924 Book(s) Related to esme and ruby's

Accepting her fate as a slave, Danica Grimsley, the low born Omega never thought that she had to share her love not with her mate Konrad Winston only but with his enemy as well, Cassius Winston, the king of Lycans. When secrets threatened to spoil her life, Danica needed to choose between revenge and fate. Worst of all, both Alphas wanted not just her body but her soul.

“A MASTERPIECE OF THRILLER AND MYSTERY. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.” --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) GIRL, ALONE (An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1) is the debut novel in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews. FBI Agent Ella Dark, 29, is given her big chance to achieve her life’s dream: to join the Behavorial Crimes Unit. Ella has a hidden obsession: she has studied serial killers from the time she could read, devastated by the murder of her own sister. With her photographic memory, she has obtained an encyclopedic knowledge of every serial killer, every victim and every case. Singled out for her brilliant mind, Ella is invited to join the big leagues.But when a killer strikes in the swamps of Louisiana, Ella soon comes to learn that the real thing is nothing she could expect. Face to face with a real murder, a real killer, and a real ticking clock, Ella realizes she can’t rely on her knowledge. She must learn to trust her instinct, and allow herself to enter the dark canals of a real killer’s mind. If she gets it wrong, her career is at stake.And so is the next victim’s life.Will Ella’s talent be an asset? Or the source of her downfall?A page-turning and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured FBI agent, the ELLA DARK series is a riveting mystery, packed with suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night.Books #2 and #3 in the series—GIRL, TAKEN and GIRL, HUNTED—are also available.

"Turn around. I want to fuck you."
I blinked. "What?"
"I said turn...around."
Before I could speak again, he had me on my stomach, face buried in the sheets. I could smell the heat of myself in the fabric. His weight hovered behind me, knees against the bed, strong thighs pressed to the outside of mine, holding me still. My skirt was hiked up around my waist. I wasn’t wearing anything underneath.


Kristen Lockwood never expected to fall for her father's best friend. She only met Leo Moretti after her father’s death, when a stranger on a motorcycle showed up with a scar across his knuckles, a gun under his jacket, and eyes that looked at her like she was already dangerous.
He says he’s here to protect her, that it’s what her father wanted. But he watches her too closely, speaks too little, and sets rules she can't help but break. He acts like touching her would ruin them both.

The worst part is, she wants him to.

Leo Moretti is the leader of the Bloodhounds, a supernatural biker gang that guards the borders between worlds. He never met Kristen until now, never even knew she existed and definitely didn’t expect her to come crashing down his walls with her presence.
Now every moment between them feels like something waiting to snap. She wants to get under his skin. She wants to see what happens when he finally loses control. She wants to see how far he can go before he slams her into his bed.

Leo is not allowed to want her.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t.

Warning: Contains strong language, graphic sexual content, supernatural violence, and dark themes. Recommended for mature audiences only.

TITLE: MARRIED TO AN OLD BILLIONAIRE, IN LOVE WITH HIS SON.

Eve has no choice but to give up her own dreams and marry the old billionaire who could even be her grandfather ...due to her father's illness and the expensive operational costs.
Despite the sex harassment she faces on a regular basis, the humiliation she receives from the old man's son, Liam is another source of pain for Eve. Then, Eve's only thought is to make as much money as she can and get away from the family.
Nevertheless, as Liam works with Eve, he gradually falls in love with the girl he used to loathe.
What will he do about his hidden feelings for his stepmother?

The masked stranger slammed into him with one devastating thrust, stretching Carter so perfectly he sobbed against the desk. “Fuck—yes, just like that!” he begged, hips slamming back as the masked alpha set a brutal rhythm, fisting his hair and stroking his cock in time.

“Finally mine, after all this time,” the man growled, then sank razor-sharp teeth into his neck and pleasure exploded through him like lightning.

Until the mask slipped and Dallas Cross, his childhood bully and bane of his existence, stared back with a vicious, satisfied smirk.

On the day Carter was supposed to propose to the love of his life, Carter walked in to find her in bed with his mortal enemy, Dallas Cross, wealthy heir of the Cross Group global empire.

One week later, a drunken club hookup leaves him marked, mated, and impossibly, pregnant with Dallas’s heir. The ruthless werewolf storms back into his life, demanding Carter pack his bags and move into the luxurious pack mansion to accept their unbreakable bond and carry his son… or watch his bankrupt family lose everything.

Trapped between red-hot hate, an unexpected pregnancy, and the tiny life already growing inside him, Carter faces an impossible choice.

His strict parents are pressuring him to forgive the cheating fiancée and save them from ruin. Meanwhile, Dallas’s possessive alpha instincts won’t let him go, blocking every escape, and whispering dark promises of protection, pleasure, and forever.

With every heated glare turning into uncontrollable lust and every denial crumbling under the mate bond, Carter must decide: run from the enemy who destroyed him… or surrender completely to the powerful alpha who now owns his body, his heart, and his fate.

"Fake dating," he says, like it's obvious. "You and me. We pretend we're together. People will talk. People will stare. Danny will lose his mind."
"If you say yes," he adds, low and dangerous, "you'll have to sell it. Smile. Hold hands. Laugh. Act like you're completely over him."
I take a shaky breath. "...I can try."
"Deal," he says.
Humiliated on Christmas Eve, Catherine Hopkins never expected her lowest moment to lead her straight to Clinton Blunt, the ruthless hockey captain no one dares cross. His offer is simple. Fake date him, make her ex regret everything, and take back her dignity.
It should have been easy. Just a lie. Just a game. But nothing about Clinton is simple. The touches feel too real. The chemistry burns too hot. And the line between pretending and wanting starts to blur.
Then comes the truth she never saw coming.
On a school trip, Clinton discovers what Catherine doesn't know yet.
She is his fated mate.
In a world of werewolves, pack politics, and dangerous secrets, being tied to someone like Clinton is not just complicated.
It is dangerous.
Because the man she is pretending to love might be the one who owns her fate. And if she is not careful, he could be the one who destroys her.

**** SNEAK PEAK ****

" Ah! " I moaned into his mouth as I felt him entering through me.

He chuckled in my ears,
" Did you feel that, baby girl?"

I whimpered again as he entered into me with intense force. I knew that he was ruining me but I wanted him as mine.

I moaned in ecasty as I felt him pounding inside me,
" I am forever yours, wholly yours and last of all Darkly Yours always."


Veronica Knight, an young adult and promising star of modeling industry whose eyes were full of dreams to become the supermodel like her elder sister, Victoria Knight. Surrounded by passion and compassion,idolizing her big sister as her mentor,her path was bound to smooth but one accident brought misfortune in her joyous life. Accused to become the murderer of her elder sister,she was blamed and screwed by everyone including her stone hearted,wife-shipping billionaire brother-in-law, Blake Davidson,the biggest tycoon of the country. He was a firm believer on the fact that Veronica had caused to loose his dear wife. A journey started from revenge was going to make her life completely hell until lust, irresistible attraction crawled between them. Will Veronica ever be able to prove herself innocent? How will she deny the attraction that she felt for Blake but isn't it a sin to fall in love with her brother-in-law? Will she put a boundary between their feelings?

*** Join the journey of two sisters whose fates are entangled with one single man, the posseive devil, Blake Davison ***

Detective Grace Marlowe has built her career on precision and grit, carving her place in the department without owing anyone favors. But when she’s called to the scene of a murdered tech heiress in a penthouse suite, the case feels wrong from the start every detail too deliberate, too staged.

The body is laid out like an art installation: silk gown, perfectly applied lipstick, a single drop of blood at the corner of her mouth. No sign of forced entry. No defensive wounds. And tucked under the bed, hidden in a place only a meticulous search would find—an envelope.

It isn’t addressed to the victim. It’s addressed to Grace.

Inside: a photo of her sister, taken the year she disappeared

He saved her life… now she’s become his obsession.

A Luna or a Slave?
Edwina Quinley had nothing to offer in her life after her father being the sole enemy of Alpha King, Hades Lysander. Hades, renowned for being a beast in nature goes mad in rage after losing his beloved Luna. Hades wants nothing but revenge for the love of his life even if destroying a whole pack.Hades wanted to destroy her pack including her. As a loyal Luna to her pack, Edwina had nothing to offer except herself as his slave. Even though the Moon Goddess has blessed her with a mate, she had to leave her dignity to satisfy the king's hatred and ego. From being a Female Alpha, she becomes the no-class slave overnight.Edwina wants nothing but to save her pack and her father.Between revenge and hatred, will Hades and Edwina find their way back or are they meant to destroy each other?

Lily, a young woman from a world where vampires and werewolves are nothing but legends, finds herself drawn into a mysterious forest.

As the days go by, Lily discovers that her life is about to change forever. In the forest, she uncovers the dark world of vampires and werewolves, where nothing is as it seems. The werewolves, once thought to be nothing more than myth, are revealed as enemies of the vampires, and Lily finds herself caught in the middle of a war she doesn’t understand.

As she gets closer to Alex, the vampire who saved her life, she also begins to discover more about her own hidden abilities.

The deeper Lily delves into this supernatural world, the more she realizes that she may be connected to it in ways she never imagined. As alliances are formed and broken, Lily faces impossible choices.

Will she stay loyal to Alex, or will she be forced to choose a side?

And in the end, will she survive the battle between vampires and werewolves?

"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?

She was betrayed by those she trusted most. Now she's back for revenge.

Nevada thought she'd found her fated mate, only to discover it was all part of her sister Bernadette's cruel scheme. Rejected, humiliated, and cast out while pregnant, Nevada disappeared.

Five years later, she returns to New York as CEO of the Lewiston empire, ready to destroy those who betrayed her. But when Grey discovers their five-year-old daughter, everything changes.

WARNING: Novel Features Mature Contents! Read at your own risk!
" Sometimes we find the best thing inside the worst person "

Savannah Yardley, the college beauty of Sunblock College didn't expect that her so called perfect boyfriend, Finn Hansley, the number one basketball player of Sunblock's basketball team would be the reason of her most devastating birthday celebration on her 19th Birthday. Finding her boyfriend with her own best friend on the bed was the birthday present that she had on that night. Heartbroken at that sight, Savannah accidentally came across the path of her sworn enemy, Ares Thatcher, the current caption of basketball team from their rival college. Ares wasn't the absolute man to share her sorrows but Revenge is dish best served cold. In her spark of revenge that engrossed her soul like wildfire, she made a deal with the cold, playboy, Ares Thatcher ---- Reveal Finn's weakness to Ares, get revenge on Finn & being done with Ares at the end. But she didn't know that dealing with a bad boy was like playing with fire__ either you burn or you get burn. Was it worth to cheer for her enemy in order to seek her revenge or something was more behind this?

Katrina Ford thought she had it all with Matt Hamilton. But when she catches him in bed with her best friend, Melissa, her world shatters. He gives her divorce papers ending her happiness in a blink.

"You're just a nuisance, Kat. Sign the papers and get out of my life." Matt eyed her.

Kat is broken and hurt. She vows to make them pay. She shocks them when it is revealed she is the heir to a European sovereign's fortune. Kat sets out to destroy the Hamiltons for good.

"I'll bring you to your knees, Melissa. I'll destroy all of you!" Kat sneered.

But then she meets Percy Hamilton, a billionaire architect with the face of a god. Their explosive encounter sparks a forbidden romance, but can Kat trust him? After all, he's a Hamilton.

"I love you, Kat." Percy admitted in the heat of passion.

"I love fucking you." Kat moaned.

Kat's revenge reveals secrets and new alliances are formed but also enemies. Will her thirst for vengeance consume her, or will the love she denies redeem her?

“You keep looking at me like that,” I whisper.

Caylix’s gaze drags slowly over my face before settling on my mouth.

“Because I am trying very hard to remember I was sworn to protect you,” he says quietly. “Not ruin you.”


The kingdoms are running out of time.

War is spreading across the borders. Dark magic is infiltrating the throne.

And Princess Avianna’s marriage is the only thing holding two kingdoms together.

She was raised to sacrifice everything for peace.

Except no one expected her to fall in love with the man magically bound to protect her.

Caylix is her shadow guard, a lethal warrior bound to her by ancient magic since they were children.

He hears her thoughts, senses danger before it reaches her, and would slaughter anyone who threatens the her.

Including the future king.

But as their secret bond deepens, terrifying secrets begin unraveling around them, secrets capable of destroying the alliance, exposing the throne, and unleashing something far worse than war.

Because the one thing capable of saving the kingdoms…

may also be the thing that destroys them.

Kingsrow International College is not for all kids. It’s for top kids, super smart kids, and kids who work hard. Atlas Knox Wainwright is all three. He’s head of the Kingsrow Knights basketball team. He’s the best kid in the school. He’s the boy no one can touch. His life is neat, in his hands, and just how he likes it.

Then Aurelia Hattie Miller from Houston, Texas comes, and all things change.

She talks big. She’s not neat. She speaks her mind and does what she likes. She does not fit in a fancy school like this, and Atlas tells her so. But when her marks go bad and his plan gets too much, they have to hang out each day. She needs him to teach her. He needs her to keep him on track. Both are mad about it.

But when you hang a lot with someone, you get them. You know their true self. Aurelia sees the hard weight Atlas holds in quiet. Atlas sees she tries much, even when she looks chill. While they yell and do night school time, they quit saying “no” to how they feel.

Until the big game comes. Until Atlas picks the ball, not her. Until all breaks.

Now he must pick what counts top: the good life he made, or the girl who flipped it.

My name is Sky Delgado, I am a submissive omega. I can transform in both my forms but nobody knows I have two forms except my my parents, friends and some family members who I trust. The rest of my family says that I am the runt and that I am not welcome. I hope my mate loves me for me.

My name is Wenner Garcia, I am a dominant alpha. I am also the next king of all werewolves. I can transform in both of my forms and everyone knows this. I hope I find my mate soon. I jist want to love her

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

A 6.6 ft dominant alpha and a 5.5 ft submissive omega, what could go wrong.

Riley Miller, the girl of a strong colorful imagination and a crazy wish list, never thought that her wishes for something different and an exciting dramatic life along with some romance would come really come true.

She was a crazy girl full of life, and adventure. She was the life of the party, leaving an impact and catching the eyes of the people everywhere she went. Her charming and entertaining personality, bubbly aura, and sarcastic comebacks never failed to leave everyone in awe.

Mix in a couple of best friends, a psychotic ex, a traitor, superpowers, and the enemy that has been hunting since the last hundred years for his revenge and you’re bound to get a venturesome life which is all she wants.

Hunter Axel Knight, King of Werewolves also known as The Chosen One, the most powerful werewolf to ever exist has longed for his mate for decades, centuries even. So when he finally encounters his mate, he is the happiest man alive and vows to do everything for her safety and happiness. She was a human but he couldn’t care less. Learning about his mate’s desire and wishes, he disguises himself as an ordinary man in hopes to make her fall for him and then revealing himself and his world to her.

But when secrets are revealed, mysteries are solved, and people are exposed, things may not be as they seem. After all, what we see from our eyes is not always the truth.

For most, anime is just a hobby. For others, it is a sanctuary—the only escape from a harsh, disappointing, and often depressing reality. This is the story of a devoted fan, a "Shut-in NEET" who has turned their back on the real world to find life and meaning in the stories of 2D characters, manga, and games.
​But the lines between fiction and reality are about to vanish forever.

​When a mysterious Angel appears with a divine decree, our protagonist is plucked from their room and thrust into a literal Fantasy World. This isn't just a dream come true; it is a Mission. Given a second chance to truly live, they must now navigate a land filled with magic, peril, and wonder—armed only with the knowledge of countless anime tropes and a will to survive.
​Can a person who spent their life hiding in stories finally become the hero of their own? In a world where the stakes are real and the magic is dangerous, the ultimate challenge isn't just completing the mission—it’s learning how to finally belong.

​The story follows the life of a dedicated Anime fan (an Otaku) who feels disconnected from the harsh realities of the real world. Seeking an escape from depression and personal problems, the protagonist finds solace in anime and dreams of experiencing magical or extraordinary events. It explores the psychological boundary between fiction and reality, reflecting on people who isolate themselves to live within their imagination

"That man will be the end of you Charlotte!

Her whole life used to revolve around her family, but she was abused, treated like a slave, given away like some sacrificial lamb.

Until she met him, Damien Davenport, a ruthless man who never showed his face in society.

And now...her life will remain the same!

Content Warning.
This book is R18+
Pure sex scenes, no fade to black.
It contains contents or themes that some might find disturbing or distressing.

I killed my fated mate to survive.

Beta Shax Wulfric was the pack’s most ruthless hunter, sent to drag me back in chains. So I ended him. Or I thought I did.

Months later, he finds me again. Alive. Amnesiac. And utterly convinced I’m his wife… and the child in my arms is ours.

Now the monster who once rejected and humiliated me looks at me like I’m his entire world. He touches me like I’m something precious.

If he remembers, he’ll kill me.
If he doesn’t, I might fall for him all over again.

They say the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. They never said anything about his soul.

I was a culinary prodigy on the verge of global fame until my fiancé and my best friend murdered me with my own carving knife to steal my recipes. My last thought wasn’t of love, but of a burning vow: If I get a second chance, I will serve them their just deserts.

I got my wish.

I woke up not in a morgue, but in the body of an omega slave, Number 74, in the brutal, wolf-ruled kingdom of the Lunar Fang Pack. I was weak, worthless, and slated to die in the kitchens. But they didn’t know who they were dealing with. The soul of a master chef still burned within me.

When I poured my rage and my grief into a simple broth for a dying slave, I discovered a truth that would shatter this world: my emotions are ingredients. My cooking is magic. A stew made with spite can poison. A cake baked with defiance can empower.

Now, my unique gift has drawn the attention of the three most dangerous Alphas in the kingdom.

Emperor Kael, the cursed and ruthless Alpha King
ho woman, not just the weapon.

Commander Cassian, his stoic, lethal protector,

Prince Raze, the visiting rival Alpha

They think I’m a pawn in their game of thrones. A tool to be used and discarded.

They have no idea.

I was betrayed for my recipes once. I’ll be damned if I let a trio of Alphas do it again. My menu is set, and this time, the main course is revenge.

The only question is: which of these powerful wolves will be the first to take a bite?

"Who would want a woman like Hazel?"
On the night before our wedding, my fiancé Randy said this in front of everyone.
I stood outside, listening silently before walking away.
Sure enough, at the wedding, he abandoned me to save my sister who was jumping from a building.
"The wedding continues!"
I said with a smile, turning to embrace my disabled husband.
Afterward, I did exactly as they wished, ensuring they would never be apart.
Half a month later, I looked at my ex-fiancé with contempt.
"Compared to my husband, are you even worth mentioning?"

Three years. He worshipped me by day and bedded her by night.
I saw everything. I felt everything—she made sure of that.
So on the night of his coronation, I severed our bond and walked away.
He bled. He knelt. He begged.
Too late.
When I wore white again, it wasn't for him.

In my past life, I replaced my runaway sister Beatrice and was forced to marry mob enforcer Rowan Sinclair.
She thought he was poor with no future, so she ran. My parents didn't even tell me before sending me in her place.
Rowan knew the truth. He carried it like shame, never truly seeing me—only cold stares and silent contempt. I spent years beside him like an unwanted ghost, carefully managing his world while he rose from despised smuggler to feared godfather.
Then his attitude began to change.
Just when I thought we might have a real future, Beatrice returned with tears and lies, claiming I'd stolen her place. Rowan believed her. My parents betrayed me. Everyone chose her.
When a rival family captured us both, guns to our heads, only one could survive.
Rowan pulled Beatrice into his arms and abandoned me without a glance.
They tortured me for three days. The baby in my womb died first. Its father never knew it existed.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back to that afternoon before it all began.

In a secluded modern villa, painter Iris Vale begins to suspect the pills hidden in her meals are stealing more than her sleep. As fragments of a buried night resurface—bleached kitchens, a locked basement, shattered glass on a staircase, and the shadow of her dead sister Nora—family protection curdles into psychological captivity. Dark, tense, and intimate, this is a memory-thriller of guilt, control, and the terror of facing what was done in the name of love.

"I want to break off this engagement!" I stormed into his office, slamming the letter on his desk, my heart pounding with fury after being humiliated by his family's staff. Little did I know, the devastatingly handsome man staring back at me wasn't my fiancé at all—he was his uncle, Rex Sterling, who'd lied about being my betrothed to win me over.

What started as a forced arrangement exploded into a whirlwind of passion: lavish gifts, stolen kisses, and a secret wedding that made me Mrs. Sterling. But when the truth shattered our fairy tale at a family gathering—complete with a punch-throwing nephew and scandalized elite—I had to confront the beautiful lie that built our love.

After being reborn, the first thing my sister and I did was swap our grooms.
In our past life, my gentle sister Elara married Felix Hawthorne, the mafia godfather of Marconi City. Surrounded by a domineering sister-in-law and a scheming, manipulative other woman, she was slowly driven into a corner and died of a broken heart.
Meanwhile, I married the polite, illegitimate son of the Graves family. He was a perfect gentleman, but he just didn't love me. Our marriage lasted three years, and we were separated for two and a half of them.
Then one day, Elara and I woke up at the exact same moment—we had been reborn, back to the very morning we were supposed to sign our marriage agreements...

My six-year-old daughter Emily blurted, "I'm getting a new mommy!" while my son Jacob smirked.

"Oh my God, Nate—your sister? Pregnant with your kid? You sick bastard!" I screamed across the restaurant, my voice cracking like thunder as heads snapped around.

For eight years, I'd slaved like a nanny in our home—cooking, cleaning, raising Jacob and Emily—while he dismissed me as worthless. My own kids sneered, calling me lazy and saying I'd never measure up to their Aunt Chloe. Even his venomous mother Barbara spat insults, grinding me under her heel like dirt. Betrayed by them all, I finally snapped.

Little did they know, my mom's $100 million inheritance unlocked the second I divorced that cheat. From doormat wife to billionaire, I rose—exposing their lies, reclaiming my life.

Game over, asshole. Time to watch you beg.

I tricked my billionaire husband into signing divorce papers—he had no idea.

"Exam documents," I lied.

His ex-wife laughed. "Boring paperwork. Don't bother reading it."

He signed without even looking.

Three years of marriage. I thought he'd learn to love me. Ever since she came back, my dinners grew cold while I reheated them alone. I waited in our bed, night after night. I watched him drop everything and run to her with every phone call.

Then I found out I was pregnant.

That same day, I saw him at the hospital—holding her hand, asking about her baby.

I finally stopped waiting.

I left the estate at dawn. Left behind the jewelry, the designer clothes, the empty promises.

Then he showed up at my door.

"I know about the baby," his voice was raw. "I know about the accident. I know everything."

He looked at me like I was his entire world.

Three years too late? Or just in time?

Everyone says I’m crazy.
My husband, Adrien, is Ashmont College’s most esteemed professor—suave, composed, and highly logical. I, on the other hand, am an investigative journalist whose nerves are fried by looming deadlines and too much caffeine. Yet, I insist there’s a woman who shares my exact face, who crawls out of our bedroom mirror every night and slips into my husband’s bed.
Our security cameras always "happen" to glitch at the crucial moments. My son avoids me like I’m a monster, and my neighbors claim they cheerfully greeted "me" in the driveway a few days ago—even though I don't even own a vintage pink dress.
Adrien has started dropping phrases like "psych evaluation" and "sole custody." If I let this drag on any longer, he’s going to personally commit me to a psych ward.
So tonight, I lied about flying to Chicago. Instead, I’m hiding in my own study—waiting for that identical face to crawl out of the mirror one more time.

The day he proposed, Atticus knelt before me, holding the Hale family's heirloom necklace.
I thought I had finally survived the ordeal.
After eight years of unrequited love, being humiliated by his sister, nitpicked by his mother, and mocked by the city's socialites for being unworthy of the Hales... Until this very moment, when he personally fastened the heirloom around my neck. Everyone saw it. I, Clara, was finally accepted by the Hale family.
Tears in my eyes, I said yes, thinking it was the happiest moment of my life.
But just days after putting on that necklace, bizarre red rashes crawled up my neck. My pale skin rotted away piece by piece, and my internal organs went into irreversible failure.
The most absurd part? The exact same day I started rotting, his dying mother miraculously cured her terminal illness, and his sister's half-destroyed face was restored to flawless perfection.
Disfigured and barely looking human, I threw myself off the Harbour Bridge—
I opened my eyes, and I was back on the day of the proposal.

That night, I was dragged into a parking lot and beaten until my hands could never hold a scalpel again.

I thought it was random. Until I heard my own brother and fiancé talking—

"Those thugs went too far, but the result works out, doesn't it? This time, the award will go to Charlotte."

Charlotte. The "poor orphan" my family adopted.

For twelve years, she stole my papers, my opportunities, my glory. And the two men I trusted most handed her everything on a silver platter.

They called me spoiled. Selfish. Difficult.

They even believed I started the fire that killed our parents twelve years ago.

But here's the truth: Charlotte started that fire. I was the one who dragged them out.

They thanked the wrong sister. For twelve years.

Now they want me dead.

Fine. Let Penelope Ashworth die.

I died on the day I was supposed to marry Grayson.
Because my sister Delilah had her heart "broken," my family decided to bring her to our farm in Ashwood to heal through horseback riding. The wedding was postponed.
I lay in the stable at the Clarke family farm, dialing my mother's number with blood-covered fingers.
All she said was: "What kind of game are you playing now? You think if you act pitiful we'll come running? Vivienne, enough!"
My fiancé Grayson was even more brutal: "It's just a postponement, not a cancellation. If you can't handle that, then let's just call the whole thing off—I'll marry Delilah instead."
This was the last time they would disappoint me.
And the last time I would call for help.
I lay in my own pool of blood, already without breath. They thought I was just throwing a tantrum, hiding somewhere to sulk. They thought if they ignored me long enough, I'd come crawling back to apologize.
But they didn't know.
I was already dead.

Everyone says I married the perfect husband—considerate, devoted, loving.
I thought I had happiness too, until my neighbor told me she'd seen "me" having sex with Declan multiple times over the summer, even against the floor-to-ceiling windows. But during those two months, I'd been with my son out of town the entire time.
I rushed home and heard 8-year-old Beckett on the phone, bragging to his father: "Dad, I got Mom out of the way for two whole months. Did you make up with your sweetheart? Where's my allowance?"
I pulled up the security footage and saw a woman wearing my nightgown, with my husband, in every corner of our home... I spent eight years building this family, and they betrayed me together.

My adopted sister, Cordelia, conspired with her biological mother to harvest my organs alive, yet she had the audacity to claim I paid thugs to rape her.
My biological parents didn't bother to ask for the truth. They cursed me, calling me a vicious bastard, and threatened to break my legs.
My fiancé, Caspian, coldly announced the cancellation of our engagement, declaring he would marry the very murderer who killed me.
I had been dead for exactly three days. No one cared. My body was rotting back in a moldy storage room.
Through it all, my soul was trapped in the manor, forced to witness this absurd farce.
But what they didn't expect was that when they finally learned of my death—
Everyone went completely insane.

My mother had no medical license, yet wealthy socialites lined up to hand her fat checks.
I often saw her lead those women into the treatment room, where agonizing screams would pierce through the locked door.
But strangely, those same women emerged radiant, as if they'd shed twenty or thirty years overnight, pressing stacks of cash into her hands with tearful gratitude.
What baffled me more was how she doted on the hired girls like her own daughters.
Yet toward me, her actual daughter, she was nothing but cold—always quick to criticize or strike.
Finally one day, curiosity won. I mustered the courage to peek through that door crack and saw what really happened inside...

I've been to four weddings. I never made it through a single one.
Not because I didn't love enough. Not because they weren't good enough. It was because every time — right at the moment I was supposed to say I do — my parents would appear on cue, fall apart on cue, and burn everything to the ground on cue.
For years I thought they hated me. Thought they'd given all their love to my dead sister, Claudia, and had nothing left. Then my brother-in-law said something that cracked me open: Any one of those three men — if you'd married him, you wouldn't be alive today.
So which is it? Were they protecting me, or destroying me?

To end two years of a long-distance marriage with my husband, Sutton Brennan, I quit my job and moved halfway across the state to join his top-tier medical center.
But from the moment I clocked in on day one, a nightmare awaited me.
IV pain pumps violently popped open in my hands, medication cabinets rejected my fingerprints, coffee machines sprayed me with boiling water, microwaves exploded in public, and the employee lockers locked me out entirely.
My colleagues laughed at me, calling me a walking disaster. The head nurse publicly berated me for being incompetent. And my husband, the man I trusted most, simply smiled his gentle smile and said, "You're just tense. Give it a few more days."
In my past life, I believed him. I gritted my teeth and held on until the bitter end—and ultimately died inside this very hospital.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on my first day of work.

I was murdered. My body was dumped on the riverbank.
The detective leading the case is Brennan Carter — my husband. He has sworn to find the killer of this "unidentified female." He doesn't know the victim is me.
I've been missing for seven days. My colleagues and supervisors keep calling Brennan to ask where I am. Dismissing it as a tantrum, he's spent the week doing one thing: celebrating his mistress Tessa's birthday.
It wasn't until my phone turned up at the crime scene that it finally hit him — the wife he'd wished would disappear might actually be gone.

Four years ago, Giovanni dumped me in front of everyone at an upscale restaurant. Two weeks later, he was engaged to Rosanna. I made a fool of myself begging on his doorstep, became the laughingstock of Ferro City.
Four years later, he runs into me at Casa Valentino, assumes I'm destitute, and offers me a job as a cleaner for him.
What he doesn't know is that the plainly dressed woman standing before him is the wife of Don Alessandro Valentino—the man the entire underworld bows to.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally, they loved me.

But I was already dead.

On the night of Reeve’s birthday, I drove to his family’s coastal estate with a premium ribeye and a bottle of Pinot Noir, ready to give him a romantic surprise.
But the rug was shifted three inches, and a single drop of dark blood hid in the floorboards. Before I could run, a gun barrel pressed against the back of my head.
The man was impeccably dressed and terrifyingly calm. Upstairs in my bathtub lay the corpse of his pregnant wife.
He ordered me to help him dispose of the body and cover up the crime. My only thought was to stall until my husband got home.
That is, until he spoke—and revealed the root of this massacre. Everything was my husband's fault.

I was Alessandro Romano's wife in name only—the mafia godfather of Belluno City.
We had the most extravagant wedding this city had ever seen: three thousand guests, flowers lining every street. Everything except a legal marriage certificate.
Over three years, he promised to sign the papers twenty-two times. He canceled every single one.
He would buy two identical necklaces, hanging one around my neck and the other around his mistress's, trading a night spent comforting her for a dismissive apology to me.
After the twenty-one broken promise, I stopped waiting.
I packed my bags and left for the one city he vowed never to enter.
What I didn't know: after I left, the man who ruled the underworld completely lost control.

To marry Vincent Romano, I survived twenty-eight near-death experiences over five years.
The first: city hall's foundation collapsed — three broken ribs. The second: a truck rollover — my right leg nearly amputated. The twenty-seventh: a chandelier in the bridal shop, three days unconscious.
All of Seren City laughed at me. Romano's most cursed bride-to-be. Yet I loved him still.
Until the twenty-eighth time.
When the bomb detonated outside city hall, I threw myself over Vincent on instinct. The blast shifted my organs and shredded my back. The day my stitches came out, I felt no relief at having survived.
Because I stood outside the study and heard his voice.
"Her organs were badly damaged. She almost actually died." Antonio's horror was audible. "Vincent, you used to treat her so well—"
"People change." A pause, then quieter: "I did want to marry her once. But before Amelia, I had no idea what it meant to truly want someone. I acknowledge the debt — I just can't spend my life repaying it." Another pause. "Father won't agree, and she won't let go easily."
"So." His voice turned to ice. "The only clean way out is to make her give up on her own. As long as Cassandra refuses to break the engagement, the accidents must continue. Until she walks away."

On the night of my 28th birthday, my husband was stuck in the OR.
The man sitting across from me at dinner was his best friend, Ronan.
I got drunk. Half-asleep, I pulled a man who smelled exactly like Nate into my bed.
When morning broke, the truth did too—the man pinning me down was Ronan. He’d used my husband’s cologne.
"From the first time I saw you, I wanted to steal you from him."
Crying, I confessed everything to Nate over the phone. Dead silence for three seconds, then he hung up.
By the time I rushed home, Ronan was dragging two suspiciously heavy black suitcases out the door. And my husband... vanished off the face of the earth.

"Swallow it all, baby. Be my good girl," Carson groans, his grip tightening in my hair as I kneel between his legs in the Rolls-Royce.

I'm Leah Walker, once a Stanford-educated heiress, daughter of Bayford's mayor. But when my mom was framed and imprisoned by corrupt bastards like Matthew Cole, I lost everything. To survive and plot revenge, I became the city's most expensive call girl—gathering secrets, leverage, and cash from powerful men who thought they controlled me.

Now, with a fake pregnancy, a staged murder, and alliances forged in the shadows, I'm dismantling the Cole empire piece by piece. Carson, the clueless son, is my pawn; Ethan, the dangerous casino king, my unexpected ally. But as bodies drop and truths ignite, will my quest for vengeance consume me—or set me free? In this twisted game of sex, lies, and power, I'm nobody's whore anymore.

They say true love makes a woman radiant. Noble. Beautiful.

But my marriage? It was a prison.

For seven years, I wore the shackles of "the perfect wife." I endured. I yielded. I bent over backward to keep the peace. Even when my husband banished me to the back row on our anniversary. Even when I watched him fawn over another woman right in front of me—I stayed silent.

I wanted to break free. I just didn't know how.

Then the yacht swayed, and my arm brushed against Theodore Sinclair.

He didn't pull away.

Neither did I.

When his fingers found mine beneath the blanket... when his voice dropped low against my ear and murmured, *"When we reach shore, I'll give you exactly what you want"*—

I was lost.

They say a woman who strays has no shame.

But when his lips met mine, I couldn't help wondering:

Is this it? Is this where my new life finally begins?

My adopted sister, Adriana, hit and injured Hadley Brooks—the prized mistress of Hartwell’s mafia boss, Dario Salvatore—and fled the scene.
Don Salvatore gave us exactly three days. And so, my husband and my parents all turned their eyes to me: Go take the fall for her. You always know how to fix things.
I agreed.
What they didn't know was that on that very same day, my doctor had given me my own deadline: I had, at most, three days left to live.