Norton Critical Editions Novels & Stories

Ellyse Kennedy and Kai Laurent have been married for six years. During those years, their marriage was spent apart with Kai being on business trips and Elleyse caring for their child at home. It was an arranged, loveless marriage and Ellyse has had enough. The moment she finds out that her husband was meeting with his ex girlfriend after finding out that she was pregnant again, her desire to file for divorce ignited. When Kai went home to find divorce papers sitting on top of his desk with his wife’s signature, he demanded her to come home. “Divorce? Have you lost your mind?” Kai says with emphasis on each word, confusion dripping from his eyes. It was the very first time Ellyse saw her husband show any emotions after six years.

"Imagine how much nicer it would be if you were in these handcuffs, squirming, pleading, yet needing, beneath me." His words caused a stir in my pants and a whirlwind in my life. They provoked images in my mind I never would have thought of on my own. Neither would have imagined that I would touch myself to his words. The reasons are simple, One, he is in cuffs because I am a detective and he is a criminal. Two, I have a girlfriend, I am straight. Nothing can ever happen between us. Elijah Stone is a star detective, model in all his ways, and a model girlfriend that he isn't sexually attracted to. Until criminal Jesse Harding walks into his life, ruining everything and needing Elijah's protection. Now Elijah has to fight bad guys, and his traitorous body that only wants to drown in Jesse's chaos.

A single message at 2:17 AM changed everything. “Follow the instructions.” At first, it felt like a joke. A random message from an unknown number. Easy to ignore… until it wasn’t. When the instructions start getting personal, too personal, he realizes something is watching him. Learning him. Controlling every move before he even makes it. Then he meets her. A girl who has already been through it. A survivor of the system. Someone who knows the rules… and the consequences of breaking them. But there’s one problem. The system doesn’t make mistakes. And it doesn’t let people go. The more he resists, the deeper he’s pulled in, into a hidden network built on control, prediction, and manipulation. Every choice feels like his own… until he realizes it was never his to begin with. Now, he faces an impossible decision: Follow the instructions… Or risk losing everything, including the people he’s trying to protect. Because in this system… Freedom isn’t given. It’s taken.

"I gave him a crown. He gave me a prison cell." Isabella was the ghostwriter of the Rossi dynasty. She was the brain, the backbone, and the secret weapon. She sacrificed her name, her pride, and her light to make Antonio Rossi a God among men. Her reward? A public arrest. A framed conviction. And a daughter who was brainwashed into calling her a monster. While Isabella rotted in a maximum-security cell, Antonio was busy planning the 'Wedding of the Century' with the woman who helped him destroy her. They took her freedom, her child, and her dignity. But they made one fatal mistake: They let her live. Five years come and pass in a blur nobody expects.Isabella isn't the soft, sacrificial wife anymore. She is a woman with a heart of ice and a bank account that rivals the devil’s. Antonio thinks he’s at the peak of his power. He doesn't realize that the woman he discarded is back and she’s not looking for an apology. She’s looking for blood.

“I built his empire with my blood and my money. He rewarded me by taking my cousin to our bed.” For years, I was the invisible Alpha of the Sandwell Pack. While Maxwell claimed his "duties" kept him from me, I was the one balancing the ledgers, securing the borders, and investing my private millions to turn his dying territory into a gold mine. On my 18th birthday, I finally found out what those "duties" were. I found my fated mate, Maxwell, in the arms of my cousin, Amelie. they mocked me for being a "useful fool," an unpaid servant who funded their luxury while they shared a bed. When I exposed their lies to the Pack, they didn’t offer me justice. They chose Amelie’s fake tears and exiled me on the spot. I didn't steal a cent of their wealth—I left the accounts exactly as I found them: pathetic and empty. Five years later, the girl they threw away is the woman who owns the world. A royal decree from the Dragon King forces all Alphas into the elite Alpha Academy. I return not as a victim, but as a billionaire mogul. Maxwell is there, too—not to beg for my forgiveness, but to hunt me down. He’s humiliated, bankrupt, and determined to make me pay for exposing his "perfect" reputation to the world. But I’m not the defenseless girl he remembers, and I’m not alone. I’ve caught the eye of Sol, the Dragon Prince, a man who finds my power intoxicating. Maxwell wants my blood for the lies I uncovered. The pack wants my fortune to save their skins. But the Dragon Prince? He’s ready to burn anyone who dares to touch his Queen.

Lisa is a poor, struggling and desperate woman who would do anything to save her sick and dying mother. Adrian is a billionaire CEO who needs a wife to secure his inheritance and silence his enemies. A contract marriage brings two opposite strangers together, but love was never part of the deal.

Seven years ended with one ringtone at the altar. One quiet apology, then he walked away to the pregnant ex he once called a mistake, leaving me beneath crystal lights and camera flashes, the perfect discarded bride. Publicly humiliated. I made a decision that shocks them all. I married Adrian, Marcus’s estranged elder stepbrother, the self-made billionaire their father once discarded. Cold. Untouchable. Far more powerful than the heir who betrayed me. Our marriage is a contract. He needs stability to secure his corporate takeover. I need a throne high enough to watch Marcus fall. But our 'fake' touches turn into an obsession neither of us can control. Now I’m carrying Adrian’s child the true firstborn heir of the legacy built on betrayal And this time, I’m not the woman left behind. I'm the prize.

Zyliah Smith had it all, until betrayal shattered her world. A scandal, a one-night stand, and a secret she never saw coming. Now, six years later, she's back with twin sons and a new name, ready to bury the past. But fate isn't finished with her yet. When the man from that long-forgotten night reappears, wealthy, ruthless, and dangerously captivated, Zyliah is pulled into a storm of old lies, new desires, and a love she never dared to hope for. But the past always has claws. And this time, it wants everything.

Nuella caught her husband in bed with her step-sister. When she tried to confront them, her step-sister overpowered her and in the process she fell and suffered a miscarriage. While she's still mourning the loss of her child, he serves her divorce papers and orders her to get out of his life. She leaves the hospital before she is discharged and goes to a bar with her friend where she runs into his ex’s uncle, Kelvin Lowes. Her friend encourages her to approach him and use him as a way to get back at her cheating husband. Although she didn't plan to, they ended up in bed together and the next morning, he asked her to marry him. Nuella didn’t ask any questions and simply agreed, having a motive of her own for agreeing. But will their relationship have a future or will it crash and burn before it even begins?

Born into a family of culinary royalty, Aria Beaumont has always lived in her father’s shadow — a feared food critic whose name alone can destroy chefs. After getting fired for calling out wrongdoing in the kitchen and catching her boyfriend cheating on the same night, Aria runs into the arms of a mysterious stranger and had a one night stand. When she enrolls in the prestigious Étoile Culinary Academy to rebuild her life and career, She never expects her mentor for the training to be Leon Cordon; the reclusive, world-famous chef who vanished from the culinary world after the tragic loss of someone he loved. And she definitely never expects him to hate her on sight. He recognizes her last name. Her family is his sworn enemy. He recognizes her from the one-night stand and refuses to mentor her. She recognizes his arrogance and was determined to bring him back to the culinary industry. Just as their forbidden connection becomes impossible to deny, the academy sends them on a month-long culinary retreat — isolated, breathtaking, and filled with ghosts of Leon's past. There, Aria learns that the culinary world’s greatest tragedy…may not be what it seemed. A past thought buried will return. Loyalties will break. A rival chef will step into the scene. And Aria must decide whether following her heart is worth losing everything she has finally begun to build.