Provocatively Dressed

My mother-in-law and I were traveling together. We'd just checked into the Solenne Hotel in Rivera City and decided to hit the pool. Then this woman—dressed like money and attitude—pinched her nose like we stank. "This is a luxury hotel. How did you people even get in? Sneak in just for the pool? Ugh, I need a test after this." Buzzkill. I snapped, "It's a hotel pool. Guests swim. If that's a problem, go build your own." Her face twisted. "Excuse me? Do you even know who I am? My husband owns this place. We always stay in the top suite. So get out. You reek of broke. You're contaminating the water." Georgina and I traded a look. Ice cold. This was her son's hotel. My husband's. Since when did he come with a second wife?

[I don't want to die, but I'm tired of picking myself up every time I fall. Won't you please carry me?] Emilie is bullied because of her selective mutism. The popular girls at her college think she is a freak who won't survive the real world since she won't speak up for herself. One day, they steal her clothes at a pool party and force her to venture out dressed in only a towel. She knocks on a random door without knowing it's Brandon Brooks's home. He is the most popular guy at her college - rich and attractive - and she is convinced he won't help her. Brandon thinks she is a loser like everyone else, but there is one thing Emilie doesn't know about him: he isn't heartless.

Natalia was born to obey, raised as a bargaining chip to secure peace between packs. It was the way girls were raised in her family. And within powerful families, being an only child, her father was sure to make her know her place since her fate was sealed when he had arranged her marriage to the brutal Alpha of the Crimson Howl pack. But Natalia refuses to be anyone's pawn. She refused to obey, and most importantly, she refused to be controlled. On the day of her wedding, dressed in white and suffocating in expectations, she runs. By the edge of a forgotten river, she finds a stranger. A man with cold eyes and a darker soul, Alpha Nolan. He mocks her at first, calls her dramatic, tells her she’d drown ugly if she jumps. But beneath his sharp tongue lies a haunted alpha with no love, no mercy, and no reason to care… until now.

Let's get this over with." Those were the longest words I'd heard him say ever since his entrance to the room. His hoarse voice which held no sign of emotion rumbled like a distant thunder in the large sitting room that was now occupied by his mother, Jane Jordan - the heiress of Jordan Jewelleries, the dark haired judge who sat by an oak table that had been placed in the center of the room for this purpose, Mother, and I , the I-know-nothing-about-this bride dressed in a knee-length lavender gown and silver stiletto heels, nothing befitting for a bride on her big day.  ... "And do you, Ashley, take Alexander to be your lawfully wedded husband?" I sucked in a sharp breath as I closed my eyes. "I do." My fate has been sealed. Just like that, I'm married to a man I know nothing about.

What does it take to keep someone at all cost? Jezrel Tanya Ynares was an epitome of woman who was lucky enough to meet the society's standards with her beauty and brain. Because of it, men tried to hit on her but nobody made her felt sorts of emotions she had been aching for. People don't know the hollowness inside of her. Not until Dwight Dela Torre came into the scene breaking off her hatred towards men after her father cheated on her mother. Her perception on love was tainted. She loved her boyfriend but suddenly things weren't normal anymore. Her heart was torn and her views in life were swayed when this man came as a confusion dressed in clarity. She was the calmness in the storm. Both sides of the poles collided. Meeting with each other was a catastrophe. And, so they still crashed together. They knew they were doomed yet they kept each other. For the sake of love.

On New Year's Eve, I returned home. At the welcome party, my boyfriend, Grayson Caldwell, suddenly appeared, holding a bouquet of red roses and a diamond ring, dropping to one knee. "Although this proposal comes a full three years late, our love will never be late," he said. "Alexa, marry me!" Friends cheered from the sidelines, all expecting me to nod through tears and say yes. But they had forgotten that three years ago, on New Year's Eve, he had promised to propose. That night, I dressed to the nines and waited until dawn—but he never showed up. Instead, there was only a cold phone call. "Tanya is sick. I'm busy taking care of her. You'll have to wait a little longer for the proposal." And so, on New Year's Day, I left the country alone, bound by a family-arranged marriage. I had already married someone else three years ago.

He’s my dad’s best friend. Twice my age and Off-limits in every possible way. But when I walked into his mansion at midnight, dressed to tease, I knew I wouldn’t leave untouched. Veeraj Kapoor doesn’t play nice. He’s ruthless, dominant, and filthy with his words. One night, he ruined my virginity and now, he makes me count every thrust, beg for permission to come, and thank him for using me. I should hate it, I should run. Instead, I spread my legs wider. Because the truth is.. I love the way he degrades me. I crave the way he owns me and I know this isn’t just lust-this is obsession. But how long before my father finds out his best friend is turning me into a desperate little slut behind closed doors?

On my thirtieth birthday, Gideon Salton told me to meet him at city hall. He made sure I wore a wedding dress and brought my papers, hyping it up as a huge birthday surprise. But when I showed up, all dressed up, he turned to his trashy crew and laughed. "No way—she actually did it. Dress, docs, the whole thing. Pay up, fifty bucks each." Then he looked at me. "Come on, Madison. You didn't seriously fall for that?" I didn't answer. He smirked. "If you're that thirsty to get hitched, go inside and grab some rando to register with." His friends cracked up. They called me Gideon's loyal simp, his forever backup plan. Said I'd never end up with anyone else. But when I came out with my husband and a legit marriage certificate, Gideon just froze—pale, silent, wrecked.

In the ruthless city of Highcrest, power is everything and Alpha Commander Riven Kaelthorne has it in absolute measure. Cold, arrogant, and untouchable, Riven has built his authority on control and a vow never to bond. Destiny, to him, is nothing more than a weakness dressed up as fate. Ari, an unranked Omega with no pack and no protection, has survived by staying quiet and invisible. But one violent night shatters that safety, igniting a forbidden bond between them one Riven publicly rejects and the ruling Council swiftly condemns. To them, Ari is a threat to stability. To Riven’s command, he is a liability that must be erased. Ordered to ignore the bond and pushed out of Riven’s life, Ari is forced to endure rejection not just from the Alpha who claimed him in the dark but from a system designed to protect power at any cost. As political pressure tightens and danger closes in, Riven’s control begins to crack, and denial becomes far more dangerous than desire.

Sienna Vale, born into blood, and raised in the shadows. She was trained to do nothing more than be a bargaining toy in her father’s war. And when she is forced into an arranged marriage with Lucian Moretti, the son of her father’s sworn enemy, she is told that it’s her duty. It is her role, and her final use. But Sienna has no intention of being used. Lucian doesn’t want a wife. Especially not a woman from the family that once put a bullet in his brother’s chest. But Sienna isn’t soft, and she isn’t scared. She’s fire dressed in silk, and he’s about to learn that the woman he married may be the most dangerous enemy of all. When betrayal strikes from within and bloodlines begin to fall, Sienna and Lucian must decide: will they kill each other, or rule together? In a world where loyalty is currency and power is survival… Love wasn’t part of the arrangement. But neither was her crown.