1398 Book(s) Related to when his eyes opened chapter 41

Spring is the season I dread the most.

Because every spring, my mere existence becomes a lethal weapon against my own son.

Theron told me he suffers from a highly rare condition: Maternal Stress Rejection Syndrome.

If I so much as get near Flynn during the spring months, it triggers severe asthma attacks and terrifying asphyxiation.

To keep our boy alive, Theron takes him away to an isolated treatment center for three months, every single year.

And I stay behind, swallowing antidepressants by the handful just to survive the crushing guilt.

That is, until I found a photo hidden in Theron's burner phone.

In the picture, my husband and my son are tightly embracing another woman.

The so-called Maternal Stress Rejection Syndrome was nothing but a sick lie—a meticulously crafted excuse so my husband could spend the season playing "happy family" with his first love.

......

Born between two kingdoms at war, Astrid Stone’s life has been marked by pain and misfortune, condemned to live as a slave within her own palace.
She is the princess no one wants, the shadow of a lineage that despises her.
When the new wolf king, Lysander Rowan, forces her to marry him to avenge his father, both are trapped in a union forged by hatred… and consumed by a desire neither can deny.
As their love grows and her true nature awakens, Astrid must choose between loyalty to her past or a forbidden love that threatens to destroy them both.
In a world where blood dictates destiny, can love defy the moon?

I loved Callum Crane for five years. He said I didn't fit. Then he proposed — to my sister.
The same night, his brother called me with the most insane idea I've ever heard: marry him instead. Same day. Same venue. Right across the hall from my ex and my sister's ceremony.
I said yes. Not because I loved Emrys Crane. Because I'd rather set the whole thing on fire than sit in a pew and watch.
Here's the thing about revenge marriages, though. They're supposed to be fake.
Nobody told Emrys.
The man had a wrench set in his truck that only fit my grandmother's machine — bought years before I ever spoke to him. He'd been sneaking looks through my workshop window so often the stone wore down. He fixed my motorcycle three times and never mentioned it. He remembered that I stared at a piece of almond brittle for ten seconds once, and bought it for me weeks later.
Seven years. He'd been in love with me for seven years. Said nothing. Did everything.
And Callum? The man who told me I didn't fit?
He showed up at my orchard with an apology and a folder full of evidence against my sister, begging for a second chance.
I looked him in the eye and said: "Too late. Wrong harvest."
He tried five more times. It only got worse for him.

My childhood friend was a tech prodigy.

To comfort his influencer girlfriend who was suffering from period cramps, he wanted to forfeit the National Hackathon we had spent the entire year preparing for.

I tipped off his father.

Consequently, he was dragged to the competition, won first place, and secured a straight path to Stanford.

Years later, his startup succeeded, making him a billionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

While I was nothing but his employee.

In the dimly lit basement server room, peering down at me like a god, he plunged a knife into my only seeing eye.

"Chloe, you are a vicious bitch. This is your retribution."

When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the moment before everything fell apart.

Darcy Madu never imagined she’d become a billionaire’s nanny or find herself at the heart of a high-profile scandal. But when she walks into Adrian Ashford’s office and instantly calms his inconsolable daughter, Hazel, fate intervenes. As Darcy navigates life in the penthouse, she discovers the man behind the empire is grieving, guarded, and desperately in need of someone who can love them both unconditionally.

Amidst whispers of betrayal, media scrutiny, and Adrian’s own walls of guilt, Darcy and Adrian’s hearts collide in quiet moments of laughter, care, and stolen glances. But can love survive when the world seems determined to tear them apart or will the past and family expectations force them to let go of the only happiness they’ve ever truly known?

I've got a reputation on campus as a doormat with zero dignity. I bring Wyatt Langley food, do his homework, act as his emotional dumping ground. Been at it for a year.

His rich friends mock my cheap clothes and say I'm reaching way out of my league. He never stops them. Sometimes he even laughs along.

Finally, he announces in front of everyone that he's breaking up with me. His first love is coming back from Europe, so I need to get lost.

Everyone's waiting to see me cry.

I glance at the five million dollars that hit my account half an hour ago and say, with complete sincerity, "Okay. Congrats."

What nobody knows is that I put up with him, tolerated his rotten temper, for one simple reason. His mom pays way too well.

Now the money's here. Time to end this arrangement.

So why, the second I walk away, does he start tearing the city apart trying to find me?

To the world, Cassian Vale is an untouchable god—a global pop idol whose face lines billboards and whose charm leaves millions breathless. To Aurelius Crown Academy, he is the ruthless king who rules the privileged elite with an iron fist.

To Aria Whitmore, he is just an arrogant, entitled nightmare.

Armed with nothing but her fierce independence, Aria refuses to bow to the academy’s cruel hierarchy or to its golden boy. But a single family dinner shatters her reality when a bombshell is dropped: She is betrothed to Cassian Vale.

Forced into an arranged marriage to unite two billionaire empires, Aria finds herself trapped in a gilded cage—sharing a roof, a bed, and a life with the man she swore to hate.

As jealous rivals declare war at school and calculating parents watch their every move, the lines between fake vows and real desire begin to blur. Cassian is used to the spotlight owning him, but under the cover of darkness, he’s willing to burn the world down to keep Aria safe.

They were meant to be pawns in a legacy game. Instead, they became each other's most dangerous obsession.

I came to this island asylum for one reason:
twenty thousand dollars.

A job. Three months. No questions asked.

But the moment I signed, they locked a steel cuff around my ankle.
The other end belongs to him.

He's not a patient. He's a monster.
Mob heir. Thirty bodies, broken by hand.
The scars on his face tell me exactly what he's capable of.

He refuses to even look at my file.
Instead, he demands one thing:
I sleep in his bed.
I stay within three meters.
Or the chain delivers a shock that drops me to my knees.

He calls me little rabbit.
He says if I run, he'll cut off my foot.
And last night, when another inmate tried to drag me into a corner—
he nearly killed a man with his bare hands.

So yes, he's my only protection on this floating prison.
But that's the trap, isn't it?

Because when his lips brush my neck in the dark,
when he wraps that stolen blanket around my frozen body,
I almost forget—
I'm not his partner.

I'm his leash-trained toy.

And the worst part?
I'm starting to want him to keep me.

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains themes of non-consensual encounters, emotional manipulation, and intense dark romance. Reader discretion is advised.

Blurb:

One stolen thing. One dangerous mistake. Now, she belongs to him.

She didn’t know the fire she was playing with… until it burned her.

He’s a devil in an Armani suit—a cold, calculating billionaire whose empire is built on blood and betrayal. To cross him is to sign your own death warrant.

But she never meant to steal from him. She didn’t even know what she was taking. And yet, in his eyes, she is the ultimate betrayal.

She should’ve been broken, discarded like all the others. Instead, she became his obsession.

Trapped in his dangerous world, she’s torn between hating him and craving the fire he awakens in her. The deeper she falls, the darker his secrets become—secrets that could cost her more than just her heart... they could cost her very soul.

In his world, love isn’t salvation. It’s a death sentence.

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains themes of non-consensual encounters, emotional manipulation, and intense dark romance. Reader discretion is advised.

Blurb:

One stolen thing. One dangerous mistake. Now, she belongs to him.

She didn’t know the fire she was playing with… until it burned her.

He’s a devil in an Armani suit—a cold, calculating billionaire whose empire is built on blood and betrayal. To cross him is to sign your own death warrant.

But she never meant to steal from him. She didn’t even know what she was taking. And yet, in his eyes, she is the ultimate betrayal.

She should’ve been broken, discarded like all the others. Instead, she became his obsession.

Trapped in his dangerous world, she’s torn between hating him and craving the fire he awakens in her. The deeper she falls, the darker his secrets become—secrets that could cost her more than just her heart... they could cost her very soul.

In his world, love isn’t salvation. It’s a death sentence.

James Johnson bought me from the black market for five million.
I went from being a mercenary to his bodyguard, and also his plaything to satisfy his desires.
Countless intimate nights gradually changed the nature of our relationship.
Until he risked his life to save me during a gang shootout.
His restrained feelings finally broke free, and he proposed to me.
But today, five years later.
Right after James took control of the Johnson Family, he quickly got engaged to Julia, the daughter of the Smith Family, the biggest arms dealer.
I confronted him, only to overhear his conversation with a friend.
"I told Sophia I'd marry her just to make her give everything for me, even die for me. After all, those brothers fighting me for the inheritance are all crazy."
His friend laughed. "But she's risked her life for you for six years. That's pretty cold."
"Doesn't matter. With her background, she was never fit to be a mafia heir's wife anyway."
I stood outside the door and let out a bitter laugh.
Back in my room, I contacted Marshall Johnson.
"I promised to keep James safe until he became head of the Johnson Family. The mission's complete now. Please give me my freedom as agreed."

"The contract marriage has expired. You're no longer useful to me," Lucas's cold voice pierced my heart. After three years of devotion, I was nothing but a disposable tool.

Then, he brought her home. Amelia, his cherished true love—and the daughter of the mafia family that slaughtered my parents. She sneered at me, flaunting my mother's stolen sapphire necklace, while Lucas ruthlessly kicked me out, calling me a mere "housekeeper."

My heart shattered entirely, but the tears finally stopped. I signed the divorce papers and walked out into the night.

He thought I was a penniless nobody who would crumble without his wealth. He didn't know my real name was Isabella Sorelli.

When I appeared at a top-tier banquet, flanked by my three wildly protective, billionaire brothers, Lucas's eyes widened in sheer shock. I am the heiress to the city's greatest empire now. You threw me away for a snake, Lucas? Watch me crush her. And when you finally realize what you lost, begging on your knees won't be enough.

His blue eyes darkened as he stepped into my space, backing me slowly against the wall.

I clenched my jaw. “Move.”

Instead, he lifted a hand, stopping just short of touching me. Close enough that I could feel the heat of him.

“Tell me,” he said mockingly gentle, “is it like this with everyone?”
His lips brushed my ear. “Or am I special?”

“Don’t,” I whispered, even as my fingers curled into his shirt.

“That’s not what your hands are saying.”

I tried to step away, but my body betrayed me. The way he nipped at my ear, the way his hands held me with an intensity that made my chest tighten…it was wrong. Every glance, every touch, every harsh word from him made my blood burn. I hated him. I hated how he made me feel. And yet…I couldn’t stop myself from leaning closer.

Avery Voss has always been the wild twin—the prodigy, the one who chased music instead of grades, the one her parents barely noticed, the one who lived recklessly. Her sister Emery was the safe twin…the golden girl everyone loved, the one who followed the rules and carried their parents’ expectations without complaint.
But one night, everything changed. A single choice forced Avery to step into Emery’s life…her school, her world.

High school should have been simple. Blend in. Survive.

But surviving means enduring Asher Whitlock…the school’s golden boy, star soccer player, charming, ruthless, and terrifyingly clever. He teases, and tests Avery at every turn, and she hates him for it.

Yet the longer she survives his cruelty, the more she sees the cracks beneath his perfect exterior, the demons he hides behind that flawless smile. And suddenly, the line between hate starts to blur into something that could destroy them both.

I lay in my cage sleeping soundly when I was awoken by the Pet Master kicking my cage.
"Wake up you little bitch." the Pet Master growled and moved on to the next cage. He was followed by a tall man with a blonde hair.
"What is your name?" The man asked as he stopped in front of me. His voice was low and it sent shivers up my back.
"Mia." My voice shook as I stared at the floor.
"From now on you are to call me Master." He said to me and then turned to the Pet Master. "I'll buy her."

It has been 15 years since I was born and trained to be a pet and now I am awaiting my fate to see who will buy me.
I've never known a life outside of the pet shop and I've seen many people come and go with my friends. Maybe one day I'll be brought and I too will have a master.
But I didn't expect the day would come so early...

This book series include Book 1 -- Owned by a Vampire, and Book 2 - Prisoner to the Darkness.

Four years ago, I left my boyfriend when he had nothing.

Now, he's a billionaire. And he's forcing me to marry him—just for revenge.

Every day it's a different girl. Now there's a pregnant influencer he flaunts in my face, destroying what's left of my dignity.

"Kneel and beg her, and I'll give you money." He holds another woman and smirks at me.

I don't cry. I don't scream. I just swallow the blood rising in my throat.

He doesn't know my brain tumor is terminal. I have thirty days left.

I've already signed the organ donation papers. I just want to die in peace.

I stopped loving him a long time ago.

Jonathan’s way of loving was always paying in silence. After we broke up, he cleared my shopping cart, stocked up enough makeup remover to last me three years, trying his best to make up for it. But during those three years when I willingly waited for him to propose, he never said a word. Until one day, he found a small note I’d written in pencil three years ago in that wedding planning book: “It’s okay, I can wait.” He cried all night staring at that line, and the next day, he bought 17 copies of the same book. On the title page of each one, he wrote neatly: “Wait for me.” It turns out, the stupidest person takes three years just to learn to say “I love you.”

Vito lays down his rules: She belongs to him now. No escape. No other men. No defiance.
But Ortensia isn't one to submit so easily.
Ten years ago, she saved Vito's life when he was just an innocent young man. Their brief connection became a memory he could never forget, until a devastating misunderstanding tore them apart. Believing Ortensia's family was responsible for the tragedy that changed his life, Vito disappeared and returned as a ruthless mafia leader determined to seek revenge.
Now, fate brings them together again.
Betrayed by her own stepbrother, Ortensia is sold into the underground world of the Shadow Market. The man who buys her for millions is the same man she once saved, the man who now sees her as the enemy.
Vito takes her to his estate and sets three rules. She must obey him, stay within his world, and never challenge his authority. But Ortensia refuses to break. She fights back, provokes him, and refuses to become a prisoner of his hatred.
He wants revenge. He wants control. But every confrontation only fuels the undeniable attraction between them.
As secrets from the past begin to surface, Vito must question everything he believes. Was Ortensia really part of the betrayal that destroyed him, or was she the only person who truly cared?
In a dangerous game of revenge, temptation, and desire, who will surrender first?

“Are you sure?” Nathan asks, his voice dropping lower as he leans in, closing the final inch between us.

His chest presses flush against mine. “You don't like being held in this position, Leah? You absolutely hate that I'm holding you in place right now?”

“Yes,” I choke out.

A slow smile spreads across his face, his gaze dropping briefly to my lips before returning to my eyes.

“Then let’s play a game.”

My pulse stumbles. “Game? What game?”

His eyes drift lower, toward my thighs. “If you’re not wet for me,” he murmurs, “I’ll let you go right now. I’ll never touch you, hold you, or even look at you again.”

A shiver runs through me. “And if I am?”

His smile darkens.

“And if you are, well… you'll just have to find out what happens then."

_

Leah Elliot has spent years trying to build a stable life despite growing up an orphan.

Landing a job as personal assistant to billionaire CEO Nathan Harrington, feels like her big break—until she comes face-to-face with Dominic Harrington, her cheating college ex and Nathan’s son.

As if that isn’t complicated enough, after spilling iced coffee on him on her first day, she’s forced to work as a corporate liaison to help plan his wedding to a billionaire heiress whose family is tied to Harrington Group.

Leah knows she shouldn’t be falling for her boss, much less her ex’s father, but she can’t help it. The tension between them is undeniable, and Nathan doesn’t seem immune either.

Leah must juggle working for her hot boss 24/7 while staying ahead of Dominic’s schemes in the office. But little does she know, Dominic isn’t the only psychotic ex she has to worry about.

COMPLETED
Rated 21+🔞🔞🔞
Sara, an ordinary college girl, was forced to marry Adrian, the heir to the largest mafia group, in order to pay for her parents' debts and her grandfather's surgery. Adrian's father offered Sara her freedom and the cancellation of her contract if she lived with Adrian for 30 days and neither of them fell in love at the end. Adrian was a handsome, domineering and strange man who set four rules for Sara, and if Sara broke one of them, then Adrian had the right to claim a part of Sara's body and use it. In the process of breaking the rules over and over again, Sara reaped pleasures she had never experienced before.

During a luxury cruise, Lydia is drugged, blacks out, and wakes in the hands of Ethan, a notorious arms dealer, the most feared name in the UK, and a whispered warning across Europe.

He catches her by the ribbon in her hair and turns her escape into a dead end, yet he never takes her life.

While everyone waits for the moment she breaks, Ethan clasps a bracelet around her wrist, a mark she never manages to remove.

"They say you'll redeem me," he murmurs, voice dangerously low as he tilts her chin up. "But I only want to lock you away forever."

He thinks he's playing a game of conquest. Instead, he's the one who surrenders. Until the day he kneels, blood on his hands, a ring held out like a confession.

"Good girl," he breathes. "Call me 'honey.' Stay with me, forever."

"Turn on the livestream, let everyone see how wet and slutty my wife's pussy gets when she's ruined." My husband sneered, ruthlessly spreading my trembling legs on the tattoo bed.

I sobbed and thrashed, but his strong hands pinned my wrists. The buzzing needle pierced the sensitive flesh of my private area, vibrating against my clitoris as he forced a succubus mark onto me. I let out a sharp, pathetic moan, my body involuntarily slicking with a mix of blood and arousal under the agonizing pain.

By the time the needle carved the eighteenth humiliating word into my bare, heaving breasts, my mind was completely broken. He just wiped the blood from my nipples and left to fuck his pregnant mistress.

He thought I was just a toy. At his wedding banquet, he threw me to a pack of hungry men. "Do whatever you want with her holes. Even if it's a gangbang, I take no responsibility." Disgusting hands immediately groped my bare thighs, brutally ripping my dress apart to expose my tattooed chest. Rough fingers pinched my nipples and shoved into my dripping core, making me scream in despair.

But I didn't die there. I tanked his company and fell into the arms of his biggest rival.

When my ex-husband finally realized the mistress's baby wasn't his, he called me, sobbing and begging. I just pressed the phone to my ear, gasping loudly as Tristan's thick, hard cock thrust deep into my tight, wet pussy.

"Ah... fuck, Tristan, deeper..." I moaned shamelessly into the receiver, hearing my ex-husband's breathless silence on the other end. "Henry," I panted, riding my new lover hard, "Your empire is dead, and so are we."

She baked his pack to perfection for five years, only to overhear she was just the “cheaper version” of his fated mate.

When Alpha Brian slaps her, abandons her in flames, and chooses the villainess who faked everything… Angela walks away, rejects him forever, returns home as the hidden heiress of a powerhouse pack, marries the Lycan King who worships her and watches her ex spiral into madness.

On our fifth Anniversary party, Harris got admitted to the City's Hospital.

Cancer. Stage IV.

I struggled to find words to whisper some comforting words to Harris .

Instead, he held my hands, and said,"It's alright, Darcy."

"Don't be afraid of anything that may happen. Even if I am about to die, I will always be with you."

Even when he was dying, he made sure to comfort me, which bled my heart.

I spent my days researching treatments, draining my savings for "miracle" consultations.

Then came the afternoon I went to his office early to surprise him with the appointment letter with Dr. Wilson, a world famous surgeon.

Harris had been trying to contact him for weeks now. But, everytime he declined him bluntly, only this time when I tried to contact him personally, his assistant reached out to me.

Finally, he had a chance to be saved. I cried tears of joy. I wanted to share this good news with Harris as soon as possible.

But, My hands, almost pushed open the door, , a Lively and joyous laughter echoed through my ears.
"Is the paperwork ready?"

I slightly opened it ajar and peered inside.
I froze on the spot.

Clara was sitting on Harris's lap, clutching to his shoulder like she owned him.

"Everything," Harris' voice sounded, confident and excited.

"By the time 'cancer' takes me, Harris Hudson will be dead, life insurance will be processed, and you and I will be halfway across the world with a clean slate."

Clara. Harris' first love. The one he told me was a 'closed chapter' years ago.

Something broke into my heart.
I froze at my place.

The cancer, the treatment, it was all a lie orchestrated by Harris to elope with Clara?

At the board meeting, he voted to dilute my equity.

"This is business, Elena. Not personal."

Three years of hidden marriage. I thought we were partners. But in that moment, I finally understood—I was just his technical supplier on the road to success.

What Ryan didn't know: that Technology Contribution Agreement he signed three years ago contained one clause. 70% of NexTech's core algorithm IP belongs to me. Personally.

Product launch day. Two hundred investors watching. I took the microphone.

He thought I'd present the tech specs like always.

He was wrong.

Two weeks before my due date, my husband Ethan is racing out the door into a stormy night.

All because his childhood friend Scarlett's apartment lost power, and she says her claustrophobia is kicking in.

I'm clutching my belly, telling him my water broke, begging him to look at the blood on the floor.

"You pulling this again? Last week wasn't enough? Scarlett's actually in danger."

He shakes off my hand. The door slams shut.

I'm standing in a pool of blood, watching his taillights disappear into the rain.

My baby won't have a father anymore.

Synopsis.

Liora could never belong. The daughter of an extramarital affair, she had lived in the shadows, cut off from the rest of the family, and learned to fend for herself while surviving. Stripping gave her life now, but everything changed one wild night.

Two days before his wedding, Darius entered her club, craving for the last taste of bachelorhood, he pays Liora for a special dance which led to a one-night stand. Neither of them expected to see each other again or that Liora’s long lost sister, Selene, was the bride waiting at the altar.

The one-night stand becomes a dangerous truth that must be hidden. Lies never remain hidden, however, and when Liora learns she is pregnant with Darius’s child, silence may be not be an option for her.

Exposition.

Liora, a daughter born as a result of her father’s infidelity with a maid, which resulted in the divorce that separates her from her big sister. Due to the family’s financial difficulties faced while growing up and the consequent death of her father, Liora eventually becomes a stripper to put food on her table. Unknown to her at the time, she carried the hidden omega bloodline from her father’s alpha lineage, suppressed by years away from the pack.

Inciting incident.

One night, she is hired by a man who is getting married in just two days and wants to enjoy his last moments of bachelorhood. She ends up having a one-night stand with him. The moment they touched, an undeniable mate spark ignited between them—raw, electric, and impossible to ignore—but neither understood its full power yet.

When Liora returns home that same night, she encounters an old man who introduces himself as the butler of the Blackwood family, tells her she has been invited to the wedding of her sister. This comes as a shock—Liora grew up knowing she had a sister, but Harlan never allowed them to meet. He carried that secret to his grave, and after his death, Liora stopped thinking about it. Despite her hesitation and doubts as to if they got the wrong person, she agrees to attend.

R

My son was killed in a horrific car bomb assassination.

At his rain-drenched funeral, my husband, Enzo—a Mafia Don—held an umbrella over my head, only to suddenly state with icy indifference:

"Gianna is pregnant. It's my blood."

Gianna. The illegitimate daughter of the Lucchese family boss.

I stiffened, looking up in sheer disbelief.

"What the hell does that mean?"

He cast a careless glance at me, completely unbothered.

"To end the war between the Corsican and Lucchese families, I've been with her in secret for a while now. Now that she carries the Corsican bloodline, I must give her a proper title. She will be moving into the estate tonight. You will not only accept this, but you will also give her the respect she deserves as the mother of my child."

My boyfriend's mistress deliberately gave me a strawberry cake that I'm allergic to.
After I went into anaphylactic shock and had a miscarriage, I knew it was all over.
But when I left it all behind and went back to my hometown, he showed up at my door telling me to quit throwing a fit, that he still loved me.
This kind of love full of betrayal?
I don't want it.

(DAILY UPDATING)
Adriana is the forgotten daughter of the Alpha of the Red Moon Pack. Her father barely acknowledges her, her sister despises her, and the mate she loved for five years chose power over her—by sleeping with that very sister.

But Adriana has a secret.

A rare white wolf. A power she’s been forced to hide.

When she unexpectedly crosses paths with the Lycan King, she doesn’t know he is her father’s greatest enemy… or her second-chance mate.

Elijah never planned to bond again. Betrayed once and now raising a silent son alone, he has no interest in love. But there’s something different about Adriana. Something powerful. Something his wolf refuses to ignore.

As tension between wolves and lycans rises, secrets begin to unravel and claiming her may mean starting a war.

This time, Adriana won’t be the weak daughter they overlooked.

Bethany is 14 years old and a warrior's daughter at the moonshine pack, her life is perfect until that one night that turns her world upside down. Rogues attack her pack leaving her alone to look after herself and her 6-month-old niece Bella. She manages to get away from the pack safely but for how long? There's someone that wants Bethany as his mate and he is willing to go to extreme lengths to get her.

As soon as Bethany thinks she is safe, she's proven wrong time and time again. How will she get away from the darkness that is lurking? Will she be forced to be someone's mate or is there anyone out there that can save her?

The Little Wolf series recommended reading order
Loved By The Gamma ~ Jack and Ashley's story
His Little Wolf ~ Liam and Bethany's story

One childhood crush. One unbreakable rule. One mansion where every hallway feels like a trap.

For fifteen years, Leighton Hayes has loved Noah Knight from afar, the untouchable older brother of her best friend Chloe. Now twenty-three, broke, and freshly homeless, Leighton has nowhere to go but the sprawling estate of the man who once barely noticed her. Noah remembers her all too well. The billionaire who built an empire from nothing has spent the last six months trying to become a better man, and the shy girl in oversized hoodies who just moved into his guest wing is the most dangerous temptation he’s ever faced.

Chloe’s single rule was always clear: her friends are off-limits. Especially to Noah, the reformed Playboy who used to burn through supermodels and headlines. But late nights, shared secrets, and one stolen shirt ignite a fire neither of them can extinguish. What begins as whispered confessions and almost-kisses explodes into a secret affair neither wants to end, even as the lies stack higher.

When Chloe discovers the truth, the betrayal threatens to destroy the only family each of them has ever known. Leighton must decide if love is worth losing her best friend. Noah must prove he’s finally ready to risk everything for the one woman he swore he’d never touch.

Some rules are made to be broken.
Some hearts refuse to stay forbidden.

"You're trembling," he murmured, his thumb brushing slowly over her lips. "Is it fear... or is it me?"
Her pulse betrayed her before her voice ever could. He was too close. Too dangerous. And her body no longer knew which feeling came first, terror or desire.
Elena Castellano was never meant to become collateral in a war between families. But after a brutal attack turns her world upside down, her father makes an unthinkable decision to protect her. He binds her future to Stefano Bernardo, the ruthless heir of one of Milan's most feared dynasties.
To the outside world, their marriage is a powerful alliance.
To Stefano, it is revenge.
Cold, calculating, and impossibly controlled, Stefano has waited years for the perfect moment to strike back at the Castellano name. Marrying Elena is part of the plan. Breaking her family is the goal.
Now trapped in a gilded cage of wealth and danger, Elena must navigate a marriage built on secrets, resentment, and a simmering tension neither of them can ignore. Stefano's vengeance runs deeper than she ever imagined, and every glance feels like a warning. Every touch feels like temptation.
But the greatest threat may not be his hatred or the enemies watching from the shadows.
It may be the way her heart responds to the very man determined to destroy everything she loves.
He married her to ruin her family. She was never supposed to make him question everything.
When revenge and desire collide in a world ruled by power and blood, can love survive the consequences?

“All this time,” Adriano’s voice was low, shaking with rage, “all this time I kissed you, made love to you, put my life on the line for you…” His eyes burned into hers. “You were fucking my brothers behind my back?!”

“Adriano, please I can explain. It's not what you think.”

“NOT WHAT I THINK?!” he roared, stepping closer, fists trembling. “You told me you love me!”

“I do,” Diamond sobbed.

His voice broke. “Then why?”

—

They are the princes of Il Serpente Dorato, the most powerful Italian Mafia. Adriano, Alessandro, and Gabriele.

Dangerous. Possessive. Obsessive.

Diamond was just a stripper when she first caught Adriano’s eye. A one-night distraction who became something much more. At first, she was tangled only in his sheets… until his older brothers wanted a taste of her.

And soon, she wasn’t just his. She was theirs

Now she belongs to all of them. Claimed and worshipped in ways that leave her breathless. The nights turned wild with sex, pleasure, and pain. The tension, the lies, the betrayal… unbearable. She wasn’t just a woman to them—she became an addiction, a possession they’d fight, bleed, and kill for.

Yet Diamond has a secret. One that could shatter everything. And if the Greco princes ever discover the truth, their obsession with her won’t just burn.

It might destroy her.

Welcome to a story of sin, obsession, betrayal, and forbidden desires. Where love and hate are only a heartbeat apart.

"I stood at the edge of my heart and watched him choose her. In the end, I was not the one he needed. I was simply the one he settled for." - Noelle

I thought I was the one he loved.
But a few days before our wedding, I saw him in a way I never had before. His eyes softened as he spoke to her. His first love, and the very woman who had left him in pieces. I was the one who healed him. Or so I thought.
Heartbreak was something I knew too well. And as I watched the love he still held for her in his eyes, I realized what I had to do. I couldn’t marry a man who wasn’t truly mine.
With no means to cancel the wedding and lacking the courage to confront him, I made a desperate choice to leave. I painfully gave his first love my treasured engagement ring thinking it was for the best and the only way to free myself. But when he saw that ring on her finger, the fragile world I had tried to escape began to shatter.
His obsession to find me and bring me back ignited a dangerous game of cat and mouse."

His lips brushed mine, and for one reckless heartbeat, I believed it was real.
Then my mate’s voice cut through the air.
Rhael his eyes burning with hurt, as if he hadn’t been the one to reject me for being an Omega.
Auren’s arm tightened around me, his growl silencing him, staking a claim that was never meant to last.
When the crowd was gone, his tone changed low, cold, merciless.
“No one’s watching now. Let go.”
And I did. Because I’d forgotten what I was to him
a lie dressed as a lover, a pawn pretending to matter.

Everyone says I should be grateful I'm training with The Dante King .

The team captain who everyone loves is oddly concerned with me and everyone says I should be touched and grateful.

I’m just an invisible walk-on guard that should be lucky I even got into the same college team with Dante.

He sees me, a little too clearly.
And watched me… a little too closely.

Not just my skills, my movements, my mistakes–even private things about me.

At first, it’s subtle, a glance that lingers too long, his footsteps echoing after mine during practice, and him replying to a message I swear I didn’t send him.

I tell myself I’m imagining it.

It turns out, I'm not

Dante wants me. And he’s stopped waiting for me to notice.

He orchestrates every encounter, every little accident, every coincidence – and I’m terrified but at the same time drawn in wanting more.

But obsession has a cost.

One wrong step or glance and the line between love and possession disappears.

And when the other players, the coaches, and the campus start noticing this…
I have to decide.

Do I escape saving my career or do I let myself go and risk my future.

He erased her past. Now she’ll erase his empire.

When Elena Cross wakes from a devastating car crash, she’s told her powerful husband, Adrian, never left her side. But as fragments of memory return, so does a darker truth—Adrian caused the crash that nearly killed her. Instead of exposing him, Elena hides her secret and slips back into his world with one goal: destroy him from within.

Every smile becomes a weapon, every kiss a step closer to his downfall. But Adrian isn’t the only Cross with something to hide. His younger brother, Julian, knows more than he admits—and the deeper Elena digs, the more she learns that revenge has its own price.

In a world of luxury, secrets, and betrayal, love can be the most dangerous lie of all.

“You’ve tortured me enough and I endured everything because I couldn’t prove my innocence. But now you know the truth, so please let me go…”

Sofia Armani was on her knees, begging for her freedom from the hands of the man who ruined her life and put her through hell - from the hands of the ruthless and deadly Rogue Alpha King, Diego Morelli.

He’d accused her of killing his pregnant mate, and in turn, he killed her family and tortured her daily in his mansion. But now the truth is out, and he knows she’s innocent. She didn’t kill his pregnant mate. So why isn’t he letting her go?

“You’re not leaving, Sofia. I’m not ready to let you go yet…” Diego hadn’t expected to develop an intense fever for the girl he captured and tormented. But he did, and now letting her go isn’t an option. Not even after he found out that she was innocent.

She might as well learn to love him because he plans on keeping her with him…FOREVER.

Would Sofia choose to stay with the man who ruined her life, or would she relentlessly try to escape him, even after she finds out that she’s pregnant for him?

Would Diego finally learn to let her go or would he chase her all his life, regardless of everything that stands against them being together?

On the night of her wedding, Claire Donovan was framed, betrayed, and thrown into prison for a crime she didn’t commit. Her fiancé, Liam Carter, the man she loved, stood by and did nothing while her stepsister, Ava, took everything from her.

Three years later, Claire is back.

But she’s no longer the naive woman who once believed in love and loyalty. When ruthless billionaire Adrian Blackwood offers her a contract marriage—promising to help her destroy the people who ruined her—she accepts.

With Adrian’s power and influence, Claire re-enters the high society that cast her aside. Now, she’s the woman they fear, the bride they betrayed, and the one holding the strings. But as she plays the dangerous game of revenge, she realizes Adrian has secrets of his own—secrets that could shatter them both.

"No. Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie. Say one truth. I dare you to tell me one truth."
"I love you."
"No, you don't. Say something else."
"I can't live without you."
"Shut up, you bastard. How can you say you love me when all you ever do is hurt me?"
He did not answer. He never did when she asked the one question that terrified them both: what happens when the man who ruined your life decides you are the only thing he cannot lose?
Leah Walsh made one mistake. Then she made it again. And again. Now she belongs to Aiden Kingston, caporegime of the city's most feared crime family, a man who treats her refusals like foreplay and her tears like proof of possession. His world is violence masquerading as devotion, chains disguised as safety. His enemies circle ever closer, knowing that the fastest way to destroy a predator is to steal his prey.
But Leah is discovering something dangerous. The line between captive and collaborator is thinner than she imagined, and crossing it may be the only way to survive.

Rigella’s world shatters when she spots her husband, Ivan, having a romantic lunch with his mistress—Lara—at an upscale restaurant. Already burdened by years of emotional neglect, this public betrayal leaves her silently devastated. Determined not to ruin her long-awaited reunion with her best friend, Roxanne, Rigella hides her pain behind a forced smile.

But secrets have a way of surfacing. When Roxanne notices the bruises on Rigella’s arm, concern turns into fury. Rigella tries to lie—tries to protect the man who’s been hurting her. But it isn’t long before the truth claws its way out in the form of another violent encounter. Ivan ambushes her in the restroom, slaps her, and reminds her of her place: a wife only on paper.

Escaping into Roxanne’s arms, Rigella is forced to confront the wreckage of her marriage. Torn between the pain of staying and the fear of breaking her son Ice’s heart, she begins to question if love—especially from Ivan—was ever truly hers.

As the chapter closes, a thunderous knock at Roxanne’s door sends Rigella’s heart racing. Ivan is here. And this time, she can no longer run from the truth.

You’ve got five seconds to explain how you got in here before I decide what part of you to break first,” he said calmly.

She turned, slowly and measured. No fear. Just cool, calculating eyes the color of storm clouds.

“That’s one hell of a welcome,” she said.

Ezra took a step forward. “You’re not supposed to be breathing.”

She smiled faintly. “Neither are you, from what I’ve read.”

That pulled a flicker of curiosity from him. She knew who he was. That wasn’t unusual.

Lira Black’s latest assignment was supposed to be simple: infiltrate, eliminate, vanish. But when she faces Ezra Raine the cursed vampire prince whose very presence ignites her blood everything she knows about control and desire shatters.

Ezra has lived centuries in darkness, mastering power and lust alike, yet Lira awakens something in him no one else ever could: a hunger he cannot tame, a need he cannot resist.

Enemies, allies, and forbidden desires collide in a dangerous game of blood, magic, and seduction. Every touch, every kiss, every whispered command brings them closer to a truth neither was prepared to face and a fire neither can escape.

In a world where betrayal is inevitable, only passion can save them… or destroy them both.

"I was done being what others discarded. I would burn this entire pack to the ground before I let anyone take away the one thing I had left. Some wounds do not bleed. They hollow you out until survival is the only thing that remains."
Lyssara believed one truth above all else: a mate was sacred. The other half of your soul. A bond meant to be eternal.
Until Kaelrith looked at her with nothing but cold disgust.
The moment their eyes met, Lyssara saw no love, no recognition, no trace of the connection she had dreamed of her entire life. Instead, fate bound her to a man who wanted someone else.
Night after night, she watched him choose Vaelira, her own sister. Every tender word, every stolen moment, every promise of a future that should have been hers was given to another woman while Lyssara faded into the background.
Until she discovered a secret that changed everything.
A tiny heartbeat inside her.
Her child became her strength, her reason to survive, and the one thing she would protect at any cost.
Then Thalric appeared from the shadows. Scarred, dangerous, and untouched by her broken past. He did not try to save her. He simply saw her when everyone else turned away.
But when Lyssara finally learned to stand on her own, Kaelrith realized what he had lost.
Now the man who destroyed her must face the man who helped her rise.
Only one of them is worthy of her heart.

"This is why I hate you so much! You can't seem to let go, even though it's clear that she's a lost cause!"
"She's three years old! She's your blood!"
"She is a mistake! This useless daughter of yours is not going to live past six, and we both know it! You waste your time bumbling around her like an idiot when you're supposed to be serving your Alpha!"
"I hereby revoke my marriage vows! I cast you out! I reject you, Ophelia Vitale."
Four years ago, I committed the ultimate sin. I almost killed my adoptive mother, and for that, I was sentenced to a living hell.
My father caged my wolf, stripped my dignity, and bartered me off like livestock to a ruthless CEO to seal a blood alliance. I didn't fight.
I didn't scream. I quietly accepted the chains and walked away from the fated mate bond I shared with my step-brother.
Damon Enzo Vitale was my first heartbreak—the man I once loved, and the man who truly hated me.
Now, I'm back in Vesper City, but the girl Damon once knew is gone. In her place stands a woman shattered by a monster's touch, clutching a dying daughter to her chest. I have nowhere left to run except into the arms of the man I once sacrificed everything to leave.


Ophelia Vitale is a harbinger of ruin and a shameless seductress. Four years ago, she brought our family to the brink of collapse and walked away from the fated mate bond we shared without a backward glance.
I, Damon Enzo Vitale, have spent every night since fueling my hatred for her, trying to burn away the memories she left branded on my soul. But the woman who collapsed on that highway isn't the girl I remember.
She's covered in scars I can't explain and carrying a child with my family's eyes.
As I look into the trauma she's desperate to hide, the foundations of my world begin to crack. Was my hatred truly valid? Or had I been blinded by a web of lies designed to destroy us both?

Maya, who is a fiercely independent young woman, is sold to the ruthless billionaire Damian Blackwood to settle her family’s debts to his family. She is furious and determined to escape him, but she soon discovers that Damian isn’t just any ordinary man. He’s the powerful alpha of the Inferno Pack and a werewolf burdened by a dark past. To her shock, Damian eventually reveals that she is his fated mate, a bond that ties them together against her will.
As Maya struggles to resist her growing attraction to Damian, she becomes entangled in his dangerous world, where other packs and betrayal threaten to ruin him and his power. Damian’s cold and commanding exterior begins to crack, revealing a haunted man. He only wishes to protect her and is desperate to do so.
When Maya learns that Damian initially brought her into his life to fulfill a prophecy that could save his family and pack, she feels betrayed and leaves him because she questions everything about their connection.
But as Damian’s enemies close in and his authority as alpha is tested, Maya realizes her feelings for him run deeper than she thought. She returns to help him face both the rebellion within his own pack and a final, supernatural threat that might just be what ends them all.
In the end, Maya and Damian must accept the bond, trust each other, and fight together to secure their love and their newfound family. Their journey is one of passion, power, and redemption, proving that even in their world of shadows, love can win.

His Empire, Her Heart

A Dark Mafia Romance by MAUCMORAH

He built an empire from blood.
She came to destroy it.
Neither expected to fall in love.

Lorenzo De Luca is a man forged in power and shadow — the billionaire heir to Italy’s most feared crime dynasty. In Milan’s glittering skyline, he is untouchable: cold, calculating, and dangerously magnetic. Behind every whispered deal and ruthless command lies a man bound by loyalty, haunted by a past soaked in betrayal. To his enemies, he’s a devil. To his empire, a king. And to the world, a mask of control.

Isabella Romano has spent years feeding her hatred. The De Luca name destroyed her family, and now she’s returned to make Lorenzo pay. Disguised and determined, she steps into his world of luxury, deceit, and violence — a world where every smile hides a threat and every secret can kill. But when she looks into his eyes, she sees the truth no one dares to face: beneath the monster lies a man capable of love.

What begins as deception turns to obsession. Passion becomes peril. And when the truth finally surfaces, both must face the price of their sins. Because in a world ruled by blood and loyalty, love is the one crime that can’t be forgiven.

Torn between vengeance and desire, Isabella must choose: destroy the man who ruined her life… or surrender to the man who could save her soul.
And Lorenzo must decide what matters more — the empire he built… or the woman who could bring it to its knees.

In his world, love isn’t salvation. It’s surrender.

She retired undefeated. He has never lost either.
Natalie Ray walked away from professional boxing at the top of her game. Now she waits tables at Rosario's, a stunning restaurant she has no idea is owned by Lorenzo Ricci the most feared man in New York.
When Lorenzo dares her to fight his security guard just to put her in her place, Natalie doesn't flinch. She doesn't raise her voice. She doesn't take the bait. And somehow, that quiet refusal does what no rival has ever managed it stops Lorenzo cold.
He wants to understand her. She wants nothing to do with his world.
But Lorenzo doesn't take no for an answer. And Natalie doesn't run from a fight.
When a rival mob boss kidnaps Natalie to use as leverage, she doesn't wait to be rescued. She breaks free herself. And when Lorenzo finally finds her whole, unbroken, furious something inside him cracks open.
Now the most dangerous man in the city must face the one thing that truly terrifies him: a woman who doesn't need him. And falling in love with her anyway.

Talia Morgan was born a wolf.
At thirteen, everything changed.
After her parents were murdered, she was cursed by a powerful witch and used as a vessel for Elder magic. Saving her life came at an impossible cost; the curse was broken, but so was the wolf inside her, leaving her human.
Ten years later, Talia hides her grief behind sharp sarcasm and a smile she no longer believes. When a rogue attack proves she can no longer protect herself, or the people she loves, she leaves the only home she's ever known for the quiet human town of Ashbourne Hollow, determined to disappear.
Instead, she catches the attention of the town's most dangerous owner.
Alaric Lazarus is a vampire who rules from the black castle overlooking Ashbourne Hollow. He is cold, enigmatic, and impossible to read, but he awakens something in Talia she can't explain. She doesn't trust him. He trusts her even less.
Then vampires begin turning up dead.
Forced into an uneasy alliance, Talia and Alaric uncover a trail that leads back to the family she lost... and the curse she thought she'd escaped. As old enemies emerge from the shadows and buried secrets come to light, Talia discovers that everything she believed about her past was a lie.
Because the curse that stole her wolf was never meant to save her.
It was meant to lead her to him.
This is book 3 in the series, but it can be read as a standalone.
Book 1 - The Matchmaker
Book 2 - The Heir of Flame and Fang