Dale E Anstine

Her body went still. Then his voice dropped lower, laced with venom and promise. “By the time I'm done with you, you'll wish you never said …I do.” Angelo placed his hand on the small of her back, pulling her closer in… closer than fear, closer than escape. He leaned in, his smile picture perfect for the cameras. “Now kiss your groom,” he murmured. Then…. His breath ghosted over her lips before sealing the moment with a kiss… cold, calculated and final. This wasn't marriage, nor love. Rather, it was war. It was the beginning of her sentence. Millicent felt it in her bones, the quiet threat beneath his touch. She hadn't just married a man. She had stepped into the arms of her executioner. “Smile for the crowd, Mrs. De Angelis,” Angelo whispered in a low and poisonous voice. “Because soon… they'll be watching you burn.” *Click* The cameras flashed. ~~~~~~~~ To save her brother, Millicent Romano agreed to marry the one man her heart never forgot, Angelo De Angelis. But he isn’t the boy she once knew. He’s a Don now. A powerful and ruthless Don who was hell-bent on revenge. To Angelo, she’s nothing more than a pawn, poisoned gift from an enemy empire. The wedding was never about love… it was about war. But desire doesn’t play by the rules of vengeance, and neither does the past they share. As vengeance dives deep, obsession dives ten times deeper. As secrets unravel, there's only one question left…. When love is laced with blood, someone's bound to bleed. In a world where loyalty kills faster than bullets.... Who will fall first?

Asya is the most promising ballerina the Royal Ballet has seen in years. Wildly ambitious, back-breakingly disciplined, and immensely driven, she has only one objective: prima ballerina. There is nothing she won't do to earn this once-in-a-generation title. But behind her ballerina grace she hides dark secrets of an inhumanly strict mother, pushing her body to cruel limits, and serial hookups with male dancers. Roman Zharnov is the star of the Russian ballet: young, successful, arrogant, beautiful, and worst of all, talented. He's come to London for a fresh start after earning himself the nickname 'the bad boy of ballet'. It is during a rehearsal that his eye falls on Asya, a nineteen-year-old soloist with spitfire in her eyes and a raw talent capable of silencing an auditorium. But Asya has a partner, and she wants to stay as far away as possible from the Russian prodigy with a reputation that won't seem to leave him alone. In the competitive world of classical ballet Asya is climbing the ranks, earning coveted parts and building a name for herself as a promising soloist. But all the while she is playing a dangerous game behind the curtain. Roman has found the one ballerina that can keep up with him and wants her to partner him, but he will soon realise that animals can't do what she does.

Natalia Kensington wanted to end her life to escape from a husband who hates her, but she is reborn into her old life… this time, as a stranger. She faces love, secrets, and a fresh start. Can she and Caleb rekindle their love, or will the hurt from her past life come between them? Join them in this story of love, betrayal, and hope.

All hope is lost when Ruby gets murdered in a pack where everyone believes she killed her brother. Granted a second chance at life, she falls into the hands of Alpha Xan, the ruthless leader of the Bloodmoon pack. Will he be her protector, or will he add to her pain? Will she survive faceless enemies and clear her name? Will love be enough?

At dinner, my wife's little brother Darren shot me a nasty look. "Other guys hook their wife's brother up with houses and cars. Mine won't shut up about covering a lousy twenty grand. "Wade Watson, transfer your house to me today, or I swear, I'll make my sister divorce you." My hand stalled mid-serve as I placed food on my pregnant wife's plate. That house was all my parents left me. Best school district in the city. Worth over three hundred grand. I looked at Vanessa, waiting for her to back me up. For the baby. She slammed an abortion appointment slip onto the table. "It's because I married a useless guy like you that my brother still isn't married. Wade, you get one choice—the baby or the house."

When I'm on my break, I decide to help my neighbor, Yvonne Cook, fix the gas valve, which has been leaking gas. But she instantly lodges a report, saying that I've gone against the rules. She demands compensation for the shock that she's suffered as well. I don't bother defending myself. Instead, I just write a reflection report. After that, my squad leader sentences me to disciplinary confinement. Yvonne wastes no time gloating in the tenants' group chat. "It's time to teach these power-abusers a good lesson, anyway!" Three days later, a fire breaks out in Yvonne's apartment. Thick plumes of dark smoke keep rising from the burning apartment. Yvonne wails as she bangs on my door and pleads with me. "Please crack open the door and put out the fire!" I can only sigh from behind my front door. "I'm under disciplinary suspension right now, so I can't break protocol. You should wait for the fire truck instead."