197 Book(s) Related to agatha christie novels ranked

The terminal reads.
Eight seconds. Ten. Fifteen.
I have never seen a terminal take fifteen seconds.
At seventeen seconds the screen flashes once, goes dark, and then displays.
RANK: UNRANKED. CLASS: ANALYST. COMBAT ATTRIBUTES: NONE. SKILL TREE: NONE. STAT GAINS: NONE.
Then someone laughs. Once one person laughs the rest follow, not because anything is funny but because laughter gives people permission to stop sitting with the discomfort of watching something go wrong for someone else.
The scouts have already turned away. But...

Ethan Cole was just an ordinary man.

He worked at an office for $12 an hour, was three months behind on his rent, and only had four numbers in his cell phone, which was cracked in a bus stop. He was not unlucky. He was just one of those guys that no one cared about.

Then on a Wednesday night, a mugger got a knife into his ribs and that's the end of Ethan Cole.

Except it wasn't.

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.

When Hazel Parker moves in next door to the Forest Ranger, she feels an instant attraction but feels hurt when he rejects her initial advances. However, an encounter in the forest with him changes everything when she learns his true identity.

Strong Sexual Content

Excerpt:

Rhett slowly brought his hand up and ran it up Hazel’s body without touching it, just mere centimeters away. When he got to her neck he stopped and then reached in and grabbed Hazel’s jaw and turned her face back towards him. “You don’t have to be scared of me Hazel. I don’t want to hurt you. Show yourself NOW!” he demanded.

“You’re going to have to learn to listen,” Rhett said as he pulled her head to the side. Then, he suddenly thrust forward and sunk his teeth into her neck.

She’s fire wrapped in silk. He’s ice laced with fangs. And when they collide, the world burns.

In the velvet shadows of Vancouver’s most dangerous secrets, RedLine — an underground club pulsing with magic, blood, and desire — is where vampires come to indulge. But when Katalim, a woman cloaked in mystery, steps into this world, everything changes.

Locked away for years, she’s finally free — but not safe. Katalim isn’t just a witch — she’s a weapon. Her power? The ability to channel raw sexual energy, bending it to her will. It’s intoxicating, addictive… and feared.

Enter Ryder Cornwall — cold, untouchable, and loyal only to the Coven. He’s assigned to protect her. But from the moment he tastes her magic, he wants more. Her scent drives him mad. Her secrets haunt him. And her body? It might just ruin him.

As their chemistry erupts into obsession, enemies close in. Katalim’s past is darker than anyone imagined. And Ryder must decide — break every rule for her, or watch her be claimed by a monster from the shadows.

Twisted Fate is paranormal erotica at its most wicked—dripping with forbidden heat, dangerous magic, and a love so intense it might destroy them both. It is perfect for readers who like their vampires dominant, their witches dangerous, and their romances deliciously dirty.

I was raised with the criminal underground’s most notorious crew turned government-sanctioned mercenaries in Texas and Colorado, known as the Death Kings. My uncle is one of them known as the Gator King. Now I walk in his footsteps, leading a crew of my own with his backing. To my family, my nickname is Seraphim, but in my kingdom, I’m the Viper King. Now the boys who left me, who swore they would stay by my side to protect me, are back in town. They are attempting to become like C.H.A.O.S. who run Palomino Bay, Texas. That will not happen because Grêle, Louisiana, is my stronghold. I have the backing of my father's MC and together along with my Serpents the city is ours. The person they need to protect is themselves because it isn’t me.
…They don’t know my secret, but I know theirs…

They ranked me at birth. Zero.

Not omega. Not low blood. Zero. A rank so low it sits below the list, separated by a black line like even my name is something the pack does not want touching theirs.
For twenty years I carried the dangerous jobs. The deadly ones. The assignments ranked wolves passed down because their lives were worth something and mine was the math that made that possible.
I never argued. Not because I was afraid. Because I was watching. Building a map of every weakness hiding behind every rank.
On the night of my twentieth birthday something inside me opened its eyes.
It had been there the whole time.
It is not a wolf.
My rise begins now. And I will not be gentle about it.

Amelia Russo is a weapon of the state. As a military captain and the daughter of a legendary general, her life is governed by duty, honor, and one mission: eliminate "The Shadow," the faceless myth ruling Verona’s bloody underworld.

Lorenzo Ren Moretti is a master of deception. To high society, he is Luca D'Angelo, a charming billionaire CEO. To the streets, he is a cold-blooded monster with icy blue eyes and a past carved in tattoos. He commands fear. He demands absolute loyalty. And he has never met an enemy he couldn't break.

Until he meets her.

When Amelia crosses paths with the enigmatic billionaire Luca, an intoxicating, forbidden game of cat and mouse begins.

"You're going to meet your mate someday." I whispered.
"Olivia."
I forced a smile and lifted my head. "And it's fine. I'll be rooting for you all the way."
He cut me off with a soft "Liv."
I blinked away my tears. "No, listen to me. We need to accept that this won't last forever. You could find her on your next trip out of town, and I'll be forgotten."
I swallowed the lump formed in my throat. "I just hope we'll still be friends."
His face twisted in pain as he rested his forehead against mine, his hands trembling as he cupped my cheeks. "You'll always be my best friend."
"And you'll always be mine."
I pressed my lips against his, needing to taste him, to feel his lips on mine, to know that at this moment, he was mine.
Olivia Martins has always been an outcast in the Nightshade pack.
She's an omega, and the pack she grew up in never failed to remind her that she'd never be one of them.
It wasn't so bad growing up—she had her best friend by her side.
Caspian Storm, son of the alpha of the Nightshade pack, befriended her when they were both little, and they've been inseparable ever since.
Their friendship started out sweet and innocent, but it developed into more.
Olivia knew that it couldn't last forever because Caspian would find his mate—and what they had would come to an end.
Yet, she couldn't guard her heart.
And when her worst fear comes true, she flees.
Will Olivia and Caspian find their way back to each other?
Or will the threat of Caspian finding his mate keep them apart?

Shelley died once, betrayed by the noble Lane family.

Reborn at five years old, she escapes the aristocracy and picks a "boring" blue-collar man from the welfare center.

Big mistake.

Her new dad, Silas, is a legendary hitman.

Her mom? A retired top-tier assassin.

Her brothers? A genius scientist and a violent loose cannon.

Welcome to the most lethal "ordinary" family in the world.

While the Lane family hunts for their lost bloodline, Shelley is busy learning how to dismantle a gun before she learns how to write. Surrounded by monsters who would burn the world down for her,
she is no longer the fragile heiress.

She is their little monster.

And this time, she’s ready to bite back.

"Allard is a seasoned author, and her experience shows in both the lapidary prose and the sensitivity with which she treats class division. Overall, this is a delightful, often funny story that also serves as a gimlet-eyed study of class division and the possibility of its transcendence. An unpretentiously philosophical assessment of class and love."~Kirkus Reviews"While the primary story follows Daphne's journey of the heart in parallel with Edward's journey towards making his mark as a writer, a strong undercurrent of supporting plot lines ensure the story moves forward in a textured way, in a way that is a perfect marriage of mystery and clean, sweet, new adult romance.  The story is exquisitely written, providing context and clear imagery of Victorian-era lifestyles and perfectly balanced descriptions of England's countryside in a way that is as colorful as it is authentic. When It Rained at Hembry Castle is a charming, sweeping historical romance combined with an element of mystery. 5 stars." ~IndieReader A lush historical novel set in Victorian England, When It Rained at Hembry Castle is the story of an aristocratic family, secrets that dare not be told, and the wonder of falling in love.When the 8th Earl of Staton dies, his eldest son, the unreliable Richard, inherits the title and the family's home--Hembry Castle. The Earl's niece, the American-born Daphne, is intrigued by Edward Ellis, a rising author with a first-hand knowledge of Hembry Castle--from the servants' hall. Can Richard come to terms with his title before bringing ruin on his family? Will Edward and Daphne find their way to each other despite the obstacles of life at Hembry Castle?When It Rained at Hembry Castle is a page-turning, romantic novel with vivid characters and an engrossing story that will keep you guessing until the end.

Amber was raped by her uncle.

She was an orphan. Her parents died in a road accident.

She was later taken to her grandmother. One day she went to a party.

There she met a rich pervert.

He tried to sexually abuse her there.

Later he forced her to marry him and she had to, due to certain family conditions.

There too rape torturers didn't end for amber.

They both used to hate each other.

Will they ever fall in love or this will end up only being a rape story.....

Let's see.....

"What if I want to escape?"

I looked at the man before me.

He was Alexei Cardis, vampire prince, and the one who would sacrifice me with his own hands at the Eclipse Ritual.

"Then escape," he said, lowering his gaze to meet mine, his tone calm. "Just don't get caught."

—

At seven years old, I was brought into this vampire castle.

From that day on, I had the best teachers, and the most dangerous guardian.

Alexei taught me to read, taught me to calculate, taught me how to survive amid lies and conspiracies.

But he never told me—that the meaning of my existence was to become the offering on the altar.

As the Eclipse Ritual drew closer, I began searching for a way to survive.

Forging evidence, sowing discord among nobles, stealing weapons, planning my escape.

Everyone wanted to use me.

Everyone wanted me dead.

Only Alexei was different.

He stopped others from getting close to me again and again, yet pushed me toward my destined fate with his own hands.

I could no longer understand him.

Until later, when I discovered a secret hidden in a wooden box.

It turned out that behind all these years of what I thought was captivity and exploitation, there was another, more dangerous emotion.

But if he truly cared about me—

Why would he raise me only to personally send me to the altar?

And when the night of sacrifice arrives,

Will I kill him and escape to freedom,

Or will he, for the sake of the entire vampire race, kill me with his own hands?

For seventeen years, Chloe was the Whitmores’ hidden spare daughter. They harvested her marrow, liver and cornea, then plotted to take her heart for their beloved adopted daughter. Fleeing death through a storm, she is rescued by ruthless power broker Victoria Kane. A faint crescent scar unearths a secret: Chloe is Victoria’s long-lost birth daughter. Together, they will destroy the greedy family that fed on her

“Claudia,” a die-hard fan of the novel Solo Hunter,
is reborn into a powerless and fragile body… even weaker than F-rank!

But wait! He, who was supposed to be a side character doomed to die,
somehow survives thanks to “Alan Miller,”
the gorgeous male lead whose actions are nothing like what the novel described.

To make matters more confusing,
Claudia turns out to be the long-missing heir of the prestigious Heart Family,
gone without a trace for 8 years!
Is this really the same story he once read?

Now that the original plot no longer applies,
how will he survive in this perilous world?
And what exactly… does the novel’s mysterious male lead want from Claudia?!

Intro: When she found the wolf cub, she touched him and saw a vision—the grown version of him standing atop a mountain of corpses, ten thousand wolves prostrate at his feet. She named him Little King. Sixteen years. She taught him to fight, to control his transformation, to ride atop pain. The first full sentence he ever learned was "Whoever hurts you, I'll kill." On a blizzard night, he curled up at her door and kept watch through the whole night, just to say, "I was afraid you'd be cold." She almost said, "Don't leave me." But what came out in the end was something else.

I would often find myself staring into my son Leon's eyes, lost in thought.
One, a deep azure blue, was inherited from his father. The other, however, was amber.
I couldn't understand it. While Leon's lineage is indeed mixed, his other eye should have been silver—the mark of my bloodline, the symbol of the royal werewolf lineage.
Yet it wasn't. This question had haunted me for five years.
Then, by chance, I came across an ancient book in my husband Carlisle's study. It detailed the hereditary rules of eye color for the royal werewolf line:
Regardless of which race they intermarry with, the direct descendants of the royal werewolves will always inherit at least one distinctive eye.
This meant that a son I bore would definitely have silver pupils.
My hands began to tremble uncontrollably. I shared my fear—that we might have brought home the wrong child—with Carlisle.
He flew into a rage, snatched the book from my hands, and threw it into the fireplace.
"Selene, are you doubting my fidelity? Or suspecting that our son isn't your own? If Leon knew you doubted him, his heart would be shattered."
Carlisle stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Watching his retreating figure, my heart grew cold, piece by piece.
His reaction confirmed my worst fear, the one I desperately wanted to deny.
With the full moon just seven days away, I decided to abandon the plan of taking Leon back to the royal werewolf clan.

EXPOSITION
The world operates on the Thread System, a divine network that ranks every living being from F to SSS. At sixteen, every person undergoes Awakening. Most receive a Class and baseline Skills. A rare few receive nothing labeled Null, stripped of legal protections, barred from guilds and cities. They are society's discard pile.
Kael Dross, seventeen, one year late to Awakening, is forcibly enrolled in Veyrath Academy under a government "second-chance" program that everyone knows is a pipeline to body-count statistics. He arrives with no money, a dead mother's locket, and the clothes on his back.
Veyrath runs on a brutal internal hierarchy. Your Rank Crystal determines your dorm, your meals, your safety. The lowest-ranked student each semester is designated Null of the Season and the Culling gives every other student three days to hunt them for bonus Rank Crystal rewards.
Kael's name goes on the board on Day One.

They told me the baby was gone, but they didn't tell me my heart was being carved out, too.

I woke up on the operating table, paralyzed. Through my blurred vision, I saw my beloved husband, Marco, trembling with excitement as he held my medical chart.

"Her blood is perfect," he whispered. "It is a perfect match for Isabella. We can proceed with the transplant now."

"Finally. It wasn't in vain that I brought her back." My revered father let out a sigh of relief. "If it weren't for this day, how would someone who wandered outside for so many years be qualified to step into this house again?"

When my husband said "I love you," he actually meant "Your heart is perfect for the woman I truly love."

I couldn't scream; I couldn't move.

I could only watch helplessly as the silver scalpel pierced toward my chest, while my sister, Isabella, lay on the operating table next to me, smiling in her sleep.

I was never a long-lost daughter, nor was I a beloved wife.

I was just a mobile blood bank waiting to be slaughtered.

“Stop.” She breathed against his lips. “Fondling me wasn’t a part of the ‘one kiss’ offer.” She grinned, leaning forward to press a fleeting kiss on his parted lips. A bold move even for her but the look in his eyes made it worth the shift in her priority.

The words to respond were sparse. He’d never had someone melt into his arms so willingly. Nor had a woman ever asked him to stop once the act was under way. He untangled himself from her and watched as she smoothed her hair and skirts, “Am I decent?” she had the gall to ask him.

“A misfortune to mine eyes.” He commented as a silence fell over them.

“It was a pleasure meeting your acquaintance.” Her eyes sparkled mischievously.

“A pity it must be cut short.” He teased, waiting for her to either sink into him or leave so that he may relieve himself.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Mendora had finally caught her breath, recalling Ginger would be on the lookout for her by now so that even if she wanted to stay, it was impossible, “I have been away for too long.”


Mendora Agnus Garrick, a young debutante prone to appallingly unusual notions had found herself doing that which she had sworn off...falling in love and with notorious rake Solaire Gidean Demaris, a man unlikely to consider the prospect of marriage or love.


@authorqueenofsarcasm_18 on IG

Alex Carter spent years being invisible.

A corporate slave buried under debt, overtime, and stolen promotions, he watched his toxic boss take everything he worked for.

Then the world ended.

A mysterious System descended upon Earth, transforming humanity into Adventurers in a deadly new reality filled with monsters, classes, and endless opportunities for power.

While others panic, Alex awakens an impossible talent:

SSS-Rank Talent, Gods Chosen.

Maximum luck.

Guaranteed drops.

Guaranteed upgrades.

Hidden world secrets.

And a destiny unlike any other.

Moments after the apocalypse begins, Alex becomes the first person in his sector to claim a kill.

The first to earn a title.

The first name the entire city remembers.

Now, with monsters evolving, kingdoms rising from the ruins of civilization, and ancient gods watching from beyond the System, Alex must carve his path through a world where only the strongest survive.

The age of corporations is over.

The age of legends has begun.

And Alex Carter intends to become the greatest Adventurer the End World has ever seen.

"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.

My mate lost his memory and fell in love with another woman.

Alpha Killian Cross forgot our five-year bond after a rogue attack. Sandra, the Omega who saved him, became his new obsession. I fought to restore his memories—and succeeded.

But the day he remembered me was the day Sandra killed herself. Killian blamed me for her death and chose to hate me instead.

When rogues attacked our pack, he died taking a hit meant for me. His last words? "I wish you'd never made me remember. I wish you'd let me love her."

Now I'm back—reborn to the day I first found him with Sandra. This time, I won't fight for his memories. This time, I'll let him keep his happiness with her.

Even if it kills me all over again.

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.

I am Alexander Sterling's secretary. I am also his wife.

But to everyone else, I'm only the first.

Five years ago, I married New York's most powerful CEO because of this face—not for love, but because I looked like Sophia. His childhood friend. His adopted sister. The woman whose family shipped her off to London for an arranged marriage.

I thought time would make him forget her.

Then she came back three months ago—a widow.

That's when I finally got it: the stand-in wasn't needed anymore.

So I made my choice.

I got him to sign divorce papers, took a job in Kenya, and decided to disappear from Alexander Sterling's world for good.

Our baby and me both.

"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.

Because of his grandfather's dying wish, Supreme Court Chief Justice Garrick Vance—the most powerful beast-shifter in the city—was forced to marry me, a human court clerk who had secretly loved him for years.

For six years we pretended to be strangers at work while he remained ice-cold toward me and our daughter Wren at home. When his celebrity ex-girlfriend Seraphina returned from overseas, I watched him come alive for another woman—attending her parties, rushing to her side at midnight.

Meanwhile, our five-year-old daughter waited every night for a father who never came home.

The day Wren nearly died from his careless gift, I finally signed the mate bond dissolution papers.

This time, he's lost us forever.

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.