169 Book(s) Related to stay close harlan coben summary

“Prey, tell what happens when… if you lose? What benefits am I to reap from this bet of yours?” This bastard had a lot of nerve.
I could not back down from him. I knew I could see this contest through. I know I can make my dream a reality.
“If I lost than…I will serve under your modeling agency for free for half a year. Does that seem fair enough?” I said regaining my confidence. I could not help but glared back at Elijah.
“Sounds like a fair trade to me, little kitten.” He said. I do not like that nickname. No matter how sexy it sounded on his lips.
“If I lose than I will publicly apologize to you, I.” Elijah said with a smile repeating the terms. “But it you lose than you work as a model in my business for free for half of the year. Sound about right?” Elijah said.
I shook his hand. “Deal.”
Elijah smiled to the point where his teeth reminded me of the big bad wolf. “Deal,” he said softly.

“Prey, tell what happens when… if you lose? What benefits am I to reap from this bet of yours?” This bastard had a lot of nerve. I could not back down from him. I knew I could see this contest through. I know I can make my dream a reality. “If I lost than…I will serve under your modeling agency for free for half a year. Does that seem fair enough?” I said regaining my confidence. I could not help but glared back at Elijah. “Sounds like a fair trade to me, little kitten.” He said. I do not like that nickname. No matter how sexy it sounded on his lips. “If I lose than I will publicly apologize to you, I.” Elijah said with a smile repeating the terms. “But it you lose than you work as a model in my business for free for half of the year. Sound about right?” Elijah said. I shook his hand. “Deal.” Elijah smiled to the point where his teeth reminded me of the big bad wolf. “Deal,” he said softly.

As she raised and swiveled her hands, she resembled a trumpeter swan. It seemed as though the snowy-white plumage of elegance, beauty, and grace swan were rising. When she turned around, it was as if my eyes had drawn me to her, and all I could do was gape.

I'm Elijah Holmes, and I'm being held captive by Yavana Estes with every influence of her body. I'm not sure how an attractive, wealthy, and well-known boxer athlete like myself fell fascinated with this woman. But no matter what I try to get her to pay attention to me, she doesn't want to—

When all I want is for people to confide her with the following words every time she dances on stage. All I desire to heed is their words about the—

Swan's sway over her paragon Boxer.

Trigger Warning: abuse, violence, torture, sexual violence.
Echo has known only pain for the last ten years. Being treated as a pack slave, she has cooked, cleaned, and worked harder than anyone she knows. Her reward for her efforts? Days without food and non-stop abuse from everyone in the pack. To make matters worse, one of her biggest tormentors is also completely obsessed with her. She has never known anyone in the pack to show her an ounce of kindness. When a visiting alpha from a neighboring pack turns out to be her fated mate, her life may hang in the balance. Will he be her saving grace, or will he reject her for her weakness? Will she ever escape the abuse? If so, can she escape the clutches of the powerful man who believes she belongs to him?

“You want your Air Pods, Alyssa?” Kayden Jackman smirks naughtily as he tucks them into his trousers’ band. “Come get it” He expected her to flinch and back off as usual. Alyssa didn’t.

Alyssa King has a rare sickness- One that puts her at the risk of going into full-blown panic whenever she feels emotions extremely. She manages to go through her daily activities by using meds, and being non-reactive, forcing her body into strict control and silence.
So when her mother secures a job as a chief housemaid for the powerful Jackman family- One that came with a scholarship into an elite school for her, Alyssa is drawn into a whole new world that threatens her silence. She’s to become the private room cleaner for the Jackman’s heir. Kayden.

Sadly, he is the same timid boy she was once forced to bully in middle school- and Kayden never forgot. Now as the arrogant golden Quarterback star of Calderon elite college, and her boss at home, Kayden Jackman makes it his daily priority to make her life a living hell.
But behind the constant bully lays a rapid growing feeling that he might never admit.

But what happens when his taunts chase her into his opponent quarterback’s arms? Or When Kayden needs Alyssa to tutor him, and Alyssa needs him to teach her how to be a woman for her Quarterback suitor without her panics getting in the way…

Every private encounter blurs reasoning, and Kayden Jackman starts wondering if he’s doing this for another man or himself.

And as for Alyssa King, she knew better than to act on her growing feelings for Kayden- especially since she learnt that he’s fated to another woman long before she came into the picture.

~
Read more…

I was once a world-renowned designer, but I retired for love, dedicating six years to my husband and daughter. But on our anniversary, he spent millions on my final masterpiece, only to place it around another woman's neck on live TV. My own daughter then ran on stage, sweetly calling her 'mommy.' My six years of devotion became a joke. When I asked for a divorce, he sneered, thinking I was just a housewife who couldn't survive three days without him. He has no idea that the legendary designer 'Octavia' he's desperately trying to meet is the wife he cast aside. Now, I’m back. And I'm ready to take back everything that is mine.

I was dying. To buy myself just a few more days, I had no choice but to sell my body for medicine money.
I never expected the man who bought me was Michael. My ex-husband.
He threw the cash in my face, humiliated me, forced me through every degradation he could think of.
All because he hated me for leaving when he was critically ill.
What he never knew was that, the heart beating in his chest…
Was mine.

At my bedside, for what felt like the hundredth time,my family asked me nervously,“Are you still planning to look for Elias?”
I blinked in confusion, asking, “Who is Elias? Why would I look for him?”
And at that moment, the doctors declared me “recovered.”
I was finally allowed to leave the psychiatric clinic that had tormented me for more than a year.
They told me—that Elias never existed, that I had fallen into delusion, loving a man created by my imagination.
I understand that only by obeying them can I regain my freedom.

Raelynn Martinez was moving clear across the country to start a new life but fate had other plans. On her way she met an arrogant guy who she realized later that he is a porn star. During the process, she unintentionally ended up having a night stand with him. This was however a mistake because after that night, sex with him became her addiction. This went on for a good couple of months until when Raelynn realized that it wasn't just sex. However things turned bad when she noticed that she was pregnant. She was impregnated by a porn star who had no interest in her, had no feelings for her. It was all sex to him.

He is a porn star and he has no feelings for any woman
It is just sex, no feeling involved; so fuck me like a pornstar


Raelynn Martinez was moving clear across the country to start a new life but fate had other plans. On her way, she met an arrogant guy who she realized later that he is a porn star.

During the process, she unintentionally ended up having a night stand with him. This was however a mistake because after that night, sex with him became her addiction. This went on for a good couple of months until when Raelynn realized that it wasn't just sex.

However, things turned bad when she noticed that she was pregnant.
~ She was impregnated by a porn star who had no interest in her, and had no feelings for her. It was all sex to him.

Her whole world is shaken when she’s forced to move out of her dorm and into an off-campus apartment because of a flooding incident.
Jasmine is an organized, serious-minded, and independent art student, who still struggles to heal silently from her past trauma. Her whole life revolves around her art which she sees as therapy while she actively tries to prepare for her final thesis exhibition.
But what happens when she realizes that her new roommate is Xavier Alexander? The school’s rugby captain, and the most popular guy on campus.
Loud, charismatic, reckless and effortlessly charming, Xavier is everything Jasmine tries to avoid.
Her introverted world clashes with his rather bold and unpredictable one.
How long can they try to resist each other before the thin line between them is crossed?

Adrian Cole was never supposed to get married—especially not to Rowan Hale, the most insufferable actor in the industry.

But when his sister runs away on her wedding day, Adrian is forced to take her place… and signs a contract he can’t escape.

Now he’s legally bound to his rival.

His enemy.

The one man who looks at him like he’s already won.

As if that wasn’t enough—

they’re cast as lovers in the same high-budget film:

“Crimson Oath.”



“You and I are playing lovers,” Rowan said calmly.

Adrian let out a short laugh. “I’d rather quit.”

Rowan stepped closer.

Too close.

“Then quit,” he said softly. “And watch your career disappear.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened. “You think you can control everything?”

Rowan’s lips curved faintly.

“Not everything,” he said.

His hand lifted—tilting Adrian’s chin just enough to force eye contact.

“Just you.”



Now, under blinding lights and watchful eyes, they have to pretend.

To touch.
To desire.
To love.

But Adrian doesn’t trust easily.
And Rowan doesn’t love at all.

As secrets unravel, past lovers return, and obsession begins to blur the lines between acting and reality, their fake marriage becomes a dangerous game of control, power, and need.

Because the only thing worse than being bound to your enemy…

is realizing you might not want to escape.

I was in the middle of an affair in the master bedroom when Gu Jingran and his secretary burst in and caught me red-handed.
A thunderous roar ripped through the room.
"Ruan Qinghe!"
I shoved the trembling young man off my body, lowered my eyes, and let out a low, mocking laugh.
"Well, well. My husband rolls up with his side piece to catch his lawfully wedded wife cheating? This has got to be the most unhinged thing I've ever seen in my life."
The secretary, Bai Weiwei, paled instantly, scrambling to defend herself. "Sister Qinghe, you've got this all wrong! Today is your seventh wedding anniversary with Mr. Gu, he only asked me to come help!"
"Whatever was between us ended ages ago! We're just friends now! Don't you dare project your own filthy behavior onto everyone else just because you're acting out!"
I gave her a cool, cursory glance, smiled and said nothing, before finally fixing my gaze on Gu Jingran.
He snapped like a rabid wild beast, slamming and smashing every last thing he'd painstakingly prepared to pieces.
"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" His voice was raw and hoarse, trembling with rage. "You're trying to get back at me?"
"I was just curious."
I lifted an eyebrow slightly.
"Curious about what cheating feels like. What kind of thrill, what kind of rush, could make you addicted to it over and over again."

Ariella Hayes was seventeen years old when she learned that grief had a taste.
It tasted like burnt sugar. Like the batch of croissants she’d left in the oven too long the morning after the funeral, too numb to hear the timer, too broken to care. Like the coffee, she drank black now because adding cream felt like a luxury she didn’t deserve. Grief tasted like everything and nothing.
Mostly nothing.
She was thinking about this at 4:47 a.m., lying in bed and staring at the water stain on her ceiling that resembled a reaching hand. She’d been awake since three. She was always awake from three, that gray hour when the world was silent enough to hear all the things she tried not to think about during the day.
Like how it was her fault.
How she should have been the one in the car.
How her mother hadn’t really looked at her in six months.
The timer screamed, and Ariella dragged herself out of bed, moving through the apartment like a ghost, past her mother’s bedroom door, down the narrow stairs to Hayes & Daughter Bakery. The name felt like a lie now. Her grandmother was gone. Ethan was gone. Soon the bakery would be gone too, and it would just be Ariella and her mother in an empty building, haunting the space where their family used to be.

She is about to embark on a life-altering journey as she enters a contract marriage with billionaire heir Aiden Frost, all in a bid to rescue her family’s struggling bakery. As they step into this pretend union, neither of them anticipates how their arrangement will evolve into a haven, where they might uncover feelings that challenge their initial intentions.

"You useless thing."
My husband Cassian stared at me coldly. "I thought marrying a Costa daughter would get me something, but it turns out to be nothing. And your sister, on the contrary, has become the family heir."
With that, he wrenched off our wedding ring and smashed it violently onto the ground.
"I should have chosen her in the first place, not you." Those were his final words to me.
In my previous life, I was an unrecognized illegitimate daughter of a mafia family. I obediently accepted the arranged marriage, bared my heart to my hypocritical relatives, and believed wholeheartedly in my husband's promises.
But in the end, all I got was the iron chains of the dungeon, dying with eternal regret and the unresolved truth behind my mother's tragic death. My mother and I were nothing but stepping stones in their power struggle.
Yet when I opened my eyes again, I was back three weeks after my mother's passing — at the engagement scene that decided my entire fate.
This time, I'll make every single one of them understand: they made the wrong choice!

When Mila transfers to Northshore Academy, she wants a fresh start. She doesn’t expect to clash with Cole, the cold and feared hockey star everyone avoids.

Cole is the best player in the school. He barely talks. No one dares to challenge him—until Mila steps onto the ice and proves she can play just as well.

Their rivalry turns into a public challenge. The rule is simple: if Mila wins, Cole must carry her school bag every day for six months. If Cole wins, Mila will have to accept the embarrassment.

Mila wins.

From that day on, Cole walks beside her to school, silent and serious, carrying her bag. Rumors spread. Students stare. What starts as a punishment slowly turns into something neither of them expects

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

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

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

Not a whitetail deer. A moose. Very large.

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

Those two eyeballs looked... too real.

The pupils even contracted in the light.

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

He replied: "What moose?"

I looked at the mount again.

Its lips moved slightly.

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

Skylar thought she had it all—until Liam, her controlling boyfriend, betrayed her. Broken and furious, she's left questioning who she can trust. Then comes Ryder, gruff captain of the hockey team and feared alpha of a ruthless biker pack. She planned to use him for revenge—but his dangerous presence and piercing gaze make her question everything she knew about power, desire, and control.
When her family assigns a risky mission tied to Ryder's pack, hidden secrets surface, pulling her into a world where every choice is dangerous and the attraction between them is undeniable. Skylar is no longer just navigating pack politics—she's fighting for her heart, her freedom, and her survival.
Caught between two worlds, one question haunts her: Was she using him… or was he claiming her?

A night before her wedding, Fiona caught her fiancé and her stepsister, Jenny having an affair.

Feeling betrayed, she called off the wedding.

She found solace in a bar where she drank herself to stupor and eventually lost her virginity to a complete stranger.

Never in her wildest dream would she have thought that the mysterious stranger she lost her virginity to, was a powerful big shot in Celestial city.

Fiona became the big shot’s hidden wife.

When she thought that her life and marriage was all sweet and rosy, her husband divorced her for reasons best known until him.

Fiona waited for weeks for him to return back to her, but he never did.

She found out that she was pregnant with triplets and eventually left Celestial city with her unborn babies.

Fiona had thought that her husband, Raven, hated her, but she wasn’t aware of how much he had missed her.

Once she returned back to Celestial city with her triplets, Raven knelt in front of her saying,

‘’ Fiona, please be mine again. I’ll give the whole world to you.’’ he begged desperately.

So, have you ever heard that saying that you shouldn’t feed stray animals because they’ll follow you home? Turns out that rule applies to demons too…
I didn’t even KNOW he was a demon, but now he insists he owes me his life. The catch? He can’t leave until he “repays the favor,” meaning he’s stuck following me around like some demonic shadow. The good news is, he’ll have plenty of chances to repay me.
Except… I’m starting to wonder if I want him to leave. Especially when he gives me that look, the one that makes my heart race. It’s the kind of look that makes me think I might not mind being saved a little too much.
Sure, he has a tail, but there’s something about him I can’t shake. Maybe it’s the way his voice drops when he gets close, or maybe it’s just because he washes the dishes after dinner. Either way, I’m starting to get attached. Not that it matters because he’s leaving. I know better than to fall for a demon… Right?

Fae are the WORST. Here I am, minding my own business when bam, I get yanked into a summoning circle. Honestly, whoever thought summoning demons was a good idea should be shown why everyone fears demons. Even better? This Fae spells me so I can’t go home until I kill someone for him.
The someone he wants me to kill? The woman who saved my life. Not only is she good, but I can’t bring myself to hurt her. And the worst part? She’s half fae too, that’s just asking for trouble. Now, I’m stuck, bound by my own magic, protecting her, while trying to ignore how much I want to stay. But I can’t. I have to leave eventually. Right?

Sloane Murphy wants to graduate.

When her dissertation supervisor gets changed at the last minute, she calls Sloane’s work ‘academic fluff’. She gives Sloane a one-way ticket to do a practical research on ‘The Psychopathology of Elite Athletes’. What Sloane does not expect is for her image to be plastered all over social media, with people calling her a clout chaser because a man saved her life.

Malik Cross doesn’t care.

When Nike is about to pull out of their 400 million dollar deal with the star because of a club scandal, the Lakers team seeks a solution. A solution that involves him dating—something he never does. Worse off, he’s supposed to date a goody-too-shoes that looks like a librarian.

The two can’t stand each other, and are at each other’s throats majority of the time indoors while they smile for the cameras outdoors.

Slowly, Malik begins to let down his walls, and soon, he realizes that there’s more to life than blondes with big boobs, and her name just starts with an S.

…

“Fuck you.” I poked a finger at one tattooed arm.

His brows bunched up in shock.

“I didn’t know the word ‘fuck’ was in Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes’ dictionary.”

“It’s your need to constantly feed your ego by talking down on me. You think my reason for being in front of the Laker’s complex yesterday had anything to do with wanting a moment with you? Bummer, Malik! Prior to all of this, I didn’t even know who the fuck you were.” I spat, taking a couple of steps away from him,

“I would have thanked you for saving my life, but right now, I’d rather be dead than go through with this.”

He was quiet.

Which was shocking because he always had something to say.

I died on the day my fiancé Song Jinnian got engaged to his white moonlight, Shen Zhiyi.

Shen Zhiyi wore the evening dress designed by Song Jinnian himself, smiling sweetly as she linked her arm through his, accepting blessings from every guest in the hall.

I was at the scene of a car crash on Highway 23, half a steel rebar piercing straight through my chest. Warm blood trickled down the cold metal, pooling into a stark, glaring red pool beneath me.

I called Song Jinnian seventeen times.

He hung up instantly on the first sixteen.

On the seventeenth ring, he finally answered.

The melodic music of the banquet hall hummed in the background. His voice was low, laced with unbridled impatience: “What’s your problem now? How many times do I have to say it—marrying Zhiyi is just a formality. Can’t you act your age and quit this nonsense?”

I tried to speak, but blood froth surged up my throat, stealing my ability to form a full sentence. All I heard was the busy tone as he hung up without a second thought, echoing in the empty car, one beep at a time, shattering my last shred of hope.

Song Jinnian would never know that the girl he dismissed as a spoiled, tantrum-throwing lady was pinned to the driver’s seat by that steel rebar.

Beneath my slightly bulging abdomen lay our two-month-old unborn child.

Trembling, I let go of the phone soaked in blood. With my final ounce of strength, I dialed the funeral home.

“Hello. Near Highway 23… please come collect a body from a car crash.”

A pause came from the other end, followed by the routine question:

“Who are you to the deceased?”

All around me, only the rain hammered against the car windows, and my breath grew fainter and fainter. I forced out my last words:

“I am… the deceased herself.”

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

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

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

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

I believed him again.

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

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

He's going to keep her.

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

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

Here is the translation, adapted into the explosive, high-stakes style of a bestselling American domestic thriller. The pacing is sharp, and the emotional transition from shock to cold vengeance is deeply amplified:

For five years, I honestly believed I was the happiest woman alive.

Until today. The day I came home early and stood frozen just outside the balcony, listening to his phone call.

"What? Shuying, you're pregnant?" Tingshen's voice was laced with a raw, unbridled euphoria I had never once heard before. "I knew getting rid of Jiang Wan's baby back then was the right move."

My knuckles turned stark white as I death-gripped the ultrasound report in my hand.

Qin Shuying. My absolute worst rival. They had been sleeping together.

"Tingshen, are you sure she won't find out?" Shuying's sickeningly sweet voice drifted through the phone's speaker, piercing my eardrums. "If Jiang Wan ever realizes you were the one who killed her baby, she's going to raise hell."

"Relax." Tingshen laughed, his tone dripping with the kind of casual contempt reserved for swatting a fly. "She's so clueless. She honestly believes it was her own failing body. The stupid bitch even cried and apologized to me. She'd never in a million years suspect I drugged her."

My nails drove so brutally into my palms that they broke the skin.

"Besides, I finally got my hands on her core design drafts. Consider them a welcome gift for our baby. As for her shares in the company..." He paused, savoring his own smugness. "She's about to sign them all over to me anyway. So what if her old man built an empire? It's all dropping right into my lap."

The world tilted violently on its axis.

I was carrying his child again.

Just five minutes ago, before I overheard this monstrous phone call, I had been acting like a giddy fool, planning the perfect way to surprise him with the news.

My trembling hand drifted down to my lower stomach. My chest cracked open, a visceral, violent tearing of my own heart. The baby I had desperately longed for and mourned... chemically aborted by their own father, all to keep his mistress happy.

My sweet babies, I thought, the devastating sorrow rapidly freezing into sheer, icy rage. Mommy is going to make them pay for every drop of blood.

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

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

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

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

My father chose two vampires as marriage prospects for my sister and me.

One was an immensely powerful pureblood aristocrat.

The other was Cassian, crippled by a silver curse. Confined to a wheelchair, he was a laughingstock—wracked by phantom pains and constantly on the verge of madness.

In my past life, I chose Cassian.

I drained my own blood to ease his agonizing curse. I shielded him from the relentless mockery of the Vampire Court. I even gambled my life in werewolf territory to beg for his cure.

But he never seemed to get better.

I didn't care. I remember holding his hand and telling him, "It doesn't matter. No matter what happens to you, I will always stay by your side."

Until the accident. A pack of rogue werewolves ambushed us.

Cassian shoved me precisely into the path of their claws.

Just to shield my sister, Serena, from the fatal blow.

Silver claws completely shredded my throat.

Through my fading vision, I watched Cassian stand up from his wheelchair.

The terrifying aura of a Vampire Lord erupted from him, crushing the werewolves instantly. Countless night-thralls emerged from the shadows, dropping to their knees at his feet.

That was when I understood. He was never paralyzed, and he was never mad.

Because Serena hadn't chosen him, and because he wanted absolutely nothing to do with me, he faked the illness to disgust me for years.

Then, he used my life to save his true love.

"I'm sorry for deceiving you. But I couldn't just watch Serena die."

"Elara... whatever I owe you, I'll repay in the next life."

In the bone-piercing cold, I took my last breath.

When I opened my eyes, I was back on the exact day my father forced us to make our choice.

I loved Julian for ten years, carving every sweat-stained day into my love for him.
He once said I shined brighter than any gold medal.
Yet in five short minutes, he handed my dream, my glory, and my whole world to a scheming transfer girl.
Betrayed, discarded, and broken on the fencing strip, I lost my first love and everything I fought for.
Until the retired cold Olympic champion stepped out of the dark midnight shadows.
He offered me hellish training and a sharp blade of revenge.
I buried my soft heart, handed over my soul, and vowed to make every traitor pay.

All I ever wanted was to be Luna in order to save my mother’s life. I thought Alpha Beckett would be just the key, but I was wrong.
~
“I, Alpha Beckett of Ashridge Pack, by the name of the moon goddess, reject you as my mate!”
~
A rejection.
A bond severed.

But life had other plans for me in the form of Xander Theon Grayson, hockey star, golden boy of NorthVale High, A-star student. But what I didn’t know is that he’s an Alpha with a curse.

I need him, and he needs me.

So we signed a fake mate contract. But it comes with a lot more than I expected: a jealous ex, mysterious powers that level me up in a system, a quest to find my origin.

But the question in my mind is: Can I save my mother’s life? Can this bond between Xander and I blossom into something real, even something beautiful?

Jack was a man who lived by the numbers—and the numbers were always at zero. After a lifetime of being overlooked as a disgraced accountant, he welcomed the silence of death. But a self-righteous deity he calls Being X had other plans.
Reincarnated into the cooling corpse of Killian, the E-Rank "stain" of a royal bloodline, Jack is thrust into a world of magic, monsters, and a ruthless System. To the King, he is nothing but a biological battery—a vessel for a Void Core. To his brother, he is a target for assassination. To his fiancée, he is a stepping stone to power.
But Being X made a fatal error. By granting a man who hates life the tools to "level up," he gave an accountant the power to audit reality itself. Now, armed with a hidden System and a cold indifference to fate, Killian will climb from the gutter and hunt down the God who won't let him rest.
The books must be balanced. And in Killian's ledger, the Gods are in the red.

My aunt was terrified I'd end up with a human. So she arranged a marriage herself.

The groom? Kael Voss. Alpha heir to the most powerful pack on the East Coast.

I had a Moonstone Mate Necklace custom-made for the occasion. Global commission. A hundred and eighty thousand dollars.

The day I went to pick it up, it was snatched right out of my hands.

The woman who took it? Chloe Hart. Kael's so-called childhood best friend.

She looked me up and down like I was a stray dog that had wandered in off the street.

"A hundred and eighty grand? Sweetheart, you can't even afford the tax."

Then she told me to get on my knees. Right there, in front of the whole store. Scream three times, "I'm a worthless stray Omega and I know my place."

I didn't kneel.

I threw her own words right back in her face and put her on the floor with one kick.

That's when Kael walked in. My fiancé. The man I'd never met until that very moment.

And damn... he was gorgeous.

I'll be honest, I'm shallow. Always have been. That face hit every single thing on my list.

So I walked right up to him, gave him my sweetest smile, and said, "Hi. I'm Judy. Your fiancée."

He was the gentlest male nurse in the hospital, and it took him three years to fall in love with a woman of exceptional talent.

She was the most dazzling female director of the cardiothoracic surgery department, and she was used to his humble flattery and took his efforts for granted.

Three years of companionship couldn't outweigh a single word: "Get lost."

When he finally left, heartbroken, she realized—

The "little nurse" she used to dislike had long since become the most important person in her life.

Some loves, once lost, are lost forever.

Some missed opportunities are regrets that can never be undone.

I spent five years loving Beckett Calloway.
When his ex-girlfriend died saving his life, I held him through every nightmare. When he said he "wasn't ready" for marriage, I waited. When he whispered "soon," I believed him.
Then her sister showed up. Crying about some terminal illness. Begging him to take care of her.
He let her move onto our private island—the one he promised would only ever belong to us.
He introduced her at the gala where he was supposed to announce our engagement.
He got her pregnant.
And when I told him she was lying about everything, he looked at me like I was the monster.
Then came our wedding rehearsal. She walked down the aisle in my dress. He slid his ring onto her finger. The chapel caught fire. I collapsed, bleeding.
He scooped her up and ran. Didn't even glance back.
So I burned my vows, deleted every trace of myself, and vanished.
This time, I wasn't coming back.

She only agreed to one fake date to help her brother’s grumpy best friend.
She never meant to fall for the single-dad hockey star who swore he’d never love again.
Holly Winters runs Heartstrings Connections, the matchmaking agency that turns Evergreen Hollow into a year-round Christmas-card town.
Rowan Kane is the Evergreen Bears’ brooding captain who hasn’t celebrated a holiday since his wife walked out on Christmas Eve four years ago, leaving him and two-year-old Lily behind.
One lost bet.
One gala.
One tiny white lie that snowballs into town-wide rumors, forced proximity, midnight kisses under northern lights, and a little girl who starts calling Holly “my Holly.”
But when Rowan’s ex-wife suddenly reappears, carrying secrets that could destroy everything (bipolar disorder, a lost pregnancy, crushing debt, and a mysterious man who will sacrifice his entire life to protect them), the fake romance becomes the only real thing either of them has left.
In a winter that refuses to end, four broken people and one fierce little girl will discover that sometimes the greatest love stories aren’t the ones you plan;
they’re the ones that save you when you’re too terrified to save yourself.
Snowed-in nights.
Desperate proposals.
A stranger’s ultimate act of love.
And a sky that catches fire just to prove happy endings still exist.

"In our six years of marriage, you never named me Luna. You gave me nothing other than the position I maintained from when we built this company."
"My affair is my business. Your job is to shut up and obey your husband," Rune spat with a nonchalant look.
"No, I'm not built like that," I replied softly. "I can't be your slave, Rune. My love for you made me a fool once but no more."
"Where do you think you are going? It's one thing to build but it's another to have your people by your side. You are an Omega! A rat!"
"The document on your table is our divorce papers. Sign it and have it sent to the Salvatore's mansion in Echo City."


She was the humble wife of the Alpha, and also the mysterious rival who bankrupted him; when the scumbag took her job with his mistress, she threw out a divorce agreement: Sorry, this company is mine, and my father is the richest man in the world.
After divorcing her unfaithful husband, billionaire Silver seeks solace by returning to her home pack, hoping to start fresh and reconnect with her roots but home is not what it used to be.
Her father's legacy has left behind a tangled mess of debts, secrets, and enemies lurking in the shadows.
Caught in the storm, Silver is drawn to the pack's new young Alpha, a man wrapped in mystery, danger, and an intensity that unsettles her heart.
Their paths collide in ways neither of them expected, forcing Silver to face not only the darkness in her family's past, but also the forbidden spark threatening to shape her future.
Now, she must decide: will she fight the chaos consuming her world, or surrender to a desire that could destroy everything?

At first, I thought I was the luckiest woman in the world, at least maybe the sacrifices I had made over the past five years would pay off.
But I was wrong. I was just a replacement for Luna, whom no one ever wanted.
I was abandoned by Alpha, my husband, on our fifth wedding anniversary, for the woman who had left him.
What hurt even more was that the child I had raised with all my heart and soul ran into the arms of her biological mother, as if I had never meant anything to his.
Rejected, discarded, and cast out-all of it destroyed me. It felt as if the whole world had rejected me.
But just when I was about to disappear, fate brought me to the beginning of a resurrection I never imagined.

So after this weird plague, basically all the alphas disappeared. Only a few packs had alpha bloodlines left, so they formed an alliance. Whoever could produce an alpha pup in the younger generation becomes the next pack leader.

I'm Natalia from Moon Stone pack. My dad's the alpha, I've got alpha blood, but I can't shift. So everyone treats me like garbage. My mom died young, dad remarried this beta luna who had Stella, my half-sister who's just a beta but gets treated better than me.

In my past life, at the mating ceremony, Damon picked me. I thought I'd won. Turns out the bastard was actually an omega using black magic to fake being beta. When we mated, we had an omega pup instead of an alpha heir.

What does this piece of shit do? Blames ME. Says I faked my alpha bloodline. Then he kills me and my baby and dumps our bodies with the rogues.

But I'm back. It's the mating ceremony again, except this time Damon's going after Stella instead of me. Which makes me think, did that asshole get reborn too?

Three years ago, on their way to attend my graduation art exhibition, the cruise ship carrying my fiancé and my family caught fire.

Over the past three years, I downed sleeping pills countless times, desperately wanting to follow them into the afterlife. Every single time, my adopted sister, Serena, saved me, crying hysterically as she shoved her fingers down my throat to make me throw up.

"They are already gone! Harper, you can't keep living in the past. You have to live on for their sake!"

After fainting from yet another high fever and being rushed to the hospital, I was diagnosed with terminal leukemia.

The doctor said I had a month left, at most.

I refused their advice to find a bone marrow match. Clutching my family's belongings, I decided to go back to our old estate in the suburbs for one last look.

While I was walking in a daze, a little boy running wildly crashed hard into my legs.

A male voice that had haunted my dreams for years rang out from behind me. "Alistair, if you keep running off, what will you do if Mommy and Daddy don't want you anymore?"

In an instant, it felt like I had been plunged into freezing water. I froze in place.

The night my husband George took our five-year-old son to celebrate his mistress winning Best Actress, I found a video on his laptop that shattered everything.
On our seventh anniversary, after waiting hours for a husband who never came home, I made a decision that would destroy him forever.
I didn't confront him. I didn't file for divorce. I didn't beg him to choose me.
Instead, I chose to disappear.
When George came home with exotic wines and a designer dress, trying to cover his lies with expensive gifts, he had no idea he only had six days left with me.
Six days before my car would plunge off Riverside Bridge.
Six days before Brenda Taylor would cease to exist.

For seven years, I'd been the perfect wife. I'd survived the pain of childbirth, the changes to my body he could no longer love, and the slow death of our marriage while he built a new life with actress Candice Black and took our son along for the ride.
He thought I was too devoted to leave. Too broken to fight back. Too in love to see the truth.
But he was wrong.
I didn't leave him. I vanished.

And when my car goes over that bridge, when he realizes what he's lost, that will be the beginning of his end.
Because some betrayals don't deserve confrontation.
They deserve ghosts.

My younger sister, Freya, was preparing for her advanced training in New York the following week, so she dragged me to the dance studio to help her correct her movements. I put on my dance shoes as usual and stood in the center of the floor, ready to demonstrate a turn.

The moment my foot slipped, I didn't even have time to react.

My body hit the ground hard, and the sharp pain from the back of my head nearly made me lose consciousness. I lay on the cold floor, my throat tight, unable to even cry out for help.

When Mother rushed in, she didn't spare me a glance.

She immediately helped Freya up and took her to the hospital. I missed the critical window for treatment and died on the way to the hospital.

Every she-wolf in the Blackwood Pack envied me.
Olivia Klein, the lowest-ranked Omega who married the most powerful Alpha, Dominic Blackwood.
Yet none knew the truth of my torment.
The Phoenix mark on my neck made me Dominic Blackwood’s Luna—but it never made me his choice.
For five years, I endured his hatred, the pack’s scorn, and the crushing weight of a prophecy no one believed.
And when the car crash nearly stole our unborn child from me, my desperate calls went unanswered.
Instead, Dominic moved his ex into our bedroom.
That’s when I understood: prophecies lie. Marks fade. And some battles?
Aren’t worth fighting.
For the sake of my child, I was resolved to leave.
But tell me, why did that callous, heartless Alpha suddenly have regrets?

Twenty-one-year-old Adrian Blood had nothing — no parents, no money, he was just a scholarship and a girlfriend he thought was worth saving for. Valentine's night stripped even that away. Teresa chose his bully. Ricardo's men put him in the garbage, literally.

Then a voice activated in his head.

The Chosen Heir System doesn't do sympathy — it does missions. Its first order: save the sister of the man who just destroyed him. Adrian ran through the rain, bleeding, and did it anyway.

One mission. One million dollars.

Ricardo Rodriguez has no idea what he just created. And the system is only getting started.

When her fated mate chooses her best friend, Euphyllia Ivara Ruinart discovers a cruel truth that she has been reborn countless times, only to be betrayed in every life.

In her despair, one forbidden night binds her to Lucretius Xior Franciosa, Alpha of the Golden Eclipse Pack, commander in the royal military, and her mate's own uncle and sworn enemy. From that night on, cryptic notes and a single chrysanthemum begin to appear, which she soon discovers are from him. It's his constant reminder that she is being watched, claimed, and marked as his.

Then comes his offer: vengeance, in exchange for her body, her trust, and perhaps even her soul. A deal with the devil, which she accepts, swearing to destroy the mate who cast her aside and the friend who betrayed her.

What starts as revenge becomes an entanglement with his darkness, where obsession devours love and ruin is the only end. But amidst the chaos of betrayal and desire, Euphyllia yearns to uncover the mystery of her past lives and discover who she truly is.

In his eyes, I had always been "understanding." Understanding enough not to fight, not to make scenes, not to ask for status.

He said we couldn't go public now, but it was for our future.

Only later did I realize that his "future" never included me.

He chose power, chose arranged marriage, chose to keep me hidden. When I finally left, he started having regrets, started saying he loved me.

But by then I understood—he wasn't regretting losing me. He panicked because I was no longer obedient, no longer his.

So I never gave him another chance. I turned and walked away.

But that was only the first step.

I chose to let the truth surface at his moment of greatest triumph, to let him taste what it feels like to lose everything.

On my son's seventh birthday, he hid behind my husband's first love and shouted at me, "You're a bad woman! She's my real mom!"
My husband was even crueler. He threw me out of the house without a second thought.
"To me, you were nothing but a surrogate."
Heartbroken, I walked away—and later adopted an abandoned little boy.
Years passed, when my husband finally learned the truth about the woman he had always protected, he came to me with our biological son, both of them kneeling before me in tears, begging for forgiveness.
Holding my adopted son's hand, I smiled calmly.
"Sorry. I only have one son."

For three years of marriage, I played the perfect, obedient wife.
I married him only because my family once saved his from bankruptcy, and because I had loved him since college.
I thought time would soften his heart.
Then his ex returned, and everything fell apart.
He threw a welcome party for her himself, called me to the office under the pretense of work, then turned around and dismissed me as an eyesore. The whispers in the company cut into me like needles.
That same day, the hospital called. I was eight weeks pregnant with his child. Before the joy could settle, the word divorce fell lightly from his lips.
I asked for three months, just enough time to leave with what little dignity I had left. He agreed without emotion.
Yet after I moved out, he secretly placed me in a luxury apartment and stationed people to watch me day and night.
When I finally hid my pregnancy and resolved to raise the child alone, ready to confront his scheming ex, he cornered me against the wall, eyes red, voice shaking.
“Who gave you permission to walk away with my child?”