8954 Book(s) Related to the last thing he said to me

"Come back!" he demands after taking a sip of the coffee.
I return and stand in front of him.
"What do you think you are doing, bringing me cold coffee!"
"It w-was hot when I bro-brought it..." I stammer, my voice shaky.
"Shut your mouth!" his loud voice booms, loud and commanding.
"I don't want to hear any nonsense excuses from you. Do you see those boxes behind you? They are filled with files. I want them arranged in alphabetical order and ready by 12:00p.m. Am I clear?" he says in a harsh voice.
My eyes widen as I take in the enormous stack of boxes behind me.
There is no way I am going to be done by noon. I am about to protest when he cuts me off.
"I know you are going to say that you won't be able to finish before noon, but the truth is I don't care. I want you to finish, and I don't care how you do it." he says coldly and turns away."
I realize there's no turning back because I've essentially signed my life away to the devil. I will have to endure whatever he does to me. What a way to start my first day!


Katherine Luciano is a beautiful lady, living with her single mom. Little does She know that her life is about to take a dramatic turn when she goes for a job interview. Fate brings her face-to-face with the one person she hoped never to encounter again, Lorenzo Costanzo. He's the man who made her high school years a nightmare, and he's now a prominent figure in society. He possesses the looks, fame, wealth, and everything with a lot of mysterious secrets.

Will Katherine fall prey to his wrath once again, or change the heart of a cold and enigmatic man?

Auror Vont'in is the most powerful of his lineage, with over 400 years of existence. His relentless search for a mate has made him a bitter and cold being. The leader of the Férnus carries the punishment of a mistake, the mark of betrayal; he was deceived and will pay for his loss of control for all eternity. With each mating cycle, new chosen ones are brought to him to satisfy his bodily desires and continue his quest for one who will be his for all eternity.

Anira Montecião is a veterinarian who needs to change the course of her life. Tired of the hustle and bustle of big cities, she decides to move to the countryside after receiving a job offer to care for a circuit of farms in Forty Mile, Canada. It is a remote yet prosperous area known for large livestock and gold extraction.

On a rainy, cold night, a distress call leads Anira directly to the house on the hill. For her, it is just another emergency, though she never imagined that her strange dreams, filled with disconnected calls, would become real and lead her to meet the monster that inhabits her dreams, lurking in the shadows and condemned to darkness.

Being married to Jamie felt like loving a statue-- perfect to look at,impossible to reach.
Alexandria Grayson had everything she once dreamt of,wealth, statue , a husband the world admired,But behind closed doors,her marriage was nothing more than silence, distance and humiliation. Jamie never touched her heart,nor did he return her love....eventually, she stopped, waiting and hoping for a change,she knew he would never return the love she had for him.
Choosing herself for the first time,Alexandria decides to walk away from the cold, loveless marriage--only to discover she was pregnant.

The revelation shatters everything

When Jamie finds out,his reaction is brutal,He accuses her of betrayal, convinced tye child isn't his,more concerned about his reputation than her pain.But the truth comes out--and with it unfolds a side of Jamie that is never seen by Alexandria. Regretful. Intense. Determined.

He wants her back, but it was to late.

While Jamie was beginning to fight for their marriage, Alexandria is already slipping right out of it. His attempts to win her over now feels transactional-- like he only wanted her now for the child.

Alexandria who now refuses be chosen out of obligation.

What follows is no longer a quiet--where love, pride,and power collide

In the heart of Silvercoast, Mila's return sends tremors through the familiar landscape. Ryel, once a childhood tormentor, now witnesses the transformation of a scrawny girl into a confident woman. The bonfire's glow becomes a silent witness to the complex dance of emotions as Mila and Ryel navigate the reunion, where past wounds meet the potential for a new chapter. In "Enemies to lover," sparks fly as the dynamics shift from rivalry to an unexpected romance, igniting the embers of a shared history.

I gave up my dream offer to Cambridge just so I could follow my heavily bullied childhood sweetheart to Princeton.

Yet, the day before we were supposed to submit our applications, I overheard him and his teammates laughing heartily:

"Man, you deserve an Oscar," one of them snickered. "You actually got the Vanderbilt heiress to drop Cambridge just by playing the victim?"

"To cause a rift with my family for me, and to serve as my shield against adversity—what a foolish heiress, impossible to shake off," Carter sneered to his friends.

"Once I drag her to Princeton, I can finally date Lily without her getting in the way."

I didn't storm in.

I quietly shredded my Princeton forms and submitted my Cambridge acceptance.

Carter seemed to have forgotten one crucial detail: without my family's money, he wasn't a tragic prince. He was just a stray dog.

Everyone thinks that after ten years engaged to Alpha Grayson, I'll end up as Frostpeak's Luna. Then one night at a gala, in front of the whole pack, he hands me over to the lowest rogue he can find.

Someone speaks up for me.

"Alpha Grayson, if you're done with her, just let her go. Why humiliate her like this? She dragged you through three days and nights in a blizzard ten years ago. She froze her body half to death saving you. She can't even shift anymore."

"That rogue can barely feed himself. She'll go with him and suffer for it."

Grayson just pulls the crying Omega closer, disgust all over his face.

"She saved me because she wanted the Luna title, that's all. I'm sick of her acting like I owe her something."

"Watch. Give it a few days and she'll come crawling back, begging me on her knees to change my mind."

I don't cry. I don't beg. I unclasp the engagement necklace, drop it at his feet, and walk out with the rogue.

Three days later, Grayson will show up at the Fringe with a hundred guards to drag me back, screaming that I'm heartless.

On the night before my sister's bone marrow transplant, my parents confiscated my EpiPen and locked me in the attic.

Their "genetic consultant" warned them that the medication would contaminate the stem cells meant for my sister.

I had eaten the meal they provided—one secretly laced with lethal traces of nuts.

The resulting anaphylactic swelling was suffocating me completely.

I frantically bashed my head against the door. "My pen... Mom, I can't breathe..."

"Stop putting on a show!" Mom snapped through the wood. "That meal was entirely nut-free! Are you faking an allergic reaction just because you can't stand the thought of your sister finally getting well?"

Her footsteps retreated.

Agonizing pain and oxygen deprivation overtook me as I clawed at the floor until every one of my nails snapped off.

Until my breathing stopped completely.

For three years, I tried everything to win Alexander's heart, only to end up with terminal cancer and the devastating news that his first love was returning home.

Clutching my medical diagnosis, I signed the divorce papers and walked away from the life I'd spent three years building, leaving it all for him and his true love.

But then something unexpected happened—Alexander dropped his cold facade and went crazy looking for me everywhere.

He claimed he'd never loved anyone but me...

Twenty-four-year-old Serenity Parker had always been in love with her brother's best friend, Alexander Dawson who was two years older than her. Soon she found out that he was too interested in his underground fight clubs and boxing matches to care about her.

Alexander Dawson, being an orphan, struggled to survive in the initial years of his life. Serenity, being the daughter of a billionaire hotelier and his best friend's little sister, was forbidden for him. With his bad reputation on the underground fighting circuit, Serenity was forced to give up all hopes of Alexander when her brother broke all contact with him after a vicious fight.

However, five years later, when her brother patched up and invited Alexander to his wedding, what would Serenity's reaction be? What would she do when she comes face-to-face with her only love after five years?

Read this powerful and roller-coaster love story full of twists and turns that will surely capture your heart.

Catherine is not only a rogue half-breed, she is also the result of mate-bond infidelity, was abandoned as a baby and, to top it off, she can only shift during the full moon. When Catherine left the only pack she'd ever known in order to escape the new alpha, the last thing she expected was to find her mate... let alone for him to be the mouth-watering, heavily tattooed, lead warrior of the most feared lycan pack on the continent.

Graham MacTavish wasn't prepared to find his mate in the small town of Sterling that borders the Blackmoore Packlands. He certainly didn't expect her to be a rogue, half-breed who smelled of Alpha blood. With her multi-colored eyes, there was no stopping him from falling hard the moment their mate bond snapped into place. He would do anything to claim her, protect her and cherish her no matter the cost.

From vengeful ex-lovers, pack politics, species prejudice, hidden plots, magic, kidnapping, poisoning, rogue attacks, and a mountain of secrets including Catherine's true parentage there is no shortage of things trying to tear the two apart.

Despite the hardships, a burning desire and willingness to trust will help forge a strong bond between the two... but no bond is unbreakable. When the secrets kept close to heart are slowly revealed, will the two be able to weather the storm? Or will the gift bestowed upon Catherine by the moon goddess be too insurmountable to overcome?

Under a starry summer sky eight years ago, Benjamin whispered a promise, “I will love you forever, my green-eyed boy.” The kiss that followed stole my heart, sealing our bond in one unforgettable moment.

But when our secret was exposed, that love crumbled. Driven by fear, Benjamin denied me before everyone, even striking me to silence our truth.

Two fourteen-year-old boys in love? Impossible. We were expelled, my family uprooted in shame over their pastor son’s “sin.” The pain of rejection and betrayal carved scars that still haunt me.

Now, in university, I hide the wounds, the true me buried under a decade of fear and silence. Then rumors start, whispers of a new student with a dark, powerful family. A name I know too well: Benjamin Rufus.

In the years since, he’s become an heir to a ruthless mafia empire, while I’ve remained the pastor’s son. He walks past me, cold and indifferent, as if our history never mattered.

But our families’ pasts have other plans. When dark secrets emerge, linking my father’s violent history with Benjamin’s family, we were thrust back together in a dangerous game of love and vengeance.

Bound by legacies of betrayal, forced to confront old wounds, and trapped between love and duty, we’re caught in a war that tests the flame of our hidden love. Can we break free of fate, or will the sins of our families keep us enemies forever?or would our love shine brighter amidst the Flames?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elara, a human college student, is drawn to Viktor Stone—a mysterious biker with piercing eyes and dangerous secrets. When a drunken dare forces her to give him a lap dance, he violently rejects her, but she can't stay away. Unknown to her, Viktor is a vampire cursed to the human world, struggling with his hunger for her blood while facing an impossible choice: shed human blood to break his curse and restore his throne, or die powerless. As Elara uncovers Viktor's true nature, she must decide if forbidden love is worth the darkness that comes with it.

Do you have wild fantasies and you want to try them out? This book is about a teenager who tries out his wild fantasies. Read it and I bet it'll be your favorite high-school story!

If the First Apocalypse Doesn't Kill Them All, Try Another.

The most brilliant mind in a thousand years has been tortured and twisted by human cruelty. His solution:

Burn the world down and start from scratch.

Almost no one can stop him. A single obstacle stands in his way.

He must destroy the BrainTrust and its medical researcher extraordinaire, Dr. Dash.

With millions dying, nuclear war in the offing, and the BrainTrust under siege, the fight for the very soul of humanity hinges on a last desperate question:

Who remains to Defy the Darkness?

——————————

This is a long book—450 pages!

If you like Michael Crichton, or Robert Heinlein, or even the TV show “The Last Ship”, welcome to the BrainTrust.

NOTE: While this saga takes place in the BrainTrust universe with some returning characters, it picks up over a year after the other books and does stand alone. No prior experience necessary.

Revenge is what he thrives on. It’s the only thing that’s kept him going all these years.

Luca or Lucas as we know him has been told lie after lie about our family.

That evil witch made him believe that my mother was the cause for all the suffering.

Revenge is bitter sweet, they say. But lines got blurred when things took an unexpected turn. I’m not sure whether it was for the good or the bad.

Will we be able to forget everything he has done to us, to our family? Or will it be too much to accept him as our mate?

CONTENT WARNING
THIS BOOK CONTAINS DARK—AND SOMETIMES VIOLENT--EVENTS THAT MAY BE TRIGGERS FOR SOME READERS.

Book Three in "The Lost Luna Series"

When I turned seventeen, I went to see the local witch and she told me what my future held in store. It would be full of love, pain and anguish. Something I really didn't need.
She told me about my mate. That the time we had together wouldn't be all glitter and rainbows, yet the love would consume me entirely.

The downfall?

He would be the death of me. I mean could a girl not catch a break?

He would be everything you would, but wouldn't want in a man. So now I'm running for both my freedom and my life. From a man I hope never to cross paths with. Now I'm weary of any man that touches me, preying to the goddess that cursed me that I don't feel those sparks.

His name no-one knows, but they call him The Almighty Alpha.

Leo goes to school to fufill his mother's last wish before she died. Clara on the other hand, goes to school in other to study hard, become the best graduating student, gain another scholarship to study in the University. And lastly coming out with a first class, in order to take care of her mum and her sister.
Their first meeting wasn't pleasant, Clara did what nobody has ever done to him, not to talk of an ordinary girl like her. He was furious and he would have killed her instantly but he didn't. Everyone was suprised by his action, it was the first time he hesitated to kill anyone that crosses his or her boundary. Why did he spare her?
Clara in search for a job got found one, she was to work as an housemaid, the pay was really enticing. It was more than her mother's earns and it came with lot of bonuses. One of the criteria for the job was that she had to live in the house and was only permitted to go home during weekends . She didn't have a problem with that likewise her mum and sister. Little did she know what await her.
The two had gone through trauma because of this word " Love", Leo lost his mother and his only sister because of love. Clara on the other hand lost her dad because of love and has sworn never to never to have anything to do with the Mafias. Now fate brings the both of them together. Did fate make a big mistake?. Two people who has sworn never to love, Fate must have really made a mistake by bringing them together. Did they fall in love?.

Can an injured wolf and a broken witch heal each other . . .Alice Sheffield tore her soul into pieces and hid them to escape a soul-eating demon. Free at last, she longs to rebuild herself as something new and stronger, but she doesn't know how. Then a catalyst for change enters her life. Ewan Shaw was shot with an ensorcelled silver bullet that has tainted his blood and bound his wolf beyond his reach. He retreats to his friend's rural farm to lick his wounds and contemplate his lack of prospects. Renowned for his cold detachment, he is fascinated by broken Alice and the heat she stirs within him. Then fate presents an opportunity. In bringing an old foe to justice, Ewan might find a path for his life and a way for Alice to confront her demons. But to do that, two broken people must heal each other, or shattered pieces will be lost forever.

Elena Vance never wanted the life she was forced into.

One night, she marries a stranger she met thirteen hours ago just to save her family from ruin and by morning, she learns her ex boyfriend cheated on her with her own sister, her brother hates her and her place in her own family was never real.

What begins as a contract marriage with Julian Thorne, a cold and powerful defense attorney, quickly turns into something darker.

Julian knows everything about her. Her past. Her secrets. Even truths she never knew about herself.

When Elena discovers she was adopted, that the man she loved was using her, and that her every move may have been watched by a killer military machine husband for ten years! Well, let's just say her life just got a lot more complicated.

Trapped between a broken family, an ex FBI boyfriend and a military programmed husband who protects her as fiercely as he controls her, Elena must decide who to trust.

Is her machine husband her savior or her captor? And who the heck programmed him?!

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

Pregnant and abandoned. This is what Dionne experienced when she loved and trusted too much in someone without a standpoint. With a shattered heart she got up and went on living alone. But it got to the point where she fell in love again.
Can she gamble again in the name of love or will she never let herself fall for someone and get hurt again?

What happens when you hit rock bottom and can’t see a way out? Do you take the handsome stranger’s indecent proposal that seems too good to be true?

In a word, yes. Desperation will make you do crazy things, like giving up a year of your life and travelling halfway around the world to marry a gorgeous Aussie winemaker who seems to come with more baggage than he knows what to do with.

I know I should keep my distance but there is something about him that just draws me in. Maybe it is the way he always seems to be there for me when I need it most, or that he just seems to know the right thing to say. All I know is that the moment he kisses me on our wedding day, I am in trouble.

Wealthy and arrogant, Alex is used to getting whatever he wants and he has set his eyes on Olivia. For months he has watched her as she calls out to every protective instinct he possesses. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself, he is determined to make her his, in any way possible.

But Alex is hiding a secret, one that he is determined to protect until, one day, Olivia makes a revelation that sets her on a course of self-discovery. Together they explore Olivia’s submissive side, pushing boundaries and taking her on the wildest ride of her life. However, when Olivia’s past threatens to expose Alex’s secret, the true strength behind Alex and Olivia’s relationship is revealed.

My honeymoon was almost everything I dreamed it would be-- a tropical paradise, turquoise water, romantic walks on the beach, and loads and loads of mind shattering sex. The only thing missing was the groom.After seven years of coasting through a relationship with Michael, my senses were numb. A week of passion with a stranger was just what I needed to clear my head and take back control of my life. But how do you move on when the man that was only supposed to be a fling somehow seeps into your soul and steals your heart?

They say office romance should never be a thing.
They say you should never mix business with pleasure.
They say you should avoid falling for your boss at all costs even if he just happens to be the hottest man to ever walk the globe.
They say true love shouldn’t be as complicated as it is.


“Listen to me Anastasia, here’s what’s gonna happen.
I’m gonna watch… and you’re gonna play.
I’m gonna possess … and you...
You are going to be a good girl.
Understand?”


When Anastasia Wells realizes that her hatred for her boss is not hatred after all but something else, something that runs deeper than she cares to acknowledge, she tries to shut it down at all costs, to drown what she feels and flush it down the hole because office romance has never been the kind to ever end well.
But the fact that Jake Keaton will go out of his way to stop her from quitting, the fact that he would go against all odds to keep her by his side, the fact that… he gets obsessed with her… is not helping.
And how can she stay away from this man when he all she wants to do is forget all about her traumatic past and let him take possession of every aspect of her life.
But there’s more to Jake Keaton than meets the eyes. The ruthless multimillionaire slash playboy attitude might just be a façade hiding the dangerous man that lurks beneath.

Violet loses her parents as a young child and is brought up by an elderly aunt. As she approaches her 17th birthday her life is turned upside down when her Aunt tells her that the life she has built with her must end - she has to go and learn about the background of her father. Secrets have been kept and those secrets turn Violet's life on it's head!

Not only does she have to accept that her father wasn't who she thought he was, but she too, is something she didn't even realise existed! It seems a whole plan had been in place for if something happened to her parents, including learning of her heritage and all it means.
So, Violet is sent to Autumn Moon Pack, where an elderly relative of her father's still lives to give Violet chance to be surrounded by others like her. In truth, she plans to learn what she needs to learn what she needs to and leave to live alone like her father before her.
But will meeting the handsome Beta, who seems quite taken with her, change her mind? And could there be yet more secrets to be revealed?

Rhye Gosling demanded she marry him after their accidental nerve-wracking one-night stand. Little did she know, he was the most powerful Alpha in the werewolf community, a world she thought only existed in the book. How hard could it be? Yet, the handsome and demanding Alpha would change her life to the full extent, bringing her laughter and tears, hatred and love, and into the chaotic world of magic and wonder where werewolves and demons existed and would do everything to bring the Alpha to his knees.

Racked by confusion and changes in her body, Diana found herself irresistibly drawn to Andrew. Passion ignited and threatened to consume them both. However, she was unprepared for the reason he had sought her out and the danger that lay ahead. Regardless, sharing a love of conquering their goals, this unlikely pair began to form an unexpected bond that led them to a place neither of them ever expected to be.

Ten years loving Liam Rockefeller cost me everything.

He said the football team jumped him—so I charged in and took the punches. He sobbed that his stepbrother would destroy him at Yale—so I ripped up my acceptance letter. He held me at midnight whispering "I'm so lucky to have you"—and I thought that meant forever.

Three months later, I heard him laughing in the locker room—laughing about me.

"Iris is like a fucking puppy, so easy to fool. Now that the Yale spot's open, Emily can go with me."

The bullying was staged. The tears were fake. Those intimate embraces—just tools to control me while he fucked his side piece.

He thought I'd still stand in front of him even with a broken nose. He thought I'd never wise up.

I wised up.

In his stepbrother Sebastian's bed.

"Are you always this damn sensitive?" my husband snapped, his hands lingering on his ex’s waist.
I stood there, holding our 5th-anniversary cake and my pregnancy secret. He canceled our romantic dinner just to comfort her.
So, I threw the cake away. Next, I'll throw him away.

I made 17 calls for help. My sister answered every one—and hung up.

For 48 hours, I lay dying in Pine Ridge Forest, texting desperate pleas to my family. They thought I ran away. The truth? My sister deleted every message while I begged for my life.

Three months dead. Zero funeral. My family didn't even notice I was gone.

Now the police have recovered my phone. Every deleted text. Every ignored call. Every lie my sister told to cover up what she did.

"Please. I can't feel my legs. I'm sorry I exist. Just don't let me die here."

They wanted me invisible. I gave them what they wanted.

Now they'll spend the rest of their lives wishing they'd answered when I called.

Nora Vale was never supposed to be seen.

For three years, she rebuilt hockey captain Callum Pierce after the injury that nearly ended his career. She tracked his tremors, rewrote his recovery protocol, and carried the private marriage his family refused to make public.

Then he won the championship.

Under the arena lights, Callum lifted the cup and thanked Sloane Mercer, the beautiful sports host the cameras already loved. Backstage, Nora watched her own medical system appear under Sloane's name.

That night, Nora left with the evidence and the child Callum never knew existed.

Three years later, Nora is no longer hiding in the tunnel. She is the chief medical consultant for the rival team, the one woman the league needs when old concussion records begin to surface. Callum wants answers. His father wants control. Sloane wants the public story to stay clean.

Nora wants her name back.

But the fight is no longer only about a stolen system. It is about a son whose medical records could shift a franchise, a trust that could break the Pierce family, and a championship myth built on the woman they erased.

Callum thanked the wrong woman on the night he won.

Now the whole league is about to learn who made him a champion.

My husband Eric couldn't speak after a car accident three years ago. Three years of silence. Not one word.

To pay for his rehab, I worked four jobs at once—worked until I was coughing up blood, until I collapsed. Winter nights, Leo and I huddled under one threadbare blanket. When my son spiked a fever and I had no money for medicine, I stayed up all night pressing wet rags to his burning forehead.

Eric? His only communication was cold texts, ordering me around. When Leo reached for a hug, he'd push him away like our son didn't exist.

I endured it all. Because deep down, I believed the accident was my fault.

Until that night.

I was hauling equipment at Selena's concert—Selena, the pop star everyone knew—when a mystery guest in a mask stepped on stage. They sang together, voices blending like they'd done this a thousand times.

That voice. That lightning-shaped scar on his elbow.

My "mute" husband of three years.

I followed him backstage. Through the door, I heard Selena's laugh: "Congrats, Eric. Your mute act is almost over—you won the bet."

Three years of sacrifice.

All of it just a game. A bet with his first love.

Everyone in this city knows that the king of the underworld, my husband Vincent, is crazy about me.

Three years ago, when that bullet tore through my abdomen, it took away my chance of ever being a mother. He held my blood-soaked body and swore to God he'd make the shooter's entire family pay. A month later, that family was wiped off the map in this city. No one dares speak their name anymore.

He sat by my hospital bed, holding my hand. "I don't need kids. I only need you."

I believed him.

Until six months ago, when his brother died in an accident, leaving behind his wife Serena. The family pressure came like a tidal wave. An heir. A bloodline. That's all they cared about. And that woman became everyone's golden ticket to keeping the Caruso name alive.

That's when my husband stopped coming home at night. Every night, I hear them through the wall. Sounds that used to be mine.

But today, the doctor told me my body is healing. The chances are slim, but there's hope.

I clutch the medical report and rush home, imagining Vincent's face when he sees the results. Maybe everything can go back to how it was. Maybe he'll realize he doesn't need her.

Until I stand outside our mansion and hear laughter pouring out.

"Serena's pregnant! Can you believe it? The family finally has an heir!"

"Finally. The family's saved."

The biggest mistake of my life was falling in love with my childhood best friend, Cole Blackwood.

I grew up with Cole. He was my childhood best friend. When my mom died in a car accident in high school, his mother Lillian, my mom's best friend, saw that my stepmother didn't like me and took me in. She arranged our engagement. Cole protected me from bullies in high school. I fell for him. We secretly married at eighteen.

Shortly after the wedding, he was kidnapped. That's when everything fell apart. I threw myself off a cliff to draw the kidnappers away and save him. I was in a coma for three months. But when I came back to him, weak and broken, he thought some woman named Sophia Vanderbilt had saved him instead. He started hating me for "abandoning him" and grew cold. I tried to explain. He only believed what Sophia told him. My words meant nothing. 

Cole wanted to divorce me, but his parents refused to allow it. I refused too. Sophia drugged him to get pregnant and trap him into marriage, but he stumbled into the wrong room. He slept with me instead. I got pregnant. She faked videos to make him think they'd been together. She forged evidence that I'd cheated. He wouldn't listen to a word I said. 

Then we were both kidnapped and held hostage on a rooftop. Cole chose to save Sophia. I fell. I lost the baby. After Sophia was rescued, she went to the hospital for a checkup. They found leukemia. She needed a bone marrow transplant. I was the only match, but after everything, my body was too weak. Cole used the "debt" I owed his family to force me to donate. 

I refused. Sophia "died." Cole locked me in a psychiatric hospital and tortured me until I died. 

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day he demanded my bone marrow. This time, looking at his desperate eyes, I said yes and decided to divorce him and leave him for good.

When they shoved me into the flames, I fought through the blinding pain to call my brother, Ethan Bennett. Fire licked at my skin, twisting my vision, but the call finally went through.

"What is it now?" He sounded distracted, like he was checking off a guest list.

"Ethan, please, help—" My voice was shattered, choked by the searing heat.

"Can't you just give it a rest for one single day?" he snapped, cutting me off. "Selina and I are getting married this weekend. If you pull another stunt, I swear I'll—"

The call died right as the flames swallowed me whole.

Agony consumed every nerve before my eyes closed for good, his unfinished threat still echoing in my ears.

But the good news is, Ethan... you don't have to swear anymore. Because I was dead.

I got off work two hours early, hoping to surprise my boyfriend whom I had just bailed out for $30,000.
I pushed the bedroom door open. The surprise was on me—my stepsister Chloe was straddling Dorian. The same man who, just three days ago, sat crying on the police station floor swearing "I only have you," now slowly lit a cigarette and asked if I wanted to join them.
I thought that was the worst moment of my life.
I was wrong.
When the hand that had just been caressing Chloe gripped my throat and hoisted me into the air, I finally saw the truth. Dorian Vane, the guy who humiliated me at our high school prom ten years ago, hadn't changed at all.

On our wedding day, Declan sent me out to Long Island. We'd been together seven years.

He said he'd left his grandmother's lucky cufflinks at the family house.

But when my car died in the storm, I opened my bridesmaid's Instagram live.

Declan was sliding my custom diamond ring onto Phoebe's finger—my adopted sister, the one with the bad heart.

My own parents were crying in the front row. My bridesmaids were cheering.

They'd turned my wedding into a dying wish ceremony for Phoebe.

Hours later, alone in the ER, I called forty-seven times.

No one picked up.

Not until after I lost the baby and disappeared from Manhattan.

That's when Declan finally came apart.

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.

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.

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.

They left me to freeze to death in our basement freezer.

The night before prom, my foster sister Leila came crying that I'd burned her Ivy League recommendation letter. My birth parents didn't even listen to one word of explanation—they threw me into that frozen hell in forty-five below.

I beat on that door until my fingers were shredded, screamed until my throat tore apart, but all I could hear from upstairs was their laughter celebrating Leila. Even Justin—the boy I'd loved since we were kids—texted calling me a fucking psycho.

As I drew my last breath, I heard Leila's soft voice outside the door: "Rest in peace, sister."

Now I'm a ghost, watching them lose their minds when the truth comes out.

He married me because I look like her.
For three years, I played the role. I cooked his meals. I warmed his bed. I smiled when he forgot my birthday. I stayed quiet when he left in the middle of the night to hold her hand.
I told myself it was enough. I told myself I didn't need his love.
Then I got pregnant.
He said he hated children. So I didn't tell him. I was going to keep it. Our baby. The only thing that was truly mine.
But my body had other plans.
When I called him from the hospital floor, bleeding out, begging for help—he didn't come. He said I was lying. He was too busy with her.
That night, I lost everything.
The baby. The hope. The lie I'd been living.
Now he's calling me. Again and again.
But the substitute wife? She's not picking up.

For three years, everyone at Spire Academy believed Liam loved me. Until I uncovered his secret plan: steal my academy recommendation to save Anna, and keep me waiting on the sidelines. He handed my future to another girl and threw me to a mad duke to be dissected. I escaped death by leaping into the Rift of Silence, only to be pulled from the abyss by Arnold, an ancient night lord. When Liam finally realized his sin, he begged for a second chance. But the girl who waited for him in the dark died in the rift. I have a new life, and I will never look back.

A madman attacked the concert hall. I threw myself over my son, taking every blow meant for him. My spine shattered in three places.

My husband Arthur subdued the attacker and rushed us to the hospital—the picture of a devoted, loving spouse.

It was only after hearing his conversation with the doctor that I finally saw his true colors.

My crippling injury was merely collateral damage. My son Ethan? Nothing but a living cornea donor for Mia—the cherished daughter he had with his first love.

He treated my child like spare parts, never knowing Mia isn't even his blood.