Death Mask Jim Butcher

On my daughter, Arlene Bale's tenth birthday, I miscarried in a horrific car accident. Before I can even tell my husband, Camden Bale, about my pregnancy, my unborn child has already left me. Devastated, I attempt to call Camden. But after spamming more than a dozen calls, none of them get answered. When I open a social media app, the first thing I see is Camden's first love, Ruth Carroll, celebrating her safe delivery online. The accompanying photo features Camden's tender-looking side profile as he cradles the newborn in his arms. Camden's mother, Patricia Stone, even leaves a long comment there to celebrate the birth of Ruth's baby. "Oh, Ruth! You really are a hero to the Bales! To think that your firstborn is a son who can inherit our family's legacy! That woman who has married into our family for ten years only gave birth to one inferior spawn! "I swear, I will kick that useless woman out sooner or later! Once that happens, you can marry into the Bale family proudly!" With trembling fingers, I click the phone shut. After that, I forcibly get discharged from the hospital and rush home so that I can demand for answers. But that's when my nightmare has just begun. I receive the news of Arlene's unfortunate death. It turns out Camden has left Arlene at home all by herself, which leads to her accidental death. The entire Bale family is too busy celebrating the birth of Ruth's son. No one bothers shedding a tear for Arlene's passing. With hatred brimming in my heart, I fly to another country. Camden Bale, you're the one hurting me from the start till the end. I will make you and your family pay the heavy price.

She vanished from her past, became an ex-convict to save the billionaire BlackVale heir, Ethan. But little did she know that Ethan was sleeping with her stepsister, and his plan to marry her was only for his devious reasons. She smartly escaped her shadowy legacy to reclaim her birthright as the trillionaire heiress. Now, Isabella Hartman returns, fierce, unbreakable, and poised to dismantle the empire that betrayed her. Her enemies wouldn’t let her strive and now, there was a new love interest for in her in the same family she was once betrayed. Would she risk her empire to team with this BlackVale blood who swept her off her feet in style? “Hi, I am not Ethan BlackVale, I am Elijah Black.” Some legacies aren’t just inherited, they’re hunted.

The wife of the richest man in the Northston enjoys tormenting beautiful young girls. I, born without the ability of feeling pain, became her perfect target. So, during yet another instance of being bullied in the school bathroom , this billionaire couple found me. They brought a lot of reporters and claimed that I was their long-lost daughter. For a better life, I became the rich man's daughter and was envied by everyone. But beneath their loving facade, my new wounds concealed old ones. They said that this was the price of my protection and that I should repay them with my life. They were right. I should repay them. Only, it would be their lives, not mine.

After the car accident, one of the Johnson sons was dead and the other gravely injured. When my devout, devoted husband woke up in the hospital, he called out, "Dorothy." He claimed that his body then held the soul of his brother, Elias Johnson. I went mad, calling doctors, priests, anyone I could, desperate to bring my husband back. It was not until that night that I overheard his conversation with our son: "Father, you've loved aunt for years. You even kept yourself chaste in your private prayer room, waiting. Now, finally, you can be with her openly." The man in the bed reached out to stroke our son's hair. "If it weren't to stop your mother from destroying her relationship, I wouldn't have married her." I hid in the shadows, still reeling from their words, when I saw what happened after our son left. The husband I had always known, icy, composed, and ascetic to maintain his devout faith for seven years, was then holding his sister-in-law close on that tiny hospital bed, sharing a warmth meant for lovers. The next day, I applied for Jim Johnson's death certificate and burned our marriage certificate. At his grand wedding, I climbed aboard the helicopter sent to fetch me. However, my once-cold husband went mad, chasing after us down several streets, desperate and unhinged.

One woman. Three names. A thousand lies. Corinne Sterling thought her secret was airtight. Teaching paid the bills but stripping paid the debts—that was the price of a corporate betrayal that ruined her name and stole her future. Her mask was supposed to keep her safe, until she caught the eye of the one man who has the power to ruin her. Lucian Delacroix is a powerful widower, a devoted father to twin boys and a man who doesn’t believe in coincidences. When he recognizes the eyes behind the glasses of his son’s teacher as the masked dancer that nearly upturned his world, his curiosity turns into a dangerous obsession. Instead of exposing her, he claims her. Instead of destroying her, he offers her a lifeline: his name, his protection and a wedding ring. It was supposed to be a cold business arrangement, they were supposed to be skeptical allies. But as they dig into a conspiracy of fraud and murder that tied their lives together long before they met, the lines of their fake marriage begin to blur. And in this dangerous game of desire and deception, the price of love might be more than either is prepared to pay.

"Alpha Richard, my Alpha's bride just escaped. Karen is gone." He announced, glaring down at my father like an evil Ogre.  "W-what, how is that possible?" My father stuttered, and for the first time in my life, I saw true fear in his eyes. Karen escaped, the bride to-be. "Guards!" The man continued, his dark, cold, uncanny black eyes flitting towards me.  "Seize the princess. If we can't find Karen, she'll be the replacement." *** On her eighteenth birthday, Princess Andrea's world is turned upside down when her sister, who was set to marry, escapes her impending nuptials. Her father, the pack's leader, makes a fateful decision: Andrea will take her sister's place at the altar. Yet, Andrea's heart already belongs to another, until she finds her lover in bed with another woman. Saddened and enraged Andrea accepts the arranged marriage and a husband she doesn't know with open arms.  As the new bride of Alpha Ronin, she discovers that he, too, is not what he seems. Cold, distant and wanting nothing do to with their marriage, he is not at all the husband Andrea envisioned beside her. Secrets and hidden desires begin to unravel as their journey takes a dangerous turn. As they navigate the treacherous path of deception, Andrea's heartache and Ronin's conflicted feelings bind them together in unexpected ways. Just as the pack's elders, powerful alliances, and envious lovers threaten to tear them apart.  Amidst the turmoil, Andrea faces the challenges of her new role as Luna, determined to break traditions and empower the she-wolves in her pack. Ronin, burdened by a dark history, wrestles with the truth about his past and the uncertain future that lies ahead. But will they be able to protect their newfound love? Or will forces beyond their control rip them apart forever?

In order to become the sole heiress of the Xander family, my younger sister schemed and manipulated, pushing me into depression and driving me to attempt suicide.Upon my rebirth, I vowed to seek revenge and would not tolerate injustice.It wasn't until one day when I met a girl who looked exactly like me that I discovered the truth: my sister was a fake heiress, and she harbored many hidden secrets...

When Alina strikes a desperate deal with her father, she enters the forbidden forest—only to be bitten by a venomous creature that should’ve killed her. Instead, she wakes up with fractured memories, a strange mark etched into her skin, and a bond she doesn’t understand… one that ties her to Valerian, the cold, commanding vampire who saved her life—or cursed it. As she recovers among his kind, Alina is forced to navigate the uneasy truce between Lycans and Vampires while uncovering the secrets buried by witches long ago. But the mate bond between her and Valerian grows stronger—and harder to deny. Ancient wars don’t stay buried, and neither do dangerous truths. Torn between loyalty to her pack and the dark pull of the vampire she never chose, Alina must decide what she’s willing to risk… before the blood that binds them becomes her ruin.

Lisa battles to weather or not David is slipping from her hands,But just on look at a man who she couldn't even see completely,got her forgetting that David ever existed how could she when he follows her into her sleep. In her dreams, she isn’t alone. The shadows breathe, the walls whisper, and from the darkness he comes… the masked stranger. His touch is fire, his voice a command she cannot resist. He is dangerous, possessive, and mercilessly addictive. Worst of all, he claims her as his body, heart, and soul while the man she loves sits beside another woman in daylight, pretending she doesn’t exist. Torn between shame and desire, reality and dream, Lisa is forced to ask herself: is the masked stranger only a nightmare… or is he real? And when he whispers “Mine”, will she have the strength to fight—or the hunger to surrender?

I didn’t have it all. I wasn’t well-loved. I had a weak wolf. But I had him—my fated mate, the man I loved with my life. Ryan Crest was like the air I breathed. And then, on my twentieth birthday, everything came crashing down. He drugged me. Delivered me to a room. And by morning, he rained accusations on my head. I was rejected, betrayed, flogged, and thrown out—no trial, no justice, not even when the truth stared everyone in the face. My sister took my place. Pregnant with his heir. A scheme well planned. But from the ashes rose a cold Alpha—masked, dangerous, yet fiercely protective. With him, I carried a child of my own. And for the first time since my fall, I was certain of one thing: I would live. Protected. And maybe… loved.