Quietly Hostile

When I went to the hospital for a checkup to see if my fourth IVF attempt had succeeded, I saw Daniel Cooper, who was supposed to be on a business trip. He was carefully supporting a young, beautiful woman as they walked out of the obstetrics and gynecology department. Her belly was unmistakably round, and she looked like she was ready to give birth at any moment. Daniel froze for just a second before stepping in front of her, shielding her from me. He explained, "Abby, the Cooper family needs an heir to carry on the lineage. Once the baby is born, everything will go back to the way it was." I heard the certainty in his words. So I smiled, nodded, and quietly tucked my test results away as he stared at me in surprise. On the day she gave birth, I left the divorce papers on the kitchen table and walked out of his life for good.

I merely brought up the wedding decorations, and my fiancé's first love ran out of the room in tears. Ian Murray slapped me so hard I fell to the ground. His face twisted in fury, teeth clenched with hatred. "Daphne, are you that desperate to get married? Afraid no one else will want you, so you're clinging to me, forcing me into it? Our wedding next week is postponed!" I held my face, but not even a ripple stirred in my heart. This made the eighth time he'd postponed it. I had been waiting for him since I was twenty-eight. Now, in my early thirties, I was still getting nowhere closer to being married. So this time, I quietly packed my things and chose to leave. Maybe this marriage didn't need to happen after all.

She escaped hell. He built an empire in darkness. Elara Hayes was once shattered by the people who claimed to love her. Now she lives quietly, hiding behind survival and silence, believing she is too broken for desire, too damaged for love. Lucien Blackwood is a billionaire who fears nothing except weakness. Power, control, and desire define his world. He does not save women. He does not fall in love. Until her. Elara’s quiet strength awakens something dangerous inside him. He wants to protect her. He wants to possess her. And he wants her in ways that terrify them both. As secrets unravel and the past comes hunting, Elara must choose whether to trust the man who sees her scars and still wants her. And Lucien must face his darkest truth. Sometimes, the most dangerous desire is not possession. It is love.

I met my mate, Alpha Draven, at the bonding ceremony of our classmate Raven—seven years after I rejected him. But everything had changed. He was still handsome and prestigious, with his beautiful mate clinging to his side. And me? I stood there in an old-fashioned uniform, black-rimmed glasses perched on my nose— a relic from another world. Yes. We were from two completely different worlds now. In the middle of the ceremony, I overheard some werewolves whispering and laughing. "Draven, have you finally moved on from her rejection? It's been seven years, after all." His smile faded. "Honestly, I didn't even recognize her at first glance today." Their words struck me like claws to the heart. I couldn't breathe. So I left—quietly, halfway through the ceremony—before the pain could completely devour me.

On our honeymoon tour, my husband and I faced an earthquake. I thought I was lucky to have booked a flight home, but then Ethan Parker snatched my passport and fled with my stepsister, Lily Foster. Stranded on a foreign land, I saw her new post. Lily: [Talking about clinginess, no one beats Ethan.] An attached photo showed their hands intertwined. In the chaos, someone stole my phone and cash. When aftershocks hit, I couldn't escape and got buried in a collapsed building. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day of the first quake. Seeing Ethan bolt from Lily's room, I didn't say a word, just quietly canceled his plane ticket. If they loved each other so much, I'd let them go on and be a doomed couple.

On our eighth anniversary, Claire Young announced that she had already registered her marriage with her childhood friend. She took him home, ordering me around as if it was only natural. "Move to another room. Stan loves sunshine." "Stan doesn't like sweets, so don't bake any when you're at home. He'd be upset if he saw it." I kept quiet through it all and bought a ticket to leave. My friend wanted to help me out of the predicament, but she didn't think it was a big deal. "He's just being dramatic again. Let him be—he'd be caving in just a few days." Everyone laughed at that, and quietly made bets as to when I'd come crawling back to Claire's feet. None of them knew I was already inducted into the national weapons program, and that I was really leaving.

My husband and his employees went on a camping trip, and his assistant posted on social media. [We drew lots for the tents, and guess who ended up with the handsome CEO!] The post showed a selfie she took. Behind her, my husband was taking his shirt off. Someone left a comment. [A man and a woman alone together? Sounds juicy.] The assistant quickly replied with a smirking emoji. [I like a little excitement!] After I liked the post, it was deleted right away. Soon, my husband called me on video. In front of his crying assistant and several employees, he scolded, “Why did you like the post?! It was just a game! Don’t be so close-minded!” As I watched him hold the assistant in arms and comforted her, I quietly hung up. After ten years of loving Caelan Sullivan, I decided then and there to let go.

Amelia Jones is a popular social media influencer and a private-jet flight attendant with a naughty secret, she’s a sex addict who satisfies her clients in the sky. When one man threatens to ruin and damage her reputation, by uploading her sex tape, only if she adheres to his illegal operations. Hardin Scott Massimo, a cold and ruthless mafia billionaire, quietly buries it, and saves her without question. Now Amelia is bound to him by the dark secret they both share. His price? Amelia becomes his exclusive flight hostess.. and his trophy wife. But Hardin never touches her, he deprives her of her addiction. Starved and desperate, Amelia seeks comfort in the arms of her therapist, a forbidden escape that ignites desire and betrayal. When Hardin catches her, the man who once protected her becomes the man who will break her.

She loved the wrong Whitmore. Now she works for the one she can’t stop thinking about. Elara was always just a friend to Noah Whitmore, the boy she quietly adored for years. When he married her best friend, she had no choice but to move on. Now, four years later, she’s working as the assistant to Lucian Whitmore, Noah’s older brother. Cold, brilliant, and infuriatingly controlled, Lucian is everything she shouldn't want. But behind every clipped command and long silence, there’s a heat simmering just beneath the surface, one she tries hard to ignore. Then Noah returns. Divorced, familiar, and unexpectedly present. Suddenly, Elara finds herself pulled between the past she thought she buried and the man who makes her question everything. Noah never meant to break her heart. But Lucian might.

Esperanza believed motherhood would complete her life. Instead, the day her child was born became the day she lost everything. Her baby, her marriage, and the people she trusted the most. She didn’t scream. She didn’t fight. She broke quietly and disappeared. When Esperanza is forced to rebuild her life from nothing, she meets a man who doesn’t ask her to explain her pain; he only stands beside her while she learns how to breathe again. As she steps back into the world that once destroyed her, buried truths begin to surface. The people who stole everything from her are watching her rise and they’re not done yet. Neither is she. Esperanza didn’t survive to start over. She survived to take back what was stolen. And now, she was back to take what was hers.