Faking A Smile Quotes Novels & Stories

“Fine,” I heard myself say, the word tasting like rust. “You want an open marriage? We’ll do open.” A slow smile curved his mouth—victory, not warmth. “Good girl. Then I suppose you won’t mind if I reintroduce Kisha.” The camera panned. There she was, curled on what I now realized was our hotel suite couch, her legs tucked under a cashmere throw that used to be mine. She waved, manicured nails glinting, belly softly rounded under a silk camisole. My world tilted. I forced a smile that felt like glass. “So she’s your girlfriend?” Daniel’s hand settled possessively on that gentle swell. “Not just my girlfriend,” he said, eyes locked on mine. “The mother of my unborn child.” Jayla Carmichael smiles for the cameras as the perfect senator's wife while her world burns. But queens don't kneel. They conquer. Fueled by whiskey and wrath, Jayla ensnares Warren Christopher, a brooding billionaire CEO, after saving his empire in a bar-side twist of fate. Love was the first lie. Revenge is the foreplay, and the truth? it's coming for them all...naked, ruthless and dripping in karma. Will Jayla's vengeance destroy her soul or will warrens fire forge something eternal?. This book isn't just romance, it's war with benefits.

"Sometimes, secrets are the heaviest burdens" Blaire was known for her radiant smile and her vivacious personality, but she had a secret—one that she had carried in her heart for years. Blaire was in love, and the object of her affection was not just anyone but her best friend's older brother, Logan. As the years passed, Blaire's feelings for Logan deepened, but she kept them hidden. But what happens when secrets long buried finally come to light, and the boundary between friendship and something more begins to blur?

On the night of her anniversary, Renee was pushed into the sea by her husband and best friend, their betrayal disguised as an accident. They pretended to grieve at her funeral, but little did they know, even the Moon Goddess couldn't let it end that way. Renee was reborn. This time, everything is different. The powerful, cold-hearted Alpha—her best friend's father—finds himself drawn to her in ways he never expected. With a smile, he says to her "best friend," "Little angel, come meet your new mommy."

When my father's business collapsed, he racked up an astronomical debt to the Andor family. And when they finally came knocking, he did what no loving parent should ever do—he collateralized me, his only daughter, handing me over to Cassian before vanishing off the face of the earth. For ten long years, I stayed by Cassian Andor's side. He treated me with a tenderness so indulgent it bordered on worship. There was nothing I asked for that he would not give; there was no whim of mine he would not entertain. Everyone in our world knew me as his princess. I grew up believing with certainty that once I came of age, he would sweep me into his arms, march me down the aisle, and make me his wife. But reality—cold, brutal, and as dazzlingly cruel as the world we lived in—had other plans. Instead of the ring I had dreamed of, Cassian gifted a breathtaking pink diamond—the very symbol of eternal devotion—to his assistant, Heidi Torres. As if that wasn't betrayal enough, he threw a lavish celebration in her honor, a veritable explosion of flowers. He knew I was deathly allergic to pollen. Yet he still left me stranded there, drowning in a sea of blossoms. Eventually, I collapsed in a violent asthma attack, gasping and clawing for air, teetering on the edge of consciousness. And Cassian? He merely tightened his hold around Heidi in his arms and cast me a cold glance. "Your allergies have been fine for ages," he said with a sneer. "Why the sudden drama today? Don't tell me you're faking it." At that moment, as I lay there humiliated and struggling to breathe, I realized there were exactly seven days left until my twentieth birthday since when I could register a marriage.

The woman in Eden's arms should have been me — but I died on the marking ceremony night. The life that I had planned properly since childhood was ripped away without mercy. My supposed mate and twin sister danced around in glee, looking very happy. If only they knew I was standing before them right now as a ghost — watching every smile, every touch, every stolen moment. Quietly waiting to watch them fall from their high pedestal.

Sign this or someone dies. Lena Brooks thought her biggest problem was choosing between groceries and rent until billionaire Damien Black appeared at her door with a marriage contract and an ultimatum that shattered her world. Now she's trapped in a glittering world, where every smile hides a threat and who to trust is a game on its own. Caught between terror and an attraction she can't deny, Lena will have to uncover the truth to protect the people she loves before it’s too late.

“One year as my fake Luna. When my real mate returns, you walk away." The Monster of the North offered me a devil's bargain with a smile — and I took it, because the mate I loved had just traded my life for his adopted sister. They made me a tribute. A placeholder. A bargaining chip. So I'll play their game — and when the year is up, I'll be the Alpha of my own pack. They wanted a pawn, but they just crowned a Queen.

Anaka’s life is turned upside down when her father suddenly dies and her brother casts her out of the family. To make matters worse, she finds out that her so called future mate was faking his interest in her. With the rejection of her family, friends, and pack, Anaka goes to her aunt on Beldoore, the human land. Anaka hopes to heal her broken world and find a new purpose. The best revenge is to prove haters wrong. Dorian is a prince, but a second born son. The spare, yet that didn’t stop him from making a name for himself as the warrior prince. His brother is now king and ruling the kingdom well. Dorian is prepared to aid his brother in whatever political battle the werewolves are attempting to wage. While everyone else in his family ignores the former king who suffers from a diseased mind, Dorian has not. A visit to his father will send an expected person in his path. When the Wolf Girl, half breed collides with the Warrior Prince, sparks fly. Dorian sees that Anaka has a talented voice and makes her an offer of a lifetime. He can make her a music star. Anaka has a chance to turn her so called useless talent into something that gives her purpose. Determined to prove she will not be beaten down, Anaka accepts the gracious offer from the warrior prince who has her attention. When politics get complicated and the wolf council come knocking on her door, she will be left to pick a side. Anaka finds herself facing a battle that only Dorian can teach her to fight. When everything is on the line, can Anaka forge her own destiny as she builds a new world that no one will take from her.

As the only daughter of the Whitehaven Pack's Alpha, I had the right to choose my mate from among the heirs of our allied packs. Everyone expected me to choose Kieran Dante—after all, I’d spent years making a fool of myself chasing after him at every pack gathering. But instead, I chose Damon Thorne, the one they called cursed and weak. In my previous life, I did choose Kieran, and on the night of our bonding ceremony, I found him mating with my best friend Sera in the ceremonial preparation room. When my father found out and banished Sera from the pack, Kieran blamed me for ruining his happiness. He brought back a hundred she-wolves who looked exactly like her and forced me to watch as he bedded them one after another. The constant agony of the bond tore me apart from the inside, and when I finally grew too weak to endure it anymore, Kieran accused me of faking illness for attention. On the night I was dying, I crawled to his door begging for help, and he stepped over my body to go sleep with another woman. I died alone on the cold hallway floor while my mate laughed in the next room. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back before it all happened — with a second chance to change everything. This time, I decided to let Kieran and Sera have each other. What I didn't expect was that Kieran had also been reborn, and when he saw me choose Damon over him, he completely lost control.

When my boyfriend, Mark Jamison, gets in a car accident that leaves him paralyzed, I pawn the ring my mother left to me before she died to help him. With hands that have never been used to do any work or a single household chore in my life, I start lugging around delivery bags. In the middle of a rainstorm, I get assigned to deliver a food order worth 10,000 dollars, with a 100-dollar tip. Just as I happily celebrate my luck, I overhear the raucous laughter coming from inside the villa. "She actually believes you got paralyzed in a car accident? She now spends all day doing deliveries just to support you financially? She even sold off her dead mom's ring?" "She'd probably cry her heart out if she ever finds you're actually a wealthy scion worth tens of billions of dollars, who's just pretending to be poor!" Mark twirls the wineglass he's holding and says, "A lowly woman like her was born to wait on others. She brought it upon herself by always being better than Rosie back in school. Messing with her is the punishment she deserves." I continue to stand in the rain, tears rolling down my cheeks. This is how I find out Mark has spent the last two years faking his condition just to help his childhood sweetheart get back at me. His so-called paralyzed legs, deceased parents, and helpless tears are all just part of a meticulously executed lie. I haven't talked to my father, the richest man in town, for years. But now, I have finally decided to call him. "I lost, Dad. I'll accept the marriage alliance and marry the guy you picked for me."