Quietly

I married Eleanor Vance on the very same day her true love was getting married next door. Just as we were about to exchange rings, the man himself stormed into our ceremony. Red-eyed and shaking, he announced that the only woman he'd ever loved was Eleanor and that he couldn't go through with marrying the fiancee waiting for him, the one battling a terminal illness. Eleanor didn't even look at me. She pulled her hand from mine and ran after him. I was left standing there, humiliated, while my mother was so angry she ended up in the hospital. Later, the abandoned bride and I caught each other's eyes for a moment. I asked quietly, "Do you want to switch grooms?" Three years passed before Eleanor came back. She was crying, saying she regretted everything. But I scooped up both kids from the backseat, one in each arm. I stepped aside and said, "Excuse me. I'm in a hurry to pick up my wife from work."

Celine Winston is the girl who was rejected and disowned by her family for a crime she never commited. Now she is living quietly as a lonely waiter at a restaurant. Williams Herringbone is the CEO of the Diamond Empire, a multi billion dollar global company he inherited from his grandfather. He is hated by his step siblings and father for this very reason. How could two such opposite fates collide in such a steamy fashion? What about the deadly mafia boss, Lucius Del Aviv, who wants to hurt Celine for supposedly killing his only brother? Don't forget vengeful exes plotting and manipulating ways to get their selfish desires, enemies posing as blossom friends to cause harm and family members with nothing but gaining wealth on their minds. When terrible secrets from their pasts comes back to haunt them, everything seems to fall apart. For how could Celine claim to love the man who destroyed her life years ago? Can the love between Celine and Williams survive all this and more? What keeps such a precarious relationship going strong?

At the party, my son, Hughie Peters, deliberately raised his voice and said to my wife, Penelope Peters, "Mommy, you're pregnant with Darren's baby. Are we gonna live with him from now on?" Penelope set the sliced steak down in front of me and said softly, "I made a promise with your daddy. Whoever betrayed the other first would disappear from the other person's world forever. I can't afford for that to happen, so this must stay a secret. After the baby is born, it'll still be your daddy's child." After saying that, Penelope signed to me that she would love me forever. But she didn't notice my reddened eyes. She didn't know I had gotten my hearing back a week ago, nor did she know I had already discovered their affair. And she definitely didn't know I had quietly bought a plane ticket to Lumora for a teaching volunteer program. I was just waiting for the paperwork to be approved in seven days. Then, I would disappear for good.

The plan was simple: go stay with my mom for a while, meet her new husband, maybe fake a few smiles, and then quietly count down the days until I could leave. I didn’t expect to end up at a club on my first night out, dancing too close to a dangerously hot silver fox who looked at me like he already owned me. One drink turned into a blur of heat and hands. We didn’t even make it into the car; he had me up against it, my fingers gripping the roof while his mouth made promises he definitely kept. I thought it was just a one-night mistake. A beautiful, filthy secret. Until the next morning… when I met my mom’s husband. And he was him. Now every family breakfast and dinner is a slow-motion panic attack; every glance between us is wrong. I can’t tell my mom. I won’t tell her. But the worst part? I still want him.

Dirty South 2 is a tumultuous continuation of the happenings, mishaps, mayhems and the crazy affairs that characterized Dirty South and it's movers and shakers in the likes of Coco Kaave, Chief Kaave, Chief Onapuruagu, Detective Flynn, e.t.c When the news of Coco's dad, Chief Kaave's death, shook Dirty South, bringing to a close an era of revenge, betrayal, power tussle and a need for control; Coco quietly married Chief Onapuruagu, the man she loved and settled into the daily life of being a good wife with the thriving Empire, TRENDZ, which she fought and earned. Life never felt better for Coco... However good things never last and a heart breaking moment did shake her out of her blissful reverie when she suffered a forced miscarriage during her gender reveal party. Who could have poisoned the unpoisonable Coco? Coco leaves everyone and everything to seek solace in Kuje Island, now, everyone knows Dirty South is about to rain blood! Coco's soon to be born offspring was murdered and someone had to pay for it.

An unknown city. A car accident! A roguishly handsome mechanic! It’s too much for twenty-two-year-old Amelia Mitchell to handle. With eyes like amber whiskey, he tempts her innocent heart, and makes her fall head over heels in love with him. However, soon she realizes his true identity! He is everything her mom had warned her against! Amelia quietly returns to her hometown and tries to forget the man, Matteo Antonio Ricci! After working for the dangerous mafia don Alfonso di Salvo for five years, Matteo Antonio Ricci repays his family debts and leaves the mafia circuit. Will the Don release him so easily when Matteo knows all his dark secrets? He hunts for his man, forcing Matteo to leave the country and live an anonymous life. Matteo meets Amelia at the wrong time in his life, but can he forget her so easily? What will happen when he surrenders to his heart and pursues her to the end of the world? What happens when the don finds them?

“Eden…” Her name was a curse and a prayer. “I can’t—God, I can’t think when you’re like this.” --- Professor Adrian Hale begins the semester expecting order—sleepy students, predictable discussions, and the safe distance he’s mastered for years. He does not expect Eden Marlowe. Twenty-two, brilliant, quietly bold, and unafraid to meet his gaze like she sees straight through him. Her questions cut too close, her attention lingers too long, and every glance shakes the discipline he’s built his life on. He knows the rules. He teaches them. And Eden is the one woman he has no business wanting. Yet the pull between them is immediate—magnetic, wrong, irresistible. What starts as lingering looks spirals quickly into charged silences, taut boundaries, and moments that feel anything but innocent. The more he tries to distance himself, the deeper she draws him in. The more she pushes, the faster his restraint frays. Desire becomes risk. Obsession becomes choice. And crossing the line might cost them everything.

What happens when the veil opens for someone it shouldn’t? Kaida St. Claire always thought she was just an ordinary girl, living quietly with her grandmother in a small town. But suddenly, on a day that marks the beginning of a sudden shift in the earth, she stumbles into a forest that shouldn't exist, the one that plagues her dreams, surrounded by tall trees and an ancient-looking building standing strong in the centre. Ashveil Pack. The veil that guards it has never opened for anyone, not in over a hundred years, without the Alpha’s permission. Yet, it doesn’t burn Kaida when she reaches the boundaries. Instead, it welcomes her. And the Alpha isn’t pleased. Alpha Kellan has lost a mate before and blames himself for it. He won’t taint the memories he has of her by accepting a second-chance mate, especially not with a girl with secrets in her blood. But the pull between them is undeniable. Dangerous. Kaida was never supposed to survive the purge of her bloodline. And now that she is back, seemingly clueless about who she is, every pack wants her dead. But more importantly, someone inside the Ashveil pack is already trying.

I decided to cut all ties with Julia Summers. She said she was busy with work, so I quietly packed my suitcase in our bedroom. Then she brought her so-called true love, Henry Stone, home. Right then and there, I asked for a divorce. In my past life, I’d poured my heart and soul into this family and nearly drained every last bit of our savings. Even then, on my fortieth birthday, my own children knelt before me, begging me to let Julia’s dying lover be buried in the Summers Estate. I looked at Julia and said, "You once told me you’d only ever love me. Have you really forgotten?" Her eyes turned red. "I’ll stay with you," she said, her voice trembling. "But Henry just wants a name. Why would you hold a grudge against someone who’s dying?" When I opened my eyes again, I was twenty-five. This time, I’d give them what they wanted and finally give myself what I deserved.

For eight years, I was the ghost in Lorenzo Valenti's empire. By day, I was his executive assistant, the engine of his criminal enterprise. By night, I was the most submissive bird in his gilded cage, and the nameless body in his bed. I loved him with a devotion that bordered on madness, a foolish flame I'd nurtured since I was a scholarship student pulled into his orbit. I believed my quiet love could one day melt the ice around his heart. I was wrong. The day his unforgettable first love, Isabella, returned, the man I knew vanished. The rare smiles once reserved for me were now all for her. My presence by his side was erased, replaced by hers. Even when she framed me, he believed her without hesitation. He chose her, again and again. I submitted my resignation. He signed it without looking. He thought I'd crawl back, broken and begging. He was wrong. While he was busy playing house with his "cuore mio", I was quietly packing away my life, preparing to vanish from his world forever.