155 Book(s) Related to christine lauren

He offered her a job, her education, and a way out of poverty. The price? Her virginity.
Georgina has nothing. No job. No savings.
Her rent expires in two months.
Then the world's most famous playboy, Alpha Christian, calls out of nowhere. The same man who got her fired. The same man every woman warns you about.
He says he wants to help her. A fresh start. A new life.
But there's one condition.
Desperate and with nowhere left to turn, Georgina agrees, believing she can keep her heart out of it.
One night. One transaction. Then she walks away.
She was wrong.
Because after that night, Christian isn't just obsessed.
He won't let her go.
And the deeper she falls, the more she realizes: his wife isn't the only danger.
Now Georgina is trapped between the man who owns her body and the secrets that could destroy them both.
She gave him her innocence. He's taking everything else.

Leonardo Loren was the most powerful man in the world. As Alpha of a colossal pack, he could have anything and anyone he liked. That was until he met Ella. Fiercely independent, strong-willed and hugely unafraid.

She was unique. And she was everything he hated.

Their personalities clash and their relationship becomes a sea of turbulent resentment and hostility. But can their undeniable love rise above?

My family was born from the abyss, with ancient siren blood in our veins. Our nature demands that every so often, we must feed on a human heart.
So when Caius, playing the perfect lover, slid that spiked martini across the table, I didn't refuse.
The wedding ring he'd slipped off ten minutes ago still sat warm in his suit pocket. As he leaned closer, expensive pregnancy oil—the kind his wife slathered on—mixed with the sour reek of betrayal.
I played along, letting myself collapse against the table as he eagerly pulled out his phone:
"Got her. Delivery to the island tonight. Line up someone hot for me—those stretch marks on my wife are turning my stomach."
He thought he'd made the perfect play, bagged a prize to trade for whatever he wanted.
What he didn't know: we creatures from the deep crave one thing above all—hearts steeped in filthy lies taste sweetest.

Willa has lived her whole life as the cursed girl—wolfless, whispered about, and unwanted. With a slumbering wolf trapped inside her by ancient poison, she’s been running from fear and superstition since birth. Now, nearing her eighteenth birthday and the legendary EverNight full moon, she dares to hope for freedom. A fresh start in the Gemini Crescent Pack introduces her to Alpha Kirsch—strong, kind, and everything a future Luna should want. But one moonlit encounter with a mysterious rogue alpha, Taran Evernight, awakens more than just passion—it awakens destiny. Torn between two powerful men, hunted by dark forces, and caught in the storm of a rising war, Willa’s transformation will force the entire pack to face ancient truths. When her wolf finally rises, her heart must choose a path not bound by tradition. Can Willa truly belong in a world that was never ready for a cursed girl... or does her power lie in rewriting the story everyone feared?

Investigative journalist Justine Sky will go to great lengths to find out the truth. Even if it means rubbing elbows with the city's most feared billionaire.
As a prime time crime solver, she’s tackled a great deal of scandals during her career, but nothing could prepare her for a life with Bentley Thomas. Because of his criminal past and merciless ambition to get to the top, Bentley has been the scapegoat for the people of Westlake, Texas. With all fingers pointing to him as Ivy Smith’s slayer, Justine becomes hellbent on exposing him.
After pulling strings to get an invite into his mysterious world of luxury, Justine enters, thinking she'll be met by a cold and vicious mobster. Instead, he reels her in with soft charm and a passion that catches her off guard. Their chemistry is automatic, and Bentley is more of a hopeless romantic than she ever thought he could be.
However, even though he's quite the charmer, Bentley does harbor secrets of his own. When Justine learns that he might have been the last person to see Ivy alive, her doubt settles in once again. It's her relentless fight for the truth and growing love for Bentley that makes her dig deeper. Only to find out that the killer is someone she knows very well.
As the danger of the investigation sneaks closer, Justine is caught in a deadly game of ransom, and Bentley doesn’t hesitate to risk everything he has to save her. In a world full of lies, secrets, and betrayal, she has to trust someone. But is Bentley her most dangerous enemy, or the only one who has been telling the truth?

On the night my husband’s assistant staged her 99th suicide threat, he hung my grandmother from a helicopter.
“Selena, apologize to Shirley publicly—across every platform—or I’ll drop her into the sea.”
Watching my grandmother’s terrified face suspended in midair, my voice trembled with pain:
“Elvis, just because I called her a homewrecker… you’d threaten Grandma’s life?”
Elvis smiled, his tone dripping with indulgence. “Shirley isn’t like you. She’s sensitive.”
“Besides, I’m only asking you to apologize. It doesn’t mean I’ve stopped loving you.”
Loving me?
I stared at the 999 intimate photos of him and Shirley on my phone, feeling as if my heart had been brutally stabbed.
If that was his idea of love, then I wanted no part of it.
I texted my mentor: “I accept the offer. I’ll go abroad for the design competition in seven days.”
In seven days, I’ll stage my death and disappear—where he can never find me again.

“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery! The author did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side that is so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. The plot is very intelligent and will keep you entertained throughout the book. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.”--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone)ONCE LURED is book #4 in the bestselling Riley Paige mystery series, which begins with the #1 bestseller ONCE GONE (Book #1)—a free download, with over 500 five star reviews!Women are turning up dead on a lone stretch of highway in Delaware. Some go missing for an inexplicable length of time, while others are turning up dead, their bodies left out for display in bizarre and mysterious ways. When a pattern is discovered, it becomes clear to the FBI that a twisted serial killer is on the hunt—luring girls in devious schemes—and that he won’t stop killing, ever.The FBI, desperate to crack the case, urges Special Agent Riley Paige to take it on. But the brilliant Riley, still reeling from past cases, has finally found peace in her home life, and is determined to help her daughter April get back on her feet. Yet when the murders become too disturbing, too urgent—and when her former partner Bill implores her—Riley finally realizes she can’t say no.Riley’s hunt leads her deep into the unsettling world of hitchhikers, of drifters, of women that no one else cares for. When she discovers that several women are being kept alive and that there is still time to save them, she realizes she will stop at nothing, obsessing over the case and driving herself to the brink. Yet Riley realizes her own life is falling apart, and her own fragile psyche can barely handle the strain. In a frantic race against time, she will have to plunge deep into the killer’s mind to save these women—and to save herself—from collapse.A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, ONCE LURED is book #4 in a riveting new series—with a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night.Book #5 in the Riley Paige series will be available soon.

"I never wanted this marriage, and I never wanted her."

Those crushing words from my Alpha husband shattered the last of my hope after two years of a loveless political union. Sebastien Grey made it clear our marriage was nothing but a contract - no marking ceremony, no true mate bond, just cold duty. But when I discovered I was carrying his child, everything changed.

Standing alone at our failed marking ceremony while he drowned his sorrows at a bar was my breaking point. The whispers, the humiliation, the constant rejection - I was done being the unwanted wife of the Grey pack's heir. Filing for divorce should have been simple, but Sebastien's sudden possessive fury whenever another wolf showed me kindness revealed a truth he refused to acknowledge.

Now, as I rebuild my life as a jewelry designer under my secret identity "Aurora," I'm determined to give my unborn child the love and stability I never had. But when my past collides with my present and dangerous secrets threaten to surface, will Sebastien finally realize what he's lost? And more importantly - is it already too late for us to find our way back to each other?

In a world where wolf politics and human hearts collide, sometimes the greatest battle is learning to love yourself enough to demand the love you deserve.

"You were never truly mine."

Those cruel words from my Alpha Rocco shattered everything I believed about love and loyalty. I never imagined the man who marked me had been orchestrating my family's destruction from the very beginning—or that I'd find him cheating on me.

The betrayal didn't just break my heart—it triggered a deadly condition that's slowly killing me. Now, with my father in a coma and my own life hanging by a thread, I'm racing against time to uncover the truth about Lyra Blackwood's fate. The painful treatments keeping me alive are a constant reminder that I may not have long to solve this deadly puzzle.

In a world where pack loyalty means everything and betrayal cuts deeper than silver, can I expose the truth before my time runs out? Or will Rocco's carefully planned revenge claim not just my life, but everything I hold dear?

"You're alive."

Those two words tore from my throat the moment I saw Silas Keaton—my husband, my Alpha, the man I'd betrayed and watched die in my first life—and I knew I'd been given an impossible second chance, one I'd earned through blood and regret when my stepsister's lies led me to my death in a cold warehouse. But this time, I wasn't the naive girl who believed Violet's poison or Derek's false promises, and as I stood in that sunlit manor with Silas's curse wrapped around his heart and my mother's stolen research hidden in locked drawers, I realized saving him meant battling not just dark magic, but the twisted web of family betrayal that had destroyed us both.

Could I break the curse that's killing him, reclaim my mother's legacy from the women who stole it, and prove that this second chance at love is worth fighting for—even if it means standing alone against everyone who wants to see us fall?

"You worthless piece of trash!" Kate's manicured nails dug into my collar. "They should have poisoned you properly years ago—just like your parents!"

The security guards moved, but I raised my hand. Let her talk. Let her confess.

Because Emily Eugins—the "dying" orphan everyone pities—isn't who they think she is.

Ten years ago, Emily Eugins watched her parents die in a "car accident." Her parents' jewelry empire destroyed. Her inheritance stolen. Four families conspired to erase her parents—and made one fatal mistake: they let her live.

Now she's trapped in her uncle's attic, labeled terminally ill, about to be sold in marriage to a dangerous widower. But Emily has spent a decade planning her revenge, and she's found the perfect weapon: Stefan Ashford.

Cold. Ruthless. Estranged from his powerful senator father.

The man everyone fears just became her contract husband.

Armed with psychological manipulation, forged medical records, and jewelry design skills no one knows she possesses, Emily begins dismantling the four families—one calculated move at a time.

But Stefan's not the pawn she expected. He's hiding scars. Hunting a lost ruby. Watching her with eyes that see too much.

And when he discovers the "dying" girl he married is actually a master strategist with blood on her agenda...

The real game begins.

"You're pathetic." Sophia's manicured nails dug into my shoulder. "A wolfless freak who thinks she can fight back?"

The storage room door slammed shut. The lock clicked.

My inhaler was in my locker. My lungs seized. Darkness crept in.

"Help..." I wheezed. "Please..."

But they were already walking away, laughing.

Lynette, the most feared Alpha in the Canadian territories who ruled through blood and ice, dies in an ambush—only to wake up as Elara Grey, a seventeen-year-old wolfless Omega who just suffocated to death from bullying.

The original Elara's life was pure torment. Humiliated by golden boy Blythe Harrison and his girlfriend Sophia Reign, then left to die gasping in a locked room. But that's not the worst part her family faces:

"Your adorable little family," the scarred mercenary held up their photo. "The black market's offering a million for you, Lynette. But them? They're just a bonus. I'll make sure they suffer as well."

Now Lynette's lethal instincts awaken in this fragile, asthmatic body.

She'll protect this family and destroy everyone who dared to hurt them—one brutal lesson at a time.

I woke up three years into a marriage I barely remembered—pregnant with twins that weren't my husband's.

Those words should have destroyed me, but the truth was worse: I'd been used as a broodmare by the man who swore to love me, set up in a hotel room with a stranger because Alexander Cross couldn't father children himself, and now I carried the secret babies of Damon Lester—the most powerful and dangerous Alpha in San Loris—while my own family replaced me with the daughter they'd always wanted. But when that same stranger's doctor appeared at my door, when twenty million dollars exchanged hands over a fake perfume bearing my secret identity, and when Damon's gray eyes locked onto mine with recognition I couldn't afford, I realized my carefully hidden life as the legendary perfumer Vera was colliding with a pregnancy that could cost me everything.

Could I protect my babies from the husband plotting my death, hide my true identity from the Alpha who's been hunting me for years, and reclaim the freedom I'd buried along with my dreams—even if it means standing alone against the wolves who see me as nothing more than a womb to be used and discarded?

Elijah is the powerful, centuries-old Head of the High Council of the Vampire Clans, a master of thoughts and emotions. His word is law — yet his power begins to fracture when he encounters a rebellious Dhampir Hunter.

Aurora “Rory” is an outcast, a despised Hunter who lacks elemental power. What no one knows is that her weakness is the secret of her Dhampir blood, which renders her immune to all forms of vampire mind control. It is precisely this ability that draws the dark Ruler to Rory — and exactly this ability that makes her the most dangerous target of both species.

When a fanatical vampire faction attempts to use Rory’s blood to break the ancient peace treaty and ignite a new war, Elijah is forced to forge an alliance with the girl he despises.

While on the run, Rory realizes that the enforced physical closeness to the arrogant, controlling Elijah awakens a dangerous spark within her. Elijah, meanwhile, must deny the truth: that the hunter he wishes to claim is his Mate — his fated partner.

The fate of the world lies in their hands, but hatred and forbidden desire pull them ever deeper into a widening chasm. Elijah must choose: will he save the power of his clan, or will he choose the love that could bring about the downfall of his own kind?

Dragons are real. They live among us. But not for much longer…   Strong and powerful Grigori Barinov never thought his very existence could be erased by a mortal woman. But when she discovers proof of his magical bloodline, she threatens to expose him and the rest of the dragon shifters to the world in order to save her job.   He kidnaps the woman and carries her off to his lonely palace in Russia. He’s prepared to do whatever it takes to stop her from going public with his fatal secret. He’ll murder, manipulate, imprison… Anything… Except fall in love.

A dragon’s prisoner…or his deepest desire?The fiercest of a royal line of Russian dragon shifters, Rurik Barinov spends most days defending his family’s homeland from rival clans. By night, sins of the flesh—drinking, dancing, and sex—keep his volatile warrior dragon in check. Barely.With his choice of mortal women to bed, he has no interest in changing his bad-boy ways—until a creature of molten sex poured into a tiny red satin dress steps into his nightclub. A jagged edge of raw desire nicks the impenetrable armor around his heart.Charlotte MacQueen has been told since childhood to stay in school, live a normal life. Leave the family business—hunting down dragons—to her brothers. But tonight, she’s shed her chemist’s lab coat and infiltrated enemy lines to bag a dragon of her own.She never expected sexy, all-too-wicked Rurik Barinov to capture her, body and soul—the perfect weapon to use against her brothers. Or that she’d fall for the brave, battle-scarred dragon shifter who covets her heart like the most precious of jewels.Twilight meets Games of Thrones in this hot new dragonshifter romance by USA Today Bestselling author Lauren Smith!

Amanda is your average girl from Delaware, but her life is far from easy. She struggles to find a job, has a tough time finding love, and dreams of bigger things. When she meets Antonio Legassi, she falls in love hard.

Antonio is from Italy. When he comes to Delaware on business, he meets ambitious Amanda and starts a whirlwind romance, whisking her back to his hometown of Venice.

Yet, trouble lurks when Devin, a man from Amanda's past, tries to get between them and break them up. With the help of a reporter, Mariah, Amanda and Antonio's love will be tested. Can their love stand the tribulations of the truth?

Her Billionaire: The Executive is created by Christina Funera, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

Tonight will be ours!
I’m going to show him just how much I love him and want to be with him. I will do anything that I can to keep our relationship moving forward. He’s so good to me, and now I have his parents on my side, and I could not be any happier than I am right now!
“Nothing will mess this up for us,” I thought to myself.


Micah, the son of Jasper, becomes stronger and stronger as his father gives him powers to become the king vampire. When Micah sucks the blood from a woman named Malena, she becomes a vampire and Micah’s lover who Jasper grows to accept. As Micah and Jasper hunt for more humans to make
their pack stronger, Malena gets powers that she never had and must learn to use them as a protector and healer. But when Malena is captured by vampire hunters, Micah must save her… before she dies or becomes human again.
The Rising: Vampires Forbidden Lover is created by Christina Funera, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

I felt so sensual, I could feel my body arousing, so I started to kiss his neck. Conri put his hands on my breasts, we are getting into this deeply and I do not want him to stop. I said, "Please don't stop, I want you, right now!" Conri looked at me and said, "Are you sure? If we make love then you will become my mate, forever. And only mine." I looked at him and said, "I want too. I want you!"

Star, the princess of the pack must fight with her inner self to become the wolf that her pack needs her to be. The Alpha in the pack must fight for her when she is kidnapped by the enemy. Her only true love must save her from becoming the enemy herself.
Conri, the Alpha male decides that there will be a battle between his pack and the enemy's pack to save Star, his true love. As Conri trains his pack for the battle, suspicious things start to happen and now the pack must conquer those before they battle with the enemy.

Twenty-year-old Star Thomas dreams of becoming New York's finest model. When she sends her photo to John Langdon Modeling Agency, she is finally chosen for an interview for the next top model. Star travels to New York with her boyfriend, Sam Lawson to meet with John Langdon. The richest man in the modeling industry with a love for beautiful women, John offers her a modeling job, which Star accepts.

Although Sam does not agree, Star makes her choice to move to New York from her small town in Nebraska. As she becomes New York's finest model, Star forgets about the life she lived in Nebraska and instead leads a life she only dreamed about.

Years later, her ex-boyfriend Sam sees her on the cover of a magazine and wants her back. However, he finds out that she is not the person she was in Nebraska and everyone's life has changed.

Royally: Submitting to my CEO is created by Christina Funera, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

"Just this once." Ethan's huge cock thrust hard into me.
He lifted one of my legs and hung it over his shoulder, thrusting so hard I moaned uncontrollably. "God, you're so tight..."
I tried to escape, but he grabbed my ankles and pulled me towards him.
I begged, "Let go of me...I'm dying..."

A year ago, Lucy was imprisoned after being framed for intentionally injuring Ivy, her husband Ethan's first love. After being granted family leave, she rushes to visit her ailing grandmother, but Ethan fucks her against her will. He mercilessly make her give a blood transfusion to Ivy, causing her to miss her grandmother’s dying words. Jailed, the only family dead, and her dreams shattered, Lucy is desperate for a divorce from this man who doesn't love her, but Ethan coldly proclaims, "There's only widowhood in the Storm family, not divorce."

"Look how wet you are," he roughly flipped me over, his fingers cruelly invading my pussy. "Your cunt is desperate for it, isn't it? You were born to be fucked by me, dear sister."

His thick cock thrust into me mercilessly. My walls stretched forcefully, pain and pleasure intertwining.

"Fuck... it's too big!" I screamed, gripping the sheets as I felt each savage thrust. "Alexander... please..."

"Call me brother," his teeth bit down hard on my neck. "Say you're my Omega."

When Omega wolf Erin loses her job for refusing her boss's harassment, a chance encounter in an alley leads to a night of passion with powerful Alpha Alexander. In a cruel twist of fate, she discovers her one-night stand is not only the heir to the Black Stone pack but also her stepbrother.

Caught in a whirlwind of pack politics, Erin is torn between Alexander's almost manic possessiveness and the cold machinations of his betrothed and her family. As the mystery of her origins unfolds, a shocking secret of blood vengeance rises to the surface.

In this forbidden affair where lust and hatred intertwine, where will their path lead?

To save my stepsister's life, I accepted a contract marriage with a stranger—$100,000 for one year.

Sebastian Sterling, the mysterious billionaire from Manhattan's Upper East Side, a devastatingly handsome bachelor. He needed a wife in name only, I needed money—a perfect arrangement.

But as I lost myself in his tender gaze and caring touch, his ex-girlfriend's return shattered everything. Behind this mail-order bride arrangement lay a shocking secret—

My true identity was the only key to his billion-dollar inheritance.

Lyra was hopelessly in love with her stepfather Magnus—the handsome, powerful Alpha—but could only watch helplessly as he bedded other women.

When she tried to distance herself with a shattered heart, fate dealt her a devastating blow. An accident left Magnus out of control, and he brutally claimed her.

Though she was the victim of rape, she was branded as the whore who "seduced her stepfather"!

Silver whips tore through her flesh, leaving her bloodied and broken. When Lyra knelt in her own blood, begging for mercy, the man who once vowed to protect her for life coldly commanded—

"Continue the punishment."

Four years later, just when she thought she had finally escaped her past, Magnus reappeared. Seeing her pregnant with another man's child, his eyes burned with insane possessiveness:

"You can never leave me."

I was the most pathetic existence on campus.

Thick glasses, baggy sweaters, walking through the cafeteria like crossing a minefield. Albert, my childhood crush of three years, publicly mocked me as "a pathetic little dog following him around." Campus queen Madison crushed me under her heel. That rainy night, I gave up completely and swore to make them all pay.

Three months later, I returned.

Bronze skin, perfect curves, stunning hair—the entire campus was buzzing about this "mystery goddess." No one recognized that I was once the pathetic Molly Baker.

When Albert discovered the truth, it was too late. The man standing beside me shocked the entire school.

When debt-ridden Wendy Chen hits rock bottom, an unexpected "job" becomes her lifeline—a contract marriage with veteran Jason Morrison, paying $100,000 a year for one year, with a single assignment: being a "mom" to his fourteen-year-old son Liam.

This should have been the perfect business arrangement. Jason needs someone to care for his stepmother-resistant son, while Wendy needs money to escape the crushing gambling debts her ex-husband left behind. No love, no expectations—just cold contractual terms.

But when Liam "welcomes" her with a bucket of ice water, when Jason struggles through PTSD episodes during thunderstorms, when her dangerous ex-husband resurfaces to threaten her new life... Wendy finds herself caught in a deadly trap: she's genuinely falling in love with this broken family.

Until fourteen-year-old Liam accidentally discovers the contract.

Everything falls apart.

My husband Eric couldn't speak after a car accident three years ago. Three years of silence. Not one word.

To pay for his rehab, I worked four jobs at once—worked until I was coughing up blood, until I collapsed. Winter nights, Leo and I huddled under one threadbare blanket. When my son spiked a fever and I had no money for medicine, I stayed up all night pressing wet rags to his burning forehead.

Eric? His only communication was cold texts, ordering me around. When Leo reached for a hug, he'd push him away like our son didn't exist.

I endured it all. Because deep down, I believed the accident was my fault.

Until that night.

I was hauling equipment at Selena's concert—Selena, the pop star everyone knew—when a mystery guest in a mask stepped on stage. They sang together, voices blending like they'd done this a thousand times.

That voice. That lightning-shaped scar on his elbow.

My "mute" husband of three years.

I followed him backstage. Through the door, I heard Selena's laugh: "Congrats, Eric. Your mute act is almost over—you won the bet."

Three years of sacrifice.

All of it just a game. A bet with his first love.

Running for my life, I tumble straight into a hidden underground palace of nightmares.

The Bride-Selection slaughter is underway—no girl has survived in ten years. Bodies torn apart, blood everywhere.

Then the monstrous black dragon lowers its massive head… and gently nuzzles my palm like a lovesick puppy.

The man on the throne stares down with violet eyes.

"You don't get to run anymore. You're my queen now."

That same night he rips away every scrap of silk, pins me to the freezing dragon-sized bed, and shoves his thick, burning cock so deep I scream until my voice breaks.

"Try escaping again," he growls against my ear, hips slamming into me without mercy, "and I'll chain you to this bed and fuck you until you can't even crawl."

This terrifyingly beautiful monster—what deadly secrets is he hiding?

And me, the runaway bride his dragon picked… will I ever break free from his cage?

Before I died, I married mob boss Dante in my sister's place.

Five years of marriage, and I was nothing but her replacement. He hated me for stealing her spot. My parents were ashamed I couldn't make him love me. Everyone just waited for her to come back.

Christmas Eve—fire tore through the mountain estate. Dante's first move? Sprint straight to my sister, fresh off the plane. My parents escaped right behind him. Nobody remembered the pregnant wife locked in the dressing room. Smoke and flames took me and my baby while they held each other outside, celebrating they'd made it out alive.

I opened my eyes on the day they cornered me with divorce papers.

My parents threw the documents at me. My sister stood there smirking, ready to slide into my place. This time? I didn't cry. Didn't beg. I picked up the pen and signed.

They wanted me gone? Done.

On what should have been the happiest night of my life, I discovered a brutal truth—my fiancé Asher, whom I'd loved for seven years, was having an affair with my sister Janet in a storage room. Even worse, they were plotting to take everything from me!

"That idiot still thinks I'm the helpless little wolf pup from the orphanage who needed her protection... She has no idea I now prefer cunning women like you."

Hearing those words from their own mouths, my heart shattered completely. In my rage, I decided to fight fire with fire, rescuing the mysterious werewolf Eric from a dangerous containment facility just before his execution. I thought I'd found my weapon for revenge, never knowing this "dangerous" wolf harbored an even greater secret.

I'd been married to Nikolai Konstantin for three years. In that time, I'd miscarried six times for him—nearly died on the operating table once.

Every time I woke up, this cold-blooded mafia boss would hold my hand and say, "I'm sorry you had to go through this. Should we try again?"

I thought he loved me.

Until my seventh pregnancy, when I saw that video—

My sister Scarlett curled up in his arms, crying: "Nik, she's had six miscarriages... what if something happens to her? It's all my fault. My heart condition won't let me carry a baby..."

Nikolai kissed the top of her head: "Don't worry, baby. Her body can handle a few more tries. I promised you a child, and I always keep my promises."

That was when I finally understood—

The child in my womb had NEVER been ours.

The night I was reborn, my adoptive brother—Viktor Konstantin, the Don of the Chicago Outfit—was poisoned during a negotiation.

In my past life, I loved him desperately. So when the aphrodisiac took hold and he gasped for me to call Liliya, I made a selfish choice. I stayed. I gave myself to him.

She arrived too late. When she saw us together, she ran. Her plane crashed over the Atlantic that same night.

Viktor married me without a word of blame. Until a turf war when our enemies captured me—seven months pregnant, chained up, beaten bloody. I called him, begging for help through my tears.

His answer shattered me: "You want to live? After killing Liliya? You and that bastard don't deserve to breathe. Go to hell, Eve."

I died in that cell. Our daughter died with me.

Now I'm staring into those same drugged eyes again.

This time, I'm making the call.

"We can only take one more person! Any heavier and we ALL go down!"

In the middle of a raging forest fire, my fiancé Carter Hayes was piloting a fuel-leaking helicopter, forced to choose between me and my cousin Lily Sterling.

He chose me.

Lily was left behind in the inferno. She burned.

I thought surviving made me lucky — until my parents slapped me across the face at my wedding. "Why wasn't it YOU who died?"

Turns out, I was never the one they wanted to save.

Carter married me, then spent five years making me wish I'd died in that fire instead. He and my parents worked together, systematically stripping away my dignity, my career, and every reason I had to keep living.

Three years into my depression, I jumped from the top floor of the Hayes estate.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself back before the fire — before the helicopter took off, before Carter made his choice.

This time, I spoke first. "Take Lily."

If they all wanted me dead, then I'd give them exactly what they wanted.

The night I almost drank myself to death at a client dinner, my husband Alexander bought his first love a luxury yacht.

Maya posted it on Instagram that same night: "Best birthday gift EVER! You know who you are 💕🛥️~"

In the photo, she was in a bikini, champagne in hand, glowing with joy.

Then came the credit card alert—our joint account had been maxed out.

Before I could even confront him, Alexander called.

"Are you serious right now? Why'd you lock the card? Maya's been struggling with her depression—she needs to go sailing to clear her head! Why can't you show some compassion?"

I wanted to tell him that last night, I'd nearly killed myself closing a deal for his company.

But he'd already hung up.

Later that evening, Maya posted again—an extravagant jewelry set. The caption: "When someone truly GETS you 💎✨"

In the photo, she wore a diamond ring I never got, not even on my wedding day.

But by then, I was done caring.

Because I'd made my decision—to disappear completely.

They said I killed them all.

My father. My daughter. My brother's legs. One explosion, one moment of selfishness, and I became the family murderer.

My husband Dominic—the most feared mafia boss in the city—drowned himself in whiskey. I drowned myself in something worse.

Three years on the pole. Three years with strangers' cash stuffed in my bra, their cocks shoved down my throat, their fists in back alleys, their cameras catching every degradation. Three years swallowing cum and shame to scrape together half a million for my brother's surgery.

Then the doctors found the tumor. Three months left.

One last show, I told myself. A blindfolded performance. Enough to pay off Ethan's debt before I died.

That's when someone ripped off my blindfold.

Dominic.

Behind him stood my very-alive father. And Ethan—on two perfect legs, kicking aside an empty wheelchair. And my adopted sister Vanessa, draped over my husband, flashing a diamond ring.

This whole performance? Her birthday present.

"Surprise, sweetheart." Dominic smiled. "The explosion was fake. We just needed to put you in your place."

Ethan laughed. "Three years of stripper money made one hell of a party, sis."

My father still wouldn't look at me. "Learn to treat Vanessa right, or you're no daughter of mine."

The room exploded in laughter.

I stood there, diagnosis crumpled in my fist.

The explosion was fake. The crippled legs were fake. Everything was fake.

But the cancer eating my brain?

That was real.

Twenty-one times.

I've signed the mate bond with Kael Nightshade, Lord of the Black Panther Clan, twenty-one times.

And dissolved it twenty-one times.

Not because we didn't love each other.

But because every few months, she comes back.

Seraphine. His first love. The angel who shattered her wings saving him, leaving her mind fractured and fragile.

"Seeing the mate mark sends her into psychotic breaks," he'd say, burning the bond from my skin. "I owe her my life."

So I'd erase the mark. Burn the contract. Pretend we were never bound.

The first time, I cried and begged. He backhanded me: "Cut the bullshit. We'll rebond once she's back in the sanatorium."

The thirteenth time, I followed them to a tavern and watched him tenderly kiss the scarred stumps where her wings used to be. When I confronted them, he knocked me down and locked me in enchanted restraints for seven days straight.

Sign. Burn. Erase. An endless cycle I couldn't escape.

Until the twenty-first time.

Fire engulfed the manor. Seraphine and I were trapped in different wings. Kael could only save one of us.

"Kael!" I collapsed at the window, smoke choking my lungs. "I'm pregnant—please—"

He shifted into his panther form and bolted toward her room.

The guards dragged me out thirty minutes later. Third-degree burns across my back, lungs filled with ash, blood pooling beneath me.

No heartbeat.

Kael stood in the safe zone, holding an unscathed Seraphine in his arms. From the moment the flames erupted until they pulled me from the rubble, he never looked back.

Not once.

The twenty-first dissolution was my choice.

There won't be a twenty-second.

Three years ago, my brother left me with his most trusted friend, Kaden.

That "trustworthy" Alpha had me pinned beneath him on my third night in the Shadow Pack.

Since then, I played his obedient little "sister" by day and spread my legs for him by night. Three years of sneaking around—I was done.

My ultimatum: make it official or we're done.

Hours ago, with me pressed into the mattress, he swore between thrusts, "Tomorrow. I'll tell everyone tomorrow."

Then his first love Chloe came back.

He dropped everything and ran to her. I followed. Watched him gently wipe her tears—the same hands that had gripped my throat just hours before.

"Kaden, you promised—"

"Shut up." He turned on me, voice lethal. "Don't say another word in front of Chloe. There's nothing between us. I'm doing Seth a favor, looking after his bratty sister. Clear?"
My hands trembled. Three years. All of it—a fucking joke.

I pulled out my phone and texted my brother: "The Silver Moon marriage. I accept."

At a three-day yacht party, my suppressants went missing.

Without them, my heat—that humiliating, consuming need my body couldn't control—hit me like a sledgehammer.

Worse—as I stumbled out of the bathroom, I collided with him.

Victor Sterling. My father's best friend. My boss. The one man I had no business fantasizing about every night when I touched myself.

This man, infamous for never touching women and his ice-cold control, never came to parties like this. Yet here he was.

And the worst part? Thanks to the storm, I'm trapped in a room with him tonight.

A year ago, Sophia was recalled from overseas medical school. Her father announced she must marry Ethan Sullivan, head of the Sullivan crime family, to save their bankruptcy.

Ethan Sullivan—uncrowned king of New York's underworld, cold-blooded killer. Complete opposite of her life-saving profession.

She fought desperately—humiliated him at their engagement, sabotaged business meetings, even escaped at midnight. Ethan never got angry, just quietly cleaned up, growing more gentle and devoted.

Until rival families shot at them. He shielded her with his body, blood soaking his white shirt, still comforting her: "It's okay. I'm here."

Sophia fell completely.

"I'll marry you," she told him in his hospital bed, "but tell me—do you really love me?"

Ethan nodded without hesitation: "I love you. You're the first and only one."

After marriage, Sophia enjoyed sweet life as a mafia wife. Until she learned Ethan's "sister" Isabella had leukemia. When her bone marrow matched, she donated without hesitation, thinking this proved their love.

Until tonight's party. A drunk lieutenant asked: "Boss, what's your biggest regret in life?"

Ethan was silent for a long moment: "Giving up the woman I loved."

When my mother-in-law and I went undercover on our own yacht, a woman in a bikini pointed at us and screamed, "Broke trash!"

She ordered the bodyguards to throw us into the sea.

"This is the VIP section! You freeloading scum snuck on board for free food and drinks—get lost!"

She pinched her nose, looking at my mother-in-law and me with complete disgust.

I said coldly, "This is a public area. We have the right to be here."

"Public area?" She burst into shrill laughter, dripping with arrogance. "Do you even know whose yacht this is? My boyfriend's! The most powerful man in this city!"

Victoria and I exchanged confused looks—this yacht, the Poseidon, was clearly being managed by my husband Alexander.

When did he become someone else's boyfriend?!

Five years ago, on my wedding day, my fiancé Vincent fucked my best friend in the bridal suite.

Five years later, I returned to New York with my husband—the most powerful Mafia boss in Naples. At Atelier Milano, my former best friend Bianca circled my custom gown like a vulture, pestering the staff about meeting the legendary Mrs. Salvatore.

She had no idea the woman she pitied as a pathetic nobody was the very person she was dying to impress.

A year ago, my ex abandoned me when I was broke and buried in debt, choosing the Russo family heiress instead.

On the day of his engagement party, he sent me a vicious text: "Wear a wedding dress to Plaza Hotel. Changed my mind. You're marrying me."

I showed up in white.

Luca and his crew waited at the entrance, ready to watch me humiliate myself.

He thought this was my degradation.

But what he didn't know was—I was getting married.

Just not to him.

To Dante Valentino—the most dangerous man in this godforsaken city.

At the Academy's Beast Hunt Competition, I killed a high-tier Shadow Wraith and carved out its core.

My sister Seraphine stole it and claimed first place.

That core eased the brutal dragon prince Draven's chronic migraines. He demanded to marry the mage who presented it.

My fiancé Kelvin soul-bound himself to Seraphine overnight to "save" her. Done deal.

Someone had to fulfill the dragon marriage contract. That someone was me.

Seraphine draped herself over Kelvin, smirking. "Sister, your fiancé's MINE now. Draven arrives in three days—better find some random dragon to marry, or he'll tear you apart."

I looked at her smug face and smiled slowly.

"What makes you think I won't marry him?"

Three years ago, I nearly died giving birth to my son.

My husband Elias wasn't by my side—he was outside, ready to rip my baby from my arms and hand him to his dead brother's widow.

"We owe her this."

As I screamed and bled, Elias made his decree: "Aria stays away from the boy. She comes near him, she gets the silver whip."

They gave my son to Vivienne. I wasn't even allowed to see his face.

For three years, I tried everything to reach him.

Scaled walls—got twenty-three scars across my back. Snuck in as a maid—starved for seven days. Crashed his third birthday—thrown in ice water until I couldn't feel my legs.

Every time, worse punishment. Elias started looking at me like I'd lost my mind.

Then yesterday, fire ripped through the house. Flames swallowed the nursery.

Everyone screamed, including Vivienne—but she didn't move.

Only I ran in.

I pulled Asher out, barely breathing.

When he woke up, he shoved me away and clung to Vivienne, sobbing: "Mommy! She's here again! Make her GO! You said she'd leave if I was good!"

Three years of lies had erased me completely.

I dropped to my knees, voice breaking: "Call me 'Mom' just once. Then I'll disappear forever."

The day I went into labor, my husband threw me into Dragon's Pyre.

Draven was the Dragon King. I was carrying his child. Should've been the happiest day of our lives. Instead, it became hell.

Why? His dead brother Kael's widow, Seraphina, was about to pop too. And Ashwing law was crystal clear: first male heir takes the throne.

Our due dates? One day apart.

So he picked her over me. Because apparently, I OWED them.

Dragon's Pyre—where they roast criminals alive with dragonflame. Hot enough to turn flesh to ash in seconds. But that wasn't enough for them. They shoved some potion down my throat that would keep my body from going into labor, even though my baby was clawing to get OUT.

I was curled up on that scorching stone slab, feeling my child die inside me.

All because I'd been stupid enough to fall in love with him.

To marry Damian Thorne, I almost died thirteen times.

Over three years, I planned twelve weddings. Each one left me bleeding.

The first time: a runaway truck crashed into the bridal boutique, crushing my right leg.

The second time: the church ceiling collapsed during rehearsal, leaving me broken and bloodied.

The third time: poisoned champagne at the reception nearly killed me as I foamed at the mouth.

...

Manhattan's elite whispered that I was cursed.

But I still loved him desperately.

Until the thirteenth time. That bloody rainy night, three thugs cornered me in an alley and stabbed me seven times—two to the chest, three to the abdomen, two to the back. I lay dying in my own blood, yet somehow survived.

After I healed, I accidentally overheard Damian talking to his assistant.

"Mr. Thorne, she almost really died this time... Maybe we should stop? If your grandfather finds out..."

"We can't stop," Damian said wearily. "Her father saved my life. Grandfather is hell-bent on me marrying her. But DAMN IT, I love Selena, not her."

"As long as she won't give up, these accidents have to continue until she gets the message and leaves on her own."

I trembled as I touched the bandages covering my wounds, tears falling silently.

All these years, the man I desperately loved had been meticulously planning my death.

But he didn't know that this time, he really wouldn't have to marry me anymore.

"I need to marry you."
He laughed. "Marry me? You're out of your mind."
"Probably," I said calmly. "But I don't have another choice."
His smile turned dangerous. "Then pick someone else. I am Luca Marino... The Monster."
I met his eyes. "That's exactly why I picked you."
My father died, leaving me a shattered empire and a death sentence. To save my family, I offered myself to the one man powerful enough to protect us. Luca Marino. The Mafia king everyone fears. Our marriage is a contract, not a love story. Power for him. Protection for me. But Luca doesn't play fair. He kisses like a threat and touches like a promise. And every time I think I've figured him out, he ruins me all over again. I'm playing a dangerous game. And I'm falling for the most dangerous man alive.

To avenge my father, I married Philadelphia mafia don Salvatore and poisoned him with my own hands on our wedding night. I thought my revenge was complete, until I met his son Matteo at the funeral—a cold, handsome,dangerous man.

Matteo suspected from the start that I'd killed his father. According to plan, I was supposed to get close to him, seduce him, then kill the last Rossi heir when he trusted me most.

"You're trembling." He cornered me against the wall, his long fingers caressing my cheek. "From fear... or something else?"

"I..." Under his burning gaze, I couldn't find words.

"Don't be nervous, stepmother." He leaned close to my ear, his voice low and magnetic. "I just want to see how honest you are."

When the assassin falls for her target, when stepmother becomes obsessed with stepson, can this dangerous game have a happy ending?

Three years ago, I married Rex Cavano—New York's most dangerous mafia don—for this face. Not for love. Because I looked like his stepsister Isabella, the woman his family tore from him and sent to Rome.

I thought time would make him forget her. Until three months ago, when she came home a widow, and I finally understood: a substitute is always just a substitute. When the original returns, the fake gets thrown away.

So I made a decision.

I tricked him into signing divorce papers and accepted a job in a war zone in Colombia.

I'm leaving. Taking our child with me—a secret he'll never know—disappearing from his world forever.

Chloe Ashford destroyed me once.

She pretended to be my best friend, eagerly setting me up with her stepbrother Vincent—when really, I was just a cover for their twisted relationship.

She fattened me up, used me, and when she got bored, tossed me aside. A broken nose during gym class, nearly drowning by the pool, framed and cyberbullied until the whole internet turned against me. I dropped out. Had a complete mental breakdown. And then I jumped.

But when I opened my eyes again, that line was playing on repeat—"Let me introduce you to my stepbrother."

Somehow, I was back. That same party night.