Countdown

My mother was tied up in an abandoned warehouse rigged with explosives by a rival gang. The kidnappers sent a video, and the countdown showed only 30 minutes remaining. I called Vincent Porter, my fiance and a mafia Don, for help. He was the uncontested king of this district. If he appeared, no one would dare touch her. Vincent answered and said he would bring his men right away. However, halfway there, he suddenly claimed there was an emergency and ordered the convoy to turn around. Desperate, I drove toward the warehouse myself, watching the seconds tick down on the video as I called Vincent again and again. On the 99th call, Vincent finally picked up. Soft violin music played in the background. His voice was ice-cold. "Alice, don't use such childish stunts to get attention." "My mom is about to die…" "Then let her." The call ended. As the countdown hit zero, the explosion went off. Seconds later, Vincent's childhood sweetheart, Jenny Thorne, posted on Instagram. The photo showed the same hands that usually held guns now carefully trimming her nails. [Woke up from a nightmare. So grateful he's here. A Don's protection really does make you feel safe.] It turned out this was his so-called emergency. He had gone to comfort a woman frightened by a bad dream. Shattered beyond repair, I ended everything with a carefully staged death. Later, when I returned in glory as a queen, he stood before me, completely broken. He had been stripped of everything. He begged, "Alice, please don't leave me."

Before our fifth mating anniversary, I was just about to tell my mate that I was about to inherit the pack my Alpha father left behind, when I saw him embracing and kissing the she-wolf who once bullied me. "This game has been going on for five years. It's time to end it." "Watching her come and go like a dog whenever called is really boring. What a fool. A fake mating certificate was enough to fool her completely. Did she really think an orphan like her could marry into the Shadowmoon Pack and become Luna? If she hadn't looked decent back then, I wouldn't have bothered with this charade." I felt like I'd fallen into an ice cave, sobbing uncontrollably. So the salvation that pulled me out of the bullying abyss was nothing but his amusing joke from beginning to end. If that's the case, I don't want this false love anymore.

My family hates me for causing my brother's death. From then on, I become a child no one loves. Meanwhile, my cousin, Evelyn Green, who looks like my brother, becomes the apple of my parents' eyes. From the age of ten to 18, my days are a cycle of beatings and forced apologies. On my 18th birthday, Evelyn wears a gorgeous gown and basks in everyone's adoration, while I'm shoved around in a maid's uniform and hit like I'm not even human. In my darkest moment, Morgan Oakley, the mafia boss, saves me. He takes me home, and step by step, wins his way into my heart. Because of him, I learn what love can feel like. He treats me like a treasure and promises me forever. However, on the day we're supposed to register our marriage, he keeps me waiting for a whole day and night. He never shows up. As I'm about to leave, my phone starts buzzing. A text from Morgan pops up. "Jasmine, I'm sorry. I ran into an enemy and couldn't make it to the city hall. A storm's coming, so make sure you get home quick!" My heart clenches in panic. I'm about to text back and ask if he's okay when Evelyn's message comes right after his. "Jasmine, I'm the one he loves. He skipped marrying you today because of me. You must be devastated, right?" Then, she sends a video. In it, Morgan holds her gently, his voice soft as he comforts her. "Evie, don't cry. You once saved my life, so I'll do anything for you. If you don't want me to marry Jasmine, then I won't. I love you. I only took her in so I could keep her close. That way, she'd be right there when you needed blood." My parents were off to the side. They chimed in tenderly, "Don't cry, Evie. Morgan loves you. He only pursued Jasmine because of your condition. You have a coagulation disorder and need transfusions of Rh-negative blood whenever you get hurt." I stagger back when I hear that, dropping my phone to the ground. So, Morgan's sudden passion is laced with poison. He only pretends to love me just so he can turn me into Evelyn's walking blood bank! Everyone goes to so much trouble to hide the truth from me just so Evelyn doesn't need to suffer from her condition! Rain mixes with my tears as they slide down my face. I stare at my phone on the pavement as bitterness floods me. A thought forms—I want to leave them forever. I want to disappear so they'll never find me again.

When I became pregnant, my gravely ill mother mentioned that her final wish was to witness my wedding. My boyfriend, William Jones, finally agrees to marry me after I have been asking for 99 days. Yet, on the wedding day, he never shows up, even though I was waiting in my gown at the hotel the whole day. The truth only emerges when someone found his marriage certificate that he had posted a month earlier on social media. He married his childhood sweetheart, Caroline Ashton, during that time. When my mother learns this, the shock triggers a fatal attack. She passes away despite the doctors' efforts. William sends me a message. "I'm sorry, honey. Caroline twisted her ankle, so I had to take care of her. We'll have our wedding next month, okay? I promise I'll make it up to you this time." … A month later, William prepares a lavish, grand wedding just for me. Dressed in a custom-tailored suit, he waits at the hotel. Yet, all he receives is the report from my abortion procedure. There is only one sentence on the back—"William, this is goodbye forever."

Sofia D’Moreno thought her life ended when she was sold to Lucas Valentine—the ruthless king of the Canadian underworld. Locked away in a luxurious mountain mansion amidst the frozen wilderness of Quebec, she soon realizes her capture wasn't just about a debt. ​Sofia is the "Living Key" to a lethal bio-weapon, the Black Dragon, hidden by her ancestors. As a toxic and forbidden passion ignites between captor and captive, Sofia discovers that every touch from Lucas is a gamble between life and death. ​With a 12-hour poison countdown in her veins and a blood feud demanding a sacrifice, Sofia must navigate a maze of family betrayals. When the secrets of the Moreno Vault are finally bared, will their love survive the explosion, or will they become mere ashes in the snow?

I fell for Don Lorenzo Moretti the second I saw him. Hard. As a mafia princess, I wasn't supposed to chase anyone. But for him, I swallowed my pride and made him my mission. A year later, he finally had me, pinning me to the bed as he moved inside me. His eyes were pure fire, and in that mo ment, they saw only me. For ten years, we were electric. We fucked in five-star hotels all over the world. We just fit. I was his lucky charm at the poker table. I took shots for him until I bled from my stomach. I even took a bullet for him. Then came our engagement party. Lorenzo left me standing there alone. Said something "came up." I went back to our apartment, only to find him kissing my stepsister, Juliana. That’s when I knew. He had always loved her. I was just a stand-in. He tried to explain, words tumbling out in a panicked rush, promising a bigger, better party to make up for it. A laugh, cold and hollow, died in my throat. I turned my back on him, pulled out my phone, and called my mother in Sicily. "I'll marry into the Romano family."

“Olivia, are you sure you want to give up everything in the Red River Pack and come back home?” “Yes, I am sure.” My voice was shaky but I was determined. I wipe the tears that should not fall and gently touch the little life in my belly. I will do everything I can to save my baby. “I will pick you up in thirty days, after I come back from the border. You’re the Alpha Princess of the whole country: nobody can hurt you without my permission. “Thank you, brother.” I try to keep my voice steady. When the thirty-day countdown reaches zero, I will forever leave my mate and return home.

He wants revenge, but he found a reason to protect. She was supposed to be his pawn… but she became his weakness, his obsession, his everything. Akiko Eloise has known nothing but pain. Abandoned by her parents, scarred by violence, and secretly battling leukemia, she has long accepted that her life is a slow countdown with no happy ending. But when she’s taken prisoner by Glen Xander McKenzie—a ruthless Mafia boss out for revenge on her family—her fate takes a sharp, terrifying turn. Glen is cold, calculated, and dangerous… but something about that girl began to stir something in him. Something dangerously close to feeling. And the more he learns about Akiko—her strength, her scars, her fading time—the harder it becomes to let her go. Will it change him—or destroy them both?

Ayla was an Omega. Like any other girl, she spent her entire life waiting for the moment when she shifts and her mate reveals himself to her. Her anticipation comes to an end when after her eighteenth birthday, she gets to know her mate is the Alpha of her pack. Celebration's all around. But in a cruel twist of fate, her pack gets attacked by the rival pack and unexpectedly, she realizes that the enemy Alpha is also her mate! For the sake of some spice in her boring life and also for the sake of their irresistible charm, she gives the two Alpha a 60-days countdown to win her heart. Who do you think will take her home as his Luna? And why does she has two mates? Join the journey of Ayla, the Omega where her fate brings out her wildest nightmares to life. "Because the secrets are yet to unveil."

Desperate to lose her virginity, Gracie, asks the new transferred boy out, the school nerd; Jason Drew. Well that's what she presumed, seeing the thick frame covering those eyes, that never left the books and the hand that never left the pens. He seemed like a perfect guy whom she could easily manipulate. Innocent and dumb. Seeing him so antisocial can mean only one thing right? That he has no experience in the field of sexual activity. Well at least that's what Gracie thought. But little did she know, innocence is far fetched from his dictionary. Nerd and innocent was never his thing. Never! The guy she just asked was a complete dominant and ruthless in bed, that can actually result in getting her on a wheelchair in a single night. "Sure, Gracie!" he said, "Meet you after the school." And the countdown begins...