909 Book(s) Related to When We First Met

Beau and I have been together for three years. I paid for the entire yacht charter out of my own pocket, and he shows up with his childhood best friend Sadie in tow, then goes around telling everyone it was his idea, his grand gesture.

Out on the water, Sadie spots a small octopus drifting near the surface and decides she has to have it. The thing pulses with glowing blue rings.

I'm a certified expert diver. I know exactly what it is the second I see it. I try to stop her.

She bursts into tears and tells Beau I'm going after her.

So Beau, ever the hero where Sadie's concerned, jumps in himself and fishes the thing out.

Sadie plays with it. It bites her. She's on the deck before she even knows what hit her.

Beau grabs me, screaming at me to suck out the venom. I refuse. He calls me a cold, heartless bitch, and in the chaos, shoves me overboard into shark-infested water.

I die out there. Nothing left of me.

They use my phone to fake a suicide note. Depression, they say. Jumped on her own. Then they take my company, my assets, everything.

They post online hinting I tried to push Sadie in and slipped.

My parents, worn down by the online harassment and the grief of losing me, both die of heart attacks.

Then I open my eyes. And I'm back. The morning of the trip.

Adriano Moretti rules the city’s underworld in smoke-filled rooms and blood-soaked streets. In the daylight, he’s the king of the tech world—tailored suits, sharp smiles, every inch the respectable billionaire. But to those who cross him, he’s the executioner they never see coming.

Some confessions are meant to heal.
Others are meant to be hunted.

The Service was never supposed to be justice.
Disguised as anonymous therapy, it became a place where millions confessed their darkest sins—believing no one was listening.

They were wrong.

He built The Service to find the truth behind the fire that killed the woman he loved.

It was never about power.
It was never about control.
It was about hearing her name spoken by the person responsible.

Then Isabella returns.

Very much alive and changed. Carrying a child he never knew existed.

Six years after the fire, the ghost he buried walks back into his life, and Adriano refuses to let her disappear again. What begins as control turns into confrontation. Old wounds reopen. Secrets surface. And love—sharper, angrier, and more dangerous than before—demands to be reckoned with.

But the past isn’t finished with them.

A rogue system, born from betrayal and grief, resurfaces—one that can turn the city itself into a weapon. And the truth about the night that tore them apart finally comes to light.

Adriano must choose between the man he became in the ashes…
and the family he never knew he could still have.

A short contemporary domestic-drama romance. Clean to sweet. Happily ever after.

My husband's family slid the folder across the table — sign here, family helps family, it's just a signature.

What they didn't know: I had almost three million dollars in an account none of them could find. I silenced the alert before the number could glow.

They think we're the broke ones. For four years they've bled the kindest man I know dry, dressing every demand up as love and cashing it. So I let them keep believing it — and I built a wall they will never see.

They're about to find out what happens when you spend a lifetime underestimating the quiet one.

And this time, I'm not the one who pays.

Marrying her best friend was a dream come true for Kelly, but everything truly has a limitation.
Pierce is Kelly’s first love, but as his best friend, she knew well there was always another woman deep in his heart.
Lexi Gilbert. The woman Pierce could never forget even if he had already been arranged to marry Kelly.


Kelly finally realized their happy marriage of the last three years was just a beautiful dream when Pierce asked for a divorce just because Lexi returned.
She could only be his best friend even if she was carrying his baby.


Since their friendship had become a cage, Kelly chose to set him free, as well as the miserable herself.
But why then, it was Pierce who became the one who refused to move on?
To make matters worse, her devil stepbrother also domineeringly stepped in at the same time, asking her to be his.


Her Prince Charming vs. Her Devil Stepbrother?
How could Kelly save her heart in this battle of love and hate?

On the first day of the zombie outbreak, my two roommates and I made a crazy decision: before the banking system crashed, we'd take out dozens of online loans and high-limit credit cards!
"Since it's the end of the world, who the hell cares about credit scores? Borrow money! Buy out the supermarket! We don't have to pay it back anyway!"
We smashed through walls, welded the security door shut, and used millions of dollars worth of supplies to build a makeshift shelter . We thought we could survive this catastrophe.
Until that day, in a moment of madness, I rescued a pregnant stranger right under the zombies' noses.
I forgot that in the apocalypse, the smell of amniotic fluid and blood is the ultimate death warrant that attracts monsters from the entire city…

When 18-year-old Sienna's dad remarries, she ends up living with 19-year-old Jaxon; her new stepbrother. He's broody, quiet, and always seems one step ahead.
They clash right away, turning every little thing into a battle. But as tension builds, their rivalry starts to blur into something else.
Something neither of them expected or are supposed to feel. And once that line is crossed... there's no going back.

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.

My skirt was pushed up, and my inner thighs were rubbing against my stepfather’s jeans every time the plane shook.

“It’s okay, it’s just turbulence,” Raviel whispered, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist. I was sitting on his lap because the sudden shaking made it impossible to return to my seat. My butt landed right on his thigh, grinding against something hard. God, it felt beyond words. It felt so good, and dirty. I almost moaned in front of his face.

He was my mother’s husband. She was sitting just a few feet away, wearing headphones, completely oblivious that her daughter was practically dry-humping her husband. Raviel didn’t push me away. Instead, his palms moved up and down to caress my thighs. "You’re so tense, Claire," he murmured, his hot breath blowing in my ear.

That was just the beginning. In Hawaii, things got worse. Or better.
“Lie down on your stomach,” he commanded on the beach. He poured oil onto his palms, making them slippery and moist. As his hands touched my back, I shuddered. His thumbs massaged my buttocks, sliding dangerously close to my inner thighs. His fingertips occasionally rubbed my crotch, sending electric shocks through my body.

I knew it was wrong. I was a virgin, keeping myself for a future husband. But Raviel... he looked at me with a hunger that terrified and aroused me. "You have such soft skin," he said, his voice low and husky. I was soaking wet in my bikini bottom, fantasizing about my stepfather while my mother slept in the hotel room. I was a cursed stepdaughter, and I think he knew it.


Claire Osborn thought her life was finally stable when her mother married Raviel Marshal, a handsome, wealthy, and charming businessman. But beneath Raviel's perfect exterior lies a dark secret: he is a cold-blooded hitman. When a "vacation" to Hawaii turns into a tragedy and Claire's mother is murdered in a suspicious robbery, Claire is left alone with Raviel.

As they live together in his sprawling mansion, the lines between stepfather and stepdaughter begin to blur. Claire finds herself drawn to the dangerous man who protects her, unaware that he might be the one who pulled the trigger on her mother. Raviel, on the other hand, struggles to control his growing obsession with the innocent girl he swore to protect.

In a house full of secrets, surveillance cameras, and hidden weapons, a forbidden passion ignites. But as Claire gets closer to the truth about Raviel's identity and her mother's death, she must decide: is he her savior, or her worst nightmare?

Betrayal cuts very deep, but who says revenge can't be sweeter and satisfying?

Married to the one man who once claimed he loved her wholeheartedly, Claire is broken when she finds out about her dear husband’s endless escapades. To make matters worse, he had also been cheating on her with his secretary and had gotten her pregnant, yet he tortured her physically, mentally and emotionally and wasn't remorseful about it.

Determined to take revenge on him for the intentional pain he had caused her over the years, she set out to shatter his world completely. She does the unthinkable, and is about to turn the tables in the most shocking way.

When the Tide Took Him — A Romantic Suspense Novel
Four years ago, on a fogchoked night in coastal Maine, Silas Ward vanished without a trace. The town moved on. The police closed the case. But Eveline Shore never stopped searching—or feeling the echo of the boy she once loved whispering, “Eve, I’ll always find you.”
When Eveline discovers a torn page from Silas’s notebook hidden inside the abandoned lighthouse—written in his unmistakable handwriting—everything she believed shatters. The message warns that she “wasn’t alone” the night he vanished…and that someone has been watching her ever since.
Determined to uncover the truth, Eveline is drawn into a dangerous web involving Silas’s best friend, Jonas, whose guilt and evasiveness suggest he knows far more than he’s willing to admit. And when a mysterious man named Rowan arrives—someone who knows Eveline’s name, her past, and the night Silas disappeared—the pieces begin to fall into place in the most terrifying way.
Silas didn’t vanish by accident.
He was taken.
And the person who pushed him off the cliffs that night wasn’t after him.
They were after her.
As Eveline uncovers the chilling truth and the secrets Silas died to protect, she realizes he survived the fall—not to save himself, but to keep her alive. Their longawaited reunion becomes a heartbreaking confrontation with betrayal, sacrifice, and the dangerous legacy she never knew she carried.
Set against the haunting backdrop of early2000s coastal Maine, When the Tide Took Him blends deep emotional romance with escalating mystery and suspense.
A story for readers who crave love that endures, secrets that haunt, and endings powerful enough to stay with them long after the final page.

She watched her boyfriend drop to one knee, not for her, but for another woman.
Humiliated. Betrayed. Disowned by her own mother. Krystalina is left with nothing, no dignity, no home, not even a single penny to her name.
Just when she thinks life cannot be cruel, London's richest and most ruthless lawyer offers her a lifeline.
A marriage contract. A surrogacy agreement.
Strict rules : No emotions. No s****l intimacy. No attachment with the baby.
But rules are meant to be broken.The moment passion blurs the lines, secrets begin to unravel and the truth behind his cold proposal threatens to destroy them both.
Can a relationship born out of betrayal survive their love?


"You've been a very bad girl, Mrs Ashton. Always disobeying me." His thumb brushed over my lower lip, possessive, stealing my breath. "I don't want my baby to be ill-mannered, like you," he said calmly.
Tears welled in my eyes at his audacity. "Then you should terminate the contract."

Cael Morrow has one rule: never look too long at anyone. Because when he does, he sees the date they'll die. He's kept that secret buried since he watched the numbers above his family's heads count down to zero. Now he's seventeen, living under the roof of his mother's new husband, and trying to survive a school where his new stepbrother, Rowe Daltry, runs everything.
Rowe is cold, controlled, and the most feared boy at Harken Prep. He doesn't do feelings. He doesn't do questions. And he definitely doesn't do the quiet, damaged boy; his father just moved into the room down the hall.
But when Cael accidentally reads Rowe's death date, and it's closer than anyone could imagine, everything changes. Cael can't leave. Rowe won't let him. And the truth about what Cael can see is only the first secret between them that could destroy everything.

Four months pregnant, I was full of joy and wanted to tell my gang-boss boyfriend.
He had sworn that if we had a child, he'd stay away from the underworld, and live a normal life with me.
But when I appeared at his stronghold holding a first aid kit, I was treated as a bitch who wanted to seduce the boss and suffered cruel abuse.
The most ironic thing was that my husband and I were only separated by a wall, but his subordinates told him "another slut is pestering you", making him miss the moment when I needed him most.
When I woke his memory with a lullaby, it was all too late—our child had...
The good news had become a dirge. Having lost everything, I understood a truth:
Real revenge is not taking away life, but making the enemy fall into the abyss when they are happiest.

After five years of invisible devotion, she watched her husband dote on another woman while her own daughter wished for a different mother. The birthday fireworks meant for her became a spectacle of her humiliation.

A renowned cardiac surgeon who had saved countless lives, she finally saved her own—by vanishing with nothing but signed divorce papers.

Three years later, she returned as the brilliant founder of a top medical institute, celebrated and desired worldwide. The man who once took her for granted now sees the empire she built without him. He searches desperately, begging for another chance.

But the woman he broke is no longer there—only the queen who rose from the ashes remains.

Can a heart he shattered ever beat for him again? And will the daughter who rejected her finally see what she lost?

"You broke up with me at a time I needed you most... You said I wasn't the one you love... You called me a whore... You said I wasn't your type to begin with... So what would you have me do?"

"Beg!" Michael answered instantly. "I expect you to beg for mercy."

"You don't deserve my plead, Michael. You don't worth my tears..." She was about to go further when Michael kissed her roughly to the point that she was having a hard time to breath.

"Is that why you sold yourself to Kelvin?" He asked after releasing her lips.

Nora wiped her lips with her knotted hands. She looked at him and without fear, she said, "Whoever I sell myself to is none of your business. As a whore that you called me to be, you shouldn't keep counts of how many men if I f**k with." Her response made Michael very angry. He had no choice but to push her and rape her only to find out she was still a virgin.

Would Nora be able to love again? What will she do if Michael begs for a second chance.

The story begins with a disastrous mistake: Serenity confesses to the wrong person. Instead of Tony—the warm, composed boy she has a crush on—she accidentally hands her love letter to Vince, the principal’s arrogant and rebellious son. Seizing the opportunity, Vince uses the letter to blackmail Serenity, forcing her into "unpaid domestic service" while relentlessly teasing and controlling her.
As the plot unfolds, Tony realizes Serenity’s true feelings, and the two officially start a relationship. However, their happiness is short-lived. Vince publicly sabotages them by spreading rumors, leaving Serenity deeply wounded. Through this pain, she finds her inner strength, finally learning to stand up for herself and confront her bully.
The ultimate climax occurs when Serenity discovers her mother is about to remarry the principal—Vince’s father. This twist turns her schoolyard enemy into her soon-to-be stepbrother. With school conflicts now bleeding into her domestic life, Serenity is torn between protecting her mother’s newfound happiness and the dread of living under the same roof as the person who hurt her most.

1

I catch them mid-twist on the SoHo couch we picked out together—Ethan's shirt crumpled on the floor, his hands fisted in Layla's hair, her dress hitched high on her hips, her head thrown back in a gasp that curdles my blood.
My fingers go slack on the doorknob; the Lombardi's bag, his favorite chicken parmigiana, my promotion celebration, slams to the hardwood.
Violet's world shatters the moment she walks into her own living room and finds her husband tangled up with her stepsister. The man she loved. The sister she trusted. Both betraying her in the most humiliating way possible.
Now, with her marriage destroyed and her heart in pieces, Violet vows to take everything from them—her husband's empire, her stepsister's peace, and her own power back.
But when a mysterious billionaire, Liam Knight, walks into her life offering partnership and passion, Violet finds herself torn between revenge and the chance to love again.
Will she burn her enemies to ashes… or risk her heart one more time?

Five years ago, I pulled a dying man from the depths of the ocean.
His name was Silas. When he woke up, he looked me in the eye and swore he'd marry me, that he'd protect me for the rest of his life.
I believed him.
I hid it from my clan, shed my tail, and followed him to land. I bore him a daughter—Winnie. I kept myself locked away in a villa, out of sight from the world. No wedding. No ring. Even the mermaid scales on Winnie's legs had to be covered up with layers and layers of concealer.
Until that night at the banquet. Zoe and her goons pinned us both to the tile by the pool, scraping the scales off Winnie's legs with a knife, sneering that this "filth" was such an eyesore.
I stroked her mangled calf, desperate for Silas to come save us. But Zoe said Silas was her fiancé.
Silas? Her fiancé?
Then what the hell am I?

When my boyfriend of three years won the student body presidency, I rented out the entire bar to celebrate. But when I came back with the cake, I heard deafening jeers from the private room.
"I bet ten grand I can get her to ditch the engagement her family arranged and elope with me before graduation."
"That uptight bookworm? Sweet-talk her a little and she's wrapped around your finger."
"Guess what would happen if she found out—even the money for my off-campus apartment with Marie came from her part-time jobs. Think she'd go ballistic?"
The cake box slipped from my hands. Cream splashed onto my white sneakers—the ones I'd worked three part-time jobs to afford, the ones he said he loved because I looked so "pure" in them.
Turns out what he loved wasn't my purity, but how cheap and controllable I was.
I didn't storm in and confront him. I simply turned around, stepped over the mess, and walked away.
Everyone seemed to forget—Calvin and I were never equals.
I am Athena Stavros, only heir to one of Europe's old money families.
And this three-year charade of being just another student was about to end.

The night I almost drank myself to death at a client dinner, my husband Alexander bought his first love a luxury yacht.

Maya posted it on Instagram that same night: "Best birthday gift EVER! You know who you are 💕🛥️~"

In the photo, she was in a bikini, champagne in hand, glowing with joy.

Then came the credit card alert—our joint account had been maxed out.

Before I could even confront him, Alexander called.

"Are you serious right now? Why'd you lock the card? Maya's been struggling with her depression—she needs to go sailing to clear her head! Why can't you show some compassion?"

I wanted to tell him that last night, I'd nearly killed myself closing a deal for his company.

But he'd already hung up.

Later that evening, Maya posted again—an extravagant jewelry set. The caption: "When someone truly GETS you 💎✨"

In the photo, she wore a diamond ring I never got, not even on my wedding day.

But by then, I was done caring.

Because I'd made my decision—to disappear completely.

Sebastian is dead.

And I'm the prime suspect.

I thought Lucy was the only one on my side, but there's always panic in her eyes. Black stockings showing up in my closet, red marks on my wrists I can't explain, texts sent from my phone that I never wrote...

The evidence keeps piling up, choking me.

My memory's slipping, the same broken nightmares on repeat. Strange perfume, cruel words, and the name "Leah" that won't leave my head.

Who is lying? Who's pulling the strings?

I can't tell what's real anymore. All I know is everyone's lying to me.

I need to find who's behind this before it destroys me.

Five years ago, on my wedding day, my fiancé Vincent fucked my best friend in the bridal suite.

Five years later, I returned to New York with my husband—the most powerful Mafia boss in Naples. At Atelier Milano, my former best friend Bianca circled my custom gown like a vulture, pestering the staff about meeting the legendary Mrs. Salvatore.

She had no idea the woman she pitied as a pathetic nobody was the very person she was dying to impress.

“Harper, you look beautiful as ever. The look of captivity suits you.”
“What do you want with me, Alpha Thane?”
I spat the words out. His menacing smile curled over his white teeth. It is a terrible thing, how such a handsome man can be the devil reincarnated.
“It is no secret; I want you as my mate.”
“WHY ME… WHY DID YOU PICK ME?” I raised my voice and yelled at him.
Harper Rae, a fierce survivor whose life is shattered when the ruthless Alpha Thane Kago invades her pack, intent on making her his mate. But Harper isn’t one to bow. With the love and strength of Gabriel Mason, she ignites a fight for freedom that births a legacy destined to reshape the supernatural world.
Years later, Harper and Gabriel's daughter, Willow Mason, carries the weight of that legacy with a rebel’s heart. Torn between two dangerous bad boys—a wild demon with a devil-may-care attitude and a noble dragon prince—Willow finds herself at the center of an ancient, deadly feud that could rip the world apart. To save her people and protect her heart, she must embrace her destiny as a leader.
The saga reaches its epic conclusion with Ryder, Willow’s son—a dragon-Lycan hybrid so powerful that even the gods tremble in fear. Hunted by celestial forces, Ryder’s journey of love and vengeance climaxes in a battle of godly proportions, as he proves his worth not as a threat but as a savior. His final ascension as a god seals the legacy of a family that dared to defy everything.
This sweeping epic blends forbidden love, supernatural conflict, and divine drama into a thrilling story of survival and triumph. Perfect for fans of shifter romance and tales of epic legacy. A Steamy Werewolf / Dragon / Hybrid Romance Novel.

I drove a silver stake directly into his heart last night, so why is the school's vampire president pinning me against the locker room mirror completely unharmed?
My blood ran cold when I turned around and saw Sebastian Vlad leaning against the wall, watching me undress. The monster I left bleeding to death in a pool of his own dark blood was smiling at me.
I rushed forward in a blind rage, grabbing his collar. "How are you still alive?!" I spat, my nails digging into his neck.
He smirked, his cold hands wrapping around my wrists like iron shackles. Without breaking eye contact, he ripped his crisp white shirt open, popping the buttons off. My breath stopped. His sculpted chest was flawless. The spot where I had driven the stake deep into his flesh was completely smooth. No wound. No scar. No heartbeat.
"You must be disappointed," he chuckled darkly, forcing my hand flat against his cold, dead chest. "Something you can never kill, no matter what you do."
He leaned in, his nose grazing mine, his dark eyes filled with a terrifying mix of lust and violence. "I will gladly let you kill me again and again..." he whispered, his hands sliding down to my waist. "That way I'll get to kiss you again and again."

The Koch family is the oldest family in the Blue Star Kingdom. As the new generation heir, Chad Koch has encountered many women—some attracted to his wealth, others to his looks, but none genuinely cared for him as a person. Consequently, Chad Koch has perpetually upheld a demeanor of aloofness towards the fairer sex.
Amidst a twist of fate, Daphne emerges as the savior of Chad Koch's venerable grandfather.
Thus unfolds the tale of emotional intricacies between a haughty scion of royalty and a humble maiden of the farmlands.

In my past life, I built an ironclad sanctuary in the zombie-infested wasteland, bleeding to keep four thousand people alive.
Yet the very people I risked everything to protect were brainwashed into overthrowing me.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back—right on the eve of that fatal rebellion.
Right now in the control room, my enemy has his arm around my wife. Fourteen rebels have their assault rifles pressed against my skull, laughing mockingly, convinced they've completely crushed this washed-up "Doomsday Tyrant."
What they don't know is that two days ago, I already emptied the bunker's entire stockpile of weapons and food.
You want "freedom" without rules? It's all yours.

Liliana is a friendless, socially awkward, and tomboy who is constantly being ridiculed for her appearance and lack of social connections. However, she is destined to meet a charming prince, and a rollercoaster ride awaits her, which will completely transform her life.

Jason is a charming, arrogant jock who has never trusted a girl, who has never believed in steadfast love, and who has finally decided to be with the tomboy girl, Liliana. At first, his goal was to keep the girls out of his way. However, once they both looked into each other's eyes and kissed, once the sparks of love-struck their hearts.

"Can you tell me why you're dressing like a boy? "Do you have any idea that you're a girl?" He chuckled, inspecting her from her shoes to her bizarre bun in a mocking manner.

"Then kiss me," she said, a competitive tone in her voice as she raised her eyebrows in irritation.

She caught him off guard with her words, but she managed to pull him into a powerful kiss that broke his heart.

They had no intention of falling in love with each other. But it was their destiny.

If you were to write your own story, how would you end it?

Annika Ficarro is a writer who often runs away from reality, not interested in love because she believes there is no destiny for her, that only happy endings happen in the books she reads.

She promises herself that she will never love again, but deliberately playing destiny, a man she has long forgotten returns, to knock her heart out again. She wanted to give the man another chance, but she was afraid that might get hurt again.

Annika tried to love and write their own story, but the conflict was that she didn’t know how to end the story... that had just ended.

On our seventh anniversary, Jeffrey brought his mistress home for dinner.

Calla wore my dead mother's necklace and called me a "boring housewife" while I cooked for them. Jeffrey laughed, saying I was lucky he kept me around since I'd never contributed anything to our marriage.

What he didn't know? I'd given up my six-figure tech career to nurse him back from his car accident. Sacrificed everything while he treated me like his personal servant.

For seven years, I endured his cheating and cruelty, thinking love meant sacrifice.

I was wrong.

When I left him the divorce papers, Jeffrey screamed that I'd come crawling back within a week.

But when I never came back, he was the one who lost his mind.

When the apocalypse struck, my brother Leo didn't hesitate to choose the offshore sanctuary.
In our past life, faced with a choice between a powerful inland warlord commanding a massive army and a leader clinging to a solitary island, Leo snatched up the first option.
But when a zombie horde overran the mainland and defenses collapsed, he fled to my island for refuge.
Jealous of how well I was surviving the end of the world, he and our parents knocked me unconscious in the dead of night and threw me into the ocean to drown.
Now that I've been reborn, Leo immediately took our parents to the maritime base, leaving the "dangerous" mainland to me.
He thinks the ocean is a natural barrier that guarantees his safety, that he can sit back and relax while the world burns.
But there's one thing he doesn't know.
Zombies aren't just static, mindless walking dead—they evolve.
And when they do, that offshore sanctuary will become a floating hell with no way out.

"You worthless piece of trash!" Kate's manicured nails dug into my collar. "They should have poisoned you properly years ago—just like your parents!"

The security guards moved, but I raised my hand. Let her talk. Let her confess.

Because Emily Eugins—the "dying" orphan everyone pities—isn't who they think she is.

Ten years ago, Emily Eugins watched her parents die in a "car accident." Her parents' jewelry empire destroyed. Her inheritance stolen. Four families conspired to erase her parents—and made one fatal mistake: they let her live.

Now she's trapped in her uncle's attic, labeled terminally ill, about to be sold in marriage to a dangerous widower. But Emily has spent a decade planning her revenge, and she's found the perfect weapon: Stefan Ashford.

Cold. Ruthless. Estranged from his powerful senator father.

The man everyone fears just became her contract husband.

Armed with psychological manipulation, forged medical records, and jewelry design skills no one knows she possesses, Emily begins dismantling the four families—one calculated move at a time.

But Stefan's not the pawn she expected. He's hiding scars. Hunting a lost ruby. Watching her with eyes that see too much.

And when he discovers the "dying" girl he married is actually a master strategist with blood on her agenda...

The real game begins.

Twenty-one-year-old Iris Kane thought she was just another college student until gunmen stormed her campus. Now she's hiding in the last place the FBI would look—the mansion of Alessandro "Alex" Torrino, heir to Chicago's most dangerous crime family. At forty-two, Alex is everything she should fear: cold, ruthless, and powerful enough to make people disappear with a phone call. But when bullets start flying and enemies close in, the man twice her age becomes her only protection. What starts as a desperate lie for survival ignites into a passion that could destroy them both. Because Iris isn't just any girl seeking shelter—she's the secret daughter of FBI Director Robert Kane, the man who's been hunting Alex's family for twenty years. In a world where love is weakness and trust gets you killed, their forbidden romance is the deadliest secret of all.

Luna Ashford knew the stories about Alpha Damon Silvermane - he was the most powerful Alpha in five areas, and he never touched the same woman twice. The night she came of age, everything changed. Her smell called to him like nothing ever had, and suddenly the untouchable Alpha couldn't stay away.
For weeks, Luna lived in secret paradise, thinking she was finally the one to capture the legendary Alpha's heart. Then the pregnancy test showed positive, and hours later, Damon revealed his engagement to Alpha-born Seraphina Nightshade.
Shattered and carrying his secret, Luna disappeared into the human world with nothing but her pride and future child. Three years later, she's built a peaceful life with her daughter Aria and her loyal mate Marcus - a gentle soul who saved her when she had nothing left.
But Damon has been searching relentlessly, and when he finally tracks her down, Luna learns a truth that changes everything: Marcus isn't just any mate. He's Damon's cousin, and their bond is deeper than blood - their souls were mystically linked in childhood, making Luna's choice between them a magical impossibility.
Now Luna must navigate a dangerous game where choosing one mate could literally kill the other, while dark forces from both their pasts combine to destroy the impossible love triangle that defies the very laws of werewolf nature.

Nora Vale inherits three million dollars and a ruined seaside motel from an aunt her family called impossible.

She tells no one. Not even Rowan, her exhausted mechanic husband, who has spent years letting his family drain him dry.

Instead, Nora tells one dangerous lie: her design studio has collapsed, and she has lost everything.

Rowan does not blame her. He does not leave. He takes her hand and says, "Then we rebuild. You and me."

But the inheritance is not just money. Harbor Mile Motel hides records of a predatory company buying coastal properties through debt, fear, and family pressure. Rowan's brother is involved. Nora's aunt may not have died as quietly as everyone believed.

Now Nora must learn that money can buy time, repairs, and lawyers, but it cannot buy trust. And Rowan must decide whether the woman who lied to test his love is still the woman he wants to build a future with.

Nora Vale inherits three million dollars and a ruined seaside motel from an aunt her family called impossible.

She tells no one. Not even Rowan, her exhausted mechanic husband, who has spent years letting his family drain him dry.

Instead, Nora tells one dangerous lie: her design studio has collapsed, and she has lost everything.

Rowan does not blame her. He does not leave. He takes her hand and says, "Then we rebuild. You and me."

But the inheritance is not just money. Harbor Mile Motel hides records of a predatory company buying coastal properties through debt, fear, and family pressure. Rowan's brother is involved. Nora's aunt may not have died as quietly as everyone believed.

Now Nora must learn that money can buy time, repairs, and lawyers, but it cannot buy trust. And Rowan must decide whether the woman who lied to test his love is still the woman he wants to build a future with.

Piera was genuinely in love with Orion despite the difference in their social status.

But when his sister shows up while he was on a business trip with a photograph of Orion and his fiancée, Piera packed her things and left without a backward glance.

Orion came back to find the apartment empty, and struggles to understand why she left.

But five years later, they crossed paths on Riverside Park, and the secret Piera had been hiding is now in plain sight.

Can Orion successfully win her back again?

I thought I was the happiest woman in the world... until I clicked on that video.

The moment the screen lit up, my entire world came crashing down.

The woman on the bed was Calista - that girl who grew up with us since we were kids. And that hand caressing her skin was wearing the wedding ring I had personally put on Matteo's finger.

"I've missed you so much..."
"You drive me crazy, baby..."

Those sweet words I knew so well completely destroyed me.

Everyone said we were the perfect couple, but who knew this marriage was built on nothing but lies?

Since he's so good at acting, I guess it's time I gave him a show of my own. I'm going to make sure everyone sees what this "perfect husband" really is...

I used to think I was the luckiest woman in the world.

Married to my first love, Matteo Rossi—mafia boss—with an adorable son.

Until that afternoon. Luca was running a fever, whining for cake from that shop across town—a four-hour round trip.

I hesitated.

Matteo immediately chimed in: "Go ahead, babe. Don't worry, I got him."

I grabbed the car keys and turned. Before leaving, I glanced back—he was kneeling beside Luca's bed, his large hand gently stroking our son's burning forehead.

What a perfect fucking picture.

Until I heard that GODDAMN surveillance recording.

After eight years together, my fiancé gave all his affection to the innocent-acting sneaky babysitter at home. Even when I was on the brink of losing my baby, he was busy helping her fulfill her wish to watch shooting stars.
I didn't cry or make a scene; I calmly finished the property notarization, sold my expensive engagement ring, and switched jobs to a top investment bank.
By the time he was frantically searching for me everywhere, I was safely in the arms of a business mogul who had secretly loved me for twenty years. "Late love is cheaper than dirt; your karma is just beginning."

My first love was adopted by our family, and he promised he would always be there for me.
But after my dad passed away in a car accident, I found him with another woman in our bedroom.
He told everyone Caroline was his true love—that he only saw me as a sister—and claimed I was the one who was pestering him.
I was shamed by everyone. The stress gave my mother a stroke, and Caroline even had someone run me over, costing me an eye.
Seven years later, holding flowers, I ran into them outside a convenience store.
Arthur's son looked at me pityingly. "Dad, this lady lost an eye… Is she selling flowers? Should we buy some?"

Thalia was once a meek and obedient Luna, trapped in a loveless marriage to Killian, the heir of Thornwood. Betrayed by those she trusted, she is abandoned and humiliated by her cruel husband, while his affair with the manipulative Astrid destroys her world. Stripped of her title, poisoned, and left for dead, Thalia’s fate seems sealed—until a mysterious adventurer saves her, bringing her to the hidden world of Stormclaw.

In this new land, Thalia begins to heal and uncover the truth of Thornwood’s stolen throne. Ryker, a cold and powerful leader, forces Thalia to confront her weaknesses and push herself beyond what she thought possible. As she trains to become a warrior, the old Thalia—broken and submissive—begins to fade, replaced by a fierce woman driven by the need for revenge.

As Thornwood’s power crumbles, Thalia and Ryker form an unbreakable bond. But Killian's regret grows, and as his rule falls apart, Thalia must decide: Will she seek justice for her past, or embrace the future with Ryker, the man who has helped her rediscover her strength?

In a final, thrilling confrontation, Thalia and Ryker reclaim the throne and bring those who betrayed her to justice. With her enemies imprisoned and her past finally behind her, Thalia stands at the dawn of a new era—by Ryker’s side, as Luna of Thornwood. But will she ever truly escape the scars of her past, or will the shadows of betrayal always follow her?

At my bastard father's birthday party, I was drugged by my sister Emily—and worse, she planned to have her boyfriend assault me. As the substance coursed through my veins, desire began overwhelming my rational mind. But in that moment of vulnerability, my contract husband saved me. I found myself burning only for him. What started as his attempt to help me through the drug's effects became a night of raw, passionate intimacy that shattered every boundary we'd carefully constructed. In his arms, I discovered a hunger I never knew existed, and he claimed me with a possessive intensity that left us both breathless...
*
When Amelia Thompson signed that marriage contract, she never knew her husband was an FBI undercover agent.
Ethan Black approached her to investigate Viktor Group—the corrupt corporation where her late mother worked. To him, Amelia was just another lead, possibly the conspirator's daughter he was sworn to destroy.
But three months of marriage changed everything. Her warmth and fierce independence dismantled every defense around his heart—until the day she vanished.
Three years later, she returns with their child, seeking the truth about her mother's death. And he's no longer just an FBI agent, but a man desperate to win her back.
A Marriage Contract. A Life-Changing Inheritance. A Heart-Shattering Betrayal.
This time, can love survive the ultimate deception?

"Allard is a seasoned author, and her experience shows in both the lapidary prose and the sensitivity with which she treats class division. Overall, this is a delightful, often funny story that also serves as a gimlet-eyed study of class division and the possibility of its transcendence. An unpretentiously philosophical assessment of class and love."~Kirkus Reviews"While the primary story follows Daphne's journey of the heart in parallel with Edward's journey towards making his mark as a writer, a strong undercurrent of supporting plot lines ensure the story moves forward in a textured way, in a way that is a perfect marriage of mystery and clean, sweet, new adult romance.  The story is exquisitely written, providing context and clear imagery of Victorian-era lifestyles and perfectly balanced descriptions of England's countryside in a way that is as colorful as it is authentic. When It Rained at Hembry Castle is a charming, sweeping historical romance combined with an element of mystery. 5 stars." ~IndieReader A lush historical novel set in Victorian England, When It Rained at Hembry Castle is the story of an aristocratic family, secrets that dare not be told, and the wonder of falling in love.When the 8th Earl of Staton dies, his eldest son, the unreliable Richard, inherits the title and the family's home--Hembry Castle. The Earl's niece, the American-born Daphne, is intrigued by Edward Ellis, a rising author with a first-hand knowledge of Hembry Castle--from the servants' hall. Can Richard come to terms with his title before bringing ruin on his family? Will Edward and Daphne find their way to each other despite the obstacles of life at Hembry Castle?When It Rained at Hembry Castle is a page-turning, romantic novel with vivid characters and an engrossing story that will keep you guessing until the end.

Antonio "Tony" Moretti was supposed to steal her for revenge. On the night before Isabella Russo's wedding, he takes her from her family's mansion to end a ten-year war between their crime families. But Isabella isn't the scared little princess he expected. She's smart, brave, and has secrets that could destroy everything Tony thought he knew about their families' bloody past. What starts as a plan for revenge quickly becomes something much more dangerous - an obsession that threatens to burn down both their worlds. As Tony falls deeper under Isabella's spell, he must choose between the family loyalty that made him a killer and the woman who might be his salvation. But Isabella has her own plans, and she's not just fighting for her freedom - she's fighting to claim a crown that was always meant to be hers.

Lisa is a professional stripper - an unexpected path for a girl who once dreamed of a colourful future. But when her father fell ill she put her dreams aside, sacrificing her hopes for family.

Until she met Damon, a soulless billionaire CEO who doesn't believe in love. They had an unforgettable love-at-first-night experience.

It leaves Damon trapped in a one-year contract with a woman he doesn't love, and a pregnant stripper he can't ignore.

Could there be a deeper trauma behind Damon's aversion to love?

As their passion ignores, will they break free from their dark pasts and find a way to be together, or will they allow their current circumstances steal their only chance at happiness?

Five years after the rejection that tore them apart, Lethia and Castiel cross paths again at a secluded medical facility.

Lethia is now a respected doctor, while Castiel is an Alpha known for enforcing peace in the rogue clan.

There, Castiel meets a little girl whose face mirrors Lethia's. But his heart shatters when he sees the man he knew pushing the child’s wheelchair.

Bound by buried secrets, old wounds, and unspoken truths, Lethia and Castiel must face a question: Was their bond truly broken or merely tested by fate?

I was squatting on the floor, wiping up the juice spilled by a customer when I ran into my ex-husband, Tan Yeming.
It was our first meeting in the three years since our divorce.
He was just as cold and arrogant as before.
“You must have suffered enough these three years. If you’ve learned your lesson, come home with me.”
I was alone at the restaurant today, and I was too busy to deal with him.
He stood in front of the counter, looking at me, wanting to say something but hesitating. “Zhengzheng, I’m talking to you…”
I cut him off. “Sir, would you like to order something?”
“If not, please step aside. You’re holding up the other customers.”
He was left speechless and only after a long pause asked, “Zhengzheng, what’s wrong with you?”
I still didn’t answer.
Nothing’s wrong. I just don’t love him anymore.