324 Book(s) Related to second life ranker 112

When Alexander Carter, the ruthless and irresistibly charming CEO of one of the country’s largest corporations, walked into my office, I thought he was there to terminate my contract. After all, I had just lost everything in a project sabotaged by his company. But instead, he made me an offer that would change my life: marry him for one year.

Sounds crazy? Maybe. But with my younger sister depending on me and the bills piling up, refusing wasn’t an option. In return, he offered enough money to rebuild my career and a contract to lead a project I had always dreamed of.

There was just one rule: don’t fall in love.

Simple, right? Or so I thought. Until I realized that behind his cold demeanor and flawless suits was a man full of secrets. A man who started to unravel me with every touch, every whispered word, every lingering glance.

Now, as I fight to keep up the façade of the perfect wife and uncover the conspiracies within his world, one question remains: when all this ends, will I be able to walk away unscathed?

Reborn one year before the zombie outbreak, I awakened a supernatural storage space. I stocked massive daily supplies and transformed a secret mountain cave into an impenetrable fortress. I protect my grandma, take revenge on greedy relatives, fight mutated beasts and intelligent zombie monsters, and wait for the rebirth of human civilization in the end times.

I am the lead architect of this massive virtual sandbox world.

To save my NPC wife from a fatal car crash, I enabled a cheat code for her and lied, claiming she was a "VIP player" paying to experience an immersive life-simulation game.

She bought it completely. Not only did she openly flaunt her wealth to buy off a male assistant in front of the whole company, but she also trampled all over me, treating me like a "low-level NPC."

"I am the absolute main character of this world, and the system will always bail me out. As for you, you're just a line of junk code. Get out of my sight immediately."

Watching her face become twisted and arrogant from the illusion of privilege, the last trace of warmth in my eyes completely died out.

I calmly signed my resignation, revoked all her financial shields and vitality armor with a single click, then logged off and returned to the real world.

I knew that the moment I left, stripped of my protection, she would be instantly swallowed alive by the brutal laws of survival.

DEATH BY ENGAGEMENT is Book #12 in the #1 Bestselling Caribbean Murder series, which begins with DEATH BY HONEYMOON (Book #1)—a free download! It is also a standalone novel.In Death by Engagement (Book #12 of the Caribbean Murder Series), Cindy and Mattheus joyously head to Aruba to search for a wedding venue for their destination wedding. Thrilled, they enter the magical, romantic world of wedding planning and along the way, meet another recently engaged couple, also looking for a place to be wed. But the beauty of Cindy and Mattheus’s time together is suddenly interrupted, when they learn that the young woman they had just met has plunged to her death at a nearby cliff.Although she left a suicide note, the girl’s devastated father refuses to believe she took her own life. He begs Cindy and Mattheus to investigate and see if foul play was at work. Although Mattheus refuses, Cindy is compelled to give it a chance, a decision which causes increasing tension in Cindy and Mattheus’s relationship, and which brings out aspects of each of them never seen before.As Cindy explores the inner workings of the young woman’s life and family, many shocking surprises also take place in her relationship with Mattheus. Not only does Cindy have to remain strong and persistent in uncovering the cause of the death, she must go through many personal changes to deal with what’s happening in her own life.A surprise end on all fronts turns all expectations upside down.

This was supposed to be a romantic night celebrating my fifth wedding anniversary with my husband.
Until Reddit pushed the same post to me four times in a row: [Tonight at 11:00 PM, the female CEO of Aetheria Tech will have her throat brutally slit]
I didn’t buy it. With a net worth in the billions, the line of people wanting me dead could stretch all the way down Wall Street.
Until I clicked on the attached photo—it was the exact sofa I was sitting on right now.
I checked the time. Half an hour left.
If I scream right now, will I even make it to eleven?

The agony of dragonfire tearing through my flesh still seared my memory.
But I had been reborn.
I touched my reflection. No scorch marks. No melted skin. My eighteen-year-old face stared back.
The door burst open. Zephyra swept in, her dragonfire pendant gleaming.
"Megan, don't be nervous." Her voice dripped honey-sweet. "Even if you can't sense dragonfire, the Dragon God won't judge you harshly."
My father's legitimate daughter. Pure dragonblood. The family's pride.
And me? The bastard. A half-blood who couldn't even conjure a spark.
"The prophecy bond isn't set in stone." Her hand landed on my shoulder, grip too tight. "If Lord Roran feels overwhelming, bond with a lower-tier knight. I'll support whatever you choose."
Support me? The word tasted like ash.
Roran was the empire's youngest Dragon Knight Commander. In my past life, I'd believed her lies and married him.
I thought it was salvation. Instead, I became his shield while he slept with Zephyra.
At Zephyra's ascension ceremony, when a wyvern lunged for her, he shoved me into the beast's path.
The wyvern's claws tore into my abdomen. My unborn child died inside me.
Then came the dragonfire.
Roran unleashed it to save Zephyra. The flames swallowed everything: the beast, me, and the dragon egg I'd carried for months.
Through the agony, I watched him scoop Zephyra up. "Save Zephyra! The child—"
My child was already ash. He mourned hers.
"If I hadn't been pregnant, Megan wouldn't be so jealous..." Zephyra whispered.
"If there's a next life, I'll make this right." Roran's hollow guilt.
Next life?
Your dragonfire burned my child alive. You let me bleed out. And now you want redemption?
Not a chance.

My biological parents and younger brother conspired with an adopted outsider to fabricate an elaborate lie about a "super tsunami about to strike." They staged an act together, tricked me onto a cruise ship, and locked me deep in the hold. The moment the hatch closed, I heard their voices through a hidden camera, toasting with glasses:
"Finally got that jinx locked away. From now on, the family fortune is all ours!"
But they didn't know that at that very second, a piercing system alert blared in my mind:
[Super Tsunami Generating. Countdown: 5 days.]
The apocalypse was real after all.
I seized the moment to bind with the Deep-Sea Fortress System, drained the family's entire assets, and went on a manic hoarding spree.
Five days later, hundred-meter-tall waves ripped the coastline apart.
Watching on the monitor as my parents and brother knelt outside the alloy door, tearing at each other, banging their heads bloody as they begged me to open up,
I cut into a perfectly seared, juicy steak and asked softly into the mic:
"Didn't you say the tsunami was a lie? So why are you crying now?"

She knelt in the pouring rain, pounding on my glass door, covered in mud, her voice hoarse from shouting. I stood inside, holding Lily's hand. She called my name, over and over, like calling a dead person. I lowered my head and said to Lily, "Come on, Daddy will take you to dinner." Then I turned and closed the door. From beginning to end, I didn't look at her once. Not because I still hated her. It was because she meant nothing to me anymore. And that woman didn't know—three years ago, when she threw me away like trash, I had already learned not to cling to trash.

My wife is upstairs with another man—her first love.
But I don't want to fight about it.
I'm not staying here because of her.
Her father once saved my father's life. I'm here to repay that debt.
So they pushed even further.
She wants me to give way to her first love.
Give up my seat at dinner, my trust fund eligibility, my position as family consigliere, even our couple's travel tickets.
Fine. Have it your way.
I'm leaving to go back to being the Don I was meant to be.
Hope your family can survive the mafia wars without me.

"NEXT DOOR is full of completely unexpected twists—you will read it on the edge of your chair. It is Blake Pierce at his best! Another masterpiece of suspense and mystery. I highly recommend it to the permanent library of all readers that appreciate an excellent thriller, full of psychological suspense and with a completely unexpected ending. This is the first in what promises to be another excellent series. I can hardly wait to read the sequel."--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto MattosA NEIGHBOR’S LIE (A Chloe Fine Mystery) is book #2 in a new psychological suspense series by bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has over 1,000 five-star reviews. FBI Violent Crimes Division Special Agent Chloe Fine, 27, still reeling from the secrets of her past, finds herself thrown into her first case: the murder of a nanny in a seemingly perfect suburban town.Immersed in a world of secrets, of unfaithful couples, of pretense and artifice, Chloe soon realizes that anyone—and everyone—may be guilty. Yet at the same time, with her own father still in jail, she must battle her own demons and unravel her own secrets, which threaten to bring her down before her own career even begins.An emotionally wrought psychological suspense with layered characters, small-town ambiance and heart-pounding suspense, A NEIGHBOR’S LIE is book #2 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #3 in the CHLOE FINE series will be available soon.

At the Jones family’s political marriage gala, the New York mafia’s most public “celebration”, I, Isabella Rossi, who was a bargaining chip, had been Donovan Jones’s wife for five years.
He was the world’s top perfumer, the kind of man who could coax a scent from his fingertips that made people go mad-and yet, to him, I was a flower with no fragrance at all.
Five years of this marriage, and he had never touched me. The villa’s master bedroom was always his alone, while I was nothing but the “Mrs. Jones” in name-a decorative prop trapped in a luxury cage, so insignificant that even the servants dared to look down on me in secret.
When both sets of parents pressured us for a baby, he wrapped an arm around a famous model and sneered,
“A woman raised off a template like you is only good for taking care of a kid, not for sleeping with.”
He left me behind in the bridal suite-with his younger brother.
Then he took his new fling out street-racing.
That same night, a video of him and the model hooking up in a car shot straight to the top of the entertainment headlines.
And I became New York media’s favorite punchline: the “DISCARDED TROPHY WIFE.”
Just when everyone thought I’d spend the night alone, guarding an empty bed,
I crooked a finger at that eight-pack, absurdly good-looking brother-in-law of mine.
Donovan, you’re right-I am pretty suited to “taking care of a kid.”
Just not a baby. A 6'2", baby-faced college boy.

Not long after I transferred to this school, I became the bullies’ favorite target.
They didn’t like how quiet I was or how pale I looked, so they casually slapped me with a nickname: “vampire.”
It started with shoves in the hallway and jeers in the classroom, escalated to messing with my drink, then stuffing trash into my locker.
They treated my silence as permission and wrapped every provocation in the same excuse: “Just a joke.”
Until that night, when humiliation wasn’t enough. They lured me into a tiny storage room behind the auditorium—locked the door, killed the lights, set up a fixed camera—ready to strap me to a chair and film an “execution” video that would make sure I could never hold my head up at this school again.
What they didn’t know was that the nickname wasn’t a joke. It was the one time they got the truth right.
I really am a vampire.

Kara Martin was known as Miss Perfect. She was a beauty with good personality and successful career. Unfortunately, her life changed at one night. She was accused of adultery, losing her job, and abandoned by her fiance.
The arrogant man who slept with her did not want to take responsibility. He even threatened to kill her if they met again. What’s worse, Kara was pregnant with twins and she chose to give birth to them.
Four and a half years later, Kara returned to work at a large company. As the secretary, she would frequently face their notorious CEO. Kara thought it wouldn't be a problem, but as it turned out ... the CEO was the father of the twins!

"And now, he's certain your life is over because he kicked you out. They're probably already placing bets on how long it will take for you to bow and beg at their feet to take you back. But..." He said coldly.

"But..." I breathed.

"Imagine suddenly returning with a husband so wealthy he makes them look like paupers. Not only is he filthy rich, but he's hopelessly in love with you, spoiling you rotten. Imagine their shock, their anger, and your satisfaction that you have exceeded their expectations. Won't that be fulfilling?"

"And... who would that husband be?" I whispered.

"Me." He grinned as he caressed my cheek. "Let's get married, my dear Iris."

••~•

After being humiliated and disowned on her wedding day, Iris is suddenly approached by Gordon Graff, the enigmatic and highly controversial billionaire and also her ex's uncle, who asks for her hand in marriage.

His goal: make her family and ex pay for everything they've done to her.

But what happens when the line between pretence and true love begins to blur, and dangerous secrets begin to unfold?

Will the man who has promised to protect her be her doom? And will she be a casualty in his dangerous game of revenge?

Corvus grabbed my jaw, his fingers dug into my cheeks, and my lungs squeezed at his choking aura.

"I will never marry you, Miss Shepherd. And if you dare come near me again, I'll slit your throat." He growled, and my stomach dropped.

It wasn't a threat; it was a promise.

••••~•

A messy, drugged one-night stand gave Zuri Shepherd the marriage she desperately needed—only to discover her husband was a monster. Corvus Vane, the alpha of Bloodhound pack, was a terrifying beast from her nightmares. A cruel and emotionless predator feared by his kind.

To each other, they were inconvenient tools.

He needed her body to manage his curse. She needed his blood for the perfect revenge.

But her soul craved every bit of that beast.

She needed his intoxicating lips, his seductive touch, and his sinful body over hers while he brought her pleasure in a way no beast should.

Now she's torn between her burning desire and her duty to fulfil. Will she lose herself to the passion or use it against him? Will she damn their souls this time?

"How can he be my mate!" Octavia shouted and held her head angrily.
"No, it can't be. Why me? I don't like the Royal family," Octavia screamed, her heart heavy...


Alpha Xander is a wealthy and powerful werewolf who leads the Litha Wolf Pack. On his first day at school, he discovers his mate, Octavia. Overwhelmed by his emotions, he impulsively confesses his feelings to her.
However, she immediately rejects him due to her love for someone else and her deep-rooted hatred for royals. Octavia's parents had a difficult time living in the human world, and her father faced punishment after refusing to engage in a sexual encounter with the queen. Sadly, Octavia lost her father during this ordeal, which solidified her belief that royals are cruel and heartless. Consequently, she adamantly avoids any involvement with them.

Despite Octavia's rejection, Xander persists in pursuing her, causing her to contemplate an escape plan. However, before she can put her plan into action, Alpha Xander marks her...

She gave up everything for love—only to be betrayed.
After a whirlwind romance and a sudden divorce, Electra Scofield is left broken, pregnant, and homeless. Five years later, she returns stronger, with a daughter and a past she’s tried to bury. But fate isn’t done with her yet.

Her ex-husband Knoxville wants a second chance.
His charming younger brother Maxwell wants forever.
And Electra? She just wants peace—but love and revenge don’t mix easily.

Caught between two brothers and the secrets that tore them apart, Electra must decide: will she follow her heart, or protect it at all costs?

Becoming the slave of her ex-mate's new wife wasn't a problem, but watching her parents' execution, after being rejected by her mate who cheated on her was more than enough to make the once beautiful and lively Lilith a vegetable Luna, as fate had better plans for her; a second chance in love with the Alpha King.
Will she ever recover from her trauma, and love her new mate same way he loves her?
Will she be able to let go of her pains to take up the new responsibility assigned her by the goddess-to assist the King save the world around them amidst enemies?
What will become of her ex-mate when she becomes the Luna Queen?
Read Mated To Alpha Gregory to unravel the mystery of Lilith's life.

"I thought you loved me?" Tears stream down her cheeks as she barges into her supposed alpha boyfriend, having sex with another woman right on the bed. Seeing their naked body, she feels like a dagger is thrust into her heart.

"How dare you barge into my room like that? Are you out of your mind?" Alpha Ren roars at her without shame as he stands on his feet, naked. His eyes burns in rage.

"What gave you the right..." A hot slap lands across his cheek before he can finish his statement, but turns out that it was the biggest mistake she'd ever commit in her life. She shouldn't have tried that, but now she did. Will the alpha forgive her for this crime she has committed? Will she be able to take the pain of seeing the man she has been with for three years, just cheated on her?

Detective Aria Kane tracks down a murderer who decorates each corpse with flawless origami cranes. There were eight victims. identical cut. The same position. The same bird. Home is indicated by the clues. This killer is the subject of a thriller written by her fiancé, Ethan Cross. While she sleeps, he folds cranes. He is aware of details that only a murderer should know. Like a signature, he says, "Love you." She lies beside him every night. She checks the locks every morning. She discovers the pen in the hand of a deceased woman. Silver. engraved. The one she handed him. He claims to have lost it. She locates the pictures. victims in his life's background. months in advance. Grinning. alive. He was present. observing. Awaiting. She looks at his schedule. gym. Back off. book release.
There is a body for every date. Each alibi is a present. At three in the morning, she looks through his desk. discovers a drawer that is locked. locates a box. Nine birds of different colors. For every life. Two remain blank. Now he leaves cranes on the counter. She pretends to sleep as she unfolds and refolds them. He is aware that she is watching. He wants her to locate it. As she lies beside him, she can feel his weight causing the mattress to dip. His breath has a coffee scent to it. He whispers to her. As if it were the final thing Aria would ever hear, good night. The crime scene is the marriage. His desk contains the proof. The next victim has already been selected. All she needs to do is decide to arrest him. or turn into the last chapter.On the nightstand is the next crane. Yesterday, it wasn't there.

In a world where the magic of the ocean and the secrets of the moon intertwine, Mia, a dazzling golden mermaid, dreams of true love. During a festive night on the beach, her life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Andrew, a charismatic scientist who hides a dark secret: he is a werewolf. The connection between them is instantaneous, but happiness is short-lived, as the evil mermaids who stalk the werewolves are quick to show their cruelty..
When these evil mermaids kidnap Mia, her life is extinguished in a tragic twist of fate. Heartbroken, Andrew defied the laws of nature in a desperate attempt to revive her.
Thus, using Mia's organs and heart, he creates a new creature: a reborn mermaid, powerful and passionate, endowed with extraordinary abilities and, most importantly, a deep connection to him.

Now, this new mermaid awakens in a world where love and revenge intertwine. Though her essence is that of Mia, the reborn mermaid, whom Andrés has named Selene, carries with her fragments of memories that emerge in flashes, leaving her conflicted between her new identity and the love that binds her to Andrés.

Selene discovers that her resurrection has not been without consequences. The sciencie Andrés used to bring her back has upset the balance between sea creatures and werewolves, unleashing the wrath of the evil mermaids who now seek revenge for Mia's death.

Synopsis:

Emma, a brilliant physicist, dedicates her life to pushing the boundaries of technology in her laboratory, striving to create robots that emulate human emotions and behaviors. Her world is turned upside down when an inexplicable event causes two of her robots to take on the essence of shooting stars. Unbeknownst to Emma, one of these celestial entities is intertwined with her fate—it's the reincarnation of her true love, Charlie.

As Emma navigates this surreal occurrence, she uncovers a gateway to an alternate reality where she can experiment with creating life. In this new world, she discovers Charlie, who has chosen to return to Earth as a robot, longing for the love he has cherished through countless reincarnations.

Together, Emma and Charlie embark on a journey filled with passion, adventure, and self-discovery, fighting against the challenges posed by their drastically different existences. As they battle to unite the digital and real worlds, Emma must confront the question: Can love transcend the boundaries of form and function? In their quest for true love, they will discover the depths of connection, the power of choice, and the eternal bond that has already bound them across time and space.