Best Of Ray Bradbury

Caleb Greene is a talented detective who prefers to work alone, but suddenly finds himself with a beautiful and mysterious partner.Camille is a teenage girl learning about love, life and loss. Separated by more than geography, these people are going to find themselves needing each other in ways they never would have expected.

My best friend passed away from postpartum hemorrhage. Ethan said he didn't want his child to grow up without a mother. To repay my best friend for saving my life years ago, I became the child's mother. I gave up my career and ambitions, willingly becoming a full-time housewife. For seven years, I cared for both father and son as if it were my life's mission. Yet, he always remained distant, his tenderness surfacing only in the quiet intensity of late nights. Afterward, he would hand me a few birth control pills. On New Year's Eve, my throat felt strange. I swallowed the pills, only to immediately vomit them all out. Ethan was furious and accused me of harboring ulterior motives. As punishment, he locked me outside on the open balcony in the rain. Our son came running with an umbrella in hand. But he walked past me without a glance and handed it to the housekeeper who was heading out. In that moment, I made up my mind—I would leave.

There was a loud silence in Rayuwa. Certain things were never discussed, but everyone knew it was forbidden for the people of Rayuwa to leave the Island. The Only person that was allowed that privilege was the Sarki and his family. It was believed that in the past, to save Lafiya and prosper the land and people, the Island of Rayuwa and its people were sacrificed. They were to carry the burden of keeping the deities happy while they prospered the land and the country. The price that Rayuwa paid for this responsibility was confinement. They were never to leave the island. People had been rumoured to try and escape the Island, but they never made it. Some of them ended up as corpses washed onto the shores of Rayuwa. Soon the people just stopped trying to leave. Binta was born on the island with no hope of ever escaping until she met Adam and fell in love. When she becomes royalty, she can leave the island but the liberation of the people of Rayuwa is paramount and she and Adam work closely together to liberate the people. (The point of view of the story changes. In each chapter, different affected characters will tell the story from their point of view. This is to enable the reader to have the full understanding of the story and also understand how the characters reason.)

Evelyn "Evie" Moretti never wanted to be part of the mafia world. The daughter of a disgraced underboss, she’s spent her life dreaming of freedom—a life far away from the violence and betrayal that destroyed her family. But when her father’s debts to the powerful Romano crime family spiral out of control, Evie is forced to pay the price: an arranged marriage to Don Alessandro "Alessio" Romano, the ruthless and enigmatic head of the Romano family. Alessio is as cold as he is handsome, a man shrouded in darkness and driven by a thirst for revenge. From the moment Evie meets him, it’s clear that their marriage is no love story. It’s a transaction, a way to settle a debt and secure power. But as Evie is thrust into Alessio’s world of luxury, danger, and deceit, she begins to realize that there’s more to their union than meets the eye. Alessio harbours a deep hatred for her family, and his cruelty toward her is both calculated and personal. As Evie struggles to survive in her new life, she uncovers shocking secrets about her family’s past—and Alessio’s true motives for marrying her. Betrayed at every turn, she must navigate a treacherous web of lies, power struggles, and forbidden desires. But the more she learns, the more she questions who she can trust—and whether she can resist the dangerous pull of the man who holds her captive in every way. Bound by Blood and Betrayal is a dark, emotional mafia romance filled with twists, tension, and a love that burns as fiercely as it destroys. Can Evie find a way to escape Alessio’s grip, or will she lose herself in the shadows of his world?

When Elena decides to surprise her boyfriend Jason on his birthday, things take an unexpected turn. In the darkness, she mistakes her best friend Asher for Jason, and they share a passionate night. But the truth comes to light, and Elena is left to grapple with the consequences of her actions. Lost in the guilt of sleeping with her best friend who was friend’s boyfriend, what happens when she finds out that her bestie is her mate and accepts her fate? As Elena navigates the complex web of relationships and emotions, she must confront the guilt and shame that threaten to consume her? Dive into this steamy and emotional rollercoaster. Read for more.

At the pack's festival, a witch hands me a crystal orb that reveals the truth. When I ask "why," she says she was entrusted to deliver it and reminds me only to use it when I am alone. As the image in the orb grows clearer, and my mate appears, I forget how to breathe. "Jared Hamilton, do you love me?" a woman asks in her sweetest voice, curling her arms around his neck. "I do. Of course, I do. You're the only one I'll love for the rest of my life, Luciana." My hand slips. Even after the crystal orb hits the floor, I can still hear them talking. "I swear before the sacred Moon Goddess that I'll be with you, Luciana Rose, until my very last breath. If I ever break this oath, may I never know joy again." I feel suffocated. All I can do is stare in disbelief. The woman he vows to love for life is none other than my very best friend.

During my mother's prenatal testing, the doctor discovers that I, the baby she's carrying, have the XYY syndrome. Since Mom's health is frail, it will be hard for her to have another baby. My parents somberly decide to have me anyway. When I'm in elementary school, my nanny is playing with me when I accidentally break her arm by stepping on it. During middle school, a few thugs try to rob me on the street, only to end up in the hospital because of me. This one incident makes me famous. Word keeps spreading until I become known as a bully in school. No one dares to offend me at all. I've since graduated from college. During a class reunion with my college classmates, Zoey Johnson, my girlfriend of three years, brings Michael Greer, her male best friend, with her. When a game of Truth or Dare starts, Michael bluntly shares one of Zoey's secrets. "I know she has a mole on one of her nips." He looks smug about what he has just revealed. Everyone else has fallen silent. After glancing at Zoey, who's sitting beside Michael, I pull her off the couch and say, "Take your top off. Let's see if he's telling the truth."

Under the glow of the full moon, Wren Cade should have died. Instead, she wakes up a monster. Turned into a werewolf by a rogue attack, Wren is dragged before Nightwind Pack and their ruthless Alpha, Lucian Vale. Pack law is simple: turned wolves are unstable and must be executed. But when their eyes meet, the impossible happens—the Moon marks them as fated mates. Lucian’s answer is a cold, public rejection. Bound by prophecy and politics, he’s forbidden to kill her…and forced to keep her inside his pack house, under his constant watch. Not pack. Not prisoner. Not his. Living one floor below the Alpha who broke her, Wren refuses to cower. She makes allies among omegas, rookies, and other misfits, building a quiet found family in the shadows of Nightwind’s rigid hierarchy. Then Lucian’s oldest friend arrives. Elias Thorn, the charming Alpha of a neighboring pack, sees nothing cursed about Wren. He’s warm where Lucian is ice, and he makes no secret of his interest in the mate Lucian threw away. As feral attacks spread and a fanatical cult rises, Wren becomes the only one who can calm the monsters stalking the borders. Caught between a fate she never asked for and a man who would choose her freely, she’ll have to decide: Will she give her fated mate a second chance… or let the Moon watch the world burn?

My husband, Tyler West, and I had been childless for five years. Under my best friend, Julia Morse's encouragement, we decided to adopt the child with a so-called tragic background—according to her, anyway. We treated Howard Whitley like our own son and proceeded to raise him for more than a dozen years afterward. Only when Howard came of age did we find out that he was actually the illegitimate son of Julia and a rich man named Alex Saggese. In order to flee from Alex's wife, Catalina Tassi's vengeful acts of assassination, Julia and Howard purposefully lured me and Tyler into riding a car that was tampered in advance. Because of that, we were caught up in a tragic car accident, making us the sacrifice needed for Julia and Howard to shake Catalina off their backs once and for all. To make things worse, Julia and Howard flew overseas and lived lavish lives by spending our money! When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Julia keeps convincing Tyler and I to adopt Howard. That's when I feel Tyler gripping my hand tightly, a dark look on his face. Immediately, I realize that he's gotten reborn as well. In this life, we will never step down that path of idiocy ever again!

My daughter, Heather Miller, comes home in an injured state from her high school one day. Apparently, someone has been spreading rumors about her cheating in her exams, stealing from others, and even shamelessly serving as an old geezer's mistress! I spend a fortune hiring a hacker in order to locate the source of those rumors. To my horror, my best friend, Sylvia Lister, is actually the one behind this scheme! Just as I'm about to confront her angrily, I suddenly see rows of comments occupying my vision. "The male lead's mom really is smart! She taught him how to come up with rumors just to slander the female lead! Now that no one wants to approach her, he can have her all to himself!" "The mother-and-son pair really are sneaky… and I like it! The female lead is really blessed to have them in her life!" "If my guess is correct, the female lead will get expelled from the school next week. She'll get locked up by the male lead and his mom in their home, which is the start of her amazing bedroom life!"