1559 Book(s) Related to maria's kitchen near me

Elizabeth Wolf is a sweet and innocent young woman who has known nothing but her father’s cruelty. Deprived of education, freedom, and her mother’s love, she carries both visible and invisible scars.

Marriage seems like her only chance to escape—and maybe to finally find happiness. But her father’s schemes follow her even into her new life. Bound by an arranged marriage to Jonathan Larson, heir to one of the most feared Mafia families in America, Elizabeth soon discovers that freedom comes at a price. Jonathan is powerful, impulsive, and haunted by lies told by her father—lies that turn what could have been love into anger and mistrust.

Torn between attraction and resentment, he vows to keep his heart locked away. Yet Elizabeth refuses to surrender. She will fight for the right to be loved, even by the man who believes she betrayed him. In a world ruled by vengeance and power, two wounded souls must choose between hate and forgiveness. But when the truth finally comes to light, it might be too late to heal what’s already been broken. Will Elizabeth find the strength to reclaim her happiness—or will Nathan Wolf destroy her only chance at love?

Mara Voss (Agnes) infiltrates Ronan's Cartel and poses as a survivor from the Blood Cartel's raid and trains under marshal successfully ranking high enough to act as a Nobel trainee, during a meeting between Ronan and another Cartel boss, Mara saves Ronan's life and this act draws him to her under suspicion that she might not be who she says she is but something else lingers and deep down Ronan finds himself questioning why her resemblance to someone from his past unsettles him, as the two navigate the force that draws them towards each other while still struggling to keep to what matters most to them, which is their duty to their people. Will they be able to uncover all the mysteries of the underworld before it pulls them into its abyss or will they grow over the obstacles and betrayal that surrounds them and confess their love to one another.

In a big city, filled with crime ruled by the enigmatic and ruthless Mafia boss, Lucas Moretti. When an investigative journalist Olivia Carter finds herself thrusts into this treacherous city, her relentless pursuit for truth leads her to be captured by Lucas's men.

Instead of facing certain death , Olivia is given a condition by the charismatic and ruthless Mafia boss to help him uncover a traitor in his group or face dire consequences.

Reluctantly Olivia agrees , She found her self drawn deeper into the the seductive and and perilous world of the Mafia. As tensions rise and betrayals abound Olivia and Lucas forms an unlikely alliance.

But their relationship is complicated by the danger they face and the feelings they develop.

Caught between her loyalty to the truth and her growing feelings for Lucas , Olivia faces an impossible decision, between her duty to expose the Mafia’s corruption and her growing love for Lucas.

As their relationship grew stronger and secrets revealed, Olivia and Lucas finds themselves entangled in a dangerous game of power , passion and betrayal.

Will Olivia and Lucas love survive? Or will the danger of the world tear them apart?

ASTRID SAGE

Everyone calls me naive and innocent, and in every way, I am. When I took a fancy in peering at FREDERICK SALVATORE each time he stopped by the orphanage to drop off his donation, it was just out of mere curiosity. I find him fascinating and alluring, like a piece of art. But when I get kidnapped and put up for auction, he's in the crowd of the deadliest people I've ever seen. He put the craziest bid on me and I get to find out that his name isn't FREDRICK SALVATORE.

He's the notorious EAGAN KING and this is his world. Now I understand why he has that unexplainable dark aura around him. Is it possible to find him less fascinating now that I know what he's truly like?

⚠️TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️
This story contains mature themes, including consensual BDSM, power exchange, and adult language. It is intended for mature audiences (18+).
Some scenes may be intense or triggering for certain readers.

This is a fictional work, not intended to offend or misrepresent any person, culture, or country.

Blurb:
Freya is a gifted surgeon known and loved by everyone in the hospital where she works. one night, her life is thrown into chaos when two bloodied men, hours apart, crashed into her world, demanding her skills... and both hiding deadly secrets.
In a world where everyone plays dirty and secrets, can kill, Freya must choose her heart or avoid both calamity.

She stared at the cup, then back at him, not daring to take a sip. When he noticed her attitude, he tilted his head, staring at her in disbelief. God this man was perfect.

He reached for the glass, took a sip, and then slid it to her once more.

"Don't worry, I don't poison my offenders. That would be less fun" he said and she shuddered in fear, grabbing the glass and placing it on her shaky lips, gulping the content as the tears threatened to fall.

"Will you kill me?"She asked in a cracked, shaky voice.

"It depends"

"On what?"

"If you are willing to go on a deal with me," he said, but coldly this time. A stern look took over the smirk on his face. Racheal immediately knew he meant business.

"What deal?"

Trigger Warning: This book contains themes of non-consensual and dub-con encounters, bondage, explicit sexual content, stalking, kidnapping, physical and emotional abuse, mafia violence, and obsessive behavior. Read at your own risk.

A ruthless underground street fighter by night and feared mafia don by blood,Rafael De Rossi is known for his wrath, scars, and brutal silence. His fists speak more than his words, and no one dares to get close until a quiet, innocent girl named Raelyn Hart crosses his path.

Small, delicate, and with a heart too pure for his world, Raelyn is the exact opposite of everything Raffaele knows. She always flinches at his anger. And that... infuriates him.

But he can’t stay away.

She was just a florist. A nobody. Until she witnessed something she shouldn't have.

Now Raffaele has to protect her. Even if it means dragging her into his violent world of fists, fire, and mafia vendettas.


Raelyn Hart was just closing up her flower shop when she witnesses a cold-blooded murder in a dark alley one committed by Rafael De Rossi, the infamous underground fighter and heir to the Lupa Nera mafia. Before she can scream, he grabs her and takes her with him, claiming it’s to keep her quiet. But instead of killing her, Rafael locks her in his penthouse, watches her every move, and forbids her from leaving. It becomes clear that Rafael is not just protecting the mafia’s secret; he’s been obsessed with her for months, watching her from the shadows, visiting her shop anonymously, memorizing her routines.

“ Go fuck yourself Leonardo” She muttered
“ Nah Isabella, if I am going to be fucking anyone it will be you princess” he replied teasingly
“You wish, and I will say it again, go fuck yourself,” she said again but this time louder
“Say fuck one more time, princess, just say it,” he said in a threatening voice as he walked closer to her.
“Fuck yourself,” she said it again before she could stare back at him again.
The air crackled with tension as his lips forcefully met her, a collision of passion and desire. His hands gripped her waist tightly, pulling her closer as he devoured her mouth hungrily. She tried to stop him but she couldn't, his hands were so strong and all the senses in her body wanted that kiss more than anything. The kiss was intense, and the world melted away around them as they lost themselves in the overwhelming sensation, leaving them breathless and longing for more.

Isabella Rossi, a calm sheltered Nineteen-year-old is kidnapped by a dangerous Mafia lord Leonardo Romano who had taken fancy of her the first time they met when she was just fourteen when he came for a meeting with her Dad. Leonardo Romano uses her as leverage to find out about the past that led to his father's death while still trying to claim her. As she learns more about her father's past and the secrets he may be hiding, Isabella navigates her growing feelings for the man who wants to claim her as his own. Will she succumb to the allure of power and danger, or will she uncover the truth behind her father's link to the mafia boss and the real reason behind her kidnap?

Lily's world is upended when two strangers arrive at her family's door seeking answers about a missing friend. Before she knows it, Lily finds herself a virtual prisoner in the lavish estate of Don Bianchi, the ruthless leader of the most dangerous mafia family in the city. Forced to take the place of the Don's recently deceased daughter to protect her own family from retaliation, Lily must shed her old identity and adopt the etiquette and duties of mafia royalty.

Just when she earns a precarious acceptance, Lily faces new threats from the Don's cunning son Luca, who torments her with unwanted advances for his own cruel amusement. As Lily desperately continues her lessons to cement her place in the family, sinister accusations arise against her loyalty. Determined to escape this gilded cage and protect her family at all costs, Lily gambles everything to gather evidence against her tormentors. But Luca always lurks in the shadows, playing a twisted game only he knows the rules to.

Will Lily expose the Bianchis’ dark secrets? Or will the heir to the underground empire shatter this delicate flower plucked from her safe little garden? Fate hangs in the balance as Lily fights to reclaim the power she didn't choose to surrender—before the cunning viper ensnares her or she poisons him first.

S.I.X. Also spelled SIX, or simply the number 6.

With over eight billion people in the world, seven of those eight reckon with the name S.I.X.

To the oblivious masses, it’s just a name. To the fairly informed, it’s a jinx, bringing destruction. To the cops and government, it’s their nemesis. And to the Mafia world, it’s the legacy of a legend.
*
Ten years in the Italian ‘La Fratellanza’ Mafia family, SIX has harbored a fervent urge to hang up his boots and leave the dark world he has grown to love. But he, more than anyone else, knows the rules: the brotherhood is forever, and the only way out is in a body bag.

With much appeal, he is cut some slack and given one condition - protect the Rodriguez heiress until she finally gets wedded to the Capo of the La Fratellanza family.

Frustrated, SIX unwinds at a bar and ends up in bed with a mysterious vixen. The next morning, he takes the first flight to NYC to begin his assignment. But there she is, in the arms of the Capo, and he finally learns her real name - Arabella Rodriguez, fiancée to the Capo, heiress to the Rodriguez empire... and his fucking one-night stand.

A bloody twist! But the beginning of a catastrophe in his quest to leave the dark world.

Juliet Bailey never imagined that a single knock on her door would change her life forever. Drowning in debt, juggling part-time jobs, and desperately fighting to keep her sick mother alive, she is given an impossible choice
—become the possession of a powerful stranger or lose everything.
Xavier De Luca is the definition of ruthless. As the heir to one of the most feared mafia empires, he is used to taking whatever he wants—and when he discovers that his sworn enemy, Damon Russo, has set his sights on a woman, he decides to claim her first.
What starts as a twisted game of power soon becomes something far more dangerous. Juliet is thrown into a world of crime, deception, and bloodshed, where her freedom is an illusion and her heart becomes the ultimate battleground.

He slightly pushed me onto the bed, and my heart raced even harder as he hovered above me.
He had been expecting me to try to hold or touch him like all the other girls did, but none of that was happening with me. I even looked like was about to cry, and it was surprisingly turning him on.
I gasped when he pinned me down; I couldn't move an inch. He touched me down there, and I instantly clasped my legs, making him frown. He had managed to touch me down there, and it was so small he doubted air had ever entered it.
"Are you a virgin?" he asked, making my throat run dry.


His metallic gray eyes pierced into hers, and Jacqueline felt like he was luring her into his dark abyss. She took nervous steps backward, but she didn't know that he loved the chase and derived pleasure from watching her run.She knew she couldn't run nor hide from him, but there was no other option.

He easily cornered her against the wall, trapping her there. One of his hands snaked around her tiny waist, and the other caged her between himself and the wall.

"Tell me what you want, Jacqueline," he said, his hot breath fanning her neck. The moonlight cast a shadow on him, making him look like the devil he was.

"What I want is to drag you to hell where people like you belong," she seethed.

He let out a raw, deep chuckle that had her insides twisting."And you think you'll leave hell after dragging me there? Interesting,"

Alexander chuckled. "I'll make sure you won't get out of there. I'll make sure you have nowhere else to run but my arms. My name will be the only thing you can pronounce because it will be the only thing you think about, and when that happens, you'll be completely mine, Jacqueline," he said sinisterly.

Trapped between love and war, Jacqueline must sail through if she intends to protect the people she loves.

At fifteen, my parents died on their way of volunteer teaching in underprivileged areas. I was adopted by the Miller family’s Don, Vincent and was brought up by himself. For ten years, he hauled me out of the mud, gave me a home, gave me favor no one else got and taught me what a “family” was supposed to mean.
On my eighteenth birthday, I climbed onto his bed and kissed him.
He called me disgusting with a face like ice. Later, he brought Isabella home, forced me to be her bridesmaid, and made me go with her to pick out wedding dresses and jewelry.
One shove from her was all it took for him to lock me in a pitch-black confinement room and he even had the light removed.
That was when I finally understood: everything I had could be taken back from me at any moment.

I hid my identity and pretended to be a country bumpkin by Christopher's side, caring for him and healing him. I never expected that the first thing Christopher would do after his recovery was dump me.

On the day my half-sister and I shared our birthday, he made a grand appearance at her party while leaving me to be mocked and ridiculed by everyone: "A country bumpkin doesn't deserve to be Christopher's wife. Go back to the countryside where you belong."

I just smiled. If not for repaying the debt I owed Christopher, I would never have stayed here in the first place. Any one of my hidden identities was someone they could only look up to.

No one expected I'd have the backbone to throw the divorce papers in Christopher's face, declaring that I was the one leaving him!

"Let’s divorce."

After three years of marriage, my husband’s true love has returned. He ended our three-year marriage with his own lips. Just like that, I was ruthlessly abandoned, and everyone is laughing at my misery.

I hid the news of my pregnancy and vanished from his world completely. I thought my sacrifice would give him the happiness he wanted. I never expected that when we met again, my ex-husband would confront me with bloodshot eyes.

"Whose child is this?"

——

As for the story after I left, I heard a different version. From the moment I disappeared, my ex-husband went insane searching for me all over the world...

Maya froze when the man who drew every eye in the room walked in. Her ex-boyfriend, who‘d vanished five years ago, was now one of Boston’s richest tycoons. Back then, he’d never hinted at his identity—then he’d disappeared without a trace. Seeing his cold gaze now, she could only assume he’d hidden the truth to test her, decided she was vain, and left in disappointment.

Outside the ballroom, she went to him as he smoked by the door, wanting to at least explain herself.

“Are you still angry with me?”

He flicked the cigarette away and looked at her with open contempt. “Angry? You think I’m angry? Let me guess—Maya finally finds out who I am and now she wants to ‘reconnect.’ Another chance now that she knows my last name comes with money.”

When she tried to deny it, he cut in. “You were a blip. A footnote. If you hadn’t shown up tonight, I wouldn’t have remembered you.”

Tears stung her eyes. She almost told him about his daughter, but stopped. He’d only think she was using the child to trap him and get his money.

Maya swallowed everything back and left, certain they would never cross paths again—only for him to keep appearing in her life, until he was the one lowering himself, humbly begging her to take him back.

At twelve, I lost my parents and was taken in by the Brooks—our families had a marriage pact. For a decade, everyone expected me to marry their son Conner, a future I'd accepted as duty.
Then Conner's tabloid scandal with another woman destroyed the engagement. Chaos hit our family businesses—until Dylan, Conner's uncle who barely spoke to me, offered: Marry me instead.
It was the only way to save everything. I said yes, no time to fear marrying a stranger.
What stunned me? The wild side of Uncle Dylan I never saw. It hit fast, hot—pulling me in until I was hopelessly falling.
And my best friend? She's about to find a chaotic, twisty romance of her own. Turns out, life's best gifts are the ones you never see coming—even if they start with a marriage of convenience.

"Violet Goldcrest," Daemon's voice was thunder, vibrating through the wet ground and into my bones. "You have failed as Luna."
I knelt in the mud, the agony of rejection tearing through me as I watched him walk away with pregnant Celeste.
"I, Daemon Blackwood," he intoned coldly, "reject you as my mate."
I had loved him for ten years—until he humiliated me in a public Rejection Ceremony, abandoned me for another woman, and waged war on my pack. My parents died protecting me. I died alone, broken by his betrayal.
Then I woke up... three years earlier.
This time, I'm done begging for his love.
"I'll make you a bet, Daemon," I say when he dismisses my offer to break our bond. "Soon, you won't just accept this rejection—you'll beg for it."
He stares at me with icy disdain. "I. Don't. Beg."
I sigh. As the one who's lived this before, I know what's coming. Daemon will meet his true mate, fall madly for her, and finally set me free. All I have to do is wait.
But then... things get weird.
The man who once spent months away from me now watches my every move. He interrogates me about other males. And when he does meet Celeste, he doesn't reject me like he's supposed to.
He rejects her instead.

"What is the meaning of this?" I questioned still in disbelief. Where had it all gone wrong? We were happy, he respected me and so did I...I even fell in love with him so how could he do this to me?
"It's exactly what it says in the paper, Ciara"
"And what is that?" I stubbornly inquired.
Ryan had uttered those words I so desperately dreaded,"I want a divorce, Ciara"
Ciara is the heiress to her father's company but she left all of that to be in a contract marriage with Ryan. It was supposed to be a 'no-strings-attached' kind of feeling but, she couldn't help but fall in love with him. Just when she wanted to start a clean slate on their first anniversary, she was handed a divorce paper.
Ryan is a billionaire and a man with a hardened heart. He never saw Ciara as something more than just a 'fake wife' who was willing to help him out with a case. Deciding that he had had enough, Ryan hands Ciara a divorce paper setting himself free from her but 5 years later, he seems to have a change on heart and wants to win Ciara back at all cost.
But on his way to the office of the new investor of his company he is overcomed by a welling shock that the name of his new investor was Ciara. The same Ciara he'd known and once loved.
What happens when this two dual meets for the first time since their rough divorce? Would they rekindle their feelings or would they leave it at that?
Could second chance love prevail?

"You're going to run on the count of three, Janice Cross," He whisper. "And make sure you don't let us find you."
"No… Lucian."
I moved my gaze to the men at either side of him, willing—begging them to say something.
Help me. "Calder, please… Aiden…"
Both turned their heads to the side. They couldn't even look me in the eyes as they chose their brother.
"One."
"Lucian…"
"Two."
"I didn't mean to."
"Three."


After losing the man she believed she would marry and her parents within a week, Janice just wants to care for her sick sister. She doesn't want a man. She doesn't want three men.
But one night is enough to change her life and point her in a new direction.
Aiden Grant. Calder Vaughn. Lucian Graves.
She doesn't expect the line to blur when it comes to these older men.
And when it comes to an end, she does not expect these men to continue wanting her as badly as she wants them.

"Please, Lydia, give me a second chance. I swear, let me love you again." "Too late, Nathaniel, I have someone else now."
In a twisted tale of deceit and sacrifice, Lydia Milan, who hid her identity and family, endures a loveless marriage to handsome, wealthy Nathaniel King, who views her only as a blood source for his ailing ex.
Struggling against mistreatment, Lydia Milan finally demands a divorce and leaves the marriage, and that was when Nathaniel King discovered that she was the only daughter of the richest man in the country, whom he had been trying to have an audience with since.
A suspenseful journey unfolds, revealing the complexities of love, betrayal, and redemption in this gripping novel where hidden identities and vengeful schemes entwine in a web of secrets.

Iris Quinn had a life worth having—until her father’s arrest stripped it all away.
The charges are a lie, orchestrated by the one family she’s always loathed: the Laurents. When Caesar Laurent offers a cold-blooded trade—her hand in marriage for her father's freedom, Iris realizes exactly who she’s dealing with.
The contract arrives before she's finished being angry. Two years minimum. No escape clause.
Caesar doesn't want her heart; he doesn't even pretend to. But he underestimated one thing: Iris Quinn has spent her life refusing to be controlled, and she isn't about to start now.
Caesar is used to winning. Iris is used to surviving. Neither expected the other to be quite this good at the game. She was supposed to be his prisoner—he wasn't supposed to lose sleep over her.

I once believed that if I was obedient enough, my birth family would finally love me. Instead, they gave everything to Anna, the fake heiress—my competition spot, my reputation, even my kidney.
Then I opened my eyes and returned to the year it all began.
This time, I won’t beg. I won’t yield. My achievements, my dignity, and my life belong to me.
When everyone called me vicious, Damian Sterling draped his jacket over my shoulders and asked in a low voice, “Am I an outsider?”
I leaned into him and smiled. “Of course not.”
But soon I discovered he was being slowly poisoned—and the culprit might be someone closest to him. Worse, the truth behind my death in my previous life may be darker than I ever imagined…

1

The night before the engagement, Rosaline was tricked by her cousin. She was drunk and sent to a stranger’s room. She broke free from their control, went to the next room through the window, and had a one-night stand with a mysterious man.

She didn't want to have anything to do with him, so she matched wits with him and finally escaped. The man stared at silhouette with a smile: "You will never escape from me."

It was five years later when they met again. Neither of them recognized each other, but she was stopped by him in a dramatic way,
"Sir, anything can I do for you?"
"Yes."
"So, what's the matter?"
"I need a wife." He looked at her, and his lips twitching slightly.
"Sir, I don't quite understand what you mean."
"I needed a wife, and you are just the right one for me."
"What! Why?"
"I don't like women who are too beautiful or too smart."
“...”
"I'll see you at the Bureau House at ten a.m. tomorrow."
“...”
What?Was she proposed by the richest bachelor in this City!

I am the fearsome godfather of the Mafia.
For the woman I love, I sheathed my fangs and willingly became a despised commoner son-in-law.
In the horrific car accident, I shielded her with my own flesh and blood, and steel bars pierced through my chest.
Faced with the only life-saving machine in the entire hospital, she did not hesitate to save her lightly injured "white moonlight" brother-in-law, leaving me to die in the basement.
She thought that as long as I bled to death, she could naturally embrace perfect love.
But she didn't know—
Without my protection, her proud, century-old family wouldn't even last a month ...

I remember that frost-covered train door like it was the last thing I ever saw. Because it was.
The escape spot I’d spent three years scraping together? My fiancée was sitting in it, wearing my parka. Her brother had my hiking boots on his feet. Her mother clutched the medical kit I’d carried six miles through ash-covered roads. And Caleb Frost—the ex she’d sworn was just “someone from the past”—stood in the seat that should have been mine, lifting my silver emergency flask in a toast.
While I froze out in the subzero ash storm, my lungs burning like they were filled with shards of broken glass, they turned their backs to me under the warm yellow light inside.
Then I woke up.
The calendar read May 3, 2041. Exactly one year before the Yellowstone chain eruption would turn the northern hemisphere into a frozen grave.
On the TV, experts were still downplaying the volcanic tremors, insisting there was no immediate risk to the public. My fiancée walked into the bedroom wearing one of my white shirts, carrying coffee in the blue mug she’d bought with my card. She reached for my forehead, asking if I’d had a bad dream.
None of them know I’ve already died once.
They’re still plotting how to make me pay for her brother’s failed investments, how to sneak texts to her old boyfriend, how to use me as their most obedient, most useful doormat until the world ends. I’ve sold the downtown office towers, mortgaged the lakefront house, bought the abandoned geothermal station no one wanted in the dead mountains, and signed a stack of engineering contracts they’ll never bother to read.
They still smile and thank me, tell me I’m the best fiancé in the world.
They have no idea who will be holding the key to the door, when the sky goes dark forever and the snow never stops falling.

"Abort her mutt. Liora is carrying my true pureblood heir."
My Alpha husband’s voice was ice-cold as I bled out on the delivery bed.
The woman he was protecting? My fiercely loyal best friend.
While I was screaming in pain, biting my lips bloody to birth his child, he was in the next room, making her moan.
He killed our baby.
When I returned from burying my grandmother in the freezing rain, his guards threw holy water in my face.
"Wash her," Lachlan ordered coldly. "The stench of death on her will harm Liora's pup."
I stared at the man who once took nine lashes of a barbed whip just to marry me.
He aborted my baby to save hers. He let my only family die.
He tossed me a bag of gold like a beggar and told me to stop causing drama.
So, I packed my bags, and vanished into his world.

Every night, dragging noises come from the floor above.
The neighbor claims he just can’t sleep, yet he stares at my window and grins in the dead of night.
Later, he dies.
But at two in the morning, I still get a text message from him.
Someone else warns me: Don’t go to the sixth floor.
The police say this building doesn’t even have a sixth floor.
Yet I’ve seen people go up there with my own eyes.
Where exactly does this so-called sixth floor lead?
Who really died?
And who on earth is the one texting me?

Three torturous years hauling bodies on the mortuary night shift, and I'd finally scraped together the cash for my brother Charles's heart transplant.
He just waved it off.
"My heart is fine. Mom and Dad didn't die in that gang war, either. I orchestrated the hit. You were the only casualty."
Nearby, my husband, Gerald, casually lit a cigar to deliver his own confession. "I never went bankrupt. 'Laying low' was just my excuse to avoid squeezing into that dingy funeral home dorm with you. I've been at the Long Island estate."
"I was going to punish you for another three years," Charles added, "but the stench of formaldehyde on you is nauseating. We couldn't take it anymore."
I froze, still clutching the credit card. Charles plucked the plastic from my numb fingers and shoved his phone screen in my face. A banking app stared back at me.
Balance: exactly zero.
"My name is still on the joint account," he sneered, tossing the card into the trash. "I drained it this morning. That blood money you made bagging stiffs is being handed out to street junkies as we speak. We'd never touch that filth."
Before the sheer absurdity of it could suffocate me, my parents walked in. Flanked by bodyguards, they kept their distance, eyeing me like a plague rat.
"You thought being the biological daughter gave you the right to ruthlessly bully Violet. We simply wanted to put you in your place."
"Swear you'll never cross Violet again, and you can remain a Falcone," my mother added coolly. "Otherwise, you're dead to us."
In the stifling silence that followed, my phone buzzed. A text from my oncologist.
[Mrs. Castello, the results are back. It's terminal. Do you consent to initiating the hospice and DNR protocols we discussed?]

On the eve of my mating ceremony, my twin sister and I were abducted by rogues.
My Alpha fiancé and my parents drained our territory's wealth, but only bought back my sister Elara's life.
Upon her safe return, Elara seamlessly took my place, claiming my marking ceremony to become his Luna.
Meanwhile, left to rot in the rogue camp, a wolfsbane-laced blade violently carved out my wolf's essence.
Tossed into the wilderness like rotting meat, stripped of my ability to shift and bear pups, I became the Crescent Pack's ultimate disgrace.
Forsaken by my pack, Silas—Alpha of the Obsidian Pack and my childhood friend—defied the Council’s fury. Under the Moon Goddess, he publicly marked me, sheltering me like an absolute treasure.
But now, in the third year of our bond, I accidentally knocked over a half-sealed Memory crystal in his study.
It projected a hidden dark magic ritual into mid-air, tearing the lie of that kidnapping to shreds in an instant.
In the projection, Silas held my sister's hand, his eyes brimming with a sickening devotion.
"Don't be afraid, Elara. Aria's twin essence is a perfect match. With this, you'll safely carry pups with the strongest Alpha bloodline."
A heartbeat later, Silas approached my blindfolded, bound body.
With zero mercy or numbing agents, he carved out my essence with his own hands, drowning out my agonizing howls.

We’ve been married for almost a month, yet my Alpha keeps hiding in the study to avoid me.
He would rather give me a cheap vial of synthetic bonding pheromones than bare his fangs at me.
I thought I was just the unwanted substitute for my runaway sister, that he felt absolutely nothing for me.
I slammed the door and left, heading to the Moon Well to confide. But the moment my blood dripped in, the Alpha's voice echoed:
"I finally married her... but I was born with a curse. How do I mark her without hurting her the moment I bite down..."

Julian and I played house for five years—minus the actual marriage certificate. Because he bailed on me at the registry office twelve times. All for Mia, some intern.

First time: Mia screwed up her pitch.

Sixth time: Mia had the flu.

Twelfth time: Mia's ex showed up at our architecture firm throwing punches. Julian had to play knight in shining armor. I got knocked into a desk, cracked my head open—he didn't spare me a glance before whisking her off to the ER.

Before, I would've lost it. Screamed. Sobbed. Begged him to tell me who the hell he was actually planning to marry. And every single time, Julian would sigh and say, "Chloe, really? She's just an intern. Practically a child."

This time, all I said was: "Go ahead."

Then I turned around and took that job overseas.

When his thirteenth text came through—yet another registry office reschedule—I was already at the gate for my London flight.

This time? I'm choosing me.

I used to be the most envied female on the continent. Three mates: werewolf Alpha Kael, vampire lord Dorian, elven ranger Seth. All of them mine.
Then a half-elf drifter named Ayla showed up, and everything I had started belonging to her instead, one piece at a time.
Kael once pulled a fang from his own mouth to make me a necklace. The day it broke, he was too busy licking another female's cut finger to notice.
Dorian spent two weeks brewing me blood wine. Then he handed the cup straight to her, because apparently I "looked healthy enough to go without."
Seth carved me a charm from sacred elven wood. I watched her face take shape under his knife instead of mine.
They kept telling me I needed to grow up. So when a beast's poison was spreading through my body, and I blew the whistle they swore would bring them running no matter what—
No one came.
Three years later, I walked back into their world on a Siren prince's arm.
This time, they're the ones begging for my forgiveness.

After the crash, my husband, Darius, lost his ability to speak. The trauma to his cervical spine left him unable to even lift a finger.
The doctors said his only remaining way to communicate was to nod, or to shake his head.
Sitting by his hospital bed, I finally asked the question that had been eating away at me for three months.
"When the crash happened... were you on your way to see your mistress?"
Darius stared dead at me. Then, slowly, he nodded.

The day college applications were due, Fern Whitmore wouldn't stop crying — and my two childhood best friends were completely wrapped around her finger.

They actually threatened to give up their Ivy League spots to follow her to community college.

I tried everything to talk them out of it. Nothing worked. So I went behind their backs and called both their parents.

Their parents showed up that same night and put a stop to it. Applications corrected, crisis averted, everyone back on track.

Or so I thought.

Fern lost her two personal ATMs, and one night she posted a goodbye message on social media and swallowed a bottle of pills.

Nash and Declan didn't blame her for it. They blamed me.

They lured me up to the roof. Both of them shoved their hands against my chest.

"Maren." Declan's voice was ice. "You ruined Fern's future. Go apologize to her in hell."

I fell twelve stories.

When I opened my eyes, I was back at the beginning.

This time, I'm not saving anyone.

My two best friends killed me over a girl who'd been dead six months.
Lila Bishop never got a single offer. So she cried and clung until Cole and Wes were ready to throw away their full rides and follow her to nowhere. I tried to stop them — they called me jealous and cut me off. So I went over their heads. I called their moms. I fixed their signing papers myself, the night before the deadline.
Six months later Lila was gone, and they blamed me. They dragged me to the roof of our gym and threw me off.
Then I opened my eyes — three months back, the day it all started.
Last time, I broke myself trying to save them.
This time, I'd let them jump.

On my twenty-fourth birthday, my grandfather dropped the bombshell: I was an orphan.
After learning about my biological family, I decided to do something nice. I bought a limited-edition sports car as a gift for the father I had never met.
But at the dealership, I was publicly humiliated by my brother's mistress.
To clear up the misunderstanding, I called my brother.
When he arrived, it was only to back her up.
"This birthmark is ugly; let me help you get rid of it."
My own brother used a cigar to burn off the birthmark behind my ear and had my suffering broadcast on the mall's LED screen.
"Listen, if anyone dares to treat this woman’s injuries, I’ll have their license revoked in this city for good!"
But he didn’t know that the grandfather who raised me was someone no one in this city could even dream of looking up to.
When my grandfather arrived with a top-notch medical team and armed mercenaries, sealing off the entire building, my arrogant brother finally realized his mistake.

My long-lost twin sister has returned.
The first thing she did was demand to marry my fiancé.
Jayden, murmuring apologies, held her close as they walked into the city hall.
My family urged me to be generous, saying, "After all she’s been through, you owe her this much. You've had a good life all these years—why not let her have this?"
Until the day of their wedding, no one could find me.
But what they didn't know was that my body had been drifting at sea for over ten days.

Freedom was supposed to be Arielle's eighteenth birthday gift. Instead, her uncle's betrayal condemned her to Hell's Pit—a savage underworld.
As a wolfless omega, she should have been easy prey. But fate had other plans.
Lorenzo De Luca didn't build his empire on mercy. As the most feared Mafia Lord and King of the South, he rules with iron and blood. Yet when he finds his fated mate in Hell's Pit, everything changes. Arielle's dormant wolf awakens at his touch, revealing her true nature—a rare dominant omega, a prize that makes her both invaluable and marked for death.
Lorenzo wages a brutal war against the Pit's corrupt council, determined to claim what's his. But as their bond deepens and Arielle carries his heirs, more enemies emerge from the shadows.
When Arielle is stolen away, Lorenzo faces an impossible choice: surrender his empire—everything he's built from scratch—or lose his mate and unborn pups forever.

She was forced to accept a marriage proposal from a strange billionaire to pay her huge debt and to take back her inheritance left to him when her mother died.

"I only have two questions," she said. "The first question is this: if I sign it, does it mean that I don't need to pay my debt?"

Mike: "Yes. And your second question...?"

Crystal: "Okay, I haven't reached the legal age for marriage yet, so even if I sign it, it won't take effect. Is that right?"

Nathan quickly raised his hand and said, "If I say that it is effective, no one will dare to say that it isn't. Do you believe that?"

"I suppose so," Crystal admitted. She hesitated for a moment, and then she signed the marriage certificate.

Months later, she asked for a divorce from him. He stared at her in silence, then he uttered, "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"What does that have to do with our divorce?" Crystal asked.

"I'm only asking because I care about you," Nathan murmured.

Suddenly, tears began to stream down Nathan's face.

"I'll be happy if you say that you care about me," Nathan continued. "Why must you torture me this way? Haven't I done enough to prove my love for you?"

She was stunned hearing his confession and words stuck on her throat.

Nathan carried on with his little speech. He said, "I have died once, and the fear of death has no hold on me. But if you admit that you care for me, then I will live for you! So, please, love me once, and I will be at your disposal!"

I was dying — and he was loving someone else.
I left.
Now he wants me back… but will I let him?

Clara Hughs is an orphan who was working in a bar as a waitress where rich men come to pick up girls. She encountered a strange handsome man at the club one night, Ragnor Usiku, who rescued her from trouble with her employer. Everything changed, as Clara Hughs found herself drawn to this man. Will Clara love him the same when she discovers who he is? Will their love bring them peace or will it create obstacles for them? To know more read "Will You Still Love Me The Same"

Minerva “Mina” Hayes thought marrying Tristan Johnston meant forever—until the night their marriage was announced and he stood beside another woman, letting the world brand Mina as the shameless third party. Betrayed, pregnant, and abandoned, she vanished without a trace, vowing never to love him again.

Three years later, Mina returns—not as the broken woman he left behind, but as a powerful CEO with her own empire. Now, the billionaire who once destroyed her is desperate to have her back. But Mina has learned her lesson. This time, she refuses to be his hidden wife—she’ll be the woman who makes him regret everything.

Yet as buried truths begin to surface, the lines between betrayal and sacrifice start to blur… 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲, 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁

“You belong to me, Freya.”

“No,” I whispered, staring into his cold gray eyes. “I never belonged to anyone.”

Leopold Gray’s jaw tightened.

The most powerful man in the country wasn’t used to hearing the word no.

And that might be exactly why he became obsessed with me.

After losing her parents, Freya Raphael was raised inside one of the wealthiest families in the city.

To outsiders, she was the beloved niece of the Fergus family.

Behind closed doors, she was nothing more than a carefully controlled possession.

Every decision she made was monitored.

Every dream she had was taken away.

Every success she earned was stolen and handed to someone else.

But Freya learned long ago how to survive.

She smiles when she's angry.

She obeys when she wants to fight.

And she hides her sharpest claws behind the face of a perfect lady.

Then one reckless night changes everything.

After being betrayed and abandoned, Freya wakes up beside a stranger—a devastatingly handsome billionaire she never expects to see again.

Unfortunately, fate has other plans.

The stranger turns out to be Leopold Gray, the feared patriarch of the Gray family.

A billionaire kingmaker.

A ruthless empire builder.

A man powerful enough to destroy anyone who stands in his way.

And the very man her guardian plans to offer her to as a mistress.

Now Freya finds herself trapped between a possessive guardian who refuses to let her go, a dangerous billionaire determined to uncover her secrets, and a charming heir whose kindness may be hiding secrets of his own.

Everyone wants something from her.

Her beauty.

Her loyalty.

Her future.

But none of them realize that the obedient girl they think they control has been planning her escape for years.

Because Freya isn't just fighting for freedom anymore.

She's fighting for revenge.

And when Leopold finally discovers the truth about that unforgettable night...

Will he become the man who saves her—

Or the one who destroys her completely?