Cusp Signs Novels & Stories

He was the boy I was promised to. Now, he’s the man I’m paid to kill. Ten years ago, a blood-pact between the Moskvin and De Luca empires was shattered, turning a childhood engagement into a bitter war. For a decade, Claire Moskvin lived in the shadows—until the night Grey De Luca stormed her estate and executed her father in cold blood. Now, Claire is back under a false name, "Leah," with a single, lethal goal: infiltrate the De Luca estate and end Grey’s life. To get close enough to strike, she signs a million-dollar contract to become Grey’s "scapegoat bride"—a sham marriage designed to serve his brother’s ambition. But the viper’s nest is full of secrets. As Claire navigates a world of psychological warfare and explosive, forbidden chemistry, the lines between revenge and desire begin to blur. Grey is a cold, unreadable monster, yet he is the only one keeping her alive in a house that wants her dead. She came for his head. He’s already captured her heart. When the lies of her past are burned away, Claire must decide: Will she finish her mission and kill the man she loves, or put her feelings behind and avenge her father's death?

Natalie Hale spent five years loving a man who never learned to look at her. When Ethan Cole's first love returns and he asks for a divorce, Natalie doesn't beg. She doesn't break. She asks for one month, thirty days for him to fulfill every promise he made and never kept. A candlelit dinner, a drive-in movie, an amusement park in autumn, Small things. The things that were supposed to mean us. He agrees, then he cancels and then he lies. Then she waits alone, again and again, learning in real time what she already knew in her bones, she was never his priority. But something shifts during that month. He begins to see her: her beauty, her grace, the way a room moves when she enters it. Too late, too slow, and far too little. On the thirtieth day, Natalie signs the papers, leaves a cup of coffee on the counter made exactly to his taste, and walks out the door. Three years later, she walks back in not to him, but into the same room. Radiant, accomplished and accompanied by a man who has never once made her wait. And Ethan Cole finally understands the difference between losing someone and letting them go. He let her go. She lost nothing.

She left Vegas with a poker-chip bracelet and a secret she swore would never catch up with her. It just walked into her boardroom. Damian Holt doesn't recognize her. Five years, a empire built on cold ambition, and one night he clearly forgot. But Elena remembers everything — and now she has to smile across a conference table, close the deal that saves her agency, and pray he never looks too closely at the four-year-old girl waiting for her at home. He looks exactly like his father. The contract gets signed. The proximity gets dangerous. And Damian — brilliant, relentless, infuriatingly perceptive — starts noticing things. The bracelet. The way she tenses when he gets too close. The child in the photo on her desk with his exact eyes. She's running out of time. Neon Temptation. Some secrets don't just come out — they explode.

Natalie Taylor has one goal when she signs up as a companion at Dreams: to make a shit ton of money and get out fast. She's not looking for adventure or hoping for love and romance. But days into her moonlighting job, her quiet determination is shaken when she confronts her biggest problem yet—Levi Van Holt, heir to a mega-billion hotel chain and CEO of a gaming startup. Levi is everything she wants in a man. Gorgeous, wealthy and generous to boot. There's just one problem. He's her new boss... Harbouring a dark secret and nursing wounds from his past, Levi has one rule and one rule only for his companion: no falling in love. But with his desires continually tested, the more time he spends with Natalie, it doesn't take long for both their lives, real and secret, to converge, the lines between illusion and reality begin to blur, and the temptation to break his only rule becomes harder to resist. © 2022 Val Sims. All rights reserved. No part of this novel may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author and publishers.

“The agreement won’t be valid unless your husband signs it, ma’am.” The lawyer shot me a dismissive glance as I signed my name. “I know you’d like to use this as a way to flirt with your husband. After all, you can’t possibly be foolish enough to walk away from billions with nothing.” I gave him a faint smile, tucked the papers away, and sent a message to my husband’s most trusted secretary, Jolene. Even now, no one has realized that I had been reborn. My hand drifted to my still-flat stomach. The warmth and anticipation in my eyes were gone, replaced by cold resolve. I had to make sure my child and I “die” together, in front of everyone. In my previous life, everyone envied me for marrying Leo, the head of the Kosa mafia family. I thought I was the happiest woman in the city. Anything my gaze lingered on for more than three seconds, he would have someone deliver to me immediately. It was just because he thought it would make me happy. In this life, all I wanted was to end my marriage to Leo as quickly as possible!

"I celebrated my divorce with a party. I ended the night in my ex-husband’s bed. Now, I’m carrying a secret he’ll never let me escape." Seraphina Rossi is finally free. After three years of being the "invisible wife" to the cold and powerful Dominic Thorne, the divorce papers are signed. To celebrate, Seraphina throws a "Good Riddance" party, intent on dancing her way into a new life. But Dominic doesn’t like a spectacle. When he crashes the party to drag her home, the argument turns into a night of regrettable, white-hot passion. One "mistaken" night later, Seraphina wakes up to a cold shoulder and a legal document—Dominic wants to make sure their "lapse in judgment" doesn't cost him a dime. Hurt and furious, she signs it and flees to a remote villa to start over. But the morning sickness catches up faster than her flight. Now, Seraphina is pregnant with the Thorne heir, and Dominic has just arrived at her doorstep with a terrifying revelation: The divorce was a mistake. The papers have been "lost." And he’s not leaving until he claims every inch of what belongs to him. "You’re still my wife, Seraphina. And I don’t share what’s mine."

“Take it off, dusha moya.” His voice was a low, feral growl against my ear. His kisses trailed down my neck—slow, claiming, deliberate. His gaze burned where it landed… on my ring. The ring my husband gave me. The husband who wasn’t him. “Why?” I whispered, breathless. Cassian’s lips brushed my chest, hot and possessive. “I don’t want any trace of him on you while I fuck you.” The ring slid off my finger. The jewel hit the floor. And my world shattered all over again. — Elara Mei was the perfect daughter—obedient, quiet, raised to follow orders without question. Even when it meant breaking her own heart by leaving Cassian Ivanov. Years later, her father signs a contract with the powerful Ivanov family. The price? Her marriage to their second son. She accepts. Like she always does. Until she discovers the truth— Her new husband’s brother is the man she once loved. The man she never stopped loving. The man who will burn the world to claim her back. Caught between loyalty and desire, duty and obsession, Elara must make an impossible choice: The man she’s bound to by contract… or the man who owns her heart, her body, and her ruin?

Ayah Russell gave up everything for love. For ten years, she endured a cold marriage, believing that one day her husband, Ethan Evans, would finally choose her. Instead, he chose another woman—again and again—until the night Ayah lost the child she had kept secret. When betrayal becomes too heavy to bear, Ayah signs the divorce papers and walks away. But fate has other plans. A car accident leaves her with retrograde amnesia, erasing the last ten years of her life. In Ayah’s mind, she is still eighteen—the proud heiress of the powerful Russell family, and still deeply in love with her first love. Bryan Mitchell. The man who also happens to be her ex-husband’s greatest rival. Seeing an opportunity, Bryan proposes a shocking deal: a marriage that will shake the entire elite circle. Now the heiress who once loved blindly has returned—stronger, fiercer, and no longer willing to be anyone’s second choice. But as old memories slowly resurface, Ayah will discover that the truth behind her marriage, her accident, and the people around her is far darker than she ever imagined. And this time… the one who will regret everything might be the man who once threw her away.

When Dr. Ella Harper uncovers her billionaire husband Marcus’s affair with a glamorous model, the perfect marriage she believed in shatters. Betrayed by the man who vowed eternal love, Ella is forced to confront the ghosts of her past—her mother’s heartbreak and her own vow to never forgive a cheater. Determined to reclaim her strength, she seizes a life-changing opportunity to study abroad and secretly signs divorce papers, leaving Marcus a parting gift he’ll never forget: the truth, delivered when she’s already halfway across the world. “You’ll only know I’m gone when it’s too late, Marcus. Then you’ll see I’m not a woman to be played with.” Devastated by his mistake, Marcus spirals into desperation, chasing after Ella and pleading for forgiveness. But Ella, now thriving in her new life, has moved on—her heart guarded, her future bright, and a new suitor vying for her affection. Years later, Marcus is still haunted by his betrayal, refusing to give up on the woman he loves. Yet a shocking secret—a hidden child born from their fractured love—threatens to unravel everything. Will Ella ever open her heart to Marcus again, or will the pain of his betrayal and the weight of their shared secret keep them apart forever?

She Was Just the Nanny… Until She Became His Everything. After losing everything in one night… her career, her home and the man she loved, Veronica Hales thought her life couldn’t get any worse. Framed by her stepsister, betrayed by her boyfriend and tossed into the streets, she had no choice but to start over from nothing. But fate intervenes when she saves a mute little girl from a speeding car, unaware that the girl’s father is Leonard Armani, the reclusive billionaire who secretly owns the mansion and wealth her ex-boyfriend has been flaunting as his own. When Leonard offers her a job as his daughter’s nanny, Veronica accepts, determined to rebuild her life quietly. Yet the deeper she becomes part of Angel’s world, the harder it is to ignore the slow, burning tension between her and the mysterious man who signs her paychecks. Leonard, wounded by a past betrayal and haunted by distrust, swore never to love again. But the warmth Veronica brings into his home and his heart awakens something he thought he’d buried forever. As secrets unravel and old lies return to destroy them both, Veronica must choose: walk away again or fight for the love she never saw coming. She Entered His Mansion With Nothing. She Left With His Heart.