157 Book(s) Related to indebted pepper winters

Five years ago, Sophia Anderson was wrongfully imprisoned, taking the fall for someone else. Upon her release, her mother uses her two children, born in prison, to force her into marrying a billionaire in a vegetative state. At the same time, this tragical tycoon, Nicholas Martinez, is at the heart of a power struggle within his family.
As the city buzzes about how the comatose Nicholas will spend the wedding night with his young bride, no one could have guessed that this former prisoner harbors exceptional medical skills. As the night unfolds, Nicholas' arm, laced with countless silver needles, begins to tremble silently...
And so begins the tale of a jailbird's unexpected love with her vegetable husband.

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

Usually, when the Moon Goddess finds you your other half, one or two mates the most there will be for you. But Avery is a different werewolf, she does not have one or two mates but four mates.

She fated to the four most dangerous, most popular, and most arrogant boys in school, the four horsemen Alphas: Elijah Woods, Jake Stone, Andrew Bradford, and Matthew Steele.

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

Will Avery forgive them about they make a bet to see how to get her to fall in love with them? What if someone in her family's past wants her too and they kidnap her right at the dance.?

What if the guys find her in time but she is married off the Vampire Prince: The Duke Conway...? Will the Quads break everything in their path to get to Avery including the walls she has built around her heart? It all remains to be seen in The Wallflower And The Alphas.

I wanted to injure him with my long claws, to make him suffer, to enjoy the rage I had when he slaughtered my mate. I desired to crash every part of his body until nothing remained of him.

Over the last year, my mind had been empty save for the thought of how I could slowly kill him —as how would he feel the agony he had caused because he stole the life of someone I loved the most.

If our paths crossed, I would make it unavoidable for him to not forget the anguish and contempt I would instill in him. That was my first plan... However, how could I defy fate and declare he was not my mate? I wanted to reject him.

No. I will reject him. ******

This book would be steamy and have more BDSM.

Marcy Blackstone is pretty sure she is just a normal girl that is the epitome of cliche. So what happens when her world changes around her? Her limits are pushed and everything that she knows is wrong.

After the death of her parents death, Marcy and her little sister, Sophie, move in with their aunt that lives in a small city in rural Virginia. Marcy has spent the last five months keeping her head down. But now, well into the second month of her senior year, football star quarterback, Dustin Hawthorne, has been paying too much attention to her. That attention comes in the form of bullying her.

Now with the attention focused on her, Marcy must adapt or be left behind in a world she’s learning to navigate.

Book 2 of: A Life Worth Living series

Lenore hates the supernatural.
She has hated them for as long as she can remember and her feelings about them wouldn’t matter so much if she wasn’t living among werewolves. She’s not like them though. Her father’s a werewolf, the Alpha of a very powerful pack, but the fact that she can’t shift into one and that her mother is neither the Luna nor a werewolf made her an outcast in the pack. So she plans to leave without ever coming back.
The perfect opportunity to do that comes in form of her getting accepted into her dream college, but her plans are put on hold when the vampire King requests that each Alpha sends one of their children to attend a diplomatic gathering, and she’s ordered to represent her pack. She can’t reject the order and thinking the gathering would be over quickly, she attends it, but she’s less than prepared when she finds out that she has a mate… a vampire mate.
And not just any run-of-the-mill blood sucker, but the vampire king’s first son!

"Do it! Rape me!" She screamed, from the top of her lungs, challenging the beast in him.

He laughed, genuinely, loudly.
"You have no idea what you're doing to me, right, kitten?" he asked, reaching for his belt.

"That little biting your lip thingy, you do, whenever you check me out- it's driving me crazy.

The shivers traveling over your body, when I spanked you- turned me on so bad, I had to restrain myself from pinning your body against the wall, and fucking you in the hall.

And now, your scent, it's literally inviting me. I could smell your arousal from miles away, the scent making my mouth water and beast go crazy.

And your body- holy Moon Goddess- that body of yours is divine. Without a doubt, I could praise and savour it day after day, and never get tired."

***Evangeline is a simple human girl, born and raised in shifter dominated town. One day she is captured by a group of shifters and almost get raped, but she is saved by a masked man.

Doubts about the stranger's identity and fear of shifter remain in her mind until the night of human mating games when she's captured by her savior. The man who never took off the mask, a powerful shifter-Eros.

***PLEASE NOTE: This is a complete series collection for The Unwanted Alpha Series by  K. K. Winter. This includes and . Seperate books from the series are available on the author page.

°M°A°T°U°R°E° /R18+/

What is war, but the slaughter of the finest at the Devil's command?
An unfortunate turn of events turned both Sloth's and Bea's life upside down- left at the mercy of fate, written in blood.
For the apocalyptic battles, the rebellion sent in the dark Angel, unfolding the secret that would of better be left buried.
The Princess was cursed.

『The book excerpt:』
"Wherever I went, I was followed by a shadow. I knew the time was near but couldn't accept it. I dared not look at the being itself but tried to slowly figure it out by taking in glimpses of its shadows. Magnificent wings were extending from its back. I saw its glowing eyes in the shadow. The Angel of death was here, and I was about to die. Funny enough, despite the fear- I welcomed it more than I've ever welcomed anything before."

The second book in the "Alpha" series, you CAN read it as a stand-alone book, yet I highly recommend to read the first book to understand characters and events happening better.
•••
I'll explain, on one condition," it was him. The man, who could give me all answers I've been terrified of, yet weirdly excited to hear out loud.

"What's your condition, then?" I asked, already intrigued in what is it. I mean, he can ask for a lot of things, yet since I haven't taken responsibility for the pack, I'm still nothing more than the Alphas daughter. I'm broke; I don't have a job, I don't own anything, except the motorcycle I've gotten for my birthday. Technically I'll be broke until I take over the pack, that is IF I will decide to.

"Reject me," he stated.
•••

"I want to play a game. With hands and legs tied down- you can't rush, force, or stop things.

Now. Close your eyes.” The Alpha commanded. Seth shivered at his words.

For a little while, the room fell quiet.
All Seth could hear was her rapid breathing.
She still felt excited yet scared.

"Luciano, please," She moaned out,

"Yes, kitten?"

"Stop, I want to feel you. The teasing is killing me.”

"That is not how it works."
The man laid his hand on her bottom and put her over his knees.

"You beg one more time. Your ass will be spanked to red.”

🌶🐺🌶🐺🌶🐺🌶🐺

Seth had one rule- no Alphas: the possessive, dominant, and territorial Alphas could break and bend themselves, but they could never end up in her bed, nor drag her in theirs.

Until the day of Alpha ceremonial games came along: all she had to do was serve guests and run as far as possible whenever she got the chance.

Seth didn't expect meeting an Alpha a day before leaving the new town, nor did she expect facing another attempting to show off his interest- not just one, two, or three, but four Alpha males.

None of them is willing to give up or step aside. The men wanted to claim her, and none would stop till the woman was his or theirs.

Warning: This is a reverse harem book which contains A LOT of mature content and sensitive themes. (Kinks/ BDSM/ strong language etc.) Strongly advised for mature readers only. !!! 18+ !!!

•••
The third book in the Alpha series.
CAN BE READ AS A STAND-ALONE BOOK.
•••

Zane Snow- rumored to be a womanizer, reckless teen, bully, and all things above that, but more importantly, this irresponsible young male was Alpha to be of the Blood Warrior pack.
Life seemed simple; he was having a lot of fun, more than enough attention, and respect without doing anything.
It all came to an end when his eyes landed on a particular she-wolf.
He shrugged the feeling away and ignored her existence, having no idea about what is to come his way.
Soon enough, he might change his mind because he had to put effort into earning someone's trust and respect for the first time in his life. For the first time, he met someone who dared to defy him- the love story of a stubborn Alpha and his careless Luna-to-be.

•••
The Alpha series:
• Alpha Azrael
• The Alphas Daughter
• The Blood Warriors
•••

Her future was set in stone; in just three months, she would become the first Alpha female of her bloodline.

Life felt like a dream until one day, it turned into a nightmare. That day, Aife learned that the vicious beast elders brought up as a way to scare children wasn’t just a fruit of someone’s imagination.

He came out of the shadows to prove he was real: the pack was under attack, warriors fell at her feet and she was forced to make a choice that would shatter her reality. “Her. Give me her and I will let the remaining ones live. Give her willingly or I will take her after I finish slaughtering the few pack members you have left.”

To save them, Aife agreed to leave with the man who slaughtered her pack. Little did she know her life would be at his mercy from the moment he threw her over his shoulder. In a matter of hours, Aife lost the title of the future Alpha and became the beast’s possession.

Her father broke her ribs. Her sister stole her powers. And her fated mate?
"You are worthless now. I can reject you and have you thrown out of my pack. I am sure your father would not want a rejected child back in his pack, would he?"
Hayley, the most powerful hybrid ever, discovers that her extraordinary abilities cannot earn her love or respect. Her older sister Elena, consumed by jealousy, steals her powers just after she becomes mated to the Alpha. Lance, who once rejoiced at being mated to such a powerful hybrid, is now disappointed when he sees Hayley powerless. He perceives her as weak and wants nothing to do with her.
But Hayley is far stronger than anyone realizes. As she faces betrayal, jealousy, and dangerous enemies—including vampires and witches—her courage and power grow. Lance begins to see the depth of strength and love within his mate. Can he overcome his pride and finally give Hayley the love and recognition she deserves before it is too late?

Her downfall came hours after her birthday when she found out that she was the mate of the very monster she hunted.

A father, tormented by the grief of the past, could do nothing until he found someone like-minded and formed the Alliance to fight those who took away the love of his life. He fought behind the screen while his daughter did what he never could - she killed the big bad wolf.

The years passed, and she followed her father's vision until an ill-advised mission led her to imprisonment under the command of an Alpha. Little did Enya know that misfortune would reveal too many secrets. Will Enya ever find herself in a tangle of lies, or will she perish with those who led her astray?

"Look at me!", husky voice, coming from the man, who stood in front of me, ordered. I'm not ready to face my death, not just yet.

He placed the tips of his fingers below my chin and forced my eyes to meet his. Suddenly his eyes became pitch-black; his face still wouldn't give in any of his emotions.

"Mine!" he growled in his Alpha voice.

My head instantly hung low, be growled once again, obviously irritated by my actions. Goodbye, cruel world.
•••
Feared by all, wanted by many. He is an Alpha, just like others - cold, heartless, ruthless.
He has built himself an empire of chaos and destruction.

She's deadly afraid of him.

Little did she knew he is the last person she should be afraid.

WARNING: daddy kink MENTIONED, read at your own risk!!!

WARNING:
Adult content, recommended for readers 18 and older only.
Contains BDSM relationship, erotic content, violence.
The book excerpt:
"Here, I have a key to your heart," she left the key in her palm, metal and skin together. Ocean stumbled upon the ancient artwork in the locker rooms. It caught her attention because of its resemblance to a dagger, so she took it and waited for the perfect opportunity.
"Silly girl, that is not the key to my heart. Pathetic attempt." Vladimir growled in disgust. If she is lucky, she'd be unleashed by the end of the night.
Taking the first step toward her destruction, Ocean grins and moves her hips in time with the slow music in the background. Vladimir swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. The vampire's eyes focus on the crook of her neck as she stops directly in front of him. Ocean places her palm on his chest, guides her fingertips down to his abdominal muscles, a corner of her lip twitches in disgust. When he closes his eyes, the woman takes the opportunity to plunge the key directly into his heart, smiling as his eyes shoot open and he looks down at her in horror. "Are you still convinced I don't have the key to your heart?" she asks, grabs him by the collar, and pulls him closer, her lips lightly stroke his ear as she whispers, "It fits."

Sold like a circus animal.
Collared, forced into misery and self-hatred.
With a single blow, she hopes to change her life, only to find herself trapped again.
Ocean has no idea what freedom means, but she desires nothing more than a taste of it.
The secrets hidden from her will unfold before her eyes, no one can escape the truth.

Evangeline May arrived in small town Brookeville hoping to find peace within from her former life. After starting college at Maybury University, life began to seem simple again. Until Finley Brooks, the charmer at Maybury, decided to become her personal tormentor. As dark secrets, and Evangeline’s past resurfaces, she soon finds out Brookeville was more than she bargained for. Evangeline must decide who to trust when it seems everyone has something to hide.

"I'll marry Laura. She'll be my Luna... and you, Kyra, will be our breeder and concubine."
On the night Kyra is meant to find her fated mate, her life takes a brutal turn.
Instead of love, she is summoned by Draven, the most feared Alpha in the region. In front of everyone, he makes a decision that seals her fate.
Her twin sister Laura will be his Luna. And Kyra? She will belong to them as a breeder and concubine, a woman chosen not for love, but for the strength of her blood.
Taken to Draven's territory and trapped in a ruthless pack where power and bloodlines rule everything, Kyra quickly learns one thing: in Draven's world, women are not asked what they want.
They are given a role. And expected to obey.
Cold, powerful, and dangerously possessive, Draven treats her like property meant to serve his legacy. Yet the more he tries to control her, the more the tension between them grows—dark, forbidden, and impossible to ignore.
Because Kyra was never meant to be his.
But in a world ruled by Alphas...the most dangerous man may decide she is his anyway.

BLURB:

After getting caught up in a divorce plot by his in laws who accused him or rape just to get his wife to divorce him, Jacob's real identity gets revealed as no one else but Jacob Grey Hennessy; the son of the country's most dangerous and wealthiest mafia lord; Grey Hennessy. Following this, Jacob is forced to return to his old life of dirty mafia business, deciets, lies and secrets. With his wife; Amber by his side, his resentful in-laws who would do anything to break him and Amber apart, his power thirsty step mother and step brothers, and Jacob's thirst to uncover the secrets behind his mother and his grandparents' death, Jacob life is barely any safe and he knows that. Would he be ending his life by venturing into the lion's death or would this be a victory for him?

Juggling her career and family, Thea fought to keep her marriage alive after her husband lost his job. She hired a nanny to help—never guessing she was welcoming her own replacement.
"The three of us look more like a family than with you, mommy."
That was the final nail.
She walked away. No custody battle. No tearful goodbyes. Just silence. And from that silence, she rose—stronger, sharper, and impossible to break.
Enter Ezra Harrington.
Billionaire. CEO. Her boss.
Cold-blooded in more ways than one.
He wants Thea—but not just in the boardroom. He's hungry for more.
Her blood sings to him.
Her strength tempts him.
Her fire threatens to consume him.
But Thea doesn't kneel.
Not for love. Not for monsters.
Not even for the devil in a custom Armani suit.
Now her past is clawing back—
A husband begging for a second chance. A child she ne er stopped loving. And a vampire boss who'd destroy the world to keep her.
T.W: Dub-con, vampirism/alpha dominance, workplace relationship, dark romance etc.

"Take your things and leave, Mira. I never want to see you again. The guard will bring the divorce papers. Sign them. I have already done my part. Now it is your turn."
Mira, a princess of the Silver Claw Pack, was labeled a weak omega and abandoned by her father when her wolf never appeared. Heartbroken and humiliated, she ran away and found love in the arms of Alpha Adrien of another pack. Their marriage fell apart when Mira could not conceive, and Adrien's betrayal cut deeper than any wound.
Framed, banished, and left to hit rock bottom, Mira's suffering awakened the powerful, long-dormant wolf within her. Now stronger, fiercer, and unrecognizable, she returns to her home pack not as a broken princess but as a force to be reckoned with.
At the homecoming celebration organized by her father, Adrien, the man who once discarded her, is stunned. The woman he betrayed now commands respect and fear as a dominant leader. He begs for her back, but Mira is no longer the woman he left behind. This time, she is taking everything he once stole from her and more.

"You new?" His voice was a low growl that made her stomach tighten.
"Yes, sir." She whispered, and his fingers tightened around her wrist.
"You always this clumsy, Catalina?" He drew out her name like tasting it, like claiming it.
"I can be better," she breathed. He didn't blink. Then he let go.
She should've moved back, stood up, collected the broken glass. She didn't. Her eyes drifted over his torso, the scars etched into his ribs, the steady rise and fall of his chest.
"Then show me," he said, and the words lingered between them like fire.
Valentina Cruz was born to avenge. Her father was executed on the orders of Lucien Torres's cartel family. Her plan was simple: seduce Lucien, earn his trust, and destroy him from within.
But Lucien isn't just the devil's heir. He's dangerous. Damaged. Irresistibly, devastatingly charming. Their attraction ignites too fast, too hot—and when Valentina discovers she's pregnant, everything changes.
Lucien isn't supposed to love. She isn't supposed to fall. And the deeper she goes, the darker the secrets she uncovers: a faked death, a missing child, a truth that could make her the next target.
When revenge collides with obsession, and love clashes with legacy—who walks away unscathed? One thing is certain: sleeping with the devil's son means you either claim the kingdom... or burn with it.

Rubby Sandwood, a 20-year-old orphan, lost her parents at a young age and was taken by her by Alex Manchester, a werewolf slave driver. Alex was not kind to Rubby and maltreated her. Chelse, a blind and sensitive girl, saved Rubby twice and they began looking out for each other.

What happened when Silver Airstong, a powerful Alpha, come to Ruby’s rescue only to neglect her in his pack because she was a mare Omega

With silvers twin brother hot on his tale willing to capture Rubby to use as a leverage against him, will Silver finally put his mate above everything else?…

"Don't call her a bitch, asshole," Sierra hissed.
"What's it got to do with you?" the greasy creep demanded.
"Oh, I don't know, Stimpy, maybe because you're harassing my woman and she just got here."
"Oh, shit, Orion. Sorry, man. Didn't realize she was with you."
Orion: As the heir apparent to the Primal Howlers' MC President patch, a chance encounter with a beautiful woman pulls me into a war I wasn't expecting that could bring the whole club down. But when she runs from me, I will pursue her to the end of the earth to find her and bring her back.
Whether she likes it or not.
Raquel: I moved to Monument, Colorado to write my thesis and get some much-needed distance from my overbearing family. What I didn't expect was to find myself hung up on a biker who appears to have nothing to lose.
I, however, have everything to lose and I'm worried Orion just might be my downfall.

My boss’s brother is the father of my child, and he has no idea.

Three years ago, I was the scholarship girl in a borrowed dress. He was the stranger who pinned me against the elevator wall, and I can still feel the intensity of that moment. I didn't know that night would leave me with a son who has his father's dark eyes.

Now, Alexander Thorne is back. He’s walking through the corridors of Thorne Empire, staring at me with a gaze that burns. He thinks I’m just Elena, the efficient assistant. He doesn't know about the toddler waiting for me at home.

"You look familiar," he said, cornering me in the breakroom. His scent—expensive cologne and musk—flooded my senses, dragging me back to that night.

If he finds out, he could take everything. My job. My son.

But tonight, in the empty office, the air is thick with tension. He leans close, his voice dropping to a rough whisper. "I can't stop thinking about you," he growled, his eyes darkening as they dropped to my lips. My body betrays me, and I’m left longing for him.

I am ANNABEL DRAKE, a woman who has spent her entire life in the shadows of others. A forgotten girl child, and also an underestimated employee, in fact I am everything you can think of because I have been through a lot .
It started after my father was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. My family lost everything: our fortune, our home, and most painfully, our dignity. My mother fell ill under the weight of disgrace, and I became the sole provider, fighting every day just to keep us alive.

When an unexpected job opportunity lands in my lap, I see it as an opening way out of poverty and struggle. Working as an executive assistant for Carson Clair, the almighty billionaire CEO of Sonclair Enterprises, isn’t easy. He’s rude, and unnecessarily leading over everyone in a bad manner, and I can tell you unapologetically that he's everything I despise in a man. But the paycheck is good, and I need it.

Then, the unimaginable happens after a few months. Carson makes me an offer I can't refuse because it is such a juicy offer. It was a contract marriage.

He needs a wife to secure a billion-dollar deal, and in exchange, he promises to clear my father’s name, pay off my mother’s medical bills, and set me up for life. It sounds like a dream… until I realize I’m falling for him.

Just as I start to believe that maybe, just maybe, this arrangement could turn into something real, my world shatters again. I discovered a secret which was actually the truth and it changed everything. Carson isn’t who I thought he was. And neither is the man I’ve been secretly confiding in... Fred Mark.

Road to Joy
Join the members of the Dogs of Fire Motorcycle Club as they prepare for their Christmas Celebration. Revisit your favorite characters during the most festive holiday of the year.
Unwrapped
Christmas is approaching for the Dogs of Fire and Burning Saints Motorcycle Clubs, but rather than the usual holiday cheer, the air is filled with the tension of a brewing civil war.
The Gresham Spiders, a local 1% MC, is hellbent on expansion and both clubs lie directly in their path. Will assistance from an outside ally help diffuse the situation long enough to keep the peace during the holiday season?
Join Hatch and Minus, along with these two beloved MCs, as they celebrate the holidays and try to keep their clubs from splintering under the pressure.
Rocky Mountain Christmas
Mouse
There's only one gift I want this Christmas, but the closer I get to Kennedy, the more she pushes me away. I'll do whatever it takes to get onto her nice list, even if it means riding my bike all the way to the North Pole and strong-arming Santa myself.
Kennedy
I have two choices. Open myself up to a man who has the power to shatter me. Or run and protect my heart once and for all. The problem is, a murderous Douglas Fir gets in the way of my perfectly planned escape.
Is it a sign, or merely a roadblock on the path to finding true love?
And does a scrooge like me, even deserve to find herself under the mistletoe this Christmas?

Everyone thinks I'm the wild child of the family, the one who won't fall in line.

Blake's the young king of the business world—rational, cold, always in those perfectly cut suits.

But every night, he's got me pinned underneath him, breathing my name.

He said I was his, but never let me see daylight. Until she came back—my father's mistress's daughter, in her white dress, smiling like an angel.

On my birthday, he went to pick her up from the airport. When the chandelier crashed down, he carried her to the hospital and left me bleeding on the floor. When she smashed my mother's heirloom, he made me apologize on my knees. He said she was fragile, needed care; said I was strong enough to understand.

Then I heard them on my bed, her moaning his name.

So I left. Married a man who truly loved me. And he went insane.

He kidnapped me, forced a wedding, announced to the world I was his wife.

But this time, I just smiled and shook my head.

"Let go. It's too late."

I used to be the Blackwells' best killer. For him, I walked away from that life and became his wife. I even gave him a daughter.

I thought it was redemption. Turns out, it was the start of something worse.

Three years ago, during that shootout at the docks, his first love showed up with his bastard son. When the rival family put guns to both kids' heads, he didn't hesitate. He chose to save her son.

My daughter burned in the explosion.

That was the day the man I loved for ten years died. What's left is just my sworn enemy.

At the Met Gala, I heard my husband tell his friends in French that I'm "boring." That his 22-year-old girlfriend is "so much more exciting in bed."

He laughed when they asked if I knew. "Elle ne comprend même pas 'bonjour'." (She doesn't even understand 'bonjour'.)

What Marcus doesn't know: I spent two years at the Sorbonne.

Je comprends tout, Marcus. I understand everything.

The diamond necklace he gave me after my miscarriage suddenly feels too tight. I smile at him across the champagne and candlelight.

He has no idea what's coming.

Everyone says he loved me more than anything. So I chose to answer that love with death.

Forbes cover stories, tearful speeches at charity galas, shutting down Fifth Avenue every Valentine's Day just to watch fireworks with me. They said he ruled a business empire but would kneel in front of the entire world and call me his reason to live.

I used to believe it.

Until I discovered my perfect husband had built another home with another woman. A warm one, filled with laughter and his child.

So I chose to disappear the night the storm swallowed everything.

They say he spent three days on his knees at the cliff's edge, screaming my name into the black ocean. The man worth billions couldn't even find his wife's body.

When the rescue team recovered that burned-out car, he finally opened the safe I'd left for him. Inside was a positive pregnancy test and a divorce agreement that would never be signed.

By then, nothing mattered anymore.

At the bar, I watched Ethan get publicly dumped and made a crazy proposal fueled by liquid courage—a three-month fake dating contract.

I thought this was my only chance after twenty years of secret crushing. Until his ex showed me the text: "With Mia? Pretty convenient. She's been following me around since we were kids."

So I was just a tool.

The day we broke up, he shouted with red eyes: "I've been crazy about you for twenty years!" I thought he was acting, until his mom handed me a worn journal—

That careless comment I made at thirteen, "I'm never marrying Ethan," he'd remembered for twenty whole years.

Every page of that diary was filled with my name...

Every time my husband wants to make me give in, he slaps divorce papers on the table. Every time my parents want me to cave, they threaten to disown me.

What they want is simple: give everything to my twin sister.

I used to fight back. I cried. I demanded to know why it always had to be me.

But when the doctor slides the test results across his desk and tells me in that pitying voice, "Stage four brain cancer. You have a month, maybe less," something in me just... stops caring.

I'm dying anyway. They can do whatever the hell they want.

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

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

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

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

I don't blame them.

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

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

The phoenix finally panicked, feathers flaring, voice shaking:

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

Ethan and I grew up together. We were supposed to exchange rings at the altar, make our vows. But on our wedding day, he left me standing there to go save his so-called suicidal ex. Almost killed my parents from the shame.

Four years later, I'm back in Portland with my husband. The city isn't that big, and of course fate decides to throw him in my path again.

He has the nerve to ask me to be his mistress.

I hold up my left hand, the ring catching the light. "Are you blind?"

The day I get diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, I can finally stop selling plasma.

For five years, I thought I was paying for the fire that killed my parents and son, left my brother disabled. Selling plasma, joining drug trials, doing the worst jobs imaginable, all to pay back a debt that wasn't even real.

The doctor says I have a few weeks left. I clutch the diagnosis report and head home to tell them.

The moment I push open the door, I see my parents in the kitchen, the ones who supposedly died in the fire. My brother, who was supposed to be in a wheelchair, stands there raising a glass, laughing with my husband.

My brother shrugs like it's nothing. "The broken leg was fake the whole time. You were the only one hurt in the fire. We just wanted to teach you a lesson, make you appreciate things."

"We were going to tell you eventually." My husband pats my shoulder. "Go apologize to Vanessa. Stop giving her a hard time."

"All the money you gave us went to Vanessa," Dad says. "That's what you get for throwing your bio-daughter status in her face."

I touch the diagnosis in my pocket. Everything was a lie. The only truth is that I'm dying.

The first thing I do with my second chance is sell off my perfect fiancé for ten million dollars.

The first time around, I became someone else for Julian Whitmore.

He likes nude-toned dresses. Hates when I wear anything with color. He won't let me have more than one glass of champagne in public. Won't let me laugh too loud. Won't let me initiate anything in bed.

His voice is always so calm, like he's correcting a disobedient pet.

I spend three years turning myself into what he wants: docile, proper, flawless. Until depression drags me under. Until that night I lay in the bathtub and watched the water turn red.

When I die, he's still downstairs in his study, editing my speech for tomorrow's charity gala.

When I open my eyes again, I'm sitting in the Winters' living room with that unsigned arrangement in front of me.

This time? Fuck perfect.

But when he lifts that veil at the wedding and realizes the bride isn't me, this man who's spent his whole life in control completely loses it.

The night the team wins again, the roar inside the arena could raise the roof.

On the ice, the captain has his arm around the new cheer captain, spinning her under the lights. His skates cut clean lines across the ice. Teammates whistle and shout, someone yells "ask her out!", someone else films on their phone. Everyone waits for me to show up and make a scene. Cry, stumble onto the ice, drop to my knees and beg him to come back. Pathetic, like every time before.

But no one knows I'm in the back of the locker room right now, pressed against a cold metal locker.

The quiet backup player has his hand on the back of my neck, his voice barely steady. "You sure about this?"

I push up on my toes and kiss him first.

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."

Being born a Moretti daughter means one thing: the family owns you.

In my past life, Vivian thought she had what it took. She promised Dad she could handle it, swore up and down she'd make him proud. Six months later, she'd burned through three generations of work and left us with nothing but an empty shell. Our enemies found her eventually. Broke both her legs.

And me? I married Marco Rossi.

Everyone envied me for marrying into one of the most powerful families in the city. What they didn't know was that I was his prisoner. He used me, turned my family's connections into stepping stones for himself, spent my money on his mistresses, used my body as a bargaining chip at his deals.

In the end, Vivian killed me. Jealous of my "perfect life," she dragged herself over on those broken legs and put a bullet in me.

When I open my eyes again, I'm sitting in Dad's study.

The door slams open. Vivian bursts in, cutting me off before I can speak. "Dad! I'm marrying Marco Rossi! Give the family to Sienna!"

I look at her and smile.

This time, I'm going to survive. And I'm going to do a hell of a lot better than just survive.

In my past life, we were camping in the wilderness area of a state park when my best friend handed out "lucky charms" to the whole group. Charms she'd secretly packed full of wildlife attractant.

A wild boar knocked me to the ground outside the cabin door. Its tusks tore into my stomach. I pounded on the wood with both fists, screaming. "Help! Open the door!"

Inside were my boyfriend of two years and the best friend I'd been quietly supporting for just as long. Autumn Warren.

"I'm so sorry, Brynn." Autumn's voice broke into sobs, but her weight stayed pressed hard against the door. "There are boars everywhere. We open that door, we're all dead."

"Just hold on! I'm calling 911!" Wyatt Fletcher's voice rang out with the kind of conviction that cost him absolutely nothing.

I paid for that trip. I'd fallen behind because I'd stopped to pull Autumn along.

And they stood on the other side of that door, my blood soaking into the dirt, and locked me out.

I open my eyes. I'm back. It's the day we left.

For the top university in the North American wolf packs, transfer students aren't exactly breaking news. But this one sets the entire forum on fire.

It starts with a photo. A girl standing next to a tall, imposing man. Both faces are deliberately blurred, but that build, that presence... every wolf in North America recognizes it. The Alpha King. The caption reads: "Dad why'd you send me this 😭 I'm not ready to go public yet."

Minutes later, the post vanishes. But screenshots flood the forum.

"Moon Goddess above! Is that really the Alpha King?"

"The girl in the photo... could she be the royal princess no one's ever seen?"

The comments explode. Compliments flood in. Even my aloof boyfriend joins in.

Something feels off. I type out a comment: "The Alpha King keeps a low profile. His daughter should do the same. Posting photos like this... doesn't seem right."

Less than a minute later, the replies come.

"Who do you think you are to question her?"

"Can't stand seeing someone else do well, huh?"

My boyfriend chimes in too: "Quit it. You're embarrassing yourself."

I pick up my phone and dial a number. "Dad, since when do you have another daughter?"

The moment I gave up wasn't when I found out my husband was cheating. It was when I heard my ten-year-old daughter laugh into the phone and say, "Mom's so clueless. She has no idea about Dad and Summer."

Ten years ago, I was a top biomedical researcher, making six figures. I gave it all up for his promotion and our newborn daughter. Ten years later, the perfect marriage I traded my career and youth for turned out to be nothing but an elaborate lie.

He called me his safe haven, then got in our bed with his mistress and discussed how to keep me in the dark.

This time, I'm not going to cry or make a scene. I'm going to quietly gather my evidence and call the lab director I've turned down seven times.

The fake heiress and I died twice fighting over the same thing—which of us would get adopted by that wealthy couple.

The first time, I got the necklace. I became their daughter. I thought I'd finally have everything I'd ever wanted. Three months later, they drowned me in the bathtub.

William's voice still echoes in my head. "This is your fault! If we'd taken Chloe instead, she'd still be alive!"

The second time, I gave Chloe the necklace. Let her have the good life. I thought that would keep me safe.

Five years later, Chloe turned up dead in their mansion. The Harringtons called the cops on me. They said I broke in and killed her out of jealousy. I died in prison, broken and tortured. The last thing I heard was Catherine's voice through the visiting room glass, cold as ice. "You belong in the gutter."

The third time, I open my eyes again.

I watch the couple smile at us, all warmth and kindness, and one question burns in my mind. Which daughter do they actually want?

Marlowe Crane is my best friend, and she's also a succubus.

She was born with this power that makes men lose their minds, but she always told me she only wanted to use her "gift" to protect me.

So every time I dated someone, she'd volunteer to "test" him.

Without fail, every single man fell at her feet.

She'd send me photos of them in bed together. "See, Rosie? They're all trash. Lucky I caught them for you."

After breaking up more times than I can count, I had a breakdown and moved from Boston to Los Angeles.

That's where I met Holden Kingsley. I thought the nightmare was finally over.

On my wedding day, Marlowe showed up in my dressing room with a glass of drugged water.

In my past life, I drank it and passed out. She stripped off my wedding dress, put it on herself, and climbed into Holden's bed.

Someone threw cold water on my face to wake me up. When I walked in with the bridesmaids, I caught them tangled up together.

I lost it. Screamed and cried and called the police right there.

And what happened?

Holden didn't feel guilty at all. He acted like I was the bad guy, like I'd ruined Marlowe's life.

Under Marlowe's succubus influence, he believed she was innocent, that I forced her into it.

After that, my marriage became a living hell.

Now I'm back, standing in front of the mirror, staring at that drugged glass of water in my hand.

This time, they're the ones going to hell.

Everyone knew Ethan Blackwood and I were Professor Richard Hartwell's two proudest students. From childhood easels to Columbia studios, inseparable for over a decade.

Everyone assumed we'd get married, stand together on the Pritzker stage someday. Until he fell in love with Sophia Crane, daughter of our mentor's academic rival.

I let him go. Love isn't something I can design.

But I never thought he'd destroy our mentor's entire life for her.

Five years later, he's back in New York riding high on his success, excited to "make amends" with Professor Hartwell.

I laugh.

Go ahead, Ethan Blackwood. You'll spend the rest of your life searching.

At a late-night party, when the bottle spins to my boyfriend Tyler, he picks dare.

"Kiss anyone here except your girlfriend," the host announces with a smirk.

Tyler barely hesitates. He walks straight to my best friend Sienna and kisses her for a full seven seconds in front of everyone.

When he comes back, he leans close to my ear. "Don't sweat it, we'll have fun when we get home."

When it's my turn, I choose truth. "Tell us a secret nobody knows."

I look around at all these drunk college kids, then say calmly, "I killed someone."

I'm a figure skating prodigy from one of the wealthiest families in the country. I'm also an idiot.

I believed that if I was kind enough, people would be kind in return. So I sponsored Haley Dunning, a scholarship skater on our team, and treated her like my own little sister.

The day before the NCAA qualifier, she came up to me with a sports drink, said she wanted to help keep my energy up.

I drank it. Went down on the ice with a broken leg. Drug test came back positive for banned stimulants.

Overnight, I went from the queen of the rink to the face of a scandal no one could stop talking about.

Expelled from school. Torn apart on social media. Calloway Corporation's stock in freefall.

Haley stood in front of the cameras, tears in her eyes: "Piper just wanted to win so badly. I never thought she'd go this far..."

I fell into a depression. Couldn't sleep without medication.

Then one day, she showed up at my hospital room with my boyfriend, bearing "comfort": a cup of water and a few pills: "Piper, take your meds, okay? This is all my fault for being so stupid..."

Three minutes later, I'm coughing up blood, convulsing on the floor.

Right before I died, I caught the look on her face. That sweet, innocent face. A slow, vicious smile spreading across it.

She knocked over the pill bottle and started screaming: "I grabbed the wrong ones! I mixed up her antidepressants with some old person's heart meds! I'm so stupid!"

My boyfriend pulled her into his arms. Didn't even glance at me dying on the floor: "She meant well. Piper just had bad luck."

I was poisoned to death in that hospital room.

Then I opened my eyes, and it was the day before the qualifier.

Three years ago, I was in a car crash that killed both my parents and shattered my legs beyond repair. The doctors said I'd never walk again.

When I had nothing left, he appeared like some kind of savior. He paid for everything, brought me to his private research facility, took care of me.

He told me he loved me, broken body and all. We got married. He was perfect to me.

There was just one catch. His sister. Not even blood related, just some girl he grew up with. She had some rare blood disease, and turns out I had the exact blood type she needed. So I gave blood. Bone marrow too. Over and over.

I thought I owed him my life. For three years, I let them stick needles in me, drain whatever they needed. I thought that was love.

Until today, when I found a video on his phone from three years ago.

In the footage, one of his men reports back: "The crash was clean. Her parents are dead. Her legs are destroyed, just like you wanted."

His voice, cold as ice: "Good. As long as her blood keeps Cora alive, that's all that matters. She's got no one and nowhere to go. She'll have to stay."

The accident that killed my parents and destroyed my legs wasn't an accident at all. He planned it.

So I planned my own death. And when he saw my body, the man who dragged me into hell finally lost his mind.

She was Claire Summer, fearsome and ruthless, the organization's deadliest sword.

Whether dead or alive, the mere mention of her name sent chills down one's spine.

Until she was framed by someone she trusted, labeled a traitor, and ultimately executed by electric chair.

In this life, she awakens to find herself in the body of Ariana Stevens, an ordinary girl who has suffered bullying, looking exactly like her except for a strange, centipede-like scar on her face.

Claire Summer begins to piece together the truth behind the betrayal that destroyed her world.

However, she encounters Jasper Hart, the cold and mysterious heir of the Hart family. His gaze makes her uneasy and blush.

Yet, when the call of revenge sounds, she must make a choice.

They said she was lucky to have married him. He had wealth, charm, a name with legacy and other women warming his bed.

She was "just" a scholarship girl with a gentle voice and no background.

So when Liana Davids divorced and parted from Dominic Smith, the world snickered.

"She'll be back in no time," they taunted. "He's irreplaceable."

Even Dominic smiled, betting on her return to his board of directors.

But Liana never came back.

Liana didn't just disappear, when she returned, she came back like a ghost.
A masked tech mogul, business guru and a headline queen.

The wife they discarded returned as the woman no one could touch.

Now, whispers say she's looking for a father figure for her daughter.
Powerful men line up, begging for a taste of the empire she built. But Dominic thinks he is not through yet.

He corners her, seething: "Your baby is mine, isn't it?"

She lifts her head, eyes colder than frost.
"That's none of your business. Now step aside, ex-husband before I bury you."