I Put My Hand On The Stove

The game: Mafia. The rules: Lies are required, deceit is essential, betrayal is highly encouraged. Who wins? The remaining one left at the top. Who loses? The one who falls in love first. Eirene Evander's identity had always been kept a secret, her family made sure of that. Since she could remember, she was trained in the art of illusion and deception. But a tragic event led her to run off and enlist in the Marines as Rein. Now that she’s come home, it’s time to see what the mafia’s up to these days. Will pretending to be a man help with her mission for the military? Will she finally find the truth about her father’s death? Or will it lead to her demise just like her predecessor? Delian Leofric is a calculated, mean-spirited brute. Every person he meets would warn others to avoid even just a glimpse of his shadow. But what they don’t know is that he’s more than that. Now that he’s about to become the mob leader, will he turn things around? Or in the end, will he be swallowed up and forced to do their bidding until he’s replaced by another? A vengeful soldier, a puppet mob king, with all the other players from the underground organization and more. These combinations may just bring tragic deaths, unexpected greatness, or maybe a concoction of both.

At the team dinner, everyone started hyping Peggy Madoff and me up to call our partners. Before I could even move, Peggy—runner-up to my top spot—whipped out her phone. "Babe, everyone's making me call you!" she giggled. On the line? Gerard Busch. Yeah, the CEO. He laughed. "Guess I'll be counting on you all to look after Peggy," he said. Cue the gasps and cheers. I just kept downing my wine. Because Gerard? He was my husband.

I was the pack's chief healer and my mate was just an ordinary warrior. Everyone thought we were not a good match, but I didn't mind. I accepted his proposal without hesitation. But on my mating ceremony, my mate's ex-girlfriend Serena suddenly came in with a little boy. The little boy hugged Marcus' legs and called him daddy. I thought it was some kind of scam. But when Marcus saw the child's mother, his face went pale. Then he showed an expression I'd never seen before—pure adoration—as he scooped the boy into his arms. "Let's cancel our mating ceremony. I need to mark Serena first and raise the child with her. Don't worry. Even though I'm marking Serena, my heart belongs to you." He thought I loved him so much that I chose to be his second mate. He didn't expect that I would just calmly contact my childhood friend Alpha Dominic. "My mating ceremony is all set up, but I'm missing a male lead. Would you be willing to come mark me?"

I woke up naked beside a man I hadn’t seen in eight years. Before noon, the scandal was everywhere. By noon, I’d lost my position as CEO, my name, and my marriage. But the worst betrayal wasn’t the headlines. It wasn’t walking in on my husband and my best friend planning my downfall and mocking me. It was finding out the man I loved, my sweetheart of five years, made me a surrogate without my knowledge. The twins I'd been carrying for seven months weren't mine. But it failed to break me. It only made me stronger. After all, I wasn't just a mother—I was a CEO.

She coveted everything about me. My possessions, my experiences, and even my men. So one night, my mother pushed me into an older man's bedroom. The next day, she asked with a smug smile, "Nina, how was your night with the older guy?" I rubbed my sore waist, recalling his broad shoulders, long legs, and trim waist from the night before. I smiled as I answered her. "That fiancé of mine is all yours now. Just remember—I’ll be your Aunt-in-law in the future.”

A week before my death, my Alpha mate's childhood sweetheart Sarah returned to our pack. That night, he didn't come home. The next day, I received his mind-link. "I've purchased a mate-bond severing potion from the pack witch. Come home now so we can break our bond." In our pack, the Moon Goddess was very serious about mate bonds. Once two wolves chose to form a mate, the mate bond could not be severed, unless the witch's potion was used. This potion was very expensive, costing up to $500,000 per bottle. I smiled bitterly. He was very generous to sever the bond with me. I coughed twice before answering, "I'm in the healing center." His voice turned ice cold. "I don't care where you are. Even if you're about to die, you need to come back." I calmly replied, "Fine." He didn't know that I really was dying. Three years ago, during a rogue wolf attack, I blocked the silver dagger for him to protect him while he was unconscious. I was poisoned by silver and became weaker and weaker over the past three years. I only had one week left to live. On the day of my funeral, my mate was busy holding his marking ceremony with Sarah. Later, he knelt before my grave in pristine white ceremonial clothes, clutching my headstone and whispering through tears. "If there's another life after this one, I still want to marry you." That day was his marking ceremony with his childhood sweetheart. It was also my funeral.

I'm Victoria Corsini, the only daughter of the Corsini family's Don in Iberny. The marriage alliance partner whom Father has picked out for me is Cesar Romano, the new mafioso upstart in the underworld. Cesar is an ambitious man who intends to take over the casino industry in Navoles City. However, he's in the middle of getting oppressed by the alliance of powerful families due to his shaky foundation. In short, he might file for bankruptcy anytime soon. This means his only way out is to marry me and ask for the Corsini family's protection. In order to uncover his true colors, I put on a disguise and infiltrate Cesar's casino as a greenhorn dealer. On my first day at the job, I feel someone gripping my wrist tightly. "What makes you think you get to deal in the VIP hall? You really think a nobody like you has the right to touch the chips here?" I look up to see Liliana Conti, the casino's manager. She happens to be wearing an arrogant look at the moment. Everyone else begins muttering among themselves. "Liliana is Mr. Romano's beloved lover. He has stated more than once that he'll give this casino to her as a gift." Liliana flashes me a contemptuous smirk. Then, she slams a tray of casino chips that are made of gold in my face. "Drag her out of the casino and chop her hands off! Make her understand that I, Liliano Conti, am the one who determines the rules on Cesar's turf!" I just chuckle icily in response. To think that I, the future mistress of this casino, am being threatened to get kicked out of the casino by a worker right now… After shaking the bodyguards off me, I dial Cesar's number and set the call on speaker mode in front of everyone. "Cesar, your manager is threatening to chop my hands off. She even declares that you've given her the right to set the rules in place. "It seems that your casino doesn't really need the Corsini family's support, after all. I suppose we can call off our marriage, then?"

Eliza's whole life is turned upside down when she crashes and rolls her car. A mysteriously beautiful man walks into the wreckage and saves her, but as she gets a better look at her hero, she knows he is more than just a human. Now it seems as though she is connected to this sexy demon and their fates are tangled together somehow, but humans don't bond to demons, do they? In search of answers, they adventure out together on a journey to find someone who may know and to escape the demons that are following them, threatening to get to Eliza before Ash can keep her from all the dangers that lurk in the shadows. Will Eliza be safe with Ash or is this love too dangerous even for a demon.

Mia's marriage to Eric ends in a heartbreak when she caught him cheating on her with her best friend. And guess what? He threw her in jail and abandoned her, leaving her to fend for herself. Mia finds unexpected help from billionaire CEO Alexander Armitage. Alex offers her a chance at revenge. Mia sets out to take down those who wronged her. Will she find love and redemption along the way?

After my granddaughter is bullied by her classmates, the bully's family not only refuses to apologize but behaves arrogantly as well. Since they have connections in the city, the school doesn't dare intervene. I turn to the police, but they only urge me to let it go. The bully's family even boasted that they have people in the court, daring me to sue them. With every path to justice cut off, I have no choice but to take out the two Medals of Honor left behind after my son and daughter-in-law died in service, and kneel at the gates of the military compound. Six years ago, when the general personally delivered those medals to our home, he'd said, "Your son and daughter-in-law gave their lives for the country. They are heroes, martyrs, and the pride of our nation." But now, I want to ask him again. Why is it that when a martyr's daughter is bullied, no one protects her?