Prank Goes Wrong Chapter 1

Jasmine has been best friends with Hunter Carrington since she could crawl; she has always been there for him at every point in his life. She has also had a crush on him since junior high. Hunter never saw her as more than a best friend, and Jasmine had to live with the crushing unrequited love. Jasmine’s world stopped when he announced his engagement to her cunning and manipulative half sister, Lily. She never knew they were together, and it hurts even more that she had to plan their wedding while going through the worst heartbreak. Things take a wild turn when Lily abandons Hunter and leaves their engagement ring at his doorstep. Both of their worlds were shaken and overturned. The stakes were even higher, and the wedding had to happen. It would merge the Carringtons and the Blackwoods Hospitality business, and Jasmine is at the centre of it all. She is forced to marry a man she once loved but hates now.

There are two dogs who will forever revolve around Leonardo Zeller. The first one is his pet dog. The second one is me, his devoted lapdog. But I've successfully risen to the ranks as his fiancee. On the day before our wedding, Leonardo gets into an accident from car racing for the sake of his first love, Renee White. I rush over to the hospital immediately, but I don't see the scar that's supposed to adorn his chest. My complexion goes insanely pale out of panic. "Where did the scar from his heart surgery go?" "Hey! Don't you dare jinx my son! Since when did he go through such a cursed surgery?" Suddenly, I realize that I've gotten the wrong person this whole time for three years. On the day Leonardo gets discharged, he tells me that he regrets proposing to me and that he wants to call off the wedding just to be with Renee. Everyone wants to see me break down and humiliate myself by showing my hysterical side. But I merely reply, "Okay." What they don't know is that I've never loved Leonardo before. After all, the man I love is already dead a few years ago.

Isabel Blackwell was never a wife. She was a sacrifice. Isabel endured three years of a marriage built on cruelty and betrayal. Her husband loved another woman, her own twin sister, and his family made sure she never forgot her place. The night she collapses from exhaustion, abandoned by the man who vowed to protect her, Isabel is rescued by the last person she ever expected. Desmond Blackwell. Her husband’s cold, dangerous older brother. He was never meant to be her savior. She was never meant to fall into his arms. But when the family that broke her throws her away, Isabel must decide. Will she return to the life that destroyed her, or trust the man the world fears most?

Imagine loving someone in secret for a decade, watching them chase the one person who could never truly accept them, believing their wedding would finally free them and you, only to see him drop to his knees in front of everyone, begging her to stay and calling you, his best friend and secret mate, “just friend”. The pain rips through you, you drown it in alcohol, follow a scent that feels like home, and wake up beside a man who looks exactly like him and wants nothing more than to ruin you, strip every ounce of innocence from your bones, and worship the grounds of your sanctuary day and night.

Five years ago, a stranger saved Mia Perez from a brutal mugging and vanished. All she had after he disappeared was his face, a small mole on his body she could never forget, and a strong determination to find him. She finds the man with the face and has a one-night stand with him. Or so she thinks. Because the man she spent the night with is not the man who saved her. It’s her savior’s identical twin brother, who approached her only to settle an old score! Now faced with her real knight in shining armor and an identical man who wants her for himself, Mia is trapped between two worlds. Two worlds that hold a secret about that night that Mia was never expecting. When she finds out the truth, who would she choose? The man who she’s looked for for years? Or the man she made a mistake with?

"If I touched you, you’d never go back to him." Arden's words rang in my head. My breath caught. Now that I was out of the palace, nothing stood between us. No gilded cages. No cameras in every corner. No Ivana breathing down my neck. Nothing to stop him from making good on those words. And the worst part? A traitorous part of me was curious. What if he was right? Arden was Richard’s brother. The wrong man. The forbidden man. And yet my body betrayed me. My heart beat harder just thinking about him. My lips tingled at the memory of his voice, his smirk, the way his eyes had lingered on me like he saw everything I tried to hide.

Alliyah Agustin thought her life was finally falling into place. She was about to marry her long-time boyfriend, Chester — the man she’d built her dreams around, the man everyone envied her for. The venue gleamed with gold, the air smelled of white roses, and her so-called best friend, Kassandrah, stood by her side as maid of honor. Everything was perfect. Until it wasn’t. When the ceremony began, Chester was nowhere to be found. In his place stood a stranger — dark suit, darker eyes, a smirk that didn’t belong anywhere near an altar. The crowd murmured, the priest hesitated, and before she could even process what was happening, the papers were signed. She had just married Alexander Nicholas Astley, one of the most powerful billionaires in the country — and the most feared man in the underground world. What Alliyah didn’t know was that her “perfect” fiancé and “trusted” friend had sold her — a deal made to clear a debt, sealed with her hand in marriage. And in the dangerous world she was dragged into, her survival would depend on one impossible question: Was Alexander her captor… or her savior?

Six years of marriage, and I'm finally pregnant! My husband is an Alpha. To give him an heir, I had gone through countless rounds of ovulation shots, swallowed all sorts of herbal concoctions made by witch doctors, and even been forced to insert some strange things into my private parts! But now, it's worked! I planned a romantic road trip, hoping to surprise him when we got to the resort. Of course, he insisted we bring Kelly along. Kelly is his Beta—beautiful, tough, and a bit of a warrior. The heat was unbearable, so I went to the trunk to grab a soda from the small cooler, but Kelly accused me of trying to smash her with it. "Apologize to Kelly!" my husband ordered firmly. "No! I didn't do anything!" I protested. So, they both dumped me in the middle of nowhere. It took everything I had to escape the three Rogues who were after me. But when I finally made it back to the hotel, I found Kelly on top of my husband. "Ana, you can't have children. Kelly just wanted to help us have one," he said shamelessly.

The news spread quickly—my mate, David Jonson, had been promoted to Tactical Analyst and was heading to Texline to take on a new assignment. He proudly shared the news with every member of the pack—everyone except me, his mate. I was the only one he hid the truth from. Why? Because in his eyes, I wasn't a smart mate. My wolf had been badly damaged in the past, so I had a poor memory and I tended to be clingy constantly, something he looked down on with disdain. "I'm really grateful to my best friend, Commander Johnson, who governs in Texas, for recommending me so I could get this promotion." I overheard him say to someone. "As for Pearl? That clingy she-wolf who follows me everywhere—there's no need to tell her. She'll come to Texline looking for me anyway." Hearing his words, I was excited—finally, a chance to prove I had a sharp memory after all. I stormed to my room and began packing my clothes. David had always made decisions without me, often leaving me behind. But this time, I would leave first. I would get to Texline before him, and when he arrived to find me already there, he'd be shocked at how clever I could be. But the next day, when I arrived at the airport, my confidence crumbled. I stood at the counter, suddenly blank. I couldn't remember where I was supposed to go—Texline, Texas, or Tennessee? My damaged memory failed me again. The last flight to Texas was about to depart, and the impatient airport staff didn't want to wait for me. She rolled her eyes and was about to close the gate. Worried I might miss the flight, I gave her a pleading smile and said, "Texas, Miss. I'm going to Texas."

I was the top bounty thief in the organization. The best they had. After turning in my final score, I announced on the spot that I was done for good. Then, I stood in my studio, blending paint. A single photograph was pinned to the wall before me. Black Viper filled the doorway, the light behind him casting his face in shadow. "What's it like," he asked quietly, "pretending to be an artist?" He stepped further inside. "Does paint smell better than blood?" I placed the palette knife down and wiped my hands slowly. "I'm done. I walked away." "Old Fox didn't approve of it." "That's not my concern." Black Viper crossed the room and tapped the old photograph on the wall. "Are you certain?" I did not want to look. I told myself not to. However, my gaze shifted anyway. A young boy stared back from the photo. "The blind kid?" I had spent ten years searching for him. "Where is he?" I moved toward the wall, reaching to rip the picture down. "One last job," Black Viper said, pressing his palm against the photo. My hand stopped in midair. "What's the target?" "The final lot at next month's auction that the Gilbert Group will be holding. "It's called Mermaid's Tear."