Paid Payback

“You’re insane.” “Maybe,” Robert admitted, his eyes locked on mine and his face too close. “But I always get what I want and right now Kayla, what I want… is you.” ~~~ He needed a wife. I needed the money. Robert Moore is ruthless and dangerous, a man who terrifies the entire city. I’d paid no mind to the warning bells that rang in my head when I proposed to marry him for money. When I’d agreed to be his fake wife for a year. The rules were simple. No falling in love. No asking questions. Marrying him was supposed to be my solution-a business deal, a clean exchange. But nothing about Robert is simple. He’s bossy, arrogant, and so sinfully attractive that every look he gives me feels like a dare. Then came the threats. The enemies. The danger and guns. Now, I’m not sure where the act ends and where the truth begins. Because the longer I stay by his side, the more I realize I might not be pretending anymore… And the mafia boss who swore he’d never love might be willing to burn the whole city down just to keep me.

As the college entrance exams approached, I paid the top student in our class to tutor me. But the day she came over, she brought along her childhood sweetheart and insisted that he join our study sessions. I declined her request politely, and she did not press the matter further. The boy left my house in defeat and was struck by a car, suffering injuries so severe that they left him crippled. He could no longer continue his education and was forced to drop out, taking on grueling manual labor to survive. The girl continued tutoring me nonetheless. We both gained admission to the same university, grew close over time, fell in love, got married, and started a family. But on the night of our wedding anniversary, Sharon slipped poison into my soup and watched impassively as I began to convulse and vomit blood, the crimson stain spreading slowly across the floor. "This is what you owe Harry," she said with cold venom. "Taste what it's like to lose all hope." It turned out that she had harbored resentment toward me for all those years. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day she first came to my house with her friend.

"I want you," She said to him, her hands on his chest, her thighs trapping him between the bed and the headboard, her eyes boring deep into his. "Take what you need, flower." his voice was a whisper, one that left dark promises in it's wake of what was to come. "I'm all yours..." ... Halle witnesses a murder, something she wished she could run from but instead finds herself housing the murderer for three whole days, doing almost everything at gun point. But that was not what made things even more difficult for her, it was the tension between them. Those mysterious brown eyes... That cold smile... That deep voice... His warm breath against her skin. She knew she couldn't love him... He walks out of her life as suddenly as he barged into it and she finds herself pushing those three days spent with him to the back of her mind, a dream that was over. Three years later, she finds herself in his house as the woman being paid to be birth him an heir. She is dragged into his dark world, shown the true nature of his empire. In the end, will it be blood or love between them? .....

Khloe Anderson has never paid too much mind to her dad's occupation. She's the least bit impressed by the constant presence of bodyguards in the past. What she's always needed, is privacy, privacy, and more privacy. That's why she moved out as quickly as she could; to make a life for herself, where she didn't have to live under her father's radar. Her life now, pertains to her bakery/catering shop, that she's sincerely proud of; her greatest accomplishment. However, one unfortunate incident might just change her life forever. Logan Novak, the current CEO of the Novak Industries, is a player at heart. He's hot, rich, famous, and most of all, he's aware of all his attributes. He was raised to be a leader, and that is clearly shown by his past and his present. His future- wife, and kids- he's not so sure about that particular aspect. Actually, he hasn't thought much about it. A different woman every single night? That surely sounds amazing to him. But, he has a secret. A secret that he's not ashamed off, and one that might just change his life forever.

Aida Sagar has known her fair share of challenges. At twelve year’s old she lost her mother in a car crash, that she was also fatally injured in. What she couldn’t understand is how she returned from the potential peaceful realm of the moon goddess and subsequently her family’s and pack’s treatment of her since that life changing moment. Having attacked her brother’s mate, the pack Luna, Aida was sentenced to a punishment worse than prison…training with the notorious Royal Lycan warriors. Starting a new life, she becomes a popular addition to the team but not all appreciate a Pack Princess’s Alpha blood status. After being shot at by silver bullets and undercovering a rebel plot to poison trainees to control lycans through witch craft, Aida makes some very powerful friends but also powerful enemies. The Lycan Prince Lance claims to be her fated mate, but Aida knows for a fact that having died, any mate bond would have been severed in that moment. But perhaps the moon goddess doesn’t hate Aida after all. Perhaps Aida will learn that nature has a balance and a price must be paid to maintain that balance.

Who needs enemies when your best friend is prepared to kill you? Why? Because she wants my alpha mate. Worse yet, he mate wants her as well. My Gamma paid the ultimate price to help me escape. I can’t let his sacrifice be in vain. I crossed paths with a lone wolf, Ellie. She helped me. Now I hide my identity and live in the human world. I may not be reaching my full potential. But at least I am alive.    Ellie and I meet monthly to support one another. This was when we stumbled across an injured Alpha wolf.   He doesn’t remember who he is or which pack he belongs to. One thing is for certain, he doesn’t belong around here. So who is he, and how can I get him home? While we wait for him to regain his memory. I find myself responsible for him.   We finally got him home. I am forced to reassess my life, confront my demons, and plan my future.  A future I never knew I wanted. 

From the time I was ten until I turned eighteen, my parents made me write 299 IOUs. Every time I needed money, I had to borrow it and pay it back as an adult. Then I got into a car accident. I needed money for surgery but was still short by 3,000. With no other options, I went to my parents for help. But they just gave me cold smiles. “Clara, you’re eighteen now. We have no obligation to give you money anymore. If you need it, write another IOU.” While holding back tears, I wrote my 300th IOU. After my surgery, I saw my adopted sister’s social media post. In the pictures, she was celebrating her 18th birthday on a cruise. She was the center of attention, like a princess. My parents had given her a luxury apartment in the city and a Maserati as birthday gifts. Even my childhood friend was looking at her with love in his eyes. She said they were the ones she loved and thanked them for giving her the best of everything. I looked down at the crumpled IOU in my hand and suddenly laughed. Once I paid off my debt, I would no longer need such a family.

After three years of marriage, Flora's Alpha never knew her. The only message he knew was her name, and what he didn't know was that Flora loved Leo from her childhood. She paid all the price for their marriage, but when she came to Leo's office, she saw her husband was hooking up with a seductive harlot! Divorce was the only word she could think of at that time. In the office, Leo pushed the harlot away when he heard that Flora left. He breathed a sigh of relief. This must be the last time she came, he thought. Leo doesn't love Flora because he had his first crush, who saved his life when he had been blind in the suburb. After the divorce, Flora came to work as a secretary of Leo's rival by mistake, and Leo found that he had fallen in love with this girl. To avoid Leo recognizing that she was his wife, Flora tried her best to hide herself, but mate's scent exposed her... Life was like a joke to Leo, because he never knew that all of his first crush, his wife and the girl beside his rival was Flora.

The moment my best friend, Patrick York, rushed ahead of me into the convenience store and asked for a lottery ticket with that specific string of numbers, I knew he was in the same boat as me. We were reborn. In the past life, Patrick and I were shortlisted for an interview at a Fortune 500 company, but there was only one opening. The day before the interview, I had a sudden urge to buy a lottery ticket. However, because of that, I missed the interview and Patrick got hired. Surprisingly, I got the winning ticket and won 50 million dollars. After my graduation, I enjoyed an easy life by living off interest from the bank. Meanwhile, despite getting hired, Patrick was paid a low wage and suffered daily abuse from his colleagues. In the end, he took out his frustrations on me by pushing me off the rooftop, killing me on the spot. After my death, my girlfriend, Emily Hayward, committed perjury for his sake. She claimed that after a prolonged period of staying home with nothing to do, I was in a bad mental state and leaped off on my own. The two of them profited off my death and became trending influencers, making it big. When I opened my eyes once more, I realized I was back to the day I purchased the lottery ticket.

My wife's gym is celebrating its grand opening, and I drag my buddy along to check the place out with a 9.90-dollar trial class I bought through an e-commerce platform. For the entire time, I never once let it slip that I'm the owner. Right after we finish training, a male coach tosses a price sheet at us. His eyes sweep over us with contempt as he says, "You two look like freeloaders. Our private sessions cost a few hundred each, and we don't offer freebies to people like you." I let out a disbelieving laugh. "We paid for this trial class. How is that freeloading? Go get your manager." He rolls his eyes and makes it seem like he's enforcing a very important rule. "Don't bother looking for the manager. My girlfriend owns this place, and she hates broke losers who try to get free classes." He dials her number right in front of us. His voice sounds both arrogant and pitiful. "Babe, two guys showed up and tried to con us into giving them a free class. They even told me to call the manager. Come over here and show them what's what!"