Iu Eight

The childs gone. The dreams gone. I've become comfortably numb Valentina Lombardi has been through a lifetime of trauma throughout her years. From her absentee, abusive father who's neglected her all her life to her even more abusive legal guardian who's been the one to traumatize her. A trip to what she sees as her second bedroom, the police station, takes a turn of events with a piece of information she receives that changes everything. Zane Marino, leader of the Marino mafia, and Raul Romano, one of his top men. Dead. The two men who've destroyed her are now out of her life, a miracle to her. Now, she's being thrown into the custody of her eight older brothers she never knew she had. Her biological family. Not to mention, her eldest brother who's now her legal guardian, also happens to be the leader of the Sicilian mafia. Her "father's" pure enemy. What happens when she has to learn to deal with the infamous, ruthless Lombardi brothers, the ones she was raised to hate? Marino through adoption and Lombardi by blood. A dangerous mix. Throw trauma, boys, secrets, and utter chaos into the mix. How will it all play out when her inner demon's come to the surface, making everything unravel right under her two feet?

Naya is twenty one and is waiting for her twenty second birthday where she gets her trust fund left by her grandmother, grandma Millie, so she can finally leave her authoritarian father and start her life without him dictating it. but to her greatest shock her father wants her married as a way to seal a merger deal with the Carters, she wants to leave but her father threatens to expose her alcoholic mother, so she has to marry the asshole and wait until she's twenty two which is in eight months, get her trust funds, divorce him and take her mother away and live her life the way she wants it. William James Carter is the CEO of the Carter shipping empire and Is listed as one of Forbes most eligible bachelor, but when his grandfather tells him he is to marry Naya, a girl he's never heard about and no pictures of her whatsoever, he refuses because he has a girlfriend Suzanne Pierce, who his grandfather finds lacking and now his grandfather threatens to disinherit him and give the CEO position to his cousin if he refuses to marry Naya Carrington, he has to agree, now he is saddled with a wife who hates him for ruining her plans. But when romance blooms between the two of them, they both fight the dangers, lies and betrayals that surrounded them.

I specifically accompany my wife, Sophie Caldwell, to visit her family during the holidays. My mother-in-law, Margaret Jackson, brings over a basket of apples. Then, she says in a half-teasing manner, "These apples are meant for the Jacksons. Once you've had your apple, you'll be blessed with a life as sweet as these apples. By the way, outsiders aren't allowed to take the apples." Everyone begins fighting for the apples happily. So, I grab an apple of my own too. The next thing I know, the atmosphere in the living room goes eerily quiet. Sophie drags me to a corner and starts berating me. "Are you so poor that you can't even afford to buy your own apple? Must you steal apples from my family? "Didn't you hear my mom saying that outsiders aren't allowed to take the apples? Why did you even take one from the basket? "Thanks to you, now Julius doesn't have an apple!" I look around my surroundings. It turns out that there are only eight apples in total, while we have nine people sitting in the living room. So the "outsider" she was talking about is me. I decide to hand the apple over to Sophie's godbrother, Julius Sterling. Then, I call my dad on the phone. "Dad, you don't have to bring the holiday gifts over now."

Nova doesn’t know much, but she knows three things. One: Her mother was murdered by wolves. Two: She has terrible nightmares of a large black wolf with vivid blue eyes hunting her down. Three: There’s no out running fate. The past can be painful. Nova’s past is so painful that her brain blocked it out. With clouded memories and nothing more than a sick feeling deep in her gut, she’s forced back home where her mother was murdered to visit her grandmother and estranged sister that she hasn’t seen in eight years. Nova’s expecting the worst. To not make it home alive. To either be mauled or claimed by wild animals. To meet the same fate as her mother. Things start tumbling out of control when she meets an eerily familiar stranger. Nox in all his tall, dark and brooding demeanor leaves her with a bad feeling. It’s probably the fact that he claims to know her or it’s that she’s starting to believe him. But Nox isn’t the only one in her hometown that’s out to get her. They may be true mates, but what neither of them know is that Nova’s mother had more secrets than either are aware of. There’s another wolf that’s looking to collect what is rightfully his and he won’t stop until Nova is mated to him.

Ivy Woods has always felt like an outsider in the normal world, and her entire life was a lie. Her mother and father were killed when she was eight years old. Her grandmother told her that she suffers from hallucinations, but the truth is that Ivy has a wolf inside her that materialized when she was five years old. One day, she meets this stranger in a bar, who almost marked her as his Luna but then rejected her days after. Feeling humiliated, she wanders into the woods, only to have her life change forever. She then meets Alpha Blake of the Silver Moon Pack, who has been waiting twenty years to find his mate, only to discover her at the edge of death. To save her life, he must mark her as his mate immediately. When he learns that she knows nothing of the were-world, he must solve the mystery of why someone would go to such extremes to hide her with the help of his best friend and beta, Rick. But Rick has a secret that may end his decade-long friendship with Blake; he is the stranger who rejected Ivy, and he is her true mate. Alpha Blake also has a darkness in him that is not compatible with Ivy. The more he absorbs her power, the more he cannot contain it. Ivy also finds out the real reason to her parents' deaths, and she wishes she had never met the Silver moon pack.

For centuries, the Moon Rocks Pack has lived under a curse: no Alpha of their bloodline may ever have a mate, and no Luna will ever rise beside them. Lyra Thompson was eight years old when her world burned. A rogue wolf attacked her pack, leaving flames, smoke, and chaos in its wake. Her parents’ last command echoed in her ears: Run. Find the Moon Rocks. Too small to fight, too young to shift, Lyra fled into the night — a lost pup alone in a world that had already taken everything from her. The Moon Rocks Pack took her in, raising her as one of their own. They gave her safety. They gave her guidance. But even among wolves, fear has a way of lingering, and Lyra carries the scars of that night — a fear of fire, a wariness of rogue wolves, and a quiet, unshakable sense of loss. Now, one week before her eighteenth birthday, the pack prepares for Oscar Knight’s ascension as Alpha. Strong, disciplined, and raised to believe he will never have a mate, Oscar has accepted the curse as his burden. Until the full moon rises. Until Lyra turns eighteen. The bond that should not exist ignites between them — fierce, undeniable, and powerful enough to shatter a centuries-old curse. But destiny comes with consequences, and the rogue who destroyed Lyra’s past may still be hunting. The Moon Rocks Pack was never meant to have a Luna. Until her.

Dangerous. Forbidden. Unattainable. A cutthroat assassin on the run from the mafia is Olivia Hunter's decade-long crush. Eight years his junior, she's like a baby sister to him. He will never give her the time of day. Or so she thought. Until she woke up naked in her brother's best friend/new boss' bed. ### Brooding new COO of Hunter Industries Harmon Chancellor, is billionaire Will Hunter's found brother. These men would die for each other. Not fucking Will's baby sister was a given. A drunken moment of weakness and four years of restraint shatters. Harmon and Olivia fuck until dawn. Coming to his senses once sober, Harmon plans to escape on a business trip to Cupid’s Cove. He warns Olivia not to follow, but she stubbornly does anyway. Enter mafia princess/assassin, Robbie Marino. She's on a mission to drag Ghostblade home, by any means necessary. When Harmon learns that Olivia accidentally led the wildcard assassin straight to him, he's livid. He imprisons the spoiled billionaire's sister in his suite in a desperate bid to keep her safe. She wants answers he can't give her. He wants to fuck her forbidden pussy to shut her up so he can outsmart a mafia king. They can't both get what they want. Can they?

When I was eight months pregnant, my husband's foster sister invited me to hike a snow-covered mountain. Midway up, an avalanche hit. We were both buried. My husband rushed to the scene, but before I could utter a word, his sister accused me: "She planned this! She tricked me into coming today!" I tried desperately to explain. He didn't listen. Instead, he lashed out at me. "Sandra doesn't know any better, but you should! So what if she's blunt? Is this your petty revenge? Your pathetic life couldn't even begin to repay hers if she'd been hurt!" Then he left. Took her hand. Walked away. I screamed after him, begging him to save our baby. He didn't even glance back. Worse, he unhooked my safety harness and shoved me out of the rescue group. "Since you're so clever, find your own way down." Not long after, another avalanche hit. This time, I couldn't get back up. Three hours later, Sandra was in a car accident. She needed a blood transfusion. That's when he finally thought of me. But by then, he didn't know—I was already gone. Me, and the child I'd never hold, were still buried under the snow.

My sister-in-law, Hannah Martinez, was eight months pregnant when someone shoved her to the ground. Due to the heavy bleeding, she was rushed to the hospital. I happened to drive past, but I rolled up my window and pretended I saw nothing, pressing down on the gas pedal. In my previous life, I had immediately taken Hannah to the hospital when I saw her pass out from the blood loss. However, the situation was critical. After the severe bleeding, she developed an amniotic fluid embolism. My wife, Lauren Martinez, was the best obstetrician in the city. I called her, begging her to hurry to the hospital. Yet, she thought I was throwing a tantrum out of jealousy because she was having dinner with her first love, Isaac Poole, and his family. She believed I was using Hannah's emergency to force her to come back. By the time her family finally arrived, Hannah had already died from the failed treatment of the amniotic fluid embolism. Her entire family blamed me for Hannah's death, convinced that I had deliberately caused Lauren to misunderstand and let Hannah die. My brother-in-law, Jacob Turner, who rushed back from out of town, believed their lies. In his overwhelming grief, he hacked me to death with a knife at Hannah's funeral. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Hannah was pushed and started bleeding out.

It is payback time! Cynthia Laurent’s comeback is fueled by heartbreak… and a love that won’t let go. The day she was told she had six months to live, her husband’s betrayal cut deeper than any diagnosis. While grappling with a brain tumor, Cynthia overheard her stepsister’s cruel confession: “I’m pregnant.” One look at her husband’s face told her the truth — the affair was real, and the baby was his. Eight years of marriage, discarded like trash. Her pleas were met with her mother-in-law’s venom who saw her only as a nanny, a cook, a housekeeper, a cleaner – never a daughter-in-law and her eight-year-old son’s chilling wish for a “new mom.” Broken and abandoned, Cynthia vanished to Paris, ready to die. But fate had other plans. In Paris, three men of immense power burst into her life, claiming to be her brothers and vowed to protect her at all costs. Titans of industry, speed, and medicine, they rebuilt Cynthia from the ground up. Now, as the Michelin-starred queen of Maison Cynclair, Cynthia returns to the city that destroyed her. Her ex-husband falls to his knees. “We’re still married,” he pleads. Her son cries, “Mom, don’t you love me anymore?” The woman they once broke is gone. “Thank you for your betrayal,” she replied, calm and clear. “It made me a hundred-million-dollar woman.” A man’s love fades. An empire? Never.