Collateral A Novels & Stories

Tobin Leith was never supposed to survive the first week. When his older brother's gambling debts spiral out of control, the Saal mafia syndicate comes to collect. They want collateral to keep on a leash until the debt is settled. Tobin volunteers before his brother can speak. Emeric Saal, a dominant underworld boss, is cold, calculating, and bored by almost everything. He accepts the arrangement without emotion. Tobin is just a pawn housed in his guest wing under constant surveillance. Except Tobin refuses to act like a hostage. He stays defiant. On the fourth night, Emeric catches him picking the lock on his office door with a fashioned tension wrench. Emeric simply sits down across from him, lights a cigarette, and says the words that change everything: "I was wondering when you would try." Emeric already knows the truth. Tobin is operating under a hidden identity, actively hunting for revenge. What begins as a volatile cat-and-mouse game quickly twists into a steamy, intense MM romance. Emeric, for the first time in years, is deeply interested in seeing what happens next.

Isla Walker thought her summer would be dull, not dangerous. A scholarship student at an elite High school, Isla’s only goal was survival. Juggling part-time jobs to escape her drunk father and leech of a stepmother, she never expected her already fractured life to spiral into a nightmare. Sold like property to settle her family's crushing debts, Isla finds herself handed over to a man feared across cities — Grayson Voss, the cold and calculating mafia lord of the Voss Syndicate. But Grayson isn’t a stranger. He’s the man who saved her once. And the man who now owns her. What Isla doesn't know is that Grayson has been watching her. Ever since that night at the club, her face has haunted him — softening his steel walls and stirring something he's spent years burying. But affection has no place in his world. To him, Isla is nothing more than collateral — a debt repayment. A useful pawn. One he can't afford to care about. Except he does. And when someone lays a hand on what he owns... all hell breaks loose.

"I don't dream anymore. I have no future, I only have 'now'." * * * For Samantha Covington, these words are her stark reality after her husband Richard's ultimate betrayal. She has become collateral damage to his self-destruction, leaving her a shell of her former self, her once vivid spirit suffocated. A chance encounter with Daniel Sanford, the powerful and enigmatic yet secret Alpha, ignites a forbidden flicker of hope in her, and the dangerously protective instincts in him. Daniel becomes Samantha’s lifeline, his sure and steady presence, the anchor she needs to rise from the depths of despair. But their worlds are intertwined more than they know, and the one man tying them together is the one man determined to keep them apart. Caught between the man who helps her reclaim her worth and a husband who strips it away, she must navigate a treacherous path to secure her heart and her freedom. But Daniel’s dark secrets chillingly echo Richard’s darker lies. Can Daniel earn her trust? Will his wolf respect her freedom? Or will she forge a new path as she leaves Richard in the wreckage of his self-destruction?

She wanted freedom… but traded one cage for another. Ember thought escape would mean freedom. She thought leaving Kelvin, the man who vowed to love her but would rather bury her six feet under than let her go, would save her. But freedom came wearing a darker suit. Aaron Moretti, a cold, Ruthless and Untouchable. A Mafia lord and a business tycoon who took her not out of mercy, but as collateral for a debt her toxic boyfriend owed him. In one swift move, he became both her saviour and her captor. Now trapped in his gilded prison, Ember is forced into servitude, haunted by the possibility of being sold to the highest bidder if Kelvin doesn’t pay up. Aaron, with his icy eyes and domineering presence, makes no promises least of all freedom. Yet, against her will, she finds herself drawn to the man who holds her chains. But in the Mafia world, love is a weakness a weapon your enemies will wield against you. And when debts are cleared and loyalties tested, Ember must decide: is Aaron her second chance… or her final downfall?

*They called her collateral damage.*
*He made her his favorite weapon.* Lauren McQueen had a plan. A life. A love story. Until her boyfriend of three years shattered it with a smile and a promotion—dumping her days before Christmas and branding her a “liability.” Worse? He’s now engaged to her coworker. Rosette Goldberg. The office queen. The venom in Valentino. Humiliation tastes worse with champagne. So Lauren does what any woman with pride and a pulse would do—she lies. And in walks Alexandro “Lex” Castello. Trillionaire. Sin in a tailored suit. The kind of man who doesn’t just walk into your story—he rewrites it. He agrees to play her boyfriend for one night. Except with Lex, nothing is ever just one night. The lie spirals. The spark ignites. And soon, Lauren is drowning in a world of secrets, power, and seduction she never asked to enter—but can’t find her way out of. Because Lex Castello doesn’t pretend. He possesses.
And what started as revenge may end in obsession. He’s not her date.
He’s her reckoning. 
And she’s about to find out that the worst thing wasn’t losing her boyfriend…it’s trusting the wrong devil.

At Stanton University, power is currency and morality is optional. Juhoon Choi aka Trunks sits at the top of the Diamond Board — heir to an empire, untouchable, and emotionally unreadable. Park Suhee stands beside him as his lifelong protector, confidante, and silent lover, hiding years of devotion behind loyalty and restraint. Then Angelique Rochefort transfers in. Elegant. Calculated. Dangerous. She arrives with one purpose: to kill Trunks. She seduces her way into his life, manipulating his trust, isolating him from Suhee, and turning Stanton’s elite against each other. What begins as a carefully executed revenge scheme soon spirals into something far more dangerous when real emotions surface — love, jealousy, and obsession. As scandals erupt, alliances fracture, and lies are weaponized, Suhee becomes collateral damage in a war she never chose. Betrayal cuts deep, intimacy becomes a weapon, and the line between victim and villain blurs beyond recognition. But vengeance has a price and when the truth finally emerges, redemption may come only through sacrifice. In a world ruled by power, love is the most dangerous gamble of all. Because in a world ruled by power, love is the most dangerous weakness of all, and at Stanton University, every heart hides a motive—and every kiss can kill.

She signed the contract to save her life. She didn't know she was signing it to lose her freedom. When her brother steals from the wrong empire, she becomes the price. Delivered as collateral to a man no one dares to name out loud, Dante Moretti. A billionaire who rules both the corporate world and a violent underground empire where loyalty is enforced in blood. Cold. Strategic. Untouchable. A man who doesn't forgive. A man who doesn't let go. He offers her a deal: Marry him. Live under his rules. Obey without question. Or watch her entire family disappear. She expects cruelty. She expects violence. She expects to be broken. What she doesn't expect is the truth. Her brother didn't just steal money. He stole something that could destroy Dante's entire empire. And the only person who knows where it is, is her. She doesn't remember. But someone wants to make sure she never does. Now she's trapped between the man who owns her and the enemies hunting her. Dante says he'll protect her. But protection comes with a price. And in his world, everything costs blood.

No one gets to understand Nigerian 419 scam until you`re caught in their dragnet. This story will blow your mind. Franck Dubila and family decided to celebrate the established health of his son Anthony (Junior) in their home in Makepeville. All was going on great, till the moment the story of ‘ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars’ secret gift from grandpa to his grandson sets in. Opening a Pandora box, as 419ers got hold of the intelligence. Thus, provoking, a wanton appetite, as they hatched out a diabolic plan to harvest the money by all cost. But, unfortunately for them, the Machiavellic plan only gave birth to a collateral damage in the course. As little Anthony is caught in a ghastly motor accident during the process changing the face of the whole game. When Franck is whispered the truth at the hospital, that, it was all conmen at their art, it created a tsunami in his spirit seeing the situation in which his son was in. Where he took the most dangerous decision which is to revenge his son`s comatose state. By plunging himself into a bloody manhunt against one of the deadliest 419 cabal of Makepeville. But, will he be up to the stakes, will he be able to hide his plans from his entire family, will he be human enough to forgive the person who betrayed him and his son? For sure, blood will flow and hard decisions will follow.

I had a one-night stand with the man who destroyed my brother’s life. Unknown to me, he’s the man I’m supposed to be investigating… Now, I’m carrying his child—and he’s the only thing keeping me alive. Jenny Havans neatly controlled lifestyle all changed the night she had a reckless encounter with a man she didn’t know would spark a desire she couldn’t resist… and unknowingly, tie her to the man who was behind the destruction of everything she's ever loved. Adrian Red… he's a well known, respected business man to everyone else. But a scheming mafia boss behind closed curtains. Adrian offers her a choice… The Contract. And as their forced proximity gradually turned their hatred into a forbidden desire, Jenny later uncovers the most heartbreaking truth of all… that one night wasn't just a random encounter. But she was collateral. Years ago, her father used her as collateral to get a loan, and if he couldn't repay… she would be taken. Adrian didn't just stumble into her life—he bought her. Now, stuck between her mission for vengeance and a craving she can’t escape… Jenny is pregnant with the heir to an empire she once swore to ruin.

After her father’s death leaves behind nothing but a ten-million-euro blood debt, Graziella is dragged into the world of the Vitale brothers, men who rule the city’s underworld with violence, power, and a loyalty that has no room for mercy, and who, by law and history, are also her stepbrothers. In their hands, debt is not something to be repaid but something to be owned, and because her father failed them, Graziella becomes the collateral they inherit, allowed to exist only as long as she remains useful and silent. For months, she survives by making herself small, enduring cruelty and indifference alike, learning that in a house built on fear, silence is not submission but survival. To the Vitale brothers, she is temporary, a problem that will eventually disappear once its value is exhausted. Everything changes when the eldest announces his political marriage, a union meant to secure alliances and erase liabilities, and Graziella realizes how easily she will be discarded. Instead of begging, she makes a single request: thirty days as their wife and queen, not as property but as a recognized presence, after which she will vanish forever. They believe she is desperate. They believe she wants protection or love. What they fail to see is that Graziella is not bargaining for affection, but for access. Because in those thirty days, she watches, listens, and learns, and by the time they understand what she has become, the quiet debt they ignored will be ready to rule them all.