Hold On Tight

"Let's play a game." "What game?" "One that involves you not screaming." ★★★★★ I'd been the perfect girlfriend to my star hockey player for two years. Stood in the rain at his practices. Drove hours just to watch him warm benches. Wore his jersey like it meant something. And he repaid me by fucking his way through half of Chicago—including the sister of the one man he's been obsessed with for years. Zane Mercer. The NHL's most dangerous player. My stepfather's worst enemy. And the man who looked at me like I was something worth destroying the world for. One impossible offer. One desperate bet. One night that changed everything. Zane doesn't do fake. He doesn't do half measures. When he tells me I'm his for two months, he means it. In every way that matters. But Zane has secrets buried so deep they connect to my family's past in ways I never imagined. Dark secrets. Deadly ones. What starts as a transaction turns into obsession. What starts as revenge turns into something I can't walk away from. And what starts as a lie might be the only truth that matters. They say some men are too dangerous to love. They're right. But I was never good at following warnings. ********** This book contains explicit sexual content, dominant/possessive behavior, morally gray characters, family conflict, and themes that may be triggering. Intended for mature readers 18+. This isn’t your normal hockey romance. It’s dark, raw, and unrelenting—where obsession, desire, and power collide, and nothing is off-limits.

While I've been unconscious for 12 days after getting into a car crash, I end up spending 12 years wandering in my dreams. In my dreams, I play the role as the fake mafia principessa. I've committed all atrocious crimes for the sake of my lover, Marcello Gallo, only for him to expose me in front of everyone on our wedding day. In the end, I freeze to death on the streets. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Marcello brings the real principessa, Viviana Sabato, home. He's still gazing at me as sincerely as he did in the past. But I know that in the future, he will cross his fingers while making our vows before the priest. Even if I have to go through everything one more time, I know that I must give up on Marcello no matter how genuine his feelings are for me right now.

Is it wrong to want your brother's best friend when he still treats you like a child? Averie does not care anymore. When her boyfriend walked away calling her 'too innocent,' Averie decided boring was a choice she was done making. She reinvented every part of herself, which brought her to a night in the club with a masked stranger whose kiss made her feel alive. Too bad that stranger was Jace Carrington – who now has to face the fact that his best friend's little sister isn't so little anymore. Jace is a billionaire hockey star who can't afford mistakes. His team operates on one sacred rule: personal drama kills team chemistry. Crossing lines with his best friend's sister should be unthinkable, but that kiss changed the math on everything. Now Jace can't be in the same room as Averie without his carefully constructed boundaries crumbling. Averie won't let him retreat into treating her like she's still twelve. She's calling him out on every dodge, every deflection, every attempt to pretend nothing shifted between them. Jace can either keep lying to himself or face what acknowledging her could cost him. The brotherhood comes first – it always has. So why can't he stay away?

After receiving the report for an STD test, I went back to the barbeque restaurant, and there I ran into a young woman who was about three months pregnant. She asked me to let her cut in line, and, feeling sorry for her, I agreed to help her out. I quickly made arrangements for her and made sure she had a seat. But to my shock, after she finished her meal, she had a miscarriage. The girl posted about the incident online, and before I knew it, I was trending on social media, facing a wave of cyberbullying. The internet users went even further, digging up my health records and finding that everything came back positive. [She's positive for everything—she's clearly a woman with a messy private life!] [No wonder she caused the woman's miscarriage just by being near her—she's a biological hazard!] The cyberbullying got so bad that it pushed me into depression. Even my fiancé turned against me, accusing me of being filthy and breaking up with me. The emotional weight became too much, and in my pain, I drove straight into a reservoir. Meanwhile, the girl gained millions of followers online and skyrocketed to fame as a popular influencer. It was only after I died that I learned the shocking truth—this girl was my fiancé's first love. To boost her own popularity, she and my fiancé had come up with this entire scheme together. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day when she asked me to let her cut in line.

George Sunther doesn't show up on the day we're supposed to get engaged. His family is nowhere to be seen either. Mom's and Dad's faces become increasingly darker as our relatives whisper disapprovingly. I'm about to contact George when I see a social media update from Winona Sunther, the Sunther family's adopted daughter. "From today onward, we're siblings and also spouses." A photo of her and George decked out in wedding attire while holding each other close is attached. Later, I find George, and he says guiltily, "Winnie is pregnant out of wedlock, and her boyfriend has made a run for it. I have to marry her first so that her reputation remains untainted. It's all so she can have the baby without any hitches." I'm stunned. The invitations for our wedding have already been sent out! George wraps an arm around my waist, his tone as gentle as always. "I'll marry you once the baby is born, okay? You're the only woman I'll call my wife, Mary. You have to trust me." I look into his eyes, which I had once loved with all my heart. My heart twists painfully. He's always like this. He always tells me I have to be more tolerant and magnanimous when it comes to Winona because she's his sister. I watch as he leaves in a hurry after answering a call from Winona. Then, I stop hesitating and call my parents. "Mom, is the Zowski family still up for a wedding?"

This is the story of a girl who’s fantasies and traumas begin to blend with her reality till the lines become so blurred she’s not sure which one is actually the reality

On the Northwind Trail, just before sunrise, my flashlight cut across the inside of the SUV and landed on five lifeless bodies. My hands shook as I dialed 911. "Hello? I'm on Route 296, the Northwind Trail. Everyone in my car… is dead." The operator's voice was calm but quick. "Please confirm your location. Officers are on their way." My words dropped heavy and flat, like stones hitting the ground. "I'm on Route 296, about three miles east of the mountain pass. The plate number is NA318X. Five people inside the car are dead… and I'm the only one alive."

A homecoming banquet was organized for my wealthy boyfriend’s first love. At the banquet, he forced me to drink an entire glass of Whisky, even though I was pregnant, just to make his first love happy. My abdomen was in excruciating pain, and blood was seeping through my white dress. He kissed his first love in front of me as his friends cheered him on. As I was losing consciousness, I heard a cold remark. “Ignore her. She’s just a mistress. She won’t be able to live without me.” When I woke up in the hospital, I caressed my flat stomach and wanted to send him a photo of the medical report detailing my miscarriage. However, I realized that his profile picture had been changed to a photo of his first love’s side profile. He even blocked me again. However, this time, I did not beg him as I had in the past. Instead, I booked a flight ticket to leave the country.

In the second year of our marriage, which Brett Mason had secured through relentless means, he brought home his latest conquest—a stunning blonde. As the door swung shut, he ran his fingers through her silky hair, flashing me a smug, triumphant grin. "Wanna join us? You might learn a thing or two about not being such a dead fish." I could still recall how he once adored my hair, claiming that just stroking it would melt away his deepest worries. It turned out any woman could serve that purpose. In that instant, a profound sense of release washed over me. I retrieved the divorce agreement I'd stashed away in a drawer and handed it to him. "Sign it, and I'll make room for her." My days were numbered, and I had no intention of wasting what little time remained entangled in his resentment.

Asher Faith Villonio is a woman who had to go through with any jobs just to earn for her family and for her to reach her dreams, even if these jobs mean to lose her dignity. She has no time for a relationship and love... but everything changed when Jake Valenzuela, a Mafia heir, came into her life. Binili ni Jake Valenzuela si Asher Villonio para maging kanyang personal escort sa loob ng isang buwan. Sa loob ng ilang araw na sila ay magkasama at sa ilang pagtatalik na kanilang pinagsaluhan, ang kanilang puso'y nagtagpo sa isang pagmamahalang hindi inaasahan. Sumugal si Ash kahit na alam niyang maaari siyang masaktan, at tama nga siya. Jake has made a mistake that broke Ash's heart. Will she forgive Jake for what he has done and welcome him on her life again? Or won't she let the man that has touched her heart once touch it again?