Pain Sitting On Statue Naruto

"Ms. Longstaff, are you saying the wedding will proceed as planned, but the bride will be replaced with someone else? Is that correct?" Faced with the staff member's puzzled expression, Heather Longstaff nodded without hesitation. "Yes, the wedding will take place in two weeks as scheduled. I'll deliver the revised materials to you in the next few days." "Understood. Should I inform Mr. Bennett about—" "There's no need!" Heather cut the other person off, her voice sharp with emotion. Noticing the startled look on the staff member's face, she quickly composed herself and explained, "He's busy. All wedding-related matters should come directly to me from now on." This wedding was meant to be her final gift to Mitchell. And like any gift, it had to remain a surprise until the very last moment.

The maid's daughter, who grew up in my home, had the nerve to act like an heiress. On her birthday, she invited every kid from school for a full-on rager at my family's villa. When I suggested they take it to a hotel, she lost it. "You don't get to tell me what to do! My friends can party wherever they want!" She added, "The ten-layer cake my parents ordered for me is on the way. Why don't you park yourself by the door and wait for it, huh?" Her crew circled up, laughing and pointing at me. But I'd lived through this before. Nothing about her little act rattled me. I turned to the butler and told him to lock the gate. Then, I went to Rambo's cage. "Hey, buddy," I said, opening it up. "See those trespassers?" I pointed at the crowd. "I'm counting to three. If they're still here, don't let a single one get away."

"Let's play a game." "What game?" "One that involves you not screaming." ★★★★★ I'd been the perfect girlfriend to my star hockey player for two years. Stood in the rain at his practices. Drove hours just to watch him warm benches. Wore his jersey like it meant something. And he repaid me by fucking his way through half of Chicago—including the sister of the one man he's been obsessed with for years. Zane Mercer. The NHL's most dangerous player. My stepfather's worst enemy. And the man who looked at me like I was something worth destroying the world for. One impossible offer. One desperate bet. One night that changed everything. Zane doesn't do fake. He doesn't do half measures. When he tells me I'm his for two months, he means it. In every way that matters. But Zane has secrets buried so deep they connect to my family's past in ways I never imagined. Dark secrets. Deadly ones. What starts as a transaction turns into obsession. What starts as revenge turns into something I can't walk away from. And what starts as a lie might be the only truth that matters. They say some men are too dangerous to love. They're right. But I was never good at following warnings. ********** This book contains explicit sexual content, dominant/possessive behavior, morally gray characters, family conflict, and themes that may be triggering. Intended for mature readers 18+. This isn’t your normal hockey romance. It’s dark, raw, and unrelenting—where obsession, desire, and power collide, and nothing is off-limits.

To rebel against my family's arranged marriage, I run away from home. Six months later, I decide to return to university and continue my studies, only to be told by a professor that Adam Richmond enrolled six months ago. Not only that, but he and my fiancée have apparently become the campus' picture-perfect couple. I go to confront him, but the woman claiming to be Adam's fiancée drives me away. "You beggar and fraud, how dare you call yourself Mr. Richmond? Besides, I am Erica Wright, the eldest daughter of the Wright family. How could I not recognize my own fiancé?" I stare at the woman before me, unable to hide my doubts. I've never met her, yet I've always heard that the eldest daughter of the Wright family is supposed to be gentle and poised. Could this proud, overbearing woman really be my fiancée?

Twenty-five-year-old socialite and businesswoman, Quinn Rothschild has always done what is expected of her. The dutiful daughter that went to school to work in the family’s publishing company and tailored her life to keep up her father’s reputation has now been asked to do the unthinkable. Marry the son of the most powerful mafia don in the city to keep their family’s business afloat. A marriage that started out as just on paper to Dante Luciano, an infamous womanizer and lethal asshole. He has made it clear that he hates her and she feels the same. Quinn nearly refuses, until she finds out that her marriage to Dante is payment to the Luciano family for paying off her father’s gambling debts that threaten to take away their home, their business, and possibly her father’s life. Negotiating with the Don, Quinn agrees to marry Dante, though she knows that he is unfaithful to their vows from the very start. But when she starts being followed and threatened, who can she go to for help? The father who failed her? Or her husband who hates her?

Is it wrong to want your brother's best friend when he still treats you like a child? Averie does not care anymore. When her boyfriend walked away calling her 'too innocent,' Averie decided boring was a choice she was done making. She reinvented every part of herself, which brought her to a night in the club with a masked stranger whose kiss made her feel alive. Too bad that stranger was Jace Carrington – who now has to face the fact that his best friend's little sister isn't so little anymore. Jace is a billionaire hockey star who can't afford mistakes. His team operates on one sacred rule: personal drama kills team chemistry. Crossing lines with his best friend's sister should be unthinkable, but that kiss changed the math on everything. Now Jace can't be in the same room as Averie without his carefully constructed boundaries crumbling. Averie won't let him retreat into treating her like she's still twelve. She's calling him out on every dodge, every deflection, every attempt to pretend nothing shifted between them. Jace can either keep lying to himself or face what acknowledging her could cost him. The brotherhood comes first – it always has. So why can't he stay away?

Star forward Alex Thorne lives for the roar of the crowd and the thrill of the rink, but nothing ignites him like his rival, enigmatic defenseman Jake Harlow of the Calgary Flames. When a brutal playoff clash reveals Jake's centuries-old secret—he's a vampire with a hunger only Alex can sate—their hate-fueled rivalry explodes into forbidden passion. As stolen kisses turn to life-or-death stakes, Alex must choose: betray the man who haunts his dreams or embrace eternity in Jake's immortal arms. In a world of slashing blades and shattering ice, can two enemies score the ultimate goal—forever love?

On the Northwind Trail, just before sunrise, my flashlight cut across the inside of the SUV and landed on five lifeless bodies. My hands shook as I dialed 911. "Hello? I'm on Route 296, the Northwind Trail. Everyone in my car… is dead." The operator's voice was calm but quick. "Please confirm your location. Officers are on their way." My words dropped heavy and flat, like stones hitting the ground. "I'm on Route 296, about three miles east of the mountain pass. The plate number is NA318X. Five people inside the car are dead… and I'm the only one alive."

On my wedding night, Sean Boswell was with his first love when I suffered a miscarriage as my kidnappers tortured me. I begged endlessly for him to save me, only for him to laugh, "You were just demanding a divorce in the morning, and now you're faking a kidnapping so that I'd come back? Is that the only thing you can do?" Eventually, when I gave up and stopped clinging on being Mrs. Boswell, he chased me to the airport, pleading with a crack in his voice, "Just stay, Anna. Let's make things how it used to be."

Lora Jade had always been the kind of woman who gave everything for love. She stood by Jackson through his struggles, supported his dreams, and sacrificed her own happiness to help him succeed. But the moment Jackson finally made it, everything changed. The man she built her life around looked at her like she was nothing. He handed her divorce papers without hesitation, his eyes cold and unfamiliar. “You’re no longer my standard,” he said. As if that wasn’t enough, another woman stepped forward—claiming her place beside him. Together, they mocked Lora, calling her useless, unworthy… disposable. Heartbroken and humiliated, Lora walked away from the marriage with nothing but pain. But life wasn’t done with her yet. Just as she tried to pick up the pieces, she received devastating news, her mother needed urgent surgery. A surgery she couldn’t afford. With no money, no support, and no hope, Lora found herself in a bar, drowning in alcohol and despair. That night, she made a reckless decision. She gave in to the darkness… and ended up in a stranger’s bed. By morning, shame and fear drove her to run without looking back. But what she didn’t know was this— The man she left behind was not someone she could easily escape. And he was determined to find her… no matter the cost.