9197 Book(s) Related to in the grip of billionaire s obsession

Nine months pregnant and about to give birth, my husband Zane locked me in the wine cellar.
All because his widowed business partner, Elena, was also giving birth today.
"You almost made Elena go into labor early. You need to think about what you've done."
Agonizing contractions wracked my body. I dropped to my knees, begging him, "Zane, please─the baby is coming now! He will die!"
He just shoved me down the cold stone steps, his eyes icy cold.
"Stop lying! Your due date isn't today. You'll do anything for attention, won't you?"
"Tonight, only Elena's safety matters. You'll stay here until you admit you were wrong!"
The heavy wooden door slammed shut, snuffing out the last bit of hope I had left.
Hours later, Zane was cradling Elena's newborn son, calling the maid.
"Elena had a boy. I couldn't be happier. Let my wife out—I'm willing to forgive her little tantrum today."
But on the other end of the phone, the maid was sobbing.
"Sir... your wife and the baby... they're already gone."

As the heir to the Winsor Pack, I sold off the land my father left behind—just to help him ascend to power.
But on the tenth day of his brother Zane’s funeral, I caught him holding Evelyn, my sister-in-law, whispering:
“She was just an obstacle.”
While “cheap plaything” cards bearing my photo spread like wildfire through every Pack’s group chat,
he was using the tie I gave him to fasten her dress.
He got me drunk, dumped me on the street,
and let unfamiliar Alphas rip my dignity to shreds.
When I crawled home, bloodied and broken,
he cupped my face with a hand that reeked of her perfume and said:
“Stop making a scene. Evelyn is still pregnant—with my brother’s child.”
But the Moon Goddess mark at the back of my neck had already begun to fester in the rot of his lies.
“Tear those chains apart, Stella.”
“You are the Moon’s chosen of the Winsor Pack—
not a sacrifice on an altar built from shame.”

I never thought my own Fated Mate—Nico Smith—would sit right in front of me and casually talk in German about all the intimate details between him and his foster sister. He really thought I couldn’t understand German.
That night was supposed to be a celebration of his victory at the werewolf training camp. I stood by his side, smiling. Then I heard him joking with his buddies about what he and Nora did in bed, his tone relaxed, unashamed. I was sitting right next to him, and he still kept talking, lips brushing mine like nothing was wrong.
At that moment I finally realized: the man I married—the one who promised he would belong to me and only me—had been using our marriage as a cover, while hiding a forbidden relationship with his foster sister behind my back.
I used to think I knew Nico. But the side of him I saw that night was a stranger.

Three years ago, I gave my grieving boss $6,000 for her husband’s funeral. The office called me a fool in love. She called me into her office—and fired me.
Then Claire appeared in my city with a suitcase, an apology, and an offer to start over.
I almost believed she had come back for me.
Until I overheard her whispering to a sick child about finding his real father.
Claire hadn’t returned alone. She had twins, one of them was dying, and the man who could save him might be me.

with one last look at the mansion, I turned around and walked away leaving everything behind. My life, my husband, my title as the Luna and everything i have ever worked for because my alpha husband decided to bring his ex girlfriend back into our lives and he threw me out. But what he didn't know was that, I was carrying his baby but that secret will follow me to the grave, he does not deserve to know anything about them but what is more interesting?
Nicholas, the richest and the most ruthless alpha comes crawling back when he finds out that his triplets were already being fathered by another ruthless alpha.

I only gave him one night. One night to prove I wasn't just the human maid cleaning his mansion floors.
And by dawn, the Alpha shattered me. He rejected me, humiliated me, and chose another to wear the crown at his side.
He never knew that night left me with more than scars. It left me with a son.
Two years later, I'm not the weak girl who cried when he cast me aside. And I'm back not for him, but for my child.
Kael thinks he can ignore the past. He thinks he can demand my forgiveness. But I don't care about his crown, or his throne, or the Luna who clings to him like she's untouchable.
All I care about is protecting my son.
And if the Alpha thinks he can claim us now... he'll learn that nothing is fiercer than a mother who refuses to be erased.

t the most expensive medical charity gala in Manhattan, Avery Hale came in through the service corridor because she hated cameras. She wore a black dress without a label, carried her own coat, and kept her name off every donor wall.

That was the point. For seven years, Avery had hidden the money she made from film scores and documentary royalties inside an anonymous foundation that paid for surgeries, trials, and second chances for children whose families had run out of all three. She had built Second Dawn quietly because quiet was the one thing her old family had never been able to take from her.

Then the Mercers saw her.

The parents who had adopted her and discarded her. The golden son they had asked her to fund, praise, and disappear for. The family that once called her selfish for wanting college now called her a fraud for standing in a room she had paid to build.

They thought Avery had slipped into the gala to beg. They thought the powerful man watching from the edge of the ballroom was only another rich stranger. They thought public shame would make her small again.

They were wrong about every part of her.

I was reborn on the exact day I was supposed to sign the marriage contract with the Alpha Kael.

I didn't hesitate. I crossed out my name and wrote my stepsister's instead. Let her have the bastard. I took my mother's estate back and headed straight to the underground shifter bar.

"Bring me the hottest wolf warriors you've got. All of them," I told the bartender, slapping a wad of cash down.

I was done being the obedient Luna.

Twelve months of internship, top of my class in every evaluation. I showed up at Vanguard Systems to finalize my hire, and Ryan Caldwell blocked the door.
"The Aegis research position and security clearance nomination went to Madison. Five hundred thousand. Sign the NDA and walk away."
Madison Cole stood beside him. She knew her scores didn't come close to mine, yet a federal project access badge already hung around her neck.
"You understand what happens when you issue that credential improperly?"
Ryan laughed.
"My family owns this company. I decide who stays."
I didn't argue. I pulled out my phone and dialed the Federal Contract Oversight Office tip line.
The operator ran through standard intake questions until I gave her the security contact code my father left behind:
"Sentinel 257."

Chloe faked a billionaire family name, Ethan betrayed the girl who saved his broken knee, and both stole Aria’s award-winning business model to climb Ivy League’s social ladder. They paraded on stage with her crystal trophy, calling her a poor, delusional stalker in front of thousands. What they didn’t know: the “poor girl” is the sole heir to Sterling’s trillion-dollar empire. One phone call brought lawyers, police, and a terrified university president to their knees. Every lie, every theft, every cruel word comes crashing down—hard.

I'm the rightful fucking heir to the Sterling family fortune. My old man made me lay low, keep my head down, live like some regular broke college kid.
But there's this cunt in my dance crew. Walking around flashing her fake designer shit like she's hot shit, acting like she owns the fucking place.
And now she's got her eyes on my boyfriend.
To get close to him? She's telling everyone she's the Sterling family heiress.
Oh really? You're the Sterling heir?
Then who the fuck am I?

"The woman they have punished... is already dead. I won't run anymore. I won't beg anymore. And I won't let anyone else decide my fate anymore."
Lysara Ashwyn was once the Luna everyone admired. A gifted healer who devoted herself to her pack, she thought all she needed was a little love from her mate, Alpha Kaelor.
But when Kaelor's mother died under her care, Lysara was accused of murder. Her best friend betrayed her, stole her title and mate, and testified against her. Her unborn child was killed, and Lysara was sentenced to death.
On the night before her execution, the feared Lycan King, Vaelric Nocthar, saved her life.
He gave her a choice. Disappear forever as the disgraced Luna everyone hated, or return under a new name and destroy everyone who destroyed her.
Lysara chose revenge.
With only ten days before Kaelor and her former best friend's mating ceremony, Lysara swears a blood oath to uncover the truth and make them pay.
But the deeper she digs, the darker the conspiracy becomes. Her child was not lost by accident, her death was never meant to be the end, and healers like her are being secretly hunted.
Then Lysara's heart begins to betray her again.
Because sometimes revenge cannot heal the deepest wounds.
Sometimes they are healed by the one willing to bleed beside you.

Ever been a murder suspect for the popular girl who bullied you because ironically she trusted you enough to leave the last clue to her death with you?

Wren Hale, a quiet scholarship girl is already a murder suspect for the death of Ashford's Academy Gala queen when the killer targets her and writes her real name across her locker.

Forced to team up with Zarek, the dead girl's dangerously charming twin, she agrees to fake a romance while they hunt the killer.

But the closer they get to the truth, the harder it becomes to tell what between them is pretend.

And at Ashford, secrets don't stay buried.

Vanessa is the girl everyone knows, but no one really sees. As a scholarship student at the elite Cresthaven Point Academy, she survives by being invisible, doing the Elites’ homework, and lets the popular kids think she’s a pushover. But she isn’t hiding because she’s shy, she’s hiding because she’s a werewolf. In a world where her kind is supposed to be extinct, staying invisible is the only way to keep her family safe.

Adrian is the guy everyone wants to be. He’s rich, at the top of the social ladder, and bored. He picks on Vanessa because she’s the only person who doesn’t seem to care about his status. There’s something about her he can’t explain, something quiet and strange that makes him want to figure her out.

When an incident at a beach party goes wrong, Vanessa loses control. Adrian sees her move faster than any human should, and suddenly, he’s obsessed with discovering what she is. But being stuck with Adrian makes it hard for Vanessa to stay a ghost. Her wolf is getting restless, and she can't just watch when people are in real danger. Whether it's a freak accident or someone about to die, Vanessa starts stepping in. Soon, the whole school is talking about a Ghost Guardian who does things no human being can do.

While Vanessa becomes the new queen of the school, Adrian's father is closing in. His family has been leading the hunt to wipe out werewolves since the beginning of time. He thinks they are all gone, and he's looking for any sign that one is left. Now Vanessa has to decide: can she really trust the son of the man who was born to destroy her? Or will her secret get them both killed?

I had a fever when my sister poured my hot soup down the sink. My mother watched, then told me to draw another blind-box card if I wanted dinner.

At our engagement dinner, my sister drew the name of the man I'd loved for years. I drew Luca—the driver everyone laughed at. Adrian promised to help me draw again. That night, I caught him removing every card with his own name from the box. So when they offered me one last chance to pick him, I chose Luca instead. They thought I'd married a nobody. None of us knew the man behind the wheel was the head of the Moretti family. What would my family do when they found out?

I nearly died in the freezing ocean at my adopted sister Jane's birthday party.

When the yacht started tilting and alarms shrieked through the corridors, Dad grabbed Jane and bolted for the deck without looking back. Mom clutched Jane's ragdoll cat in her arms, following close behind under the bodyguards' protection.

They saved the cat.

But left their biological daughter to drown.

Three days later, I staggered home covered in wounds. The living room was decorated with scented candles and a three-tier birthday cake. Light piano music mingled with laughter—they were throwing Jane a makeup birthday party, celebrating how "the whole family" survived the disaster.

They left me to die in a burning lab while saving my faker sister. Big mistake.

I hadn't slept in six months, perfecting the neural serum that would save Mom's life. One vial. One chance. Then my adopted sister Mia grabbed it and smashed it on the floor, sobbing about how cruel I was to a "disabled" person.

Mom and Dad ate it up. My fiancé Ryan nodded along—probably because he was banging Mia every chance he got. When fire trapped me in the lab, they carried out "paralyzed" Mia and left me hammering on reinforced glass, choking on smoke.

Want to know the best part? That manipulative snake hopped out of her wheelchair and sprinted to safety the second she thought no one was looking.

Second chance at life? Hell yes.

I'm watching Mia lift that test tube again, ready to destroy everything. But instead of lunging forward like last time, I lean back in my chair.

"Smash away," I say with a shrug. "I'm not the one who'll suffer."

Let's see how this plays out when I'm not the naive fool.

Seventeen-year-old Nora thought her biggest problem was surviving senior year—until she fell for Leo, her brother’s best friend and the one boy she was never supposed to want.

Leo is everything she shouldn’t touch: older, dangerous, and hiding something behind those icy blue eyes. When Nora discovers his secret—that he’s a vampire—her world shatters. But instead of running, she lets him in… and one bite binds their souls together forever.

As Nora struggles to balance love, loyalty, and the darkness that now lives inside her, a new person emerges: Killian, a powerful mafia king who sees her not as prey, but as an equal. His offer could change her fate—or end it.

Caught between two worlds and two loves, Nora must decide who she really is…
and what she’s willing to become.

Because the way they look at her—
might be the thing that saves her… or destroys her.

"You useless thing."
My husband Cassian stared at me coldly. "I thought marrying a Costa daughter would get me something, but it turns out to be nothing. And your sister, on the contrary, has become the family heir."
With that, he wrenched off our wedding ring and smashed it violently onto the ground.
"I should have chosen her in the first place, not you." Those were his final words to me.
In my previous life, I was an unrecognized illegitimate daughter of a mafia family. I obediently accepted the arranged marriage, bared my heart to my hypocritical relatives, and believed wholeheartedly in my husband's promises.
But in the end, all I got was the iron chains of the dungeon, dying with eternal regret and the unresolved truth behind my mother's tragic death. My mother and I were nothing but stepping stones in their power struggle.
Yet when I opened my eyes again, I was back three weeks after my mother's passing — at the engagement scene that decided my entire fate.
This time, I'll make every single one of them understand: they made the wrong choice!

I was the best student, the most obedient, the most compliant—yet the only unloved child in our family.

When my brother got into fights, I took his punishment. When my sister snuck out with boys, I bore the consequences. Mom force-fed me pills and made me get my stomach pumped just to scare my brother away from smoking. Dad dressed ten-year-old me like a prostitute and threw me into a bar to warn my sister against going astray.

In the end, they sold me to a gambler for a few hundred dollars.

I died in a dark pond, and no one heard me calling for help.

But when my spirit drifted home, they were gathered around the dinner table, laughing and talking as if nothing was wrong.

It wasn't until the police knocked on their door that they realized—I had been missing for seven whole days.

Later, my brother clutched the chocolate he never got to give me, crying every day. My sister dreamed every night of ten-year-old me struggling and screaming in that bar. Dad knelt at my grave daily, consumed by guilt. And Mom, after killing that gambler, threw herself into the same pond where I had drowned.

Finally, they loved me.

But I was already dead.

“I just gave you pleasure,” Valen skited like it was a great achievement to boast about. He felt no guilt for his earlier sin.
“I did not ask you to.” I retaliated. It was wrong of me to fall victim to his allure. It was purely Zeus’ fault. His wolf was nicer.
“You like it though.” His voice was low and throaty with a triumphant grin. Damn his ego! “You didn’t want me to stop before.”
Blood rushed to my face and I blushed in shame as he stared at me. I stretched for a pillow and sailed it at him. He caught it with a devious chuckle.

Alpha Prince Valen, the next in-line to be Alpha King, has been Raina's crush since childhood. For years she yearned for the attention that he never gave. She was ecstatic when Valen turned out to be her mate. He was hers.

Sadly, something’s wrong with the mate bond. The old books refer to them as unfortunate soulmates. This implied that the bond would never last.

Forced to reject her and sever the bond, the painful separation exposed Raina to numerous challenges and dangers. A glimpse of the future has left her torn between the desire for her mate and the doom of their fate.

Will Raina and Valen have their happy ending or did the moon goddess have something else in store for them? Should she fight for her mate or let the course of destiny unfold? - Find out as Raina embarks on a journey filled with heartache, revelation, and an uncertain future.
^-^
This is Book 2 from the Mates series. Can be read as a standalone, however, to understand the characters, you might want to read Book 1 - Mates: Regrets and Redemption
© All rights reserved.

Warning: This is not your regular love story. This is a collection of explicitly sinful acts. Confession, forbidden deeds, Raw, vivid.

DON’T READ IN PUBLIC.

Unless… you enjoy the risk of being caught.

It isn’t just a book. It’s an experience that will make your body burn.

Every story in this book is fast, wild, and full of heat. Bold women take what they want. Dominant men fight their urges. Every touch, every look, every whispered word will make you crave more.

As you read, your heart will race. Your body will react before your mind can catch up. You’ll gasp, shiver, and ache for pleasure. Each story is written to make you move your hand as you read, to feel every word.

We have it all—MF, MM, FF, MFM, FFM, MMMF, and everything in between. Every fantasy you can imagine. Every kind of desire. Every risky mix of heat.

The thrill of being caught. The rush of secret wants. The pull of power and lust. It’s all here. You’ll imagine being there, feeling every touch, every kiss, every deep push.

No holding back. No rules. Just raw, hot desire. Your eyes read the words. Your hand follows your body’s needs. You’ll touch yourself, tremble, and feel the heat grow.

By the last page, you’ll be breathing fast, shaking, and wanting more. And the stories won’t leave your mind. They’ll stay with you, making you ache for the next word, the next touch, the next release.

This isn’t just reading. It’s indulgence. One hand holds the phone. The other? That’s up to you.

Are you ready to give in?

“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) CITY OF PREY (An Ava Gold Mystery—Book 1) is the debut novel in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews. In the rough streets of 1920s New York City, 34 year-old Ava Gold, a widower and single mom, claws her way up to become the first female homicide detective in her NYPD precinct. She is as tough as they come, and willing to hold her own in a man’s world.But when a psychotic serial killer unleashes a rampage, murdering young women across the city, Ava will have to search the dark canals of the twisted killer’s mind if she has any hope of hunting him down. With psychological profiling still in its infancy, and mocked by most, Ava will be even more alone as she follows her instinct, and hunts him down in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.Just when it seems the stakes couldn’t be higher, Ava comes to an awful realization: she herself may be the next target.Amidst the speakeasies, jazz clubs, mafia-run prohibition rings, horrific mental asylums and dangerous back alleys of the city, can Ava achieve what all the men cannot: enter the sick mind of a killer, and stop him before more women die?A heart-pounding suspense thriller filled with shocking twists, the authentic and atmospheric AVA GOLD MYSTERY SERIES is a riveting page-turner, endearing us to a strong and brilliant character that will capture your heart and keep you reading late into the night.Books #2 and #3 in the series—CITY OF FEAR and CITY OF BONES—are now also available.

When the apocalypse came, my materialistic ex-girlfriend not only complained that I only knew how to play games, but also conspired with relatives to poison me, cruelly steal my superpower crystal core, and degrade me into a hopeless cripple!
She thought that by taking away my power she could curry favor with the powerful and live a carefree life, but little did she know that not only did I not die, but the "League of Legends max level system" in my mind had actually completed its ultimate upgrade!
Sylas uses his ultimate to regain his power, Pyke's X-shaped slash breaks his enemy's limbs; a horde of 100,000 zombies presses in, and the whole city is in despair, when I descend from the sky with my treasure girl who is my life partner!
Pantheon's slam, Miss Fortune's barrage, Ziggs's nuke... Five LOL ultimate moves in a row wiped out the entire field, evaporating 100,000 zombies in one minute and directly ascending to the throne of the wasteland god!
Looking at my stunningly beautiful and god-level support character whom I had spoiled rotten, my ex-girlfriend, who had fallen into the mire, was filled with remorse. She knelt in the sewage, kowtowing and crying, begging to be a foot-washing maid.
I looked down at them and sneered, "Sorry, my five-player squad is already full."

What if everything that you thought defined you-suddenly didn't?

Scarlett Ryan McKenna had one plan: run fast, win big, and leave everyone else in dust. But after a devastating careless injury ends her track career, she's forced to move into a house full of hockey players-crutches, pride and all.

Sean Callahan wasn't planning on female roommates, especially not the sharp, stubborn girl who steals his hoodies, challenges his routines, and somehow sees straight through the golden boy act he shows everyone else.


He is the NHL-bound captain who's supposed to have it all figured out.

She is the track star learning how to stand still for once.

And neither of them knows how to handle the kind of chemistry that can't be trained for.

What if healing meant breaking the rules-and letting someone in?

Line Change is a swoony, emotionally-charged college romance about second chances, learning how to breathe again, and falling for the person who sees the parts of you you've tried to hide.

This is the first book of the Line Change - Boston University Sports Romance Series.

My name is Arabella. I sold 20 years of my life to become a vampire’s attendant after my father’s death in order to help my family. I should have been scared of blood and fangs, but instead, I long for my master's touches.

What I didn't know was that my desire for him would bring me nothing but destruction.


“You taste delicious.” He licks his lips, pulling me closer to him.
The warmth of his skin against mine, and the soothing rhythm of his beating heart calms me a bit. I relax my shoulders and lie there with my head on his chest.
“Ara, I'm your master and it’s my responsibility to keep you safe, but I failed today.”
His words sound sincere, and I really wish I could believe him.
But all vampires are monsters.
He just happens to be the monster I wish I could trust.

My Vampire Master: A Contract of Blood and Lust is created by Angeline Hartwood, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

“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 Bestselling author Morgan Rice comes a sweeping new fantasy series. 17 year old Ceres, a beautiful, poor girl in the Empire city of Delos, lives the harsh and unforgiving life of a commoner. By day she delivers her father’s forged weapons to the palace training grounds, and by night she secretly trains with them, yearning to be a warrior in a land where girls are forbidden to fight. With her pending sale to slavehood, she is desperate.18 year old Prince Thanos despises everything his royal family stands for. He abhors their harsh treatment of the masses, especially the brutal competition—The Killings—that lies at the heart of the city. He yearns to break free from the restraints of his upbringing, yet he, a fine warrior, sees no way out.When Ceres stuns the court with her hidden powers, she finds herself wrongfully imprisoned, doomed to an even worse life than she could imagine. Thanos, smitten, must choose if he will risk it all for her. Yet, thrust into a world of duplicity and deadly secrets, Ceres quickly learns there are those who rule, and those who are their pawns. And that sometimes, being chosen is the worst that can happen.SLAVE, WARRIOR, QUEEN tells an epic tale of tragic love, vengeance, betrayal, ambition, and destiny. Filled with unforgettable characters and heart-pounding action, it transports us into a world we will never forget, and makes us fall in love with fantasy all over again.Book #2 in OF CROWNS AND GLORY will be released soon!

I am the top algorithm genius on Wall Street.
When my wife's first love got into serious trouble, she didn't hesitate to cut off my daughter's medical expenses and force me to go to jail for that scumbag.
But she didn't know that without me, her multi-billion dollar empire was just an empty shell that could explode at any moment.
She could never have known that the little girl she cursed as a "bastard" and who was driven to her death by her own hands was actually her own flesh and blood, whom she thought had died at birth.
When, a few days later, I, who should have been dying in prison, suddenly arrived with short-selling capital and a top-secret paternity test... I wonder if this high and mighty queen will still be able to laugh.

My sister Vivian dated men the way other people taste champagne — a bright sip, then set the glass down before anyone could ask her to finish it.
Never enough to satisfy anyone. Never long enough to be held responsible for the empty glass.
When those men discovered one another, they did not punish her.
They chose me.
Attention I had never received became flowers, invitations, and late-night calls. For a while, I let myself believe it.
Vivian only smiled. "They must have finally noticed how much kinder you are than me." She said it like a compliment. It wasn't.
Then the floating words appeared in front of my eyes.
[Poor thing. She actually thinks this is about her.]
[They're not courting her. They're using her.]
[Break her, and Vivian will feel it. That's the plan.]
And from the other side of a half-open door, I heard a man say, with perfect calm, "If Vivian hadn't been so cruel to me, I wouldn't have to use her sister."
That was the night I stopped mistaking attention for love.

"Mommy's just a housewife! I don't want Mommy anymore—I want Aunt Jessica!"

Those words from my eight-year-old son, Jimmy, hit harder than any physical blow. I stood frozen in our living room, surrounded by the shards of the vase I’d just smashed. My husband, Robert, didn't even flinch. He just pulled Jessica closer, his hand resting possessively on her waist.

"Stop being dramatic, Scarlett," Robert sneered, his eyes cold. "Jessica is my soulmate. She understands my work. You? You just clean."

Eight years of devotion. Eight years of sacrificing my career to build this home. And now, my husband and son were looking at a stranger with the love that belonged to me.

I tried to reach for Jimmy, but he pushed me away with his small, angry fists. "Bad Mommy! Aunt Jessica buys me candy! You're just an ugly hag!"

My heart twisted until it snapped. I watched them leave for Jessica's award party—an award for a paper I practically wrote but couldn't claim. I was left alone in the silence of the house I paid for, bleeding from the glass cuts on my hands.

Later that night, at the hospital, after I’d been injured by Robert’s own hand, the nurse asked Jimmy who I was. He looked me dead in the eye and said, "I don't know her. Jessica is my mom."

That was the moment the old Scarlett died. I wiped the blood from my face, picked up my phone, and dialed my lawyer.

"Mr. Owens," I whispered, my voice trembling but resolute. "Let's redraft the agreement. I don't want custody. They can have each other."

My husband's childhood sweetheart lost her entry for the competition,
so he gave mine to her.
It was I who saved him all those years ago,
and that's why he married me.
But he turned his back on me right after our wedding.
I've been childhood sweetheart all these years.
But this time,
I suddenly feel like this marriage has lost all its meaning.
After handing in the transfer request I had prepared long ago to the factory director,
I rejected his offer to stay.
I can't bear to stay in this place for another day.
I want to go to New York,
start a new chapter in my life,
and let everything that happened before just drift away. all its meaning.
After handing in the transfer request I had prepared long ago to the factory director,
I rejected his offer to stay.
I can't bear to stay in this place for another day.
I want to go to New York,
start a new chapter in my life,
and let everything that happened before just drift away.

She was betrayed, she rejected him. The reason? She resulted a BARREN women whom Ace can't accept.
After three years of arrange marriage, Ace and Rica had found themselves in a bed—betraying Selene. She was mad but he show no love, however, when she signed up the divorce papers, things had been stumbling across her paths. She was PREGNANT! How come if she's infertile?
Is she going to tell Ace that she's pregnant with his child? Absolutely no! But what if Ace will know that she is? And decided to chase her? Will everything be alright? Do Selene were ready to forgive him? How are they going to make things work out this time?

Bullied, abused and dumped for a crush. Rejected by the coven for her sexuality. Seph and Dextra have a lot to over come when they arrive in Ireland. Can they survive on their own? Seph is only 18 and Dextra isn’t much help, an errant familiar with a tendency for setting things on fire.

Kayla had never known anything but a supportive loving family no matter what she found out about herself. Her twin Theo would always have her back, just as she had his. It didn’t matter what they were arguing over, they were twins. The one thing they couldn’t do was share anything.

The three of them together face a new challenge when both Kayla and Theo feel a mate bond snap into place. Can they deal with everything that fate has in store for them? Witches, spells, jealously, a prophecy, and a grumpy old man who isn’t really a man?

AN AGE GAP, FORCED PROXIMITY, BLACK FLAG ROMANCE

Vincenzo Valentini is a man who sees the world as a business counter and human beings as merchandise.

The owner of an empire built upon corpses and submission, he is the reflection of pure perversity.

When fate places Andrew Thompson, the son of his greatest rival, into his hands, the plan was simple: use him, break him, and discard him like a toy that has lost its appeal.

What Vincenzo did not expect was that, beneath the youthful skin and the appearance of innocence, Andrew hid the same abyss as he did.

Vincenzo never wanted redemption. He never wanted someone to save him from his own darkness. He was seeking a mirror. And in Andrew, he found the partner who, upon seeing his blood-stained hands, does not recoil in terror, but trembles with desire.

In this perverse game, the "little toy" proves to be the perfect executioner. The mafia leader found someone who not only accepts his cruel side but cultivates it, feeding the monster Vincenzo has always been.

Where there should have been fear, lust emerged. Where there should have been hatred, a perverse loyalty was born. Andrew Thompson is the dark reflection of Vincenzo, the soldier the underworld did not see coming, and the man who proved that, for some, paradise only makes sense if it is in the middle of chaos.

Vincenzo opened the doors to his empire, but Andrew was the only one capable of invading his heart.

They are not heroes. They are hell on earth.

A year after losing her father, Hailey moves with her mother, Camille, to the small town of Ashton Hollow, a place where everyone knows everyone, rumors travel faster than truth, and the boys’ basketball team is the closest thing the town has to royalty. Hailey isn’t running toward a new life. She’s running from an old one. But basketball, the one thing her father gave her, refuses to let her go, and neither does the past she thought she’d left behind.
Determined to disappear until graduation, Hailey joins the boys’ basketball team and finds herself facing Tristan Hale, her childhood bully and the town’s golden basketball star. Their rivalry is explosive, but beneath Tristan’s arrogance lies a boy haunted by a brutal past of his own. As competition turns into trust and trust into a dangerous romance, Hailey finally begins to feel at home.
Then a student is attacked, and all evidence points directly at Hailey.
Suspended, isolated, and fighting to clear her name, Hailey uncovers secrets surrounding her new family, Tristan’s past, and the charming stepfather her mother trusts. Someone has been manipulating events from the shadow, and Hailey may be the final obstacle standing between them and everything they want.
With her future, family, love, and basketball career at stake, Hailey must discover who is behind the lies before the next move costs her everything.

“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) FACE OF DEATH is book #1 in a new FBI thriller series by USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews. FBI Special Agent Zoe Prime suffers from a rare condition which also gives her a unique talent—she views the world through a lens of numbers. The numbers torment her, make her unable to relate to people, and give her a failed romantic life—yet they also allow her to see patterns that no other FBI agent can see. Zoe keeps her condition a secret, ashamed, in fear her colleagues may find out.Yet when a serial killer strikes across the Midwest, strangling women in remote places and seemingly at random, Zoe, for the first time, is stumped. Is there a pattern? Can there be no pattern at all? Or is this killer as obsessed with numbers as she is?In a mad race against time, Zoe must enter the diabolical mind of a killer who always seems to be one step ahead of her, and stop him from claiming his next victim before it’s too late. At the same time, she must keep at bay her own demons, which may ultimately prove to be even more threatening.An action-packed thriller with heart-pounding suspense, FACE OF DEATH is book #1 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Books #2 and #3 in the series—FACE OF MURDER and FACE OF FEAR—are also available for pre-order.

I was a herbalist, a healer who saved lives, but I was falsely accused of spreading plague and hanged on the gallows, awaiting the flames. Then I heard them—a swarm of rats emerging from the earth, gnawing through the noose and dragging me back to the world of the living. But this was not salvation, but the beginning of a curse. Plague swept across the land, the church peddled counterfeit medicines, and lords squeezed every last grain from the farmers. The rats looked at me and whispered to me — the end has come, and you will become the calamity.

I almost died on the operating table trying to give Alexander Volkov a child, unaware he already had a pair of illegitimate twins with his childhood sweetheart.
My heart stopped when I saw the DNA results. Alec, the man who made the New York underworld tremble, the man who flew back on a private jet just to hold my hand, was a flawless liar.
I turned my face away, tears soaking the hospital pillow. My hand drifted to my belly. God had finally decided to give me a break after five years of needles and agony—I was pregnant. But now, it felt like the cruelest joke.
He pulled me into his arms, smelling of expensive cologne and... baby formula.
"Tell me what's wrong, honey. Whoever made you unhappy, I'll make them pay."
I stared into his lying eyes and made my decision.
I would vanish with his unborn child, leaving him to rot in eternal regret.

I served as the family's lapdog for ten years, only to discover that my entire family and my fiancée faked their deaths on a yacht, leaving me to pay for their $500 million debt and thirty lives.
Now the family's gangsters have blocked the entire building, the FBI is ready to arrest me, and my fiancée's senator father wants me dead to accompany his daughter to the grave. One trouble after another.
Since that's how it is, then you can all truly go to hell!
I coldly deleted their household registrations and accounts with a sneer.

Galadriel discovers that Alpha Lorcan has betrayed her and is having an affair with his sister-in-law, Marigold. Using a hidden computer, she finds explicit photos and videos of the two of them, and she publicly exposes them. Beta Aurelian provides her comfort, and she decides to perform the mate ceremony with Aurelian. Suddenly, Alpha Lorcan bursts in, demanding that Galadriel not bond with Beta Aurelian. As tensions rise, Aurelian reveals his true identity.

On the day I was supposed to get married....
I watched my fiancé, Rafael, kissing another woman on his office.
Not a stranger.
My best friend.
Right then, I knew I’d only ever been the safe option, not the one he really wanted.
I left the dress, the ring, and my family’s reputation to burn in every group chat and gossip thread.
All I took with me was a small suitcase, a silent phone, and one secret I hadn’t fully understood yet: there was a baby growing inside me.
Rafael’s baby.
Six years later, I’d built a new life in Los Angeles. By day, I designed buildings for an architecture firm, drawing sharp lines to hold back the cracks I didn’t show anyone. By night, I painted until color stained my fingers and the floor.
In my calm house by the sea, a little girl with hazel eyes called me “Mom” and sprinted between piles of rolled-up blueprints.
In this new version of my life, there was Luca.
The man who always showed up with coffee, mocked my playlist, and told me, “With me, you don’t have to act tough.”
I thought I’d finally found calm.
Until that gala night.
The voice I used to almost promise forever stopped right behind me. “Long time no see, Maya.”
When Rafael’s eyes landed on my daughter’s matching hazel gaze, the air in the room grew heavy.
He wanted answers.
I wanted the nearest exit.
And before the night was over, one sentence from him tore through everything I’d carefully rebuilt:
“You need to meet my brother. His name’s Luca.”
My lungs forgot how to work.
I stared at the man I’d been calling my boyfriend… and wondered if my life had just fallen apart all over again....

I am the youngest Don of the Obsidian Family.
After an unexpected rest, my opponent sent me a street racing invitation.
I went to my brother's company to retrieve my car, but was drugged with ether by my brother's secretary.
She told me that no one could seduce her man.
She kicked my stomach, threatened me with a paper cutter to make a vow, and said her future sister-in-law is the youngest Don of the Obsidian Family—if I dared to retaliate against her, I would die miserably.
I looked at her coldly.
Really?
But I haven't agreed to be your sister-in-law yet!

Five years after fleeing Manhattan, Evelyn Valentine has survived things that would break most people — and become something that would frighten them. Now her husband is dead, and his funeral has drawn her back to the city she once escaped, back into a life she thought she had sealed shut behind her.

But the past refuses to stay buried.

Adrian Winthrop — her late husband's son, the man whose forbidden devotion once drove her out of the only home she had known — has come back. Every stolen glance between stepmother and stepson is a betrayal. Every moment of proximity crosses a line that could unravel them both. He offers her something she has no right to want: a future built on more than grief and silence.

At the funeral, she encounters Julian Russell — mercenary king and beautiful predator — who sees straight through her widow's composure to everything she has spent years trying to hide. He doesn't want to save her. He wants to own her, and he has never once failed to take what he decides is his.

Torn between the forbidden love she was never supposed to feel and the dangerous obsession closing in around her, Evelyn must choose: grieve the life she lost and disappear, or risk the one thing she never learned to protect — her own heart.

Will she find a way to want something worth living for, or will the past finally collect what it is owed?

I was fighting my way out the door. Once I got to the door.
I ran outside and kept running until I got to my bike. I had a plan to jump on my bike and drive off. But I didn't get to because someone grabbed me, and I was going into my fight or flight mode.

But none of that happen because I was in a tight grip. Because the person that got me in that situation where I am stuck in his arms. I know it is him because I can smell his delicious scent of Woods, Old Spies, Mint, and now I am looking up into the eyes of Jayson Woods Dark dangerous eyes.

What I heard shocked me,
I know it you, at first, I panic, and my heart was racing inside my chest. But then I heard what he said.
" I know you're my mate, but I don't know your name?" He says but then I was thankful. He has no idea who I am.

He doesn't recognize me. That was when I remember I was still in costume. Because my mask was still on my face hiding my identity from everyone who was here tonight from my school.

If everyone knew it was me. My secret will be out. I would be in trouble with my parents. But I need the money.
It is for my mother's surgery.
Three months ago, we find out she has throat cancer.
So, I have been fighting underground for money for a couple of months now. To help pay for her operation.

Now if I get caught! All the work will be for nothing if Jayson Woods finds out who I am.

So, everyone welcome the story of
The Badass & The Beta!

It's about Avery Williams, who is special as she is not just a wolf/witch, but she got two sides: her wolf- Angelstar, and her Veela-Anglica.
She is a nerd, loser, and whom everyone made fun of, even her friends called her Wallflower.

Usually, when the Moon Goddess finds you your other half, one or two mates the most there will be for you. But Avery is a different werewolf, she does not have one or two mates but four mates.
She fated to the four most dangerous, most popular, and most arrogant boys in school, the four horsemen Alphas: Elijah Woods, Jake Stone, Andrew Bradford, and Matthew Steele.

The four bad boys knew the whole time that she is their mate but doesn't want anyone to know, instead they hide their feelings about Avery. Avery finally finds out her mates are her bullies and torturer, but when she turns 19 on her birthday, that is when it all changes. That is when she finds out she is a Veela.

Will Avery forgive them about they make a bet to see how to get her to fall in love with them? What if someone in her family's past wants her too and they kidnap her right at the dance.? What if the guys find her in time but she is married off the Vampire Prince: The Duke Conway...?

Will the Quads break everything in their path to get to Avery including the walls she has built around her heart? It all remains to be seen in The Wallflower & The Alphas

For Joey, I shouldered the blame for a commercial crime and survived five years behind bars—alone, even through a miscarriage.

With only five days left on my sentence, his secretary flaunted a “bonus” transfer from him—521,314—and when I left one mild comment, she blocked me.

I got released early on Christmas, wanting to surprise my husband. Instead, I pushed open our bedroom door and found Joey and Betty in our marital bed, deep in their sick little games.

And then I overheard a phone call that shattered everything: my little sister, Sansa, hadn’t died from a surgical “accident” at all. Joey had bribed the surgeon and had her heart cut out—so his mistress could gain a werewolf’s healing ability and keep having some perverted sex on bed.

He lied to me, used me, murdered my sister—and still mocked me for I was nothing without him.

“A dynamic story line that grips from the first chapter and doesn't let go.”--Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan (regarding Once Gone)From #1 bestselling mystery author Blake Pierce comes a new masterpiece of psychological suspense. A TRACE OF HOPE is the final book in the Keri Locke series, bringing the series to a dramatic conclusion.In A TRACE OF HOPE (Book #5 in the Keri Locke mystery series), Keri Locke, Missing Persons Detective in the Homicide division of the LAPD, is closer than she’s ever been to finding her daughter. Finally, she gets a fresh lead—and this time, she will do whatever it takes to bring her home alive.At the same time, a new, urgent case is assigned to Keri: an 18 year old girl has gone missing after being hazed by her sorority. As the race is on to find her, Keri plunges deep into the world of pristine college campuses, and comes to realize that all is not what it seems.A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, A TRACE OF HOPE is book #5 in a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery! The author did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side that is so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. The plot is very intelligent and will keep you entertained throughout the book. 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)

“A dynamic story line that grips from the first chapter and doesn't let go.”--Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan (regarding Once Gone)From #1 bestselling mystery author Blake Pierce comes a new masterpiece of psychological suspense.In A TRACE OF CRIME (Book #4 in the Keri Locke mystery series), Keri Locke, Missing Persons Detective in the Homicide division of the LAPD, follows a fresh lead for her abducted daughter. She winds her way through a twisted underworld, and step by step, she gets closer to finding her daughter.Yet she has no time. Keri is assigned a new case: a dad calls from an affluent community and reports that his teen daughter vanished on the way home from school.Shortly after, ransom letters arrive. Twisted, filled with riddles, they make it clear that there is little time to save the girl. They also make it clear that this is the work of a diabolical killer who is toying with them.Keri and the police must scramble to find the kidnapper, to understand his demands, to decode the letters, and most of all, to outwit him. But in this master game of chess, Keri may find herself up against a foe even she cannot understand, and for the missing girl—and her own daughter—she may just be too late.A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, A TRACE OF CRIME is book #4 in a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery! The author did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side that is so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. The plot is very intelligent and will keep you entertained throughout the book. 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)Book #5 in the Keri Locke series will be available soon.

“A dynamic story line that grips from the first chapter and doesn't let go.”--Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan (regarding Once Gone)From #1 bestselling mystery author Blake Pierce comes a new masterpiece of psychological suspense.Keri Locke, Missing Persons Detective in the Homicide division of the LAPD, remains haunted by the abduction of her own daughter, years before, never found. Still obsessed with finding her, Keri buries her grief the only way she knows how: by throwing herself into the cases of missing persons in Los Angeles.A routine phone call from a worried mother of a high-schooler, only two hours missing, should be ignored. Yet something about the mother’s voice strikes a chord, and Keri decides to investigate.What she finds shocks her. The missing daughter—of a prominent senator—was hiding secrets no one knew. When all evidence points to a runaway, Keri is ordered off the case. And yet, despite pressure from her superiors, from the media, despite all trails going cold, the brilliant and obsessed Keri refuses to let it go. She knows she has but 48 hours if she has any chance of bringing this girl back alive.A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, A TRACE OF DEATH marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery! The author did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side that is so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. The plot is very intelligent and will keep you entertained throughout the book. 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)Book #2 in the Keri Locke series will be available soon.