1169 Book(s) Related to i must betray you audiobook

"The clocks stopped at 12:01 AM and a burning sigil carved itself into my spine. That's when they came for me."

Thalira Moonwhisper thought she was ordinary—until her seventeenth birthday, when two men in dark cloaks appeared at her door.

"It's time. You're coming with us."

At Duskmoor Academy, four impossibly beautiful boys claim they've been waiting fifty years for her return.

"You've died four times and each time we failed to save you."

But Thalira doesn't remember dying. She doesn't remember them. Doesn't remember the ancient power inside her that can bend time itself.

Then her twin sister Luna arrives with a desperate warning:

"A serial killer is hunting our pack and he's been watching us since we were children."

The killer knows what Thalira really is. And he's not working alone.

"I've been waiting for you little phoenix. Your father sends his regards."

Four deaths. Four soul-bound boys. One twin she never knew. And an ancient prophecy that says the Moonwhisper sisters will either save the world or watch it burn.

"You're not just a Phoenix Soul Thalira. You're the weapon that ends everything."

Sometimes the person you're destined to save is yourself.

"I WANT DIVORCE!" I shouted, my voice echoing off the walls.
The room fell silent. Alexander stopped in his tracks; his back still turned to me. I could sense his tension, his surprise. But I didn't care. I meant it. I wanted out of this loveless, abusive marriage. I wanted to be free.
Slowly, Alexander turned around, his eyes narrowing as he looked at me. But I didn't flinch. I held his gaze, my eyes blazing with determination. I was done. I was finally done with this toxic marriage, done with being treated like a doormat. I wanted my freedom, and I was ready to fight for it.
Alexander's steps halted, his cold face turning towards me with a mixture of shock and disdain. "What did you say?" he asked, his voice dripping with ice.
I stood my ground, meeting his gaze with matching coldness. No fear, no softness, just a resolute determination. "I want divorce, Mr. Alexander Valtor," I repeated, my voice firm and clear.
Alexander's expression twisted in contempt. "Don't you think it should be me who asks for divorce? I am the one who was forced to marry a girl like you."

Watching the superstar dancer Celeste Brown lean weakly into her husband’s arms with a terminal illness diagnosis in hand, she cooed softly,

“William, all I want is to stay by your side for what little time I have left.”

Rebecca Percy could only watch with a broken heart as her husband showered another woman with tenderness.

She watched her own son be manipulated into growing distant from her day by day.

On that rainy night, she finally let go of all her forbearance, turned around resolutely, and walked away without looking back.

Soon, the top cardiologist Whitaker cleared every obstacle in her path.She made a stunning comeback as a gifted painter.

Celeste’s “terminal illness” suddenly vanished overnight, and William Spencer’s world crumbled to pieces.

“Rebecca, you are the only one I’ve ever loved!”

She gently stroked her pregnant belly, a faint smile playing on her lips, yet her eyes remained icy cold.

“William Spencer, I wish you had never stepped into my world at all.”

"Spread your legs. If you don't do as I say, I'll open your pussy with my whole hand. Understand?" His voice was calm and firm.

I whimpered loudly but nodded.

"Good baby, now let's get started on what I want. Will you be a good girl?" His voice was once again filled with coldness.

"Yes." I whispered as I clenched my teeth and managed to place my hands in his. His hands were big and held me firmly.

"Good girl." He replied sarcastically. But before he let go of my poor nipples, he rubbed his palms over the sensitive and delicate pussy...

Alan Hillman is a man with a singular interest in revenge. Kidnapped as a young boy and sold into slavery by a power-hungry mobster, he has thought of nothing but vengeance.

For twelve years he has immersed himself in the world of pleasure slaves searching for the one man he holds ultimately responsible.

Finally, the architect of his suffering has emerged with a new identity, but not a new nature. If Alan is to get close enough to strike, he must become the very thing he abhors and kidnap a beautiful girl to train her to be all that he once was.

But what if he falls in love with the girl he kidnapped?

Serena Hale thought she had finally built a quiet life for herself—one where her past, her family’s mistakes, and her father’s debts wouldn’t define her. But when her father’s financial troubles drag her into a marriage contract with Adrian Vale, a cold and devastatingly handsome billionaire heir, her fragile world shatters.
To the outside world, they are a perfect couple: glamorous, untouchable, and united. In reality, Serena and Adrian are strangers bound by obligation, their relationship defined by rules, tension, and restraint. He is ruthless, emotionally distant, and used to controlling everyone around him. She is quiet, observant, and fiercely protective of the small autonomy she has left. Every interaction is a battle between control and resistance, pride and vulnerability, fear and desire.
As they navigate public appearances, family scrutiny, and the constraints of their forced union, unexpected emotions begin to stir. Their hostility slowly transforms into understanding, and resentment gives way to longing—but every step toward connection is fraught with danger. Secrets from both their pasts threaten to unravel the fragile trust forming between them, and Serena soon realizes that love in this arrangement comes at a high cost.
When betrayal and scandal push them to the breaking point, Serena must decide whether to fight for the life she wants or surrender to the man who has slowly captured her heart. And Adrian must confront the truth: love cannot be forced, earned, or bought—it must be chosen.
Bound to a Man I Never Chose is a slow-burn billionaire romance about trust, power, emotional resilience, and the courage it takes to claim your own life, even when every choice feels impossible.

Vanessa Williams has three ironclad rules: hate hockey, avoid hockey players, and never, ever get hurt by one again. Her father was the first to break that last rule, and Danny Glover—the campus hockey god with a smile that once wrecked her—was the second. Three years ago, she ran. Now, her graduate degree depends on studying the very sport she despises, and her advisor just assigned her to work with him.

Danny Glover has spent three years regretting the night he lost Vanessa. When she walks back into his life, all sharp edges and guarded green eyes, he sees a second chance. To protect her from his teammates’ relentless gossip and unwanted advances, he proposes a solution that’s as brilliant as it is dangerous: fake date. Publicly, they’ll be the picture-perfect couple. Privately, it’s just business.

The rules are simple: no feelings, no sex, just performative affection when people are watching. But every whispered study session, every pretend date that feels too real, and every old memory that sparks to life makes those boundaries blur. As their carefully staged romance starts to feel alarmingly genuine, they must confront past betrayals, a scandal that could ruin everything, and the terrifying possibility that the greatest risk isn’t getting caught in the lie…

It’s falling in love—for real this time.

Amara Snow hates Christmas with every fiber of her being. For sixteen years, December 25th has been a day of grief, not joy—the anniversary of the car accident that killed her parents. While the world celebrates, she works double shifts and avoids the holiday like a curse. When she loses her job on Christmas Eve and collapses in the snow, she's ready to give up. But a mysterious stranger with impossibly warm hands and eyes like starlight saves her life. Noelle Krystov seems too perfect, too kind, too good to be true. That's because he is. He's the immortal son of Santa Claus, sent to Earth to protect the dying spirit of Christmas. Falling in love with a human is forbidden—it will cost him his immortality. But when Noelle discovers that Amara isn't just any human, that she's the Yuletide Child born at the exact moment Christmas magic was created, their love becomes the key to saving or destroying Christmas forever. As dark forces rise to extinguish belief and hope, Amara must choose: continue hating the holiday that took everything from her, or become the woman who saves it. Sometimes the greatest magic isn't in believing in Christmas—it's in believing in yourself.

After three years of marriage, the first thing my husband did upon waking from his vegetative state was to humiliate me for my stepsister. I once thought that my three years of devoted care would earn me a shred of his affection, only to discover that he had always loved the woman who stole everything from me including my identity. For her sake, he forced me to leave with nothing and had me blacklisted throughout the city.

But what they didn't know was that the woman they discarded like a piece of trash would shed her apron and become a legendary racer who struck fear into the hearts of the entire racing world. When my husband's archrival extended an olive branch to me, this game of revenge began—who will ultimately be the winner?

Kimberly Smith thought winning a scholarship to Greywood Academy would be her way out. Straight A’s. A fresh start. A future that her mom could finally be proud of.
Instead, Greywood takes one look at her thrift shoes and homemade lunch—and decides she’s entertainment.
They call her Scumbag of the Week.
They film her, mock her, and turn every mistake into a headline.
And the worst part? The boy who started it is the one person she can’t avoid.
Xavier Grey is the heir everyone fears, the boyfriend every girl worships, and the bully who knows exactly how to break people with a smirk. Kimberly swears she’ll survive him, not fall for him.
Then the lines blur.
A “dare kiss” goes viral. Someone pushes her into a pool. Her scholarship is suddenly under review—with “evidence” that makes her look guilty. Her only friend turns against her. Even her mother starts to doubt her.
And Xavier—cold, controlled Xavier—starts showing up when it matters. Warning her away from traps. Paying to erase posts. Touching her tears like he hates that they exist.
Greywood is built to crush girls like Kimberly.
So why does its most dangerous boy look like he might burn it down for her?

“Marry Damian.”
My father’s voice was cold.
“Or stop acting like a spoiled heiress.”

I laughed bitterly.
“You mean sell me to save your company?”

I was once the proud daughter of the Blackwood family—until my parents divorced, another woman moved into my house, and my father decided to trade my future for business.

Worse?

The man I was forced to marry was Damian Harrington—my childhood crush who broke my heart and now shamelessly flirts with my stepsister.

So instead of crying over him, I made a decision:

I would build my own company and take back control of my life.

Then one reckless night changed everything.

While escaping Damian, I ended up in the arms of a dangerously handsome stranger with cold blue eyes and a smile impossible to resist.

I thought he was just an expensive escort.

But later, I learned the truth.

The man I slept with wasn’t some stranger.

He was Gabriel Ashford—the billionaire every woman in Manhattan dreams about.

"I don't have enough money or power right now, but I will definitely find a way to bring them all to their knees! I'll make them all beg!" She hissed, shaking with anger and frustration. "I will do everything, anything… to make them all regret… even if I have to sell my soul to the devil!" She said with determination flashing in her beautiful eyes.

The man smirked. He lifted his fingers and tucked some errant strands of her slightly mussed up hair behind her ear. "Be careful what you wish for, Miss. A certain devil here might really fulfil your wish and claim your soul in exchange."

"If that devil is really here, do introduce him to me, handsome. I would like to make a deal with him." Eva drawled out, smirking back at him.

'Why now, why him? I shouldn't have looked. I shouldn't have stayed. But my ears betrayed me. Adrain's lips on her - it felt like a knife twisting inside me. Why does it matter so much? He's my best friend's brother. He is trouble. And yet, my heart races whenever he is near. I hate myself for wanting what I can't have."

.....................................

Inez is a romance loving nerd navigating her love life. After catching her boyfriend, Ethan, cheating, she stays with her best friend, Irene, where she meets the playboy, Irene's brother, Adrain.

Despite their instant attraction, Adrain's playboy reputation and Inez's insecurities keep them apart. As Inez faces bullying, family drama, and danger, Adrain becomes her protector and secret crush. Will they overcome their past and Adrain's possessive nature to find love?

•Honoria•
I embarrassed the star quarterback of Crescent Bay high and I know he wants revenge.
Kayden Lachlan was the golden bad boy. A star athlete, with a killer body and a face girls soaked their underwear for.
One sleepy night while doing my assignment, I’d sent the wrong file in. And everything went to hell for him when those embarrassing photos of his training days hit the school papers.
He confronted me and demanded to know why I did it, but one wrong shove resulted in a kiss that changed things between us forever.
His eyes flash golden, and he vanishes off my radar.
Now Kayden won’t even look at me. That kiss meant something he’s hiding.
And I’m done being kept in the dark.

•Kayden•
I kissed Honoria Greyheart by accident, and the mate bond locked into place.
She’s human, hates my guts and has no idea what that kiss just did to the both of us.
One touch of her lips and she became mine permanently.
She doesn’t know I’m a werewolf. She doesn’t know our laws. And she doesn’t know she’s tied to me for life now.
I should tell her the truth of what she is to me now.
But if I do, she’ll run.
And I’m not sure if i’m quite ready to let her go yet.

She planned to give her virginity to her boyfriend.
Instead, she gave it to his best friend.
In the darkness, one mistake changes everything.
Now bound by a secret they swore to bury, Veda and Winslow must pretend nothing happened…
But some nights refuse to be forgotten.
And some feelings? Impossible to ignore.

I spent ten years turning a thug into a top boxer, but he and my wife kicked me out of the game, mocking me for "not understanding business and being outdated."

I didn't argue, and turned around to pick up a homeless man who had fought in underground boxing matches on the roadside.

A year later, the homeless man's apprentice knocked out the defending champion with one punch and won the gold belt; while that ingrate who betrayed me was beaten into a cripple in the underground boxing ring.

The geniuses you all think they are are nothing more than half-finished products under my tutelage!

Three months ago, I was kidnapped. When Alexander rescued me, I woke up in a hospital bed with my clothes disheveled and bruises covering my body. What happened during those hours? I don't remember any of it.

A week ago, I found out I was pregnant. He held me as I shook and told me that it wasn't my fault. That he failed to protect me. Even if the baby wasn't his, he'd raise it. He'd still give me the perfect wedding.

But the guilt ate me alive until depression took hold.

Every night, sleep stays out of reach. Nightmares find me the moment I close my eyes. I've tried to end it. Three times now. Each time, someone found me just in time.

After the third failed attempt, I make tea and head toward his study to apologize. Voices drift through the door before I reach it.

"Are you out of your mind? Evelyn's your fiancée!" His friend sounds disbelieving. "You actually hired someone to kidnap her? Made her think she was assaulted? Just so Lily could take her place? Do you know how messed up that is? What that does to someone?"

Alexander's voice comes out calm. "Lily got sick because of me. Her dying wish is to marry me once before she goes. If I didn't push Evelyn out of the picture, her father would never let Lily take her place."

All those nights. All those nightmares. All those times I scrubbed my hands raw until they bled. It was all a lie. A setup.

For another woman.

I pull out my phone and call my father.

"Dad. I'll agree to the arrangement."

Three years barren, and Jessamine walked on thin ice in the elite household. Her mother-in-law spat venomous curses daily, calling her a "worthless waste of space" and threatening to force her son into divorce.

She could still remember when Damien had severed all ties with his family to marry her—kneeling outside their door in the pouring rain, begging his parents to accept her: "Jessamine is my one true love! I can't survive without her!" Back then, she was the only woman who existed in his eyes.

But now, for the sake of family inheritance, he had the audacity to demand her consent for his childhood sweetheart Celeste to bear their child. Jessamine endured the soul-crushing agony of watching her husband entwined with another woman, night after torturous night.

Even more devastating—after Celeste delivered a daughter, Damien had the shameless nerve to declare: "The family still needs a male heir."

In that shattering moment, Jessamine finally saw the brutal truth.

A horrific car crash left me paralyzed.
The doctors said I'd never walk again. With no family left, my Aunt Martha and Uncle Thomas took me to their isolated farmhouse.
They cared for me, promising their treatments would help me walk again. After everything I'd been through, I thought I'd finally found safety.
Until today, when the feeling in my legs suddenly came back—but something told me not to tell them.

My husband used my cottage to cheat on me. Fine. I found out, I drove three hours, and I walked into my own house to find his mistress wearing my dead grandmother's sweater.
She told me to leave.
He showed up, kissed her in front of me, then grabbed my arm and shoved me into the door frame.
That's when I had the asthma attack. He's known about my asthma for five years.
My inhaler rolled across the porch floor. His mistress picked it up, held it out, and told me to sign a statement saying I'd caused all of this. Then she'd give it back.
He looked at me on the ground and said: She's performing.
I'm sitting on the floor of my own grandmother's house, gasping, and my husband is telling the neighbors I'm acting.
Nobody thought to ask whose family manages every property on this coastline.

For the tenth time, James Smith left me behind because of a call from his female student.
But it was as if I had become a different person—I no longer doubted that there was something ambiguous between James and his student.
Even on our wedding anniversary, when he abandoned me in the remote mountains for Sophia's sake, I bore no resentment.
Eventually, James began to sense something.
"Emily, you seem different," he said.
I shook my head with a smile.
Because I had simply made a different choice from the one in my past life.

In order to rush to comfort his assistant whose apartment was leaking, Richard signed his name hastily without even glancing at the documents on the table.
I put away the divorce agreement with a wry smile.
When he and my son completely disappeared, he finally panicked.
Three months later .
He knelt down on the streets of Chicago in despair, begging me to remarry him.
My six-year-old son looked coldly at his biological father and said, "Get lost, you bad uncle! You don't deserve to be my dad!"

"Why should I save you?"
His voice was calm, cruel—even as the fire raged below her.
"Because... I don't want to die," Emma choked, tears mixing with soot.
He smirked, lighting a cigarette. "Not my problem."
Betrayed by the only pack she ever called home, accused of killing the Alpha's mate, and left for dead, Emma—an abused, wolfless omega—finds herself at the mercy of Leo, the infamous Hybrid King. He saves her, but only after forcing her to agree to one thing:
"You're mine now. My Slave"
But as days turn to nights, and pain gives way to sparks, Leo begins to see something more in the broken girl he claimed. And Emma? She begins to feel something dangerously close to power.
When she discovers she's the destined Savior of the very pack that tried to execute her, the lines between love, loyalty, and vengeance begin to blur. Especially when Alpha Damon comes crawling back, begging for forgiveness.
Two kings. One omega. A prophecy soaked in blood.
Will Emma return to the monster she once loved… or rise with the one who saw her worth in the ashes?

I was betrayed, cheated on, and ruthlessly schemed against by my own husband. Cornered by him and his mistress, I was forced to leap off a cliff. No one expected that I would survive the fatal fall. I carved out a bloody path for myself in Silicon Valley and rose to become the sharpest, youngest queen across the entire capital circle. Three years later, he knelt before me in utter disarray, weeping brokenly. Meanwhile, draped in a white wedding gown, I was held securely in my bridegroom’s arms. It was in that moment that he finally comprehended—losing me was the harshest retribution he would ever endure for the rest of his life.

In a world where Omegas are controlled, killed and wiped out, Lyra Drake lived her whole life scrubbing floors in the most powerful Alpha estate in the pack. She lived in silence, hiding her identity just for survival.

Kael Robinson is the Alpha heir who was sent to ruin her. He bullies and hates her for reasons she doesn't understand, making her despise him.

But fate had other plans for her as the moon betrayed her, igniting their mate bonds. Lyra was torn between choosing the man who torments her and the one who kept protecting her.

Hunted by the council and trapped between two men who want her for different reasons, Lyra must decide what she's willing to sacrifice to survive.

What happens when Kyrah Bailey falls in love with the son of a tycoon, Blake Dawson and later finds out that he has strings attached with his neighbor Sabrina Johnson? Will Kyrah be able to dig out Blake's past? Will she forgive Blake or not? Torn between her boyfriend, Blake and her best friend, Scott Stone, her world crumbles down as she tries to fight for her lover forgetting about her friends and family. Will she realize her mistakes and who will she end up falling for?

On our third anniversary, I gave my husband my pregnancy test results as a gift. What I got back was a photo—a man's hand on a woman's chest. The wedding ring on his finger told me everything I needed to know. He was my husband. And he was cheating.

The plan was simple: Break the nephew by seducing the uncle.
Wesley Vance didn't just break my heart; he tried to sell my dignity. So, I went after the only man he feared. The man who owned the city, the empire, and Wesley’s future.
Lance Lawson. He’s cold. He’s untouchable. He’s my ex-boyfriend’s uncle. I thought I was the one setting the trap. I wore his shirts, haunted his penthouse, and chipped away at his legendary control until the ice finally cracked.
But I made one fatal mistake. I thought Lance was a man I could use and discard. I didn't realize that once you wake a predator, he never goes back to sleep.
Now, Wesley is gone, the Vance family is in ruins, and I’m trapped in a gilded cage of my own making. Because Lance doesn't want my loyalty. He wants my soul.
I wanted revenge. I got an obsession.

After finding out that he had a year left to live. Alpha Logan Wolfie, requested for six months, where he could only live in a carefree and unhindered manner. In other to numb the pain and sadness in his heart before he fulfilled his mother's wish, to give her an heir who would become the next Alpha of the Pack.

"You will produce an heir before the curse takes over..."
Those are the very words of his mother. He hated commitment, and deep down in that dying heart of his, he wanted someone to love, even if it was just for a day before he died but he never thought that someone was a human girl.
Akira Ross, the woman, with zero knowledge about wolves and their existence, the woman that got the cure to his curse, just with the taste of her blood and lips.
Will Akira be able to cure the curse that runs in his bloodline and will she be able to accept the beast she loves is an Alpha?

"What the fuck? You Left hickeys on my neck?" I yelled, "Why didn't you tell me that you left those stupid pieces of stuff on my neck, I was practically telling the whole world that I had a passionate night?"
"Stupid! They aren't hickeys, I branded you?"
"What I do not understand?" I asked, he smirked, moving closer as his breath met my neck.
"I just stick my claim on you, you are mine now, that is my mate mark on you."

"I hate you," Aïssata spat, her chest heaving with fury as she glared at Koffi. "You think you can just claim me as your own?"

Koffi's dark eyes glinted with a mixture of frustration and something far more dangerous. "I don't want to, but I will. You're the key to everything, whether you like it or not."

In the heart of Silvercrest, where wolves rule and forbidden desires burn, Aïssata Doumbia is a woman torn between the life she's fought to build and the dark, magnetic pull of Koffi Mensah, the powerful Alpha whose presence alone makes her pulse quicken. She knows better than to trust the ruthless leader of the pack, but the chemistry between them is undeniable, impossible to ignore.

As tensions rise between the packs, a deadly prophecy begins to surface—one that ties Aïssata’s fate to Koffi's in ways she never expected. Forced to confront their growing attraction amidst a web of betrayal, power struggles, and deadly secrets, Aïssata must decide: Can she embrace her destiny, or will she risk everything to tear herself free from Koffi’s world?

But when the truth is finally revealed, Aïssata finds herself standing at the edge of a cliff—her heart, her power, and her very life in the hands of the one man she can't stand... and yet, can't resist.

"I’ll do whatever it takes to claim you," Koffi whispered, stepping closer, his breath warm against her ear.

And just as their lips almost touched, a roar echoed in the distance, freezing them both in place. Someone else was coming for her...

"I, Alpha Xander Finch of the Red Moon Pack,” he said. Wait, is he going to accept my rejection now? “Reject your rejection, Alpha Chastity Reid of the Silver Moon Pack,” he added, and my eyes widened when I felt something extraordinary. Maybe he felt it too because he was surprised as well. Then he carried me before he pinned me at the back of the now already closed door and kissed me and, oh goddess, I felt like I missed him for a thousand years already, so I kissed him back.


Chassy, an omega who carries the weight of her heritage, is mistreated by her mother and the Red Moon Pack for her entire existence. Her real potential, which was acquired from a father who came from a mysterious lycan clan, is hidden from her and her tormentors. She found out that Xander, her Alpha, was her mate. For some reason, he hurt her. As a result
Chassy leaves and rejects him.

But destiny has more in store for her. With the advent of her lycan beast, she unexpectedly rises to the position of alpha in her adopted pack. Then she met her father whom she never knew and found out more about herself.

The persistent vampires, push packs to band together under an alliance. Chassy's previous and present lives intersect when Xander stops by her new pack for a joint training session against this backdrop of peril and unity. Will Xander and Chassy be able to cross the gap between them? Can they stand together in the face of the impending vampire threat?

What will Chassy do when she knows that she's unable to give Xander an heir and a boy with his mother comes to the pack claiming Xander to be the father?

"W-Wait… what if he walks in and sees us?" I gasped as Alexander's hands slid up my thighs, his body pressing me harder against the door.
"Let him," He let out a low, wicked chuckle, his lips grazing my neck. "Then he'll finally see exactly how badly his wife needs to be fucked."
Desperate to forget her crumbling marriage, Chloe makes one impulsive mistake—mistaking a billionaire for a stripper. What should have been a fleeting moment of passion turns into something far more dangerous when she learns the truth. Because the man in her bed isn't just powerful, he's one of the most influential men in the country. And he's decided he's not letting her go.
Now, Chloe is caught between a husband who never loved her and a man who refuses to walk away. Will Alexander King be her dirty little secret, or will she surrender to temptation and let him own her in every sinful way?

Astrid finds her cousin having an affair with her mate, her sweetheart and although she was willing to ignore what she had seen and go on with being Alpha Halfdan's mate, she got rejected by him and was forced to sign a divorce paper.

Astrid had no other choice but to do as they said. She is pained and heartbroken that all she craved for was a drink. One drink to clear her head,one drink to end her misery.

But getting to the bar, she gets captured by the stunning sight of an unknown Alpha. Just to get revenge on Alpha Halfdan, she drinks to stupor and has a one night stand with the stranger she met at the club.

But little did she know that just a night could make or mar her...
What happens next?

"Use me to get back at your ex. Make him jealous. Even if he doesn't love you, he won't handle seeing you with someone else. Especially someone like me."
I blinked at him, confused. "Especially someone like you? Why would he be jealous? He doesn't even like me."
He smirked. "Trust me. Derek will lose his mind watching his ex-wife move on. He'll wonder if you ever loved him... and why you replaced him so easily. That's when he starts running back."
"Deal?"
His eyes glittered with danger. My brain screamed run. But I still found myself nodding.
"Deal."
Vanessa Holland thought signing divorce papers with Derek—a man with the emotional depth of a teaspoon—was the worst day of her life.
She was wrong.
Rock bottom has a basement... and Ryker Holland is waiting there, handsome, ruthless, and armed with a plan.
Ryker, Derek's half-brother and the real power behind the Holland empire, offers Vanessa a deal she's not supposed to refuse: Make Derek jealous enough to crawl back in humiliation, while Ryker secures the CEO throne he's been denied.
But this isn't kindness. Ryker is petty. He is cruel. And he wants to destroy Derek—piece by piece.
Vanessa is the perfect weapon: a discarded wife with nothing left to lose... and maybe just enough vengeance in her heart to play along.
Except fake dating Ryker doesn't stay fake for long.
Emotions blur. Lines cross.
The man she should fear becomes the one she can't stay away from.
Now Vanessa must decide: Is she Ryker's pawn? Or has she learned how to play the Hollands better than either brother ever expected?
Two brothers. One broken heart.
Revenge never looked this tempting...
And the Holland boys are going down—
one will break, and the other will enjoy every second of it.
Disclaimer: Contains morally grey characters, power games, manipulation, emotional cruelty, and a whole lot of chemistry. Reader discretion advised.

Zara Torres has three rules at Harlow University: no athletic dorm drama, no boring elective classes, and absolutely, under no circumstances, no hockey players.

She's broken all three before October.

Now she's stuck writing a semester-long profile on Declan Mercer starting center, criminally good at skating backward, and the most inconveniently interesting person she's met since arriving at Harlow. He's easygoing where she's structured, instinctive where she's methodical, and somehow always exactly where she isn't expecting him to be.

Which, as it turns out, is a problem.

Zara knows how to land on her feet. She's been doing it since the fall that broke her wrist and her confidence in one clean moment two years ago. She doesn't need a hockey player dissecting her skating footage at midnight or texting her things that are too honest for seven AM.

She definitely doesn't need him to be right.

But just as something real starts forming between them something unscripted, something she didn't prepare for a single email pulls the assignment and threatens to take everything with it.

Some edges are sharper than they look.

And some falls are worth the landing.

After eight years in the military, Frank Moore returned to New York.

He had intended to attend his comrade's sister's wedding, only to witness her being utterly humiliated by mafia thugs, forced to drink their foot-washing water.

Enraged, Frank crippled the young thug's legs, condemning him to a wheelchair for life.

Faced with assassins from both the underworld and above, Frank made a phone call.

Hundreds of elite mercenaries descended from the sky, and the entire New York mafia fell to their knees in terror.

The tide in New York was about to turn!

Warning!!! Rated. 18+
{She was my tool for revenge, but I ended up falling for her}
"I'M sorry, but I beg of you don't sell me out like the others please, remember I'm your family right?" she cried.
"How many times am I gonna tell you that you are not in any way related to me Gianna? I found you in the orphanage and took pity on you, the fact that I nursed you up till this moment does not make you my family. I only took good care of you because I know one day you gonna bring me so much money and that day is today so go get ready. You have already been bought my dear Gianna", she nulled with a wicked grin on her face.
Seventeen and still bubbling, already blessed with all womanly features endowed in the right places, Gianna was adopted by an Aunt Christa, when she clocked two.
Aunt Christa was a restaurant owner, more like a delivery slut restaurant, and in there, Gianna served her diligently and faithfully.
Then, the time came when she needed to fulfill that which had been on her mind for like fifteen years, and what was that? To sell her off, to make up money to cover up expenses spent,... and to make more money.
Guess who bought her?? Greg Starr, a 24 year old young entrepreneur, and a Mafia King under cover, very ruthless and heartless.
She was bought to be his tool for revenge, purchased to get back at Clemson, the brother she never knew she had, and his enemy from the past.
And then what happens his female folks?Cassandra Mayor and Beverly Kingstown? Are they all going to just fold their arms and watch this little fragile beauty take their man away?
The worst of it all, she got pregnant for him; got pregnant for a beast in human form.
Was he happy when he got to hear the news? Did he agree to keep the baby? What about her? Was she happy to keep the baby of a ruthless Mafia King?

Will a man learn to love me if I’m good to him long enough?

I tried for seven years to warm his heart.
I thought if I just held on a little longer, he’d finally see me.
Because I loved him so deeply.

But what did I get in return?
His endless tenderness for another woman.
I pretended I didn’t care, until pneumonia landed me in the hospital.

On the day I was discharged, I found him standing there with our daughter, his whole world focused on caring for that woman.
Even my daughter, whom I’d raised with everything I had, wished that woman was her mother.

In that moment, my heart died completely.

I left the divorce papers, gave up custody, and walked back into the chemical industry.
So what if seven years of marriage had worn me down?
I was still the top genius in my field.

But the divorce I’d wanted so badly never went through.
The man who once couldn’t have been colder to me now held on to me tighter than ever.
Our daughter refused to leave my side.

When he found my divorce papers,
the always cold and arrogant man pushed me against the wall and growled:

“Divorce? You’re mine. For life.”

<>



Vanessa thought rock bottom was signing divorce papers with Derek Holland, a man with the emotional depth of a teaspoon. Turns out, rock bottom had a basement, and Ryker Holland was waiting for her down there with a smirk and a plan.

Ryker, Derek's older half-brother (aka the family's dirty little secret), shows up offering Vanessa a deal: help her make her ex-husband, Derek Holland, jealous enough to come crawling back. In exchange, he secures his position as CEO.

But Ryker isn't doing this out of kindness. He is petty and cruel. He would do anything to trample all over Derek, and now he has the perfect weapon. Vanessa, freshly dumped and just desperate enough to play along. And if she happens to enjoy making her ex suffer too? Well, that's just a bonus.

As Vanessa sinks deeper into Ryker's twisted world of fake romance, secrecy and family dysfunction, things start getting real. Because fake love? It's a lot easier to control than real feelings. And Ryker has no idea what to do when the game stops being a game.

Is Vanessa walking into a trap or building one of her own? Either way, the Holland brothers are going down. One's going to break, and the other's going to enjoy every second of it.

_Disclaimer:

This story contains morally complex and flawed characters, who often operate with hidden motives and questionable ethics. Themes explored include emotional manipulation, gaslighting, power imbalance, dual identities, and blurred lines between love, control, and obsession. Certain scenes may be intense or unsettling. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

“You watched me burn… and chose to save your lover?” I whispered, hatred blazing in my eyes.
“Then I will watch you and your empire turn to ashes.”
“Wife, come home,” the cold Don said warmly. “The bed is empty without you.”
“Mommy, please come home,” my son cried with big fat tears. “I want to hug you to sleep.”
I laughed bitterly. “I hate you both.”
“Yes, Mommy,” they said at the same time, “we love you too.”
“WHY ARE YOU TWO NOT FOLLOWING THE SCRIPT?”
—----
Once, Elena Moretti was the perfect Mafia wife. Silent, loyal, and willing to sacrifice everything for her husband and son. And for that devotion, she was repaid with betrayal and death.
Reborn in the fifth year of her marriage, just before everything spirals out of control, Elena refuses to love blindly again.
This time, she chooses herself.
She divorces the man she once worshipped.
She walks away from the child who loathes her and calls another woman “Mom.”
But fate is treacherous.
The cold Mafia Don who slowly realizes he has lost the only woman who ever truly loved him.
The son who begins to feel the emptiness left by his mother’s absence.
Join Elena’s journey of self love, healing and a second chance at love.

I'm the forgotten eldest son of the Cross family.
My parents see me as a walking blood bag for my brother Colin, while my wife views me as a sinner destined to spend my life atoning for my mistakes.
When Audrey pressured me to donate a kidney, I agreed.
Not only did I agree, but I also liquidated all my assets and transferred them to my lab.
They thought I was foolish, that I was still begging for their love.
In reality, I was just tying up loose ends.
The night before the surgery, I coughed up a pool of blood.
Audrey laughed coldly over the phone: "Stop the act, Evan. You just want to dodge responsibility. You'll go to any lengths for attention."
The surgery was a "success."
Colin got the kidney he'd always dreamed of.
And I died in the recovery room.
My soul floated in the air as I watched Audrey push open the hospital door, wearing a smile that dripped with pity, ready to put on a show of "redemption."
"Evan, I know you've been wronged. Let's start over..."
The only response to her was the white sheet covering my lifeless body.

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?]

My husband bought a necklace for the woman who killed my mother.

When I saw my foster sister Rebecca Rebecca wearing that emerald necklace with Aaron at the party, I knew history would repeat itself. Seven years ago, my mother lost everything the same way—her husband, her dignity, and finally her life.

I wouldn't follow in her footsteps.

So after slapping Rebecca across the face, I told everyone I was divorcing him and walked out with my suitcase.

Rebecca thought she'd won again. Aaron thought I was just being hysterical.

Neither of them saw it coming—

This time, I'd make them pay.

To please his mistress, Callum ordered me—pregnant—to dance barefoot in the black salt ice cellar.

When I stumbled back to the doorway to warm myself, the mistress covered her mouth and retched.

"I'm pregnant. I can't stand this death-stench of winter."

Only because I was a princess of the Winter Realm, born carrying frost in my veins.

Callum flew into a rage and had me locked inside a frost-crystal cage, sunk to the bottom of the ice well. No one was allowed to release me without his command.

"A princess of winter, afraid of the cold? What a joke!"

No matter how I struggled or begged, he couldn't have cared less. He and his mistress treated it as entertainment. And just like that, I froze to death at the bottom of that well.

What he didn't know was that although we winter-born are forged in bitter cold, when we carry a child, every drop of magic goes to protecting the baby. We have no defense left for ourselves. The very ice that shaped us becomes the thing that kills us.

Two days later, he was finally satisfied and ordered them to pull me up.

But I could never come back up again.

I was dead, and the whole world was celebrating for my sister.

For twenty-two years, I had been the hardest-working but most invisible daughter in the Sterling family, forever living in the shadow of my gymnastics prodigy sister.

Running a high fever, I begged my family to take me to the hospital, only to hear: "Don't you DARE ruin Bella's award ceremony!"

When I was tricked into the abandoned equipment room and used my last breath to call my boyfriend while lying in a pool of blood, all I heard was: "Grace, quit the drama! Bella's accepting her award on stage!"

On stage, thunderous applause erupted as Bella lifted the "Young Gymnast of the Year" trophy.

And I drew my final breath.

When they returned home triumphant, thinking I had run away in a tantrum, they had no idea I was already dead right under their noses.

I gave Arthur a thousand years. A thousand years to secure his throne as God-King.

And on the day of our engagement ceremony, he announced he was marrying someone else.

In my past life, I bled myself dry for him.

He told me Lilith needed Seraphim blood to live. I believed him. He bound me to the Divine Punishment Pillar and carved open my chest, one cut at a time.

He massacred my entire clan, calling it "treason."

I only learned the truth as I was dying. That pitiful "saint" was a demon from the Abyss all along.

Now that I'm reborn, watching him sit on that throne makes my skin crawl.

I destroy our engagement in front of everyone and take the entire Seraphim clan with me.

This time, I'm only here to watch him destroy himself.

My neighbor Beck Morrow was the best high school point guard this state had seen in years.
The night before the state championship—three college scouts in the stands—he decided to stay home with his girlfriend instead. She wasn't feeling well.
I called his coach.
He played. He got the scholarship. He built a company worth eight figures before he turned thirty, and I spent five years writing every algorithm that company ran on.
He repaid me by throwing a ball at my head during a training session. Then his lawyers sent a letter explaining that I had no legal claim to any intellectual property developed under my employment contract, effective immediately, and that my position was being terminated.
Then I woke up. It was the first week of senior year again.

My uncle has a hunting cabin in Alaska. Every December, I stay there for a few days.

This year he wasn't there—left me the keys.

When I walked in, I noticed there was a new deer head mount above the fireplace.

Not a whitetail deer. A moose. Very large.

But I noticed its eyes weren't made of glass.

Those two eyeballs looked... too real.

The pupils even contracted in the light.

I texted my uncle asking when he'd shot this moose.

He replied: "What moose?"

I looked at the mount again.

Its lips moved slightly.

Not the rise and fall of breathing, but... trying to form a word.