Set Off Crossword Clue Novels & Stories

After going bankrupt, I do the unthinkable for my gravely ill younger brother, Ricky Ashford, and climb into the bed of Damien Blackwood, the notorious mafia boss. When his smoldering gaze sweeps over my shirtless body, I stay perfectly still. The reason is that I'm afraid to set off this infamous man in front of me. However, the next instant, his lips are everywhere on my skin, and the night dissolves into a wild, reckless blur. For three years, I endure every torment in his bed. Thoughts of escape and even suicide cross my mind, but the fact that my brother is fighting for his life in the ICU keeps me going. One day, I accidentally overhear him speaking with his childhood friend, Chloe Sterling. "How long do you plan to toy with your enemy's daughter? You're not falling for her, are you?" "Don't be absurd." "And what about her sickly brother?" "He died long ago." The last thread holding me together snaps. Now, there is no reason left to live. As I prepare to end my life by burning charcoal, tears well up in his eyes as he pleads for me not to leave.

I had been dating Andy Lawson for five years. He had gone bankrupt, and during the worst of it, we had to sleep in parks and scavenge leftovers for food. After a hundred days of that life, I was just going to the blackmarket to sell some blood for money when someone sent me a video. [Surprise.] It was a livestream site, set up for rich kids to prank the common folk—and a video of me was pinned to the top. My finger trembling, I tapped on it and saw myself hidden in a corner of a park, munching on leftovers to nourish my frail body. On the split video, Andy was reclining against the armchair of a five-star hotel and savoring his gourmet menu. "Oh, this is amazing! All Andy has to do is say that he's sick, and she's selling her blood for him!" "On the sixteenth prank, she fell into the ocean… And on the fifteenth, she was sent flying in a car crash! Why is she so hard to kill?" "Well, Andy already made it clear that if she survives until the end, he will marry her and swear off women!" "One month to go! Will she die from the pranks, or marry into the Lawson family with pomp and circumstance?" "I'm betting fifty mil that she dies tragically! Hahaha!"

To get a divorce from Dante Conti, I volunteered to walk away with nothing—even our three-year-old son. Seeing that I had deliberately changed back into the old clothes I wore before marriage, Dante froze for a moment, then sneered, "So? You don't even want Nico, the heir you fought so hard to give birth to?" "Careful. Play your part too long, and you won't be able to recover the scene," he warned. I pushed the signed agreement toward him. "Don't worry. This isn't acting." Dante shot me a puzzled look before signing his name. "So obedient? Fine. I'll be magnanimous and let you see Nico from time to time." He set down the pen, his gaze appraising me. "And if you regret it… come to me now, and maybe—just maybe—we could remarry—" I cut him off, standing and walking away without a word. He had thought I married him for the Mafia's power, that's why I had given him an heir to inherit his family. But once he knows I'm dead, there will be no more misunderstandings.

On the day we were supposed to get married, my girlfriend blew me off again, saying she was too busy. When I got home, there was a marriage certificate waiting for me in the mailbox—hers and her male assistant's. The date filed was today. I gave a small, bitter smile, set the certificate down on my desk, turned around, and ended things with her. The next second, my phone rang. Her annoyed voice came through right away. "Patrick, what is your problem? Why are you throwing a tantrum? You're a grown man—act like one." Before I could even say anything, I heard her assistant sobbing in the background. "Olivia, do you think Patrick got the wrong idea? You should go home. I'll be fine on my own." "Forget about him. He always pulls stuff like this—I'm so tired of it. You're the one who matters right now." The sound of my girlfriend gently comforting another man cut right through me. The call ended, and so did any last shred of hope I had left.

Carol Rivers was used to playing with fire, and she lived her life by her own rules—until she fell for the wrong man. Antonio Conte was an older man who seemed to have it all, and Carol couldn’t resist his charm. But their fiery romance is cut short when she catches him cheating. His betrayal shattered her, and she drowned her sorrows with alcohol, only to end up in the bed of a dashing stranger after a heated one-night stand. Carol had yet to come to terms with her break up with Antonio when he appeared again, but this time he claimed her by force, kidnapping her and holding her against her will. Her rejection had set him off, and she realized he wasn’t a normal man, but a ruthless mafia lord. Now forced to become his sex slave, Carol is robbed of her freedom. But what happens when she meets the stranger from her one-night stand, and he turns out to be the son of the man she despises the most? Caught between father and son, Carol becomes a pawn in an explosive game of lust and power. Will she break free from the chains of her fate? Or will she burn it in the crossfire?

Three days before the SAT, a car slammed into me. My right leg was ruined. Govind stood beside my hospital bed and said, "I set it up." He pointed at the cast on my leg and smiled. "You upset Yvette. It's just a broken leg. Better that than watching her cry." I stared at him, stunned, then dug my nails into his arm hard enough to draw blood. He shoved me off without a care. Then he patted my head like he always used to. "Now I get why your parents dumped you at that children's home. With an attitude like yours, you were never gonna be as lovable as Yvette." Yvette was my older sister. Fifteen years ago, I got hurt saving Yvette from a speeding car. She cried to our parents and claimed I'd pushed her. That same night, bruised and bleeding, I was dumped at a children's home. When I'd already given up on everything, Govind showed up and promised he'd protect me for the rest of my life. And now, for her, he was destroying me with his own hands.

"I like that girl. And she is the girl I will marry."Nicholas said to his elder brother Andrew, as he eyed Eliza from top to bottom with a smile on his face. "No chance." With just two words, Andrew immediately smashed all his hopes. "But why?" Nicholas asked with confusion and suspicion evident on his face. "Because she doesn't like men".Andrew replied with a smirk on his face. Nicholas felt like his heart shattered into pieces, however he tried to calm down himself and asked," That means she likes women, right?" Andrew laughed and immediately denied his suspicion," No, she just hates man. I don't think she has involvement with women. And before you ask me the reason, I clearly want to tell you that I have no clue about that as well." Nicholas felt relieved and looked in the direction of the sky as he placed his right hand on his heart and said," Then you see how I will make her mine.

I quit and dipped. City threw a parade. Only Jenna Blake—my oh-so-gifted junior who claimed she could "see through killers' eyes"—lost it. At her celebration banquet, she went full drama queen: "I owe everything to Kate Mercer. Please, bring her back!" I laughed. Cold. Not happening. Last time around, I was the hotshot detective. But every clue I found? She dropped it first like she read my mind. People started saying I was washed. So I went all in—three months, no sleep, cracked a massive trafficking ring. Led the raid myself. She beat me there. Again. Place was cleaned out. Boom. She's the city's golden girl. I'm the clown with no game. Pressure got ugly. My head snapped. I died chasing the last scumbag. Then—bam. I woke up. Same day. Raid morning. Round two.

When enemies came seeking revenge, my brother was off with his first love, chasing a golden sunrise over the mountains. I didn't beg him to save us. Instead, I dragged my sister-in-law to safety, dodging killers. In my last life, my brother rushed home, but his first love got caught in an avalanche. Before she passed, she texted him, accusing me and my sister-in-law of humiliating her with money and threatening her to leave him. The fateful trip was her final wish. Her death crushed me with guilt, but my brother dismissed it, holding a perfunctory funeral for her before moving on. I thought he had recommitted to his family, but while my sister-in-law recovered from childbirth, he slipped poison into our meal. "How do I have such a vile sister like you?" he spat. "And you... I only married you for family interests. You two killed the love of my life!" He set the house on fire, burning us alive. Even his newborn son wasn't spared. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on that fateful day.

We're releasing balloons on Christmas Eve when Milton Jenning's lover deliberately sets off fireworks. They explode on me, burning me severely. My back, already torn and raw from skin grafts for her, becomes even more of a bloodied mess. However, I don't ask Milton for help. Instead, I shield a recently reunited heir of a wealthy family beneath me, risking everything to save him. In my past life, Milton kicked me in the back and told me not to stand in the way of him taking his lover to the hospital. "Is it funny to you to use a child as a cover, Larissa? Even if you're pregnant, you and your baby are just walking skin providers for Rita! I must've spoiled you—how dare you do something as heinous as this!" I was blacklisted by all hospitals and ended up dying while pregnant. My heart was filled with hatred as I breathed my last breath. When I open my eyes again, I see Rita Atkinson secretly aim fireworks at the night sky and set them off. I hear her laugh manically as she says, "You and your child can die together!"