8006 Book(s) Related to the evil lady's hero chapter 1

"This is Asher Adams" her father said. "He's going to be your bodyguard from now on.

Kimberly's eyes widened in disbelief. The water she had just swallowed went down the wrong pipe and she began to choke. She started to cough and it took some seconds to finally calm her down.

Great. Just great. She thought. Just when she thought she had the annoying man out of her life for good.

She turned her attention to her father. "I'm sorry dad, what did you just say?"


Kimberly Blake, daughter and only child of billionaire, Hillary Blake, loves her freedom and independence. She hates being told what to do more than anything.

But all that freedom becomes a thing of the past when she gets kidnapped and her father hires private investigator and bodyguard, Asher Adams to rescue her.

Now, not only is she stuck with a big hunk of a man following her around and watching her every move...

But one she finds so damn attractive....

Riley leans in, pressing his lips to hers in a soft, gentle kiss. Sofia responds, her lips parting as she deepens the kiss. Danny and Leo watch for a moment, then join in, their hands roaming over Sofia’s body as they kiss her neck and shoulder.

I watch, my own body reacting to the sight of my girl being kissed by my best friends. I would lie if I said I wouldn't rather take her all to myself, but I know they care for her and like her so damn much, just the way I do, and I can't help but feel warm at the thought of her getting this much love for once in her life.


To everyone else, Sofia looks like a quiet, shy girl who loves books more than people. Some even wonder if she lives in the library. But there’s a reason why she’s scared to go home; she overheard her parents planning to sell her to some rich mafia man so they could become rich themselves. Trying her best to avoid her house, she gets kidnapped by four men who planned to use her to hurt her husband-to-be. But the more time they spend with her, the more they fall in love, yes, all four of them.

Will they push their feelings aside to take down the mafia leader, or will they keep her to themselves?"

He kills without mercy. She loves without reason. And nothing will stop her from having him.

For three years, Mafia leader Conner O’Neill has felt eyes on him. A phantom touch in the night. Perfume lingering on his pillows. Warm cookies in his oven. Enemies' heads delivered to his doorstep, gift-wrapped in bloodied silk. It isn’t fear that coils in his gut—it’s fascination. Someone is watching him. Someone who knows him. Someone who kills for him.

Her name is Sage—and she’s been his shadow since the night he unknowingly stole her heart with a bullet to another man’s brain. For her, it was love at first sight. Violent. Beautiful. Inevitable. Raised in darkness, owned by a monster, Sage was never meant to love. But Conner changed that. And she’s been his ever since, waiting for the day she can step out of the shadows and into his arms.

But the man who owns her doesn’t let go of his toys. And the man she loves doesn’t know she exists—yet.

She’s done watching. It’s time he learns the truth.

He belongs to her. And she’ll kill anyone who tries to take him away.

Elena is captured by a rival pack after an attack that resulted in the death of her family members. Reduced to the role of an Omega, she endures hard labor amidst mockery and ostracism from fellow Omegas.

Fate intervenes when she is assigned to serve the pack's Luna. Eventually, she aids the new Alpha in escaping an accusation of patricide after his father's death.

Will she choose to assist him in reclaiming his honor and rightful position, despite knowing he was responsible for her father's death? And what will happen when she discovers he is her fated mate?

On my third anniversary, a stranger's text saved my life but shattered my perfect marriage. My husband is sleeping with my best friend, and my mother-in-law runs a criminal empire.
Trapped in a web of lies, I turn to a cold, powerful lawyer for revenge. I will fake a pregnancy, gather evidence, and destroy them all.
But who is the mysterious stranger guiding me? And what does the lawyer really want?

I'm Sophia. After three years of marriage, my husband abandoned me for his first love, leaving me in danger and at the mercy of a stranger.
Desperate and pregnant, he accused me of cheating and even tried to harm our unborn child.
Five years later, I return with twins. With tears in his eyes, he demands, “Whose children are they? Who did you cheat on me with?”

I was supposed to marry a monster.
Instead, I fell for two of them.
When a brutal attack left me covered in blood and questioning everything, the only people I can trust are the twin bodyguards assigned to keep me alive.
One is all cold stares, and quiet threats.
The other smiles while promising violence.
Both are dangerous.
Both are forbidden.
As my arranged marriage turns deadly and a war for the city begins, I discover something more dangerous than falling in love.
I was never meant to be a princess.
I was meant to be the King.
Excerpt
Leon kept my attention fractured, his mouth moving between my lips, throat, chest, every kiss slow and consuming.
Luca planted another kiss against the inside of my thigh while his hands held my legs apart.
The contrast between the brothers was unbearable.
“You have a beautiful pussy,” Luca murmured.
Leon laughed before dragging his mouth lower across my chest.
“You should taste her, brother, she tastes like heaven.”
The sound that left Luca almost resembled amusement.
“Please,” I breathed.
Leon laughed again. “That desperate already, princess?”
“Yes,” I admitted, which only made both brothers look dangerously pleased with themselves.
Luca’s eyes lifted briefly toward mine, before he finally gave me what I wanted.
The first drag of his tongue made my entire body jerk against the mattress.
Leon groaned as his mouth moved across my chest, while Luca continued devastating me with impossible patience.
Luca tasted me slowly, deliberately, like he had all the time in the world.
Leon bit my nipple again as Luca’s tongue slid over my clit in another slow, unbearable stroke, my back arched hard enough that Leon had to catch me against his chest.
“That’s it,” Leon murmured approvingly. “Good girl.”

"Tell me to stop," Samuel murmured, his fingers sliding into Amelia's soaked panties, feeling her body tremble beneath his touch.
"Samuel... we can't—" Her protest was cut off by his searing kiss.
"Say it," he repeated, his thumb pressing against her sensitive clit. "Tell me you don't want me."
But she couldn't. His other hand gripped the back of her neck, pulling her closer, letting her feel his hard cock pressing against her stomach.
"Tell me you don't want me to fuck you," he whispered in her ear, his fingers beginning to move in and out slowly. "Say it, and I'll stop."
She should have pushed him away.
After losing her family, her fortune, and the name she'd carried for eighteen years, love was the one thing she couldn't afford.
But when four powerful men refused to let go, walking away became nearly impossible.
Amelia had once been the perfect heiress—beautiful, privileged, untouchable.
Until the real daughter came home.
Cast aside by the wealthy family who raised her, Amelia entered college with nothing but her pride and the will to survive.
But just as she hit rock bottom, four men crashed into her world:
The loyal football star who worshipped her like a goddess.
The arrogant heir who refused to lose her.
The forbidden professor who'd break every rule for her.
And the ruthless lawyer who destroyed her life—yet couldn't stay away.
They all want her.
They all refuse to let her go.
And Amelia is no longer willing to choose.
Because when four kings are fighting for one woman…
why should she choose only one?

"Yes, I am cursed, and you know this from the very first day when we met. Yes, I demanded this marriage, but why did you show no disgust and hatred towards me at that time?" he roared in pain, and I trembled hard, holding his shirt tightly.

Why didn't I? Because I never felt disgust towards him, even when I first saw him. "Why did you show your care towards me, when you knew very well that this marriage is nothing but a sham. Why did you give me a hope tha.... that I can also be loved? Why?" he roared again while crashing his fist on the wall right beside my ear.

Was I scared?

No.... I wasn't....

But I hated this vulnerability of his. I never faked my emotions towards him. Then, why was it so hard to admit that I....... I love him??????

When my roommate Sutton woke up from a wet dream, she was literally glowing. She claimed it was the most mind-blowing romantic experience of her life—the man’s silhouette, his scent, his body heat felt impossibly real.
Even crazier? When she checked her phone, there was a strange new number saved in her contacts. It belonged to the man from her dream.
While the rest of us shrieked about destiny, our moody roommate Jessamine just stared at the screen and dropped a chilling warning: "Things that come looking for you in dreams should stay buried."
We all wrote her off as a jealous freak.
That is, until I started noticing Sutton’s face growing more haggard by the day—and the fact that her "perfect boyfriend" refused to speak a single word to her.

In my past life, when I eagerly handed my ultrasound to my gentle doctor husband, I didn't get a warm embrace. I got a scalpel. Without anesthesia.

The man I loved dragged me into a pitch-black basement to butcher me alive. My once-doting mother called me a filthy whore, treating me like a sickening stain on the family. My fiercely protective brother pinned me to a metal workbench, offering me up as a living sacrifice.

I died in utter agony, left to rot and be eaten alive by rats in the dark. Up until my last breath, I couldn't understand:

Why did a single piece of paper—a sonogram of a perfectly healthy baby—instantly turn my entire family into bloodthirsty monsters?

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.

To save my cousin from a car accident, my mother, a medical luminary, used me as a "human guinea pig" for twelve years.
When I was twelve, she made me inject myself with three injections of unproven new drugs every week;
when I was fourteen, she directly shoved toxic compounds into my mouth.
When my organs were irreversibly failing and I was vomiting blood in the ICU, she coldly tossed me a payment order:
"Stop pretending to be dead. Immediately kowtow and apologize to your brother, or no hospital will admit you."
As she wished, I was forced to leave the hospital and died at her glamorous new drug launch.
Later, that high-and-mighty mother, obsessed with fame and fortune, knelt for an entire night in a snow-covered fir forest, holding my crudely made urn.
Sadly, I will never forgive her.

“The perfect romance or beach read, with a difference: its enthusiasm and beautiful descriptions offer an unexpected attention to the complexity of not just evolving love, but evolving psyches. It's a delightful recommendation for romance readers looking for a touch more complexity from their romance reads.”--Midwest Book Review (For Now and Forever)THE GHOSTLY GROUNDS: MURDER AND BREAKFAST is the debut novel in a charming new cozy mystery series by bestselling author Sophie Love, author of The Inn at Sunset Harbor series, a #1 Bestseller with over 200 five-star reviews.Marie Fortune, 39, a successful dog groomer in Boston, has had enough of catering to the wealthy and their pampered dogs. Realizing it is time to make a change, she quits and heads to a small coastal town in Maine where she remembers fond summers as a kid. Marie expects to go for a brief getaway—and is shocked to learn that her great-aunt left her an inheritance: a dilapidated, historic house high up on a hill overlooking the harbor. Marie feels an instant connection. Although the locals tell her it would be folly, Marie decides to renovate and give it a second life as a B&B.But there is one thing she couldn’t have planned for: the house is haunted.Two things, actually: her great-aunt also left her a dog—and he is far from a typical dog.When an unexpected death occurs soon thereafter, solving the crime will be more than just a matter of curiosity for Marie—her very future may depend on it.A page-turning cozy, packed with mystery, love, hauntings, travel, pets and food—anchored around a small town and a B&B in need of renovation that will capture your heart—THE GHOSTLY GROUNDS is an un-putdownable cozy that will keep you turning pages (and laughing out loud) late into the night.“The romance is there, but not overdosed. Kudos to the author for this amazing start of a series that promises to be very entertaining.”--Books and Movies Reviews (For Now and Forever)Books #2 and #3 in the series—DEATH AND BRUNCH and MALICE AND LUNCH—are now also available!

"Who do you want to kiss you, Maggie?" He shouts back, throwing the card on the floor of the Jeep.
"You, you big dumb idiot! It's always been you!"
Without a second of hesitation, He wraps one hand around the back of my neck and pulls me to him.
His mouth connects with mine, and a wildfire of heat and passion ignites between us.

Maggie never expect that she would fall in love with a man more than her age. She is a pure 17 years old young girl living happily with her Major dad. But when Eli Strong, a wounded Marine, her father’s subordinate comes to live with them. She simply could not resist the charm of the rough man.

Eli was a man out of the military, he has scars on her face and get hurt on his foot. He never expected that the officer he was living with would have a daughter who tested his honour. She’s forbidden fruit, and he’s trying not to taste…

Eli finally kissed Maggie, but then he ran away.
Eleven months later, Maggie’s father had gone missing.
According to his living will, Eli became Maggie’s legal guardian...

Will Eli keep his hands off Maggie this time? Read the story to find out.

Nalani, the daughter of a traitor desired only one thing, to live a life free from her father's transgressions. Inorder to achieve that dream, she had to move away from everyone who knew of her colourful past.

However you can run but you can't hide from your past, not entirely anyway. Instead of living a life of freedom, she was thrown in a new world , filled with jealousy, cruelty, crime and backstabbing.

Will Nalani survive this new world ?.

Late! Late!! Late!!! Oh, God! Please help me. I don't want to be late, at least not for the first day of my college. I prayed to my dear God and walked so fast inside the college campus as thinking of how I am going to make an excuse.

Shit!! I should have woken up earlier rather than dreaming of my future with my two children. Really Sheila? You don't have a boyfriend even to think about your future, but here you were dreaming of having children, aren't you? Don't tell anyone about your silly dream, they will make fun of you.

Cursing my mind for what seemed to be thousand times, I sped up my walk.

When the zombie apocalypse hit, my girlfriend called me weak and hypocritical. She said only the strong deserved to survive, then handed the map of the base I had spent two years building to a warlord and watched me bleed out in the dirt.

Then I opened my eyes and woke up four months earlier.

The warlord had not arrived yet.
I did not expose her. I did not beg her to stay. I quietly reinforced the walls, emptied the warehouse, and dug traps beyond the fence.

She passed the intel like before. She opened the gate like before. She thought she would win again, and she thought I would be softhearted again.

She only realized the truth after leading them into the warehouse and finding an empty cage.

She dropped to her knees in the mud, begging the warlord to take her with him. But the strong man she chose kicked her off the truck and left her for the dead.

At last, she tasted the rule she worshipped.

The moment I saw my name on that wedding invitation, I was already dead.

On Highway 23, a steel rebar had pierced straight through my chest. I was two months pregnant.

I called my fiancé Michael seventeen times. The first sixteen, he hung up without a word. On the seventeenth, his voice dripped with impatience: "Marrying Sophia is just for show. Stop making a scene."

The man who once knelt outside my family's estate for three days and nights, swearing to love me for a lifetime—he wouldn't spare me a single second more.

With my last breath, I dialed the funeral home. "I'm calling... for myself."

Flames consumed my body. My soul drifted toward the engagement banquet that should have been mine. When the killer's phone lit up, the name on the screen was Sophia...

When he destroyed my entire family, he never once thought of me.

So now, let me watch with my own eyes as this wedding becomes their funeral.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The world tilted violently on its axis.

I was carrying his child again.

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

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

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

After five years in a long-distance relationship, I boarded a more than 10-hour flight without telling him, touched down in the city where he lived, all to give him a surprise.
Hardly had my phone connected to the local network when I scrolled across a post pushed to my feed from the same city.
The title read: What’s the thing you’ve done that you’ve never regretted for a single second?
The top comment stared back at me, sharp and unmistakeable:
I got him drunk and slept with him on the day we graduated college. Back then, he promised his girlfriend he’d never see me again, but his heart softens the moment I cry. Now our kid is 4 years old, and I’m pregnant with our second baby!
The comments below were flooded with questions, and someone asked outright: OP, are you the other woman?
She replied with unapologetic audacity: The one who isn’t loved is the real homewrecker. Besides, that woman was abducted and molested before. She’s long been tainted, and she never deserved him in the first place.
My fingers began to shake uncontrollably. Every single detail lined up perfectly with my own life.
Desperate to calm my heart, which felt like it was about to hammer out of my chest, I stepped into a roadside convenience store to buy a bottle of water.
The second I looked up at the checkout counter, the blood in my veins turned to ice in an instant.
The woman standing beside the cash register was none other than Su Miaomiao—the same woman who’d lain in the same hotel bed with Lu Sinian on that night of our college graduation.
My feet felt nailed to the floor as I watched her walk out of the store with a smile on her face.
The very next second, she threw herself into the arms of a man across the street, tilting her head up to kiss him in a sweet, lingering embrace.
That man was Lu Sinian. My husband. The man I’d legally married, the man I’d spent five years in a long-distance relationship with, the man who’d vowed over and over again to love me and protect me.

Since I was ten, he told me to call him brother. But brothers don't look at you like that.
My life had only Daniel Wilson in it. He was my guardian, my savior, my world.
"Call me brother," he said, but he forbade me from dating anyone else. He kept me in his manor like a bird in a gilded cage. He promised that when I turned twenty-one, the title of "sister" would change to "wife."
I waited. I obeyed. I loved him with a devotion that bordered on obsession.
But on my twenty-first birthday, he brought her home.
"Julie, meet Lena. She's... special to me."
He introduced his childhood crush to me, his "sister," while holding her hand. The way he looked at her was soft, gentle—the way he used to look at me before she arrived.
"You're just a foster sister," he reminded me coldly when I cried. "Don't cross the line."
The line? He blurred the lines for twelve years! He made me dependent on him, made me believe we were destined, only to discard me when the "real" owner of his heart returned.
Fine. If I'm just a sister, then I'll leave.
But why is he chasing me now, begging me to come back, saying he can't sleep without me in the house?
"I'm not your sister anymore, Daniel. And I'm certainly not your wife."

Lucia Mendez is an orphan and the only heiress of the banking empire of the Mendez dynasty, regal, poised, elegant and kind to a fault. She falls in love with David and he manipulates her into signing her estate and vast wealth over to him. On the day of their wedding, David leaves her stranded at the altar choosing to elope with her best friend Yvonne leaving Lucia with nothing but the pregnancy he didn't know she was carrying.

Distraught and with nothing in her name, Lucia crawls to the front of the church altar, slits her wrist and with every drop of blood that falls at the altar she vows her revenge before falling unconscious.

5 years later, Lucia who is now rich and powerful, arrives in the scene of the high and mighty in society and with her comes a storm that will change the fate of each and everyone who crossed paths with her. She is bound by destiny to avenge her everything that happened to her including losing her child, for every drop of blood that fell 5 years, she will take each and everyone of them out and reclaim the empire that is her's.

Revenge isn't a game, it's her destiny.

Seven years of deep affection, expectations with a pregnant belly, and all I got was his betrayal in marriage and false promises. I gambled my youth and sincerity, only to end up with an absurd scam. After waking up, we owe each other nothing and will have no more ties.

Fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum and Jana DeLeon's Miss Fortune will find a new character to love in Holly Hands!Holly Hands. 29. Single mom. Disgraced, former boxing pro. Repo woman.Repossessing Lamborghinis and other exotic toys from criminals is second-hat for Holly.But finding a dead body—and solving a murder—is not.Luckily, Holly has Lucky by her side—a neglected pit bull she found on the wrong side of a job, who refuses to leave her side—and who, like her, has nowhere to go but up. Together, maybe they can crawl their way out of the urban hell of their bad slice of Baltimore, where coming home at night is even more dangerous than going to work. Maybe Holly can manage to get her young daughter the medical treatment she desperately needs, and manage to get her out of her dangerous public school and into the private school of her dreams. Just maybe, she can fall in love with that private school Dad from the other side of town and start a whole new life.Or maybe not.Life has never been easy for Holly. And if the past few days—and the dead body in her trunk—are any indication—it’s about to get a whole lot worse.KNOCKOUT (A HOLLY HANDS COZY MYSTERY) is book #1 in a riveting new cozy mystery series, a page-turning thriller that grabs you from page one and does not let go. Get ready to find yourself reading all night, bleary-eyed, and falling madly in love with a new character who will fight her way into your heart.Book #2 (SUCKER PUNCH) and Book #3 (BELOW THE BELT) in the series are also available.

Sera thought the auction was just for formality and no one would want a blood servant like her. She was surprised when three immortal kings bid for her and she was sold to them.

They were men cursed to never feel, never speak truth, and never know silence. As the fifth Catalyst, they need her blood to break the curse.

But every feeding brings back more memories about their love, betrayal and how she died in her previous life.

When she forgives them and tries to break the curse, a ghost appears to warn her about traps and false victories.

She is confused and doesn't know who to trust again when the kindest person to her turns out to be after her downfall and the court faction plots to destroy her.

Can her love for the three kings help break the curse?
Will she be able to rise to her position as the blood goddess?
And most importantly, will she recognize the trap set for her?

If there is one person Josie hates more than her aunt Beth, it's Richard Kingston. The boy who tortured her growing up. But she thought she'd seen the last of him years ago. So, why the hell is he showing up now to ruin her life? Why is he demanding she marry him, when she was planning on marrying her boyfriend James? And why does it seem like he's keeping secrets she doesn't want to unlock?

Amethyst is a woman who loves her family so much.
She has a boyfriend named Earl.
Amethyst's life was simple, and it's ok with her.
Until one night, She and her boyfriend went on a date.
It should be a romantic and simple date but it turns out into a nightmare!
They witnessed a killing which leads Earl to die.
And the master mind? Named Aivan Warren who's reckless that suddenly feel something strange when he saw Amethyst.
He let Amethyst live and free but in one condition. She will do whatever Aivan wants for two months! Yes, it was totally crazy for her. But, what can she do? He is powerful and reckless.
What will happen with those two months?
Will Amethyst live after two months?
If Aivan wants her to love him, how can she love the person who just killed her boyfriend for no reason?

Nightfall Investigations Series: Origins-Book One

Sponsor Echo wasn’t looking for destiny…
She walked into Nightfall Investigations looking for a job.
She found a vampire instead, and now the most dangerous man in Seattle refuses to let her die.

The city doesn’t know what lives beneath it.
Sponsor Echo certainly didn’t.
Sleeping in an alley, hungry, broke, and one bad decision away from disappearing entirely, she walked into Nightfall Investigations looking for a job. Instead, she found Cyne Nightfall. Quiet, controlled…dangerous in ways she can’t explain, and not human.
Cyne has spent centuries keeping the monsters in Seattle under control. Vampires, cults, things that crawl through corridors most people will never see. He has rules. Boundaries. Distance. Then Sponsor walks through his door and the world starts shifting around her. Literally.
Wards fail when she enters a room. Containment sites destabilize, and ancient factions that have been silent for decades suddenly start hunting again. But they aren’t hunting Cyne. They’re hunting her.
Now a missing journalist has uncovered something buried beneath the city…something tied to Sponsor’s blood, Cyne’s past, and a power neither of them fully understands.
As cults close in and the supernatural world begins to fracture, Cyne realizes something far more dangerous than the enemies surrounding them: he’s starting to care. And if anyone tries to take Sponsor from him…Seattle won’t survive what he becomes.

Perfect for readers who love:
• dark paranormal romance
• protective vampire heroes
• strong female leads discovering their power
• supernatural mysteries and cult conspiracies
• slow-burn tension with dangerous stakes

“A dynamic story line that grips from the first chapter and doesn't let go.”--Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan (regarding Once Gone)“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery! The author did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side that is so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. The plot is very intelligent and will keep you entertained throughout the book. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.”--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone)Women are turning up dead in the rural outskirts of Virginia, killed in grotesque ways, and when the FBI is called in, they are stumped. A serial killer is out there, his frequency increasing, and they know there is only one agent good enough to crack this case: Special Agent Riley Paige.Riley is on paid leave herself, recovering from her encounter with her last serial killer, and, fragile as she is, the FBI is reluctant to tap her brilliant mind. Yet Riley, needing to battle her own demons, comes on board, and her hunt leads her through the disturbing subculture of doll collectors, into the homes of broken families, and into the darkest canals of the killer’s mind. As Riley peels back the layers, she realizes she is up against a killer more twisted than she could have imagined. In a frantic race against time, she finds herself pushed to her limit, her job on the line, her own family in danger, and her fragile psyche collapsing.Yet once Riley Paige takes on a case, she will not quit. It obsesses her, leading her to the darkest corners of her own mind, blurring the lines between hunter and hunted. After a series of unexpected twists, her instincts lead her to a shocking climax that even Riley could not have imagined.A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, ONCE GONE marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.Book #2 in the Riley Paige series is now available!

"She's dying, can't you be more generous?" That's what my husband said.
So I was generous.
I gave her my husband's time when our daughter was in the ER for an allergic reaction she caused.
I gave her my once-in-a-lifetime concert ticket because "she deserved it more."
I even endured our daughter wishing I would die in her place.
But when he accused me of orchestrating a kidnapping to win his sympathy, I knew my generosity had run out. I threw the divorce papers in his face. He laughed, thinking I couldn't survive without him.
He's about to find out how wrong he is.

My pack's golden girl—my adopted sister—vanished. On my eighteenth birthday—the day my wolf should have awakened—my parents dragged me to a witch.
"Show us what you did to her."
Fine. Let them look.
Let them see who drugged me the day I came home. Who stole credit while I bled. Who smiled while planning my destruction.
They chose their precious Rosalie over me for three years.
They wanted the truth?
They were about to choke on it.

They are standing in front of me, looking at me as predators see their prey. They come close to me. I close my eyes in fear as well as in excitement.

" You know what you have done, kitten. Right?", Christopher asked me.

" I think our pets need more punishment. She has forgotten the rules already", Travis said.

" Our baby girl has been a very bad girl hiding such a thing from us. She needs to be spanked. Don't you baby girl", Andrew asked.

I still didn't answer them. I know I am in big trouble but don't know why I am feeling excited.

" Open your eyes and Answer him, kitten", Christopher whispered in my ears.

I open my eyes and see him with fear and lust.

" Yes, Sir", I replied feeling breathless.

Domestic Violence # Sexual Assault # Trauma # Stalking # Kidnapping #Emotional Manipulation # Non-Consensual

I have two rules for surviving: stay invisible, and never look back, the past that destroyed my family, stays in the past. For months, I’ve worked three jobs, terrified that the monster who stole my life, would find me. My fear kept me focused, kept me safe, kept me alive. I thought i was safe but apparently I I never was.

The night he cornered me, he was ready to finish his cruelty,But I was saved by someone, and he was worse: a new, more dangerous kind of obsession. He wasn't a Savior; he was a stalker who knew everything about me. He claimed me as his "property," leaving his mark of ownership, then sent me back to my life under his absolute control. He’s terrifying, yes, but he also makes sure I'm safe, proving he’s the lesser of two evils. Now insted of Alex i have another Demon, and my nights are his.

I work in the city, fand everday I'm orced to face the man I despise most: Zaiel Rhyland. He’s an arrogant, asshole, and feles he is entittled to everything, he wants.

I find myself drawn to the protective intensity of the voice that speaks to me in the dark. I know this obsession will destroy me, yet he's the only one who keeps the monsters away. What I don't know is that the man who claimed me in the shadows, and the man who pisses me off daily in the elevator, are the exact same person.

And when I finally realize my stalker is the billionaire CEO o, my fear wasnt about escaping Alex anymore. It was about escaping a love that could ruin me forever.

She discovers her fiancé and her sister having s*x before her wedding. Determined to expose their betrayal, she plays the tape at the ceremony—only to be told the wedding cannot be called off. If she refuses to go through with it, her parents insist her sister will take her place instead.

Now, offered a chance at a fresh start through a contracted marriage with a wealthy, mysterious man, she steps into a new life.

Will she get her revenge on the man who broke her heart? And could this fake relationship turn into something real?

The story of a girl Roopa who aspired to join the Indian Police Service and then the Intelligence Bureau, which is a part of the National Investigation Agency of India (NIA). Joining NIA is nothing, but being ready to give up life at any time for the safety of the nation. It is highly risky and confidential. Maintaining secrecy and being prepared to accomplish the mission assigned at any time is the primary duty of the team of NIA.

Roopa joined the NIA clearing the Civil Services, the seventh toughest exam in the world, which is unknown to her parents. As her parents opposed her goal to join the Police Department, Roopa achieved her goal, hiding it from her family. Her parents got her married to Preetam, who is handsome and wealthy. He married her with love, but his love turned into anger when he came to know the secret of her profession.

The entire nation except her parents, husband and in-laws appreciated Roopa for her courage, sincerity and never give up attitude. However, her family accused her saying she is reckless, selfish and cares least for the family.

Let us join in her journey where Roopa inspired every girl and changed the mindset of every parent, in-laws and husband.

They had gone for shopping. It was late at night, when they were returning. Aisha could see trees along the tree. she always felt scared by their darkness at night, the mystery hidden behind those woods. the fear of unknown was always there in her.

Aisha gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. everyone was really happy. but there was something special about the baby. the energy around her could change the moods of people, she could attract people without even doing anything .Aisha was going out with her daughter, when on the steps of their house, a lady was standing.

she looked at the baby and came nearer." this girl is special. protect her! god has chosen the dark for her .... for her to be the light in that dark. "

she left after that and Aisha was left standing there shocked. she took the baby to a cousin's place. her maternal family knew witchcraft. she knew that the words of the lady were not vain.

when she reached her cousin's place, her cousin got shocked seeing the baby. it was the first time, her cousin was seeing the baby, she didn't leave the house, until it was utmost necessary.

her cousin took them to a darker room, and started going through some drawers. " the lady told you the truth. we can't hide her forever, but we can protect her for now " her cousin said and put an amulet around the baby's neck. it had a beautiful blue stone in it.

Aisha looked ready to break down. she had got blessed by a baby after a decade of their wedding. she didn't want to lose her daughter.

her cousin came near her " don't worry! just don't let her ever remove this amulet. not even for some minutes"

Aisha went home and shared everything with Darsh " the energy around her was different, I could feel it. now, it's more contained, more avoidable. let's just pray, that god will do which would be better for her " Darsh said and kissed the forehead of her daughter.

When I accepted the Global War Photography Award at the ceremony, a reality TV crew crashed through the velvet ropes, their cameras flashing like strobes at a crime scene.
"Ms. Evelyn Vance!"
The host shoved a microphone in my face. "After twenty years of silence, are you still holding a grudge against your father? Just because he saved the neighbor's orphaned child first and left you in that burning building?"
I looked up, past the blinding lights, toward the figure at the edge of the crowd. Robert Bennett.
He pushed through and stepped forward, his calloused hands trembling as they closed around my cold fingers.
"Nora, Kayla's parents didn't make it out. Under those circumstances, I had to get that newly orphaned child to safety first."
His eyes pleaded with me. "You're my daughter. You understand, don't you?"
I stared at those hands imprisoning mine, then pulled my lips into a cold smile and wrenched free.
"You've got the wrong person," my voice was ice. "There's no Nora here. My name is Evelyn Vance."

Tally Barca is done with her "all-star asshole" ex and ready to rebuild. What she's not ready for is being the fated mate to two powerful shifter alphas—the dominant Theron and the gentle Connor. With a malicious ex and a jealous rival on her tail, Tally must unlock her own latent power to claim her place in the pack and in their hearts.

If you love steamy shifter romance, fated mates, and a heroine finding her strength, you need to read Tally's story from start to finish!.

For the full experience, read from beginning to end. I can't wait to hear your comment❤️🙏

Tiara was born into the lowest rank of the pack, a breeder, a wolf destined only to birth heirs for others. After losing her parents, she became the pack’s shadow, overlooked, ridiculed, and treated as nothing more than property.

But everything changes the night Alpha Damien, the heir to the pack’s throne, feels the undeniable pull of fate. His wolf claims Tiara as his mate.

There’s just one problem.
“It’s forbidden for a breeder to be bonded to an Alpha.”

The pack demands he reject her, and tradition threatens to tear them apart. But fate has secrets even the elders don’t know. Tiara isn’t who they think she is. Hidden in her blood is the truth of her lineage: she’s not just a breeder… she’s an Alpha herself.

Now Damien faces an impossible choice:
Abandon his rank and crown to be with Tiara…
Or break their bond to keep his power, a choice that could kill them both.

When love collides with destiny, and secrets ignite war within the pack, can Tiara rise from the ashes of shame to claim her true place and her fated Alpha?

I told myself to only check his wound, but my gaze betrayed me--sliding back to his lips again and again. Thin, pale, but so inviting it made my throat dry.

What are you doing, Matilda? Stop!

My hand trembled as I nearly touched them. Just a little closer… Then, as if fate wished to humiliate me, his eyes opened. Golden amber, locking straight into mine.

"Want to kiss me?"

"No! I—!" My whole body jolted backward.

I stumbled, about to fall flat on the floor but in that instant, his hand shot out. His grip was firm, pulling me forward instead of letting me fall.

My body lurched, and before I knew it, I dropped my fucking ass on his lap.

His gaze instantly dropped lower, stopping at my breast. I froze, realizing my nightwear left little to the imagination. The sudden awareness of it made my entire face burn.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

This is why I always get dumped! Because I lose my head the moment I see a handsome man!

★★★

Matilda Lawson is just an ordinary investigative journalist in Sydney, chasing murder stories while surviving her string of failed romances.

Whilst Blake McAllister is anything but ordinary... Alpha of the powerful Blue Mountain Pack, hiding his beast behind the mask of a cold and untouchable CEO in the human world.

One night was enough. Her human scent branded itself into his soul, and Blake lost control. From that moment on, Matilda became his obsession... the woman he would never release, no matter the cost.

"Her scent was his deadly obsession--her body, his temptation. And her heart... whether she wanted it or not, would only ever belong to him!"

The last thing I did before I died was lick dew off a rusted pipe.
Ninety days earlier, my fiancé Bastien promised he'd come back for me. He said three months in the Sahara would teach me not to be jealous of Posey—the girl I'd pulled from a refugee camp and raised as my own sister.
He didn't know the water ran out in the first week. He didn't know bandits broke my bones. He didn't care enough to find out.
While I lay dying on a rotting bed with a shattered leg, he was in Manhattan, sliding a pink diamond onto Posey's finger.
I died alone. But I didn't stay gone.
My soul followed a stolen necklace across the ocean, right back to his penthouse—just in time for the engagement party, the champagne toast, and the moment my body arrived at the door.

"Riccardo, please! I beg you!"
My water broke ten minutes ago. Warm liquid streamed down my legs and slowly froze into ice on the ground beneath me.
He stood on the other side of the bulletproof glass. In his eyes, there was not a trace left of the man I had once loved with all my heart.
In the Bellanona Mafia family, bloodline surpasses everything, and the hierarchy of age is an unyielding iron rule: the firstborn son shall inherit the entire underworld empire.
My sister-in-law Sofia and I were both pregnant, our due dates merely one day apart.
To make sure his elder brother’s child seized the succession right first, my husband coldly chose to sacrifice our own flesh and blood.
"My brother’s child must be born first." Riccardo’s voice came over the intercom, colder and more piercing than bitter winter wind. "This is what you owe them."
He had not only locked me inside this icy cellar. Just moments ago, his men pinned me down ruthlessly and injected a dose of medicine into my vein, solely to forcefully halt my labor.
Writhing in agony, I hugged my heavily pregnant belly tightly with both arms.
I could distinctly feel the little life inside me, once kicking and struggling relentlessly, growing fainter and fainter.
I’m sorry, my baby… Mommy is so sorry for you.

“Get away from me,” Aria said, her voice unsteady.

Aston didn’t move away. No, he leaned in, the blade she held against his neck piercing through just enough to draw a thin line of red.

He smiled.

“Careful, my lady,” he murmured. “Your hands are shaking.”

Her grip tightened on the hilt.

“Now look at him,” Aston continued softly. “Look at your son… and tell me whose eyes he has.”

There was absolute silence.

“Your stepbrother’s?” His smile sharpened. “Or the man that claimed you that night?”

~
Five years ago, all Aria wanted was for her stepbrother, Liam, to say “take my hand” and defend her. Instead she woke up in his bed; drugged, disgraced, and left to carry the blame and the label of a ‘whore’.

Now she’s back with a child, but to regain her reputation, she has to marry Aston Beaumont, a ghost with a million layers, a murderer, and the man about to betray her grandfather.

It should have been simple.

Save her grandfather. Restore her reputation. Then leave. That is, until her stepbrother returns, not with guilt or shame, but with obsession, dangerously wanting her back like he never let her go.

And the more he pushes, the more dangerous Aston becomes.

Because Aston Beaumont doesn’t chase.

He takes.