1738 Book(s) Related to randy from a christmas story

I married Massimo Salvatore, the mafia don, thirty-two times. And divorced him thirty-two times.

Every single time for the same reason—his precious Claudia came back from her overseas treatment facility.

"She took a bullet to the head for me. Any stress could kill her." That was his only explanation.

The first divorce, I trashed the entire living room. He slapped me across the face: "Cut the DRAMA. We'll get back together once she's stable."

The third time, I followed them to the club and caught them kissing. I confronted him—got locked in the basement for seven days.

Sign the papers, take off the ring, pack my bags. Like a nightmare on repeat.

Until the thirty-third time.

A rival family grabbed both me and Claudia. With a gun to his head, he could only save one of us. I looked at him, voice breaking: "Massimo, just this once, pick me."

He walked toward her.

Four hours later, his men found me in some abandoned warehouse. Three broken ribs, blood everywhere. Our baby—gone.

Massimo camped out by Claudia's hospital bed, wouldn't leave her side. Didn't visit me once. Not even when I got discharged.

That's when I was done.

Rayne
She ran to the Crimson Riders to warn them of danger, hoping to find a safe place for her and her baby girl.
There she found a man who claimed her and her baby as his own without hesitation, vowing to keep them safe.
She finds the love and passion in his arms she'd never dared dream of.
Will she have the strength to fight for it when it's threatened, and the horrors of her past try to pull her back?

Night
As the VP of the Crimson Riders and son to the president, his life has revolved around the club.
When a wounded half naked girl stumbles through the snow with her newborn to warn them of imminent danger, his heart is forever captured.
Determined to show her the love she has long been denied, he fights those from the present and her past trying to steal her away.

At the family dinner, a Wall Street rising star flaunted his power in front of me, boasting that he was the chief agent of the "Godfather of the Underworld."
My ex-wife's family fawned over me like dogs, pointing their fingers at me and taunting, "You spineless, gigolo trash, you're not even worthy to carry Mr. Victor's shoes!"
Victor, even more smug, turned on speakerphone, trying to use my privileges to curry favor with my wife.
I stood silently in the corner, coldly pressing a blood-red command: [Permanently Delete Account].
The next second, the system's cold pronouncement came through his phone: "Warning, you have overstepped your authority and have been banned across the entire network!"
The room fell silent instantly.
They had no idea that I was the true Godfather, the one who controlled a multi-billion dollar empire and ruled the Western underworld!

Alexander Gray never suspects his investment consultant Vera is the hidden trillion-dollar heiress of Sterling Holdings. Fed up with restrictive elite life, she hides her identity to work an ordinary job. A sudden encounter with her boss sparks a thrilling secret romance—professional by day, irresistibly intimate by night.
When Alexander’s mother offers $50 million to drive her away, Vera shuts down her arrogance with a $100 million counteroffer. Her extraordinary talents soon surface, bringing huge profits and stunning the entire board. Once her true identity is revealed, the cold-hearted CEO falls madly in love, cherishing her genuine self over her wealth. A sizzling billionaire romance packed with shocking reversals and sweet true love!

Several days after being locked in the dungeon, my wife married my own identical twin brother.
Rose petals rained from the sky; the entire city celebrated the new marriage of the crime family's matriarch.
She thought I would weep in despair in the dark dungeon, admitting my mistakes to her.
Little did she know, I was currently being held in the arms of another, even more powerful figure whom she herself feared, watching this farce with cold eyes.
In my past life, I gave her my heart, only to be betrayed and abandoned in return.
Living a second time, I will not serve her anymore.
She thought she could tame me using my brother's injury as an excuse, not knowing I had already tricked her into signing our divorce agreement days ago.
When she finally checked the surveillance and learned the truth, kicking down the dungeon door in a frantic plea for my forgiveness, all that remained was a pool of my blood...

She loved him with all her three lives, only to be used and hurt repeatedly. When she returned to the wedding day for the fourth time, the phoenix refused to be trapped any longer. Betrayal ended, revenge arrived, and her destined dragon finally came to take her home.

I promised Ethan Caldwell, the boy I grew up with, I'd give up the top schools to attend some mediocre college with him.

On the final day of application submission, I brought homemade soup to his studio.

Outside the door, I heard him bragging to his friends: "Claire Bennett's like a damn puppy. I tell her to come to NYU with me, and boom, she changes her whole application to NYU. Lily's grades are shit. If Claire doesn't go for that full scholarship, Lily's got it in the bag. And Claire's so whipped, even when she finds out, she'll just suck it up like always."

The thermos in my hands feels cold now.

At the Morello family’s Christmas dinner, I stood beside Vincent, waiting for him to announce our engagement.
Instead, in the very next second, he walked in holding a little boy and claimed him as his son.
And the woman he said he was going to marry? Scarlett Morello. The one he had always introduced as his “sister.”
The whole room erupted in applause. I stood there frozen, like a nail hammered into the floor.
Later, in his study, he took my hand and said, “Scarlett is dying. Late-stage breast cancer. She only has six months left. After she’s gone, I’ll marry you.”
But there was no guilt in his eyes. No love, either.
Then he told me to go to his villa that afternoon, to take care of the woman who was supposedly “dying.”
I opened the photo he sent me. Scarlett was lying in a hospital bed, pale-faced, an IV in the back of her hand.
A professional tennis player who had been playing in an exhibition match three weeks ago, and who had dropped three grand at Louis Vuitton on Fifth Avenue just five days ago.
But sure. She was “dying.”
At three in the morning, I was curled up by the front door of my apartment, crying so long I lost track of time.
Then my phone lit up. A text from an unknown number:
[Elena, I’m downstairs. When we were kids, you told me that once I controlled the docks on the East Coast, you’d marry me. The docks are mine now. Does that promise still stand?]
I pulled back the curtain and there he was. Ethan Vitale, my first love, leaning against the door of a black Cadillac, lifting a hand in a lazy wave.
Three years ago, when he left New York, he was only a Capo.
Now, he was the Don of the Vitale family.
He didn’t rush me. Didn’t pressure me to come downstairs.
He came for one reason only, to let me know he was back.
I wiped away my tears and texted back:
[It still stands.]
Because I wanted to see for myself just how long that woman could keep up her act.

On the eve of my wedding, I’m kidnapped alongside my stepsister. With a gun to my head, the kidnapper forces my fiancé to choose: her or me. He chooses my stepsister.
Abandoned by my family and stripped of everything, I’m left with nothing.
But then, Dominic Voss, the cold-blooded leader of a dark organization, saves me. “I fell for you at first sight,” he declares. “Be my woman, and I’ll help you get revenge.” With no other options, I agree.
Unexpectedly, Dominic treats me as his one and only, showering me with love and devotion. He confronts my family troubles, punishing my irresponsible father and wicked stepmother.
With his support, I rise from a struggling dancer to a world-renowned artist.
When my ex-fiancé tries to win me back, he’s met with a shocking sight: Dominic publicly proposes!
“Chloe, you’ve loved me for so long…” he begins. I ignoring him, kiss Dominic deeply and respond, “I was blind before, choosing the wrong man, but now I have my true love. Stay away; my husband might just kick your ass.”
Continuously updating, with 2 chapters added daily.

"Ava," Alex's voice rumbled across the room, a playful glint in his drunken eyes, "but you're not her, are you? You're someone else."Evie, heart hammering against her ribs, forced a casual smile.

"I don't understand" she stammered, hating the way her voice wobbled, because he was right. He raised an eyebrow, hand reaching out to cup her face. "Some days it really feels like you are and on other days..." Before he could finish, he closed his eyes, falling asleep.

Evie's breath hitched. But how could he know? A cold dread pooled in her stomach."Alex, I—" she began, but the words died on her lips. Evie's carefully constructed world tilted on its axis.

Could he see through the charade? Had her deception finally caught up to her? In From Lies to Love: Deceiving My Sexy Billionaire, Evie must confront the consequences of her deception as love and truth collide in a high-stakes game of hearts.

Three years of a sham marriage shattered, only to discover I was the secret heiress to a billion-dollar empire. My husband cheated on me with his childhood sweetheart, raising their child under my roof, thinking I was a powerless orphan he could discard at will. But he was wrong. With my true family's support and the alliance of a powerful, enigmatic CEO, I'm taking back everything that's mine, piece by piece. But as I reclaim my life and navigate a new, dangerous romance, I begin to suspect that my "accidental" switch at birth might have been a deliberate plot, hiding a far more sinister secret.

He called her boring. He said their marriage was a mistake. Then he left her bleeding, heartbroken... and pregnant.

Lily devoted seven years of her life to a man who only saw her as a convenience. When her husband, Alex, demanded a divorce, she begged him to stay only to discover he'd already proposed to his ex… and planned it all behind her back.

But betrayal wasn’t the end, it was just the beginning.

Left for dead, humiliated, and crushed by the ultimate heartbreak, Lily had nothing, until a billionaire stranger offered her a deal: a contract marriage, a new identity, and a chance to make the man who shattered her beg on his knees.

She accepted.

Now, Lily is no longer the soft-spoken housewife he threw away, she's the storm he never saw coming. Beautiful. Untouchable. Dangerous.
And Alex? He’s about to learn that the woman he underestimated is now the one who holds all the power. He broke her soul. Now she’s coming for him…

"You think five years of running could free you from me completely?"

The man's icy gray eyes locked onto mine as his fingers brushed the faded bite mark on my neck.

His mark.

The nightmare I had spent five years trying to forget.

Five years ago, I fled the Black Moon Pack with nothing but scars and secrets, disappearing from Alpha Bruce's world.

Now, five years later, I have returned to Silver Crown City as a photographer. I thought I could finish one project and leave unnoticed.

I was wrong.

Bruce was still powerful, dangerous, and every bit the Alpha who stood above everyone else.

Worse, I soon realized our reunion was no accident.

The high-paying assignment. The unexpected invitation. The carefully arranged seat at the gala...

He called me his lucky charm. I never knew I would become the price he was willing to pay for.

Wren Kelly was never supposed to belong in Cole Ashford’s world. She was the daughter of a building manager, while he was the heir of a wealthy family and a rising tennis star.

But since childhood, Cole believed she was the secret behind every victory. Until one desperate night, Wren had no choice but to make a deal with him—four years of her life in exchange for the money that could save her mother.

She thought she was selling her freedom.

She never expected that the boy who needed her luck would one day need her heart even more.

In Heaven, there exists an iron law: during the Ascension Ceremony, if a bride fails nine times to complete the bonding flight with her groom's Divine Cloak, her soul is deemed tainted, and she will be cast into the Abyss for seven centuries of penance.
I was once Heaven's greatest warrior, until I threw myself before the hellfire meant for Archangel Gabriel—and lost my wings forever.
I endured eight Ascension ceremonies. Each time, Gabriel found a reason to delay.
Then came the ninth. My last chance. One flight bound to his Divine Cloak, and I would soar again—my name cleared, my honor restored.
But atop the ceremonial tower, he unclasped the cloak from his own shoulders and wrapped it around Irene, the trembling Healing Angel.
"Cecilia, Irene needs this more. You're strong—you'll survive the fall."
He'd forgotten one thing: without wings, this height would kill me.
I didn't beg. I simply met his eyes—and stepped off the edge.
I woke in the arms of the Demon Lord I'd once shown mercy.
He spread ten pairs of wings that blotted out the heavens and carried me back to Heaven as his queen.
And Gabriel—that proud Archangel—knelt at my feet, tears streaming, begging me to look at him just once more.

"Looking for trouble?" His gaze locked onto me, lazy yet sharp.

"Take me home," I breathed, pulse racing.

"Know the risks?" His thumb traced my wrist, sending shivers.

"I want it."

His mouth claimed mine, biting. Fingers shoved under fabric, groping. Rip – fabric gave way.

"Dripping already?" He growled, fingers circling my core. "Eager little thing."

"...Stop—"

"Stop?" He thrust two fingers deep. "Or stop there?"

I cried out. He freed himself, hot steel grinding against bare skin.

_

After three years of cold neglect in her marriage to Idris—who still pined for his ex, Raven—Vera reached her limit. A call from Raven during their first intimate moment was the final straw. Divorce was her only escape.

Seeking solace with a friend, a reckless night led her to Atlas Blackwell, the powerful CEO now leading her company. To silence his family’s demands and forge a new path, they entered a one-year contract marriage.

Now, with the contract expiring, Vera stands at a crossroads. Idris begs for forgiveness, promising change. Yet Atlas, her husband in name only, has proven himself her true anchor.

Two men. One heart. Which future will she choose?

Blurb:
“I remember bits and pieces, but nothing clear. My mate, King Lucian, has told me stories about my past, but I cannot actually recall the events myself. It is very frustrating,”

The foundation of Celestia's world came crashing down on the night, her pup was wrenched out of her hands and placed in the arms of her mate's first love Afterward she was framed for crimes she didn't commit rejected, stripped of her title as Luna, her wolf and discarded to die a rogue.

But Celestia would not die, she would claw her way back to the top until she stood by the side of the most powerful man on the continent.

Will she be able to claim her revenge or will she take back the man who made her lose it all?

When I married, our mafia families were united. But love turned out to be a lie: my husband betrayed me, let himself be manipulated, and my death was inevitable, orchestrated by his mistress.

Now, reborn, I know exactly what to do: reclaim my mafia empire. But I can’t do it alone. I need to win back old allies… and the only person capable of helping me, the feared Don, Vincenzo Leone, owner of the largest mafia in North America.

Known for his cruelty and avoided by everyone, he is my only path to power. Fearless and thirsty for revenge, I dare to ask for his help. But everything comes at a price. And for me, trusting in love again could be the most dangerous trap of all.

The day the butler of Sterling family came to claim me, the folks back in my dusty hometown lined the streets with tears in their eyes, waving goodbye like I was headed somewhere better.
The moment I stepped into that mansion, armed guards pinned me down in the first-floor medical suite, demanding I donate bone marrow to their precious adopted daughter, Celeste.
I responded by ripping out Celeste's dialysis machine.
My biological parents, Richard and Eleanor, went ballistic. They locked me in the attic storage room to "reflect on my behavior."
That night, while the house slept, I crept down to the basement and twisted open the main gas line valve.
I was halfway through rigging a candle delay fuse when the thermal imaging system caught me. Armed security tackled me before I could finish the job.
They'd had enough. They blindfolded me, tossed me onto a private jet like garbage, and flew me overnight to the most notorious hellhole in America—Deadwater, Texas.
The car had barely stopped in front of the bullet-riddled town sign when Richard leaned in with a cold warning:
"Listen to me. These people don't show mercy. An ungrateful brat like you? Three days, tops, before they pick your bones clean."
Eleanor stood beside him, dripping with fake concern:
"Willa, just agree to donate your marrow to Celeste, and you'll still be a Sterling. Stay here in this godforsaken wasteland, and you're dead."
I spat blood at her shoes. Eleanor's mask shattered. She ripped off my hood and shoved me hard into the dust.
I pushed myself up slightly, staring coldly at the yellow sand beneath my hands, and shook my head.
I squinted up at the familiar landscape—the rusted water tower, the butcher shop with skinned hogs hanging in the window, the faint smell of gunpowder in the air.
Funny. Nobody ever told me that the place I'd spent twenty years calling home was what rich people called "Deadwater."
Well. Since I'm here anyway.
Nobody's leaving this town alive today.

In my past life, I replaced my runaway sister Beatrice and was forced to marry mob enforcer Rowan Sinclair.
She thought he was poor with no future, so she ran. My parents didn't even tell me before sending me in her place.
Rowan knew the truth. He carried it like shame, never truly seeing me—only cold stares and silent contempt. I spent years beside him like an unwanted ghost, carefully managing his world while he rose from despised smuggler to feared godfather.
Then his attitude began to change.
Just when I thought we might have a real future, Beatrice returned with tears and lies, claiming I'd stolen her place. Rowan believed her. My parents betrayed me. Everyone chose her.
When a rival family captured us both, guns to our heads, only one could survive.
Rowan pulled Beatrice into his arms and abandoned me without a glance.
They tortured me for three days. The baby in my womb died first. Its father never knew it existed.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back to that afternoon before it all began.

Thirty-two times.
That was how many times Tristan had "tested" me during our three years together.
When I met Tristan Bennett, we were both hiding our true identities. He never mentioned he was the Bennett family heir, and I never brought up the surname Torrente. We were just ordinary college sweethearts in Ashborne City. He said he loved me, and I believed him.
The seventeenth time: driving across town late at night to deliver documents for him, I was run off the road and crashed into a guardrail, earning nine stitches in my forehead. His first words at the hospital were, "Can't you even drive properly? You delayed my business."
The twenty-sixth time: he owed money at an underground casino. He sent me to negotiate. A gun was drawn, and a bullet grazed my arm, soaking my sleeve in blood. The scar is still there. He never asked if I was in pain; he only cared if his debt was cleared.
The thirtieth time: he asked for my entire life savings for an "emergency." He turned around and used that money to buy someone else a new car.
I thought if I endured it all, we would eventually have a future.
Until he announced he was opening a casino and demanded ten million dollars. "The ultimate test," he called it. If I passed, he’d marry me.
I refused.
He immediately bought Aurelia Gallom a twenty-million-dollar mansion. Waving the property deed in my face, he said, "Vesna, I was just testing you. It's a shame you failed. We're done."
I didn't cry, and I didn't beg. The moment I walked away, I had never felt so free. He didn't know I was a Torrente, or that my father, Dario, owned the criminal underworld of this city. And he certainly never imagined that I would later marry Silvio Marchesi—the most powerful Mafia Boss in Ashborne City—and become the Donna of the Marchesi syndicate.

For Joey, I shouldered the blame for a commercial crime and survived five years behind bars—alone, even through a miscarriage.

With only five days left on my sentence, his secretary flaunted a “bonus” transfer from him—521,314—and when I left one mild comment, she blocked me.

I got released early on Christmas, wanting to surprise my husband. Instead, I pushed open our bedroom door and found Joey and Betty in our marital bed, deep in their sick little games.

And then I overheard a phone call that shattered everything: my little sister, Sansa, hadn’t died from a surgical “accident” at all. Joey had bribed the surgeon and had her heart cut out—so his mistress could gain a werewolf’s healing ability and keep having some perverted sex on bed.

He lied to me, used me, murdered my sister—and still mocked me for I was nothing without him.

What he doesn’t know is that I’m the daughter of an Alpha. I cut my family off for him once. Now I’m taking everything back—divorce, vengeance, and a rec

The global freeze descended, and the apocalypse arrived right on cue. I seized all the critical supplies and evacuated first, leaving "the perfect base" behind for the two traitors who backstabbed me. They thought it was heaven, but little did they know that the entire fortress was a precision trap constructed of deception, scarcity, and despair. As the outdoor temperature plummeted to minus eighty degrees, I sat by the window, roasting venison and watching them through high-definition infrared, coldly observing as they lost their humanity in the desperate fight for a single bowl of sawdust.

I looked at the naked stranger lying asleep beside me. Lightning flickered, illuminating his muscular body only in glimpses. He was covered in mud and blood, and though in human form now, he still looked wild and monstrous.
I’d never found myself lying beside any naked man before in my life.
He pulled at my clothes, and I let him rip them off.
The thunder came closer, booming right overhead.
We kissed with frantic passion and grasped at every inch of each other.
One of the only normal human girls at the Werewolf Noble Academy, I was at the bottom of the social order from the start. But even worse than that, just about everyone at school picked on me for being fat. One day I slept with a stranger in an accident. He is the second prince of the werewolf, and wants to marry me!

I looked at the naked stranger lying asleep beside me. Lightning flickered, illuminating his muscular body only in glimpses. He was covered in mud and blood, and though in human form now, he still looked wild and monstrous. I’d never found myself lying beside any naked man before in my life. He pulled at my clothes, and I let him rip them off. The thunder came closer, booming right overhead. We kissed with frantic passion and grasped at every inch of each other. One of the only normal human girls at the Werewolf Noble Academy, I was at the bottom of the social order from the start. But even worse than that, just about everyone at school picked on me for being fat. One day I slept with a stranger in an accident. He is the second prince of the werewolf, and wants to marry me!

After Amelia has woken from the encounter with the fates, she must find a way to prevent her own death. Only as her day goes on she realizes nothing is like it had been in the vision she saw of her future.

An internal struggle for her to emerge as the white wolf send her into an encounter with a blood beast, who succeeds in enticing her. That is until they are interrupted by the arrival of her mate.
Nothing is how it should be and it is going to take every alley she has to find out why, and maybe a little help from an enemy....

The future is never set in stone....and sometimes you need to break all the rules.

This is the sequel to the book 'More Than Me', it can be read as a standalone.

From the day I met him at the age of ten, I worked hard to improve myself, all just to catch a glimpse of him in the crowd. He promised to protect me for a lifetime. However, those twelve years turned out to be nothing but my own laughable obsession... He was no longer my brother.
After being sent to prison by him for three years, I returned with a vengeance. I was no longer the woman who loved him to the point of self-abasement!
I tore apart the homewreckers, trampled on the scum, and was about to ruthlessly punish the scumbag when... the man who had previously been cruel and indifferent to me suddenly became gentle and tender!

"Ten years of atonement, and you flee?"

His fangs glinted as he gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. Dragon scales shimmered along his neck, breath scorching my skin.

"Your Majesty... I beg—" He shoved me onto the bed. Silk tore with a sharp rip, cold air rushing over my exposed body.

"Scared?" He smirked, palm sliding down my waist, fingers tracing slow, burning circles. "Yet you shiver... not from cold."

I lunged for the candlestick, but he caught my wrist, pinning it overhead. His knee forced my legs apart.

"When your father gave you to me," his lips brushed my ear, voice a dark rumble, "you were already mine."

On the eve of freedom after ten years of servitude, Lina Valeria stood one night away from reuniting with her betrothed. But Dragon King Augustus condemned her to the Abyss Mines on false charges—a trap forged from obsessive desire.

Augustus Ashenwing, Supreme Sovereign of Skyhold Citadel, is ruthless and feared by all races. His obsession stems from ancient grudges and dragonkind's most dangerous instinct: possessive desire. He demands her submission, binding her to his throne as his consort.

From prisoner to queen, Lina battles him through court intrigue and twisted passion—fighting for her mother, her freedom, her dignity.

Yet this cold-blooded tyrant reserves all tenderness for her alone. He indulges her temper, bends his pride, compromises without limit—anything to see her smile. Gradually, her heart wavers. But loving him means betraying Kain, who waited eleven years. Torn between duty and desire, she drowns in agonizing guilt.

Love and hatred intertwined—a forbidden dragon romance in a realm of oppression.

Chained in a dark basement and abused for three years, Evie finally escaped. Returning home, she saw her sister, Vivian, surrounded by a crowd, blowing out candles on a five-layer cake.

——

Kidnapped by a gang, Evie endured three years of hell. She discovered that it was all orchestrated by Vivian, whose goal was to make her completely disappear from this world.

Heaven-rending hatred outweighed despair. Having cheated death and returned to the Vance family, her adoptive parents avoided her like the plague, and her fiancé was already with Vivian.

Evie didn't care at all. She would return the suffering she endured twofold. With careful planning at every step, she took over the Vance Group, transforming from someone universally loathed into a universally worshipped multi-faceted boss—she possessed countless hidden identities.

Even the fiancé who had once betrayed her knelt before her, begging for forgiveness.

Evie gave a seductive smile, "My apologies. I am already with your CEO cousin. You should call me your cousin-in-law now."

The folder slid across the table toward Hannah's husband. Sign here. Family helps family.

What the Whitfields never once thought to wonder was that the quiet daughter-in-law they'd spent four years bleeding had almost three million dollars they couldn't see.

She'd hidden it for one reason: to keep the only good man in that family from being turned into their wallet.

Now they wanted his signature. His house. His name on their debt.

They had spent a lifetime underestimating the quiet one.

They were about to learn what that costs.

I was hospitalized with a high fever, and my boyfriend stayed by my side 24/7.
The nurses all praised him as the "perfect boyfriend," and 5 million live stream viewers were green with envy.
He looked into the camera and poured his heart out: "She's my entire world. I could never leave her, not in this lifetime."
Tears streamed down my face as I felt like the luckiest woman alive.
Until 2 AM, when his phone buzzed with a message:
"Miss you 💋"
He thought I was fast asleep.
I wished I was just dreaming.

Ever since Her Majesty the Queen fell gravely ill, the entire dragon realm had been teetering on the brink of collapse.
In that precarious moment, it was I who held the throne together, heartbroken yet unyielding.
I depleted my magic without reservation to repair the realm's protective barriers, working through endless nights to brew life-sustaining elixirs for the Queen.
Yet when the Dragon Legion finally drove back the abyssal demons, what awaited me wasn't victory—it was a fatal blade.
My magic was shredded apart. The soul core in my chest was ripped out by a pair of familiar hands.
In my final moments, I saw the face of the one holding the knife.
My newly wedded husband, Drystan.
And beside him, pulled tight against his chest, was my half-sister Vespera.
"You're brilliant, Vespera." Drystan turned the faintly glowing core over in his palm. "A single forged love letter, and this fool willingly died defending our dying realm. Now even her core is mine."
Vespera nestled against him, emerald eyes glittering with greed. "Once you absorb this power, we'll return to the throne together. You'll still be the Empire's Crown Prince, and I'll wear the Crown Princess's coronet. As is only right."
Amid this sickening pledge of betrayal, I drew my last breath.
When I opened my eyes again, cold gray stone vaulting stared back at me.
I had returned to the day news of Drystan's death in battle reached the capital.
One glance toward the corner of the great hall told me everything.
That man stood there wearing a cold iron mask, posing as my dear sister Vespera's sworn personal knight.
You want to drain me dry? Steal my soul core?
Dream on.

“Daddy…” I mindlinked my father.
I haven’t spoken to him in the 3 years I’ve been married.
“Evelyn? What’s wrong?” My father asked, his voice was soft and yet was so superior.
“I’m divorced” I told him solemnly.
“Return home to the palace, my princess” my father ordered.

"You think this is love?" Victor growls, his grip tightening around my wrist. "This is survival. Don't mistake me for someone who cares."
Valerie Bridge had everything—until betrayal landed her in prison. Now she's forced to marry Victor Regal, a ruthless man who sees her as nothing but a pawn. His touch burns like ownership though he belongs to another.
When passion ignites between them, Valerie finds herself trapped between desire and deception. Her past haunts her, enemies circle, and the truth threatens to destroy what remains of her soul.
Will she fight for freedom—or will love be the thing that finally breaks her?

I sacrificed ten years of my life in prison for Alaric. I burned my hand in a raging fire, just to save our four-year-old son.
Yet the family I saved abandoned me. My husband favored his scheming stepmother. My own son called me dirty, rejecting his birth mother. To humiliate me, Alaric even bet half a million on my dignity.
Tired of endless humiliation, I chose to leave the cold father and son who broke me completely.
Just as I fell into despair, my childhood sweetheart—now a powerful CEO—returned. He swore to guard me closely, making up for all the warmth I had lost.

Five years. Five years I gave everything to Paxton Sterling—my heart, my body, my wolf's soul. I built his empire as Chief Strategy Officer while wearing his mark like a badge of honor.

Then she came back.

Layla—my pure-blooded half-sister with her perfect smile and poison tongue. Within days of her return from Europe, Paxton was ready to throw me away like yesterday's news.

"I want to sever our bond, Freya. Lyra is my true mate."

Wrong move, Alpha.

He thinks I'm just another submissive mate who'll quietly disappear. He's forgotten I'm a mixed-blood Alpha who's been playing nice for far too long. While he's busy playing house with my backstabbing sister, Lucas Morgan—the most dangerous Alpha in the territory—is making me an offer I can't refuse.

Paxton wants to discard me? Fine.

But he's about to learn that some women don't just walk away—they burn everything down on their way out.

I'm done being the good girl. Done being the perfect mate. Done hiding what I really am.

Zephran Vespera was born into the most prestigious magical bloodline, yet his hands remain completely empty. While his younger brother is hailed as a prodigy, Zephran is branded a stagnant failure and a heavy burden on his family legacy.
What his parents and the entire wizarding world do not know is that Zephran is not weak. His magic was not lost. It was consumed.
Years ago, a desperate attempt to awaken his powers bound him to Vaelkar, an ancient and ruthless dark wizard who brought the continent to its knees centuries ago. Now, the fragmented soul of the fallen conqueror resides within Zephran, feeding off his magical core to survive.
Forced to enter the elite Aethelgard Arcanum as a pitiful mortal outcast, Zephran must endure the scorn of the magical society. But a dark pact has been made. In exchange for carrying the ancient entity past the school wards to reclaim the rest of his fractured soul, Vaelkar will teach Zephran the forgotten and forbidden arts of the void.
They thought he was a magicless failure. They were completely wrong. Zephran is about to forge a terrifying new path to power, and the entire realm will soon learn to fear the heir they once discarded.

A time of ancient ignorance. Humans did not yet exist, the ancestors of the elves were still trolls, and the titans ruled the earth and the dragons ruled the skies. At the end of the Age, the Titans and Dragons fought and lost. At this time, a traveler descended on a tribe of Hawkmen, leading them gradually out of their own evolutionary path, and eventually became a tribe of angels. Countless years later. The King of Angels, the Lord of Judgment, Jiang You, was on the throne of heaven. Endless beings sang in unison: 'Holy! Holy! Sinners can't look upon the majesty and glory of God. Each one is crowned with a crown of jade and honored with a golden throne."

Growing up as the Princess of Ever Moon Pack, Regina never thought that she would be betrayed and sold by her own husband. Then she found this marriage is all a lie from day one. Thank the moon goddess that her older brother Gray saved her from her abusive husband and brought her home. But when she discovers that Ever Moon Pack's new, handsome alpha is not really her biological brother, her world is turned upside down again. ...And not to say Gray has been in love with her since forever. --- "Here's my wife! Pretty, huh?" My husband cackled, "You two can have a night with her and all my debts go away. Great deal, right?"

My younger sister scored 8.2. I scored 0.3.
She was the genius. I was the waste-blood Omega.
My parents threw me to the strays.
Said I didn't deserve the Silver Moon name.
Said the slum was where I belonged.
Now I'm awake, with molten gold in my veins.
This time, you'll be the ones begging to take me back.

I just landed my dream job on Wall Street, but the celebratory champagne came with a bizarre side effect. I can suddenly see the exact probability of someone killing me floating above their heads. My parents? 5% and 70%. The fiancé I ran to for safety? A blood-red 100%.

"Brielle, I need money... My bone cancer is worse. Without treatment, I won't make it past next month."

For Cole's words, I gave up everything—my billionaire father, my inheritance, my name. I became a crime scene cleaner, the most degrading job in New York.

Twenty hours a day, I scrubbed blood and rotting flesh off apartment floors. I even sold my own blood. All to save the man I loved.

One million dollars. Finally, I had it.

I rushed to the five-star hotel, clutching the warm check in my trembling hands. Pushed open the presidential suite door.

And froze.

Cole—healthy, glowing, dressed in an expensive suit—knelt before Delilah, New York's newest socialite. A diamond ring glittered between his fingers.

"Babe, that corpse-smelling idiot sent more money today," he laughed. "That bag you wanted? Let's go buy it right now."

The check fell from my hands.

Something inside me shattered.

And something darker took its place.