Pretending Synonyms

“Go on, Grenade. Pull the trigger.” An annoying smirk was plastered on his face, as he leaned on the wall. My heart contracted, and my eyes stung. A click of my gun, and all these would be over. This was the mission I'd worked so hard on. “Wasn't this what you wanted, Grenade? Wasn't this your plan all along, when you snaked into my life, pretending to be who you weren't? Why are you hesitating, then?” “For the last time, Dante, my name is West. Don't ever call me Grenade.” I hissed. He advanced towards me slowly. “I don't care if I die now, Grenade. But don't you ever let the King of Hearts fall into the wrong hands. Give it to me.” His tone was soft, yet there was no denying the order behind it. “You wish.” *** West, the most powerful undercover agent for Lucchese, is suddenly given a mission by her Capo. She is to infiltrate a powerful Mafia group in Italy, and make the boss let down his guard around her. And then, she has to bring back 'The King of Hearts,' a powerful computer program that's capable of destroying, and changing the world. But she must never fall in love with him. However, her mission isn't going to be as easy as it seems. Especially as she unravels the secrets surrounding her birth, discovering that her whole existence is a lie. In the midst of all, the cold hearted West finds herself falling for Capo Dante, the head of the 'Ndrangheta, and her enemy. There was one rule, and one rule only… The King of Hearts must never ever fall into the wrong hands. But…who was the bad guy? (#1 The Mafia Princess Series)

Layla is standing too close to him. She knows it the moment she stops moving, when the space between them shifts from accidental to deliberate. Luca doesn’t step back. He never does. He only looks down at her, dark eyes steady and unreadable, as if he’s been waiting to see whether she’d do exactly this. “You’re doing it again,” he says quietly. “Doing what?” Her voice gives her away—soft, breathless. “Standing where you shouldn’t.” His gaze drops briefly to her mouth. “And pretending you don’t know.” Heat coils low in her stomach. “Maybe I don’t care.” That gets his attention. Something sharp flickers across his expression—control tightening. He reaches out slowly, giving her time to pull away. She doesn’t. His fingers hook lightly under her chin, tilting her face up. The touch is barely there, but it steals her breath all the same. “Careful,” he murmurs. “That’s not something you say to men like me.” “Why?” she whispers. “Because you might misunderstand?” His thumb traces her jaw, deliberate. “No,” he says. “Because I won’t.” His hand stays there, steady, grounding. She feels the restraint in him now—the effort it takes not to close the distance completely. “There are lines I don’t cross lightly,” Luca says. “And once I do, Layla, I don’t step back.” She swallows. “Then why are you still here?” He leans in just enough that his breath ghosts her skin. “Because you haven’t asked me to.”

April Moore’s played by her family’s rules all her life. Now, she’s outlived most of her family and those rules she’s forced to live by have the world seeing her as worthless. April believed she loved David Moore, and she believed he loved her when they married. Soon after the wedding, his sweet compliments, and generous gifts disappeared. Two years later, April said goodbye to her deadbeat husband and enjoyed being challenged by an interesting billionaire. What’s a woman who’s claim to fame’s the yearbook’s ‘Ms. Plain Jane’ going to do with the football captain. Sure, it’s years after graduation but, the things he remembers! Damien Jones is busy pretending to maintain the image of a useless playboy. While he’s stepping in for his father at the new resort because his father wants to hide his slow death. Now corporate sabotage hits the resort during the wedding of a friend Damien is acting as best man for. It becomes complicated. The resort booked for the wedding for the week. The harm came from a guest or staff member. Competition is steep in this town and reputations can die if this leads back to someone. April’s full of talents and secrets. She always was. damien believes he has a chance with April. she’s lost the training wheels and she’s coming out swinging at life. to damien, April’s beautiful in everyway. But will society have something else to say about their relationship through the backdrop of their friends’ wedding and business gone awry? April and Damien will confront social climbing relatives, corporate saboteurs, steamy nights and more. After that, will they find love?

After Penelope Hart, a rich socialite, loses her memories, she starts pursuing me relentlessly. Having played the role of her boyfriend for the next three years, I realize that I've developed actual feelings for her. When Penelope gets pregnant, I plan on proposing to her. That's when I hear Jonathan Parker, the high school senior who used to bully me, tell her, "Penelope, thank you for pretending to be amnesiac and pull a prank on Edward for 99 times just to get revenge for me. "Once you've pulled the 100th prank on him, I'll date you." Only then do I find out that Jonathan is the man Penelope has been yearning for but can't date the whole time. As for me, I'm just the clown whom she uses just to please Jonathan. Later on, I die in a plane crash. After searching for my remains like a lunatic in the wreckage, Penelope finally locates a ring. A message is carved on the band. "For the 100th prank, I bet you love me." Rumors have it that Penelope has cried her heart out while on her knees to the point that her body goes into shock, resulting in her getting sent to the hospital. When she wakes up, she decides to get revenge on everyone who's involved in the pranks that were used on me. I, on the other hand, burn my medical records with a smile on my face on a winter night in Ferentia. Since Penelope decides to toy with my feelings with her fake amnesia, I decide to fake my death so that I can teach her a proper lesson in life.

Finn shook his head and handed me an envelope. "You have to leave. Right now." "What do you mean? Leave where? I can't leave this room; Jordan said he'd drag me back here." Finn cursed, "Leave this fucking pack. Go live with the humans. Anywhere. Don't tell me where. Just leave. Life will only get worse, Izzy. Jordan is not a good guy." "But mom and dad, and you..." Finn gave me a hug, "I know it's scary, and I'm sorry. But I just know that if you stay here, one day he'll kill you. If he can do this to you in the packhouse filled with people, imagine what he'll do once it's just you and him living here. Once he's alpha, he'll get to do whatever he wants. Jordan has always hated that prophecy for some reason. I don't have time to explain, but you need to go."  - - - Izzy leaves her pack, knowing she's going against the prophecy that was given to her at birth by the oracle. One day Izzy is supposed to become the Luna, but she hates the idea of sharing a life with the future Alpha Jordan.  Izzy runs away to a human town, where she lives in a cheap motel, pretending to be human. This is where she meets Orion. They have an instant connection, but Orion has a secret of his own. He has spent years in prison and a mental hospital after having a psychosis and hearing a voice in his hand, claiming he's a werewolf.  What will happen once Orion realizes he's not crazy? And will Jordan and his pack ever stop looking for his prophesied Luna?

Tres Salveirus, my gay bestfriend for six years. But one day he confessed that he was 0% gay—that he's only pretending to be because he doesn't know how to court me. My dislike of liars was the reason for the destruction of our friendship. I rejected him on the spot and slapped him with painful words. I called him a liar, a pervert because I once let him see my nudity since I am a model for lingerie brands, and accused him of exploiting my lack of idea about his gender. I actually told him to leave and never come back. But when he left, I was coated with heartbreaks realizing that I loved him too late, missing his presence, that I almost never gave up looking for him on social media but still no avail. It took five years his image is still in my head and I am coated with regret for pushing him away. I never thought that when we meet again, I will see him as an unreachable man. His Tres Salveirus name has now become Third Zachary Salveirus Deluco, reason why I can't search him in any corner of social media. And apart from being the CEO, I didn't think he was a member of the Deluco Titans—the dominant people in the field of business. I know I made a pledge to the eternal god that once I meet him again, I will not miss the opportunity to bring him back to me, but how can I do that if he is that high? I'm just a lowly lingerie bands model while he's a billionaire. Do I still have the courage to chase him?

She was betrayed by her husband and her best-friend. Then her 7-year-old son was diagnosed with blood cancer. The only way to save him? Have another baby with the man who broke her. Tell me… Which child is she allowed to lose? If you are a woman, a wife, or a single mother, a woman who has ever had to be strong when she felt like breaking and you come across this video please stop scrolling for a moment. This is for you, i see you.I see the nights you stayed awake worrying about school fees, hospital bills, rent, food while pretending during the day that everything was fine. I see the silent tears you wiped before your children walked into the room.The way you swallowed your pain so they wouldn’t taste it.,I see how tired you are and how sometimes you sit in the bathroom just to breathe. How sometimes you question yourself and wonder if you are doing enough. I want you to know that you are more than enough because I I was raised by a mother who carried storms inside her and still made our home feel safe. She struggled, sacrificed and endured things I didn’t even understand until I grew older. And today, I am grateful for her strength because she taught me something powerful because mother’s love is not ordinary. It is fierce,  stubborn, sacrificial, unstoppable. And that is what my book, Married to My Best Friend’s Husband, represents. Yes, it talks about betrayal and heartbreak, but at its core, the struggle of motherhood. Married to My Best Friend’s Husband – A story that will break you and rebuild you.

"Don't you know how to fake a smile anymore? Those irritating little smiles of yours that screamed nothing but desperation? We're making an appearance in front of several high calibre people for goodness sake. You must carry this facade on without any slip, Rosalie.” He said.  My chest pinched, and I looked away, pretending to adjust my bracelet to hide the pain. “I know."  ~                                    ~ “Rosaline...” Ezra murmured. “Why help me to ruin a man you once loved?”   "Why?" I repeated. "Because they took everything from me—the one thing I loved more than life itself. They destroyed my life, my reputation, my happiness, all to serve their own selfish agendas. Him and his mistress. I've been maltreated and betrayed severally, countlessly! But no more. It's my turn to take what I deserve: their pain, their humiliation, their downfall." I paused, my face hardening into an expression of pure, vengeful rage. "And I will make them suffer for it.” *                  *.             * Rosalie’s journey had been a tumultuous one– betrayal and pain. The transactional marriage that she had entered into, hoping one day it would turn around to be a marriage for love, had instead left her heartbroken and betrayed. Her ex- husband’s infidelity, coupled with an unimaginable cruelty that he had subjected her to, had shattered her beyond repair.  Now, fueled by a desire for vengeance, Rosalie had returned to seek revenge on those who had wronged her. Joining forces with her ex-husband's rival, a ruthless business tycoon who harbored his own grudges against her ex-husband, she plotted a scheme that would bring them both justice...and ruin.

She thought he was a stranger for the night, until he called her “stepmother.” ******************** Scarlett became a collateral wife to one of the most ruthless billionaires in the country after her father sold her to him cheaply because he was drowning in debts. She became a trophy wife, whom he had no regard for. He cheated on her over and over again, and whenever Scarlett complained about it, he told her she could do the same. An open marriage offer was thrown at her without a care, fed up and wanting to rebel, Scarlett embraced the idea too. She strutted into a host bar with just one thought in mind: to get ruined for the night, and asked for the hottest male host to get her laid. She spent a passionate night with a call boy, whose name she didn’t even bother to ask, and ran off the next day, burying her little secret in that hotel room. But the secret came biting back at her when she realized, at the family dinner the next day, that the call boy from the other night was her husband’s eldest son. She thought she could bury the memories of the night by pretending she had forgotten, but she was far gone, because that one night of temptation had sprouted into a forbidden desire she couldn’t control. She shouldn't have let him touched her that night, now she was ruined, and wouldn't mind crossing the line to have him touched her like that again, but underneath the burning temptation was also a conspiracy that Scarlett would have to uncover… *****Warning***** This books contains a lot of steamy scenes, and explicit contents which is strictly not for people under 18.

“You have no idea what you’ve done to me. I’ve been replaying every sound you made, every way you came apart for me.” His grip tightened. “I’m not letting that go. I’m not letting you go. Fuck the friendship. I want you.” I let out a little gasp. His thumb rubbed across my lower lip. “I don’t just want to fuck you—I want to keep you. You’re my favorite sin, and I’ll commit it again and again until you understand you’re mine.” His lips twitched a little. “You’ve always been mine, Savannah.” ——- Her sister is marrying her ex. So she brings her best friend as her fake fiancé. What could possibly go wrong? Savannah Hart thought she was over Dean Archer—until her sister, Chloe announces she's marrying him. The same man Savannah never stopped loving. The man who left her heartbroken… and now belongs to her sister. A weeklong wedding in New Hope. One mansion full of guests. And a very bitter maid of honor. To survive it, Savannah brings a date—her charming, clean-cut best friend, Roman Blackwood. The one man who’s always had her back. He owes her a favor, and pretending to be her fiancé? Easy. Until fake kisses start to feel real. Now Savannah’s torn between keeping up the act… or risking everything for the one man she was never supposed to fall for.