Edith Thompson Boardwalk Empire

Carolyn Okoli never asked to be noticed. She was just a scholarship student, an outsider among the wealthy elites of Covent High. All she wanted was to study, survive, and stay invisible. But from the moment she stepped into the school, she made an enemy out of the worst possible person—J.J. Johnson. J.J. is ruthless, untouchable, and feared by everyone. As the heir to the Johnson Empire, he controls the school with a smirk and a whisper, deciding who rises and who falls. When Carolyn dares to stand up to him, he makes it his personal mission to break her.

A single line of code was all it took to catch a monster’s attention. After infiltrating the world’s most secure tech empire, a brilliant young hacker, Elliot Lane, finds himself taken—not to jail—but to the glass penthouse of Timothy Blackwood, a cold, calculating billionaire. Timothy doesn’t rage. He doesn’t threaten. He studies. He claims. He obsesses. What begins as punishment becomes possession… and what begins as control slowly turns into something far more dangerous. A desire neither of them is ready to admit.

Marry a stranger in thirty days. Stay married for one year. Inherit three billion dollars. Refuse, and lose everything. Elena Castellano is a broke art teacher in a dying Vermont mill town when a letter arrives that changes everything: she's the secret granddaughter of hotel empire matriarch Victoria Ashford. The grandmother she never knew has left her a fortune—with one impossible condition. She must marry Victoria's ruthless CEO grandson, Dominic Ashford, within thirty days. Dominic has spent fifteen years proving he deserves the Ashford legacy. He's built the empire into something even greater, sacrificed everything for the family name, and he's not about to lose it all to some small-town teacher who appeared out of nowhere. But Victoria's will is clear: marry Elena or lose everything. He'll do whatever it takes to secure his inheritance. Even if it means threatening everything Elena loves. Forced into a devil's bargain, Elena and Dominic enter a marriage that's pure warfare. She won't be bought. He won't be beaten. But as they're pulled deeper into the Ashford family's web of secrets and betrayals, the lines between enemy and ally begin to blur. Because Victoria's will wasn't just about money. It was a test. And someone in the family will do anything—including murder—to make sure they both fail. A forced marriage. A billion-dollar inheritance. And one year to survive each other.

• • • FOR ADULT READERS ONLY • • •️️ I was five years old when I decided he was mine. Standing at his wife’s graveside in the rain, I pressed my hand to his jaw and told him I would grow up and be his. He said: is that right. Not a question. So I kept my word. My father’s best friend. The man who built an empire on control. The man no one touches. The man I was never meant to want. For thirteen years, I loved him the only way I was permitted to. In silence. At a distance. Across rooms that belonged to our families — and not to what I carried. Until the night I turned eighteen. I said it out loud. He ended it in one word. Don’t. So I did. I stopped looking at him. Stopped wanting him. Stopped being the girl who built her world around a man who would never choose her. I walked away. That should have been the end. It wasn’t. Because the moment I stopped reaching for him… was the moment Adrian Keller started looking for me. Across rooms. Across tables. At midnight — staring at a name he shouldn’t want. The man who taught me control is starting to lose his. And this time— he’s not asking. And underneath the empire… underneath the discipline… underneath fifteen years of unshakable control, something is coming loose.

Ethan Banks never planned to fail. Fresh out of New York University with a degree in Computer Science, he expected to land the kind of career that would prove to his family back in Bay City, Texas, that he could stand on his own two feet. Instead, New York City chewed him up and spit him out, interview after interview leaving him rejected and exhausted. He refused to run home and let his parents—or worse, his older brother—fix everything for him. He needed to make it here. On his own. When he finally secures a position at Warner Industries the largest tech empire in the city Ethan thinks his luck has turned. Until he meets the man behind the empire. Aaron Warner. His brother’s childhood best friend. His secret ex-boyfriend. The boy who once set his heart on fire, then vanished without a word. But the Aaron he knew is gone. In his place is a billionaire CEO with a reputation as ruthless as the empire he built. Cold. Calculating. Untouchable. And when Ethan demands answers about their past, Aaron offers only one shocking ultimatum: marry me—or walk away. Caught between the success he’s dreamed of and the love that once destroyed him, Ethan must decide if he’s willing to risk everything for the one man he swore he’d never forgive.

"I am in love with my husband's brother." The realization hits me and it's too late for me to fight it, or turn back time. Three years ago, Violet made a deal for the sake of her family, marrying a man she never loved. Dominic Hale is the billionaire second son of the oldest and most respected family in the UK. When the young heir of the petrol empire returns home after all these years overseas, he is prepared for things to have changed. What he doesn't expect is to discover the love of his life is married to his own brother.

He is the most cold and domineering man in the entire empire, never getting close to women, but an accident bound him to her in marriage. During the day, he's cold and irritable, but at night, he holds her tightly, backing her into a corner with a mix of dominance and tenderness, whispering soft demands and kissing her lips as if he wants to engrave her into his very soul. “Baby, tell me you love me.” “For the rest of your life, be only mine, alright?” Once a man who looked down on everything, now his heart and eyes are filled with only her.

As the year ended and payday finally arrived, my salary still hadn't hit my bank account. I headed straight to the finance department to sort it out, but Sarah Thompson dismissed me impatiently. "You picked up those coupons last week, didn't you? The ones for "Spend 2,000, save 1,000". You got ten of them, adding up to $10,000. Your salary is $8,000, and that extra $2,000 is a perk." I stared at her, stunned. No one had said a word about this when the coupons were handed out. Worse, they could only be redeemed at our boss's supermarket, where commodities were ridiculously marked up. Items that cost $19.99 at a regular supermarket went for $49.99 there, more than double the price. It dawned on me that the boss was just shuffling money from one pocket to another, which meant I had been basically working for free. I shoved the coupons back at her. "I don't want these. Just deposit the cash into my bank account." Michael Wright walked over with a frown. "What's all the yelling? We gave you an extra $2,000, and you are not even grateful? You're stirring up trouble for nothing. You'd spend your salary on stuff anyway. We're just making it convenient." My voice rose, shaking with fury. "What you're doing is illegal!" He laughed, cold and scornful. "Then sue me. I manage things here. You think I'd be scared by a minor employee like you?" Right then, my phone buzzed with a text notification: [Lisa Matthews, congratulations on securing the Enforcement Officer position at the tax bureau.]

Once destined to lead his family’s empire, Liam Harrington’s life shattered after a car accident left him in a wheelchair. Abandoned by friends, mocked by society, and betrayed by those closest to him, his bitterness grew as he faced enemies who sought to exploit his weakness. Ava Bennett, the overlooked daughter of her family, dreamed of escaping her oppressive home. But forced into a contract marriage with Liam, she found herself battling not only her family’s cruelty but also those who wished to see her husband fail.

Hunter is a well-known, hot, handsome, ruthless young businessman that loves to play around. His billionaire business empire is just a bonus why girls keep on chasing him. His domineering aura that stands-out wherever he goes is such a blessing that every man could envy for and leave them dumbfounded. But here comes Atalia. A simple fashion designer. She is a talented lady with a fascinating beauty that can mesmerized any man's heart but she never knew it. Will their unpleasant first encounter will lead to a happy ending story? Or just a start of each other's disaster.