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Lily thought she had a simple life, surrounded by her adoptive parents in a small town. But everything changed the day she learned that her real parents were industrial tycoons and that she had a twin brother, heir to a family empire. Welcomed into a world of luxury, she found herself facing a reality very different from the one she knew. Her brother, a cold and ambitious man, had always hated her. "You're just an intruder, Lily," he told her. But another secret resurfaced: a mysterious businessman claimed that Lily was the rightful heir to a huge hidden fortune. "It's time you knew the truth," he told her. Between betrayals and revelations, Lily must choose between wealth and family loyalty.
The wind blew gently across the small town, making the curtains of Lily's half-open window dance. Sitting on her bed, her legs crossed, she turned over a letter yellowed by time in her fingers. Her heart was beating faster than she would have liked. She hadn't read anything yet, but she already knew that these few lines were going to turn her life upside down.
It had all started that morning, when an unknown postman had come to deliver an envelope with his name on it. Nothing out of the ordinary on the surface, except that the writing on the paper seemed to belong to another era. No return address, no postmark. Just his first and last name, written in an elegant yet trembling hand.
She took a deep breath and opened the letter. The first words made her blood run cold.
* »Lily, it's time you knew the truth about your origins. What you think you know is a lie. »*
Her hands shook slightly. She scanned the rest of the message, her mind trying to make sense of the cryptic sentences.
* "You are not who you think you are. Your parents love you, but they are not your real parents. The blood that flows through your veins belongs to a lineage that has been tried to be erased. You must come to this address if you want to discover who you really are."*
Her breath caught. Her gaze fell on the address at the bottom of the letter. An unfamiliar street, in a city she had never visited.
The sound of a door opening downstairs brought her back to reality. Her adoptive parents had just returned. She quickly closed the letter and slipped it under her pillow before running down the stairs, her heart pounding.
- Lily? Are you there? came the warm voice of her adoptive mother, Marianne.
- Yes, I'm coming! she answered, trying to hide the confusion in her voice.
She found them in the kitchen, busy putting away the groceries. Her father, Paul, put a bag on the table and gave her a kind smile.
- How was your morning?
Lily hesitated for a second. She wanted to tell them about the letter, to ask them for explanations, but a dull fear tightened her throat.
- Good, she whispered.
She watched her mother put fruit into a basket and suddenly she felt it was time.
- Mom... Dad...
The serious tone in her voice made them turn to look at her.
- I got a letter this morning. Someone says that... that you're not my real parents.
Silence fell on the room like a guillotine. Marianne's hands remained suspended above the apples. Paul exchanged a worried look with his wife before calmly putting down the dishcloth he was holding.
- Who sent you this letter? he asked softly.
- I don't know. There was no name, just an address.
Marianne leaned against the countertop, her fingers clenched on the edge of the marble.
- We hoped we'd never have to tell you like this, she breathed.
Lily felt her heart clench.
- So... is it true?
Marianne closed her eyes for a moment before slowly nodding her head.
- We adopted you when you were a baby, Lily.
The world turned upside down. She expected a denial, a rational explanation that would make the letter seem absurd. But no. The truth lay before her, brutal and unforgiving.
- Why did you never tell me?
- Because we wanted to protect you, Paul replied in a serious voice.
- Protect me from what?
An awkward silence fell.
- We don't know everything, Marianne admitted. But what we do know is that your biological parents came from a... very powerful background.
Lily took a step back, stunned.
- A powerful environment? What are you talking about?
Paul sighed.
- The Richmont family.
The name meant nothing to her, but it resonated in her like a distant wave, a forgotten echo.
- And this address... she murmured, her throat tight.
- If someone sent it to you, they want you to find out something, Paul said worriedly. But be careful, Lily. These kinds of truths can be dangerous.
The rest of the day passed in a haze of confusion. Lily went up to her room, closed the door, and pulled the letter out from under her pillow. Her fingers ran over the writing over and over, trying to figure out what it meant.
Who was she really?
The next morning, she made an irrevocable decision.
She would go to this address.
***
The journey to the city indicated on the letter seemed unreal. Every kilometer she traveled took her further from the life she had always known. The train was taking her into the unknown, into a past she had never suspected.
Arriving in front of a huge stone building, she hesitated. A golden plaque indicated: *Cabinet Montclair & Associates.* A law firm.
Her heart was pounding as she pushed open the door. An elegant woman greeted her with a professional smile.
- Miss Lily Foster?
Lily nodded, surprised that anyone knew her name.
- Mr. Montclair is waiting for you.
Guided through hushed corridors, she entered a luxurious office where a man in his sixties was waiting for her, standing in front of a huge bookcase.
- Lily, welcome. I am Master Montclair.
He invited her to sit down and placed a file in front of her.
- If you are here, it is because you are ready to know the truth.
Lily felt her breath catch.
- Your birth name is Lily Richmont. You are the heiress to one of the largest fortunes in the country.
His whole body froze.
- But... why was I adopted then?
Montclair took a deep breath.
- Because after your mother died, your father decided to hide you.
Lily frowned.
- Hide from what?
The lawyer slowly placed his hands on the desk and looked her straight in the eyes.
- From your brother.
She felt a cold shiver run down her spine.
- Besides ?
Montclair nodded.
- Alexander Richmont. Your twin.
The silence that followed was deafening. Lily tried to gather her thoughts, but nothing made sense.
- Why would he want to harm me?
Montclair opened the file and pulled out a photo. A young man with a piercing gaze, a cold and calculating elegance.
- Because he was raised as the sole heir. And he doesn't want to share.
Lily felt her heart pound violently against her chest.
- Does he know I exist?
- Now, yes.
Montclair closed the file.
- You're in danger, Lily.
His breath caught.
She had come in here with questions.
She came out with a threat hanging over her.
Under the gaze of a fallen mafia, Elvie, a young woman with a troubled past and victim of a brutal ex, seeks to rebuild her life. Working as an assistant in the villa of the Corleone, an influential crime family, she tries to avoid conflict with the three Corleone brothers, all as dangerous as each other. But everything changes when Adriano, the eldest brother and heir, breaks his arranged engagement to embrace the war between enemy families and must quickly remarry. Cold and calculating, he sees Elvie as a simple piece in his game. For her, he is just another nightmare to flee. But as they interact, appearances crumble and unexpected bonds are forged. As her ex resurfaces, Elvie will have to choose between her new life, her secrets and the growing violence that threatens everything she has rebuilt.
Alice's life has been devastated by the betrayal of those she believed to be her allies. Five years ago, her fiancé, in the grip of a professional failure, convinced her to sacrifice her dreams to help him get back on his feet. But her best friend, hungry for glory and power, made a decision that would change their friendship forever, by secretly becoming a surrogate mother. When Alice's fiancé, now at the top of his career, left her, claiming that she no longer met his expectations, Alice, broken, accepted the proposal of the mysterious billionaire, Gabriel Hartman. Known for his coldness and indifference, Gabriel seemed to offer Alice an escape. What she didn't know was that he was the one who had orchestrated her best friend's request for maternity... But what if everything she thought she knew was just a decoy? What if, deep down, the price of her redemption is much higher than she imagined? Can the truth really mend broken hearts, or will secrets destroy everything in their path?
Zoe's dreams of marriage are shattered when she catches her fiance in a compromising situation with his best friend. Devastated, she seeks to recover what she has lost. That's when an enigmatic man, a warm billionaire named Maxime Delacroix, offers her an unexpected solution: a loveless marriage, a contractual alliance with the aim of destroying his ex's career. Although reluctant, Zoe accepts, ready to do anything to get revenge. But as their relationship grows, Zoe realizes that the stakes are more complex than she imagined. Between revenge and a budding passion for this distant man, she finds herself torn between her desire for justice and her budding feelings. How far will she be willing to go to get revenge without losing everything in the process?
Lara Sanders and Ethan Cole had been together for five years, but Lara had never been his priority. Ethan, obsessed with his work, did not see the soul of the woman he had married. Lara had tried to rekindle the flame, but in vain. She had had enough. One day, she left everything: the house, the promises, and Ethan. Years later, Lara reappears. She has become a successful entrepreneur, an icon of the business world, and no one recognizes her anymore as the fragile young woman she once was. Far from the shy and discreet Lara, she is now a queen of industry, admired and respected. At a public event, a journalist asks her: "Lara, you are the most influential businesswoman of the moment. What is the key to your success?" Lara, with a mysterious smile, answers: "Never let a man define you. Take charge of your life. » The next day, to everyone's surprise, Ethan appears at Lara's door. The man she thought had been forgotten, who had let her go without a glance, returns with a surprising proposition: "Lara, I made a mistake. Can we start all over again... Together?"
Luca Moretti, an influential businessman, is forced to marry Amélie Lefevre, a woman he considers a simple family obligation. Already in love with another, he vows to make Amélie's life hell so that she will ask for a divorce. However, he does not know that Amélie is hiding a secret that could change his life forever. Behind her calm facade, Amélie is much more determined and intelligent than he thinks. What will happen when Luca finds himself caught in his own game? Will he succeed in breaking their union or will he succumb to the hidden truth?
For three years, Althea lived in the shadow of an arranged marriage with Damian Crowe, a billionaire as ruthless as they are insistent, known for his dark things and his absolute control over the elite. This marriage, designed by their families to unite two dynasties by the decline, quickly turned into a nightmare. Ignored by Damian, and closely monitored by his allies, Althea has discovered a world of unavowable secrets and questionable transactions. One night, she comes across compromising information that could ruin Damian and her whole family. Realizing that she is only a pawn in their game, she disappears without warning, leaving behind an empire in danger and a man plagued by her own demons. When Althea resurfaces three years later, she was unrecognizable: independent, formidable and armed with a infallible strategy to undermine the power of Damian. In parallel, it becomes the target of the rivals of the latter, who see in it the key to destroy the reign of the Crowe. But Damian did not say his last word. Torn between his desire to reconquer and the fear of the truths that Althea could reveal, he embarks on a battle where love and destruction are intertwined. Does Althea play a vengeance game, or is it about to overthrow a world that she has sworn to never suffer?
"You're mine, little puppy," Kylan growled against my neck. A soft gasp escaped my lips as his lips brushed my skin. My mind screamed at me to push him away-the Lycan Prince who had humiliated me again and again, but my body betrayed me, leaning into him before I could stop myself. He pressed his lips against mine, and his kiss grew more aggressive, more possessive as I felt my legs weaken. What was I doing? In a split-second, I pulled away and slapped him hard across the face. Kylan's eyes darkened, but the smirk on his lips exposed his amusement. "You and I both know we can't fight this, Violet," he said, gripping my wrist. "You're my mate." "And yet you don't want me," I replied. "You told me you were ashamed of me, that l'd never be your queen, that you'd never love me. So please, accept my rejection and let me go." "Never," he whispered, his grip tightening as he pulled me closer. "Soon enough, you'll be begging for me. and when you do-I'll use you as I see fit and then I'll reject you."
They don't know I'm a girl. They all look at me and see a boy. A prince. Their kind purchase humans like me for their lustful desires. And, when they stormed into our kingdom to buy my sister, I intervened to protect her. I made them take me too. The plan was to escape with my sister whenever we found a chance. How was I to know our prison would be the most fortified place in their kingdom? I was supposed to be on the sidelines. The one they had no real use for. The one they never meant to buy. But then, the most important person in their savage land-their ruthless beast king-took an interest in the "pretty little prince." How do we survive in this brutal kingdom, where everyone hates our kind and shows us no mercy? And how does someone, with a secret like mine, become a lust slave? . AUTHOR'S NOTE. This is a dark romance-dark, mature content. Highly rated 18+ Expect triggers, expect hardcore. If you're a seasoned reader of this genre, looking for something different, prepared to go in blindly not knowing what to expect at every turn, but eager to know more anyway, then dive in! . From the author of the international bestselling book: "The Alpha King's Hated Slave."
Rumors claimed that Fernanda, newly back with her family, was nothing more than a violent country bumpkin. Fernanda just flashed a casual, dismissive grin in response. Another rumor suggested that the usually rational Cristian had lost all sense, madly in love with Fernanda. This frustrated her. She could tolerate gossip about herself, but slander against her beloved crossed the line! Gradually, as Fernanda's multiple identities as a celebrated designer, a savvy gamer, an acclaimed painter, and a successful business magnate came to light, everyone realized they were the ones who had been fooled.
Two years ago, Ricky found himself coerced into marrying Emma to protect the woman he cherished. From Ricky's perspective, Emma was despicable, resorting to underhanded schemes to ensure their marriage. He maintained a distant and cold attitude toward her, reserving his warmth for another. Yet, Emma remained wholeheartedly dedicated to Ricky for more than ten years. As she grew weary and considered relinquishing her efforts, Ricky was seized by a sudden fear. Only when Emma's life teetered on the edge, pregnant with Ricky's child, did he recognize-the love of his life had always been Emma.
WARNING! This book is not suitable for young readers or sensitive minds. Some parts contain graphic sex scenes, adult language, and situations intended for mature readers only! BLURB She saved herself for the man she thought would be her forever. She believed in love, in promises, in happily ever after. Until she caught her fiancé tangled in another woman's arms. Betrayal burned through her veins, leaving behind only one desire. REVENGE. And what better way to break him than to seduce the one man who could shatter his pride-his powerful, dangerously handsome billionaire uncle? He's older, untouchable, and completely off-limits. But she's willing to play dirty, willing to risk everything, just to watch her ex suffer. But what happens when the game turns on her? Because the moment she steps into his world, she realizes he's not just a pawn in her twisted little plan. He's a man who dominates, consumes, and makes her feel things she's never felt before. And the worst part? She might not want to escape.
The whispers said that out of bitter jealousy, Hadley shoved Eric's beloved down the stairs, robbing the unborn child of life. To avenge, Eric forced Hadley abroad and completely cut her off. Years later, she reemerged, and they felt like strangers. When they met again, she was the nightclub's star, with men ready to pay fortunes just to glimpse her elusive performance. Unable to contain himself, Eric blocked her path, asking, "Is this truly how you earn a living now? Why not come back to me?" Hadley's lips curved faintly. "If you’re eager to see me, you’d better join the queue, darling."