Pretending Synonyms

“Are you crying?" She shook her head and wiped at her face as more tears were falling. “I’m so stupid.” she groaned. "Now I am truly and utterly alone. If I had just said yes to marrying him, none of this would’ve happened. I wouldn’t have dragged you into this mess.” Without warning, I turned sharp to the side, putting the car to a sudden stop close to the curb. “Don’t ever say that again. You think marrying a man you don’t love, a man who doesn’t care if he hurts you, just to please your family is the right thing to do?” I turned to her slowly. “That would’ve ruined you.” “But I would’ve had a home to go to, I would’ve been taken care of. Now I have nothing,” she looked away. I reached over and gently took her bruised hand in mine. “You did the hardest thing anyone in your position could have done. You saved yourself. That takes more guts than standing there and pretending to be happy.” I tucked a hair behind her ear. “You think you are alone? You’re not… you have me.” ___ Alina Etienne has always lived a life dictated by her parents. She is groomed to be an obedient daughter, a perfect public image, and now, a bride to a man she doesn’t know or love. On her wedding day, crushed by the weight of expectations, Alina does the unthinkable... she says “I don’t” and flees the altar. On the run and scared with nowhere to go, she crosses paths with Mikhail Antonov. A cold, guarded man with a past he doesn’t talk about. What began as a reluctant act of kindness turned into something neither of them expected.

{SUPPORT = MOTIVATION = MORE UPDATES} Valery Hale ~ All I ever wanted was a comfortable life for me and my brother, Derek. With no parents, I had to work hard to put food on our table. Derek needs to go to school, and I need money for the never-ending bills. Just when life starts getting good, fate decides to throw in a box of scorpions. I can barely make ends meet every month, as if that isn’t hell enough. How am I supposed to make the CEO of a multibillion-dollar company fall in love with me? Did I mention he’s also an Alpha Lycan?   Nathaniel Kress ~ For generations, KressCo. has met the needs of The BloodFlame Pack. Being the next Alpha, I am to also take over as the CEO of the company, but my father won’t let me until I claim someone to replace my deceased Mate. I don’t believe in second-chance mates and even if I did, not Valery. Making her my secretary was me being merciful, but now I can’t seem to get her out of my head. If only I knew she wasn’t the innocent lamb she was so good at pretending to be... -- Jaden points the loaded gun at me. “You have three months to get the bastard to marry you. Succeed, and you’ll get your brother back in one piece. Fail.” My heart skips a beat at the click sound the gun makes in his hands. “Fail, and I’ll break every bone in his body, then feed him to my sharks.” He threatens with his hand outstretched to me. “It’s simple enough, so do we have a deal?” The Mafia Lord asks, his lips curving to form an evil grin. Like I have a choice. “Yes.” --

They say love at first sight is a fantasy. He turned it into an obsession…and then a contract. Drowning in debt and dodging loan sharks, Louis's only break is a one-time ad gig. He smiles for seven seconds, gets paid, and thinks that's the end of it. He's wrong. Across the world, reclusive billionaire Lorenzo Volterra sees the clip. A man who has spent his life never looking twice at another man suddenly cannot look away. In that fleeting glimpse, he finds his obsession. Within twenty-four hours, he's at Louis's door. His first words: "You are my husband now." Louis laughs. He's not for sale. But Lorenzo doesn't understand "no." Raised to believe money buys everything…including love…he's never been refused. Never been loved. He doesn't know the difference between possessing someone and caring for them. When he offers to erase Louis's debt, it isn't kindness. It's a transaction. The price? A year of Louis's life, pretending to be the husband of a man whose love language is ownership, and whose broken English hides something darker. Lorenzo has never wanted anyone like this. The gender should matter…but looking at Louis, it simply doesn't. The obsession doesn't care about labels. It only cares about him. Now Louis is swept into ruthless luxury, where every desire is anticipated and every move watched. Lorenzo surrounds him with everything money can buy…because that's the only way he knows to keep something precious. But is Louis a cherished partner, or a trophy the man on the screen simply took? Can someone never taught to love ever learn? And when Louis looks into those glacier-blue eyes…why does he feel like he's falling?

I knew my husband, Josh Perkins, had faked his death and taken on his younger twin brother's identity—but I never said a word. Instead, I went straight to the commander of the military district and filed an official report of my husband's death, requesting his name be permanently removed from the service rolls. In my last life, my brother-in-law died in an accident. Josh gave up his rank as regimental commander, abandoned his own name, and stepped into his brother's shoes—all to spare his fragile sister-in-law from becoming a widow. Back then, I recognized him immediately. I confronted him and demanded to know why he was pretending to be a dead man. But Josh just looked through me, cold as a winter morning. "Riley, I know you're grieving Josh. But I'm not him. Don't mistake me for my brother." He shielded that delicate sister-in-law of his behind him, then shoved me into the icy river and warned me not to harbor delusions. Later, our five-year-old daughter cried, asking why her daddy didn't want her anymore. For that, she was dragged to the cowshed for "reflection"—left there, starving, for three days and nights. My mother-in-law called me a curse, a jinx who'd killed her son, and threw my daughter and me out with nothing but the clothes on our backs. Josh made sure everyone knew I'd "gone mad"—that I was lusting after my brother-in-law before my husband was even cold in the ground. The whole town turned their backs on us. That last winter, I wandered the streets with my girl, dazed and numb, until the cold finally took us both. But when I opened my eyes again, I was back. Back to the very day Josh buried his old life and stole his brother's.

The Falcon Ridge Series Book 5 Set two months after the Battle of Black Rock. In an old growth forest east of Aurora, the city of Dragons. Wren Miller: You can sum up the story of my life in three words I. Am. Alone. I was raised by the Falcon Ridge Security Unit after they told me everyone I ever knew and loved was dead. I traveled through life pretending I felt like I had a pack, but in truth I longed for my own. I often wished for death. That all changes when I find out some of my pack was alive. Living like Nomads in the wilderness. I'm elated to find them, but my happiness is crushed when the Alpha is not even remotely happy to see me. As much as it pains me, I don't want to see him either after finding out what he has become. Lucius Drake: For 10 years I survived in the wilderness. I built us back up from the ashes that were left of the attack on us. I was happy to live this way. Living off the land. Taking care of my pack. Then she shows up. Seeing her makes my blood boil. Not only did she abandon her pack. She abandoned me. I don't care what the Alliance told her. I never gave up on the hope she was alive. Apparently, she did. I'm jaded and angry. It also doesn't help that I have the Dragons breathing down my neck. We've been relying on them for protection and trade, but now they want more. They want us to join them permanently, which I will only do if I'm dead.

Gosh! Those eyes! They were screaming cute! His masculine beauty was out of this world and he is the kind of man I’d love. The only problem I saw in him was the big tattoo on his arm that extended to his wrists. Being a typical church girl, I couldn’t end up with such a man unless I wanted to be disowned by my father. “I’d have a glass of martini, extra dirty and tacos.” He said in a dreamy gusty voice. “Coming right up” I said taking the menu list and flashed a timid smile at him. I felt my cheeks burning and if there was a mirror around here, I’d have checked how embarrassing I must be looking. My face must have definitely turned pink. I watched him as he ate gracefully without looking elsewhere, his eyes were fixed on his phone. His short brown hair was to die for, I instantly wished I could run my fingers through them. Too bad, I might not be the kind of woman he wants; it wouldn't hurt to have sinful fantasies. He suddenly looked towards me, maybe he must have noticed I had my eyes on him all along. Immediately he locked eyes with mine, I looked elsewhere pretending to looking for something that wasn’t missing. I could tell he gave a faint smile but kept sipping his drink slowly, as he was gazing at his phone. He gave a signal to come and get his bill and I walked gracefully to him. God! I wish he could just take me to bed. Oops! I’m a church girl and shouldn’t be thinking of things like that. “You should take a picture of me, it will last longer.” He said in a baritone voice.

After my best friend, Penny Hallmark, found herself a wealthy man, she suddenly became a different person. I had done nothing more than glance at her husband, Martin Rembrandt, yet she slapped me hard across the face. “I treated you as my closest friend, but you dared seduce Martin right in front of me. He’s Chris’s brother! Have you no shame at all?” Her accusation brought tears to my eyes, but Penny resorted to locking me inside a reservoir. “What are you playing at anyway? Fine. Let me give you something to really cry about!” I nearly drowned, and she uploaded photos of me soaked to the skin, claiming online that I was behaving indecently. I became the target of cyberbullying, my boyfriend, Christopher Rembrandt, proposed a breakup, and in utter despair, I decided to end my life. Yet my best friend mocked me coldly. “Do you really think I don’t know your little tricks? You’re just pretending to be pitiful to gain sympathy, aren’t you? “That won’t do at all, Rose. Let me give you a hand!” She pulled out my breathing tube, and only when my life completely slipped away did she smile in satisfaction. “Good. Now I can enjoy both Chris and Martin’s affection.” When I opened my eyes again, I had transmigrated into the body of Chris’s mother, who had just passed away. Given a second chance at life, I was determined to make Penny pay. After all, the man she loved most was nothing more than a hopeless mama’s boy.

When my boyfriend, Mark Jamison, gets in a car accident that leaves him paralyzed, I pawn the ring my mother left to me before she died to help him. With hands that have never been used to do any work or a single household chore in my life, I start lugging around delivery bags. In the middle of a rainstorm, I get assigned to deliver a food order worth 10,000 dollars, with a 100-dollar tip. Just as I happily celebrate my luck, I overhear the raucous laughter coming from inside the villa. "She actually believes you got paralyzed in a car accident? She now spends all day doing deliveries just to support you financially? She even sold off her dead mom's ring?" "She'd probably cry her heart out if she ever finds you're actually a wealthy scion worth tens of billions of dollars, who's just pretending to be poor!" Mark twirls the wineglass he's holding and says, "A lowly woman like her was born to wait on others. She brought it upon herself by always being better than Rosie back in school. Messing with her is the punishment she deserves." I continue to stand in the rain, tears rolling down my cheeks. This is how I find out Mark has spent the last two years faking his condition just to help his childhood sweetheart get back at me. His so-called paralyzed legs, deceased parents, and helpless tears are all just part of a meticulously executed lie. I haven't talked to my father, the richest man in town, for years. But now, I have finally decided to call him. "I lost, Dad. I'll accept the marriage alliance and marry the guy you picked for me."

Charlene Davis never imagined that one accidental encounter would turn her world upside down. When she meets Astrid Evans—a woman with her exact face—they both realize a truth neither of them ever knew: they're twins, separated at birth. But before Charlene can process it, Astrid makes her a shocking offer: pretend to be her for a month in exchange for a large sum of money. Needing the cash, Charlene agrees. What she doesn't know is that Astrid is married to Malik Evans, a cold, ruthless billionaire who despises his wife. Thrust into a loveless marriage filled with tension and secrets, Charlene must endure Malik's wrath—while pretending to be the woman he loathes. But something unexpected happens. Charlene begins to fall for Malik, and to her surprise, Malik begins to soften. He sees a different side of his “wife”—gentle, sincere, kind. He begins to fall in love, a feeling he thought impossible after Astrid’s past betrayal. Yet just as Malik is ready to forgive and start over, the truth unravels: Charlene isn’t Astrid—and he’s been fooled again. Heartbroken and furious, Malik pushes Charlene away. Charlene walks away with a shattered heart and a newfound secret—she’s pregnant with Malik’s child. Determined to build a better life for her baby, Charlene chooses to move forward, stronger and wiser. But fate has other plans. After divorcing Astrid, Malik realizes that his heart still belongs to the woman who showed him what real love could be. Returning to Charlene, he begs for forgiveness and proposes marriage—not out of guilt, but out of love. Now, Charlene must decide: Can she forgive the man who broke her heart... for the love they both deserve?

After falling into the trap set by her step mom and sister,Natasha White ends up having a one night stand with a stranger losing her Fiance overnight to her stepsister,Kassidy. Natasha White, strong willed,beautiful and smart lady ,potential heir to the company loses her chance of getting married to her sweetheart Keith as he ended up with her step sister Kassidy. she was rejected by Keith who deemed her a whore ,struggling to keep her family inheritance from her step mom who would not hesitate to kill her,she ends up capturing the fancy of Italy's biggest Mafia leader Luca Marchetti. Luca Marchetti,That name was a threat to the Underground world,he's heartless,a possessive freak ,His Cold aura sent fears in the heart of people,who were even afraid to speak of him, He wouldn't hesitate to spill the blood of his enemies. He built a wall around his heart vowing not to fall for a woman ,he believed falling in love meant been weak and vulnerable for his enemies but not until he met Natasha White who captured his cold heart ,making him believe in love. After discovering that she was the woman who he had a one night stand with,He could not let her go for the second time. Fighting off the monster inside of him who wouldn't hesitate to kill Natasha because she was destroying the other him. Can Natasha fall for Luca?who's whole existence was a danger to her,She wasn't a fan of men who were possessive of their women,but Luca was something else. Can she be able to fight for her inheritance without breaking down? Would she able to forgive Keith who was pretending to be a nice guy but had secrets lurking in the shadows?