37 Book(s) Related to travis hailey

Harlem Rahim. A girl from the hood. From Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Born of an Israelite father and an afro american mother. Quite a juvenile delinquent and not ashamed to be.

If you grew up the way I did, you'd probably be one too. Just turned eighteen years old. Poor but not stupid.

I'm gonna go all the way to get out of this mess.

To get 'us' outta this. Even discover a world out of the hood life.

But never forget where I come from. Where I belong.

I swapped bags with a stranger on the last train home. Hers held a bloodstained shirt, a ring of keys, and photographs I was never meant to see.

Now she's standing at my front door, and she knows exactly what I'll do to protect my family.

I thought I was just an unlucky girl in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I was wrong.

The man in those photographs wasn't a stranger.
He was my father.

Lucas Hale has a lacrosse scholarship, a spotless record and a future mapped out to the last detail. Then his grades start dying one class at a time and he has no idea why.

Madeline Reyes has the same problem. Except hers isn't an accident. Someone has been messing with her scores and she wants to know who.

They meet in the principal's office after breaking into it for completely different reasons. The cameras caught them. Now they're each other's punishment.

Tutoring sessions were not supposed to feel like this.

Now Madeline Reyes realises their is more to the eyes than the perfect score and the cock character that Lucas carries around him like a sheild

In a quiet, hidden part of a thick, ancient forest, in the powerful kingdom of eldoria, Seraphina lived peacefully with her grandmother. She kept her silver hair covered with a hood, knowing it marked her as someone special. Seraphina had magical powers, a gift from the gods, that allowed her to heal wounds and bring life where there was none. But every time she used her powers, she felt a dark curse inside her growing stronger.

Her parents had hidden her in the forest when she was young to protect her from people who might use her powers for their own gain. Sadly, they died when she was still a child, and Seraphina didn’t know how or why it happened.

Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Eldoria, Prince Lucian, the king’s only son, became very sick. None of the healers in the kingdom could save him. Out of desperation, the king turned to an evil shaman who used dark magic. The shaman told the king that a girl in the forest had the power to save the prince.

The king immediately sent soldiers to find her. They stormed into the forest, captured Seraphina, and brought her to the palace. She was locked away and treated like a prisoner, even though they needed her to save Lucian’s life. Seraphina knew they only saw her powers, not her as a person.

Minerva hated Karlos Rodriguez ever since they got into an arrange married by her parents before they died due to a sudden ambush. She did not like the sight of him and had always yearned to run away with her boyfriend if she succeeds in divorcing her current husband. Little did she know that secret dangers are lurking for her life and a lot of enemies were waiting for opportunities to kill her, as she is the next queen of the Red Cartel, the powerful and strongest mafia organization. Time passes by, she learned that Karlos was tasked by her both parents to protect, train, and mold her to be the next successor of their organization, one of the reasons why they push her to marry him of all people in the world.

Despite her annoyance towards her husband, would she still give him a chance to change her heart and love him instead? Will there be one day that as they fight for the legacy of her parents’ organization, they would also be fight for each other’s love?

Minutes before the Stanford Hackathon began, my childhood friend decided to bail to help his girlfriend shoot a TikTok video.

I was just about to stop him when his inner voice suddenly exploded in my head: 'I actually got reborn?'

'Last time, I listened to Maeve and stayed for the competition, securing my spot at Stanford. But Sloane went to Malibu alone to shoot her video and fell off a cliff!"

'Even though I pushed Maeve off a roof to avenge her, I still lost the love of my life.'

'This time, I'm not losing Sloane. If Maeve dares to stop me again, I'll make her pay with her life all over again!'

My blood ran cold, and the words of persuasion died in my throat.

If he wanted his tragic romance so badly, he could have it.

I remember that frost-covered train door like it was the last thing I ever saw. Because it was.
The escape spot I’d spent three years scraping together? My fiancée was sitting in it, wearing my parka. Her brother had my hiking boots on his feet. Her mother clutched the medical kit I’d carried six miles through ash-covered roads. And Caleb Frost—the ex she’d sworn was just “someone from the past”—stood in the seat that should have been mine, lifting my silver emergency flask in a toast.
While I froze out in the subzero ash storm, my lungs burning like they were filled with shards of broken glass, they turned their backs to me under the warm yellow light inside.
Then I woke up.
The calendar read May 3, 2041. Exactly one year before the Yellowstone chain eruption would turn the northern hemisphere into a frozen grave.
On the TV, experts were still downplaying the volcanic tremors, insisting there was no immediate risk to the public. My fiancée walked into the bedroom wearing one of my white shirts, carrying coffee in the blue mug she’d bought with my card. She reached for my forehead, asking if I’d had a bad dream.
None of them know I’ve already died once.
They’re still plotting how to make me pay for her brother’s failed investments, how to sneak texts to her old boyfriend, how to use me as their most obedient, most useful doormat until the world ends. I’ve sold the downtown office towers, mortgaged the lakefront house, bought the abandoned geothermal station no one wanted in the dead mountains, and signed a stack of engineering contracts they’ll never bother to read.
They still smile and thank me, tell me I’m the best fiancé in the world.
They have no idea who will be holding the key to the door, when the sky goes dark forever and the snow never stops falling.

In order to prolong the life of my supposedly sick "white moonlight" (my love interest), my wife forced me onto the operating table and removed my kidney while I was still alive.

To force me to leave with nothing, she even cut off my mother's medication, coldly declaring, "Your mother is just a liability that deserves to be optimized."

She thought I would wag my tail and beg for mercy like a stray dog.

Little did she know, suffering from single kidney failure, I transformed myself into the deadliest viral code before my death, dragging her business empire and that male mistress into an inescapable hell.

On the day the truth came to light, the once-powerful tech queen went completely mad. She squandered her fortune, kneeling in the frost of the morgue, kowtowing and weeping blood, begging me to look at her one last time. But she couldn't find a single hair of mine.

Because I had already made a will, ordering my remains to be cremated as high-risk medical waste.

She treated me like dirt when she was alive, and after she died, I found her disgusting and didn't even bother to leave her a handful of ashes.

My best friend pushed me out of the bunker to be fed to the zombies.

Before he died, his grandfather's pocket watch activated a storage space.

When I opened my eyes again, the apocalypse was still three days away .

My fiancée sent me a photo ; she and my brother were naked and embracing.

"In this life, it's your turn to die."

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

When Catherine finally found the courage to escape from her abusive boyfriend, she didn't know how painful the price of freedom would be.

Billionaire businessman and politician Nathan appeared in her life at the exact time she needed saving.

Just when Catherine was beginning to put her past behind her and longing for a happy ending, she and Nathan’s past came calling, a past that threatened to destroy them and their loved ones.

Will they fight it through or allow it to consume them?

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

"In the toxic halls of Eastview High, Aria Bellwyn has mastered the art of being invisible. But when she's forced to tutor golden boy Knox Hale, she's thrust into a world of danger and desire. As they navigate the treacherous social hierarchy, Aria becomes the target of Knox's manipulative ex, Blaire, and the ruthless queen bee, Sarah. But Knox's secrets run deeper he's trapped in a deadly debt to a local crime lord, and Aria's the only one who can help him take down the corrupt empire controlling the school. As they risk everything to expose the truth, can they survive the betrayal lurking in every corner and find love in the process?

Dive into this heart-pumping, high-stakes romance where the line between invisible and irresistible is about to get blurred."

Gabriella must do the one thing engrained in her DNA, Trust an alpha. Gabriella family was curse as she puts it. She cannot be commanded by any Alpha and for that she cannot belong to any pack. From an early age her father and 6 older brothers taught her how to fight. She’s excelled at multiple forms of martial arts and finally of age was allowed a position as turning 18 she is made the lead female warrior trainer at the Academy. The Academy was the starting ground for all Alphas, known Lunas’, and many lead warriors to various packs. Her older brother Antony ask that she take over his classes for a few weeks to months so that he can travel the packs to find his mate. Uninterested and not caring about finding her own mate, she excitedly agrees unknowingly she would be challenged beyond compare. Meeting Alpha Samuel was a complete surprise. When he marks her without permission her wolf in unveiled only to explain that her mission is a long one. She must bring together the paranormal community and create harmony amongst the Vampires, Witches, Wolfs, Demons and Faye realms. To do so her and her family and friends must band together to create the Royal Counsel to over see all paranormal laws. When many of the packs refuse to submit to any leader, especially one that is a woman, the Royal counsel must rise up to fight the upcoming battle to bring harmony once and for all.

From the dark imagination of Harley Steele, a chilling story unfolds—a frightful tale of twisted horrors.

Hey, my name's Alice, and my boyfriend's name is... Yeah, no, we're not doing that song and dance. Naw. Once upon a time, I was just another girl hoping for a simple life after high school. Now, I'm ensnared in the grotesque reality of Naughty Nectar Farms (NNF), not a farm but a prison where shadows don’t just whisper—they scream with the horrors of the night.

My stepfather, blinded by greed, sold my freedom and my innocence to this nightmare. Here, I am nothing more than livestock, subjected to the twisted whims of those who see women as commodities to be bred, milked, and broken. But while they may have trapped my body, they can't imprison my will.

Each day, I hear the hushed, sinister talks of breeding and milking disguised as agricultural innovation. I see the cruel fate of my fellow captives, poked, prodded, and dehumanized. Yet in this lab of horrors, where humanity is stripped away, I hold onto one truth—they think I am weak, demure, broken. They are mistaken.

I am guilty of many things, but submission is not one of them. Here in the depths of despair, my fury simmers. I am plotting, waiting. For though they have taken much, my resolve grows with each passing day. I will lead us out of this darkness, or die trying. This is no ordinary farm, and I am no ordinary woman.

Strap in for "Galactic Survival Games: Hucow U-Verse," where every week is a ruthless fight for survival on a cosmic scale. Our hucow heroine isn't just another contestant; she's bait in the galaxy's most vicious reality show, thrown into savage new worlds each week from dinosaur-ridden wastelands to treacherous alien oceans. Here, survival isn't guaranteed—it's stolen, fought for, and drenched in the blood and sweat of its contenders.

Amid the chaos, she finds a recurring connection with a man doomed to forget her as his memories are scrubbed clean after each harrowing ordeal by their sinister alien overlords, the Grays. Their twisted game is designed to entertain a galaxy that thirsts for desperation, despair, and an all-you-can-consume buffet of carnal pleasures.

But the game's endgame erupts when the Forgotten—a rogue faction her love interest belongs to—storms the stage in Week 52. As his memories flood back, revealing the bonds they forged in the crucible of alien landscapes, she faces the ultimate choice: remain in the relentless glare of the galaxy’s cruel spotlight or vanish with the Forgotten.

This series is not for the faint-hearted. It's raw, it’s gritty, and it slaps you with the harsh reality of love and memory in a universe that prizes spectacle overall. Readers can tune into "Galactic Survival Games" on Novel Snack and ride the razor's edge of passion and danger. Will she fade into obscurity, or rise as a legend among the stars? The cosmos is brutal, and so is this story. Witness it.

Married besties. A rocky road to parenthood. Is their tight-knit group headed for a passionate collision?

Taylor Taft is ready to make big changes. After breaking free from an abusive relationship, the twenty-something has finally sworn off bad boys. So the selfless party girl leaps at the chance to do some good when her best friends beg her to act as their surrogate.

Fully committed to her beloved pals, Taylor stubbornly tackles all the medical, financial, and personal hurdles head-on. But with tempting fantasies swirling about the father of the child she’s carrying, she wonders if she’s made a terrible mistake.

Will this baby destroy their inseparable bond or become their lifelong forever?

Contains: explicit sex scenes, memories of abuse and assault
Suggested Age 18+

Third Wheel is created by Haley Rhoades, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

The best day of Marcia's life was the day her husband had thrown her dying body into the cold North Dakota night. When a handsome stranger found her and nursed her back to health she found the one thing she had always wanted, but never had, a family. Together they ran the Quiet Moon Wolf Sanctuary and for once Marica felt safe and happy.

The delicate balance that Marcia had found in her life came crumbling down in a single night. Her best friend and savior was dead, her home burned to the ground, werewolves were real, and apparently, one was her soul mate.

When he went to collect the body of his older brother the last thing Marcus thought he would find was his mate. Even stranger was the fact that she seemed to be human but there was something else about her. Marcus had never considered that his mate would be a human but he would not question the Moon Goddess's judgment.

He was determined to help her accept him and his world but what would happen when long-lost secrets became revealed? Would he still accept her when he found out who and what she really is? Could they protect each other and their pack when those that were hunting her found them?

When Lust Meets Fate, The 7 Deadly Sins Await. Join the journey of seven couples as they overcome envy, gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, pride and wrath to find their happily ever after. From teachers to rock stars, from homemakers to millionaires, everyone sins as they strive for happiness.
7 Deadly Sins Series is created by Haley Rhoades, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

Divorcing my striper husband is a love story that unfolds the two birds who have been enjoying their lives until Ava gets hired at her former college colleague who owns the company and this made Herman jealous and they kept on having fights from time to time.
Ava one day saw Herman entering a restaurant while holding a waist of one girl and she started suspecting that her husband was cheating on her…her boss Liam knew some secret about Herman but he didn't disclose it to her but rather advised her to pay attention to her husband’s words and actions if she wanted to find out the truth.
Ava turned into a stalker and one day followed him up to a nightclub but she couldn't believe her eyes because her husband was striping with many girls around him…Ava filed for a divorce because she couldn't stay in marriage with such a man and surprisingly everyone around her knew about it except her…Will Ava's boss Liam take his shot with Ava after divorcing Herman?? Will Herman change his character and get a decent job in order to win Ava back?? Well all that will be unleashed in this beautiful journey of Divorcing my striper husband.

“Dangerously Sweet” features Annie Caldwell, a curvy, blonde baker from Texas, living in Atlanta, and her man, Mason Blacksteele; a billionaire gym owner with family issues.

Having just survived a mugging that left her shook, Annie is looking for a personal trainer to teach her self-defense.
Former playboy, Mason, isn't looking to settle down; he just wants to focus on building his business and his bod, but his controlling mother has a steel grip on his finances. Before she relents to turn his business over to him at last, she requires him to find a wife.
Enter Annie, looking for a custom training program.
The two quickly strike up a deal; Mason will personally coach her for free if she pretends to be his serious girlfriend for a weekend at the Hamptons with his family.

At first glance, these two people couldn’t be more different, but they have more in common than they think. They are both passionate, hardworking business owners, neither one looking for love, yet they both possess something that the other needs.

Sandra Robben was never supposed to survive Red Hollow.

Framed by a corrupt political system and buried beneath fabricated evidence, she is sent into a prison designed to silence her permanently. But Sandra refuses to bend. Defiant, intelligent, emotionally guarded, and dangerously resilient, she turns herself into a problem the prison cannot control.

Then Sylvia Robben, her sister, arrives, trapped inside the same nightmare after being framed for murder while searching for the truth behind Sandra’s arrest.

Inside Red Hollow, survival demands more than strength. Buried beneath violence, corruption, trafficking, and political conspiracy lies a dangerous secret powerful enough to destroy the entire system.

Forced together by betrayal, guilt, and unresolved wounds, the sisters must survive prison brutality, shifting alliances, and dangerous attraction surrounding the men controlling their world. To survive, they must do the impossible: break out, expose the truth, and destroy the system completely.

With a dangerous love interest among the ruthless warden, another powerful higher-up lurking within the system, and so much at stake, will they survive long enough to achieve their goal or crumble beneath the weight of Red Hollow’s flames? The uncertainty hunts them like a plague.
………….

In the ashes of a fallen empire, fire is forbidden and those born with it are hunted.

For twenty-one-year-old Kaelin Dravyr, survival means hiding her emberfire beneath scars and silence. Once a smuggler of dragon relics, now a fugitive, she’s spent her life outrunning the Crown that burned her kind to extinction. But when a duel in the undercity ignites the flame within her for all to see, Kaelin’s secret shatters and the realm’s deadliest heir takes notice.

Prince Ardyn Varell, the empire’s young regent, offers Kaelin a single, ruthless choice: execution, or service. Sent to infiltrate a rebel faction rumored to protect the last living dragon, Kaelin accepts but the deeper she goes, the more she learns that the true monster might sit upon the throne.

As whispers of prophecy stir and a dragon’s heartbeat echoes in her chest, Kaelin’s fire awakens an ancient bond that could either save the world or burn it down.

Torn between a rebellion’s trust, a prince’s obsession, and the inferno rising within, Kaelin must decide what kind of flame she’ll become: weapon, savior, or sovereign.

I was supposed to hate him. Instead, he stole everything: my freedom, my breath, my heart.

When Yara’s life collides with Rafael’s, it’s not by chance... it’s by force. Powerful, dangerously handsome, and untouchable in his tailored black suit, Rafael is the kind of man whispered about in fear. He’s ruthless. Cold. A man built on secrets and sins. The last person Yara should ever want.

But hatred is fragile when desire cuts deeper. Rafael grips more than just her wrist.. he grips her every thought, every heartbeat, pulling her into a storm she cannot escape. The closer she gets, the more his darkness feels like home… and the more dangerous it becomes to stay.

Every touch is a risk. Every look, a temptation. And when the lies between them shatter, Yara must decide if surrendering to the man she was supposed to hate will destroy her or set her free.

Stolen By the Man I Was Supposed to Hate is a dark romance thriller full of obsession, secrets, and a forbidden love that burns hotter than revenge.

[WARNING 18+]
This book contains descriptive intimate and violent scenes. There could be triggering content like self-harm, drug addiction, and depression.
[TROPES]
Billionaire. Revenge. Second Chance. Escape while pregnant.

When Mellow Fanning married Zeath Lupin, the cold chairman of Lupin Group, she thought their love was forever. But everything crumbled when he introduced his pregnant mistress at a family dinner.
Angry, Mellow sought to make Zeath restless by kidnapping the mistress. However, that resulted in a tragedy that nearly claimed her life and that of the child growing inside her—a child Zeath didn’t deserve.
She faked her death and ran away, bound to return as Zeath’s only means to remain as the chairman of Lupin Group.
Would he recognize her? Would she accept his apology if he ever gave one? And what would happen when the threat she once fled from rekindled, endangering her and her child’s lives once more?











“Do you know how much I wished you wouldn’t come near me, or even... touch me?” Zeath drones on. “All those cuddles and kisses, all the affection, made my skin crawl—like a troll embracing its victim before gobbling them. One can only imagine how much it stinks. You are no different from that troll. You merely caught my attention because you were a self-absorbed twonk, and we needed to test if you even had the heart to love another.”
“We?” I croak out.
Then Zeath’s fingers trail gently along my face, his eyes glinting with pure poison, and his voice is no better.
“Poor Mellow, it is all a dare, a gratifying one. Divorce or not, it’s your choice.”

Salem, Massachusetts is having problems, and high school student Jessica Palmer’s life is about to become strange beyond belief.

Those cops frightened to death in the cemetery? Yes, they really were.

When a young, good-looking demon-hunting witch Chad Hollingsworth comes into town to help stop the problems, he has to ask Jessica’s mom and grandmother for help.

The challenge? Her mom wants nothing to do with her family legacy, and her grandmother’s reputation as a looney old witch who talks to cats …

Is it that far from the truth?

Now Jessica has to learn enough of the concealed magical world to decide if she wants to be involved.

Then again, that world may not allow her the option of choosing. Can she survive her new reality?

Jessica comes from Witch Royalty, and plenty of enemies want her dead before she gets a chance to learn anything about her past.  Click the button to find out how one young woman learns, makes mistakes, and juggles life with opportunities that challenge her future.

I wish someone had taught me you can’t make your happiness all about loving one person, because what happens when you lose them? What happens to what’s left of you after they’ve taken half of you?

My name is Elysian Reign, and unlike my last name, I’m not extraordinary. My mother died when I was born, and my father drank himself to death. I graduated with a Mathematics degree of which I hardly use as a junior Network Security Engineer. I live in a one-bedroom apartment around the corner of my favorite gym, and I have a Saint Bernard named Bubbles—unextraordinarily so.

His name is Cade Sinclair, and unlike me, he is extraordinary. His mother was one of my professors before she passed, and his father is the owner of Sinclair Enterprises. Yes, as in Sinclair Enterprises: the largest firearm manufacturer for the Armed Forces.

I should’ve known better. But you never imagine that the love of your life’s own father would go through lengths to make sure his son doesn’t end up with someone like you—even if it means forcing him into an experimental military hypnosis treatment.

After three years of putting myself back together, you’d think I’d have learned my lesson. You’d think that I would’ve double checked before accepting a job for a company his father happens to own. You’d think that I would’ve changed my identity and left the country after walking in on my first day to find that Cade is the lead Network Engineer on my team—aka, my boss.

Now, how am I supposed to work with him when he’s made it his mission to make my life a living hell? How am I supposed to make him—at the very least—tolerate me when he’s been hypnotized to hate me?

What happens when a demon yells right in front of a Church?

Unfortunately for the demon, Pastor Norman knows how to take him out.

If he can just find him!

While the Pastor and Jessica's grandmother are working out the problems, Jessica is having to deal with keeping her GPA up all while learning about her past and the family abilities.

Oh, and dealing with an imp for a familiar.

Being a teenage witch isn’t all as it’s cracked up to be… unless Jessica can learn what she needs which creates a problem.

Without her mom's permission, Jessica won't learn a thing.

He owns me.

Not as a man owns a woman—as a master owns property. Legally. Completely. Efrem Mustafin, leader of one of the five Rings, the most dangerous man I have ever stood beside, and the only thing standing between me and a death sentence.

My name is Alaki Bea Miller. In the ground above, they call me something else: X.

That's what they call us—the inferior. The ones whose only crime is the blood in our veins. In this world, it is illegal to carry more than one bloodline, and I carry the proof of it in mine. I am not a person here. I am not human. I am an abomination, a flaw the system was built to erase.

So when Efrem saved my life, he could only do it one way the law would allow. He took me as property.

Before the watching eyes, I submit. I lower my head. I belong to him.

In private, it was only ever supposed to be pretend.

He says my word means nothing against his. That without him, I have no rights, no protection, no future. I know he’s right. And I can’t tell you when it stopped bothering me. Because the scariest part—the worst part—isn’t the facade. It’s that somewhere along the way, I stopped pretending. The surrender I was performing became real. And he, the man who could lose everything for owning me, risks all of it anyway.

Master Efrem Mustafin, he is.

Subject Alaki Bea X, I was.

My name is Alaki Bea Mustafin.

And in this world, I am Mustafin.

My father was a pastor. He was also the reason I died.

In a world already on its knees, vampires in the streets, daylight a memory, the human race running out of places to hide. You would think a man of God would know better than to make a deal with the devil. Or, in our case, the Vampire Lord.

He didn't.

And I paid for it.

The part I can't quite make peace with is what came after. Because dying wasn't the end of it. Someone pulled me back, one of the five men they call Sentinels, blessed with something older than the war itself. and now I'm supposed to be grateful. They tell me I've been given a second chance. What they don't tell me is that the second chance comes with a war, a calling I didn't ask for, and five men I'm not sure I'm ready to trust.

Especially him. The one in charge. The one they call Elion.

He is not what I expected. Nothing about this is.

I have exactly two questions and no good answers: am I supposed to feel this way about a man whose job is to protect me? And if he's as dangerous as everything in me already knows he is. Would I be safer keeping him at arm's length?

I'm starting to think that was never really an option.

I was meant to wed the man I love, Damien Blackwell. Rather, I was humiliated in front of his whole family and falsely accused of business espionage. They ruined my reputation. My accounts were frozen. They took everything.
Then his uncle made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Cold, merciless, and frighteningly strong, Kael Blackwell offered me two options: marry him or perish in prison for crimes I didn't commit.
I'm now imprisoned in his penthouse, wearing his grandmother's ring and pretending to be his submissive wife while he treats me like the criminal he thinks I am. He keeps an eye on my calls, has authority over my life, and reminds me every day that I am under his command.
But when the truth finally comes out, when he realizes I was innocent all along, will his regret be enough? Or will I be the one walking away while he begs me to stay?
He wanted revenge. He got a wife he'll have to grovel to keep.

The darkness in his eyes, the dangerous smell of alcohol in his breath, and his deathly grip keeping me bound to him made my heart pound in my chest and my body quiver beneath him. Shamefully, it wasn’t anything that I wasn’t used to, because…the things I let him do to me?

When he was frustrated, annoyed, and angry at the world, I was here to be his pound of flesh. In return, he masked the void of my loneliness because for months, that was the transaction of our relationship. He’d pin me to the wall, bend me over the counter, pull my hair, slap me, choke me, and I enjoyed every second of it because in that moment, it finally felt good to be powerless.

Irony is a funny thing. I enjoyed being in pain because it made me forget how much I was hurting.


“I warned you, doll.” His voice strikes a string of chills down the base of my spine, a reminder that all of the time in the world could pass, and he’s still not letting go.

This is where the good girl in me dies.

“You’re mine now,” he whispers.


My name is Mercy—Mercy Carter. I went to college. Got myself a useless Bachelor of Science in Mathematics degree.

His name is Marcel—Marcello Saldívar. However, at the time, I didn’t know that he, the heir to the Saldívar Mafia empire, was the man that I had blindly offered myself to.

As smart as I am, I was stupid all the times when it actually mattered. After all, he did warn me that he was dangerous. I just didn’t think he could be much worse than my thug of a brother.

I was vulnerable—naive.

My name is Mercy, and I am the Mafia’s Mercy.

My hips work shamelessly, riding his hand as he sucks bruises into my neck. This dirty secret, this indecent proposition so at odds with my buttoned-up life. The light, near-cruel flicks, rip a scream from my throat as I shatter, my eyes rolling to the back of my head, my body locking down in a bone-deep spasm.

I just had sex…with a stranger…in a dirty back alley…


"Be a good girl. Good girls get rewarded."

Bullshit.

Being a good girl doesn't get you jack shit, but a cheating husband and piles of credit card debt in your name—credit cards that he used to pamper his side piece, the mock with I really want to erase from my mind from that bitch: Maybe if you could give him a baby, he wouldn't need to go looking somewhere else."

After years of negative tests, how cruel is it that one reckless encounter with a stranger could succeed where my marriage failed? A strangled laugh escapes my lips, edging on hysteria.


The sexy man with dark eyes leans forward, elbows on his knees. "Who I am doesn't matter," he says, the words echoing in the marrow of my bones. "What matters is that you, Penelope, are carrying my descendant."

"Your…your descendant..?"

⬥ Keegan ⬥
I was sent to her.
To watch her. To protect her. And, when the order comes… to kill her.
My name is Keegan Caffery. I’m the Carter Mafia’s best hitman. I don’t miss. I don’t fail.
At least, I didn’t use to.
I don’t know what it is about her that got to me first—her mouth, her mind, or the way she looks at me like I’m not what she should fear.
I’ve had a gun to her head since I walked into her life.
She knows it.
And she still doesn’t run.
She just watches me back like she’s studying a problem she refuses to call impossible.
She’s the one variable I can’t control.
And God help me… I don’t want to.
I have an order. I have loyalty. I have a trigger.
But every time I imagine it—
I can’t stand it.
Her or me. That’s the math.
It’s a deadly equation I don’t want to solve.
⬥ Maisie ⬥
I’m not ordinary. I stopped pretending long ago.
My name is Maisie Seo. IQ 145. Clinical genius.
Which sounds impressive until you realize what it actually means: I don’t fit anywhere people expect me to.
I see patterns everywhere. Outcomes before they happen. People like equations I’ve already solved.
It gets lonely in a world you’ve already figured out.
So I dull myself down. Smoke the edges off. Pretend, badly, to be the kind of normal that lets people stay.
Then he walked in.
I knew what he was immediately. Dangerous. Intentional. Wrong in all the right ways.
I should be afraid of him.
I keep waiting for that to kick in.
Instead, I’m fascinated.
Because for the first time in my life… I’ve found something I can’t solve.
He is my deadly equation.

On their third anniversary, instead of a gift, Bryce threw divorce papers directly at Rose’s face so his first love could move into their marital bed.

"Sign it immediately. Lily is back, and she’s the only woman I’ve ever loved," Bryce sneered, looking at Rose's faded dress with utter disgust. "I’ll give you a million dollars. Don't let my grandmother know you're struggling on the streets like a beggar."

For three years, Rose had swallowed every humiliation, scrubbing floors and secretly using her own connections to build Bryce’s empire from nothing. She loved him so deeply she willingly played the role of a poor orphan. But looking at his cold, arrogant eyes, her love turned to ash.

"Keep your dirty money," Rose whispered. She picked up the pen, signed the papers without a single tear, and slammed them onto the table. "Give me half an hour to pack. Johansen is nothing without me!"

An hour later, Bryce stood by the window, expecting to see his pathetic ex-wife crying in the rain. Instead, he watched in absolute shock as a limited-edition white Rolls-Royce smoothly pulled up to her. A man in a custom Armani suit stepped out, respectfully opened the door, and gently kissed her hand before she slipped inside.

Bryce’s blood boiled instantly. "She left with a billionaire? Who the hell is that man?!"

What Bryce didn't know was that the man wasn't just any billionaire. He was Dominic Cavendish, the most ruthless CEO in the country—and Rose’s fiercely protective older brother, coming to take the true heiress of the Cavendish empire back to her throne.