338 Book(s) Related to did florian cheat on stacey

After I retired, I was willing to do the dirtiest work at a small auto repair shop—just to give my sick daughter an ordinary childhood.
I endured my mother’s insults, my eldest brother’s wage cuts, my younger brother’s extortion.
But they actually joined forces to steal my daughter’s life-saving money for gambling, then sold me into an illegal mine to pay off their debts.
When the iron chain locked around my wrist, when my daughter cried in despair, the killing intent that had slept in my blood for three years finally woke up completely.
They had no idea I was once the iron-blooded God of War—commander of a million troops, the name that made enemy nations tremble.

She was raised without her parents. Her only aunt was by her side through thick and thin. As a result, many people misunderstand her attitude. She was fearless and unafraid. She prefers to have fun than take life seriously. But her life was changed when she met an elderly billionaire.

Worse, they had a one-night stand because they were both drunk and lost. Her old habit vanished when the man suddenly pursued her. So she had no choice but to hide in order to avoid being discovered by the old man who was still looking for her. But, as fate would have it, her friend was the daughter of the man who was looking for her.

He is 50 years old and the father of three children. His wife left him for reasons he couldn't understand. He wants to remarry but cannot find the right woman for him. Because most of the women he was with were preoccupied with his wealth and money. They each have a different outlook on life and how to take a stand. Will they ever get together? Or is it something that happened to them that they will only remember?

Stealing someone's property is not her thing. But when she saw him for the first time it seemed like the cycle of her world changed. But she knew he was off-limits because it is a mistake to love someone when your bestfriend owns it. But she did not think that their friendship would end because of just one mistake.

Can she correct her mistake to restore the broken friendship?

Her father plans to marry her off to a man she has never met. But it was against her will, so she run away. And then she met the man who made her heart race in an instant. As she grew closer to him, she discovered that he was planning to marry someone else. Even though she was hurt, she let him go, but she later discovered that the man she was planning to marry and the man she loved were the same people.

She has her own life to live, and no one has the authority to tell her what she should do about her love life. That's what she wanted to demonstrate, so she fled from her father when he forced her to marry a man she'd never met. She fell into his arms while running. Her hero, her love, her knight in shining armor. So why not? Harris is the embodiment of the man she aspires to love and be with for the rest of her life. He kissed her passionately and tenderly. They had so much fun that she seemed to be able to reach the sky. Harris, on the other hand, will never be hers; he belongs to someone else. 

How can she live without him? If she is drowning in too much love for him?

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

Alondra Thomas. She is attractive and seductive. Despite her good looks hides a bitter mark of poverty. Who would have thought that her life revolved around just one place? Along with various men who defiled her character, men are the reason she got herself out of poverty as long as she can only give the right service to them, that her body is her only investment.

She was an escort girl. She had been bedded by all the types of men she met. She had built confidence over the years to do all of the unnecessary things. But for her, only poverty can so push her to engage in some work that her soul must be buried six feet below the ground.

Until she met him.
A handsome billionaire CEO. Leandre Harrison. The man she thought would take her out of the hell she was in. Then unexpected things happened. Her father had been diagnosed with cancer. It needs to be operated on time and needs a large amount of money. To save her father's life she got the man drunk and robbed him.

Later on, her father's operation was successful, and Leandre found out that she was the one who stole his money. And he is planning to put him in jail. What about her parents if she goes to jail? But she could not give up the freedom she had, so she compromised. And what Leandre wants is for her to be his woman until she can pay back the money she took from him.

Will she agree to what he asks in exchange for her freedom? What if she already loves him but won't be hers because he is married to someone else?

In the year 2333, humanity has fallen and ruled by werewolves. Bellatrix Sinclair, an 18-year-old weapons prodigy that despises werewolves for destroying her family has been secretly planning to join the human rebellion.
However, she is forced into the Mate Selection Process and matched with Lazarus De Loughrey, the ruthless Werewolf King obsessed with claiming her.
He shouldn't want her and she should hate him but they cannot resist each other. It's a twisted connection, entirely physical because all I am is his slave.
My heart should belong to my best friend Emmett, a human. Atleast the guilt of betrayal wouldn't be eating away at my insides.


“Yes please.” She begs.
“Then fucking let me in.” I growled, this fury exploding with vengeance. I wanted to destroy her pussy.
It was maddening, it was sickening, it was barbaric.
But I never claimed to be saint.
“Here that baby, that’s the sound of your greedy pussy sucking on my cock. Give me more, drench me.”
“Lazarus.” She moans painfully, “Please let me come.”
I’m doused in gasoline and set alight, sweat coats my skin as I pound into her faster and harder. I’m definitely hurting her, “Wanna come?” I rasped, “Not until I say so.”
Pressing my lips onto hers, pushing my tongue into her mouth until I feel the sweetness of hers. The kiss is sloppy and filthy. She cries as I drive my cock into her, the intensity too much to handle, sweet tears sliding onto her cheeks.
“Fuck yes.” I smile sadistically, licking her tears. “Cry for me Ma Cherie.”
“Please, please let me come My King.” She pleads.
“Say it again.” Lightening shooting down my spine as she begged, “My King, please let me come. I’ll be good.”
I chuckled, “Try your luck to kill me Ma Cherie, I dare you.”

Princess Penelope would rather die than marry the feared Crimson Dragon King.

On the night before the wedding, she throws herself to her death.

At that exact moment, in another world, Joseline Hernandez falls from the rooftop of her school building after someone pushes her. Betrayed and exhausted from a life spent being blamed for her father's death, she dies with only one thought : revenge.

But death was not the end.

Joseline wakes up inside the body of Princess Penelope, the very princess who was supposed to become the bride of the terrifying Crimson Dragon King, Drakarys.

Desperate to return home and uncover who murdered her, Joseline searches for a way back to her world. Yet the deeper she enters the dragon kingdom, the more she realizes something is wrong. The dragons are hiding secrets. The royal court is dangerous and the Crimson King himself is nothing like the monster humans claim him to be.

When no path home appears, Joseline makes a choice :

If she must live as Penelope, then she will survive as the Crimson Dragon King's bride even if it means falling in love with the King she meant to fear.

My husband Michael's father and my own father shared the same name—Robert. His was Robert Carter; mine, Robert Smith. I once thought it a sweet coincidence, until that 3 AM phone call turned this quirk of fate into a living nightmare.
The nursing home called to say Robert Carter had died, but when Michael returned from his business trip, he assumed it was my father who had passed. "Old Robert's finally gone," he smirked. "Should've moved him to the cheaper nursing home ages ago." Can you believe it? His own father—the man who'd left him an inheritance—and there he was, helping his medical intern mistress cover up malpractice, dismissing the death as "just some useless old man."
He has no idea he's protecting his father's killer. No clue I've seen through his cold-bloodedness all along.
I wonder, when the truth finally hits him, how will this absurd tragedy end?

"Aveline, a world without you means nothing to me."
The dragon's scalding blood splattered across my tombstone, melting the thick blanket of snow.
Five minutes ago, he had severed the crimson fox's head—vengeance for me.
I died at the hands of my most cherished companion, died in a carefully orchestrated betrayal. I'd wielded the full power of the Court to elevate that pitiful low-born wretch to godhood, only for him to join forces with my dear sister and plunge a blade into my heart from behind.
And the dragon war god I had scorned—the one I'd humiliated and treated as nothing more than a beast slave—defied imperial decree, razed an entire city, and severed his own life force. All for me.
I watched his dragonfire extinguish completely in the bitter cold. My soul reached out to embrace him, but passed through nothing but endless snow.
Until a blinding light pierced through my vision.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself staring up at the familiar domed ceiling of the Celestial Hall.
I had returned to three years ago, to the Binding Ceremony that sealed my fate.
Reborn into a second chance, those vermin who climbed to power on dragon bones will finally get the hell they deserve.

36 weeks pregnant, I was thrown into the dungeon by my own husband.

When my water broke, I desperately reached out through the mate bond, calling for him—only to discover that he had severed it with his own hands.

They lashed my swollen belly with leather whips. They injected wolfsbane into my veins. And when my baby's head began to crown, they shoved her back inside me.

All because his sister-in-law Genevieve was also in labor today—and her child had to be born as the pack's heir.

I crawled out of that dungeon, drenched in my own blood, only to find him blocking the doorway.

I knelt at his feet, clutching at his trousers, begging. "The baby is innocent. Please... just let me deliver her..."

He kicked me away in disgust. "Wait until Genevieve is done."

Later, fireworks lit up the sky. The entire pack celebrated the birth of Genevieve's heir.

I was dumped in a water cell, watching my blood slowly turn the ice-cold water crimson, feeling my daughter grow still inside me.

Only after he'd gazed adoringly at the newborn in Genevieve's arms did he finally remember me. He sent someone to fetch me from the dungeon.

But his servant returned white-faced, voice trembling:

"Alpha! The Luna... she and the baby... they're both dead!"

Nine months pregnant and about to give birth, my husband Zane locked me in the wine cellar.
All because his widowed business partner, Elena, was also giving birth today.
"You almost made Elena go into labor early. You need to think about what you've done."
Agonizing contractions wracked my body. I dropped to my knees, begging him, "Zane, please─the baby is coming now! He will die!"
He just shoved me down the cold stone steps, his eyes icy cold.
"Stop lying! Your due date isn't today. You'll do anything for attention, won't you?"
"Tonight, only Elena's safety matters. You'll stay here until you admit you were wrong!"
The heavy wooden door slammed shut, snuffing out the last bit of hope I had left.
Hours later, Zane was cradling Elena's newborn son, calling the maid.
"Elena had a boy. I couldn't be happier. Let my wife out—I'm willing to forgive her little tantrum today."
But on the other end of the phone, the maid was sobbing.
"Sir... your wife and the baby... they're already gone."

The day I gave birth, I wasn't handed my crying baby, but a tight swaddle of blood-stained cash.
To secure his seat as the new Don, my husband had traded our newborn to Agatha—my own flesh-and-blood aunt, and the young wife of his paralyzed father.
Reduced to nothing more than a convenient incubator, I spent the next four years as a prisoner in my own home.
Ronald issued a ruthless order to his men: if I ever took a single step toward Agatha’s heavily guarded wing to see my son, I was to be shot on sight.
But a mother's desperation knows no bounds.
When my boy's fever spiked dangerously high, I blasted through armed guards and walked through a blazing inferno just to save his life.
Yet, the most fatal wound didn't come from the flames or the shattered glass.
It happened in the ER, when the four-year-old boy I nearly died to save woke up, shoved away my severely burned hands, and screamed for Agatha. He begged me to leave, crying that he just wanted to be a "real family" with his dad and the woman who stole my life.
Staring at the twisted family my husband and aunt had built upon my stolen motherhood, a sudden, icy numbness quieted my shattered world.
"Call me Mom one last time," I whispered through the ash and tears, "and I promise I'll never bother you again."

What do I do when I run out of options, and I need money fast?
I sell the only thing that I have that is worth any value…

My virginity.

Bidding starts at 1 million...

Scarlett's Treasures, an exclusive auction house for wealthy men and women who buy the pleasures of those willing to give themselves...and they want me.

What’s a girl to do when she’s in her mid-twenties, is still a virgin... and broke AF?

Yep, I made that choice. Now, the only problem is, I don’t have only one buyer to please, but there are three of them and one of them just so happens to be my childhood best friend and crush who broke my heart and left.
Now he's back and he's buying my virginity...which he thinks belongs to him.

Meeting their demands will be a challenge, but it's a choice that I'm going to have to make...

I should know better than to hook up with the handsome stranger at my best friend’s wedding.   Especially when he runs off mid-kiss like Cinderella at midnight.    Is he a fugitive from justice? A player? Both?   I find out soon enough when he shows up at work—where I was just hired as a law partner defending white collar criminals. Yup, he’s one of them. And he’s depending on me to keep him out of jail.   He’s also just as hot, charming, and tempting as he was the night of the wedding. Talk about forbidden love.   The last thing I should do is get involved with a client, especially one who may be guilty of all kinds of things.    Not the least of which is stealing my heart.

We have been neighbors our whole lives and were best friends when we were kids. Now he is my bully who claims that I am his to torment. There is only one little problem, I have been in love with him since I was sixteen. For two years, Jace Palmer has tortured me with his cruelty in the halls of our high school, but how do I make him stop when it's those same actions that excite me more than they should. Especially when he slams me against a locker and whispers, "You've been a bad girl, Ella."
Now that he's claimed me as his own, he opens my eyes to the darkness within me, turning everything that I have ever known into a thing of the past while helping me to embrace my new role in his life. Only by doing so, it unlocks a piece of me that will change everything. Once my true self comes forward, will he be able to handle the aftermath of his choices?

I need a fake date to my brother's wedding, and billionaire Charlie Walgrove owns a tux. Simple, right?   He’s also my sister’s boss, and I agree to let her set me up with the awkward genius, who apparently has even less luck in the dating game than a struggling artist, aka me.   We’re total opposites, but the date goes okay. We agree to be friends, the kind who won’t become lovers.    Famous last words.   On a series of “friend dates” involving bar snacks, acrylic paint and hedgehogs, I discover that Charlie is nothing like what I expected. Under his hoodie and glasses, he’s handsome and down-to-earth, stuck in a job he hates and afraid to disappoint people by walking away. His heart is as gorgeous as his hidden face.   I’ve always felt like the flaky sister in my family, but Charlie sees me as the artist I want to be. As our friendship deepens, so do my feelings for him. Maybe I’m even falling in love.   But gambling with my heart feels dangerous when all my relationships end in failure–especially if he’s only looking for a friend.   Is it only princesses that get a Happily Ever After? Or is there hope for a hot mess like me?   No Match for Her is a STANDALONE friends-to-lovers, opposites-attract romance. It is part of the Berkeley Hills series.

Hayley Davis has everything she could ever want in life- money, a loving father and an established law career.
But there is one thing she wants that she knows she can never have- Jake Ryker, her father's best friend.

Since the first day she met him, she has wanted him and she knows he wants her too.
It is a filthy desire, one she has no business having but Hayley has never been one to take no for an answer and she will get Jake but at what cost?

NOTE: THIS BOOK IS SMUTTY, PROCEED WITH CAUTION

Charlotte has always been the spare The second daughter, the invaluable one and she hasn't really minded because although it hurts it gives her a freedom that her sister can only dream of A freedom that is taken away when she is promised to the notorious Alpha Hunter. She won't do that; not when she realizes she has a mate out there so she runs away And where does she run? Straight into the arms of her mate. Logan has never really put much thought into having a mate but now that he does he will do anything to keep her safe Even battling a crazed and much older Alpha who wants to keep his mate for himself

Ayla Stable spent years suffering abuse and humiliation from her own pack, and her own family hates her.
But when she meets her fated mate on her eighteenth birthday… Alpha Darius Vale, her lifelong tormentor. Her world collapses with one cruel sentence spoken before the entire pack.
Rejected.
Disgraced.
Broken.
She runs away, and Ayla finds refuge in a pack that becomes the family she never had. With them, she discovers strength, purpose, and a version of herself she never believed possible.
When Ayla returns home years later, she’s different— confident, powerful, and no longer willing to bow.
Her old pack needs her.
Her former mate wants her.
And Ayla carries truths that could change everything.
But confronting the past means facing the man who destroyed her… and the future she never thought she’d be forced to choose.
Forgiveness.
Revenge.
Love.
There is too much at stake.
Ayla must decide what and who is worth fighting for.

“Two weeks. That’s how long it took my husband to ruin everything."
When Kennedie Peterson catches her childhood sweetheart cheating with her best friend right after their honeymoon, her entire world shatters.
Determined to make him pay, she joins forces with Desmond Knight, the powerful CEO who once owed her late father everything.
What begins as revenge soon turns into something far more dangerous as desire burns between them.
In a world filled with lies, betrayal and secrets, can love really survive?

Evan Hollen had it all. The looks, the charm, the girls and the CEO job position at his father's company. Jasmine Blackman was the ordinary assistant with a crush on her boss. Her day-dreaming and fantasies eventually escalated when the two shared drinks and ended up in bed together, and just when she thought she should open up to him about the way she, Evan rejected her. But Evan was only fooling himself. His feelings grew towards Jasmine but she was already looking in the direction of another man.

Yes. You can do something for me. How about staying your ass away from my son, He's out of your league!"

Meet Adani. A beautiful woman, desperate to leave a toxic relationship she was 'trapped' in. Beaten, battered and belittled almost every day of her life, she finally managed her escape and met the handsome, rich, powerful and successful billionaire, Ricardo Parriston, who took pity on her and employed her as his live-in house maid.

Just when Adani thought she was welcomed, she meets Ricardo's mother. A woman with a strong dislike for Adani and wanted to see her son with someone of 'status'. All hell broke loose when she learnt her son was developing feelings for his maid.

Emily Hollen and Sebastian were high school sweethearts but a lie created by a vicious ex-girlfriend drove a wedge between the couple causing an end to their relationship.
It's now years later and they're adults. Emily is a hotelier with a passion for traveling and establishing hotels around the world. Her next destination took her to a country she wasn't familiar with and it was governed by a monarchy. What a surprise it was for Emily when she learnt the soon-to-be-king was Sebastian and he was looking for a bride to rule at his side.

Anna Wells' had a terrible habit of hooking up with men who are already in a relationship or even a marriage. Seduction and having her way were the only thing she was actually good at and when she next 'target' was an engaged millionaire, she found herself in a world of trouble, especially when she learnt she was pregnant.

All Emma ever wanted was to feel like she belonged. Put up for adoption as a child and quitting her first job because of her boss, she was desperate to navigate her young adult life.
Luckily for her, she landed a job as a live-in maid to the rich and powerful Ethan Hollen. Emma was in charge of preparing Ethan's coffee every morning and soon enough, more things started heating up between the two but there's just one problem. Ethan is engage to another woman.

EJ Hollen and Zenia Blackman were friends before deciding on having things get more serious between them. All EJ wanted was to be loved for who he is but Zenia was bended on true love doesn't exist and was more keen on living in the moment. She was also harboring a dark secret from EJ and when he found out, all things fell apart, including their relationship.
Would they ever love each other again?

Sacha Rish is a young African American woman with a little sister to care and provide for. When their parents tragically passed away, Sacha is left all alone to care for Judy so that she doesn't end up in foster care, but Sacha's life is rough. After losing her job and her apartment, she's desperate more than ever to make ends meet and just when she was on the brink of 'rock bottom'... She meets multi millionaire Christian Alexander who gave her an offer she couldn't refuse. This offer came with activities Sacha had no experience in. And things became heated when she fell for Christian.

Jevan Hollen was the most popular boy at his highschool. Blossom Wright was the new student who earned a scholarship to Jevan's school during their senior year. When she first laid eyes on him, she knew she immediately liked him although the fast friends she made warned her against it due to Jevan's ex-girlfriend, head-cheerleader and 'queen b' but Jevan and Blossom grew closer and eventually started dating which made his ex-girlfriend furious. She cooked up a lie and it led to Blossom and her mother getting deported.
It's years later when Blossom returned and she now has a son. And Jevan has a fiancee.

“You’re not having her,” I spoke, shielding her with my body.
“So be it.” And he fired.

Six years ago, a stupid lie shattered the bond between rich heiress Zenobia Hollen and her best friend, Kyle Livingston. Now, Kyle is back—broke, regretful, and desperate for a second chance. When Zenobia needs a new personal bodyguard, he seizes the opportunity, determined to prove he’s more than the boy who betrayed her.

But forgiveness isn’t Zenobia’s strength. Forced into proximity, their past is a minefield of resentment and unresolved passion. As Kyle risks his life to protect her from real threats, the line between duty and desire blurs. Can they navigate the dangers of the present and the ghosts of their past, or will the secrets and scars they carry destroy any chance of a future? In a world of luxury, lies, and lethal intentions, some second chances come with a bullet.

To annul the engagement, the aloof heiress of a wealthy family spent three years planning thirteen accidents to try and kill me.
Car accident, falling object, poisoning... I survived covered in blood, only to be met with her disgusted question: "How come you're still alive?"
She let her scheming childhood sweetheart crush my father's ashes, and even personally drained my last remaining blood to save me, all for her sweetheart's self-inflicted injury.
She thought I would be like a dog, clinging to her side forever without any boundaries.
Until that day, I calmly handed over the annulment agreement, clutching the diagnosis of late-stage brain cancer, and completely disappeared from her world.
Later, when she finally found out the truth, she searched the world frantically, only to find my emaciated, cold corpse.
That arrogant and haughty young lady has completely collapsed.
She personally sent her childhood sweetheart to hell, knelt before my body wearing a veil, and desperately raised a gun:
“Ivan, walk slowly on your way to the underworld... I’m giving my life for you.”

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐕𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐋𝐲𝐜𝐚𝐧.
𝐌𝐚𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧. 𝐖𝐨𝐥𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐀 𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞—𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬.

To survive the mating ceremony and compete against twenty candidates, Maeve ventures into District 3, seeking a vampire to teach her the art of seduction.

Instead, she stumbles into Nikolai’s room—a Crimson vampire who bites her.
He teaches her with his own body.

“Did you catch it? My name.”
He licks her throbbing bud.
“I spelled it with my tongue.”

He claims her virginity, makes her beg, makes her shatter beneath him. She falls hopelessly in love.

Then he rejects her.

Heartbroken, Maeve attends the ceremony—only for Prince Bastian, a Lycan, to discover she’s his fated mate.

His rough hand slides to her neck, finding his enemy’s mark.

“Tell me this wasn’t consensual,” he growls, his erection hard against her.

Vampire and wolf. Ancient enemies. Both want her.

“If I take you, I won’t stop.”

“If you choose him, I will hunt him.”

But Maeve is not weak.
Because when her blood awakens, choosing one man won’t save her—it will start a war, and only one of them will survive it.

❧ 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 · 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 · 𝐕𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐱 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟 · 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐦 · 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 · 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 · 𝐄𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜 ☙
🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

She returned to bury her father. Instead, she was forced to marry his enemy’s son.

Rosalind Marlow returns to New York to settle her father’s affairs, once one of the city’s most feared mafia bosses, only to find he died beside his greatest rival… and left behind a contract binding her to the rival’s son.

Viktor Marino is cold, calculating, and infuriatingly magnetic.

Rosa has no intention of becoming anyone’s pawn, not in grief, not in business, and definitely not in bed. But Viktor plays a long game, and with every stare, every challenge, he pulls her deeper into a world of secrets, power, and heat.

She was raised to be untouchable.
He was born to conquer.

And in the space between vengeance and desire, who is going to lose control first?
(Contains mature and dark content)


EXCERPT
“It was hard to focus when his palm teased my folds, circling my cl*t until I could barely breathe.

‘Why would you want to leave this behind?’ he growled in my ear, his chest rumbling against my back.

Because I can’t trust you. Because I don’t know what I want.

‘Because it’s cruel,’ I whispered.

And then he pulled away, leaving me trembling, desperate, and furious.”

❦

Also by the author: Hunting the Hybrid Queen (dark shifter romance).

Nate, a 25-year-old software developer with a quiet intensity, works at ZenithTech, a rising Chicago tech firm. He lives with Liam, a 32-year-old senior project manager who mentored him after Nate’s parents cut ties over his sexuality three years ago. Nate’s gratitude has morphed into a hidden affection, which he buries in late-night code experiments on his laptop. At ZenithTech, Harper, a 26-year-old marketing strategist with a sharp edge, resents Liam for outshining her in a promotion race two years back. Her father, Graham, the firm’s CFO, harbors his own grudge against Liam for whistleblowing a shady expense report that cost Graham a board seat. When Harper intercepts a private email Nate accidentally sent to Liam—hinting at his feelings—she teams up with Graham to frame Nate for leaking proprietary code to a competitor. They plant falsified server logs, a forged payment, and a fake chat thread, leading to Nate’s suspension and a looming FBI probe. Liam’s rattled, and Nate’s world tilts.

20-year-old Jamie's quiet life is shattered when a forbidden love for his guardian, Alex, turns into a deadly game of betrayal. After Riley, a woman obsessed with Alex, discovers Jamie's hidden feelings and his sketches, she teams up with her powerful father to frame him for a crime he didn’t commit. As Jamie’s world unravels, Alex is forced to confront dark truths about his past and the power-hungry forces targeting them both.

"You were meant to be my death. Instead, you've become my damnation."
Aria Thornwell has spent three years as a healer in her town, attempting to forget the night her former fiancé publically humiliated her by selecting her affluent stepsister instead—taking Aria's family fortune with him. Now, she lives quietly, utilizing her skill to aid the underprivileged while her stepfamily flaunts their stolen fortune.

But on the winter solstice, everything changes. She's chosen as the ceremonial bride for the vampires' holy Winter Feast—a "honor" that guarantees death at daybreak following the Christmas Eve rite. Dragged to the Crimson Vale with five other human tributes, Aria is prepared to meet her fate with dignity.

Until she meets him.

Lord Sebastian Thorne, the ancient vampire who has presided over the Winter Feast for eight centuries, is meant to drain her at dawn following the binding ritual. It's tradition. It's law. It's survival—the ceremonial blood maintains the vampire realm for another year.

But as Sebastian's lips brush her throat in the ceremonial hall, something unbelievable happens. Her blood doesn't simply sustain him—it wakes something in him that's been dead for generations. And in a move that shocks the whole vampire court, he refuses to complete the rite.
"This one is mine," he proclaims, his old strength sweeping the hall. "Anyone who touches her answers to me."

Trapped in the Obsidian Palace as Sebastian's "protected bride," Aria discovers three frightening truths: Sebastian isn't protecting her out of mercy—he's dying from an ancient curse, and her blood is the only thing keeping him alive past Christmas; the vampire court will do anything to kill her and reinstate the ritual; and her "ordinary" healer's gift is actually a rare and dangerous power that vampire nobility has been hunting for generations.

Julian, a 27-year-old British blackjack dealer with a sharp wit and a guarded smile, works the night shift at The Mirage, a mid-tier casino where dreams unravel. He shares a cramped apartment with Marcus, a 34-year-old pit boss who gave him a home after Julian’s devout London family disowned him for coming out five years ago. Their bond, once mentorship, has bloomed into love, confessed over a quiet drink just weeks ago. At The Mirage, Claire, a 28-year-old cocktail server with a venomous edge, blames Marcus for reporting her tip-skimming a year back, which cost her a high-roller lounge gig—and the cash to cover her brother’s medical debt. Her uncle, Victor, the casino’s security chief, resents Marcus for exposing his rigged slot scheme three years prior, derailing his career. When Claire learns Marcus gave Julian a $5,000 casino voucher for rent—money she needed for her brother—she and Victor frame Julian for stealing chips, planting marked cards, a doctored video, and a fake cash drop. Julian’s fired, Marcus falters, and Vegas’s neon haze cloaks a brewing storm.

Lucca was the gift bestowed upon lycan Vincent by the Wolf Queen. However, Vincent never anticipated that at the moment he acquired Lucca, he would also find himself trapped in the clutches of greed.
She was so humble, so insignificant, and not worth mentioning,
Yet, she was also —
Enthralling.