Couples Next Door Novels & Stories

“You know the truth, Cath,” Wren whispered. “You’re my girl. You’ve always been my girl.” Catherine Thomas knew West Thorne and his younger brother, Wren, better than anyone. Since she grew up in the house next door, the three of them were inseparable in their youths. All that changed when the dating years came. Catherine always harbored strong feelings for Wren; even after he claimed he didn’t feel the same at their high school graduation. Fast forward four years and their friendship grew into an unbreakable bond. Catherine has been dating Wren’s brother West for a year. On the night West pops the question in front of everyone, her eyes land on Wren. Hidden tension passes between them. Wren turns and walks away…and Catherine says yes. As the big day approaches, Wren and Catherine are thrown into a whirlwind of emotions while planning the wedding. Unable to resist their connection any longer, they find themselves locked in an illicit affair. As the lies and secrets from everyone, including West, come to light, there are only two questions to be asked: Will she marry West? Or will Wren finally accept his feelings for Catherine?

One divorce. One hundred dollars. One hell of a mistake. Katherine West had it all, until her husband, George, dropped a bomb on their five-year anniversary: He’s gay, he’s in love, and she’s evicted. Left with a frozen bank account and a shattered heart, Katherine decides to go out with a bang. She spends her last hundred dollars on the most dangerous-looking man at The Gilded Lily, hoping for one night of friction to erase five years of lies. It worked. It was the best mistake of her life. Until the next morning, when a court order forces Katherine and George to live together for ninety days of marriage counseling. George has lost his fortune and moved them into his mysterious new lover’s penthouse to save face. The door opens, and Katherine meets her new landlord: Killian McLeroy. The man she hired last night. The man her husband calls the love of his life." Now, Katherine is trapped in a house of glass with the man who knows her body, the man who stole her husband, and a secret that could burn all of Manhattan down. Ninety days. Two enemies. One bed. Let the games begin.

Out of sheer kindness, I brought my drunk, heartbroken coworker home for the night after she'd been dumped. Little did I know, she'd treat my place like it was her own. "Isla, I gave my ex my whole paycheck. I'm just gonna stay here for the rest of the month. You've got this huge place all to yourself anyway—such a waste. It's perfect, we can keep each other company. And hey, no rent. You're already cooking for yourself, so what's one more plate, right?" I stopped typing and blinked, trying to process what she was saying. She kept going, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna take advantage—I'll chip in 2 bucks a day. Honestly, you must get so lonely living alone. Aren't I sweet for offering?" I just stared at her, barely holding back a laugh at her blatant audacity. That evening, I slipped out of the office early, went straight home, and deadbolted the door behind me. No matter how much she knocked and yelled from the hallway, I didn't budge. The next morning, she stormed over to my desk and slammed her hand on my cubicle wall, her tone dripping with accusation. "You were home last night—why didn't you open the door?! I had nowhere to go, had to crash at a hotel, and between that and food, I dropped 60 bucks. You owe me." She shoved her phone screen—payment receipts on full display—right in my face. I couldn't help it—I laughed out loud. If she wanted to play that game, fine. If she thought she could push me around, she was about to learn what real-world consequences looked like.

I've always been one who doesn't express many emotions. That is, until I've married Vanessa Tate. But the happy life I look forward to living doesn't come to me. Instead, all I see is Vanessa cheating on me with other men to her heart's content. When she brings another man home for the seventh time and fills the guest room with loud moans, I walk over to the door and knock on it gently. Even my tone is soft and tender. "My bedtime is between 10:00 pm to 8:00 am the next morning. As long as you keep the noise level down and don't disturb my sleep, I can pretend that this never happened." The door is opened from the inside, and Vanessa struts out. She casts me a nonchalant glance. "Got it." Her languid voice is tinged with impatience. "I'll keep it down. You should rest in your room instead of standing in the corridor in the middle of the night." The young man, who's a new boy toy of Vanessa's, leans against the bedpost. He leaves his collar open purposefully as he says to me in a taunting manner, "You really are composed. No wonder Vanessa keeps claiming that you're the most gracious husband in the whole wide world." I merely smile wanly, not bothering to give the boy toy an ounce of my attention. After returning to the master bedroom, I take the liberty to send the photo I've just taken to my mother-in-law, Evelyn Sinclair. "Mom, I already told you that Vanessa will never be able to control her urges, and yet you refuse to believe me. "We already made it clear that you'll have to pay me 100 million dollars every time she cheats on me with a man. I hope that you can stick to your end of the bargain."

On the night of my 18th birthday, Enzo Vitale holds me by the waist as he coaxes me to take off my underwear. "Good girl. You have a beautiful body, Isabella. Let me take a good look at you." But just when I'm about to reach my climax, the spotlight is turned on. The floor-to-ceiling mirror in front of me becomes a see-through one-way mirror. On the other side of the mirror shows the faces of all the guests who are here to attend my birthday party. Soon, the racy video of my lustful side is spread all over Newlyn. My reputation gets flushed down the drain overnight, and yet Enzo's reputation remains unaffected. On the night we break up, he leaves me a message. "Your brother had watched my sister getting kidnapped by others back then. Now, it's your turn to have a taste of what it feels like, Isabella. You owe me this much." My older brother, Marco Rossi, is enraged, to say the least. When he tries to demand an explanation from Enzo, he gets his legs broken by Enzo's bodyguards instead. Marco drags his broken legs home. But on his way home, he gets into a car crash due to severe pain and blood loss, reducing him to a vegetable. In order to afford the daily eight-thousand-dollar ICU bill, I become the most famous stripper in Newlyn. For the next three years, I flit between various nightclubs in Newlyn as well as various men's beds. I've been trading my pride and body in exchange for checks. Three years later, I knock on a hotel room's door as usual. The door opens, revealing a man wearing a custom-ordered dark gray suit. It's Enzo. He's thinner now, and his cheekbones protrude even more. His eyes are as glacial as frozen lakes. I smile brightly at him. "Sir, would you like any special services?"

Following a difficult breakup, Brandy randy seeks solace at a bar where she meets a man working as a model. After a one-night stand, Brandy flees the scene the next morning. Unknown to the man, Brandy becomes pregnant from their night together. She moves abroad and gives birth to quadruplets, raising them away from the social norms of her home country, Three years later, Brandy returns to her home country. She is shocked to find that the "model" from the bar is now Jose, the most powerful man in Elite City. Beyond his immense wealth and power, Brandy discovers that Jose is also her aunt's stepson, adding a layer of complex family ties to their history.Jose is widely rumored to be a cold-blooded and indifferent man who is entirely incapable of love. ‎The secret of the quadruplet begins to unravel when Jose opens his office door to find a young, "pretty little" girl. Noticing her striking resemblance to Brandy, he remarks on the coincidence. ‎The young girl reveals the truth in a playful manner, informing Jose that her three brothers look exactly like him. ‎Despite his fearsome reputation, Jose displays a charming and confident side, famously stating in an interview that he is most proud of his "virility".

Cole Miller was recuperating after a covert operation when his father's lawyer came knocking on his door, and as soon as he saw the old man he knew he was bringing a ton of trouble his way only he didn’t know of the magnitude. Forced to go back to his family estate to bury his father, Cole discovered he had inherited his family's ill-gotten fortune, his grandfather's oil wells and an enslaved female his father termed 'the merchandise', a woman who was already sold and was to be picked up by a cruel mafia boss he knew too well. After spending a steamy night with her and discovering what she was, Cole understood better why Rufus wanted her. And despite knowing the trouble he would bring his way if he stopped her sale, he tried to help her regardless. When his family estate was attacked by unknown assailants, Cole engineered an escape and found himself in a changing tide of danger, one minute he was captured, chained, and in the den of wolves who hated humans, and next, he was on the run to protect a woman who was not entirely woman and who claimed to be his mate.

The next thing she knew was that she was slung on his muscular shoulder. She thrashed her legs, but he carried her as if she weighed no more than a bag of feathers. "Caelum please!" She begged him but he ignored her as he walked through the corridors and into the bedroom. And threw her on the bed. While she was busy recovering her breath, he threw his coat on the floor and started unbuttoning his shirt. "W-what are y-you doing?" she asked. Her face paler than paper. "Exactly what married couples do, love." He said dropping the shirt on the floor, His voice so full of viciousness that she almost choked on them. She dragged herself back on the bed sobbing, "no.." He grabbed her legs and pulled her towards himself. He crawled on top of her. He looked into her terrified eyes and whispered, "You make me do terrible things, my dear Rose." He wiped a stray tear from her chin before grabbing it. "I will bruise your lip and scar your knees and love you too hard.." he brushed his lips on hers, "I will destroy you. And when I leave, You will finally understand why storms are named after humans." ........................... Rosette never had an easy life, and after the death of her mother, when she thought things couldn't get worse, her life started going fully downhill. She was tortured beyond repair in her own house. She could only dream of being loved. She dreamed of getting married and finally breaking free from all these cages, but fate had other plans for her. Her life going totally downhill, turned upside down when she was married to the biggest business tycoon in the city. Will this marriage totally wreck her? Would she ever be able to break free?..

No one knows that Ingrid Steele, the CEO who's currently talking about how her company bans office romances on the podium, has begged me to do it with her eight times in a row last night. Her secretary leans in and murmurs into my ear, "I heard that our cold and aloof CEO has plans to reveal her husband's identity recently. Rumors say that she even plans on throwing him an extremely grand wedding just to make it up to him." Warmth floods my heart at that moment. It's then I decide to make the great news of me winning a billion dollars in the lottery a wedding gift for Ingrid. Our daughter, Gaby Newman, no longer has to hide anymore in life. The three of us can publicly spend time together as a family now! The next day, I put on the suit that Ingrid has given me eight years ago. Then, I enter the wedding venue. As soon as I open the door, I see Ingrid leading her first love, Hank Conley, up the stage. After they exchange rings with each other, they share a sweet kiss in front of everyone in a tight embrace. In the end, Ingrid tosses her wedding bouquet at the guests. Coincidentally, it lands right in my hands. Someone next to me gives me a light shove. "What are you waiting for? Give them your blessings already!" I just clap for the newlyweds while walking toward them. "Congratulations, you two! I hope that you can live happily ever after and that you'll have a bundle of joy soon! No, make it 108 babies, how about that?" As soon as my words fall, I turn on my heel and stride away. As expected, Ingrid doesn't chase after me. She doesn't even bother calling me nor explaining everything to me.

The news that Angelo Rizzo was becoming the new Don of Brucklin District had spread throughout the entire family. Everyone knew except me, Lila Bennett, his fiancee. He had always thought I was childish, like an irritating tail he couldn't shake off, sticking to him wherever he went. "I've only managed to bag Brucklin District all thanks to Cyrus." The study door was ajar as the scent of cigar smoke drifted out along with his voice. "Lila? Why bring her up? She's annoying. Like a piece of gum stuck to your hair." I crouched on the hallway carpet, lost in thought. Before, it was always Angelo leaving first and me realizing it too late. This time, I wanted to surprise him by going to Brucklin ahead of him. When he saw me there first, he'd realize that I was smart. But the next day, at the bus station, when the driver asked where I was going, I mixed Brucklin and Mannattan up. The driver grew impatient. Afraid he'd call me an idiot like Angelo would, I hurriedly shove the money at him. "To Mannattan! I'm going to Mannattan District!"