Hard Questions

Daddy brought me to Aunt Jenny’s party. As I was eating a piece of cake, I tasted a cherry between the layers and hurriedly spat it out. Once, I broke out in rashes after eating a cherry and nearly died, so I was deeply traumatized by that flavor even as a young child. However, Aunt Jenny looked heartbroken. “I hid a cherry in the cake as a little surprise, just like it’s good luck to get a bay leaf in a pie. How could you be so rude, Kenny?” Daddy did not even let me explain. He chased me out in the yard and made me stand there as punishment. Mommy said it had been more than a hundred degrees out lately, so she told me to stay home and not go out to play. Now I knew just how hot 104 degrees could be! My body was all itchy, too. I was finding it hard to breathe. I wanted to ask Daddy to forgive me, but he refused to open the door no matter how hard I knocked. He glanced at me coldly through the floor-to-ceiling window. He was not going to let me back in.

"I am going to have some fun. He said, and he started pulling at my shirt, causing me to panic. "Don't touch me," I said "Don't touch my sister," Lilly added, and she ran toward him, but he pushed her so hard she fell into the cell wall. "Lilly," Poppy and I screamed at the same time. Damen tore my shirt off, revealing my bra, but I wasn't going to give up so easily. I kicked him where the sun didn't shine, causing him to groan in pain. "You bitch," Damen said before he pushed me to the ground. "Rose," Poppy said "I was going to take it easy on you, but since you want to be difficult, I changed my mind," Damen said. He got on top and I tried to kick him again but he woudln't let me. "That won't work this time," Damen said, and then he punched me in my face so hard my vision became blurry. "Beloved!" Was the last thing I heard before darkness consumed me

Bold and beautiful Vivienne Payton is willing to do anything to be successful in life and make it to the top. However, when she's struck with financial problems which make her drop out of school. She's compelled to sign up as a surrogate to one of the most famous billionaire CEO He's cold, aloof, and arrogant, 33 years old Victor Ellison just lost his wife due to cancer and is willing to do anything to keep her memories alive, including hiring a surrogate. When 19 years old Vivienne enters his life, everything changes when she's hell-bent on finding her way to his heart, a man who owns his heart, a bedrock of stability questions himself when he yearns for something forbidden which would either leave him broken or giving in to the consuming passion more irresistible and enticing than anything he has ever felt. With external dangers surrounding them and constantly looking out for each other. Hearts melt, and love blooms. However, a life-changing secret harbors in her heart which could break and ruin a relationship, will running away be the solution?

She's the world's treasure, both cursed and graced with a voice that enchants anyone that hears it. Nicknamed as a siren, it's almost ironic how she is truly a mermaid. Ines is a mermaid with one wish; To return home to the Sea. But having been cursed into a contract with the CEO of her company, she is stuck on land with human legs, forced to create music for the world to hear. But that's all about to change with one fateful meeting. Alaric Clemente is an actor gracing the world with his talents; The embodiment of perfection blessed with good looks, money, fame, and influence, he has it all, but when he meets Ines Agua, a woman always racked in all kinds of rumours, he learns that she's nothing like what the rumours made her out to be, if anything, she's the complete opposite. With the spark of intrigue lighting their meeting, both Alaric and Ines learn that more than just their feelings are at stake in this game of love. With people striving to tear her down, curses chaining her to a land she hates, and a man making her want to risk everything, both the questions and answers are blurred beyond recognition.

What was supposed to be a sacred mating ceremony, exploded into a blood-soaked nightmare for the daughter of the Head Warrior of Woodcrest pack. Before Anna's horrified eyes, future Alpha Axeel, her fated mate, was brutally butchered. The killer: Alpha Atticus of the Moon Howlers, an obsessed admirer whose twisted pursuit culminated in a chilling vow; she belonged to him alone. Condemned to eighteen years in a merciless Council prison, Atticus vanished, yet his dark promise haunted her. Devastated and emotionally walled off, Anna abandoned the werewolf world, fleeing Woodcrest and her loved ones for the unknown. But fate had darker plans. Four subsequent fated mates vanished without a trace during her desolate travels. Convinced she was cursed, a harbinger of doom, Anna swore off love forever, resigned to loneliness. Then, the strange began. Men actively avoided her, yet unexplained prosperity blossomed. She became a solitary queen in a sprawling mansion. But chilling questions lingered: Who shared her bed in the darkness? Who protected and provided for her meticulously? And most terrifyingly, as her body began to change, how would she explain the birth of her pup to everyone?...

Hudson Ford and Callie Clarke fall in love but never once discuss it, until a single night turns everything around. They finally consummate their relationship, only to have Callie disappear the next morning. Hudson wakes up to discover that she is missing, and his world is turned upside down. Years go by before Callie reenters Hudson's life. Now a stunning, poised architect, she struts into a conference room with poise and confidence. Men glance at her in admiration, and Hudson is shocked. He never imagined seeing her again, but here she is, more seductive than ever. As soon as Callie lays eyes on Hudson, her world freezes. All the self-discipline she has constructed around herself starts to disintegrate. She questions whether she will surrender to her need for Hudson or whether she will fall into the deep peril she initially escaped. Convinced not to lose Callie once again, Hudson makes a decision to reclaim her no matter what. He demands answers from Callie as to why she vanished from his life. His pursuit sets off a storm of memories that risk destroying their relationship.

Running away is easy. For Dyanne Collins, it's by far the easiest thing to do—perhaps even instinctive, but running from her problems can only get her so far. After her father passed away, she left everything behind, and now, ten years later, she is back where it all began Working directly for Alexander Morgan, the man she had been in love with before she abruptly ended things and moved away. Dyanne's plan: 1) Work in Morgan's company for two more years, 2) Pay off her debt and run away again, 3) and for no reason, fall for her ex-lover, Alexander Morgan. If she could do it back then, she could again. How long, though, can she run? How long until she faces all that has been holding her back? How long can she keep the secrets and questions of her past from coming back to haunt her? “It's going to be nothing serious, I can do it,”, but sometimes serious can sneak up on you in ways you never expected.

Financial reporter Zoey, known for her pride and icy beauty, and with a formidable business acumen, finds herself at the center of a scandal on the very day she and financial tycoon Barlen are to get their marriage license. An insider exposes her, claiming that she loves only Barlen's wealth and that their marriage is merely a product of her exquisite acting skills. Unaware of the brewing storm, Zoey and Barlen are in the midst of obtaining their license when the news breaks. Barlen, upon reading the revelations, 'borrows' Zoey's phone and promptly turns it off, facing the onslaught of public opinion with firm evidence in hand. Surrounded by media reporters, Barlen is bombarded with questions about his perspective on the scandal. He deliberately twists the narrative: "My wife, she doesn't just love my money. Could she possibly love someone else's?" The reporters press on, clarifying their query: "Do you mean she only loves money, not you as a person?" Barlen remains composed: "She loves my money, and I love her as a person. Is there a problem with that?" In a single sentence: He redeems her with all his love and warmth. How could I not be enamored with someone like you?

He’s the world’s most elusive billionaire. She’s the shattered woman who swears she was once his fiancée. When Lyra sees Caspian Clearance’s face on the cover of Forbes magazine, the world stops, because that’s Mason, the man who promised her forever and disappeared without a trace but Caspian insists he’s never met her. He has no memory of her… or the life they supposedly shared. How can a man forget the love of his life? Haunted by her pain and driven by a storm of unanswered questions, Caspian digs into the mystery, only to uncover a chilling truth: before he was Caspian, he was Mason… a poor man who vanished after a tragic accident but Mason didn’t die. His body is in a coma. Caspian is his soul in a second chance at life, one with power, wealth, and no memory of a broken-hearted fiancée. Now Caspian stands at a brutal crossroads: Return to the woman who claims his heart belongs to her… Or stay in the life that made him untouchable. Love or legacy. Past or power. The truth could destroy them both and remembering… might be the biggest risk of all.

When Noémie Rochester wakes up naked in bed with her boss, with no recollection of the previous night, she's more than just shocked—she's heartbroken. Never had she imagined, in the worst of her nightmares, that her boss, with whom she had been in love for three long years, would do something so awful to her. To avoid all the questions, confrontations, and humiliation, she runs off as far as she can. But little does she know, there's more than meets the eye. The truth is not as straightforward as it seems, and their lives are about to become more twisted in the precarious game of the unknown. {Excerpt} The cold water poured down her naked body, washing away all the evidence of what had happened to her—what he had done to her—all night. However, what it couldn't wash away was her aggrieved heart and the pain in her chest. The shock of being betrayed by a man she was willing to go to any extent for. "I loved you, Mr. Halest," she sobbed, collapsing on the floor as the water pounded on her head. "And you ruined me!"