The American Heritage Dictionary

My mother was a veteran HR director, so she built a performance scorecard for my entire childhood. A perfect test score earned me ten minutes on my phone. Finishing first in school earned me a milkshake. Whatever I wanted, I had to earn with grades. After I entered Crestmont Institute of Technology, I spent three straight years at the top of my program. According to her rules, that was worth one thousand dollars. When I came home, she tossed a single dollar bill at me. "So what if you're still first? Your GPA has slipped by a tenth of a point every year. You have the nerve to ask for a reward?" Beside her, my brother lounged with the keys to his new Hawthorne sedan spinning around one finger. My stomach sank. "When I got into Crestmont Tech, you said I wasn't valedictorian, so all I deserved was a used scooter. "Why does he get a new car for barely making it into community college..." Mom's eyes flashed. "You and Tyler are completely different. "He went from having no chance at college to getting accepted somewhere. That's progress. You're moving backward. "Since you've chosen to coast, I'm cutting off your living expenses next semester. We only invest resources in people who improve. "Raise your GPA by finals, then come trade your grades for money." I walked outside without another word and made a call. "You really are me, ten years from now. You were right. Her performance system only applies to me." Future me answered calmly. "Tomorrow, sell the artwork Dad left you. Three of the pieces are genuine old masters. "Put every dollar into your research project. No matter what anyone says, don't abandon it. That project is your way into Crestmont's tech elite. "Let this family lose a future multimillionaire over one thousand dollars."

The story revolves around a womanizer billionaire named Harry Dict, aka "Junior," the only son of a wealthy family who was living a normal life until he became embroiled in a feud between the League of Assassins and the Mafia organization led by his grandfather Harry Dict Senior, who later announced his retirement and chose Junior to succeed him. He never wanted to be a part of the Mafia until he met his stunning bodyguard, Athena. She vowed to protect Junior as he made his way through the mafia world. The Assassins were hired by corrupt politicians to wipe out the entire Bendoveh Island Mafia community, beginning with the Dict clan. The battle continues to bring Dict's hegemony to an end, up to the last Dict standing.

Ivy Bennett has six weeks to save her family's home and eight months to save her father's life — and exactly one option left. Damien Cole, the coldest CEO in Manhattan, needs a wife by his thirty-fifth birthday or he loses everything his grandfather built to a cousin who'd burn it down for profit. It's a business transaction: marry him for one year, sign the papers, walk away wealthy. Except Damien doesn't smile for anyone — until her. And Ivy doesn't know how to stay guarded around a man who watches her like she's the only thing he can't control. As his cousin Vaughn circles with a decade-old scheme to destroy them both, the contract stops feeling like paper and starts feeling like a promise neither of them planned to keep. Then Ivy discovers the truth: Vaughn didn't just try to expose their marriage. He engineered the very desperation that put her in Damien's path years before they ever met. Now Damien must choose between the empire he was raised to protect — and the woman who taught him love was never the weakness he was told it was.

This book is fast pace. It is set in the modern era of New York city. The youngest female billionaire CEO, Alina Sterling is about to be removed from her position if she doesn't get married or engaged. She meets a bar attendant, Jesse Kane, who is still picking up the pieces in his life and signs a contract marriage with him. As two different worlds collide, love comes in a whole new different way.

My mother-in-law could not understand me. Before my business trip, I repeatedly told her not to touch anything in my study, but she mixed up the contract I needed. As a result, I lost a million-dollar order and was fired from my company. To make up for her mistake, she promised she would take care of my child and help me find another job. I froze my milk, labeled everything with notes, and gave her detailed instructions on timing and measurements. However, when my baby ended up in the hospital, I found out that she had thrown out all the milk and fed my baby expired formula instead. Even worse, she fed my baby peanuts behind my back, causing my baby to suffocate and die. Afterward, she wailed, "That was my granddaughter! How could I not care? If I could, I'd die with her..." My husband slapped me, shouting, "My mom worked so hard to take care of the child, and you want to drive her to her death? She's an old woman. It's not easy for her!" My sister-in-law came over too, calling me ungrateful and blaming me for treating an elderly woman badly. She claimed I deserved to be childless and alone. However, they did not know how many times I had stopped my mother-in-law from causing trouble and harm to them. I was driven to depression by them and eventually sent to a mental institution, where I was tortured to death. If I had the chance to do it again, I would protect my child and myself and stop preventing my mother-in-law from causing chaos for others. I would watch her bring equal destruction to each one of them!

"What!" Ethan says in his all too familiar deep rude voice. "You hit me, which caused my coffee to spill all over me," I say, pointing out the obvious. "So, what do you want me to do about it," He speaks like he has done nothing wrong "You are supposed to say sorry," I say in a duh tone "And why should I." "Because that is what people with manners do." "I know that, but you don't deserve sorry from me." "Wow, really, and why is that." "Because black bitches like you don't deserve it." "I have told you times without number to stop calling me that," I say getting angry with his insults "Make me," Ethan says, taking a dangerous step closer to me. I don't say anything, but hiss and walk past him. I don't know why I even expected him to say anything better. It is Ethan, after all. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a story about two people who knew how to express the word hate more than anything else to one another. Ethan hates Adina more than anything in the world and would give anything to see her perish into thin air. While on the other hand Adina could careless about Ethan other than the fact that she won't let him walk all over her with his arrogant character. What happens when a big incident changes all that. How do these two different people deal with a feeling that is supposed to be forbidden to feel for the each other. Read to find out how the person you hate the most is the one person you can love the most.