Hardin From After Novels & Stories

Jennifer Porter, the icy and untouchable CEO, never imagined that buying a simple jade pendant for her childhood friend would change everything. Because of that pendant, I divorced her and left with our daughter. After all, the jade pendant was my father's keepsake, and her childhood friend smashed it to pieces right in front of me. We met again three years later, at an international jewelry design competition. My ex-wife grabbed my wrist, fury burning in her eyes. "You've been gone for three years. Isn't your tantrum long enough? I'll buy you a hundred jade pendants, just come home with me." The next second, a small hand tugged at her clothes. "Excuse me, could you step aside? My mom needs to talk to my dad."

Anita," her angelic voice calls to me. Thunder rumbles in the distance. Her soft, delicate hands caressing my face, sparkling green eyes grounding me from the dark past I wish I could forget. "You're safe, it's okay." I bring my hand up, running my finger over the mound of scar tissue. The constant reminder of that night. The raised bump covers the bullet fragment embedded in my sternum. She takes my hands as more thunder rumbles and tears roll down my cheeks. "Breathe Anita," she says in a soothing whisper. My lungs were burning with the need for air and it was then that I realized I'd been holding it. I take in a gasping breath and recall the first time my eyes met her green eyes. My sister had been lifted off me and my eyes opening had startled her. The first time she touched me gave me strength to hold on. I held her hand tight, trying to tell her what happened, but couldn't get enough breath to form words. Sitting in the present going through the same as I had five years ago. "They were all found, Anita. They can't hurt you anymore. It's just a storm. All the doors and windows are locked, the alarm is set. It's just you and me." "Will you keep the light on tonight, please?"

Mia didn't choose this life. Dropped into a world of dust, horses, and hard edges, she's just trying to keep her head down and survive it. Lane was built for it. Rough, controlled, and impossible to ignore, he lives for the ride-bulls, danger, and the kind of reputation that keeps people at a distance. But distance doesn't last forever. not when Mia starts finding her place among the animals... Not when Lane starts watching her more than he should... And not when the tension between them turns into something neither of them can outrun. In a world where falling hurts and trust comes slow, Mia and Lane are about to learn that some risks aren't just taken in the arena.

She sold him out. Now, he’s coming to collect. Maya Serrano was the ultimate honey trap. Her job was to dismantle the Moretti empire from the inside, but she made a fatal mistake: she fell for the monster she was sent to cage. She traded her mission for his touch, losing herself in a haze of rough hands and whispered sins—until the law finally tore them apart. Lucien Moretti spent five years in a cage, fueled by the memory of Maya’s betrayal and the lingering scent of her skin. Now he’s out, he’s reclaimed his throne with blood, and his first order of business is hunting down the traitor who vanished into the night. He didn't just want her head; he wanted her back in his bed, stripped of her secrets and her pride. But when he finally corners her, the interrogation turns into an explosion of starved, primal lust. And in the wreckage of their reunion, he discovers a truth that changes everything: a four-year-old girl with his eyes and his ruthless streak. The rules of the game have changed. Lucien doesn’t forgive, and he definitely doesn't share. Maya thought she could outrun her past, but Lucien is about to prove that she belongs to him—body, heart, and soul. She cost him his freedom. Now, he’s going to take hers.

Everyone said I was lucky. After the Don, Lucas Vaughn, brought me back to his estate, I became the woman he treasured most. He would halt billion-dollar deals just to be home on time to put me to sleep. He even learned sign language in secret, just so he could communicate with me after my vocal cords were damaged. At first, I didn’t dare give him my heart. Whenever he looked at me, his focus would drift. He showered me with gifts, yet always disappeared on the days that mattered most. As the child in my womb grew, and as Lucas’s devotion intensified day by day, I let my guard down. I devoted myself completely to the role of wife and Donna. Until the night I gave birth. I hemorrhaged during a difficult labor, but Lucas never showed up. After surviving by sheer luck, I finally saw the trending news. Lucas attended a Thames-side gala arm-in-arm with rising movie star, Serena Vale. That was when I understood. To him, I had only ever been a substitute. He broke his rules for her again and again. He indulged her humiliations toward me and even shoved me toward armed attackers at the brink of life and death. Filled with hatred, I closed my eyes and sank into the deep sea, just as he wished. Later, he knelt, clutching the hem of my dress, begging, "Zoe, please give me one more chance. I’ll repay you with my life." His life was worth too little now. I no longer wanted it.

Kylie Allen : A beautiful 17 year old high school student. She having crush over school's most hottest guy, who even does not knows she exists. Her parents are having divorce and her older brother Jason is a playboy, the second most hot boy in the school, Duke Somerzex John Howard : A 16 century Duke who had been trapped inside Mirror long time ago. He is cold to everyone but he gets melt when it comes to Kylie. They were meant to be together? But how? Will Destiny fall them apart or they will be together Happy ever after or the mending hearts?

On the day of my divorce, my ex-mother-in-law updates her social media with a photo. It's my husband's mistress' ultrasound—she's pregnant. Their friends and family congratulate her. Meanwhile, I share a premarital medical report. It belongs to her son, Owen Wade. It also clearly indicates he has congenital necrospermia. There's no way I'll want a man who can't have kids!

"Wait a minute..." Realization finally hitting her. "I just lost my virginity to a complete stranger!" ****************** A blissful night with a mysterious stranger turns Amelia's life around bittersweet. She gets pregnant and is now left to raise the child herself due to the unwillingness of the mysterious stranger who she later finds out to be Kris Fox, a name she wasn't going to forget anytime soon. Six years later, fate intervenes when Amelia’s path crosses Kris’s once more. Unknowingly to Amelia, Kris is the heir to the Largest Business Empire in the states, Fox Enterprises. He’s now a billionaire with a reputation as cold as steel and has an adopted son by his side who is coincidentally the same age as Amelia's son. As hidden secrets start to unravel and long-buried truths surface at every turn, Amelia is thrown into a whirlwind of emotions. She must confront Kris and reveal the connection they share for the sake of their children. As the past and present collide, will Amelia and Kris find a way to look past their complicated history, or will the secrets of that fateful night tear them apart forever? ****************** “I knew it! Kris’s adopted son and my son have the same birthmark. This can’t be a coincidence!”

Years spent in a lowly house made her reluctant to leave the comfort of her position, capitalizing on her fame and beauty, to make money. Until suddenly, a woman known as Monica proposed to Nathan while she was about to serve him in room 310. Slightly moved by the promise of freedom that had long been lost, Monica finally accepted Nathan's offer to become his second wife. Who would have thought that her arrival in the family would unravel one mystery after another? There are many secrets in Nathan's family, and who was Nathan's first wife, who had a face similar to his? Were they truly connected?

Elena Brooks didn’t sell her soul for money. She sold it for her sister’s life. When cold-hearted billionaire Alessandro Rossi offers her a way out of insurmountable debt. One year as his contract wife, she has no choice but to sign. One bed. Brutal rules. Total surrender. In exchange: five million dollars and protection from the enemies her father betrayed. But Sandro Rossi is no ordinary billionaire. He is the ruthless Don of the Rossi Syndicate, a man who takes what he wants and destroys what he can’t control. Now trapped in his opulent penthouse, Elena finds herself at the mercy of a predator. Every lingering stare makes her pulse race. Every deliberate touch sets her skin on fire. Every whispered command strips away another piece of her resistance. The more she fights his dominance, the more shamefully she craves it. As dangerous rivals close in and deadly secrets rise from the past, Elena realizes the real threat isn’t the contract. It’s the monster who’s slowly claiming her body… and stealing her heart. Some deals are written in ink. Theirs was sealed in blood, lust, and obsession. And once Sandro Rossi decides a woman belongs to him… He never lets her go.