Ebooks Wake County Library

Isabella’s world shatters when her longtime boyfriend, Damon Sanchez, publicly proposes to her best friend. Humiliated and heartbroken, she drowns her sorrows in a bar—only to wake up on the bed of Matteo Moretti, the city’s most powerful billionaire. Their one-night stand should have been the end of it. But when her brother Alan's illness and Damon's vengeance leave her jobless, fate delivers Isabella straight into the jaws of her most dangerous mistake—Matteo Moretti, now her ruthless new boss. Caught between Damon’s vindictive games and Moretti’s dangerous allure, Isabella must decide—is survival worth the cost of her heart? Especially when Matteo’s seven-year-old son, Noah, starts calling her "Mom."

Yselle Morel is watching her family's glassworks collapse—unpaid wages, angry suppliers, a bank ready to shut the gates. When Renaud Valois, a feared billionaire financier, offers a rescue, it comes with a cruel condition: marriage. He says it’s business. His eyes say it’s revenge. In Valois’s riverside estate outside Paris, Yselle plays the obedient wife—smiling, thanking staff, acting harmless. She calls it "wife camouflage." Then she finds a locked room behind the library wall: a war room filled with files, photos, and timelines about her father’s life… and a folder stamped with Yselle’s name. Renaud didn’t choose her. He planned her. As “accidents” start closing in—tampered brakes, poisoned tea, a near fall on a dark stairwell—Yselle realizes the marriage isn’t only punishment. It’s protection. Someone wants her silent before the Day 30 board vote that will decide her family’s future. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more she fears the man who raised her. On the eve of the vote, Yselle opens the last drawer in the war room and finds an envelope addressed to her—in her mother’s handwriting. The ink looks fresh. Then the lights go out, and a voice behind her whispers, “Don’t trust your husband.”

The things we want are so very rarely the things we need. Clifton Heights, a modest Adirondack town, offers many unique attractions. Arcane Delights sells both paperbacks and hard-to-find limited editions. The Skylark Diner serves the best home-cooked meals around, with friendly service and a smile. Every August, Mr. Jingo’s County Fair visits, to the delight of children and adults. In essence, Clifton Heights is the quintessential small American town. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone is treated like family. It is quiet, simple, and peaceful. But shadows linger here. Flitting in dark corners, from the corner of the eye. If you walk down Main Street after dark, the slight scrape of shoes on asphalt whispers you're not alone, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there. The moon shines high and bright in the night sky, but instead of throwing light, it only seems to make the shadows lengthen. Children disappear. Teens run away. Hunters get lost in the woods with frightening regularity. Husbands go mad, and wives vanish in the dead of night. And still, when the sun rises in the morning, you are greeted by townspeople with warm waves and friendly smiles, and the shivers pass as everything seems fresh and new... Until night falls once more. Handy's Pawn and Thrift sits several blocks down from Arcane Delights. Like any thrift store, its wares range from the mundane to the bizarre. By daylight, it seems just another slice of small town Americana. But in its window hangs a sign which reads: We Have Things You Need. And when a lonely traveling salesman comes looking for something he desperately wants, after normal visiting hours, after night has fallen, he will face a harsh truth among the shelves of Handy’s Pawn and Thrift: the things we want are rarely the things we need. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

My fiancee was diagnosed with cancer and needed a liver transplant. When I found out I'm a match, I agreed to undergo the surgery without a second thought. They removed two-thirds of my liver. The pain is excruciating, but the moment I wake up, I force myself to check on her. Outside her hospital room, I overhear her talking to a friend. "Trish, you're a genius! This revenge plan is brilliant!" her friend exclaims. Patricia Zeller laughs. "If I weren't trying to keep it low-key, I would've taken a kidney just for fun. It's all his fault that Warren messed up his college entrance exam and had to study abroad. Warren's coming back in a month. Once he does, I'm done with him for good."

Senator Phoenix McIntyre is a respectable politician. Everyone thought that he's a perfect man with a crystal-clear reputation. But behind that perfection lies a dirty secret: he has his own personal whore who fulfills all his sexual fantasies. What can he do? Ever since he saw Brianna Wilson or Eve dancing seductively on stage, his whole body burned with intense desire, the kind of desire he never felt before. She haunted him in his dreams, and he would always wake up with a massive hard-on. That's when he decided to have her. Damn his reputation, he had to taste that sweet pussy. What will happen if his ultimate secret is exposed? What would happen to him if the whole world happened to take a glimpse of how nasty and dirty he is in bed?

Sophia Lin’s dream of independence and accomplishment become abolished when she is forced into an arranged marriage with Ethan Gray, a cold hearted millionaire and the founder of DaeVille. An action taken by her husband, Ethan Gray, prompts Sophia to take a step and break free from her bondage. Her road to independence leads her to Alexander Dolan, an handsome billionaire who happens to be Ethan’s business rival and Sophia’s secondary school mate. What started as a partnership quickly escalates into a romantic attachment. But Ethan is possessive, he wouldn’t lose what is his to anyone, much less Alexander. The choice falls on Sophia. With Ethan having a bonding leverage on her, Sophia is torn between following her heart while leaving a broken home in her wake or saving a marriage that could ruin her future.

After finding out that her sister and fiance were having an affair, Tabitha fled and attended the party her best friend invited her to. In pain, she got heavily drunk and blacked out only to wake up in bed with a man. At first glance, Tabitha recognized the man as the second son of one of the most prominent companies in State Z. However, that night was a mistake, and Tabitha left with the intention of putting it behind her. Tabitha arrived home, only to find herself locked in her room by her family, forced to marry her fiance. But what happens when the second son of BlueDiamonds Enterprise comes to claim Tabitha as his own? Even more, this man, Silas, isn't just a billionaire, but a powerful person who is the future Alpha of Cerulean Moon Pack.

Hana is imprisoned by the ruthless Alpha Jarrel Alexandra, the very same man who killed her family, ruined her pack, and executed her people at will. Hana's life takes an unexpected turn on the day of her fated selection as a breeder when she finds out Jarrel is her fated mate. Firmly rejecting him, Hana's desperate attempt at suicide reveals a secret: she and Jarrel share a mysterious past that she is unable to remember. Forced into a life with the monster she despises. Hana battles her growing feelings for Jarrel while she discovers the truth about his genuine intentions and the mysteries surrounding her history. Will Hana agree to wake up to the face she despises and fears every morning for the rest of her life? Will Jarrel be forgiven by Hana even if he was the cause of her peril?

I wake up to a noise outside my room, my eyes widen to see my parents on their knees on the floor and a very tall man with a gun to his head. My dad had a pained expression on his face, he turns his face to the top of the stairs where our eyes meet. He quickly gave a smirk, it made me shiver. '' There!! '' My dad points at me making the man look at me. ''He can be the payment for your boss. He what? But there wasn't even time to think straight, the man grabbed my wrist and dragged me away. I look at my parents who smile, soon tears formed in my eyes. They... Are they selling me? I'm being sold to men I've never seen.

A desperate flee to her hometown leads Aria Romano directly into the hands of Maximo Morelli, the ruthless mafia don. Ignorant of who he really is, she spends an unforgettable night with him, only to wake up the next morning to find him gone, with a warning note left on the bedside table. Despite how hard he tried to forget that night, Maximo’s desire for Aria dominated his every waking thought. But those thoughts are replaced with burning fury after he finds out that her father was a traitor to the mafia. Maximo takes Aria captive and swears to make her life a living hell. That is before he realizes that she is like a drug—tempting and addicting. Hatred turns into lust, and lust into passion. Will they give in to their strong desires? Or will the darkness and secrets of the mafia swallow them whole?