2467 Book(s) Related to A Stranger I Met

Every night when my daughter comes home, she looks different.
On the first night, a little of her hair was gone.
On the second night, she was missing one hand.
On the third night, half of her body had vanished.
I jolted awake in a sudden start, thankful it had only been a nightmare.
Right then, my daughter came back home.
A patch of her hair was missing.

Madelyn Amenadiel's fate is sealed when the Moon Goddess mates her to Kieran Cormac, the ruthless pack leader responsible for slaughtering her family and burning her pack to ashes. Kieran Cormac cruelty knows no bounds as he brutally claims Madelyn's virginity, imprisons her in a dungeon, and only summons her to satiate his wolf's desires.

Fate had other plans for Madelyn as she escapes only to wonder into the rumored brutal and feared Lycan King who turns out to be her mate too.

Scared and scarred with wounds that run deep—the betrayal of her kind. Trust is not a luxury Madelyn can afford, when she finds out she is pregnant she sought to keep it from her new mate. But nothing is hidden under the sun forever.

What will Madelyn do? Keep the impossible secret from the Lycan King or give him the benefit of the doubt and tell him.

After telling him will he continue to love and care for her or cast her aside? When the power hungry Kieran Cormac finally finds out about his heir will he wage war against the the Lycan king in order to claim his child?

Two sisters. One man. A love neither can afford to lose.

Isabella and Mariah couldn't be more different. Isabella, the elder sister, lives a life of privilege polished, poised, and married into wealth. Mariah, on the other hand, knows the taste of struggle. She works double shifts, counts coins at the end of every month, and dreams of a love that will finally make her feel seen.

Their worlds collide when they both meet Eli, a mysterious homeless man who carries himself with quiet strength and eyes that seem to hold centuries of pain. To Isabella, he’s a forbidden thrill raw, real, and far from the sterile perfection of her husband’s mansion. To Mariah, he’s salvation someone who understands her loneliness and fights his own silent battles.

Neither sister knows that Eli hides a truth powerful enough to destroy them both. He’s not a drifter; he’s the estranged heir of a powerful billionaire, cast out after rejecting his family’s empire. As the sisters fall deeper into his orbit, secrets unravel, and loyalties are tested.

When the truth comes to light, love turns to rivalry, and desire turns to war. The sisters will learn that sometimes love isn’t measured by what you have but by what you’re willing to lose.

Three years after returning to the Duke's estate, I finally admit the truth: the phoenix I poured my heart into raising doesn't love me. He only spreads his brilliant tail feathers for the replacement.

I was six when traffickers took me, stuck in the slums for twenty years. A year after losing me, the Duke and Duchess adopted an infant from the church.

That girl became the new daughter, enjoying everything that should have been mine.

When they found me at twenty-six, my parents looked at me with guilt, yes, but mostly like I was a stranger. They loved the daughter they raised more.

I don't blame them.

Twenty years in the slums taught me: don't count on anyone's love. Only power and gold won't betray you.

So when he refused me for the third time, I went to the black market auction and bought a battered wolf slave.

The phoenix finally panicked, feathers flaring, voice shaking:

"Master, you promised you'd only keep one magical beast..."

When Kaida Nyx is murdered by those she once trusted, she awakens in the forest with one purpose—revenge. But her path collides with the infamous Alpha Thoran Noctis, a cold, merciless leader feared by all.

Defying him should have meant death. Instead, her rejection sparks a dangerous obsession. Thoran claims her in fury, binding her fate to his against her will. Now trapped between her thirst for freedom and the undeniable pull of her sworn enemy, Kaida faces a choice: escape the Alpha who owns her, or uncover the secrets that tie them together.

As war brews and old betrayals rise from the shadows, Kaida must decide—fight for her destiny, or surrender to a bond that could destroy them both.

I gave up my dream offer to Cambridge just so I could follow my heavily bullied childhood sweetheart to Princeton.

Yet, the day before we were supposed to submit our applications, I overheard him and his teammates laughing heartily:

"Man, you deserve an Oscar," one of them snickered. "You actually got the Vanderbilt heiress to drop Cambridge just by playing the victim?"

"To cause a rift with my family for me, and to serve as my shield against adversity—what a foolish heiress, impossible to shake off," Carter sneered to his friends.

"Once I drag her to Princeton, I can finally date Lily without her getting in the way."

I didn't storm in.

I quietly shredded my Princeton forms and submitted my Cambridge acceptance.

Carter seemed to have forgotten one crucial detail: without my family's money, he wasn't a tragic prince. He was just a stray dog.

"I want you, Fenris," Lyra whispers, "Wolf and man, all of you."
The raw hunger flashes in Fenris's eyes. He growled softly, his strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her flush against his body. They made love beneath the light of the full moon.
"I've never let anyone get this close during a full moon before."
"I'm honored to be the first," Lyra grinnes, "And a little smug that I managed to tame the big bad wolf."
Fenris chuckled, the sound reverberating through his chest. "The night's still young, and I'm far from tamed."


In a world where dark magic and ancient beasts collide, a powerful witch named Lyra stumbles upon a centuries-old prophecy foretelling the end of the world. To prevent this catastrophe, she must form an alliance with Fenris, a brooding werewolf outcast. As they race against time to decipher cryptic clues and gather mystical artifacts, their initial distrust slowly transforms into a forbidden romance. With opposing factions of supernatural creatures hunting them and their own conflicting natures threatening to tear them apart, Lyra and Fenris must overcome their differences to save not just the world, but each other.

"Take me. Now, George."
As if he couldn’t wait a second later. Gently, he guided his length into her.
The feeling of him inside her for the first time, filling her up beautifully was addicting. Isla jerked up against him, spreading her legs wider and encouraging him to go deeper. She was already at the brink of exploding with the erotism of it all.
George let out a loud groan when he was buried inside her, stretching her to the max. Her walls clenched down on him, trying to push him out, but he wasn't going anywhere soon. Slowly, he started to pump, sliding in and out of her hot, wet and velvety canal.. The feel of her made him want to pound away with abandon, but he held back, not wanting to hurt her. He knew he wasn't eh...average sized.
Isla's heart had been shattered, leading her to swear off love forever. However, fate had other plans when a charismatic and flirtatious neighbor entered her life. Tempted by the possibility of love, Isla found herself drawn to him, unaware of the dangerous secret he harbored. This secret had the potential to break her heart once again.
In the contemporary romance novel, "Chaos: When A Billionaire Meets A Secret Agent," animosity and desire collide in unexpected ways. Readers will be captivated by the fiery encounters, playful banter, and undeniable chemistry between the characters.
Welcome to a world where love and fear intertwine, as Isla must decide whether to let her past dictate her future or take a chance on love once more. Get ready for a thrilling journey that explores the complexities of relationships and the power of embracing the possibility of love.

"Daddy... so cold... and it hurts..." When my precious daughter Mia whispered these words in her weak voice, my heart felt like it was being torn apart.
The life-saving medicine was just ten meters away, but that damned anti-magic barrier had become an insurmountable chasm between life and death.
What made me even more furious was that the vampire guarding the gate not only extorted my life savings, but also demanded I kneel like a dog and lick his boots before he would open the door.
He didn't know that if the door stayed closed, it wouldn't just be my daughter who died—his son and mother would perish too!

To save my terminally ill wife and daughter, I drained half my wolf blood and tore out my own right fang.
Stripped of my source power, I became a worthless wolf despised by the entire clan.
My wife cast me out of the den, pinching her nose at the stench of rot on me; my daughter threw stones at me, cursing me with hatred as a blind, useless failure.
Together, they set their eyes on another young, strong Alpha. They let him trample my dignity in public, and finally had me brutally slaughtered on the frozen wasteland.
But they never knew, the reason that man could make their souls submit and fall for him was that his veins ran entirely with my heart's blood.
Only when I was reduced to a boneless husk of a wolf did my wife go mad, clawing her own gland raw, weeping and begging me to leave her one last mark.

“I, alpha Ri Dylan, reject you as my mate, Mona Ryan. I have affairs with many women, Mona. Stronger women who are very different from you, I am not a one-mate kind of guy, and believe me when I say this; this rejection will favor you more than it will me because I am not the wolf you would want to be mated with.”

On her 18th birthday, Omega Mona felt the mate pull and was encouraged by her parents to go and meet her mate for the first time. Upon meeting him in the forest, he was devastated to hear that her mate was alpha Ri Dylan of the Lycan pack, the alpha that most wolves feared and hated. She then ran away and didn't say a word to him because of her surprise and disappointment.

“He's no good to reckon with, he's dangerous, he's not trustworthy, and he's the last person in this world you should have any business with.”
Mona has been warned severally about Ri Dylan. What will she do when finding that the goddess has arranged this big, bad, and dreaded alpha who rejected her to be her fated mate?

For three years, she nursed her paralyzed husband, risked her own life testing experimental drugs, and nearly destroyed her health to pull him back from the brink of death.
But on the very day he fully recovered, he held his first love in his arms and declared, “I will take care of her and our child for the rest of my life.”
Heartbroken, she asked for a divorce. In return, he coldly froze all her bank accounts and forced her out of the house with nothing, sneering, “You are nothing without me.”
It was not until she hid her pregnancy test and walked away for good that he finally panicked.

Affected by her broken family, Amy Hood found it hard to hold faith in a relationship. However, the desire to be a mother drove her to make a crazy decision.
She decided to get a cute baby from some stranger.
She picked an outstanding one and spent an unforgettable night with him.
This was supposed to be a one-night stand for both of them.
But never in her wildest dream, Amy had expected life would bring her back to him,
Derek Shepherd, Her New Boss.
If things could get any worse, it's when he started to force her to step into this dangerous relationship.

"I reject you, Elara. You are wolfless, weak, and unworthy."

Those words were meant to hurt me. Humiliated by Alpha Kade in front of the whole pack, people expected me to run away and give up. Instead, I did something unexpected. I dried my tears, turned my back on the man who broke my heart, and walked directly toward his greatest enemy: Alpha Ryker.

Ryker is a nightmare. He is a scarred, ruthless warlord known as the "Butcher." He is cursed, dangerous, and feared by everyone. He needed a fake wife to secure his inheritance, and I needed protection. We signed the contract in blood.

But once I entered his fortress, everything changed. I learned that Ryker isn’t just a monster; he is a man in pain, and my touch is the only cure for his madness. As our fake marriage turns into real passion, a shocking truth comes to light.

I was never wolfless. I am the White Wolf—a legendary Royal with the power to command nations.

Now, Kade realizes he threw away a Queen. He stands at my borders, begging for forgiveness, ready to start a war to win me back. But he is too late. The weak girl he rejected is gone. The woman in front of him is the Blood Moon Luna, and she doesn’t forgive.

Amara Cole has always believed in doing the right thing. A scholarship student at the city’s most elite high school, she’s learned to keep her head down, protect her family, and avoid trouble at all costs. But the one person she’s been warned to stay away from — Adrian Vale, the principal’s golden son — is about to turn her carefully ordered world upside down.
Adrian was supposed to be the enemy: charming, untouchable, and the reason her brother’s future was shattered. Yet, every time he’s near, her heart betrays her. And when a school project forces them together, secrets begin to unravel — secrets that could destroy both their lives if anyone finds out...
In a city where every mistake is magnified, Amara must navigate first love, jealousy, and the painful choices that come with it. Can she protect her heart without losing herself? Or will falling for the one she’s not supposed to love become the only way to truly live?

One month before my wedding, I was trying on the wedding dress I'd designed myself when a message from a friend popped up: [Diana, get over here! Your fiancé just lost at Truth or Dare and has to kiss your rival.]

On the anniversary of my mother's death, Thomas promised he'd come pay his respects with me. I waited at the cemetery all day, only to see media reports of him vacationing with his first love.

Everyone assumed Thomas had a secret child with her. That they were about to get married.

And me? His actual wife?

I went home, left the divorce papers on the table, and burned our marriage certificate.

All Kimberly Callahan wanted was one unforgettable night with the boy she secretly adored—Jason Travolta. What she never expected, however… was to kiss his twin brother. 

A stolen moment behind a mask. A forbidden kiss that tasted too perfect to regret—until a scandalous photo spread across campus, making headlines among the crowd. Now Kimberly finds herself trapped in a fake relationship with Jett Travolta, the twin she was never supposed to touch.

To make matters worse, her mother has just married their father.

Living under the same roof as the Travolta twins was never a part of her plan. Loving one and loathing the other should’ve been easy—until the blurred lines turned into a dangerous spark. 

One kiss changed everything.

Now, she was trapped between two brothers and every step she took brought them closer to dangerous attraction and affections.

But the real question is:

Was it ever truly a mistake… or fate in disguise?

Eight years of marriage — she thought she'd married love itself.
Until the day she watched her husband's Bentley rocking on the roadside, and knew exactly why.
She played it cool. Maneuvered him into signing the divorce papers without a clue, then waited for her billion-dollar exit.
But before she could walk free, someone poisoned her drink and staged a crash that nearly killed her.
The man who saved her wasn't the husband who swore he loved her — it was Erwin, cold, dangerous, and ruler of a business empire.
The untouchable, legendary Erwin — shielding her, risking himself, again and again.
When Levi finally woke up to what he'd lost, he came back red-eyed and desperate: " I was wrong. Can we start over? I can't live without you."
Erwin simply tilted his head and kissed her — eyes cutting straight to Levi's ashen face:
"I don't think you understand. The moment you let her go, she became my wife."

Life, they say, is not a storybook but life unfolds in chapters; good chapters, bad chapters. What happens when the chapters of Jasmine’s life were not only bad but terrible?


In a world where only the strong gets what they want, and where women are only considered toys, Jasmine, an omega wolf, is thrown into the furnace of life to burn by her mate whom she loved but now loathed.

She was abused day and night, lost countless pregnancies in the hands of her toxic mate, and was used as a mere pleasure toy. Life seemed hopeless, and fate played a quick one when she discovered she was pregnant again.

To protect herself and her baby, she ran away from the pack and ended up in the arms of another Alpha.

What happens when she discovers this Alpha was her second chance mate?

Is she finally going to be happy or has fate tricked her yet again?

I swore to hunt monsters until I became the fated mate of the most terrifying beast of all.

I was a detective investigating missing persons, but I fell through a portal into a brutal werewolf realm. Alpha Jaxon claimed me with one look, only to publicly reject me seconds later. He built walls of ice to keep me away, but the mate bond between us burned like wildfire.

At night, he is cursed to become a mindless, bloodthirsty beast. He hunted me through the gardens, his massive claws tearing into my flesh, leaving me bleeding in the dirt. I should hate him. He is the exact nightmare that killed my mother.

But when I woke up, this ruthless, arrogant Alpha was on his knees, sobbing and covered in my blood, begging me to live. When his lips crashed into mine, I realized the terrifying truth. I was in love with a monster. Will I survive his curse, or will his beast devour me entirely?

“Liam…. I want you inside of me” I moaned as he stroked my cock.

“If you say so,” Liam smirked. He pushed slowly, my walls screaming as they parted for him.

I cried out, my back arching, tears blurring my vision. Pleasure exploded as his full length got inside, locked and throbbing, filling me beyond reason.

“Fuck!” Liam moaned as he thrusted in out.


Liam Novak is the best player at Frostbite Hockey Academy. He lives a quiet life and keeps to himself. Being alone has always felt easier as a vampire, he knows getting close to anyone is dangerous and secrets like his are better left buried.

Then Dylan Petrov arrives.

Dylan, a twenty-four years old, transfers into the academy after a murder case forces him to leave his former team. Everyone thinks he came to chase a better future in hockey. But that’s not the truth, Dylan came for one reason which is revenge.

Years ago, he watched his parents die at the hands of vampires. Since then, he has worked with an anti-vampire group, waiting for the right moment. Now, all he wants is to expose and destroy the one he believes is responsible, the team captain Liam.

But nothing goes as planned.

From the moment they meet, the cold distance Liam built around himself begins to crack, and Dylan finds his focus slipping. The closer they get, the harder it becomes to hold on to hate.

Because beneath the lies and the secrets, a burning desire is growing.

The world of vampires and humans was never meant to collide.

Now Dylan must choose, his revenge, or his heart.

I was reborn, and so was my husband. But he chose his true love as his wife...

"You have no choice; either be my luna and serve me well. Or I'll kill your mother and sell you on one of these auctions to the highest-bidding Alpha." He said with no mercy or remorse.

"I.."
Before she could say a word; he pushed he to the bed and started taking off his shirt. "Good because I want to mark you and fuck you... Now."

Her crush turned into her nightmare. Her kidnapper became her savior. Her mother's betrayal sealed her fate.

When college student Lena Adams is humiliated by her crush and then kidnapped to be sold at a supernatural auction, she never expects to be rescued by the most dangerous man in the room—Kieran Volkov, the Alpha King of werewolves.

Months later, when her mother announces her engagement to a mysterious wealthy man, Lena is horrified to discover her soon-to-be stepfather is none other than the werewolf king himself. But when her opportunistic mother steals his gold and flees, Kieran demands Lena take her place as his bride.

Is it a sin to love? If secret love is a sin I am willing to accept whatever is at stake.

I'm Marina Daughn Welch, who will pretend to be the wife of my twin's fiancé.

She woke up naked, bound, and on display in a birdcage.

Her husband sat in the front row while strangers bid on her unborn son's organs. He believed the video. The DNA test. The other woman's lies.

They took her baby. They took her mother. They tried to take her mind.

So she let them think she was broken. She smiled through the electric shocks. She bent without breaking. She counted down to the surgery that was supposed to kill her.

But she wasn't counting down to her death.

She was counting down to theirs.

They wanted her heart?

She'll give it to them—still beating, as she becomes their judge, jury, and executioner.

Dark Revenge Romance. CW: non-con, graphic violence, pregnancy loss, captivity. Read with caution.

Arabella owed her life to him believing that he’s the reason she didn’t die that night. The night she was ambushed and almost shot. But she never knew it was a perfect set-up by him just to walk his way into her life and ruin her.

For the sins of her father, Conrad married Arabella with the intention to break her and steal her heirloom. At the time Arabella found out the man she married had gambled with her heart, it was too late. Her image was tarnished on the net by a stunt Conrad pulled. Broken and devastated, she badly wanted to divorce Conrad and hurt him back but it was impossible and risky.

Because her only son whom Conrad turned against her, would gladly choose to follow his father in court. Meanwhile, her heirloom was in her son’s name. Therefore she would lose everything to Conrad. Everything was a cross road for Arabella. Everyone was against her, including her best friend who had been having an affair with Conrad.

However in her perilous moment, she never expected to come faced with a man from her past who died to her. The first man who ever hurt her but that same man was the only one who can help crush her husband and claim everything back. Does Arabella let off of resentment and accept Damon’s help?

Rachel Reizz is nobody — overweight, overlooked, and perfectly fine with that. Until she takes a job she can't afford to turn down.
Until she finds out who she's working for. Chris De Luca. Formula 1's golden boy. The most worshipped name in school. And the boy who has made her life hell since day one. The rule is simple: do the job, take the money, don't get attached.

Martin Williams and Estella Jules grew up together, but lived completely different lives. She was the nanny’s daughter, while Martin was the child her mother served. After her mother died, Estella was taken in by the Williams family and raised to become the nanny’s replacement. At home, she was Martin’s loyal servant, but at school, she was his number one target.

Nobody knew about their secret master–maid relationship, and Martin would curse Estella if anyone ever found out they lived in the same apartment. He grew to hate her presence, while Estella continued to smile at him through everything. Not out of loyalty or obligation, but because she was sincerely in love with him.

Estella knew she would do anything for Martin, yet he never cared enough to notice. She couldn’t stop herself, like a moon drawn endlessly to the sun. Until one night, at Martin’s birthday party, her eyes finally opened to who he truly was. That night, she swore she would stop loving him, stop begging for him, and stop crying over him.

What she didn’t know was that her decision would only make their relationship even more complicated—messy, intense, and filled with the reckless sweetness of their perfectly imperfect youth.

“Go to your father’s chambers and kill him.”

The command controlled my body, forcing me to swing the saber. I watched in horror as I beheaded the Divine God—my own father. Stripped of my powers and exiled by my brothers, I fell from the sky and crashed into a freezing river.

I thought I would die. Instead, I was pulled out by three identical, breathtakingly handsome men.

“We should leave her,” one sneers.
“I’d like to fuck her though,” another says, his eyes raking over my soaked dress.

They are triplets. They are Alphas. And they have decided to keep me.
I am Lillyan Elyort, the fallen Moon Goddess. Now, I am a prisoner in the Blackmoon pack, surrounded by enemies who want to use me. But they don’t know one thing: I might be mortal now, but I still know how to bite back.

Seven years of marriage turned to ash the moment I discovered my husband had arranged for his sister-in-law to carry his dead brother's child—using his own sperm to continue the family bloodline.
Lorenzo Corvino—New York's most ruthless don—would drive three hours through a storm just to get me imported cherries. He held me at my mother's funeral, crying until dawn. He hospitalized a man for disrespecting me at a charity gala.
I thought I was the center of his world.
Until the private investigator's flash drive revealed the truth: Lorenzo at the clinic for Claudia's prenatal appointments, his hand on her pregnant belly, whispering "Marco would be so proud."
In the end, on the Corvino family's scale of priorities, continuing his dead brother's bloodline would always outweigh his infertile wife.
The night the yacht exploded, the New York sky burned red. The news reported the mafia don's wife had perished in the flames. He collapsed on the dock, clutching the charred wreckage, breaking down completely.
But he didn't know—
That "dead" woman was across the Atlantic on the Amalfi Coast, one hand on her seven-week baby bump, protecting the secret he'd never discover.
Seven months later, when he stepped into my new life and saw the infant with his deep brown eyes cradled in my arms—
This man who'd built an empire on violence and fear finally understood what he'd truly lost.
And I'll spend the rest of my life making sure he knows: some betrayals are so deep, even "I'm sorry" is more than he'll ever deserve.

She loved him with all her three lives, only to be used and hurt repeatedly. When she returned to the wedding day for the fourth time, the phoenix refused to be trapped any longer. Betrayal ended, revenge arrived, and her destined dragon finally came to take her home.

The day I walked in on my boyfriend screwing that blonde tramp, I dropped the homemade tiramisu right there on the floor—our two-year relationship smashed to bits, messier than the splattered cream.

I ducked into a bar, slamming back whiskey, when this guy in a sharp black suit sidles up, his voice smooth as silk laced with bourbon. I spat out, "Help me forget him," but ended up totally lost in the presidential suite. He backed me against the wall, tore open my blouse, his tongue circling my nipple before biting down hard, leaving me breathless. "You taste like candy, baby—tonight, I'm gonna eat you up."

But then my boyfriend FaceTimes, spots the guy behind me, and loses it, screaming, "Dad!"

I went ice-cold—my hookup was my boyfriend's stepdad? Even worse, this thirty-three-year-old powerhouse was Brooklyn's deadliest mob boss.

What began as a vengeful fling spiraled into a forbidden nightmare?

Three days after I died, the morgue called my husband Sebastian to collect my ashes.
He was kissing another woman when he hit speaker, his voice cold and dismissive: "She's dead? Cremate her. Don't call me again."
And just like that, my body was wheeled into the cremation chamber.
When he finally showed up to collect my remains, he smashed the urn on the floor and ground every fragment of my ashes into the tile with his shoe.
"Playing dead? What a pathetic stunt," he sneered. "Tell her the anniversary of my mother's death is coming up. She'd better show up at the cemetery on her knees, or even if she really is dead, I'll scatter her ashes in the sewer myself."
But he didn't know—I truly was dead.
My soul was bound to him, forced to drift at his side as he planned a lavish wedding with his adopted sister Claire—his mother's true killer.
By the time he discovered the truth and exposed Claire at the altar, I had already vanished.
He lost his mind, racing to the ocean to search for my ashes.
Never knowing that the remains he'd crushed like garbage under his shoe—the "fake ashes" he'd dismissed as part of my act—
Were all that was left of me.

Humans aren't supposed to survive carrying a vampire's child. The immortal blood drains you dry.

Valentine was a pureblood vampire Duke. I was just a mortal. But I was stupid enough to think love was stronger than biology.

Four years ago, I tore myself apart on the birthing bed to bring a half-blood into this world, only to wake up staring at Valentine’s back.

His late father’s favorite concubine, Cecilia, had already snatched my baby from the cradle. And my husband acquiesced to it all.

"He looks just like me," Cecilia purred, tracing my newborn's cheek. "Thank you for giving birth to my son."

Then she tossed a blood jade onto my sheets, like I was some cheap baby-making machine.

I didn't take the payoff. I grabbed the heavy stone and hurled it straight at Valentine’s face.

For four agonizing years, I fought to get my baby back. I hired mercenaries, rogues, and shadow-smugglers, bleeding myself dry to breach the Duke’s estate. Every single attempt failed.

Until tonight. A terrified servant smuggled out a whisper that stopped my heart: Cecilia had fed my son "diluted holy water"—a twisted sacrament meant to literally burn the human half out of his organs.

I didn't hire anyone this time. I tore through the gates myself. I took a guard’s spear through the shoulder and let cursed brambles shred my arms to the bone, just to drag my dying boy out of a burning greenhouse.

But when the agonizing pain of the holy water woke him, Luke looked at me with pure, unadulterated disgust.

"It’s your fault! It’s your filthy human blood!" My four-year-old son spat the words like venom. "Mother Cecilia says if we just burn out this curse, I can be the true heir! If it weren't for you, Father would have claimed me by now! I hate you!"

I froze.

When I finally spoke, my voice was a raw, inhuman scrape. "Call me Mom one last time, and I'll walk out of your life forever."

Sydney is reborn on National Decision Day after being betrayed and killed by her boyfriend Carter, her childhood friend Julian, and the scheming Harper.
Determined not to be their cash cow and victim again, she uses her family’s power to expose their crimes and fake innocent personas in front of Beverly Hills elites.
Ruined and desperate, the three traitors turn on each other and die on the same rooftop where they murdered her. Sydney finally breaks free and starts a brilliant new life at Harvard.

I divorced the same man nine times.
The first eight times, I was the one sobbing, begging him not to go.
The ninth time, I was the one who slid the papers across the table.
He signed them, then told me we'd remarry once she left.
I said okay.
What he didn't know was that my flight was already booked.
This time, I was leaving for good.

"Priest, I'm requesting to transfer my registry to the Forbidden Lands. And I need the materials to forge a Moonshadow Puppet. In three days, it will stand in my place at the mating altar."

I spoke into the communication rune in my palm.

From the other end, the Moon Priest's voice spiked with warning. "Aria, do you have any idea what you're saying? The Forbidden Lands is an abyss of no return! It's ruled by the Lycans. You don't even have a wolf spirit—walking in there is a death sentence!"

"My decision is final."

After a long beat, his heavy, suppressed sigh echoed through. "Using a puppet substitute is an act of absolute blasphemy against the Moon Goddess... You've waited for Kaelen for so many years. Why walk away now?"

"Because a puppet will never betray a sacred vow."

Ryan loves me deeply—at least that's what everyone says. Seven years together, we look like the perfect couple to outsiders. But only I know he's betrayed me three times.

The first time was three years ago. His brother died saving him, leaving behind his widow Sophia—Ryan's unforgettable first love. He married her behind my back. When I found out, I completely fell apart. I have dignity. I refuse to be the other woman. I wanted to leave, but he begged on his knees. "This is just to take care of my sister-in-law. Once I find the truth about my brother's death, I'll divorce her. Then we can get married."

I believed him. I forgot that a man never lets go of a lost love he's gotten back.

The second time was at last year's company anniversary. In front of everyone, he introduced Sophia as his wife. I watched them on stage, a knife through my heart. That night he explained, "It's just for show. Once everything's over, we can be together."

I believed him again.

The third time was two weeks ago. Surveillance footage showed Ryan with Sophia entering a hotel room. I rushed to confront him, but heard her voice outside his office. "Ryan, I'm pregnant. It's your baby."

Through the crack in the door, I see him hesitate. In that instant I understand.

He's going to keep her.

He spots me and rushes out in a panic. "It was an accident! Let me explain! After she has the baby, I'll give her money and make her leave. She won't be in our lives anymore!"

In that moment, I finally wake up. There will be no future for us.

The mafia boss chose me as his decoy—a body double for the woman he loves.

Eight years. Three bullets, one car crash, one explosion. The doctor said ten more minutes and I would've died on that operating table when they took my kidney. I gave him a son. He let me play "the boss's wife" in public.

Until he cleared every obstacle for her and decided to marry her.

Her wedding photos replaced mine in the master bedroom. He has her initials tattooed on his arm. When I questioned him, he had his men slap me at a charity gala, forced me to admit "I'm just a stand-in." When I touched her, he took away my custody, declared she was "the true lady of this house."

The punishments got worse. When he threatened to cancel my mother's insurance, I finally learned to shut up.

He pulls me close, whispers in my ear: "She gave up everything for me. Not like you—you were born to take bullets for me."

"Deal with it. She's not replacing you. This is her house now."

Even my son took her side.

"Stop being dramatic! Natalie actually loves us! You're nothing!"

But their pure, innocent Natalie? She unplugged my mother's ventilator while I was locked in the basement. Let his enemies slip poison into my drink during the last job.

When Grayson found me, all he said was: "She's pregnant and emotional. Go rearrange the flowers at the wedding venue."

I wipe the black blood from my lips. Look at him quietly.

"I'm dying."

I stepped out of my OB-GYN appointment, only to be crushed by a speeding truck while my husband watched from the opposite curb, not even blinking.
I choked on my own blood before waking up on the exact same street corner.
I thought I had been reborn, but then I saw a glowing red number "4" burned into the skin of my forearm.
What the hell was happening?

At eighteen, I gave my virginity to Hunter in his bed.

I swallowed all the pain and hesitation, naively believing that three years of a pathetic crush had finally earned my way into his heart.

Until the next morning, when I heard his teammates' unabashed mockery:

"Damn, you finally bagged the nerd? How was it?"

Hunter scoffed, his tone dripping with utter contempt.

"Just messing around. If I'm bringing a real girlfriend out, it's gotta be someone on Serena's level—head cheerleader."

I wordlessly opened my college application portal, deleted the garbage local state school I had picked just to stay with him, and changed it back to Yale.

He confidently thought I would follow him blindly, until he video-called me on opening day and completely lost his mind seeing who was beside me: his own stepbrother.

An hour ago, at the company’s press conference, I had just helped my husband Carlisle quell the ninety-ninth scandal of his affair.
Now, he has my assistant Russell pinned against my office desk, kissing him, his hand slipping under Russell’s miniskirt and groping wildly.
In that moment, I’ve already planned the publicity spin for the hundredth time.
But I’m not sure if my dear husband Carlisle and his lover will make it that far.
Because the revenge banquet I’ve been preparing for three years is about to begin.

As the only daughter of a mafia family, I learned early that trust doesn't come cheap. When my father got sick, he gave me an ultimatum: if I want to take over the family, I have to get married first.

Everyone assumed I'd pick my childhood friend, Vincent Moretti—son of my father's right-hand man. Hell, even I thought so. Until my last life, when he left me to burn.

Father died in an ambush. I was trapped in a metal cage at an abandoned dock warehouse while flames swallowed everything. I begged Vincent for help. He stood thirty feet away, the cage key right by his feet.

"Cat, as long as your father's alive, he'll never give me the family. This isn't personal. It's business."

Sophia was wrapped around him—my so-called best friend. She smiled at me and said she'd take good care of everything.

Before I lost consciousness, I saw a figure in black charging into the flames—Elijah, the bodyguard I'd called "trash" and "a dog."

Then I opened my eyes and woke up a month before my birthday party. This time, I'm giving that position to someone who actually deserves it.

But why is Vincent on his knees at my engagement party, crying and begging me to marry him?

My fiancé accused me of not caring about family.
To appease him, I planned a family vacation.
But the night before we left, he informed me that he'd given my first-class seat to his childhood sweetheart.
And me? He stuck me in coach on a flight flagged for possible terror threats.
Everyone in his family thought I should just go along with it.
That was the moment I woke up.
I tore up the itinerary and booked myself a trip to Hawaii instead.
Then I turned off my phone and let them sweat over the hotel bill.
It wasn't until their reservation got canceled that they finally started to panic.

They called me a hellcat. A she-wolf tyrant. The Luna who made her Alpha husband obey.
I held him together when his father died. Built his dying pack into a powerhouse while he flirted with she-wolves.
Then he brought home his "fated mate."
Everyone waited for me to explode.
Instead, I smiled. "I'll help you prepare the ceremony."
That's when my wolf—dormant for years—began to wake.

Evelyn Vale plans weddings, memorials, and private family ceremonies for people who care too much about how grief looks on camera. She knows lighting, timing, guest flow, and the hidden machinery behind a perfect public moment.

Then one night, while sitting beside the husband who kisses her goodnight, she sees a livestream event scheduled for tomorrow: her own memorial service.

The cover uses her mourning portrait. Grant, her husband, is posed as the devastated widower. Serena, her half sister, stands beside him like a woman already rehearsing the role of replacement wife.

At first Evelyn wants it to be a mistake. Then the invoices appear. The funeral campaign is paid for. The backend record existed. Someone with internal clearance created it, deleted it, and expected Evelyn to die before the broadcast.

Julian Cross, a former livestream safety investigator disgraced by an old death case, is the first person who treats Evelyn's fear as evidence. Together they follow the countdown through funeral contracts, planted comments, medical manipulation, board pressure, platform corruption, and a hidden operator using public grief as a business model.

But Evelyn is not waiting to be rescued. She knows how to build an event. She knows where witnesses should stand, when a microphone should stay open, and how a lie collapses when the room sees the right proof at the right time.

Grant scheduled the funeral.

Evelyn hosts it better.