Ashy Knees

My mafia husband, Vincent Santoro, was born a monster, incapable of loving anyone. But one day, I discovered he was hiding a ‘forbidden fruit’. A girl from the slums, Claire Murphy. Scarred by life, yet as beautiful as a wildflower growing through concrete. For a man who'd waded through blood his whole life, she was a fatal attraction he never saw coming. He thought he'd covered his tracks. He was wrong. At the Santoro family's annual dinner, I confronted him about Claire, tears streaking down my face. He just lightly frowned, then had his consigliere slide the divorce papers across the table to me. "Isabella. Sign it. The three North Side docks and the shipping lines are yours." I tore the papers to shreds. He just kept raising the offer. He had me thrown into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan. He blew up my family's distillery—the Romano family's legacy. Finally, he took my parents. Tied them in an abandoned warehouse and made one watch as he set the other on fire. "Sign, or watch them burn. Your choice." I begged him on my knees, but a roar of flames consumed the world— The heat seared my skin, the ash of my parents clinging to my face. "No... NO!" When I opened my eyes, I was back. Back on the day I first learned about Claire. This time, no tears, no drama. That night, I called my family in Sicily and set my escape in motion. But the moment I vanished from his world… Vincent Santoro went insane.

I had just bought a coin worth 3,000 dollars from a trading website. However, when someone came to deliver it, it was not a courier—it was my stepsister, Eleanor Holt. She dropped to her knees, begging me not to tell her mom about what she was doing. "Shawn, please. If you promise not to say anything, I'll do whatever you want tonight. Anything."

After being missing for eighteen years, I was finally found by my wealthy birth parents. The impostor—the young man who had taken my place all this time—dropped to his knees, sobbing. "Goodbye, Mom and Dad. Thank you for raising me. Now that Jason is back, this family doesn't need me anymore." My parents hugged him with heartbreaking tenderness. "Don't be ridiculous," they said. "You're our only real son." Even my fiancée confessed her love to him. "I don't care who you really are. You're the only one I love." They all orbited around him, like planets around the sun. When I was nearly killed in a car accident, they were too busy throwing a birthday party for his dog. So I packed my things in silence. Without a word, I accepted an invitation from the space agency to join a five-year satellite research mission in complete isolation. Yet after I left, it was like the whole family lost their minds. They scoured the entire country, desperate to find any trace of me.

Holy shit. Hell no. Ivette’s brain turned into a puddle as she stared into those bright brown eyes that had wiped her world away on that night weeks ago. She would never forget those eyes that haunted her dreams every night. His knowing smile. His full mouth that had touched every inch of her skin. His dark hair that her fingers had dove into and pulled as she moaned against his tan skin. His scent that made her knees wobble with need. At least, now she knew his name. When Ivette King's long-term boyfriend proposes to her, in a bid to find some semblance of peace, she takes a step in the wrong direction. A one-night stand with a rival. A mistake, she called it. An unforgettable experience, he begged to differ.

‘‘Because I like you!! I didn't want you to leave! I didn't wanted us to end like that! But you…YOU JUST LEFT WITHOUT TELLING ME.’’ Aaron shouted and looked at Valencia. ‘‘YOU ALWAYS LEAVE ME BEHIND! YOU ALWAYS LEAVE WITHOUT TELLING ME!! YOU JUST DID THAT IN THE MORNING.’’ He shouted. ‘‘I know we had problems between us at that time but you could have just said it to me that you're leaving but you didn't!! You left me.’’ He said, but she was still sitting comfortably and looking at me. ‘‘I was attracted to you!! I liked you and I know that I unknowingly hurted you when I remind you of your mother. But I also said sorry about that to you and your mother.’’ He just let it out, he said everything. ********** “YOU BETRAY ME!!” Valencia shouted at Aaron.  “You dare to betray me while living under my roof!! How dare you do that?” She picked up the vase and threw it on the ground, in front of him.  “I…I didn't betray you!! I never wanted to do something like this?” Aaron stutters, his eyes moisten, as he sees the hatred in her eyes for him. “But you still did!? You choose to go against me!!” She said, feeling disgusted by looking at him. “Valencia! I swear I didn't— Please don't hate me!!” Aaron begged.  “Please don't chase me away from you!!” He fell on his knees, on the broken pieces of vase and bleeding on her floor. “I believed you. But you broke my trust!! Now leave my house and never show me your face.” She snapped, turned back and left from there. She left him bleeding in her house, with a broken trust and heart. The heart, she believes she doesn't have.

For fifteen years, Lilian had been pampered as the daughter of the marquis, until the day she was suddenly told that she was a fraud. Since then, the parents who loved her dearly became Evelyn Lestrade's parents, her brother who used to spoil her rotten pushed her down the stairs, and even her fiance, the accomplished general, took Evelyn's side. For Evelyn, they were also willing to turn a blind eye despite knowing that Lilian was framed, allowing Evelyn to reduce Lilian to a slave for three years without a care. And yet, three years later, the marquis and his wife were crying and begging before Lilian. "Please, it was all just a mistake. Come home with us!" Even her brother was on his knees for the entire night. "Could you please forgive me?' Her former fiance was bruised and bloodied as he came to her too. "Could you find some kindness in your heart to love me again?" Kindness? Hah! Her heart had already died three years ago! They could die for all she cared! Later, Lilian met a man who was obsessed with her, and seeing how happy she was, the people from her past stayed as far as away as they could. After all, they were worried that they would not be allowed to see her even from afar…

Tom could make my body ache with just a word. The closer he stepped towards me the more I would crumble to my knees, ready for what he had in store next. I couldn’t imagine a normal relationship anymore.. this was more. This was my more…. . “Yes master”, I responded bringing my mind out of deep thought. ~~~~~ Anna was newly 21, heartbroken and looking for anything but complicated, and that’s when Tom entered her life. He was everything she didn’t know she wanted. But he came with his own set of likes. If you don’t like explicit, erotic, steamy novels, turn back now! As unsure as you are about where this story is going, I’m just as in the dark. Follow along with me as Anna and Tom’s story unravels.

Five years after marrying Blake Sullivan, I make a dumb move. I chase his favorite lover out of the country in hopes that he'll come back to me. He doesn't say anything after finding out. Instead, he makes my family go bankrupt and forces my father to his knees before him. My mother's hair goes gray overnight. Now, he stands before me. It's my turn to suffer his wrath. "It's my fault for treating you too well, Karen. It made you cross the line. It's time for you to experience what hell on earth is like."

My wife, a doctor, treated our daughter like a walking blood bank. When our daughter passed away, she took it even further. She transplanted her corneas into her old flame’s son. Before our daughter’s body was even cold, she was out having dinner with her ex and his son. They were celebrating that the boy could see again. She even went so far as to secretly burn our daughter’s body to get rid of any evidence. By the time I got there, all I saw was my daughter's ashes being swallowed up by the flames. I told her I wanted a divorce. She just sneered, “It’s only a daughter. Are you really going to divorce me over this?” But later, she was down on her knees, begging me not to leave her.

Alexander Defiant is the alpha of the silver shadow fangs pack. He is strong, and handsome, but most importantly he dominates anyone who stands in his way of what he wants. Especially, when he meets the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. Anastasia Smith on the other hand has completely different ideas when she meets the infuriating Mr. Defiant. Could a beautiful woman possibly make such a powerful domineering man fall to his knees? Or will the tables turn on Anastasia? Read May I Alpha, the first book in The Defiant Collection to find out.