Define Utter

Warning: 18+, strong mature, and sexual content. Sneak peek: "I don't believe in God, Hailey," he murmured, as his firm hands settled on my hips and lifted me from his lap, placing me onto his desk, "But... if I did, I would have thanked him for making you." A soft gasp escaped my lips as his hands slid under my college skirt, his fingers brushing on my pussy over my panties. "Damien, you are my brother..." I managed to whisper amid overwhelming desires. This felt so wrong. He emitted a husky chuckle, leaning closer to my ear, his lips brushing against my earlobe. "Correction-Stepbrother." "But-" Before I could utter a word, his hand swiftly slipped down inside my panties, his fingers landing on my bare, wet heat and just when a moan could escape my lips, his mouth forcefully met mine swallowing the scream of pain as well pleasure when two of his fingers thrust into my pussy just like I'd felt them in my dreams... *** When I was dragged across the country to Los Angeles to live with my mom's new husband and his son, the last thing I expected was for my stepbrother to be off-limits. Least of all, I never imagined I'd find myself tempted by the forbidden. Damien Black: sinfully attractive, irrefutably irresistible, and seemingly devoid of warmth. Emotions meant nothing to him; girls were mere toys for him to have in bed. And there came my biggest mistake-believing I could be more than just a toy for him...maybe more than just another conquest in his collection. I was his dirty little secret, one that he wouldn't let go of, accept, shatter entirely, or mend. I was his toy; Well....his favorite one.

"No! It can't be!" I let out an internal hiss. "He would not dare come here!" "What the f*ck, Zara!" Levi bumped into me and growled behind me. "Sorry," I mumbled, wide-eyed. "What's going on with-" Levi's voice faltered when my father turned away from us and approached his table, confirming my worst fears: Noah f*cking Flinch! "Is that?" Levi mind-linked, and I nodded my head. "What brings him here?" He mind-linked. "Zara, I understand that you are familiar with Alpha Noah," my father said. I slowly nodded my head. "Great, Noah has also informed me that you are his fated mate." I slowly nodded, unable to utter a word. "He has requested your hand," my father continued. "Is that so?" I said. "Were you told by Noah that he rejected me more than a year ago?" "He did what?" Levi roared behind me. "There is more," I said. "He rejected me in favor of a mate he chose." **** Zara Silverwood is a silver wolf descended from one of the most powerful packs on the continent. A year after he rejects her, her fated mate comes knocking on her door to tell her he is back to claim her. After Zara turns down his proposal, he goes behind her back and asks her father for her hand. The old Alpha agrees to the arrangement. Zara is unhappy and decides to handle things on her own. She informs her father that she has taken a chosen mate, her Beta, and her best friend, Levi—only he has a little secret. What will happen when Zara's second chance mate attends her and Levi's mating ceremony? Will he stop the proceedings and claim her as his mate? Or is Zara's destiny already set? Will Zara find the happiness she so deserves?

I have been a keeper of many secrets since I was old enough to know what secrets were. No one knows the truth or the real me. No one knows about the abuse I suffer from my father behind closed doors. No one knows about the cuts and scars I hide from the world. To the outside world, I am your average teenager, but the truth is, I am a broken girl with no one to love her, to see the real sadness in my eyes. I keep it to myself because I want to. It is things I have hidden for years, and no one seems to notice. Until him, Ryland. The new boy in the town. The stranger who sees right through me from the second we meet. We are drawn to one another like a moth to the flame. The more I get to know him, the more I see I am not the only one fighting demons. To start with, he is a pain in my ass, but every day we grow closer, and we become what the other needs. A bond develops between us, one that becomes unbreakable. Neither of us realised that when two broken souls come together, it would be exactly what we needed to help one another heal. He shows me love, something I haven’t had since I lost my mother. I soon learn that just because you are broken doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way. Your past doesn’t need to define you. Possible Trigger Warnings: Physical abuse (It does happen, not often and not in too much detail). Rape, suicide, and self-harm are also mentioned. It doesn’t happen in the book, but it's discussed.

Fresh out of a shattering divorce, Sarah Nakitende has put her life together on her own terms and on her own conditions. However, her life takes a dramatic turn when a stranger literally runs into her and spills a cup of coffee all over her. The stranger, an artist named Amon Kato, sees beauty in the world that Sarah has learned to see only in terms of danger and risk. Theirs is an immediate, unsettling, and dangerous connection. As Sarah starts to think of a future that does not define her in terms of survival, her past starts to catch up with her. Her ex-husband returns, seeking to reclaim the power that she has managed to take away from him. He wants to take back the power that she has managed to claim for herself. Sarah is forced to choose between healing and being on her own. Some loves to ask you to feel. This one demands you fight. And not everyone walks away unscathed. Eight months have passed since Sarah Kato’s nine-year-old daughter died from cancer, and she’s barely making it through each day. Her grief has destroyed her marriage, torn her son apart, and changed her once-warm family into a cold and empty space. Each day is a battle to survive, and each breathes makes a conscious decision to keep going. When Sarah finds a way to channel her grief into a memorial fundraiser to celebrate her daughter’s life, hope begins to return for the first time since her death. However, this hope comes at a price: her teenage son’s grief turns violent, her marriage teeters on the brink of collapse, and just when her family seems to be coming together again, Sarah finds out she’s pregnant again.

Alaric Royale, a ruthless and cunning CEO, believes Elona Carter, the woman he once loved, deceived him. Consumed by anger and a thirst for revenge, he sets out to destroy her. But fate has other plans. Alaric's world is turned upside down when he's left fighting for his life after a tragic accident. The woman he despised, Elona, becomes his unlikely savior, using her exceptional knowledge of acupuncture and herbal remedies to bring him back from the brink of death. As Alaric awakens from his coma, he's met with a shocking revelation: the woman he trusted, Harley, had drugged him, leading to his near-fatal accident. The truth about Elona's innocence and his own culpability hits him hard. Desperate to make amends, Alaric pleads for Elona's forgiveness: "Elona, please... forgive me. I was blind, deceived by Harley's lies. I swear to make it right, to give you and our children the life they deserve. I want to marry you, to give you the status and respect you've always deserved." But Elona's response is icy: "Mr. Royale, don't read much into it. It's a doctor's duty to save patients. Now that you are healed, I will disappear from Emerald Hill as per your initial command." Alaric's heart feels like it's being squeezed in a vice as Elona throws his own ruthless words back at him. He's forced to confront the consequences of his past actions and the depth of Elona's pain. Will Alaric be able to overcome his past mistakes and prove himself worthy of a second chance, or will his regrets forever define him?

While working with the search and rescue team to save people trapped in an earthquake, an aftershock suddenly struck. Without hesitation, I pushed a hospital intern, Serena, out of the way. However, the force of the movement sent me to the ground, where a steel rod pierced my back, leaving me unable to move. When the aftershock ended, my husband, Derrick, came down with the others. Yet, instead of coming to me, he rushed to cradle Serena, who only had a few scrapes. Then he turned to glare at me. “What are you still sitting there for? Are you dead? Serena’s hurt, and you can’t even help her up?!” I was in so much pain I could barely speak, only able to force out a faint sound. “Honey, I… I’ve got a steel rod in my back… Please… help me.” Serena suddenly burst into tears in fear. “Mr. Nelson, I was so scared. Just now, Ms. Jones pushed me forward. If I hadn’t shifted direction, that huge rock would’ve crushed me!” Derrick, furious, shouted at me. “Gwen! You’re a doctor! What about your ethics? Your humanity?” Tears streamed down my face as I shook my head. “I didn’t. Please, just save me. I really can’t move…” One of the medical team members who came down with him checked my condition and looked worried. “Director Nelson, the steel rod seems to have pierced her spine. If we don’t treat her now, there’s a risk of paraplegia!” However, Derrick yanked him aside. “Save her? Let her walk herself! Gwen, we’re saving lives right now. If you want to act, I’ll put on a show with you when we get home! “Serena’s injured. Since there’s only one stretcher, we’re taking her up. You can walk up on your own.” His cold, departing back left me in utter despair.

Adrian Chen is the golden standard of the marketing world—brilliant, commanding, and emotionally impenetrable. At thirty-two, he's built an empire on control: controlling projects, controlling people, controlling himself. He's never been vulnerable with anyone, and he's never had to be. Eli Reeves is twenty-seven, underestimated, and fighting twice as hard as everyone else to earn respect in an industry that dismissed him the moment he walked in. He's competent, passionate, and invisible to anyone important—until Adrian's firm brings him in as the fresh voice on a multi-million-dollar campaign. Adrian resents him immediately. Eli's creativity clashes with Adrian's rigid strategy. Eli's openness threatens Adrian's carefully constructed emotional distance. And the physical pull Adrian feels toward him is absolutely unacceptable. But forced proximity becomes forced honesty. Arguments become negotiations. Dismissals become defense mechanisms. And when Adrian finally kisses Eli after weeks of suppressed tension, neither of them can pretend anymore. What begins as dangerous attraction becomes something more: Eli's discovery that submitting to Adrian (both in the bedroom and emotionally) is empowering, not diminishing. Adrian's terrifying realization that loving Eli requires surrendering the control he's built his entire identity around. Their secret relationship deepens through escalating intimacy and escalating risk. But when someone in the firm begins sabotaging them—threatening to expose their relationship and destroy Adrian's reputation—they face an impossible choice: separate to protect their careers, or fight together and risk everything they've built. In a relationship where dominance and submission define their passion, Adrian and Eli must learn that true power lies not in control, but in trust. That surrender, when chosen, is the bravest form of strength. And that love worth fighting for is worth burning for.

"I only asked you for a favor, and this is what you pay me back with?" Asher stared right into my eyes, his voice dripping with venom. My hand trembled, my heart aching as I stared back at his face. "I didn’t do it, Asher… Please believe me. I swear on anything—I didn’t do it," I sniffed, tears rolling down my cheeks. "Take her out," Asher roared, and just like that. Every hope I had was shattered. ~~~~~~~ Elena knew exactly what she was walking into when she said yes to a man who never loved her. She knew his heart belonged to Vienna, her sister. But all Elena wanted was a chance. Just a sliver of space in his heart. What she didn’t expect was Vienna’s return to come with a vicious accusation. One Asher never questioned. He didn’t ask. He didn’t look back. He shoved Elena into the deepest hole, cast her aside like she was nothing. And when he returned weeks later to her, it wasn’t with an apology. It was with a deal. A second chance—for a crime she never even committed. Elena carried the weight of betrayal, humiliation, and pain. She went ahead to give them everything, just to be free. And when they were done with her, they discarded her like trash. But she picked up her pieces. She wiped her tears. And she made herself a promise— What they did to her would never define her. Years later, Elena walks back into their world. Not as the quiet, desperate girl they once used and discarded, but as a woman whose name now echoes power. And just when they think they’ve seen it all—Secrets begin to unravel. The kind of secrets that leaves even the cruelest speechless.

The day I found out I was pregnant with my second child, the impossible happened: the baby in my womb spoke. "Stupid sister, are you even listening? Mom said that as soon as you graduate, she's selling you off. That money is for my future wedding!" My daughter went still. She didn't say a word, didn't confront me, didn't even cry. She just quietly applied to study abroad. And from that day on, I never heard from her again. My husband, seeing how devastated I was, moved to comfort me. But the baby's voice cut through the silence once more. "Comfort her? You're the biggest fool in this house! When I'm born, I'm not calling you 'Dad.' My real dad is that handsome guy from the bar!" The color drained from Sean's face. Before I could utter a word of explanation, he dragged me straight to the hospital for a paternity test. The results came back quickly—my best friend had pulled some strings to expedite them. And there it was, in cold, clinical print: NO PATERNITY BIOLOGICALLY ESTABLISHED. He didn't let me speak. He filed for divorce immediately. In a panic, the baby's voice cried out from inside me again, "Why is the idiot backing out now? Did he finally figure out Mom tricked him? The one who saved his life all those years ago wasn't her—it was her best friend!" That one sentence shattered my entire world. My husband turned his back on me and married my best friend. As for me… the shock and grief hit me like a physical blow. I felt a hot, sudden gush of blood. Before the doctors could save me, I died on that cold hospital bed, my hands clutching my swollen belly, my mind still reeling, unable to comprehend how my life had unraveled so completely. It wasn't until I was reborn, and once again heard the treacherous little voice inside me, that I finally began to understand the truth.

The Don of the Vito family, Damiano Vito, has broken his wedding vows by cheating on me with the daughter of the rival mafia family, Bianca Sorace, while I'm still pregnant with his heir. He ends up executing Bianca with his own hands in order to reassure me as well as provide my family, the Cappas, with a satisfactory answer. My parents advise me, "Now that Damiano has returned to your side, you mustn't kick up a fuss for the sake of both families' interests." But since then, I've developed an obsession over cleanliness. Any form of physical contact is capable of making me dry-heave out of discomfort. Since I can't take any medication at all, I can only spend my days venting my stress by demanding that everything be disinfected before touching me. Damiano, who's known for having a violent temperament, is willing to keep disinfecting himself repeatedly for my sake. If he needs to make physical contact with me, he'll wear gloves. Whenever he enters my room, he has to change into a biohazard suit. No matter how hot and stuffy it gets under the suit, he doesn't utter a word of complaint. "It's fine. I was the one who broke the wedding vows first, anyway." Finally, the moment I command Damiano to wash his hands yet again, he loses control of himself before me. He even goes so far as to shatter the ashtray right before my eyes. "That's enough! All I did was make the mistake every man is capable of making! Must you humiliate me to this degree? How does that make me a filthy man?" Damiano deliberately allows his subordinates, who are drenched in blood, to throw a party in the estate, thinking that it serves as a punishment for my obsession over cleanliness. He intends to force me to yield to him by threatening the baby in my belly. Thanks to the nonstop aggravation, I feel intense pain flaring from my abdomen. Soon, blood keeps oozing down my inner thighs beneath my skirt. But at the same time, I feel a sense of relief that I've never felt before. "Let's get a divorce, Damiano."