Caressed Cheek

All her life, Evangeline knew only one thing: pain. Born from her father’s affair, a living reminder of a mistake, she grew up as a ghost in her own house. Unwanted. Useful only when the cameras were on. Never when love was needed. Then one morning, everything shifted. “Roman De Luca wants to marry your sister. He is too dangerous for her. So you will take her place.” A decision, not a question. And in that moment, Eva finally understood: this wasn’t about protecting her sister. It was the easiest way to erase her. On the day of the wedding, she is pushed forward like someone disposable. A stand-in. Roman De Luca, the feared mafia heir, was known for rage, for cold judgment, for destroying anyone who lied to him. So Eva walks down the aisle with trembling hands, waiting for the moment he exposes her and ends her. But when he lifts her veil, he doesn’t look furious. He looks like a man finally breathing. “I always knew it would be you,” he whispers, his voice breaking. “This was the only way I could have you.” Eva shakes, stunned. “I thought you wanted my sister.” He touches her like she’s something fragile, something rare. “You said it yourself,” he murmurs. “Whatever you have, your sister gets snatched from you. And whatever your sister hates gets dumped on you.” His thumb brushes her cheek, slow, reverent. “So to have you, my queen, I willingly let myself get dumped.”

"It's not me, please believe me." Ashley Patterson stubbornly looked at the people in the car, it was pouring rain, and the car door was wet with rainwater, revealing a cold face. Ashley's whole body trembled. She stood outside the car, one door away, screaming. "Listen to my explanation." The car door suddenly opened. Before Ashley could be happy, a strong force violently pulled her into the car. She fell on top of him, and his white shirt immediately soaked a large area. “Milan Elise, the gangsters who killed Gina were not arranged by me…” As soon as Ashley opened her mouth, a long and strong hand squeezed her chin mercilessly, and from the top of her head came his magnetic voice. "Do you like me that much?" His voice was clear and cold, faintly smelling of cigarettes - a taste that belonged to him. "Huh?" Ashley was a bit confused, she liked him, and the whole world knew. Why does he suddenly ask like that now? The man squeezed Ashley's chin, his other arm was long and strong, and his palm gently touched her cold, wet cheek from the rain. Ashley got lost in his gentle eyes, she seemed to hear this man ask. "Is it cold?" Suddenly, a cold breath radiated from his body. He said coldly: "Ashley, do you like me that much? Like me so much that you would kill Gina?" The coldness from the bottom of his heart immediately spread to her whole body. Ashley immediately woke up and couldn't help but smile bitterly... She immediately thought, how could he give her such gentleness? This is not gentleness but just a devil's smile.

Just one week before my marking ceremony with Lucien, I discovered his heart already belonged to someone else. His secretary, Anika, walked out of his office with a smirk that was a little too knowing. Her blouse was askew, her usually neat hair a tangled mess, and only the faintest trace of her crimson lipstick remained. My heart seized in my chest, and my fingers went cold on the doorknob. Two years ago, she had been a timid girl fresh from the countryside. All that pretense of innocence had vanished, replaced by a brazen ambition written across her face. Her relentless eagerness around Lucien had always grated on my nerves, and I had asked him more than once. "Lucien, can't you replace her?" His smile would always fade. "Anika saved my life," he'd say. "I can't be so heartless." Now, that single triumphant smirk was all it took for me to understand. What others once envied in me had already been trampled beneath her heels. My phone vibrated. It was a new proposal from the event planner. [The marking ceremony plan is nearly perfect. Can we finalize it?] I refused to be consumed by sorrow. I wiped a tear from my cheek and made one last adjustment to the document.——Replaced the bride's name withAnika I didn't want a false love, or a fake Alpha Lucien. Let them have the marking ceremony. Let Anika stand at his side as his Luna, his chosen mate. In seven days, I would be gone with my pup.

His cold hand gently brushed my cheek as he turned my head to expose my neck. I flinched when his lips met my skin. "Relax," he murmured. "It will only hurt more if you are tense." I tried to steady my breathing just as his fangs sank into my neck. I gasped. But the sharp pain quickly melted into that same strange pleasure from before. The heat that flooded my entire body pooled in my groin. My teeth clamped down on my lower lip to stop myself from making any embarrassing sounds. But a soft moan escaped anyway. Jude pulled back slightly with blood—my blood—on his lips. "You seem to be enjoying this," he smirked before glancing down at my bulge. My face burned with shame as I realized then that I was hard. "It's not... I don't..." "Your body can't lie, Raymond." He leaned back and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "And neither does mine." *** All Raymond White wanted was a dream job, and he got a once-in-a-lifetime offer from the biggest company in the city. But he didn’t expect that it would come at a costly price—His blood, his body, and his sanity. His boss, Jude Perez, was no ordinary man—he was a vampire, and now that he had set his fangs in Raymond, he didn’t want to let go. Bound by a contract and a mystical pact, Raymond becomes Jude’s latest obsession, and Raymond is left to battle with the wave of arousal that comes with each bite, one that could only be quelled by the man he who stripped him of his freedom? Will Raymond resist the forbidden bond? Or will he succumb to Jude’s temptation?

Blurb: "You're mine! You're my wife. You're fucking MINE" my husband roared furiously while he was pushing me towards the wall. I lowered my hand to protect my belly, he didn't know that I'm pregnant yet. "I will never leave you, I will never let you go. I'm drowning without you" he whispered desperately this time, leaning his forehead on mine. My eyes were cloudy, I lifted my other hand and caressed his cheek. I know that he needs me, I know he wants me, but not as a wife. He just needs my body, it always about my body and sex, and it will always be just about them. He needs me to be his submissive. His sex slave. With trembling voice I mumbled, "I'm not, Raf. I'm not yours. We can't be together, we came to the end of this useless marriage" His phone rang. It was Debbie, the other woman! He tightened his jaw and clenched his fists and said, "I wil take this call and get back to finish our talk" Once he left the room, my tears flowed like a river on my burning cheeks. I knew it, he will always choose her. I wiped my tears harshly and made a phone call, "I'm leaving, can you take me to the airport?.." Trembling, I took a step towards my closet to put something on to hide the bruises on my body. ________ I'm Natalie, this is my story. I loved my husband with all of my heart. Although he was dark, vicious, and sadistic. I was his little dirty secret. We got married under some circumstances. No one ever knew about this marriage. I made my decision, I will never go back to him. I will never let him treat me like his submissive again, NEVER!

Find Him “Somebody has taken Eli.” … Olivia’s knees buckled. If not for Dean catching her, she would have hit the floor. Nothing was more torturous than the silence left behind by a missing child. Then the phone rang. Two weeks earlier… “Who is your mom?” Dean asked, wondering if he knew the woman. “Her name is Olivia Reed,” replied Eli. Dynamite just exploded in Dean’s head. The woman he once trusted, the woman who betrayed him, the woman he loved and the one he’d never been able to forget.  … Her betrayal had utterly broken him. *** Olivia - POV  She’d never believed until this moment that she could shoot and kill somebody, but she would have no hesitation if it meant saving her son’s life.  *** … he stood in her doorway, shafts of moonlight filling the room. His gaze found her sitting up in bed. “Olivia, what do you need?” he said softly. “Make love to me, just like you used to.” He’d been her only lover. She wanted to completely surrender to him and alleviate the pain and emptiness that threatened to drag her under. She needed… She wanted… Dean. She pulled her nightie over her head and tossed it across the room. In three long strides, he was next to her bed. Slipping between the sheets, leaving his boxers behind, he immediately drew her into his arms. She gasped at the fiery heat and exquisite joy of her naked skin against his. She nipped at his lips with her teeth. He groaned. Her hands explored and caressed the familiar contours of his muscled back. His sweet kisses kept coming. She murmured a low sound filled with desire, and he deepened the kiss, tasting her sweetness and passion as his tongue explored her mouth… ***

"I am gonna make things clear here " He growled with a mean face, walking closer to me while I took a few steps back. "We were forced into this mess together." My back hit the wall as he didn't stop walking closer while I moved back in fright. "You hear me?" he asked with his frown deepening, and I could only nod nervously as his face drew very close to me as if he was about to kiss me, but that would be my wild dreams. He abhors me. "But you're mine. Mine alone. I own you and you belongs to me." His soft lips grazed my left cheek to my ear as he whispered them gently, his voice smoky and deep, sending tingles over my skin. I was shocked to hear those words from him. It surely can't be him saying this. - When Anna was forced to marry her CEO Daren Richardson, she never expected to experience love from the same cold and arrogant man who detested her. Anna knew she was doomed to a loveless marriage after realizing her husband never had interest in falling in love, not to talk of a low-life like her. He was strictly concerned about his business and treated her like she never existed. But why then does he gets jealous seeing her talk with another man? Why did he beat up a man for hugging her? She came into his life like a worthless rag that should be thrown and burnt away, but became the only woman in the world which his heart and soul needed.

“You will be mine and mine alone, you can’t refuse nor can you abscond. You will be my fucking slave forever”. “I won’t; I will never give in to your silly threats,” I spat, moving backward until my back touched the cold wall. “Is that really what you think, wife?” He whispered in my ears, one of his hands rested on the wall while the other hand trailed down my cheek to my lips. I swallowed hard. I felt weak to the bone, and even his words sent shivers down my spine. I can't refuse, nor can I deny. This is my crimson fate, and I have to accept it. Sold to this mafia tug all in the name of allying, I can only cry in silence. A mafia princess becoming a lady of responsibilities, a free woman becoming a caged one, a happy lady becoming a lady who sheds tears as a routine. ******************** Camila was married off to a Ruthless mafia lord by her parents. She loathes him and everything about him feels disgusting to her. Her life became even worse after ending up in a one-night stand with a stranger which resulted in pregnancy. She terminates the pregnancy, she dies. He found out, she dies. She can't run away nor can she let him find out. Now caught in a deadly web of power, control, and forbidden choices, Camila is left with one haunting truth. “What if the only man who can destroy her… is also the only one who was ever meant to love her!?” “What if surrendering to him isn’t the end but the beginning of something far more deadly… and intoxicating!?”

He’s the Captain of the Austin Wolves. I’m just the guy who makes him lose his composure. Diego Alvarez is everything the sport of hockey demands: lethal, disciplined, and untouchable. As the captain of the Austin Wolves, he lives his life in the spotlight, fueled by the primal instincts of a wolf who refuses to be leashed. He plays hard, wins harder, and never looks back at the guys he leaves in his wake. I’m the opposite. I’m Kol Reyes—scholarship student, dance instructor to kids, and a guy who spends more time in the university library than on the ice. I’ve spent two years perfecting the art of being invisible to the Alvarezes, especially after Diego humiliated me back in high school. But then comes one night, one party, and one massive, blurry mistake. I wake up in the bed of my worst enemy, tangled in his sheets and gasping for air, with no memory of how I got there—only the lingering, electric hum of his touch against my skin. Now, Diego is everywhere. He’s stalking the library, "helping" with my Physics homework, and looking at me with a predatory intensity that makes my traitorous heart skip a beat. He says he wants to get to know the "real" me. He says he’s done with the games. But I know better. He’s an Alpha, and he’s playing a dangerous role. The problem? The chemistry between us is a frozen fire I can’t stop reaching for. I’m supposed to be guarding my heart against the man who once broke it, but every time Diego touches my cheek or pulls me into his orbit, the walls I built start to crumble.

Vivienne Sinclair married Caden Lawrence, hoping her love would melt his cold heart and that he would accept her as his wife sooner or later. But as they say about the best-laid plans, Caden never fell in love with her, nor did he accept her as his wife in front of the world. Three years later, Vivienne is hurt and broken, wanting nothing more than to break this toxic cycle of betrayal and constant rejection. She wants a divorce. “What gives you the right to ask me for a divorce?” he roars, looking angry. “It was you who seduced me! You who insisted on getting married. And now you want a divorce? I don’t think so.” But Vivi is tired of playing the role of a loving and obedient wife. She wants to live her life and explore other options. She wants to find the happiness and joy she was deprived of in her marriage. With the help of her friends and family, Vivi reveals her other identity as the world-class jewelry designer, Jasper Sterling, a name she had built after years of hard work during her failed marriage. She is strong, confident, and capable of living life on her own terms. And it’s time to let the whole world know. During one of the success parties, when Vivienne walks in with a handsome man by her side, everyone starts whispering. “Who is he?” people want to know. “Is she dating him?” Vivi and her new companion look good together. They make a perfect couple. But when Caden sees her with this mystery man, he can barely contain his rage. He pulls her aside and hisses. “You are making a mistake.” She laughs, kisses his cheek, and says, “No, darling. This is the start of my new life.”