Mira Tales

Getting a job was supposed to change her life. She never expected the job to change her entire world. When twenty-four-year-old Sophia Bennett walks into the interview room at one of New York's most powerful companies, she has one goal: get hired, earn enough money to clear her family's debts, and finally leave her struggles behind. But her interviewer is not an ordinary employer. Alexander Blackwood is a ruthless billionaire CEO known for his sharp tongue, impossible standards and complete lack of patience. He has built an empire by never allowing emotions to interfere with business. And he certainly doesn't hire people who challenge him. Sophia does exactly that. Their first meeting ends in an argument. Their second leaves him questioning his decision. And by the third, Alexander makes an unexpected offer: a personal assistant position with a salary so generous that Sophia cannot afford to refuse. There is just one problem. Working for Alexander means dealing with his impossible demands, his unpredictable temper and a private world filled with rules she never agreed to follow. Sophia is determined to keep things professional. Alexander is determined to remain in control. But the closer they work together, the harder it becomes to ignore the tension growing between them. Then Sophia discovers that her employment at Blackwood Enterprises may not have been as accidental as she believed. Someone wanted her inside that company. And Alexander Blackwood knows more about her than he is willing to admit. She came for a salary. He hired her for a reason. But what happens when the woman he thought he could control becomes the one person capable of turning his carefully controlled world upside down? Sometimes, the most dangerous decision a billionaire can make is hiring the wrong woman.

Five years ago, one unforgettable night changed two lives forever. It was never supposed to mean anything. They were strangers, both drunk, and by morning, they had gone their separate ways without exchanging promises. But for Emma, that night came with an unexpected consequence. A pregnancy. With no way to contact the wealthy stranger and barely enough money to survive, Emma made a decision to raise her child alone. Five years later, her little boy is her entire world. He's talkative, mischievous, full of questions, and the only reason she keeps fighting through life's difficulties. What she doesn't know is that fate is about to bring her face-to-face with the man from her past. Alexander is a powerful billionaire CEO. Cold, demanding and impossible to impress, he has everything a man could want. He's also preparing to marry the beautiful woman he believes will be his perfect wife. Until an unexpected hospital encounter changes everything. One look at Emma brings back memories he thought he had forgotten. But it's the little boy standing beside her who catches his attention. The boy has his eyes. His nose. His smile. Could it be possible? When the truth finally comes out, Alexander demands a place in his son's life. But Emma isn't ready to trust the man who wasn't there when she needed him most. And with a wedding approaching, a jealous fiancée, and a little boy who has no idea that the stranger looking at him is his father, their lives are about to become complicated. Alexander thought he had everything under control. He was wrong. Sometimes, the greatest inheritance isn't money, power or a company. It's the family you never knew you had.

WHEN THE UGLY DUCKLING BLOSSOMED Amelia Collins was the girl nobody wanted to be seen with. At Westwood High, popularity is everything, and Amelia has none of it. She is the girl everyone laughs at, the girl nobody chooses for a school project, and the girl boys pretend not to notice. Her school life is made even worse by Jessica Montgomery, the school's beautiful and untouchable queen bee, who makes humiliating Amelia her favourite hobby. But Jessica has another reason to hate her. Ryan Mitchell. Handsome, wealthy and the most popular boy in school, Ryan has a secret he has never dared to reveal: he likes Amelia. He sees something in her that everyone else refuses to see. But being honest about his feelings could cost him his popularity, and he's not brave enough to risk it. While Amelia struggles to survive another day at school, Jessica makes sure she never forgets where she stands. Until Amelia decides she's had enough. Determined to stop letting other people's opinions control her life, Amelia begins a journey of self-discovery. And when the school's biggest gala arrives, the girl everyone thought they knew walks into the room with a confidence nobody expected. Suddenly, everyone wants to know her name. The boys who ignored her are paying attention. The girls who laughed at her are whispering. And Jessica Montgomery is furious. But what happens when the boy who secretly loved Amelia finally wants to be with her openly? Will Amelia forgive the boy who was too afraid to stand beside her when she needed him most? Or will Jessica make sure their story never gets a happy ending? Sometimes, the girl everyone overlooks becomes the one nobody can ignore.

HATING MR. STERLING Charlotte Bennett has three rules in life: work hard, mind her business, and stay away from arrogant rich men. Unfortunately, her new neighbour is determined to make all three impossible. Alexander Sterling is London's most eligible billionaire. Handsome, wealthy and ridiculously arrogant, he is used to getting everything he wants. He likes silence, order and people who know their place. Charlotte is none of those things. From their disastrous first meeting to their endless arguments over apartment noise, parking spaces and unexpected midnight disturbances, the two neighbours quickly become each other's biggest headache. But their little neighbourhood war takes an unexpected turn when Charlotte's event-planning business brings her into Alexander's professional world. Now, avoiding him is almost impossible. Alexander thinks money can solve every problem. Charlotte believes some men simply need to be told no. Neither is willing to surrender, and neither is prepared for what happens when irritation slowly turns into something neither can explain. She has her rules. He has his money. But what happens when the billionaire who has everything meets the one woman he cannot control? Sometimes, the person you can't stand becomes the person you can't stop thinking about.

Charlotte Bennett was never supposed to be the bride. When her elder sister, Victoria, discovers that her arranged husband is a billionaire confined to a wheelchair, she refuses to go through with the marriage. She would rather walk away than spend her life married to a man she considers broken. But their family's business is on the verge of collapse, and their parents refuse to let the agreement fall apart. With no regard for Charlotte's feelings, they make an unexpected decision: she will take her sister's place. Suddenly, Charlotte finds herself married to Alexander Sterling, a wealthy, cold and dangerously difficult man who never wanted a wife in the first place. To Alexander, she is nothing more than a replacement bride. To Charlotte, he is a stranger whose world she has been forced into. Their marriage begins with resentment, secrets and two people who never asked to be brought together. But behind Alexander's cold personality lies a past filled with unanswered questions, and his uncertain chances of walking again are only part of the story. Charlotte thought she was sacrificing her happiness to save her family. She never imagined that becoming Alexander Sterling's wife would change everything. Sometimes, the bride who was never chosen becomes the one nobody expected.

Cara Lewis sat quietly as her boyfriend of three years pushed a plate of dessert across the table, wearing a rehearsed mask of sorrow. He claimed he had to break up with her for her own good, blaming his lack of connections on Wall Street and insisting he couldn't give her the life she deserved. He acted like a martyr making a tragic sacrifice, waiting for her desperate tears and trembling denial. Instead, Cara calmly pulled out a stack of glossy photos and an elegant engagement invitation. She exposed his secret affair with the wealthy Hailie Lewis, completely dismantling his hypocritical social climb. Leaving the cheating narcissist pale and humiliated, Cara paid the bill and walked out, thinking the trash had finally been taken out. But her newly single evening took a chaotic turn when a teenage gaming partner called in a panic. He begged her to crash his elite prep school and pose as his aunt to save him from expulsion. Cara agreed, flawlessly playing the role of the secret new wife to his uncle, a notoriously ruthless Wall Street titan. She was thoroughly dominating the snobby school board when the office doors suddenly swung open. The real billionaire uncle, Beck Greer, walked into the room. Cara's heart dropped into her stomach as his glacial eyes locked onto her, knowing her social existence in New York was about to end. Caught in a terrifying, inescapable lie, Cara made an insane calculation. She stepped forward, firmly hooked her arm through the billionaire's, and smiled sweetly. "Honey, what took you so long? Julian and I were being bullied." She waited for the executioner's axe to fall, but the untouchable tycoon simply covered her hand with his and played along.

I was in the hospital, enduring the agonizing pain of labor, while my husband, a famous hockey captain, refused to show up. When I called him for the twelfth time, begging for him, he lost his patience. "Giving birth is a woman's job, don't bother me with this stuff." Then, I heard my stepsister's sweet voice offering him a drink, and he immediately softened before hanging up on me. I gave birth to twins all by myself. The nurses treated me with cold indifference, and the family in the next bed loudly mocked me as a pathetic "Puck Bunny" who was just an adopted orphan about to be dumped. They were right. A month ago, my husband had thrown divorce papers at me, demanding I make way because my stepsister was pregnant with his child. I thought my life was a joke. I was just a discarded prop he married to satisfy his grandfather, a fake daughter my adoptive parents only used to elevate my stepsister. I was completely alone, ready to sign the papers just to protect my two babies. But then, the head of the hospital rushed in, transferred me to the top-floor VIP suite, and handed me a DNA test. It turned out I wasn't an unwanted orphan, but the long-lost daughter of the ultra-wealthy Sinclair family who had been searching for me for twenty years. Looking at my billionaire parents and three powerful brothers who just flew in on their private jets to protect me, I picked up my phone to call my arrogant husband. This time, I was going to make him leave with nothing.

For ten years, Kinsley played the perfect, invisible wife to billionaire Christian Decker. She lived on a meager allowance, secretly pouring her heart into earning first place for a prestigious Hollywood directing fellowship. But on the day her gold-stamped acceptance letter arrived, she stood outside his study and heard him give her hard-earned spot to Blair, his live-in mistress. Christian casually dismissed Kinsley's months of grueling work, claiming a mere housewife didn't need industry resources. He threw an unlimited black credit card on the desk, telling her to go buy some jewelry and stop throwing a tantrum. That same night, he paraded Blair at a Wall Street gala wearing the Decker family's heirloom sapphire, letting Manhattan's elite look at Kinsley with pity and mockery. When Blair boldly moved into their master bedroom, Christian fiercely defended the mistress, warning Kinsley not to cause a scene over nothing. Ten years of quiet devotion were trampled for a fake heiress's vanity. Kinsley looked at the man she had loved, her heart turning completely to ash. She finally understood that in this massive estate, there was never any room for her. She took off her platinum wedding ring, left all his luxury gifts behind, and walked out of the mansion empty-handed. Then, she calmly dialed a private number to her production team. "Scrap the fellowship transition. I'm taking the director's chair directly." She was going to make Blair audition for her on a global live stream, and let Christian watch his precious investment burn.

All I wanted was to find a computer genius to process the non-linear dynamic equations for my ecological model. Instead, I found myself cornered by Julian Andrews, the university's hockey prince, trading a public, staged kiss for his academic support. To finalize our "deal," I was dragged to the campus ice rink. The cheerleaders and puck bunnies immediately swarmed him, mocking my plain clothes and treating me like a pathetic joke. Brooke, the head cheerleader, even set up a figure skating competition with a date with Julian as the grand prize. She performed a basic spin, blew him a kiss, and smugly waited for me to fall flat on my face and humiliate myself. His hockey teammates laughed from the sidelines, watching me try to support Julian as he stumbled around the ice like a newborn giraffe. But as I held his warm hand to keep him from falling, I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Why was a top-tier athlete faking such awful balance? And why did his ice-blue eyes stare at me with such knowing anticipation, as if he already knew about the professional figure skating past I had spent years trying to bury? "Just let go and skate." He whispered, slowly releasing my hand. I took a deep breath, glided to the center of the rink, and landed a flawless double Axel. As the entire rink fell into a dead, shocked silence, I realized I had just exposed not only my own hidden past, but also the biggest secret of the campus god.

I was an intern nurse working exhausting shifts, yet my mother constantly forced me into blind dates with wealthy, arrogant men to secure our family's social standing. During a terrifying hospital lockdown, an assassin disguised as a doctor held a scalpel to my throat. I was almost killed, but a high-ranking military colonel threw his own body down a flight of concrete stairs to shield me. I survived with cuts and bruises, but when I went home, my mother didn't care about my near-death experience. She was only furious that I had rushed out on my blind date with Preston, a rich financial analyst. She forced me to meet him to apologize. When Preston grabbed my arm, bruised me, and mocked my attack as a pathetic lie, my mother still took his side. "Men get angry," she told me coldly. "It's your job not to provoke them. You will beg for his forgiveness, or you are no longer welcome in this house." I had narrowly escaped an assassin, yet my own family was willing to feed me to a monster just for a fat paycheck and neighborhood gossip. My heart went completely dead. So, when the intimidating Colonel appeared, offering me maximum military protection through a sudden marriage, I didn't hesitate. I walked back into my parents' house and calmly slapped a crisp marriage certificate onto the coffee table. "I won't be apologizing to Preston. I got married today."

Chloe had just given birth to twins, lying exhausted in a cramped, bustling hospital ward. When she called her husband, Julian, he was busy partying with his actress mistress. He coldly hung up on her, having already drafted a brutal divorce agreement that would leave her with a pittance. Strangers in the next bed loudly mocked her pitiful state, gossiping about how Julian was dumping her. For years, Chloe had erased her own identity to fit into his elite world, only to be thrown away like garbage. She was completely alone, clutching her helpless babies, bracing herself to sign the cruel papers just to survive. She couldn't understand why her absolute devotion was met with such chilling indifference. Why did she have to suffer this ultimate humiliation while he celebrated with the woman who ruined her life? But then, a senior doctor noticed a unique mole on her wrist and ran a secret DNA test. The results were staggering: Chloe was the long-lost daughter of the billionaire Beaumont family. With her fiercely protective parents and three powerful brothers suddenly forming an impenetrable fortress around her, Chloe picked up her phone and texted her arrogant husband. "City Hall tomorrow at 10 AM. If you don't show up, my lawyer will handle everything. And trust me, you won't like their terms."

"Sign the contract, or lose everything." I stared at the papers that would seal my fate-a three-year marriage to Julian Blackwood, the ruthless billionaire they call the Ice King. My family didn't ask. They demanded. My father's company was drowning, my stepsister's engagement had exploded, and I was the replacement bride they could sacrifice. Just another transaction. Julian made it clear on our wedding day: "Don't expect affection. Don't expect companionship. Certainly don't expect love." He refused to kiss me at the altar. He gave me a bedroom down the hall and told me to stay out of his way. I was Mrs. Blackwood in name only-a contract, a convenience, a means to an end. I accepted it. I had survived twelve years of abuse in my own home. I could survive three years of indifference in his. But then Nate, Julian's best friend, showed me kindness, and suddenly my cold husband became possessive. When my sister attacked me, he became protective. Now the man who promised me nothing is fighting his own father to keep me. The marriage that was supposed to be fake is becoming terrifyingly real and the secrets about my mother's death are threatening to destroy everything. They said Julian Blackwood destroys everything he touches. What they didn't tell me... is that sometimes destruction is exactly what you need to be reborn. With a pregnancy involved, how was I going to end this three-year marriage peacefully?

I was once the heiress to the Solomon empire, but after it crumbled, I became the "charity case" ward of the wealthy Hyde family. For years, I lived in their shadows, clinging to the promise that Anson Hyde would always be my protector. That promise shattered when Anson walked into the ballroom with Claudine Chapman on his arm. Claudine was the girl who had spent years making my life a living hell, and now Anson was announcing their engagement to the world. The humiliation was instant. Guests sneered at my cheap dress, and a waiter intentionally sloshed champagne over me, knowing I was a nobody. Anson didn't even look my way; he was too busy whispering possessively to his new fiancée. I was a ghost in my own home, watching my protector celebrate with my tormentor. The betrayal burned. I realized I wasn't a ward; I was a pawn Anson had kept on a shelf until he found a better trade. I had no money, no allies, and a legal trust fund that Anson controlled with a flick of his wrist. Fleeing to the library, I stumbled into Dallas Koch-a titan of industry and my best friend's father. He was a wall of cold, absolute power that even the Hydes feared. "Marry me," I blurted out, desperate to find a shield Anson couldn't climb. Dallas didn't laugh. He pulled out a marriage agreement and a heavy fountain pen. "Sign," he commanded, his voice a low rumble. "But if you walk out that door with me, you never go back." I signed my name, trading my life for the only man dangerous enough to keep me safe.

I was just an underpaid junior designer trying to survive the ruthless world of professional hockey. But after catching my boyfriend with his hands up my best friend's designer skirt in a filthy alley, I got blackout drunk and stumbled into the wrong armored SUV. I woke up pinned beneath Kurt Duran—the terrifying, untouchable captain of the New York franchise and the absolute ruler of the sports empire that paid my salary. Terrified of being branded a desperate gold-digger, I ran. I swallowed a Plan B pill, dumped my cheating ex, and worked myself to the bone to earn the prestigious Milan Design Summit nomination. But my jealous coworkers couldn't stand a nobody winning. They hacked my terminal and planted stolen competitor files on my workstation, framing me for federal corporate espionage. My director suspended me on the spot. Security guards began sweeping my life's work into a plastic evidence bin, while my colleagues sneered that I was heading straight to a federal penitentiary. I clenched my bleeding palms, suffocating under the sheer injustice. I had survived poverty, a cheating ex, and grueling sleepless nights just to prove my worth. Why was my entire career being destroyed over a manufactured lie? "Hand over your badge and your digital keys," my director barked. I refused to shed a single tear for those hyenas. Suddenly, the frosted glass doors were kicked open with a thunderous crash. Kurt Duran strode into the room flanked by five elite litigation partners, his murderous blue eyes locked directly on me, ready to burn the entire building to the ground.

I was the President's Old Lady - and the only reason his MC was still breathing. For three years, I ran every legal business the Serpents of Redemption owned. While Craig chased road glory across state lines, I turned a failing auto shop and a tattoo parlor into the money that kept the brothers fed, the bikes fueled, and the clubhouse lights on. Then he rode home from a two-month run with a sweetbutt on the back of his Harley - and her son. Ginger, he said, had saved his life on the road. So he put her in the main residence, in the room directly across from our bed. He handed her my ledgers and called it repayment. When her son dumped a cup of scalding coffee over my hand, Craig never checked my burns. He scooped up the boy and blamed me. His grandmother - the club's Matriarch - stood before every patched brother and accused me of hurting "family." That night, Craig told me Ginger held a place in his heart I could never reach. A debt of blood he'd honor above me. Three years. My family's fortune. My scarred hand. All of it - worthless next to his roadside savior. So I did the one thing a President never expects his Old Lady to do. I gave back his patch. Now they can keep their empty ledgers. They can play happy family in a clubhouse I built. And when this motorcycle club burns - I'll be the one holding the match.