the Alpha King would never publicly acknowledge—that instead of a mate, Oliver would be kept in the shadows, treated as nothing more than a sex toy.

“You want me to share the studio with you?”

“Only if you can handle me… and what I want.”

“And what exactly do you want?”

“Everything… on my terms… starting with you.”

When the school decides to shut down the art studio to make room for hockey expansion, Elara Quinn refuses to accept it.

Landon Hayes the captain, the hero, the face of the team is supposed to be her enemy. His world is ice rinks and roaring crowds. Hers is paint-splattered floors and quiet determination.

But when Elara storms into his territory demanding answers, she doesn’t expect him to offer a deal.

Share the building. Work together. Rebrand the team.

It’s supposed to be temporary.

Yet the more they clash, the more the tension shifts from rivalry to something undeniable.

Saving her studio was the goal.

Falling for the boy on the other side of the fight?
That was never part of the plan.

“Morgan Rice has come up with what promises to be another brilliant series, immersing us in a fantasy of valor, honor, courage, magic and faith in your destiny. Morgan has managed again to produce a strong set of characters that make us cheer for them on every page.…Recommended for the permanent library of all readers that love a well-written fantasy.”--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (regarding Rise of the Dragons)From #1 Bestseller Morgan Rice comes an unforgettable new fantasy series. In A THRONE FOR SISTERS (Book one), Sophia, 17, and her younger sister Kate, 15, are desperate to leave their horrific orphanage. Orphans, unwanted and unloved, they nonetheless dream of coming of age elsewhere, of finding a better life, even if that means living on the streets of the brutal city of Ashton. Sophia and Kate, also best friends, have each other’s backs—and yet they want different things from life. Sophia, a romantic, more elegant, dreams of entering court and finding a noble to fall in love with. Kate, a fighter, dreams of mastering the sword, of battling dragons, and becoming a warrior. They are both united, though, by their secret, paranormal power to read other’s minds, their only saving grace in a world that seems bent to destroy them.As they each embark on a quest and adventure their own ways, they struggle to survive. Faced with choices neither can imagine, their choices may propel them to the highest power—or plunge them to the lowest depths.A THRONE FOR SISTERS is the first book in a dazzling new fantasy series rife with love, heartbreak, tragedy, action, magic, sorcery, fate and heart-pounding suspense. A page turner, it is filled with characters that will make you fall in love, and a world you will never forget. Book #2—A COURT FOR THIEVES—will be released soon.“An action packed fantasy sure to please fans of Morgan Rice’s previous novels, along with fans of works such as The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini…. Fans of Young Adult Fiction will devour this latest work by Rice and beg for more.” --The Wanderer, A Literary Journal (regarding Rise of the Dragons)

She gave him three years. He gave her nothing but silence.
For three years, she endured a loveless marriage, clinging to the hope that one day he would choose her. But the moment his first love returned, he didn't hesitate. He cast her aside without a second glance. Even her final, desperate question couldn't make him stay.
So she walked away, burying her love along with their past.
What he didn't know: she was carrying his child.
What she didn't expect: his first love's fans would stalk her, run her car off the road, and nearly kill her and the baby.
And when the public turned her into the villain, calling her the "other woman" , he helped spread the lie. To protect the woman he truly loved.
Years later, she signs the final divorce papers from a hospital bed, ready to erase him from her life forever.
That's when the untouchable CEO breaks.
In front of everyone, he falls to his knees, his voice trembling as he begs her not to leave him.
He once let her go without regret.
Now, he will do anything to have her back.
But some wounds don't heal.
And some love stories don't deserve a second chance.

Emily Johnson POV

My third pregnancy, and I gave birth to another stillborn child.

I struggled to get up, wanting to see my baby one last time, but instead I saw my husband James Smith carrying an infant into his adopted sister's hospital room.

I instinctively followed and heard Xanthe Smith's weak voice:

"James, thank you for being willing to give me Emily's child, for giving me a chance to be a mother."

My child?

Wasn't my child born dead?

My mind went blank, and the blood in my body felt like it had instantly frozen into ice.

"This is what we owe you."

James's voice was full of sympathy:

"If Emily hadn't been so petty back then and insisted on marrying you off, you wouldn't have ended up with that terrible man who tortured you until they had to remove your uterus."

"But what about Emily... What if she finds out and tries to take the baby back?"

"She won't find out."

James's voice turned cold:

"The first two children - didn't she believe they were stillborn too? Everyone in Emerald City knows that Emily only gives birth to dead babies. Even if she makes a fuss, who would believe her?"

"Besides, they're just kids. She's still young, she can have more. She won't care..."

Riley Brooks knows heartbreak.

As a gifted witch and rare Heartcrafter, she can brew a potion for almost anything the heart gets wrong. Her tiny shop, "The Remedy & Ruin", is supposed to be her quiet path toward independence.

Then Ryan Reed walks through her door.
He's a powerful fae, an academy golden boy, and the most irritating person Riley has ever met. Worse, her magic can't read him.

Soon he's everywhere: in her classes, at her shop, beside her at the café, and somehow becoming the person she trusts most.

Riley can fix almost anyone else's heart.

She just isn't sure what to do when hers starts beating for the one person she can't understand.

Alexis Carter, a brilliant but isolated scientist, has always been more comfortable with data than with people. But when she decodes a mysterious signal from deep space, her world is turned upside down. The signal leads her to Kayden, a renegade alien fugitive who claims that the technology she’s uncovered holds the key to reshaping reality. As they race against time to retrieve the hidden device, Alexis finds herself caught between her loyalty to Earth and her growing connection to Kayden. But their mission is fraught with danger, pursued by mercenaries from an intergalactic war that Kayden has been running from for centuries. With enemies closing in and the lines between trust and betrayal blurring, Alexis and Kayden must confront their deepest fears—and their deepest feelings for each other—before the power of the universe falls into the wrong hands.

Tobias Slate was an ex-military—framed, hunted, and now reborn as the silent enforcer for a mafia family.

His new assignment? Dalla Mulvaney, the reckless heir who drinks, fights, and breaks every rule just to prove he’s unfit to lead.

But Tobias has one order, put him in shape to wear the crown, or eliminate him if he becomes too dangerous.

What begins as surveillance becomes obsession. What starts as hatred ignites into something raw and dangerous behind closed doors.

But in their world, the walls are always listening.

When a single act of betrayal destroys everything they’ve built, Tobias is ripped away and Dalla is forced to become the monster he never wanted to be.

Now the only question left is whether the man who was ordered to kill him… will pull the trigger when the time comes.

After being forced to marry the alpha king, Katlyn feels her life is a living hell, but she never expected this sinister, frivolous alpha to become the perfect, adoring husband. 
"Honey, you're so sweet," he said, kissing her cheek

At seventy-two, Richard Hayes finally asked my mother for a divorce.

He thought he was setting himself free.

He did not know Eleanor Hayes had been waiting ten years for him to say the words.

By sunset, his new woman would be calling my mother cruel.

By winter, he would be standing on her porch with two suitcases and nowhere soft to land.

And my mother, who had spent nearly half a century opening doors for him, would finally learn how peaceful a locked door could sound.

Just because my face was severely burned in the fire, a woman pointed her finger at me, screaming and falsely accusing me of molesting her son to the whole society.
She incited online violence, ruining my livelihood; she distorted the truth, bringing in corrupt police officers who tortured me to the point of near death.
She thought she could extort some unexpected money.
But she had no idea that my severe burns were because I saved the governor in the fire!

The wife in the cryogenic chamber had only three minutes left.

I had an iron hook pierce my collarbone, and my knees shattered while kneeling at a lavish banquet. Wine glasses smashed at my feet, flashbulbs were pointed at my face, and everyone was laughing—the former war god of the North, now less than a dog.

Victor stomped on the remote control and smashed it.

When the red light of the three-minute countdown popped up, I raised my head. The sealing nails on my shoulders were blasted away by the qi, and what surged from the dark golden depths of my eyes made the entire building tremble.

He crushed over a hundred mercenaries with a single punch.

He tore open the alloy gate with his bare hands.

One hundred thousand black-armored demons knelt down from the darkness, and their commander cut off his own arm to plead guilty.

I pressed the full-frequency communication button, draped in a blood-patterned cloak: "Seven days. Make the three great empires hand over the restorative herbs. If even one herb is missing—wipe out the entire nation."

He knelt before his wife, he fought his way through the world for her. The moment she awoke was the beginning of this world paying its debt.

Seven years of marriage turned me into a joke.

My husband Christopher would drive across half of New York in a blizzard just to bring my sister Amanda a cup of mulled wine. My own son Ryan would point at my face and scream, "Aunt Amanda is a hundred times prettier than you! She should be my mom!"

In this house, the three of them were family. I was just the unpaid help.

I thought if I loved them enough, I could win their hearts. Until the day Ryan stomped on my architectural model—six months of work, my ticket back to the career I'd sacrificed. Christopher just shrugged. "Amanda wanted it as a toy for Ryan. Do you really have to make such a big deal out of it?"

Something inside me went quiet.

I signed the papers without a word. Left my ring on the table. Walked into the winter night and never looked back.

My mad mother, in her final moments, pressed a set of Russian nesting dolls into my arms.
"These cost me thirty years of my life. In return, they'll give you three ways out of death."
The first doll told me to go to a bar and bring home the third strange man I met.
The second doll, she said to open on the eve of my wedding. There was no note inside. Only a photograph — my groom, killing a woman wearing the exact same wedding dress as mine.
Three years later, on the eve of another wedding, I opened the last doll. I read the note, smiled, and dropped it in the trash.
It was only later that I understood —
This mad woman saw more clearly than anyone sane in this world.
Mom, I'm sorry.

Three years ago, to quell a mafia feud and save my father's life, I married Alessio.

Over the past three years, the occasional scraps of tenderness he threw my way had slowly tricked me into falling in love.

Until the day I nearly bled to death giving birth to our twins—only for him to immediately hand them over to his true love. His adoptive sister, Bianca, had been left sterile after taking a bullet for him years ago.

In the end, the reality was clear. I was just a breeding vessel, kept around merely to bear children for the only woman he ever loved.

My dignity, my flesh and blood, and my ridiculous love were unapologetically trampled into the dirt.

And when the devastating news of my father's brutal murder followed, the very last trace of weakness in my heart disintegrated into ash.

I drank myself into a stomach perforation, all to secure investment for Mu Jingshen's company.

As I was wheeled into the emergency room, blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. I heard a doctor shouting: "Where's the next of kin? We need a signature for surgery, now!"

My hands shaking violently, I dialed Mu Jingshen's number.
His contact was saved under "A Hubby", pinned to the very top of my contact list, just so I'd never miss a single call from him.

The call connected, and I forced out every last bit of my strength to speak, my voice weak and trembling:
"Jingshen, I need emergency surgery. Can you come sign the consent forms for me, please..."

But it wasn't his voice that came through the line. It was Shen Wanrong's, sweet and cloying: "Jiejie, Jingshen's busy giving Huanhuan a bath right now."

The sound of running water stopped.
I heard him ask who was on the phone.

Shen Wanrong spoke in a hurt, plaintive whine: "It's Jiejie... Jingshen, do you want to take the call? What if it's an emergency?"

But he just said, his voice flat and dismissive: "Ignore her. Nothing could ever be more important than being here for Huanhuan's birthday."

Huanhuan was Shen Wanrong's pet dog.

When the armored car had room for only one passenger, Damian Russo chose me.

I was saved, but Lilia Brown didn't make it. She bled out in the crossfire, her body left in the rubble. Damian pretended he didn't care and married me as planned.

For three years, he made me pay for her death—beating me, starving me, blaming me for the fact that she was gone.

In the end, he drove us both off a cliff instead.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the docks on the night of the ambush. This time, I stepped aside and let him save the woman he truly loved.

To stop my fox clan from being hunted to extinction, I decided to step beyond the barrier and draw close to Derrick Carter—my childhood friend, now a top geneticist.
He hadn't forgotten me after all. For those few days, he held me locked in his arms, as though trying to make up for all the years of longing at once.
I thought there might still be a trace of warmth left in this tangled affair.
Until that night, after the pleasure had faded, he suddenly gripped the base of my tail and yanked.
He held the still-trembling tail up, weighing it in his hand.
"Audrey hasn't looked well these past few days. This should make a decent tonic."
"Derrick... please, don't do this."
"Then tell me where my parents are."
I reached back, unconsciously, and touched the empty small of my back.
Nine tails, once. Now only one remained.

Our team lost four games in a row. And somehow, that became my fault.
Team captain Reid stood in the locker room and told everyone I'd been giving performance enhancers to my ex on the rival team — that I had a problem with athletes, that I couldn't control myself. The guys laughed. Nobody stopped him.
I went to my supervisor Paige for help. She told me Reid noticing me at all was something I should be grateful for. That the way I dressed was basically asking for it.
Then the university president called me in and made things very clear: push this any further, and my academic future disappears.
Every single person with authority had already chosen a side.
So I climbed the stairs to Paige's office, hand raised to knock —
And stopped.
Because I could hear her through the door, clearly touching herself — whispering Reid's name.

Five years ago, I stepped in front of a crossbow bolt for Lucian Vael, and he turned me into a vampire before I had the chance to say no.
He told me I was the first person he'd loved in six hundred years. He bought a castle and named it after me. He reserved a spot for me in his family's crypt so we'd lie there together when the time came—right beside his parents, in the inner ring where only blood and the most beloved go.
While I spent four years bleeding myself dry over ancient rites, trying to carry his child, he was across the city watching another woman do it on her first try. Using my research to get there.
He named one of the twins Soren. That was the name I'd chosen.
The night I found out, I was seven weeks pregnant.
I didn't tell him.
I called Mira and said: I need him to think I'm dead.

My wife, the most ruthless godmother in New York's underworld, wants a divorce.
The reason? Her male subordinate's old wound has flared up, and he only has three months to live. She wants to accompany him on his final journey as his wife.
To make room for her new lover, she not only doesn't go home, but even allows him to frame me for a fabricated death sentence.
In the dimly lit underground interrogation room, the backlash from deviating from the proper procedures caused my organs to rapidly fail, and I developed a persistent high fever.
Through the iron bars, she looked at my disfigured body, not recognizing me, but coldly raising her gun and giving the order to execute me herself.
She proudly believed that by clearing the way, she could go back and have a grand wedding with the man who was feigning illness.
Until the last shot, when my breathing stopped completely, she saw the old scar on the back of my left hand—the scar from the severed finger I had left for her.
That once arrogant godmother instantly broke down in tears beside my corpse.

“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.” --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) CUL DE SAC (A Chloe Fine Mystery) is book #3 in a new psychological suspense series by bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has over 1,000 five-star reviews. FBI VICAP Special Agent Chloe Fine, 27, must immerse herself in a suburban world of cliques, gossip and lies, as she races to solve the murder of a seemingly picture-perfect wife and mother on the night of her 20th high school reunion.Old high school friends, now in their late 30s, have returned back to the same suburban town to raise their kids, and have resurrected the same cliques that sustained and divided them 20 years ago. As their 20th high school reunion brings back old memories, resentment, betrayals and secrets, it causes fresh pain a generation later. On the same night, their former queen bee is found murdered in her home.In this seemingly perfect, manicured town, the past haunts the present—and anyone and everyone is a suspect.Can Chloe Fine solve the murder—while wrestling with the demons of her own past, and the potential release from jail of her own father?An emotionally wrought psychological suspense with layered characters, small-town ambiance and heart-pounding suspense, CUL DE SAC is book #3 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #4 in the CHLOE FINE series will be available soon.

[The heroine offers no forgiveness and looks back never， and is spoiled rotten by a powerful tycoon.]

For three years of marriage, everyone in the city knew that Henry Tudor deeply loved his wife — — Gloria Seymour

But on that day, Henry said, "Gloria's health is poor. If we really want a child, finding someone else to bear one is fine too."

He didn't know that Gloria was standing just outside the private room, clutching a pregnancy test report that had just confirmed she was expecting.

She had fought for his power, accompanied him to countless social events, and endured ovulation injections until her body was swollen and bruised—

all because they were both waiting for the fruit of their love.

Yet, in return Henry cheated on her with her own best friend.

Gloria caressed the new life taking shape within her womb.

In the darkness, she dialed a number that had been untouched for three years:

"Arrange a car accident for me. I want him to lose the one he loves most at the very moment he feels happiest."

Later, Henry Tudor collapsed into madness, clutching her "remains" in despair.

However, at a charity gala, he saw his "deceased" wife.

Dressed in a striking red gown, she was being carefully protected in the arms of another man.

Sienna Vale has spent her entire life perfecting the art of control , on the ice, in her relationships, in everything. So when she catches her boyfriend Ethan Cross in bed with her roommate three weeks before the campus reality series launches, control is the first thing she loses. Roman Mercer is the last person she would ever ask for help. Cold, intimidating, and currently suspended from the Hartwell Falcons for a fight nobody will explain, he is everything she was taught to avoid. But when their fake relationship deal leaks, when Ethan starts becoming something far more dangerous than a jealous ex, and when the cameras begin manufacturing drama neither of them agreed to, Sienna and Roman stop pretending for entirely different reasons. The problem is figuring out which moments were ever real , and whether real is enough when everything else is falling apart.

One rumor, one photo and one lie that changes everything.

I never slept with Cole Adrian Rayner. Unfortunately, nobody believes me. Not the students spreading gossip across campus, not the strangers calling me a gold-digger, not the university threatening my scholarship and definitely not Cole.

As Crownhigh University's hockey captain and future NHL star, he's convinced I used his name to get attention. He thinks I ruined his life.

I think he's an arrogant jerk.

Now we're being forced to fake a relationship to save both our futures.

Three weeks, one fake romance and hundreds of people watching our every move..The rules should be simple: Don't fall in love, don't get attached and don't forget it's all fake.

Too bad nobody warned me that the hardest part wouldn't be pretending to be his girlfriend; It would be surviving the moment he starts feeling real.

I broke the track record. My ex showed up with my best friend—his new fiancée—to humiliate me. Three years of betrayal, lies, and a career-ending crash that was never really an accident.
So I lied: told everyone I'm marrying Lorenzo Vitali, the man every driver fears and respects.
Problem? He heard everything. And he's not denying it.
Now my ex is spiraling, desperate to prove I'm still the broken girl he destroyed. My former best friend's perfect mask is cracking. And Lorenzo just stopped pretending this is fake.
They thought I'd crawl back. Instead, they're about to learn what happens when you push the wrong woman too far.

"You blackmail me, you kiss me, and now you want to date me?"
He raised a brow. "Fake date, of course. You think I am interested in you?"
I let out a deep sigh. "I wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't kissed me in front of everyone."
He shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't have if you weren't obsessing over your brother."
The silence between us stretched for a long while, both of us staring at the other.
Finally, I whispered, "You're a jerk."
"Yeah," He said, smiling. "But I'm your jerk now."
Hazel Pierce has always lived in the shadows, nerdy, invisible, and secretly crushing on the one guy she should never have fallen for: her stepbrother, Trey.
When her secret is nearly exposed on campus, her enemy and the team's resident bad boy, Jaxon Carter comes to her rescue but not without a prize.
He makes her an offer to fake date him to kill the gossip in exchange to improve his grades. He's cocky, reckless, and dangerously charming. And worst of all he knows how to make her heart race
.
What starts as a simple deal quickly spirals out of control. They promised no feelings, but what happens when their truth is bigger than the rules?
With rivals closing in, bigger secrets and Hazel's true identity revealed. She must decide if loving him is worth the risk as she reclaims her true voice and identity.