Proper Table Manners

" Tell me what can I do to make it up for you?" He asks, taking a seat on the table near the bed, sounding guilty. Tho, I don't trust his words or feelings it can always change. I faced him, grinning violently as I asked, "Can you let me go?" He smiled. "Except that." I knew he will say something like that. "I don't wanna do this marriage. " He cocks his brow up in amusement before he chuckled, "I thought I made it clear when we met that you don't have any choice to make while you are here with me. " I sighed, with an annoy, he continued. "Though, if that's how I can make up then let's make a deal. " "What deal?" °^°^°^°^°^ Elina's life turns upside down when she got kidnapped by the man who appears in her nightmares who is none other than the son of ruthless Mafia, Andrew, and he, himself a rumored to be the most dangerous mafia in reality. Elina soon starts to hear and see the things she has no idea of and tries her best to know the reason behind it but she wasn't ready to find and process something more horrifying about Andrew and her's unknown past that was kept hidden by her.

“…. become my mistress and run my house like a wife would. Look at it like a normal job; you make me happy and I pay you at the end of the month. Only this time, making me happy also includes sexually.” Eric Ferraro, a CEO and billionaire told me. “I’m sorry, but I don’t fully understand this. What do you mean?” I asked nervously. “Perhaps you’d understand if you read it,” he told me and before I could understand what he meant, he opened a black notepad on the table and took out a document. He handed it to me and I took it with a shaky hand and read. It was a contract! A contract stating I would be in a sexual affair with him and run his house, like a mistress. Not a girlfriend. Not the love of his life. A mistress. A whore he paid to satisfy him!!! Olivia Jack, against her better judgment, accepts a contract proposal from billionaire Eric Ferraro to pay for her mother’s stem cell transplant, thus signing away herself to him. Against the contract agreement, Olivia falls in love with Eric and finds herself in a crossfire when his ex wife, old flames and other forces surface to tear apart their relationship. Will Eric fight for their love and make her his, or will the contract come to an end?

My mother loved a billionaire once. He destroyed her quietly, with power and control and the particular cruelty of a man who knew nobody would believe his wife's pain. She left him with nothing but the clothes on her back and a warning she planted deep inside me before I could even walk. *Never marry a billionaire.* I believed her. I built my own empire. I refused every wealthy, charming, well-suited man who came to my table with a ring and a rehearsed smile. Then I walked into The Harlow Hotel and saw a waiter. No charm. No performance. Just steady eyes that looked at me like I had startled him and then looked away first. Shyly. His name was Charles Dick. Simple. Honest. Real. Everything my mother's warning was never about. I pursued him. I provided for him. I loved him completely. Five days before our wedding he told me the truth. And everything collapsed in sixty seconds. Because the most dangerous love stories are not the ones that begin with lies. They are the ones where two people lie to protect themselves from the very love they have been searching for their entire lives. .... Vivienne Donald had sworn she would never marry a billionaire. She kept her word. She married something far greater.

At dinner, Tiffany White grabs my fiance's phone and spends 100 thousand dollars on a designer bag. She even sticks her tongue at me. "Come on, Meredith. You're loaded. You won't mind such a small amount, right? Shawn and I share everything. His money is my money," she says. Everyone at the table waits for me to lose my temper or smile and let it slide like a saint. Instead, I calmly take out a voice recorder and my laptop from my bag and adjust my gold-rimmed glasses. "100 thousand meets the threshold for criminal filing. Since you said you two share everything, I have to ask—is this embezzlement or an illegal transfer tied to an improper personal relationship? "Oh, and what you just said about 'his money is my money'? I recorded that. According to the supplemental clauses in our prenup and the company bylaws, I'm officially initiating an asset-freezing order against Shawn Harrison." I turn to Tiffany. "Enjoy your free meals in prison, Ms. White." Shawn is livid. "It was just a joke, Meredith. Is it really necessary to ruin me over this?" I hit the "enter" key. "Sorry. In my book, there are no jokes—only bad debt."

The appointment of Susan Moore as the Broadcasting Channel's executive director has forced out the station's more valued news anchor, sparking heated discussions throughout Hayworth. Susan herself is standing before me right now. She wants to sell her jewelry. As the manager of a luxury boutique store, I'm here to inspect the goods. "These are pieces my partner commissioned for me. I have so many that I'm tired of them." One of them is a diamond-encrusted necklace, featuring a pigeon-blood ruby in the center, worth a few million. There are also several similar gifts on the table, with the crocodile skin bag the least eye-catching one. I smiled. "Your husband must really love you." I set about verifying the purchaser's ID and signature as part of a routine procedure. However, I freeze in place at the sight of the name. "I'm not his wife," she replied, bringing the coffee cup to her lips. "We're just each other's first loves. He said he missed out on 15 years of my life, so he gave me 15 gifts. Isn't that romantic?" It is romantic, indeed. However, it's my father's signature. For 30-plus years, I assumed that my father was a dull man who had never once surprised my mother.

Amy Lacey and I were sworn enemies—stuck in a marriage neither of us wanted. She blamed me for ruining her last chance with her childhood sweetheart, Bryan Gurley. I hated her for sliding a separation agreement across the table on our wedding night. Seven years together. We both wished the other dead. The day I finally decided to divorce her, our private plane started going down. She grabbed the only parachute and strapped it around my waist. "Isaac Irving, if you die, how are you supposed to pay me back for the years I wasted on you?" The parachute snapped open. Then the explosion hit—and her last words cut through it. "Next life, don't come bother me again." Later, the rescue team pulled her burned body from the wreckage. In her arms was the love token Bryan had given her. That night, divorce papers in hand, I stepped off a rooftop. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day Amy ran to the airport to win Bryan back. This time, I let her go without a second thought. In this life, I set her free. From here on out, we'd walk our own roads—owing each other nothing.

WARNING: This book is for mature readers only. Content is dark, strongly 18+, Readers Discretion is adviced. "Four months, babe. And I'm promising you the best life..." The nerve of him to call me 'babe' on our first date. This man is damn straightforward. "Best sex, I'd make your fantasies come true." He brought his hand to be exposed thigh. "Ohh yeah?" He nodded. "You're catching up quickly. So, what do you say, babe? Let's get on with the contract." I wiped my mouth with the napkin on the table, standing up slowly. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Mr Whatever Your Name Is. I'm not a whore. Go find yourself one to fulfill what ever sick fantasies you have in your brain." "Wait..." "Don't touch me. I'm done with this conversation." **************** Evelyn's four months vacation turns into a four months contract no strings relationship with a wealthy billionaire, Killian. As their relationship progresses, Evelyn slowly falls in love with Killian. Killian on the other hand feels his guarded heart melting away by Evelyn's genuine affection. But, what then happens when their no strings relationship ends with their hearts still yearning for each other?

My child-free husband went back to his hometown for a funeral, and after he returned, he suddenly wanted me to have a baby. He was one of the best obgyns in the state, so he handled my IVF procedure himself. After more than 160 hormone shots, we finally heard the baby’s rhythmic heartbeats for the first time, which made my usually calm husband tear up. Soon, he tightened every part of my routine, from a strict diet to my schedule, and once my belly started showing, he barely let me get out of bed. I thought he was just being overly protective. But then, right by my ear, I heard a nasty little boy’s voice. [Which player starts their mission inside the womb? And she’s not even my mom!] [Just four more months. My dad will make sure she dies on the operating table so he can keep only his son.] [After that, he’ll bring my real mom back, and my mission will be complete!] I canceled my afternoon checkup immediately as soon as I heard this. Did the system forget to tell him that he wasn’t the only player in this world?

My father-in-law tossed a credit card across the table and looked down at me, demanding that I divorce his daughter. In my past life, I had refused with everything I had. But this time, I picked up the pen and signed the divorce papers without a second thought. Because right then, I remembered what had happened last time. In that life, I found my wife after she had lost her memory. To support her, I worked myself to the bone, delivering 200 food orders a day. But when her memories came back, she realized she was actually the daughter of the wealthy Harretts. She saw our marriage as a stain on her perfect life. To get rid of me, she pretended to have amnesia again. She said, "Since you saved me once, I'll give you some money. But after this, don't ever show up in front of me again." I refused. I stayed by her side, enduring her insults and beatings. But in the end, she ordered our son to set the fire that killed me, just so she could marry her first love. Now that I had been given another chance, I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.

Zira Deverauxdoro was left and was abandon at St. Maria hospital not long after she was born. After that she's been to one foster home to another and each one, she felt alone like there was a part of her missing to keep her from being whole. When she turned 10 years old, she was finally adopted by Ahriman Radamés, one of the riches CEO. There was always something strange about her adopted father, but when she found out that he wasn't human by accident and that he had plans with her that's when she left. Even though she was only sixteen, she had a great common sense and a good amount of money she stashed away of her adopted parents. She's been on her own for 2 years and knows she can never trust or count on others. She can never stay in one place for too long fearing that Ahriman Radamés would find her. She lived day by day in one hotel after another. Driving to a different state every few days. Until one day she rides into a small town in Vermont and runs into a guy name Seth while hustling on a pool table in a bar that happens to be run by vampires.