Brooke Shields

In the split second when the research lab explodes, my boyfriend, Thomas Bastion, dashes to Melody Harper, who is standing furthest from the blast zone. He shields her from the impact with his own body. When the sounds of the explosion stop, the first thing he does is carry Melody to the hospital. I'm lying on the floor. My body is covered in fresh blood, but he doesn't spare a single glance at me. Thomas has taken care of Melody for the past 18 years. His heart is filled with nothing but her. There's no space for anyone else. I only survived because my colleagues rushed me to the hospital. When I am discharged from the ICU, I call my teacher, Louis Carpenter. Both my eyes are swollen from how much I've been crying. "Mr. Carpenter, I've made up my mind. I'm willing to join you for the confidential research. It's fine if we have to leave in one month. I don't care that I'll be unable to contact anyone for the next five years." The wedding ceremony that I have been dreaming of is supposed to take place in a month's time. However, I no longer want to get married.

My younger sister was in a bad mood and went drinking at a bar, only to be dragged into a room by a few men. Not long after, she ended up pregnant. My husband, to protect her, actually suggested divorcing me so he could marry her instead. "Brooke only went to that bar because of me. I can't let people talk about her. Don't worry—once the baby is born and the paperwork is done, we'll remarry." I refused, but he heartlessly abandoned me, seven months pregnant, on the side of the highway. With my swollen belly, I walked for over an hour before finally making it off the road. There, I found my husband and my sister standing together, mocking me in my miserable state. "You wouldn't even help your own sister. Serves you right to suffer like this." "Noelle, don't be angry. I'm about to give birth, and Jensen only did it 'cause he was only worried about me." At that moment, I finally gave up completely. "Fine. Let's get divorced."

A girl who has secrets and thoughts darker than most. A boy who will be the leader of the most powerful Mafia in the world. A past of heartbreak and pain. Brooklyn Lilac Russo grew up learning how two kill a man in hundreds of ways. She never feared death she embraced it. She knows more languages than you can count on your hands. Killing people has never been a problem. But falling in love? That is something she tried but did not work out. Now, will she be able to find love with a man who rivals herself in death and destruction? Mason Enzo Morelli grew up knowing what his role is in the world. Be the greatest Mafia empire known in every town and city. He built his own gang at 14 and at 21 he has to prepare to take over his family's empire built on fear and death. But a young woman who is blessed with the beauty of the gods but rivals the devil comes into his life and messes up his plans. Can they fall for each other while Brooke's past catches up to her? or will the past take the one thing, Mason loves more than life itself?

I messed up—big time. Blurting out at a family dinner that my boss, neighbor, and best friend’s brother, Arnold, asked me to be his wedding date was not my finest moment. Mortified, I’m ready to apologize and smooth things over with his family, but Arnold? He’s not having it. Instead, he doubles down, proposing a wild plan: a fake relationship that suits us both.The deal? Three months of playing the perfect couple while my toddler and I live in his house, rent-free. In return, Arnold shields me from my toxic ex, and I help him dodge the town’s relentless matchmaking efforts. It’s the perfect arrangement—until the lines between fake and real start to blur.Arnold’s not just playing a role. He’s reading bedtime stories to my son, cooking us meals, and kissing me like the world might end if he stops. With every tender touch and stolen glance, he makes me feel seen, desired, in a way I’ve never known. The guestroom feels colder each night when his strong, tattooed arms are just down the hall, calling to me.As our forbidden kisses deepen, so does the risk. Are we crafting a love that could break us? Or are we building something breathtakingly real?

At eight months pregnant, I was in a car accident and delivered a stillborn child. My husband, who had always been so gentle, turned on me. He called me useless. He said I couldn't even protect our baby. He forced me into a divorce and, without looking back, rushed into a hasty marriage with his long-lost first love. Just as despair threatened to swallow me whole, Grayson Brooke—my childhood friend who had been overseas for years—returned. He confessed his feelings and promised to cherish me for the rest of my life. But in the third year of our marriage, I accidentally overheard a conversation between him and his closest friend that turned my blood to ice. "That car accident you staged—just to get the cord blood—killing Lydia's innocent baby in the process… it was too cruel, even for you." "It was a necessary evil. Only her child's cord blood could save Kayla." "But Lydia had just one month left. Kayla could have held on a little longer—" Grayson cut him off, his voice sharp and absolute. "If there was a way, why would we wait? I couldn't stand by and let Kayla suffer for one second more."

The year the Rossi famiglia falls, my personal Underboss, Lorenzo Santoro, rises to power—becoming the Don and seizing control of the underworld. Once, I was the untouchable Principessa. He was the Soldato, ready to die for me at a moment's notice. For something as trivial as a paper cut on my finger, he would drop to his knees with red-rimmed eyes, blowing on it for half an hour. Now, to earn a smile from his new flame, Elena Marino, he forces me to sign a contract and makes me his live target. He watches with indifference as I am battered and bloodied under a hail of bullets. During a blast-resistance test, shattered glass slices the corner of my eye, but Lorenzo merely looks on. "The once-delicate Principessa Rossi can't even handle a little pain?" During attack-dog training, I am bitten to the bone, yet he shields a trembling Elena instead. "Animals don't know any better. Why are you holding a grudge against a dog?" Then comes the real kidnapping. To save Elena, who is desperate to become Donna, he personally cuts off my escape. "This is just a drill, Isabella," he scoffs. "Stop acting like it's real." On the surveillance monitors, flames engulf me as I take my final breath. A bloodstained termination contract is delivered to him. "Don Santoro, I return the life I owe you." Only then does the man who believes he rules the world finally lose his mind.

The company had just taken off when a project my wife, Lenora Peterson, was in charge of ran into trouble. To ease her mind during her pregnancy, I went overseas in her stead, spending ten perilous years abroad before finally returning home, barely alive. Instead of the joyful reunion I had imagined, she greeted me with cold detachment and thinly veiled disgust. "Why are you back?" Lenora asked. "Today is Nathan’s housewarming party," she added. "Let’s head there first—we’ll talk later." We rode in silence the entire way. When we arrived, a ten-year-old girl came dashing over and clung to Lenora affectionately. “Mommy, why did you take so long? Daddy’s been waiting for you forever!” Daddy? My eyes burned with rage—until I saw my old friend Nathan Grant stepping out to greet us with a smile. "Lily, come to Daddy. Mommy’s tired—don’t bother her now." When I met Lenora’s eyes, the guilt I saw there told me everything I needed to know. I turned away and texted my assistant, Morgan Williamson, to begin acquiring the company that, by right, had always belonged to me. He soon reported back. "Mr. Brooke, the acquisition process will be completed in three days."

------ Through the small gap, I saw them. Ciaran’s hands were under Elara’s skirt, pushing it up as he pressed his body into hers from behind. Her breathy giggles mixed with his possessive murmurs. They were both facing away from the door, her body nearly bent over the bed. "Later," Elara giggled, her voice teasing, playful. “You have to get to the ceremony.” “I’ll take you later too,” Ciaran growled lustfully, his voice dripping with possession. ------ Cast aside as wolfless, betrayed by her love on the eve of her wedding, Ariana’s world shatters when her fiancé slaughters her family and lays waste to her pack. Barely escaping with her life, Ariana is mistaken for the contract bride of a notorious Alpha after a rogue attack leaves her the sole survivor. Desperate for refuge, she steps into the role of his fake bride, hiding under a guise that shields her from past horrors. But as her days in the Alpha's world turn into something more, survival is no longer enough—Ariana begins to crave revenge on the man who destroyed her life. Yet, every day she spends deceiving this cursed Alpha—whose own brides never survive—brings her closer to a new danger: her growing desire for the very man she’s deceiving. With enemies closing in, will Ariana’s secret destroy her? Or will she risk everything to uncover a future that’s as dangerous as it is seductive?

Stephanie Ford has given her heart and everything else to Tyler Grover throughout their five-year relationship, only to find out that he has already married his first love, Kiara Grover, on their wedding night. The fake marriage certificate that Stephanie holds is proof that she's stuck in an elaborate scheme that Tyler and Kiara have come up with. This realization leaves her heartbroken and her trust in Tyler permanently shattered. Throughout the past five years, she's gone through a car accident that's apparently staged by others, which has ruined her dreams of becoming a professional dancer. To make things worse, Tyler and Kiara intend to use her as a surrogate mother for their child. Hence, Stephanie decides to go home and enter into a business marriage that her family has arranged for. The next time they meet again, Tyler watches as the cold and aloof heir to the powerful Hawke family of Jetterpolis, Adrian Hawke, pulls Stephanie carefully into his arms. He treats her with utmost care, as though she's the most precious treasure in the world. Tyler's eyes redden instantly. He sinks down to his knees like a madman and begins begging Stephanie for her forgiveness. "Steph, this is all my fault! Please come back to me!" But Adrian shields Stephanie from Tyler, his expression now glacial. "Get lost! Don't you dare taint my wife's sight with your filthy presence!"

He's the rich, handsome, ruthless alpha heir who wouldn't even spare her a glance. And she’s the girl who secretly crushed on him for years. Azaria Brooke had spent years crushing on her best friend’s older brother Nicholas Sinclair, the pack’s alpha heir. He was a well-known bad boy she-wolves wanted. He lived life on his terms, breaking hearts and rules alike but he had never looked her way. Nicholas on the other had known Azaria was his mate since the moment he caught her scent. But mating means weakness, and weakness has no place in his world. He’s spent years denying the bond, ignoring the fire that burns every time she’s near. He had his reasons and they were valid. Until the night she was attacked. He must choose: break every rule he’s ever set for himself, or risk losing her forever. But then again Azaria was furious. How could he keep this from her when he knew she was the butt of jokes in the Pack? She had refused to forgive him. Now will she forgive him and accept his proposal for a quick marriage to find secrets surrounding her birth and about the woman she calls her mother, who is now a terror in the whole of lycanthropy or will she listen to her Best friend who says her brother is no good for her.