Waldo Friesinger

For three years, I played the role of the submissive, boring fiancée to pay off a blood debt. My mother gave her kidney to save the Moretti Matriarch, and in return, I was promised to Dante, the heir. A life for a life. I cleaned his estate and wore his ring while he treated me like furniture. But my silence only bought me humiliation. Dante didn't just cheat; he brought his mistress, Roxy, into our home for dinner. He called me a "glorified housekeeper" on a recording and then broke our engagement via an Instagram post, tagging me to ensure the entire underworld saw my shame. When I went to return the family crest, they wanted a show. Roxy mocked me in front of Dante’s soldiers, snatched my mother’s antique jade pendant—the only thing I had left of her—and shattered it on the dirty club floor. Dante laughed, thinking I was helpless. They thought I was a hothouse flower who would faint at the smell of exhaust. They didn't know the "boring" girl had a racing license hidden under the floorboards. They didn't know I was "Ghost," the legendary underground racer they all bet on. Roxy handed me a spectator ticket to the Death Race, telling me to watch how the big boys play. I took the ticket, but I didn't go to the stands. I walked to the starting line, put on my helmet, and decimated the track record. When I took off that helmet in the winner's circle, Dante’s face went pale. And when Lorenzo Falcone, the most dangerous man in the city, stepped out of the shadows to wipe the blood from my hand and claim me as his own, Dante realized the truth. He hadn't just lost a fiancée. He had signed his own death warrant.

I stood at the edge of the ballroom, a black blot on my husband’s perfect canvas. While Jensen Carlson stood under the crystal chandeliers as the master of his universe, the guests whispered that his "friend" Aubree was a much better match for him than I ever could be. My stomach was twisting in sharp, jagged cramps from what I knew was acute appendicitis, but to the Carlson family, I wasn't a wife—I was a utility. My mother-in-law called me a "drill bit" and ordered me to drive Jensen home like a servant because his "optics" mattered more than my internal organs. When I arrived, Jensen didn't ask why I was shaking; he just snapped that my black coat was "depressing" and told me to stop "fidgeting" with my medication. He spent the night whispering to Aubree, then came home and fed my divorce papers into a shredder, mocking me for thinking I could survive a week without the Carlson name. The next day, he humiliated me in front of my entire department, accusing me of flirting with staff just as I was about to collapse from the pain. I had given up my PhD for this man and secretly written the code that built his billion-dollar empire, yet he viewed me as nothing more than a "depreciating asset." Even as I lay shivering on the hardwood floor because his mother locked the guest rooms to force me into his bed, he only sneered, asking if he was "that repulsive" when the pain made me vomit. "If you're not in the car by seven, I'll cut off your grandfather's medical funding." That was the final thread. I didn't go to the gala. Instead, I reclaimed my original patents, wiped my server access, and met him on the curb with a cardboard box and a resignation letter. "I'm not your wife anymore, Jensen. And I'm not your employee." As my Uber pulled away, leaving him clutching a revoked patent and a divorce petition, I realized I wasn't losing everything—I was finally starting to breathe.

For seven years, I endured agonizing egg retrieval surgeries just to give my Alpha mate, Kael, a strong heir. But one day, he coldly announced he had impregnated a high-ranking Beta female instead. He told me I would raise her pup as my own to satisfy the pack Elders. When the pregnant Beta faked a fall at the pack banquet, Kael slapped me to the ground in front of everyone to protect his authority. Desperate to escape his suffocating control, I caused a car crash and ended up in the pack hospital. That was when I overheard the High Healer confronting him. The "fertility vitamins" Kael had personally fed me every single night for the past seven years were actually Wolfsbane. He had been intentionally destroying my ability to bear pups all along. I stared at the mate who had wiped my tears when I cried on the bathroom floor over every negative pregnancy test. He had held my hand through every agonizing surgery, watching me bleed and beg the Moon Goddess for a child, all while secretly feeding me poison. "I did it to protect our pups from the pack's cruelty!" Kael sobbed on his knees, begging for my understanding. But my heart was already dead. I forced our Mind-link wide open, stared into his terrified eyes, and spoke the sacred words of Rejection. This time, I chose to sever our soul bond, take my freedom, and let him rot.

After two years of being missing, Scarlett Sinclair returned to her wealthy family's estate in a beat-up cab. But instead of a tearful reunion, her biological mother stood in the foyer, glaring at her with cold fury. "I thought you'd died in some ditch." Her mother sneered, turning to lovingly hold the hand of the adopted daughter, Ashley. During dinner, her mother relentlessly mocked Scarlett's manners and disastrous past grades. Ashley played the sweet sister while secretly waiting for Scarlett to humiliate herself. They all thought Scarlett was a worthless disappointment who had come crawling back because she had nothing. They had absolutely no idea who she really was. How could they know that in those missing years, Scarlett had become the legendary "Miss M" and "The Surgeon"? While her family fought over petty allowances, she was controlling a life-saving serum coveted by Wall Street titans and treating dying billionaires. The disconnect was so vast it was comical. Why would she care about the approval of a family that treated her like garbage? So, when her perfect-score acceptance letter to the country's most elite academy arrived and shattered their illusions, Scarlett didn't stay. "I'm moving out." Ignoring her mother's hysterical threats to cut her off financially, Scarlett packed her single bag and walked out to her own luxury penthouse. The ties were severed, and her real life was just beginning.

Alexia Vaughan sold her freedom to Manhattan billionaire Holmes Fowler to keep her family from starving. But after a passionate night, his housekeeper handed her a single Plan B pill on a silver tray, treating her like disposable trash. The humiliation shattered her when she saw the front-page newspaper headline: Holmes was officially marrying wealthy heiress Brandon Dalton. While her brother was beaten bloody in the streets over rumors of her being a billionaire's "Sugar Baby," Holmes was busy solidifying his dynasty. Desperate to escape the suffocating reality, Alexia turned off her phone and fled into the city. But she didn't know the phone contained a military-grade GPS tracker. Holmes hunted her down like prey, violently dragged her back to his penthouse, and locked the heavy double doors of his master bedroom. "From now on, you sleep in this bed. Where I can see you," he ordered. Trapped in the pitch-black room, held tightly against his chest, his phone suddenly lit up. It was a 2:00 AM missed call from his fiancée. Tears soaked Alexia's pillow as the agonizing truth set in. She was just a dirty secret locked away in the dark, while his real life happened outside. The next morning, after he violently kissed her to assert his psychotic ownership, Alexia stood trembling on the sidewalk. She looked at his departing Maybach, her eyes hardening with a cold, desperate fire. She would no longer be his captive whore; it was time to plan her escape.

I was the real daughter of the Montgomery family, finally brought back from a Texas farm. But my parents treated me like a savage, giving all their love to my adopted sister, Heidi. On the night I ran away from my arranged wedding, I almost died. A razor-thin steel wire was strung across a blind curve, positioned perfectly to sever my head at ninety miles an hour. I managed to brake in time and pulled the dashcam footage, which clearly showed Heidi setting the trap and wanting the "farm trash" dead. But when I played the video for my family in the hospital, their reaction chilled me to the bone. My father didn't ask if I was hurt, only yelling at me for causing a scandal. My mother immediately shielded the crying Heidi, begging me to let it go because we were family. My eldest brother even threw a fifty-million-dollar contract in my face, demanding I sign an NDA to cover up Heidi's crime. In my past life, their blind favoritism allowed Heidi to lock me on a burning yacht, killing me and the only man who ever tried to save me. I never understood why my own blood would protect a fake, murderous daughter over me. Opening my eyes again, I was back on the night of the orchestrated crash. I looked at the hush money, and then at the ruthless Wall Street billionaire standing protectively by my side. "I'm not just going to ruin her reputation." "I'm going to take back the entire Montgomery Group."

Gemma expected the tearing agony of the bullet wound that had just ended her life. Instead, her trembling fingers met the cool, smooth friction of heavy silk. She stared into the mirror. Her face was flawless, completely devoid of the jagged scar that had marred her cheek for the last five years. It was exactly ten years ago. The day of her engagement party to the ruthless billionaire, Brion Hubbard. In her past life, her "best friend" Katelyn convinced her to run away with a scheming scumbag. Katelyn claimed Brion was a heartless tyrant who would ruin her. Gemma had foolishly believed those fake tears. That choice led to her family's bankruptcy, her brutal disfigurement, and ultimately, a fatal bomb explosion. The only person who tried to save her was Brion, his blood-soaked body shielding hers from the blast. She even realized too late that the strawberry cream cakes she always made for him were full of dairy. He wasn't leaving to cheat on her. He was locking himself in a medical bay, fighting fatal allergic shock, just to accept a tiny scrap of her affection. Gemma had been so incredibly blind. Why did she trust the venomous snakes who destroyed her, while hating the man who died for her? Hearing Katelyn frantically knocking on the dressing room door, urging her to run away again, a towering hatred surged through Gemma's veins. This time, she wasn't going to run. She was going to expose the traitors, take back her family's wealth, and claim the tyrant for herself.

Today was my father's grand second wedding, but for me, it was the anniversary of my mother's death. My new stepmother, Marley, who was only four years older than me, cornered me. To establish her dominance as the new Luna, she ordered her servants to force me to my knees and violently ripped my late mother's necklace from my neck. It was the only memento my mother had left me. Marley sneered, threw it to the ground, and shattered the gems. When I scrambled to pick up the broken pieces, she dug her high-heeled shoe into the back of my hand, mocking me as dirty trash. No one stepped in to help. My father was too busy celebrating his new marriage under the dazzling lights, completely erasing my mother's memory and leaving me to be abused in my own pack. My heart was full of grievance and despair. Why did my mother's lifelong devotion end with her grave desolate and her daughter humiliated? I swore I would never become a weak, discarded she-wolf whose life depended on a man. Desperate to escape the suffocating wedding, I ran outside and stumbled right into the chest of a terrifying stranger. "No one should ever touch what is precious to you." His golden eyes blazed with fury as sparks instantly shot through my veins. He was Kade Blackwood, the ruthless Alpha of the feared Blood Moon Pack—and my fated mate.

For nearly a decade, I was the perfect wife to Grant Sloan, sacrificing my own dreams to support his meteoric rise. But when I saw a photo of him at a company gala with his young intern, Kylee, his hand on her back and a smile I hadn't seen in years, I knew my marriage was over. My world shattered further when my younger sister, Aubrie, was assaulted by her boss. I begged Grant, a top lawyer, to help her. He coldly refused, claiming his caseload was full, only to later stand in court as the defense attorney for my sister's attacker-who turned out to be Kylee's brother. The betrayal was absolute. Fueled by Kylee's vicious online campaign, Aubrie was driven to suicide, jumping from the courthouse roof as Grant and I watched. The final, sickening blow came when Kylee desecrated Aubrie's grave, grinding her ashes into the dirt over a plot she wanted for her dead puppy. Grant, finally seeing Kylee's monstrous nature, brutally punished her and her brother. He came back to me, broken and begging for forgiveness, even staging a grand public proposal. He thought his remorse could erase the blood on his hands and the ashes on the ground. I looked at the man who had destroyed my life and offered him a single word. "No."

My life was perfect for ten years, filled with love from my husband, Mark, and our son, Liam, as I created beautiful jewelry. Then, a horrific car accident shattered everything, leaving Liam severely injured. Doctors said Liam needed extensive skin grafts, recommending I, his mother, sacrifice my own skin to avoid scarring. Despite my sensitivity to pain medication, I endured excruciating procedures, my body becoming a patchwork of healing wounds, all for my son. I overheard Liam and Mark: the "skin grafts" were a lie. My pain, my sacrifice, was for my twin sister, Scarlett, to fix a botched cosmetic surgery. My husband and sister had been having a decade-long affair, meticulously orchestrating a grand deceit. My perfect life was a calculated cage of betrayal, the love I felt a one-way street ending in humiliation. The scars on my body burned with a different pain now, a mark of their monstrous deceit. Rage, cold and pure, replaced my despair. I wouldn't just be heartbroken. I would burn their world to the ground.

Dr. Evelyn Reed, one of the city' s most respected veterinarians, always put her animal patients first, a dedication that had earned her a quiet but fierce reputation. But her professional world was about to shatter around the deathbed of her difficult client, Mr. Harrison, a wealthy man whose golden retriever, Champ, was her true patient. In his final breaths, Mr. Harrison shockingly accused Evelyn of being his abandoned wife, claiming she' d taken his money and left him to die. Her ex-boyfriend and supervisor, Dr. Mark Johnson, cruelly presented fabricated texts as "evidence," publicly humiliating her, while young interns, whom she' d mentored, turned on her, their faces filled with judgment. The nightmare intensified as Mr. Harrison' s cousin, Brenda, and a disgruntled ex-employee, Todd, burst in, physically attacking Evelyn, destroying her phone, and further painting her as a monster, all while Mark stood by, then shoved her, demanding she kneel and apologize, cementing her isolation and despair. How could a life built on integrity unravel so quickly and viciously, by the lies of a dying man and the betrayal of those closest to her? With her career, reputation, and dignity in ashes, Evelyn, cornered and with nothing left to lose, knew she had to fight back.

After losing my family and fortune, I became Ethan Hayes's prisoner, trapped in his opulent mansion, relentlessly forced to repay a debt I didn't truly owe. My only value to him was my kidney, a perfect match for his ailing sister, Chloe, the one he held above all else. Ethan controlled every aspect of my existence, subjecting me to relentless humiliation. Yet, in a cruel twist of fate, I found myself pregnant with his child—a child he believed he could never father. I swallowed a bitter cocktail of abortion pills, vowing that this child would never serve as another pawn in his twisted game of revenge. At Chloe's lavish birthday gala, Ethan didn't just publicly broadcast a humiliating video of my most vulnerable past; he later stood by as Chloe cruelly orchestrated the death of Buddy, my beloved Golden Retriever, my last shred of solace. Their combined malice shattered me, pushing me to an unbearable breaking point. How could I endure such pervasive evil, constantly reminded of a debt that wasn't solely mine, subjected to such calculated torture and public disgrace? My despair transformed into a burning, unyielding resolve to defy him one final time. I secretly held one devastating card: a severe anesthesia allergy, a fact conveniently absent from his records. On that sterile operating table, as he prepared to claim my kidney, I would not just die; I would ensure his hard-won victory, his twisted revenge, and his very definition of control crumbled to ash in his hands. My death would be my ultimate act of rebellion, unraveling his carefully constructed lies and finally granting me release.

Sarah Miller was the golden child of the Culinary Institute of America Prime, her perfect knife cuts and innovative dishes earning her an easy path to culinary stardom. Then, out of nowhere, Brittany, the clumsy, struggling student, presented a dish that was not just extraordinary, but impossibly perfect, far beyond her capabilities. My own critically acclaimed duck was overshadowed, then my skills mysteriously vanished, causing me to fumble even the simplest techniques. Dean Antoine, my mentor, publicly accused me of fraud, expelling me from the prestigious CIAP in front of baffled critics. I was left broken, my career ruined, cleaning grease traps in a rundown diner, while Brittany became a national sensation. How could her sudden genius be so flawless, so familiar, borrowing my very ideas before I could even develop them? Was I going crazy, or was this calculated? Then I remembered the tiny, almost invisible blinking device Brittany wore. A cold realization hit me: her "genius" wasn't her own; it was stolen. Whatever it was, it was also actively draining me. They wanted me gone, but they had awakened something far more dangerous: a chef who understood true skill wasn't about flashy tricks, it was about rock-solid fundamentals, and I would master every single one to expose the truth and reclaim my name.

Summer Hayes, a quiet scholarship kid, poured her heart and savings into a magical promposal for her secret crush, Kingston Academy's golden boy, Ethan Prescott. He was the only one who saw her, even defending her once, making her believe he was different. But just as she waited, her phone buzzed. Her glitchy "ghost channel" app, a live stream of the elite, showed her decorated gazebo. The chat exploded with cruel comments, then Ethan' s best friend outlined the "plan": Ethan's identical twin, Caleb, would pretend to accept, then publicly humiliate her, all while Ethan watched for sport. Her carefully crafted dream shattered. The boy she admired was a predator, turning her vulnerability into perverse entertainment. As Caleb arrived, feigning surprise, the depth of Ethan's betrayal burned, searing cold. How could someone so seemingly kind be so utterly cruel? The initial shock dissolved into a chilling, furious resolve. They wanted a show? They' d get one, but not the one they planned. As Caleb approached, Summer took a shaky breath, tears stinging. "Oh, Ethan," she began, correcting herself with a tearful sigh. "I mean, Caleb. This looks like it' s for Ethan, but it' s not. It' s for you." The game was on, and Summer was ready to play to win.

My six-year-old son, Danny, was vibrant and healthy, until my estranged wife, Sarah, demanded he donate his liver to her ex-lover, a washed-up football star. As a paramedic, I knew the devastating risks, but Sarah, blinded by her obsession with this "hero" figure, forced the surgery through. Soon after, in the pediatric ICU, Danny hemorrhaged and urgently needed blood - O-negative, Sarah's blood type. But Sarah was at the "hero's" lavish "welcome home" party, celebrating, utterly dismissing my frantic calls as "drama." My son died that day, his tiny hand growing cold in mine, while his mother reveled in the reflected glory of a man she idolized. Then came the crushing truth: Sarah had pushed the surgeons for a riskier, expedited procedure, declaring Ace Henderson's life the absolute priority. Still, the final, unforgivable horror was yet to come. At Danny' s treasured Little League field, where I went to scatter his ashes, Sarah and Ace showed up for a live PR stunt. Ace' s nephew, egged on by them, snatched Danny' s baseball urn, spilled his ashes onto the pitcher' s mound, and then stomped on them, gleefully shouting, "Strike three, you' re out!" I was held back, screaming, watching my son's last remains obliterated by the very people he died for, by a mother's monstrous indifference. How could such calculated cruelty be unleashed upon a child's memory, by those who should have protected him? A part of my soul died on that dusty field, leaving only a vast, echoing void. I vanished, abandoning my old life, certain peace was forever beyond my grasp. But a discovery, a fragile legacy left by Danny, might just offer a path through the darkness.

For nine years, my life was a gilded cage, controlled by Wall Street titan Mark. My photography dreams withered under his shadow, and ten forced abortions left me a hollow shell, each ending with his manipulative charm or self-pitying tears. The latest procedure, just yesterday, left me weak, but I still had to pick him up. I found him at the awards dinner, his arm around Jessica, his intern. Then he kissed her, publicly, and announced her pregnancy. “Sarah, darling,” he slurred, “Jessica’s pregnant. And who better to mentor her than you? You’re practically an expert, aren’t you?” The humiliation burned. He mocked my pain, then tore my dress, doused me in champagne, and snarled about his iron-clad cohabitation agreement. Rescued by my childhood best friend, Alex, I ended up in the hospital, my fertility gone. Mark then falsely accused me of sabotaging his company with Alex, slapped me, and forced me to sign a chilling "consent form," threatening Alex's ruin. Soon, I was drugged and barely clothed, shivering in a glass enclosure. It was a depraved auction, with men bidding on me. Mark’s taunts echoed: "Alex couldn't be bothered." Was I truly abandoned? My heart sank, consumed by despair. How could this be my life? Just as all hope seemed lost, a calm voice cut through the noise: "I bid all of it." It was Mr. Harrison, Alex’s trusted lawyer. A sudden, unbelievable turning point. My rescue had begun.

I was Elara Vance, a Juilliard violinist living my dream, with a scholarship and the loving support of my charming boyfriend, Julian Thorne. When he urgently needed my O-negative blood after a supposed sailing accident, I rushed to give it, only to find him perfectly healthy days later, laughing with friends, my half-empty blood bag casually discarded. My "loving Julian" was a monster, boasting about his "masterpieces of revenge" – a cold, cruel game he orchestrated for his jealous friend Seraphina. He'd sabotaged my career, fed me sugar pills after a staged pool accident, framed me for shoplifting, and even publicly humiliated me while declaring his love for another woman. Then, I overheard his final plan: to set fire to my guesthouse during our "romantic getaway", trapping me in his apartment like a prisoner. His every affectionate word, every grand gesture, was a lie designed to break me, turning my love into a searing humiliation and soul-deep betrayal. But I wouldn't be his victim. I fabricated my own fiery demise and escaped to London, reinventing myself as "Nightingale," a celebrated violinist. When Julian, consumed by a disturbing obsession, dragged me back to New York, announcing our forced marriage, I knew the lavish wedding would be the perfect stage for my ultimate counterattack.

The night after the SAT ended, my sister sent me a wish list. "iPhone for 10,000 yuan, tablet for 5,000 yuan, computer for 8,000 yuan, clothes for 3,000 yuan, cosmetics for 2,000 yuan... totaling 50,000 yuan." I am just a working person with a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan, and my parents are both laborers. How can I come up with so much money for her all at once? Our family scraped together and could only give her 20,000 yuan. But she not only didn't appreciate it, but also threatened to jump off a building. My parents and I had no choice but to borrow money from everywhere, working multiple jobs a day to repay the debts. When my parents died in a car accident due to overwork, my sister and her boyfriend were still indulging in luxury at a five-star hotel. I also succumbed to the overwhelming pressure and depression and ended up committing suicide. After being reborn, I personally sent her to work at a corrupt factory, and she became obedient.

I didn't mean to call my boss. I definitely didn't mean to leave a seven-minute voicemail of dirty secrets about him. Working for Ruslan Oryolov is the job from hell. The man is impossible-demanding, arrogant, and way too gorgeous for his own good. After eighteen months of fetching his coffee and swallowing my pride, all I wanted was one night of stress relief. But the billionaire CEO of Bane Corporation isn't just a boss from hell. He's the head of the Oryolov Bratva-and now that he's heard every secret I never meant to share, he's decided to claim me. His contract. His rules. His protection for my three orphaned nieces and nephews-the only reason I'm signing my life away to a man I should fear. He owns my signature. He owns my safety. Now he wants my soul.

On my wedding day, my father sold me to the Chicago Outfit to pay his debts. I was supposed to marry Alex Moreno, the heir to the city's most powerful crime family. But he couldn't even be bothered to show up. As I stood alone at the altar, humiliated, my best friend delivered the final blow. Alex hadn't just stood me up; he had run off to California with his mistress. The whispers in the cathedral turned me into a joke. I was damaged goods, the rejected bride. His family knew the whole time and let me take the public fall, offering me his cousins as pathetic replacements-a brute who hated me or a coward who couldn't protect me. The humiliation burned away my fear, leaving only cold rage. My life was already over, so I decided to set the whole game on fire myself. The marriage pact only said a Carlson had to marry a Moreno; it never said which one. With nothing left to lose, I looked past the pathetic boys they offered. I chose the one man they never expected. I chose his father, the Don himself.

I was three days away from marrying the Underboss of the Fazio crime family when I unlocked his burner phone. The screen glowed toxic bright in the dark next to my sleeping fiancé. A message from a contact saved as 'Little Trouble' read: "She is just a statue, Dante. Come back to bed." Attached was a photo of a woman lying in the sheets of his private office, wearing his shirt. My heart didn't break; it simply stopped. For eight years, I believed Dante was the hero who pulled me from a burning opera house. I played the perfect, loyal Mafia Princess for him. But heroes don't give their mistresses rare pink diamonds while giving their fiancées cubic zirconia replicas. He didn't just cheat. He humiliated me. He defended his mistress over his own soldiers in public. He even abandoned me on the side of the road on my birthday because she faked a pregnancy emergency. He thought I was weak. He thought I would accept the fake ring and the disrespect because I was just a political pawn. He was wrong. I didn't cry. Tears are for women who have options. I had a strategy. I walked into the bathroom and dialed a number I hadn't dared to call in a decade. "Speak," a voice like gravel growled on the other end. Lorenzo Moretti. The Capo of the rival family. The man my father called the Devil. "The wedding is off," I whispered, staring at my reflection. "I want an alliance with you, Enzo. And I want the Fazio family burned to the ground."

She's sin wrapped in a nun habit. He is the devil who makes her want to confess. Luciano Moretti, the mafia's most feared enforcer, kills without hesitation, prays to no god, and bleeds for the Cosa Nostra. Sister Elizabeth has spent her life behind church walls, burying her desires under layers of penance and prayer. She is supposed to be untouchable-a quiet, secluded nun devoted to faith. But when she finds him bleeding on the altar one night, their worlds collide in a sin neither heaven nor hell can cleanse. He's meant to marry her sister to seal a deal between two mafia empires. She's meant to keep her vows and distance. But temptation has a cruel sense of humour... Because he's the last man she should want. She's the only woman he can't have. But one touch, one look, and everything sacred begins to crumble. Luciano does not seek salvation. Instead, he lures her into a dangerous path, one that includes everything she is meant to avoid, and everytime she whispers "forgive me, Father," her soul sinks deeper into him. As bloodlines clash and loyalty turns to betrayal, Elizabeth learns that the war outside the chapel isn't the only one she must survive. Because Luciano's world is built on violence and secrets, one of which binds her fate to his in ways neither of them saw coming. Desire clashes with devotion. Duty turns to betrayal. And when they're both drowning in a love so forbidden, not even God can save them.

I was washing the caked blood from my five-year-old daughter's broken body in the family mortuary. She had been tortured to death by a rival cartel. My husband Julian, the underworld's legendary "Master of Whispers," claimed his intelligence division did everything they could, but the rescue coordinates were wrong. Yet, while I stood over our child's corpse, he was busy comforting his new apprentice, Chloe. She posted a picture of their intertwined hands online, bragging that she had "accidentally deleted a crucial audio file" yesterday, but the boss had held her hand and forgiven her. Yesterday. The exact day my daughter died. When I confronted him, Julian slapped me across the face in front of our men. "You carry the curse of your bloodline! You are an omen of death! You brought this on her!" He blamed me for our child's slaughter, demanding I apologize to his mistress, while he secretly wiped the server logs to protect the incompetent girl who got our daughter killed. He actually thought I would just swallow the grief, refusing a divorce because I still loved him, allowing him to use my family's immense wealth to play house with his whore. But he forgot one crucial detail. His legendary "God's Ear" was a total myth, a lie entirely powered by the secret algorithms I funded to cover up his permanent deafness. I calmly gathered the ashes of my daughter from the floor and picked up my phone. "Initiate an immediate withdrawal of all funds from Julian's division. Let them bleed."

"You've been in denial for so long, Addison." His voice was husky and heavy with lust. "Do you really want me to stop?" I could not bring myself to say no. My best friend's stepdad was like the devil, making me find so much pleasure in sin. "You can't even say no," he chuckled, letting go of my hand finally. They moved to my face and he stared into my eyes, while his other hand still worked wonders between my legs. "Don't make me do this," I finally said, moaning the words out. "Please." "Tell me to stop one more time and I will," he mumbled. "Please, st-" I didn't complete my words because he captured my lips with his. *+*+*+*+*+*+* Addison Rodriguez never expected to feel any sexual tension or fall in love with her best friend's stepdad. As she surrenders to the sexual tension, her loyalty to her best friend wavers, especially when she finds out that he is secretly a Mafia Lord trying to hide in plain sight and that her best friend's life is in danger, her loyalty is tested even further. Would she reveal his secret to protect her best friend, or keep it to protect her love?

"My world is a mess; you want nothing to do with this" "You don't have the right to decide that for me." Her chest was heaving, harsh breaths scraping the walls of her nose. "I am your wife, and I am choosing to be in your mess." He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her closer. "This is your last chance. Once you step in, I can never let go." "I'm not planning on it." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jade Saint, who was switched at birth, is coerced into an arranged marriage after returning to the Sterling home. That is, until Roman Volkov – the richest and most dangerous man in the city – claims her as his bride. Desperate to save her dying adoptive mother, she willingly enters into a contract marriage with the devil himself. But marriage to Roman is not what she thinks it is – not the enemies lurking in the shadows. Not the dangerous world he refuses to explain, and certainly not the way his cold touch begins to feel like a promise instead of a warning. Because the more she tries to understand him, the more she realises he didn't choose her by accident. And the truth behind it all may destroy her.

I forged the blueprints that crowned my husband a mafia Capo, saving him when he was nothing. But after he rose to power, he favored his new female associate, Gia, and handed her my life's work—my coded art book. When I went to retrieve it, Gia slashed my right hand with a switchblade, severing my tendons. My career as an artist died on that floor. My husband rushed into the room, looked at my destroyed hand—and stepped past me to shield her. "Have you lost your mind? She was just following my orders!" He saw what she had done. He chose to look away. He protected the woman who mutilated me, blaming me for starting the fight. I stared at the man I had spent four years building from pieces. He was protecting another woman, willfully blind to the fact that I was the true architect of his empire. Why did I sacrifice everything for a man whose memory and conscience were so easily corrupted? Without a word, I walked past them, letting my blood drip onto his expensive leather shoes. I calmly called the syndicate Enforcers to report a theft, filed for divorce, and froze all his assets. He thought my life was over. He forgot that the woman who built his empire with her right hand could tear it down with her left.

I was the spare daughter of the Vitiello crime family, born solely to provide organs for my golden sister, Isabella. Four years ago, under the codename "Seven," I nursed Dante Moretti, the Don of Chicago, back to health in a safe house. I was the one who held him in the dark. But Isabella stole my name, my credit, and the man I loved. Now, Dante looked at me with nothing but cold disgust, believing her lies. When a neon sign crashed down on the street, Dante used his body to shield Isabella, leaving me to be crushed under twisted steel. While Isabella sat in a VIP suite crying over a scratch, I lay broken, listening to my parents discuss if my kidneys were still viable for harvest. The final straw came at their engagement gala. When Dante saw me wearing the lava stone bracelet I had worn in the safe house, he accused me of stealing it from Isabella. He ordered my father to punish me. I took fifty lashes to my back while Dante covered Isabella's eyes, protecting her from the ugly truth. That night, the love in my heart finally died. On the morning of their wedding, I handed Dante a gift box containing a cassette tape—the only proof that I was Seven. Then, I signed the papers disowning my family, threw my phone out the car window, and boarded a one-way flight to Sydney. By the time Dante listens to that tape and realizes he married a monster, I will be thousands of miles away, never to return.

Seven days before I was set to marry the most feared Mafia Don in the country, I was asked to step out of my own wedding photos. Because my shadow was ruining the shot. The photographer then took ninety-nine pictures—of my fiancé and my adopted sister. When I refused to give up the master suite meant for a wife, the man I loved called me ungrateful. He abandoned me at a remote compound to take her to a nail salon. So three days before the ceremony, I returned his keys, his ledgers, and his world. I left a single note: 'Thank you.' Eight years later, I came back home—and found him waiting for me on the same road where he once left me behind. He promised to wait forever. He broke that vow in the worst way possible. And I never even heard the crash.