Khalil Payne/ Painkiller Novels & Stories

Alec Hardy is a billionaire. He is the sole heir of the Payne fortune, but to have access to all his money, he needs to get married. That was the only condition his grandfather left on his will, and who better to be his wife than the love of his life? The woman he loves and hates with all his power, with all his heart. Too bad she wants nothing to do with him, The past betrayed the two of them, sending them into different paths, and now, they come across each other. Alec is the only solution for Aimee’s problems, and so is she. She is the only woman that can tempt the infamous player to get married. What will happen when Alec proposes to Aimee? Will she accept his tempting and generous offer to help her get rid of all the debt her family has left her with? Or will she fight him back and go down the rabbit hole? Book Three of Girlfriend for Hire. It can be read as a stand-alone but for better understanding would be better to be read as a trilogy.

I was slowly dying from Silverthorn Wolfsbane, and there was only one cure—the Miracle Elixir. But my mate, Leo Ashford, bought it and gave it to my adoptive sister, Jane Smith. He did it because he thought I was faking my illness. I gave up on the treatment and swallowed a potent painkiller instead. It would kill me in three days by shutting down my organs. In those three days, I gave up everything. I handed over the fur manufacturing business I built from the ground up to Jane, and my parents praised me for caring about my sister. I offered to sever our mate bond, and Leo praised me for finally being sensible. When I told my son he could call Jane "mommy", he happily said that his new mommy was the best! I transferred all my savings to Jane, and no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. They were just pleased with my "better behavior". "Viola is finally not so bad." I wondered—would they regret it after I was gone?

In the fifth year of Gwyneth Payne's marriage to Asher Crowe, he tells her thrice that he wants to bring Liana Quayle along with them when they migrate. Gwyneth puts down the dishes she's just prepared and asks him why. He's frank with her. "I don't want to keep this from you anymore. Liana lives in the residential area beside ours. She's spent nine years with me, and I owe her too much. I must bring her with me when we migrate." Gwyneth doesn't cry or kick up a fuss. Instead, she books a ticket for Liana on their flight. Asher thinks she's finally seen sense. On the day they leave the country, Gwyneth watches Asher and Liana board the flight. Then, she turns and boards another flight that will take her back to her parents' home.

On the night of the Silvermoon Festival, the entire Black Forest pack is bathed in the light of the Moon Goddess. I'm about to share the spectacle with Kaelen through the mind-link, but then I spot a familiar figure. Kaelen Payne, my Alpha and fated mate, is holding a she-wolf in his arms. She tilts her face up to him, her voice edged with challenge. "Kaelen, prove I'm not just a secret. Mark me." My blood seems to freeze as I hear Kaelen murmur his agreement before pressing his mouth to hers. My wolf lets out a painful howl inside me. Just an hour ago, Kaelen's voice had come through the mind-link, "My Luna, I wish I could see the festival too, but there's an emergency at the border. Don't forget to share it with me through the mind-link." My fingertips turn cold, and I instinctively reach for him through the mind-link.

After a venomous snake bites me, my husband, Daniel Dawson, injects the only antivenom into my adopted sister, Grace Winton. Before I black out, I see my parents, Daniel, and my son, Ethan Dawson, all gathered around Grace, while I lie alone on the grass, completely ignored. When I come to, my colleague shakes his head and tells me the toxin has already spread. Within 48 hours, my body will begin to rot from the inside, and I'll die in unbearable pain. I give up the conservative plan and swallow a potent painkiller instead. Over the next two days, I transfer the hospital my grandfather gave me and every asset in my name to Grace. I divorce Daniel and place both his and Ethan's hands into Grace's. When I put Grace's name on the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis treatment protocol I've spent five years developing, they finally smile, hold my hand, and tell me we're finally a real family. I stay silent and only smile at them. I wonder what their faces will look like two days later when they see my body.

I fell asleep in my CEO girlfriend"s office. When I woke up, I found two large words tattooed across my face that read 'Old Bachelor'. Sophie Spark's assistant, Joshua Payne, was holding a tattoo pen, looking at me with a provocative smile. "You've been with Sophie for ten years and she still hasn't married you. That makes you a pathetic bachelor, doesn't it?" I smashed the mirror on the spot. The shards scattered like rain toward Joshua. The next second, Sophie rushed in and shielded him behind her. She frowned at me, her voice full of impatience. "He's just a young guy joking around. What right does that give you to pick on him?" I stared at her open collar. On her chest was a faint red mark. Looking closer, in the shadow of her cleavage, I could make out the words 'I Love Joshua'. Joshua peeked out from behind her, acting cute as he spoke. "Sophie was worried I'd be bored, so she specially bought me a tattoo pen that won't wash off. I was just joking around. You're not that petty, are you?"

**Sometimes, you don't get to choose your own destiny.** Maya Anderson is the first werewolf in living memory born to human parents. Kicked out of her home when she was sixteen, she's been on the run for nearly five years, trying her best to avoid other werewolves as much as possible. That is, until she stumbles into Edric Payne's territory, the Alpha of one of the biggest packs in the country, Mountain Fire. At twenty-five, Edric still hasn't found his mate, and their pack's been without a Luna for more than a year. Without a Luna, his pack is in danger of dying off, but because The Moon Goddess promised him he'd find his mate after he becomes Alpha, he's less worried about it than his father, Joshua, the previous Alpha of Mountain Fire. When Edric captures Maya, and claims her as his mate, she has no idea what he's talking about. She knows nothing about being a werewolf. In fact, she hates everything about them and herself, and she doesn't plan on sticking around to become some kind of Luna for a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters. However, a series of bizarre events compel her to stay with the pack. The moment they meet, Maya and Edric's destinies become inextricably intertwined, and they quickly learn that everything they thought they knew about their lives have been a lie. **

The entire ward could hear the thoughts of the beautiful intern nurse, Sonya Row. When a patient kept vomiting nonstop, and I suggested increasing the pain medication, she stood nearby, sighing. [What should I do? Should I tell the family this painkiller can be addictive and really bad for the body? If they just wait a few more minutes, he'll recover on his own. There's no need to spend money at all.] The room fell silent in an instant. Everyone's gaze shifted toward me, and the family quietly refused my treatment plan. After that, I became the joke of the entire department. Every patient specifically asked not to be assigned to me. Later, while comforting a terminal stomach cancer patient, I followed her family's wishes and lied, saying it was just gastritis. Sonya complained about it in her thoughts. [The patient's practically dying already, but she's still saying she can be cured. It's obviously just to trick this old woman into draining her life savings on treatment.] That night, the old lady jumped off the building so she wouldn't burden her family. Her family thought I had revealed the truth and driven her to her death. They reported me directly to the hospital director, and I was stripped of my position as department head. Then, on a holiday weekend, the hospital admitted a pregnant woman with a suspected amniotic fluid embolism. To save her life, I had no choice but to remove her uterus. At that moment, Sonya's thoughts rang out again. [She doesn't have an amniotic fluid embolism at all. She was on her phone during surgery, which caused this. Now look what happened. This baby's a girl. This family wanted a son, and now they'll never get one.] The family attacked me on the spot, recorded it, and posted the video online to harass me. The desperate husband, obsessed with having a son, stabbed me to death to vent his rage. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Sonya first revealed her thoughts. This time, I could hear her thoughts, too.

Madam Pratt, my mother-in-law, was in critical condition after a car accident, desperately needing surgery. However, as the lead surgeon, I—Lilianne Davis—stood by, casually scrolling through short videos on my phone. My best friend, Tiffany Owens, who was also a doctor, was far more anxious than I was. She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the operating room. “Lily, why are you still stalling? Hurry up and save her!” I took a step back, clutching my stomach in pain as her face twisted in shock. “I have cramps so bad I can’t even stand. You do it.” In my last life, the moment I heard about Madam Pratt’s accident, I had swallowed a painkiller and rushed into surgery, working for hours to stabilize her. I had barely stepped away from the operating table when alarms blared. “Lilianne, what have you done? The patient is experiencing acute hemolysis!” “Call the family now!” Gareth Pratt stormed in, his face twisted with rage. He slapped me hard in the face. “Lil, you’re a professional surgeon, yet you gave my mother the wrong blood transfusion?!” I froze, reaching for Madam Pratt’s medical report to explain, only to find that the A-type blood I had seen before had somehow changed to B-type. The medical board arrived, and a blood test revealed traces of hallucinogens in my system. “Unbelievable! Taking illegal substances before surgery? That’s a cardinal sin for a doctor!” In the chaos, Emma Pratt, Gareth’s teenage sister, grabbed a scalpel and stabbed me multiple times. Blood gushed from my arteries, and I collapsed in a pool of crimson. As my vision faded, I couldn’t understand what had happened. I had never taken illegal drugs. Besides, I was absolutely certain of Madam Pratt’s blood type. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the moment right before stepping into the operating room.

After my mother passed away, my father's lover brought her daughter, Winona Sweeney, into our family. From then on, I became the most hated person in the entire family. To protect myself, I became arrogant, withdrawn, and grew into a thorny rose — beautiful, but no one was allowed to approach me. I no longer believed in love. When I was once again subjected to cold violence and isolation at the banquet, Cameron Payne openly declared his love for me to everyone and said that he would break the necks of anyone who slandered me! He pursued me openly, gave me a grand wedding, and announced his love for me to the whole world. Everyone envied me. Then, when a fire broke out during my father's birthday party, I almost died inside. No one from my family tried to save me; it was Cameron who saved me. When I woke up in the hospital, I heard a horrifying truth. "I know I mistook Hazel for my savior. It's my mistake and I will make it up to Winona. But that doesn't mean you can hurt Hazel!" Cameron was furious. "But Winona's leukemia can't wait; she needs a transplant immediately..." My father chose to sacrifice me for his illegitimate daughter. "That doesn't mean you can hurt Hazel! The baby is only seven months old; a premature birth can be fatal!" Those things I thought were signs of love turned out not to be for me from the very beginning. In that case, I would help him fulfill his debt to Winona.