Ella Joyce Set It Off Novels & Stories

Six years ago, my sister and I fell for the same man, Edmund. But he only had eyes for Rosalie, the sweet, innocent type. With them, I was always the third wheel. They got married, of course. And on their wedding day, I overheard my parents whispering. "The company's strapped for cash," my father said. "What if we marry Corinne off to our business partner? That'd solve our problem..." This "partner" was over fifty and twice divorced. So I ran. I fled to Sicily with the only five thousand dollars to my name. I ran on pure bitterness. In four years, I brought dozens of small-time Sicilian crews to heel and forged my own family: Vexille. In another two, I came back to New York and quietly became the most powerful woman in the North American underworld. By then, Edmund's power was crumbling, hit hard by a rival family. That's when my mother called, her voice full of that same old entitlement. "Your brother-in-law's in some trouble. Figure out a way to help him." Then a text from my sister, Rosalie, dripping with contempt: "Sister, I remember you have a little casino in Sicily, right? So you must know something about that Vexille family." "Edmund needs their help. See what you can dig up." They still don't know. I'm the Don of the Vexille family. I glanced at the schedule my advisor had prepared. Tomorrow, 9:00 AM. A sit-down with some minor family looking for a handout. The name on the file: Edmund.

In the third year that I've been diagnosed with late-stage bone cancer, Xenia Jensen, the ex-girlfriend whom I have "abandoned" back then, barges into my rented apartment with the rest of her team that she leads as a police captain. Every day, I have to rely on large amounts of morphine just so I can force myself to stand like a regular human being. I can only twitch violently as I try to grab a pill bottle on the table, my skin completely riddled with needle marks. Xenia chuckles icily as she savors how pathetic I look. "Oh? It's been seven years since we last met, and yet I never thought you'd stoop so low as to become a drug addict. "Where did your gusto to get a better, richer girlfriend go? I can't believe you're willing to humiliate yourself just for some so-called medicine!" As soon as Xenia's words fall, I point at the pill bottle with a trembling finger. "Please, officer… Can you please give me my medicine?" Xenia chortles in response. She picks up the bottle before walking toward the bathroom, soon flushing it down the toilet. "You want your medicine? Go ask the peeps at the rehab for it! It seems both your heart and your body are rotten to the core after you left me for another woman!" I'm in so much pain that I'm convulsing violently right now. "Oh… Then… Am I going to die?" I curl up on the floor, hoping to tide over the latest wave of pain by using the method my doctor has taught me. But Xenia merely gazes at me coldly from the side. In fact, she starts recording me, saying that she wants to make me a living negative example.

He was supposed to be my fake boyfriend for one night. Not the man who’d ruin me for all others. I’ve had a thing for Colton Stone since I was a teenager. He’s brooding, built like sin, and—unfortunately—my older brother’s best friend. When my stalker ex crashes my brother’s wedding, I do the only logical thing: grab Colton and kiss him like my life depends on it. He plays along, all hard muscle and smoldering heat, and suddenly our fake relationship feels very real. One night turns into stolen days and breathless nights in Colton’s bed, where he worships every inch of me like I’m his to keep. But everything shatters when my ex abducts me—and I discover I’m pregnant. Now I’m trapped, terrified, and caught in a twisted game where my ex claims the baby is his. Will Colton risk everything to find me... or abandon me when I need him most?

I knew the exact moment when everything changed. It was the day in March, the same one I got assaulted by my boss, lost my job, saved my pregnant sister from committing suicide, and as if it wasn’t enough… it was the day Kieran King walked into my life. I hated Kieran from the moment I laid my eyes on him for the first time. He was an arrogant bastard that turned my life upside down, and no matter how much I despised him, I also could not live without him. He blackmailed me, used me, he was cruel and rough, and I wanted nothing more than to get away… but he also saved my life and protected me when I needed it the most. Now I don’t know if I can leave anymore. My name is Sophia Howard and this is my story.

For five years, Aria Jones was Damien Cole’s invisible wife, trapped in a cold, loveless marriage while he mourned another woman. Damien believed Aria destroyed the one woman he had ever loved, and no matter how hard she tried, she could never escape the hatred in his eyes. So she stayed silent, endured the humiliation, and slowly lost herself in a marriage that was never meant for her. Then, on their fifth wedding anniversary, Lily returned. Damien didn’t hesitate. He threw the divorce papers in front of Aria and demanded she sign them before the night ended. She didn’t beg or cry. She simply signed her name and walked away. But Aria didn’t leave empty-handed. She left carrying Damien’s child. The years that followed nearly destroyed her, but she refused to remain broken. From nothing, Aria rebuilt her life, founded her own company, and became a woman powerful enough to stand in the same world Damien once ruled alone. Now, a high stakes corporate merger forces them back into each other’s lives. For the first time, Damien looks at Aria with regret instead of hatred, desperate to undo the past and win her back. But some wounds cut too deeply to heal, and Damien has no idea he’s already a father.

The night before her wedding, Sloane Merritt catches her fiancé in bed with another woman. Humiliated and heartbroken, she walks away from the future she thought she wanted only to collide with billionaire CEO Caden Ashford, a man who has just been betrayed by the very same woman. With her grandfather's final wish hanging in the balance and Caden needing a wife for reasons of his own, they make a deal: one year of marriage. No love. No expectations. No strings attached. It should have been simple. But the cold, untouchable billionaire starts showing up whenever Sloane needs him. He notices things no one else does. Protects her when she doesn't ask. And looks at her like she's the only woman in the room. The more their fake marriage begins to feel real, the harder it becomes to remember where the boundaries are supposed to be. Then the woman who betrayed them both comes back, determined to destroy everything they've built. She agreed to be his wife for one year. Nobody warned her that Caden Ashford would become obsessed with keeping her.

My boyfriend has always doted on me. However, after learning that I can't go to work at the bank after falling and injuring myself, he snaps at me. "Why didn't you tell me you switched shifts with someone else? That was a cheap move!" I don't refute him. Instead, I pull out a hospitalization record as I watch the bank descend into chaos. In my past life, I attended to a couple who wanted to deposit five million dollars into their account. Their child had been diagnosed with a rare illness. They'd gotten the money by selling their organs and mortgaging the home—it was to save their child's life and pay for the surgery the following day. However, the money was stolen the following day. I helped them check where the money was withdrawn, but the surveillance footage showed I was the one who did it. My best friend wept when the couple questioned me. "You shouldn't have stolen the money someone needed to save a life, no matter how materialistic and covetous you are!" My boyfriend hurried over and said, "I wondered why you suddenly had money to buy a car—you stole it! You're heartless!" The child died after failing to receive treatment in time, and the couple stabbed me to death on the streets out of devastation. When I open my eyes again, I think injuring myself will help me escape this. To my surprise, the surveillance cameras once again capture me stealing the money.

Kylie He was off limits until I decided revenge tasted better in his arms. I never intended to follow on my forbidden desires but when my boyfriend cheats on me, I decide to get a little revenge by hooking up with his hot father, Jesse, Mr O'Neal. The sexy silver fox that fills my fantasies and has been offlimits until now. Our one night stand turns into something more than we can ever imagine, but when reality catches up with our whirlwind romance, can we catch up to it? Hearts will be broken, lives will be ruined but if we can survive the world pulling us apart, maybe we might have a chance at a happily ever after. Screw you Xavier, your dad does it better.

Lennon Shepard's first love, Jessie Sterling, has caused a medical malpractice incident due to an operational mishap. That night, Lennon cuts off the oxygen for Mabel Judson's mother to coerce her into taking the blame. At the moment, he's sitting across from Mabel with a confession placed between them. Once she signs it, she will never be able to pick up a scalpel in this country for the rest of her life.

I am reborn on the day my wife, Courtney Clarke, embezzles company funds to pay off her childhood best friend, Travis Foster's, gambling debts. This time, I, Nathan Turner, don't sell my patents to help her plug her financial hole. Instead, I swiftly file for divorce with the court and cut ties with her. This is all because in my previous life, I had loved her with everything I had for 50 years. I was at her beck and call. She claimed she longed for a platonic marriage, and so I endured a sexless marriage for decades. All this lasted until the day of the shipwreck, when I gave her the last life vest. Yet, after she was saved, she never told the rescue team that I was still trapped inside the cabin. In my final moments, through a crack in the cabin door, I watched her throw herself into Travis' arms. "Trav, I love you. I only love you. From now on, no one will stand in the way of our love." In that moment, I abandoned all will to live, letting the sea swallow me whole. So this time, after being reborn, I choose to step aside and let her pursue her love.