Romans & histoires Jude Duarte

The day I land a hundred-million-dollar deal for the company, my girlfriend—Paisley Needham, the CEO—finally agrees to marry me. The next day, I wait at the city hall until it closes. She never shows up. Instead, what I get is her official announcement with her assistant, Jude Grayford. In the photo, she nestles in his arms. A crisp marriage license sits in her hand, impossible to miss. The caption reads, "My CEO, Ms. Paisley Needham, couldn't bear to see me going on blind dates, so she just went ahead and got the marriage license with me today. I'm so happy!" My colleagues gossip, assuming I'll be jealous and furious. I don't. I just like the post and comment, "So, when's the ceremony? Don't forget to invite me!" Paisley calls immediately, cursing me out. "I just didn't want to see him being pressured into blind dates by his parents, so I agreed to get married on paper to keep them off his back. It's not like we're actually married. Do you really have to be so petty? "Delete your comment right now and get on your knees to apologize to Jude. If you don't, I'll never marry you." I laughed bitterly. "Even better," I say. "I hope you two have a long, happy life together… and have lots of kids."

A bought marriage. An uncontrollable desire. An empire at stake. Lorenzo Moretti doesn’t seduce. He dominates. A billionaire CEO feared across Europe, Lorenzo rules Milan like a modern king: cold, ruthless, untouchable. Until his grandfather’s will traps him with a single humiliating condition, to keep the empire, he must take a wife. No love. No romance. Just strategy. Sofia Duarte is broken. Her family’s studio is drowning in debt, her father is destroyed, and the legacy she swore to protect is about to be erased. When Lorenzo offers an obscene deal, marriage in exchange for salvation, she hates every word… and accepts. A contract. Twelve months. One house. One bed. A perfect image. What Lorenzo buys is a wife. What he gets is a woman who refuses to bow. Between explosive arguments, forced proximity, and power games that turn into seduction, hatred starts to burn. The looks last too long. The touches cross forbidden lines. Breathing changes. And when the tension finally breaks, it isn’t gentle. It’s fire. Because Lorenzo doesn’t know how to love, he knows how to possess. And Sofia doesn’t know how to obey, she challenges, provokes, and ignites him. While enemies close in on the empire and the media hunts for cracks in their perfect lie, the contract becomes a golden cage where desire turns into weapon, weakness, and addiction. He bought her to save his throne. She married him to save her family. Neither of them was ready for what happens when Milan’s most dangerous CEO loses control… in bed, in power, and in his heart. Luxury. Domination. Forced proximity. Contract marriage. Obsessive CEO. Strong heroine. Sexual tension that turns into wildfire. She was an agreement.

"I thought I was escaping a monster. I didn’t realize I was walking straight into his lair." After ten years of living in the shadows of her obsessed ex-boyfriend, Elena Vance finally has a chance at a real life. The prestigious role at Vane Enterprises in Las Vegas isn't just a dream job. Her new boss, Julian Vane, is everything the headlines say: cold, calculating, and breathtakingly beautiful. He’s also a ghost from her past,the untouchable "Senior King" from St. Jude’s Academy who shouldn't even know her name. But as the "mask" Elena uses to protect herself begins to slip, the coincidences start. A box of childhood candy on her desk. A necklace she lost a decade ago returned to her hand. Anonymous gifts that feel less like gestures of affection and more like evidence of surveillance. Elena is convinced her ex has found her, and when he finally corners her in the office, Julian is the only one there to save her. By the time Elena moves into Julian’s private penthouse for her "protection," the truth begins to unravel. The room he’s prepared for her is a perfect, brick-by-brick replica of her childhood bedroom. The security cameras aren't just for her safety,they’ve been tracking her every breath since she was thirteen years old. Julian hasn't just cleared her path; he’s dictated every tragedy and lucky break she’s ever had. He has a ring on another woman’s finger and a father determined to see Elena destroyed, but Julian has no intention of ever letting her leave. He didn't just find her. He created her. He’s not just watching her life. He’s owning it.

My Alpha Series Book 1 Jude: Despite being an alpha with a destined mate somewhere, I wanted nothing to do with her. After everything I've witnessed since I was a boy I learned one thing, to love is to destroy. That’s what happened to my father and I'll be damned if I let history repeat itself. My father shaped me into the ultimate alpha. One who doesn't put anything above his pack, not even a mate. Elijah his wolf: My human buddy here is full of shit. Don’t listen to him. He doesn’t even know what love is and he's sitting here giving you stupid advice on it. He turned his heart to stone and decided to turn his back on our mate. Stick with me and you'll know the true meaning of love because as soon as I lay eyes on her, I'll give my life to protect her. Yeah that’s right, screw you Jude. Move over it’s time for me to take control now. Davina: A mate? Yeah more like a heart stabbing BASTARD! At least I had my pretty convincing reason to try and kill him. But what the fuck was his excuse? Why not reject me and send me on my way? Why such cruelty? Rowena her wolf: Ok so I know it’s pretty bad that our mate tried to kill us, but on the bright side, his kind hearted wolf stopped him. He'll take care of us now. I know it from the bottom of my heart. You’ll see Davina, we'll be safe again. Two human mates hell bent on killing each other for their own reasons. Their two wolves hell bent on taking control and mating to each other like they're meant to be. Which side will win?

After six years of working as a corpse porter, I finally saved enough money to treat my sister, Maeve Xander, for her liver cancer. Maeve, however, casually refused the surgery. “I’m not actually sick. Mom and Dad aren’t dead either. I staged that car accident. You’re the only one who ended up seriously hurt and disabled.” Then my wife, Laurel Jinks, also confessed, “I’m not bankrupt. Every time I said I had to work late, it was because I didn’t want to cram into that filthy basement with you. I was going back to my mansion. I originally planned to punish you for three more years, but you reek of dead bodies. Maeve and I just can’t take the smell anymore.” A wave of pure absurdity washed over me as my body froze with the hand holding my credit card still in the air. Maeve snatched the card from my hand and tossed it into the trash. “That card is empty. I gave all the money you made carrying corpses to homeless people. Think of it as doing good deeds for the child you lost. After all, taking money from the dead is cursed. It’s bad luck all the way down. We shouldn’t touch that filthy money.” A chill ran down my spine. I did not understand why they treated me this way. Then, I saw my parents. They were standing far away from me, as if I were a plague. I completely broke down. “You bullied Cameron because you are the only son of the Xander family, so we wanted to teach you a lesson. If you promise to never bully Cameron again, we’ll still consider you our son. If you do not promise, we’ll cut you off, and you’ll be dead to us.” Just as my heart sank and I fell into despair, a sympathetic voice from the system sounded in my mind. [Jude, do you wish to abandon this mission and leave this world?]