Better Off

Nolan Russo thought he had his life figured out. As the son of a powerful mafia boss, his future was all planned: step into his father’s shoes and take over the family empire. But those plans are thrown into chaos when his father demands he marry Anastasia Ivanov, the bold and unpredictable daughter of another powerful family. The marriage is meant to unite their families and save the Russo business from falling apart, but neither Nolan nor Anastasia is happy about it. Anastasia has no interest in being anyone’s wife. She’s used to living on her own terms and refuses to be controlled. To her, this marriage feels like a trap. But despite their clashes and fiery arguments, there are few moments of undeniable tension between them—something neither can ignore, no matter how hard they try. Just as they start to find their footing in this uneasy alliance, their world is shaken by betrayal. Someone close to Nolan breaks their trust, setting off a series of dangerous events. To protect Anastasia, Nolan hires Ivan, a quiet yet mysterious bodyguard who seems to understand her better than anyone else. But the closer Anastasia gets to Ivan, the more tangled things become. Secrets start to surface—secrets that could destroy everything they’ve worked for. As the lines between loyalty, love, and revenge blur, Nolan and Anastasia are forced to confront the choices they’ve made. Can they survive the lies and betrayals that threaten to tear them apart, or will the weight of their choices crush them both?

Synopsis "Marry me." His voice calm and steady as if he just told me to get him a drink "What?" I asked, my mind spinning faster than ever He chuckled, his voice as magnetic as ever, as if he wanted to pull my soul and he was... Almost. "What better way to piss dear father off than to marry a divorced lady." "We can't date, remember the rules..." “You're the one who needs to remember. I set the rules.” §§§§ Silvia Simpson was the perfect trophy wife—until she walked away from her cheating husband, a ruined career, and a life that never felt like hers. Stripped of everything, she crashes into the one man who turns her world into more chaos: Calvin Riego—sinfully rich, dangerously charming, and off-limits in every way. One reckless night at King’s Palace ignites a chemistry too intense to forget. But when Calvin offers her a modeling comeback—and a fake relationship to save them both from scandal—Silvia realizes she might be playing a game she can’t control. Especially when the deal comes with a secret clause: if Silvia can resist Calvin's advances, she gets a 25% stake in his Multi-million dollar company But Calvin never plays fair. And Silvia? She’s done being anyone’s pawn. In a world of glittering lies, twisted loyalties, and slow-burning passion, someone’s bound to get burned.

Rogue Chavez is an assassin who works under an anonymous organization whom his father managed, he gets paid off billions for doing his job. All he has to do is bring the target's head. He began to love his work and that he became committed to it, his performances say it all, he is one of the best assassins that his father has trained. However, his life turned upside down when he was assigned to do a mission. A task that he is struggling to deal with, to take over the CEO position, he has to marry Keilah Olivarez, one of the daughters of an affluent family who managed the highest rate Hospital—Meadowview Medical. She happens to have an arranged marriage with one of the shareholders, Torrent Perez but she is wise enough to notice the strings behind the offer and has to say no. Rogue has to work as a doctor in disguise to cover up his real identity. He is stern in his decisions and doesn't want to disappoint his father, he lets his impulsive mind take over and accepts the task. Upon knowing that Keilah Olivarez is targeted by her own family because she dared to execute them for power. Her life is in danger and she needs protection. Keilah knows that she needs to take a risk, will trusting a man she never met before will keep her life? Will her life become better if she chose to file a marriage contract with Rogue Chavez?

Dahlia Bernard gave Desmond Sterlings everything, love, loyalty, and a crown he never earned. She picked him from the slums, built him into a CEO, and handed him the keys to her empire. Love blinded her. Desmond repaid her by betraying her, stealing her company, sleeping with multiple women, and getting her own sister pregnant. A community dick, that's all he ever was. Now, Dahlia isn’t just broken. She’s angry. With Ronan Knight, Drawlwood's ruthless billionaire by her side, Dahlia is ready to reclaim everything that was once hers. And this time… mercy is off the table. ********** I was flung aside, my grip on Roselle slipping as I crashed into someone's arms, Ronan Knight. "Hold in your rage, Dahlia," Ronan's voice was calm. "There are better ways to make them pay. Don’t destroy yourself trying to hurt them. That's not how revenge works." I glanced down at my reddened knuckles. Tears blurring my vision. "Then tell me, Ronan… how do I hurt them?" I choked on my tears. "By becoming untouchable," he said softly. "Become more powerful, more successful. A version of Dahlia they could never break. And then… you make them kneel." He leaned in, a wicked promise in his eyes. "I'll help you rise again, Dahlia. And when you do… they'll beg at your feet."

At our daughter’s three-month milestone party, my husband Garrett’s so-called "best friend" publicly humiliated me. “Hey, Vivian. I heard you're a little loose down there after popping out the kid.” "If it's that bad, you better get some tightening surgery quick—don't wanna mess up your marriage vibes!" Garrett shot her a playful glare and snapped, "Knock it off, Scarlett! You can't just say whatever pops into your head." Then he turned to me with a breezy shrug. "She's just like that—total tomboy. We grew up together; she means no harm." Scarlett shook her half-exposed breast and pouted, "Oh, come on, don't take it personally, Vivian. Honestly, I'm kind of jealous of you." "See, my problem is the opposite. I'm way too tight—hurts like hell during my period. No clue who's gonna get lucky with this later." Then she cut her eyes toward Garrett with a playful wink. " Oh right, you've tried it before, haven't you?" The room went dead silent. Every pair of eyes drifted toward me, barely concealing their curiosity. I smiled, set down my wine glass, and looked at Scarlett with fake concern. "That's strange. I don't remember making it that tight when I did your surgery."

Riven Vale is Hollywood’s star boy—talented, handsome, untouchable. But when a late-night scandal with a billionaire’s son explodes across every tabloid, his once-soaring career crashes to dust. To quell the frenzy, his team ships him off to a sleepy coastal town in Maine, ostensibly “to rest and recharge.” Unofficially? He stumbled onto something dark: a clandestine meeting between studio executives and a shadowy investor, planning to traffic stolen military tech.He refused their hush-money,and the threats began. At the edge of a misty harbor stands Kael Quinn, a rugged carpenter with a haunted gaze and zero patience for movie stars. Riven doesn’t recognize him at first, but Kael remembers the boy who crushed a small-town heart in high school—and walked away without a second glance. This time, he’s not letting Riven leave until he makes amends. Only, Kael doesn't just want an apology; he wants the truth, the whole story, and he’s ready to use every tool in his belt to pry it out. “Tell me, Hollywood—do you kiss better when you're lying, or when you're scared?” Tension ignites into obsession as Riven fights to stay alive—and to win back the man he once broke. With every secret laid bare, they’re drawn together by danger, by guilt, by the promise of something more. But the label’s mercenaries are closing in, and in a town too quiet to be safe, love might be the deadliest risk of all.

Her: My husband is not the man I love. No, He is my punishment. No one forced me to marry him, I married him willingly.  I share his bed every night, willingly. I don't love him. I used to love someone else but that man betrayed me and my love. Hence, I punished myself by marrying the man I hated the most. But My husband wants something from me that I am not ready to give.  Children! Him: The first time I saw her, I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was my enemy’s daughter. Proud and egoistic just like her father.   They say there was no better way to bring your enemy to his knees than hurting his family. I did that, I married his daughter to hurt him.  She came to me willingly. She thought I had forgotten the insults she had done to me. But she didn't know that I forgot nothing.  It was time for payback.  There was only one payment I wanted from her: Children.  The day she insulted me I promised revenge. I promised to crush her pride and arrogance. She called me bad blood, she insulted me for being an Orphan. Now my children will have her noble blood in their veins. Now she will be known as the mother of my children!

Fiona Callaghan is just a maid at the Kavanagh household. She thinks her future is set in stone, but things take a turn when she is pawned off to the mafia king of London in place of her boss’s daughter. She has to pretend to be someone she’s not to save her mother from a fate worse than death. Cillian Harrington is the feared king of London. He marries Fiona, thinking she’s someone she’s not, in an effort to get revenge for something that happened to his family. He plans to make her life a living hell. Feelings blossom when these two meet, and they have to fight the magnetic pull that constantly brings them together. Something so wrong suddenly feels so right. *** “I own you now. I will make sure you regret being born into the Kavanagh household. Your life as a coddled Irish mafia princess is gone. You’re my slave now. You will do as I say or I will make you wish you were dead.” I whimpered, wishing I were back in the Kavanagh household. Surely, it had to be better than being tied to a freaking monster. Either way, I must have lost my mind because the closer Cillian got to me, the more my whole body was set aflame. I must have been crazy to want a man who vowed to make my life miserable.

My mother-in-law, Emerald Jones, had always loved to exaggerate. My wife’s wedding gift for me was worth 8,800 dollars, but my mother-in-law told everyone it was worth 880,000 dollars. We only looked at cars at a luxurious car dealership. But she went around saying she spent over 200,000 dollars to buy me one. I figured that I was going to spend my life with my wife, Emilia, so I put up with her. On the eve of our wedding, I had a small argument with my wife. She blurted out, “My family has to pay over a million dollars for me to marry you. What more do you want? “My wedding gift alone is 880,000 dollars. Anyone who doesn’t know better will think you’re living off a woman!” I was utterly disappointed. She was not directly involved in the discussion on the wedding gift. However, it was something both families had agreed on together. My wife actually believed her mother’s ridiculous remarks and assumed I had received an outrageously expensive wedding gift. After my mother-in-law transferred 1,000 dollars to me for the wedding banquet, she told everyone she had given me 100,000 dollars instead. So, I swapped the luxury wedding feast for instant noodles on the day of the banquet. In addition, I showed a looped display of her stingy transfer of money to my bank account for everyone to see.

Rose Alexis thought she had found the one. Maxwell Copper was the perfect man, a gentle giant, a great listener, and a perfect lover. Her dreams of moving away from her hometown were forgotten after meeting him, wanting to create a home with the man who swept her off her feet. But all great things must come to an end, and her love broke her heart and left in the cruelest way possible, leaving her with the unborn child growing in her womb. Her life is turned upside down after he left, everyone turning on her from left to right, until she needed a place to hide when her long line of hunters family found out that she was knocked up by a wolf shifter. The only place she could hide in was his home, and she was not welcome there. Rose comes from an enemy that loves hunting Maxwells kind, and there is no place for her by his side. what happens when she finds herself in his pack? what happens when she finds herself guilty of crimes her family committed without her knowledge? what happens when a child is born between two worlds that should have never colided? This book follows The Alpha's Stolen Mate, and you can find it here exclusively on Goodnovel. For better enjoyment, it is recommended that you read the first book. But this book can be read as a standalone as well.