235 Book(s) Related to marriage hate

Aubrey Carver, a young heiress of the wealthiest family in the country, left her fortune to marry her first love, Dario Fowler. To avoid overshadowing him with her wealth, she posed as a poor countryside girl. Dario, however, only married her to secure his inheritance, planning to divorce her once his true love returned.
Aubrey endured years of insults and hardships from the Fowler family, her love for Dario unwavering. But when Dario handed her divorce papers, she realized he never loved her. Heartbroken, she returned to her family, who welcomed her with open arms.
Months later, Aubrey dazzled everyone at a grand ball, hosted by her grandfather to announce her as the chairwoman of Carver's Corp. Her true identity revealed, the once poor girl was now a powerful heiress.
Dario, realizing his mistake, now faces a crumbling empire and must win Aubrey back to save his business. But will she forgive him and take him back? Or will she choose a new path? The decision is hers to make.

Kael Ardent spent his entire life trying to prove he belonged in the powerful Ardent family. Cold, disciplined, and brilliant, he finally earns the spotlight… only for it to be stolen once again by the one man who always eclipses him.

Adrian Ardent.

The charming golden son. The notorious playboy. The stepbrother who never misses a chance to remind Kael he’ll always be second best.

But one reckless night changes everything.

After a humiliating party, Kael ends up in a secret club, blindfolded and in the arms of a stranger. The next morning he’s left with fractured memories, a body that knows something happened… and Adrian laughing in his face as if none of it ever occurred.

Now Kael can’t tell what was real and what was a drunken illusion.

Except for one terrifying truth: The more Adrian pretends nothing happened… The more Kael begins to suspect he’s hiding everything.

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

When Sadie Greer gets into an arranged marriage with a Crypto developer, an evil wrapped in a pretty thousand-dollar suit, she only agrees to escape the family trap with a hefty price tag.

With an ulterior motive, Cenric Wollf marries the daughter of his enemy until they fall deeper into their own trap.


Adley Kross does something beyond imaginable—proposing marriage to the stranger for her inheritance.

Mykel Creed’s only priority is making himself filthy rich with a bit of fun along the way.

It doesn’t take long enough for them to realize they married for the wrong reason.


Princess Carlott lost everything in a blink of an eye with one mistake.

She has built herself as Carly Storm and promised no more foolish mistakes until she stumbles with a grumpy but irresistible CEO, Rome Langston— her boss.

Rome is new in the business, but maybe a distraction is all he needs. What can go wrong with a bit of fun?


London Vanderford is never a rule-breaker until the god-like returns as her temporary bodyguard.

When her father threatens to shut down her clothing line, Striker volunteers to help— marrying her.

The more they spend time together, the more they realize they can’t live without each other.


Estelle Bladwyn bumps into a hot thirty-ish man on her not-so-romantic-getaway. Their growing attraction is overwhelming, but her life is already complicated. But who can deny someone like Linden?

Gabe Linden is getting old and still single and done with hookups and doing favors until it comes from someone he looks up to.

With one look at Estelle, he knows he’s already in deep trouble.

"Mommy's just a housewife! I don't want Mommy anymore—I want Aunt Jessica!"

Those words from my eight-year-old son, Jimmy, hit harder than any physical blow. I stood frozen in our living room, surrounded by the shards of the vase I’d just smashed. My husband, Robert, didn't even flinch. He just pulled Jessica closer, his hand resting possessively on her waist.

"Stop being dramatic, Scarlett," Robert sneered, his eyes cold. "Jessica is my soulmate. She understands my work. You? You just clean."

Eight years of devotion. Eight years of sacrificing my career to build this home. And now, my husband and son were looking at a stranger with the love that belonged to me.

I tried to reach for Jimmy, but he pushed me away with his small, angry fists. "Bad Mommy! Aunt Jessica buys me candy! You're just an ugly hag!"

My heart twisted until it snapped. I watched them leave for Jessica's award party—an award for a paper I practically wrote but couldn't claim. I was left alone in the silence of the house I paid for, bleeding from the glass cuts on my hands.

Later that night, at the hospital, after I’d been injured by Robert’s own hand, the nurse asked Jimmy who I was. He looked me dead in the eye and said, "I don't know her. Jessica is my mom."

That was the moment the old Scarlett died. I wiped the blood from my face, picked up my phone, and dialed my lawyer.

"Mr. Owens," I whispered, my voice trembling but resolute. "Let's redraft the agreement. I don't want custody. They can have each other."

“I was going to kill you tonight. But I changed my mind.”

“For our son...”

“No, not for our son, not for any reason in particular.”

“What are we doing, Elara?” He runs his hand through his hair. “One minute you’re planning an escape; the next, you’re promising to stay. What’s your plan?”

“My plan is to survive."

~~

Raised as a servant and maltreated in her own home, Elara escapes the night of her sister’s engagement after one reckless encounter with a masked stranger. She disappears, builds a new identity, and protects the only thing that matters; her son.

Lucien Kòrvac, a billionaire CEO feared in shadows as a ruthless mafia Don was supposed to marry a ghost. Instead, he married the wrong woman or maybe, the right one all along and has discovered he has a son he never knew existed.

Now with her memories resurfacing, a hidden heir, a locked safe no one can open and a past powerful enough to destroy both empires, Elara and Lucien find themselves trapped in a game neither of them understands.

And the deeper they go, the closer they get to a truth that could change everything. Both are bound by a child, will hatred turn to desire, or will his past and her true identity destroy them both?

Imagine being forced to marry a stranger.

Reina's only ever known her family's sunny farm. She can bake bread, mend a fence, and wrangle a goat but she’s never seen a skyscraper or used a subway. Her whole world changes when her grandfather’s old promise lands her in a penthouse with her new fiancé, Orion who looks at her like she’s a mud stain on his expensive shoe.

He’s a wealthy city prince who hates that he’s stuck with a country girl. She’s a whirlwind of chaos who invades his space, breaks his things and has no idea how stunning she is.

He’s counting down the days until he can send her home. She’s just trying to survive the city without embarrassing herself. There’s just one problem: the more she drives him crazy, the less he wants her to leave and the more he wonders if her kind of crazy is exactly what he needs.

But can a girl who talks to goats ever fit into his glittering world? And what happens when the simple farm girl starts to see the lonely man behind the money and decides to heal him, whether he likes it or not?

“Jaden Skye creates a set of characters that are very well developed, and makes you cheer for our heroine on every page. The environment and the overall description of scenes are superb, making you feel the suspense in the air the whole time.”--Books and Movie Reviews (Roberto Mattos) (re No Place to Die)NO PLACE FOR MARRIAGE is book #4 in a new romantic suspense series by #1 bestselling author Jaden Skye, which begins with Book #1, NO PLACE TO DIE, a free download!When Tyron Barr, a rich, old tycoon confined to a wheelchair, is found dead at the bottom of his staircase, his stunning 32 year old wife is immediately suspect. But she protests her innocence—and calls Olivia and Wayne in to prove it.In a world where nothing is as it seems, a world of incredible wealth and charm, of intense greed and jealousy, loneliness and secrets, Olivia discovers, lurk behind the scenes. Perhaps just enough to murder someone.Is the young wife playing Olivia? Or did someone else want him dead?NO PLACE FOR MARRIAGE is book #4 in an explosive new romantic suspense series filled with love, tragedy, heartbreak, betrayal and suspense, one that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #5 will be released soon.Jaden is also author of the #1 Bestselling series MURDER IN THE CARIBBEAN, which begins with DEATH BY HONEYMOON (Book #1), a free download with over 200 five star reviews!

"Only one woman leaves alive. Choose, Jared."

My husband didn't even hesitate. He rushed past me, untying his weeping mistress, Natalie. "I choose her! Take Danika!" he screamed, refusing to look at me as I sat bound to the chair. He walked away, leaving me alone with the man paid to rape me. The monster laughed, unzipping his pants, thinking I was a broken doll. But he forgot I had nothing left to lose. As he forced himself on me, my hand found a pen in his pocket. I didn't beg for mercy. I plunged it straight into his eye socket.

Danika, the perfect wife of upcoming businessman Jared Fox is known to the world as a naive, beautiful wife who loves her husband to the core, however, no one knows just how dark her life is.

Enter Lysander Laurent-Ashworth, cold, disciplined, and feared across the business world for his ruthless precision. To everyone else, he is untouchable. To Danika, he is the stranger who saved her, and the man who seems determined to shield her, even from the truths she can’t remember.

Bound by a dangerous agreement neither of them fully understands, Danika finds herself drawn into Lysander's world but Lysander might just do anything to protect her. Absolutely, anything.

I’d just gotten home from my prenatal checkup when I heard my sister-in-law Valentina’s voice.

"Brother, if Rosalyn finds out Leon is the stillborn child she gave birth to, will she fight me for custody?"

I froze on the spot.

Four years ago, my husband Lysander and I had a baby via IVF, but the infant passed away shortly after birth. I’d cried my heart out back then, and it was Lysander who held me close, comforting me over and over.

"Don’t grieve. We’ll have another child someday."

Four years later, I was finally expecting our second baby. Yet now I’d overheard that my first child had never died at all — he was Valentina’s son, Leon.

I simply couldn’t bring myself to believe it. Just as I reached for the door, Lysander’s voice rang out again.

"Don’t worry. Rosalyn will never find out I secretly swapped her egg for yours. Even the child she’s carrying now is our love child."

"Ensure you go through those papers and sign the divorce. If there's anything you don't understand, contact my lawyer."
Grey's voice was cold as steel, not a flicker of guilt in his eyes.
"Yes, she's your sister, Lila—but I find love and peace with her. At least I can wake up every morning to a child's voice calling me Daddy."
Lila Sims never imagined her twenty-fifth birthday dinner would become the funeral of her marriage.
For three years, she sacrificed her career, her dreams, and herself for Grey Shun—the ruthless CEO of Bintex Ltd. Yet the more she tried to be the perfect wife, the deeper she sank into depression.
Until the night Grey pushed divorce papers across the table and confessed the ultimate betrayal—he found "love" with her sister, the woman who'd secretly given him the child Lila could never give.
Shattered but not defeated, Lila vows to burn down the lie she once called a marriage.
And to do that, she joins hands with Brian Carter—Grey's ex-rival, a dangerous man with his own agenda.
He promises to help her destroy Grey…
but he wants something in return: her heart.
Will Lila risk loving again just to complete her revenge?
Or will she realize that the greatest victory… is walking away before she's broken a second time?

Roxanne thought the worst part of her life was moving.
She was wrong.
On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, the truth unravels—her life has been nothing but a carefully crafted lie. The woman she called mother was never hers. The town she trusted hides things that shouldn’t exist. And the enemies chasing her have been watching for far longer than she realizes.
Because Roxanne carries something rare.
Something deadly.
Something the world believed was extinct.
A bloodline powerful enough to control any Alpha.
Any… except one.
Thrown into a world of hidden packs, ancient secrets, and ruthless enemies, Roxanne must learn to survive before her power awakens fully. But when fate ties her to the one man she cannot dominate—and cannot escape—the line between survival and destruction begins to blur.
Bound by a mate bond that could either save them… or destroy them both, Roxanne is forced to confront the one truth she can’t outrun:
In this world, love is just as deadly as power.

Sara never asked for a mate, but fate didn’t care. The moment she steps into BloodRidge Pack, the bond locks her to the one man who wants nothing to do with her.
Alpha Xenon rejects her on sight. Cold. Final. Cruel.

But the bond doesn’t break.
His wolf won’t let her go.
And when danger comes for her, the Alpha who pushed her away becomes the one who can’t stay away.

Some rejections hurt.
This one changes everything.

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."

Manhattan City Hall, ten minutes before the marriage certificate is issued.
I looked at the prenuptial agreement, what flashed through my mind was not a sweet future, but the tragic ending of my past life—prison bars, fabricated evidence, and my wife Selena's cold face in court.
me to hell without hesitation .
Having been reborn, this time I will not be anyone's stepping stone again.
The real game only began the moment the agreement was torn up.

Nyra Vale was born without a wolf, and rejected by the one man fate chose for her.

When her Alpha mate turns his back on her, Nyra leaves her pack with nothing but a broken heart and the gift of healing she was never allowed to be proud of. She disappears into the wild, determined to survive on her own.

But fate is not done with her yet.

Wounded and close to death, Nyra is saved by Rowan, a powerful Lycan who has long given up hope of finding a mate. In his territory, she finds safety, strength, and a man who does not look at her like she is lacking.

As a deadly curse begins to spread through the packs, Nyra’s healing becomes the one thing that can stop it. The Alpha who once rejected her must now kneel before her for help. But some bonds, once broken, can never be healed.

She will save them all.
She just won’t give her heart away again.

"You're going to tell him to leave, or I'm going to ruin you right here against your office desk until you forget his name."

Sebastian Cole was charming, handsome, and currently leaning entirely too close to me in the corporate conference room.
I was actually smiling at one of his jokes.

Until the temperature in the room plummeted.

I looked up. Dominic Vale stood in the doorway. My mother's fiancé. The billionaire who controlled everything. And right now, he looked one second away from committing murder.

His eyes locked onto Sebastian, dark and lethal.
"Meeting's over," Dominic said. His voice was terrifyingly calm.

Sebastian smirked, clearly enjoying the tension. "We were just discussing dinner plans."

"She's busy," Dominic replied, stepping into the room.

The moment Sebastian left, Dominic locked the heavy glass door. Click. The sound echoed like a gunshot.

He crossed the room in three strides, backing me up until my hips hit the edge of the mahogany desk.

"You don't get to be jealous," I whispered, my heart hammering against my ribs. "You're marrying Eleanor."

"Do not say her name right now," he growls, his hands slamming onto the desk on either side of me, trapping me completely.

He leans in, his chest flush against mine, his scent of expensive cologne and pure rage overwhelming my senses.

"You smiled at him," Dominic murmurs, his gaze dropping to my lips. "Now I'm going to have to remind you exactly who you belong to."

DEATH BY MARRIAGE is Book #3 in the Bestselling CARIBBEAN MURDER series, following DEATH BY HONEYMOON (#1) and DEATH BY DIVORCE (#2). A well-known criminal lawyer is found dead in a back alley in St. Thomas, and Cindy and Mattheus are called in to investigate by the grieving widow. The local police have pinned her for the murder, and Cindy and Mattheus are her last hope in vindication. As Cindy and Mattheus dig deeper into the victim’s past, they learn that all was not as rosy as it seemed. They discover mistresses, gambling debts, vendettas, and a number of people who had motivation to want him dead. Most shocking of all, as they dig even deeper, they discover a whole secret life that he lead, one so lurid that the people who knew him best can hardly even conceive it. As a hurricane closes in and the police are insistent, despite all evidence, to arrest the widow, Cindy and Mattheus find themselves in a race against time to find the killer. When another body turns up, all involved realize the stakes may be even higher than they seem. And as Cindy and Mattheus develop feelings for each other, each grieving from the death of their own spouse, Cindy comes to realize there is even more at stake than she thinks. Books #4--#16 in the series are now also available.

“Does Mr. Howard Have an STD?”
With one sentence, Sienna tore apart her marriage to Ethan.
For three years of their secret marriage, she was his obedient wife, his silent assistant, and the woman he always overlooked.
Until she discovered that every business trip he took was spent living with his adopted sister.
While he was hospitalized after a car accident, she slipped divorce papers into his documents and tricked him into signing them.
She quit her job, moved out, and inherited a massive fortune.
The whole city mocked her, saying she was nothing without Ethan.
But she turned around and climbed back to the top of the industry, standing beside a man even more powerful than him.
Only then did Ethan realize what he had lost, kneeling before her and begging for another chance.
She leaned down slightly and smiled.
“Mr. Howard, when you cheated on me… did you ever think I could choose someone else too?”

The day before my engagement to my fiancé, I discovered I was a fake heiress.
And now, the real young lady had returned, and I was being sent away to the poor countryside.
But unlike what they said, my biological parents weren't poor country folk—they were the wealthiest family in the nation!
And I owned top-tier farms, a mysterious jewelry studio, and was a hidden tycoon who could shake up the entire business world.
My fiancé, who had looked down on me, was now crying and begging me to marry him.
He came to me with photos: "Pretending to be greedy, pretending to be ignorant, when you're actually a top-tier mogul? My fiancée, you've deceived me so thoroughly."

I thought Auden was the most devoted husband in the world—until the day I regained my sight and recognized him on the front page: a serial killer who had murdered eight blonde women.
I had to play blind. I swallowed the liquid the maid brought me—a brew soaked in dead people's eyeballs. I chewed on a human molar in my dinner. I sat perfectly still as I watched him fuck our maid right in front of me, not daring to let a single expression slip.
Because the exact second my vision returned, an anonymous text had popped up on my phone: Don't let Auden know you can see.

I saw everything.
My husband, his pants down to his ankles, my best friend’s legs wrapped around his waist.
I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry. I went back to my table, drank until my heartbreak went numb, and made a decision.
I wanted out.
What I didn’t want was Donovan Buford—my ex’s friend, his most feared rival, the lawyer who never loses—showing up every single time my life fell apart.
He caught me when I stumbled drunk.
He broke down a door when Gary cornered me.
He handed me a job when I had nowhere to go.
I told myself he was just being decent.
Then I found out that the divorce I thought I’d fought for alone? He’d been orchestrating it for years.
So what exactly does Donovan Buford want from me?

“Sidd, if you leave me here, I won’t ever forgive you,” I declared, glaring at him. “I will hold you responsible for anything that happens to me.

"Remember, you made me stay here till late," I stated, even though I was scared, holding him responsible for anything that might happen to me.“I don’t need your forgiveness, Rani,” he snarled. “Holding me responsible for anything bad that happens to you is what enemies do,” he declared and moved off. From hatred to love, it created a bond between Rani and Sidd.

Not without drastic challenges that are meant to separate them forever. Can they withstand the challenges and keep their love strong, or will they allow hatred to take over and be separated forever?

On the seventh wedding anniversary, I woke up in the lounge and found a big word "BITCH" sprayed with red paint on my chest.
The culprit, holding a spray-paint can, had a naive-looking smile on her face and said, "I'm doing you a favor. Your white outfit's way too boring."
I was just about to take action when my husband rushed in to protect her, frowning and scolding me: "She's just a little girl; she doesn't know any better. Do you have to be so petty?"
At this moment, looking at the man in front of me who had risen because of my family's influence, I suddenly laughed.
He probably forgot who had given him this overwhelming wealth.
I unscrewed the red-tipped thick paint pen and walked step by step towards the trembling girl.
"Your face is boring, too. Let me do you a favor."
As for my husband?
I'll make him know that without me, he's worse than a dog.

Pregnant?” A gleam crossed my eyes, and before I could control myself, tears began running down my eyes. My vision was blurry from the tears, but I still scanned the files, my heart beating loudly. A smile finally made its way to my face.

I looked at the nurse who was standing behind me, looking happy, but certainly not as happy as I was. Eight years. Eight years of barrenness, Eight years of crying and praying to the moon goddess, Eight years of tolerance to everything I passed through in the hands of my Alpha’s mother.

When the apocalypse came, my materialistic ex-girlfriend not only complained that I only knew how to play games, but also conspired with relatives to poison me, cruelly steal my superpower crystal core, and degrade me into a hopeless cripple!
She thought that by taking away my power she could curry favor with the powerful and live a carefree life, but little did she know that not only did I not die, but the "League of Legends max level system" in my mind had actually completed its ultimate upgrade!
Sylas uses his ultimate to regain his power, Pyke's X-shaped slash breaks his enemy's limbs; a horde of 100,000 zombies presses in, and the whole city is in despair, when I descend from the sky with my treasure girl who is my life partner!
Pantheon's slam, Miss Fortune's barrage, Ziggs's nuke... Five LOL ultimate moves in a row wiped out the entire field, evaporating 100,000 zombies in one minute and directly ascending to the throne of the wasteland god!
Looking at my stunningly beautiful and god-level support character whom I had spoiled rotten, my ex-girlfriend, who had fallen into the mire, was filled with remorse. She knelt in the sewage, kowtowing and crying, begging to be a foot-washing maid.
I looked down at them and sneered, "Sorry, my five-player squad is already full."

"In the toxic halls of Eastview High, Aria Bellwyn has mastered the art of being invisible. But when she's forced to tutor golden boy Knox Hale, she's thrust into a world of danger and desire. As they navigate the treacherous social hierarchy, Aria becomes the target of Knox's manipulative ex, Blaire, and the ruthless queen bee, Sarah. But Knox's secrets run deeper he's trapped in a deadly debt to a local crime lord, and Aria's the only one who can help him take down the corrupt empire controlling the school. As they risk everything to expose the truth, can they survive the betrayal lurking in every corner and find love in the process?

Dive into this heart-pumping, high-stakes romance where the line between invisible and irresistible is about to get blurred."

There are too many ways of taking revenge on a woman. But he chose marriage. In the past three years, he acted like a ruthless husband, treating her coldly, and even more worse, humiliating her. Even when she was pregnant, he tried to force her to give it up, to retire from film field, to expel her from her country.

My fiancée, with whom I've been in a relationship for three years, has threatened to break off our engagement for the hundredth time, forcing me to donate a kidney to her adopted brother, who's faking illness and acting like a hypocrite.

My biological parents even threatened to sever ties with me: "You have a healthy body. Ian has nothing but us. You can't even bear to part with a kidney. You're so selfish and cold-blooded!"

They don't know that my hands, which I used to play the piano, had already been crushed by gangsters while cleaning up their mess; they also don't know that at this moment, I have a critical illness notice for late-stage bone cancer in my pocket.

Seeing the undisguised disgust and indifference in my fiancée's eyes, I swallowed the taste of blood in my throat and calmly signed the consent form for the live organ removal.

"Okay, I'll donate. I'll give you back my life along with it."

Later, I died like a dog on the rusty operating table of a shady clinic, my bones and marrow completely drained.

But when I was truly reduced to dust and left without even a complete corpse... the truth about my vicious foster brother faking illness was exposed.

The aloof and arrogant female CEO who once treated me like trash went completely mad overnight.

She knelt desperately before my nameless grave, plunged a sharp knife into her abdomen, and collapsed in a pool of blood, pleading for me to see her one more time.

I wish someone had taught me you can’t make your happiness all about loving one person, because what happens when you lose them? What happens to what’s left of you after they’ve taken half of you?

My name is Elysian Reign, and unlike my last name, I’m not extraordinary. My mother died when I was born, and my father drank himself to death. I graduated with a Mathematics degree of which I hardly use as a junior Network Security Engineer. I live in a one-bedroom apartment around the corner of my favorite gym, and I have a Saint Bernard named Bubbles—unextraordinarily so.

His name is Cade Sinclair, and unlike me, he is extraordinary. His mother was one of my professors before she passed, and his father is the owner of Sinclair Enterprises. Yes, as in Sinclair Enterprises: the largest firearm manufacturer for the Armed Forces.

I should’ve known better. But you never imagine that the love of your life’s own father would go through lengths to make sure his son doesn’t end up with someone like you—even if it means forcing him into an experimental military hypnosis treatment.

After three years of putting myself back together, you’d think I’d have learned my lesson. You’d think that I would’ve double checked before accepting a job for a company his father happens to own. You’d think that I would’ve changed my identity and left the country after walking in on my first day to find that Cade is the lead Network Engineer on my team—aka, my boss.

Now, how am I supposed to work with him when he’s made it his mission to make my life a living hell? How am I supposed to make him—at the very least—tolerate me when he’s been hypnotized to hate me?

He’s holding me, cradling me in his arms like something precious. His grip is firm, possessive, and in that moment, I’m not sure if I should feel terrified or… something else entirely. My heart races, and I hate that I like the way his hands feel on me. I hate that the warmth of his chest against my side makes me feel safe. I hate all of it. I open my eyes, just a sliver, enough to see his profile—his jaw clenched, his eyes focused on the road. He turns his head, and I shut my eyes again, heart pounding.

Did he see me?


Grace Miller is an orphaned first-year criminal law student. She lost her family in a mysterious accident years ago, and life has never been the same for her. For Grace, only two things matter, she hates crime, and she loves Sophia- her friend she met in a camp back in high school. So when Sophia asks, no, begs her to come to Italy with her for her 21st birthday, she just cannot say no. There is only one problem, she doesn’t know anything about the Moretti family's mafia connections.

Alessandro (Alex) Moretti is the man the world fears. He is the new don of the Moretti Mafia family, having taken over after his father's death a few years ago. Alex is feared and respected as a ruthless, arrogant, and indestructible leader. He handles the family's business with precision and has little patience for socializing, especially with people trying to gain his favor or women trying to get in the Moretti bed, left and right.

Alex is used to dealing with enemies and threats, but Grace is a challenge he didn't see coming. With a vendetta against criminals and a determination to uncover the truth about her family's mysterious death, Grace is everything Alex should avoid. But when his sister warns him to keep his distance from her due to her hate of crime and criminals, he is sure Grace is lying just to get his attention, and he makes it a challenge to break her act- even if it means that he has to put on one up himself.

But once Alex begins playing the role of a non-criminal to get closer to Grace, he just can't have enough, and it is too late, too soon.

The darkness in his eyes, the dangerous smell of alcohol in his breath, and his deathly grip keeping me bound to him made my heart pound in my chest and my body quiver beneath him. Shamefully, it wasn’t anything that I wasn’t used to, because…the things I let him do to me?

When he was frustrated, annoyed, and angry at the world, I was here to be his pound of flesh. In return, he masked the void of my loneliness because for months, that was the transaction of our relationship. He’d pin me to the wall, bend me over the counter, pull my hair, slap me, choke me, and I enjoyed every second of it because in that moment, it finally felt good to be powerless.

Irony is a funny thing. I enjoyed being in pain because it made me forget how much I was hurting.


“I warned you, doll.” His voice strikes a string of chills down the base of my spine, a reminder that all of the time in the world could pass, and he’s still not letting go.

This is where the good girl in me dies.

“You’re mine now,” he whispers.


My name is Mercy—Mercy Carter. I went to college. Got myself a useless Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree.

His name is Marcel—Marcello Saldívar. However, at the time, I didn’t know that he, the heir to the Saldívar Mafia empire, was the man that I had blindly offered myself to.

As smart as I am, I was stupid all the times when it actually mattered. After all, he did warn me that he was dangerous. I just didn’t think he could be much worse than my thug of a brother.

I was vulnerable—naive.

My name is Mercy, and I am the Mafia’s Mercy.

My hips work shamelessly, riding his hand as he sucks bruises into my neck. This dirty secret, this indecent proposition so at odds with my buttoned-up life. The light, near-cruel flicks, rip a scream from my throat as I shatter, my eyes rolling to the back of my head, my body locking down in a bone-deep spasm.

I just had sex…with a stranger…in a dirty back alley…


"Be a good girl. Good girls get rewarded."

Bullshit.

Being a good girl doesn't get you jack shit, but a cheating husband and piles of credit card debt in your name—credit cards that he used to pamper his side piece, the mock with I really want to erase from my mind from that bitch: Maybe if you could give him a baby, he wouldn't need to go looking somewhere else."

After years of negative tests, how cruel is it that one reckless encounter with a stranger could succeed where my marriage failed? A strangled laugh escapes my lips, edging on hysteria.


The sexy man with dark eyes leans forward, elbows on his knees. "Who I am doesn't matter," he says, the words echoing in the marrow of my bones. "What matters is that you, Penelope, are carrying my descendant."

"Your…your descendant..?"

I was meant to wed the man I love, Damien Blackwell. Rather, I was humiliated in front of his whole family and falsely accused of business espionage. They ruined my reputation. My accounts were frozen. They took everything.
Then his uncle made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Cold, merciless, and frighteningly strong, Kael Blackwell offered me two options: marry him or perish in prison for crimes I didn't commit.
I'm now imprisoned in his penthouse, wearing his grandmother's ring and pretending to be his submissive wife while he treats me like the criminal he thinks I am. He keeps an eye on my calls, has authority over my life, and reminds me every day that I am under his command.
But when the truth finally comes out, when he realizes I was innocent all along, will his regret be enough? Or will I be the one walking away while he begs me to stay?
He wanted revenge. He got a wife he'll have to grovel to keep.