Crooked Finger

I had once been the woman Theo Bennett would have risked his life to marry. For six years after our wedding, he treated me like his entire world. He even had a matching tattoo carved into his lower abdomen, identical to mine, as proof of his devotion. But in the seventh year, he coldly demanded that I make a full-body model for his kept woman. "Catherine," he said, his voice sharp with contempt, "this is the price you pay for lying to me about being my savior. You know my tastes better than anyone. Make sure you replicate Hannah's body temperature. She's pregnant. I don't want to hurt her." Hannah Moore lay limp in Theo's arms, laughing so hard her shoulders shook. "How pathetic, Catherine," she mocked. "I'm pregnant, so I can't be with Theo. And yet he'd rather order a model of me than lay a finger on you. Once this one wears out, I guess I'll have to trouble you to make a few more copies of me." Only then did I understand. Theo had mistaken Hannah for the woman who once saved his life. I didn't scream. I didn't cry. I didn't argue. I simply turned around and dialed Sebastian's number. "Sebastian," I said calmly, "Theo is having an affair. I want a divorce."

During the mandatory freshman orientation camp, my skin had flared up with a severe allergic reaction, so I didn't use the plastic washbasin the school handed out. Instead, I opened my suitcase and took out the custom silver basin I had brought from home. My roommate, Louisa Carter, immediately made a snide remark, drawling, "You're really something, huh? Kids from broke families like us are lucky to have any basin at all." I didn't bother responding. I simply pulled out my facial essence to do a cold compress, but she immediately rushed over, slapped the bottle out of my hand, and jabbed a finger at my face. "Bet you get tens of thousands a month for living expenses. You have a sugar daddy, don't you? Don't you feel guilty making your folks work their fingers to the bone back on the farm? People like you don't deserve to be at our school. I'm reporting you to the student counselor." I laughed in disbelief and slapped her. … The next morning, the family photo I'd left on my desk had been slashed to ribbons. Across the back, carved in ink, were the words: 'Daughter of a homewrecker. Go to hell.' I went straight to the police. While officers pulled the dorm security footage, our student counselor and the university president rushed in. The moment the president saw the man whose face had been cut apart in my photo, his legs nearly buckled. He almost dropped to his knees.

My husband, Don Cassian, just survived an assassination attempt. He limped in, bleeding, and ordered me to stitch him up. But when I reached into his blood-soaked suit, my fingers brushed against something soft. Black lace panties. Not mine. My hand flew to my still-flat stomach. For our child. How could he do this to us? Ice flooded my veins. “We’re done, Cassian.” His gaze was heavy, exhausted. He gave a single, sharp nod. “Fine. I’ll have my lawyer draft the papers.” But then, a frantic little voice—one that wasn't mine—screamed from deep within my womb. [Mom, don’t leave him! Dad didn’t cheat! The family isn’t going to fall. It’s a setup!] [Oriana Gallo planned all of this! She wants your place! She put those panties in his pocket herself!] [If you leave, her men will grab you. They’ll take you to an abandoned warehouse and dump your body in Lake Michigan. Then she’ll play the grieving friend, comfort Dad, and become the new Mrs. Marino!] [Mom, I came back to stop this! Please, don’t fall for it again!] I snapped back to the present. Spinning around, I launched myself into Cassian's arms, my body wracked with sobs. “I was just trying to scare you! How could you agree so easily? Are you that tired of me?” I jabbed a finger at his chest, tears streaming down my face.

They are imperfect heroines, unwilling to compromise with gloomy lives. They grit their teeth to get out of their own way. They will become dazzling after completing fated and dangerous trials. “Wild Rose” Harrison Moore pleaded, his eyes turning red, "Do me a favor again. I promise it's the last time." I sneered and said, "If you want to convince me, drop to your knees." Then, this tall, strong man did kneel in front of me. However, his back remained upright. When he looked up at me, his taut jawline was especially attractive. I once took advantage of the drunkenness to kiss him on the jaw but was pushed away by him and fell to the floor. He chuckled and said, "Katherine, what's wrong with you? I'm your elder brother." I bit my lips awkwardly and wanted to flee, but he hooked his finger at me. "Take off your clothes. Is this all you can do?" “Lily” That woman ruined my family. So, to take revenge, I deliberately approached her brother. I lived in his house and tried hard to lure him. But he was so calm that he had never been disturbed. I could not help but sneer at him as I felt deeply depressed. However, after a long time, I cried. "I was a child at that time and was too naive." He responded slowly but his eyes were full of aggressivity. "You should pay for what you said, whether you were a little girl or not."

School had just dismissed us for the exam-break when my roommate begged me not to leave her alone in the dorm. She said she was scared and wanted to come home with me. Out of kindness, I brought her back with me. I had no idea that the very first night, she would sneak into my brother's room, and by the next morning, she was screaming that he had assaulted her. Because of that, my brother missed the exam, and his reputation was ruined. When the school board found out, they expelled him. No other school would take him in. To keep me from getting involved in this mess at school, my parents had no choice but to let that roommate live with us. After that, she treated our home like her personal hotel: never lifting a finger, demanding that my parents wait on her every night, and even having them wash her feet. My brother dropped out and took up work at an illegal factory just to support her spending. Then one day, a machine crushed him at that factory. My parents, already exhausted and heartbroken, fell gravely ill and passed away soon after. I was consumed by hatred. In the end, I dragged the roommate who destroyed my family down into the flames with me. Even as I died, I still couldn't understand. What kind of bitter grudge did her family have against mine for her to ruin us like that? But when I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day she asked to come home with me…

Amalie finds herself trapped in a fate worse than death. As a spirit wolf who cannot shift, her existence is considered a bad omen by her pack. Fated to Easton, the cruel and manipulative future Alpha of the Hallowed Moon pack, her life becomes nothing more than a series of cruel games and harsh punishments. But the arrival of the fearsome Alpha Jericho turns Amalies world upside down. Jericho, a powerful Alpha with a devastating past, harbours secrets that could destroy them both. His sudden interest in Amalie is not coincidental—she holds the key to his vengeance. As hidden truths slowly surface, Amalie must decide if she can trust the enigmatic Alpha who promises freedom from Easton. With each passing day, the stakes grow higher, and Amalie is drawn deeper into a deadly plot that could either set her free or seal her fate forever. ** Jericho growls softly and pushes my panties to the side – just enough to bare the hollow of my groin. Her rubs his nose along the spot where my leg and groin meets, and without any warning sinks his teeth into the soft flesh right below my hip. He gets to his feet and wipes a droplet of blood away with his thumb. He stares at it for a moment, then curl his full lips around his finger while he looks straight at me. He doesn't attempt to hide the bulge in his trousers, acting as if this is the most natural thing in the world. "You have to remember, Amalie," he says gruffly, "that this is not a real bond.” Bewildered, all I can do is stare at him and nod.

As Caiden's hand slowly stroked me, the pressure in the pit of my stomach increased rhythmically with each stroke, leaving me dumbfounded and almost out of breath. As the sensation grew stronger, I dug a finger into his hair. My muscles tensed, a spasm passed through my body, and I cried out as my head fell back. I just lay there, my body limp, astonished by what just happened. Whatever it was I didn't want it to end. "We're just getting started honey" Caiden whispered in my ear. And then the kissing and stroking began and my body was on fire once again. Caiden grabbed my hips and I felt a sharp pain, but it was only brief. Then came the amazing sensation of our skin touching and the friction starting a fire inside of me. He was gentle at first but then he pounded into me like it was his last. And there went my innocence.We made sweet love all night but something was missing. I was unmarked. Kamara Steele was rejected by her mate, Alpha Caiden. He was pressurized by his father to marry a stronger female to lead the pack which he did. He rejected Kamara because she was an Omega. Kamara left the pack. Unknown to Caiden, she was pregnant with his quadruplets. Kamara lived with her kids and found a reason to live for a few years until they were kidnapped. She had no choice but to return to the pack and seek Caiden's help in finding their children. Will they be reunited and live as a family? Will Kamara accept him when she finds out the secret that has been hidden for years?

"I'm sorry for everything I did in the past. I want us to reunite as a family. I want to be involved in my child's life," Julian said to Ava, his voice laced with sincerity as he held her hand. Ava shook her head, her finger pointed accusingly to his . "Now, you want me because i have a child with you? It's too late, Julian," she replied. "Ava, we can make this work. Just give me a chance to make everything right," he said to her in a pleading voice. She remained silent, trying to pull her hand away but Julian held it tight. He pulled her close, his lips brushing hers. "You will always be mine, Ava. If I can't have you then no one will," he whispered, his breath sending shivers down her spine. ~~~~~~~ After a painful divorce from her cheating ex-husband Julian, Ava thought she'd closed the chapter on her past. But when Julian reappears five years later, old wounds and feelings resurface. Complicating matters is the fact that Ava has a secret son with Julian and is now in a contract marriage with Alex, a rival of Julian's who has been her rock in times of need. As Julian tries to her back, Ava must navigate a complex web of love and loyalty. between her lingering feelings for Julian and her commitment to Alex, Ava must make a choice. Will she choose the father of her child or the man who has been her steady support? And what will be the consequences of her decision?

Vanessa Brooks was the kind of woman the world bowed to. Old money. Chandeliers. Every circle worshipped her—until Julian Frost decided she was guilty. He had loved her once. Or so she believed. But when murder by jealous rage became the charge, he didn't defend her. He testified. He stood in that courtroom and watched them drag her away in chains, his eyes colder than the steel on her wrists. Three years inside. Concrete walls. Thin blankets. Fists in the dark. They broke three ribs. Split her lip so many times she forgot how to smile. The magazine-cover beauty learned to sleep with her back to the wall, one eye open. When the gates opened, Vanessa walked out with nothing but the clothes on her back and a heart too dead for hatred. She left. She buried the name Julian Frost like a corpse. But Julian wasn't done. The moment he saw her on another man's arm—a ring that wasn't his—something inside him snapped. Cold indifference curdled into obsession. He tore her engagement apart. Dragged her back. Forced a ring onto her finger and built a prison from a marriage certificate. Vanessa endured in silence. No tears. No screams. Just divorce papers, slid across his desk, again and again. The third time, Julian ripped them in half. His voice was ragged—a king reduced to begging. "Divorce? Over my dead body."

Claire nodded, then groaned as he withdrew his finger from her pulsing, aching sex. She heard him walk down the hallway, heard him open the drawer in the bedside table, heard the crinkle of the condom wrapper, heard him approach her again. And that whole time, she stayed where she was: legs trembling and open, hands clenched into fists on the wall, heart pounding and pussy fluttering. Suddenly, he was on her, his cock nudging her from behind, his hands on her hips. Claire whimpered again, pushed back against him. **** John “Griff” Griffin lives by rules. Always has. From the Navy to the SEALs to his job as a bodyguard at Solid Security, control is survival. Protocol saves lives. Boundaries exist for a reason, especially during honeypot ops. Break the rules, and people get hurt. Griff knows that better than anyone. The problem is Claire Worthington. Claire is supposed to be a spoiled socialite hiding after a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. A criminal. A mark. Instead, she’s living quietly in Denver: working, rebuilding, and starting over like she actually means it. She doesn’t look guilty. She looks… real. When Griff breaks every rule and falls for her, it feels like freedom. It’s also a lie. He’s hiding his name, his job, and the truth – that he was sent to get close and gather evidence. If Claire knew, would she forgive him? Should she? And if she really is guilty, will Griff turn her in… or protect the woman he loves, no matter the cost?