Sharp-edged

To protect his biological child, the mafia Don deliberately announces to the world that my fiance is his long-lost son. A Rolls-Royce pulls up outside my house. My fiance stares at his custom-tailored suit, his entire body trembling with excitement. I'm about to tell him it's all a lie when he shoves me aside and brushes off his sleeves with disgust, like he's touching something filthy. "Stay away from me. I can smell the poverty on you from here!" "Since I'm the Don's son, our engagement is over. An unwanted nobody like you isn't even fit to lick my boots." I try to explain, but he pulls out a check and slams it against my face—the sharp paper edge slices across my cheek. "Here's a million dollars. Consider it a breakup fee, and don't bother me again. We're not from the same world anymore." Watching the check flutter down into the mud, I quietly dim my phone screen. On it is a text from my father, the mafia Don. "Mia cara figlia, bear with it a little longer. Papa will bring you home soon to take over the family." Since he wants to burn every bridge between us, fine. He can have all this fortune on a silver platter. Whether he'll live long enough to enjoy it is another question entirely.

In a college world where every hallway is a battlefield of intellect, pride, and desire, Rival Hearts explores the thin line between hate and a love that burns hotter than anyone expects. When fiercely independent Harper Lawson, a chemistry major with a sharp tongue and a stubborn streak, collides with Emery Collins, a confident and ambitious literature student, sparks fly—literally. Their rivalry begins in classrooms and spills into dorms, cafeterias, and late-night campus corners. Harper thrives on rules and routine, while Emery lives for unpredictability and teasing chaos. Every insult, every sarcastic remark, every heated debate draws them closer to a truth neither is willing to admit: attraction doesn’t always ask permission. What begins as antagonism turns into stolen glances, secret touches, and nights filled with whispered confessions and passion that neither can deny. Their friends notice the chemistry, professors are oblivious, and both women struggle with pride, past heartbreaks, and the fear of being vulnerable. As the semester unfolds, Harper and Emery navigate parties, group projects, dorm-room secrets, and the intoxicating highs of desire and intimacy. Amid campus gossip, emotional upheavals, and raw, steamy encounters, Rival Hearts captures the journey of two women learning that love can come disguised as hate, that surrendering to desire can be terrifyingly exhilarating, and that the fiercest rivals often make the strongest partners. Full of witty banter, heart-pounding tension, and intimate romance, this novel is a slow-burning, passionate exploration of the chaos of first love and the unstoppable force of attraction.

I had just won the Hawthorne Scientific Laureate on the international stage when my father called me back home. "Bring the betrothal gifts to the Hayes family. That childhood engagement should finally be fulfilled." Afraid of getting stuck in traffic, I took my modified motorcycle, carried the national heritage porcelain obtained through generations of the Keane family's military merits, and headed toward their house. Just as I arrived at the community gate, a Porsche suddenly cut across the lane, nearly knocking me over. A heavily made-up woman, Zoey Mercer, stepped out of the car, raised one sharp high heel, and kicked the top box off my motorcycle. "You rode this junk motorcycle yet dared block my way? If you dent my car, your whole family won't be able to afford the compensation!" My heart sank. I quickly opened the case, only to see the entire box of celadon porcelain shattered. "So you’re just some delivery guy. Think this pile of trash is worth even one of my shoes? "You even know whose neighborhood this is? It belongs to Kingshore's Hayes family! My best friend’s family developed this place! Believe it or not, I can have you thrown out right now!" Right then, my fiancee, Lauren Hayes, called me. "Where are you? My friend just messaged me saying there’s a delivery guy causing trouble at the entrance."

. "I WILL NOT WAKE HIM" My voice thunders through the large throne room. All who reside in it are brought to their knees. Cowering and bowing their heads. I take a sharp inhale and the wave of power leaves them and they return to their previous positions. Another member of my court approaches, I nod allowing her to come forward. Her long green dress, compliments her light brown hair and golden eyes. "Mara, what say you?" Alarich takes her hand and guides her forward "My beautiful queen, only your blood can wake him, if you see it fit to subdue him after and place him back to rest. My men and I will happily comply" I smile at her and Alarich. "You think it's that easy. I will not be weak. You know this and he will see to it I am, specially if I carry his child". Alarich places a gentle kiss to Mara's forehead. Grateful for his loves presence and offer. "Majesty your mark moves, it longs for him" She looks up at me with hopeful eyes. "Oh Mara, I cannot allow him back into the world. I am strong enough to take a rebellion on by myself, no one can kill me with this mark and no one else can hold it, whilst I'm alive. "You ask me to wake the only one who can kill me?"

Selene Wyndham falls in love with the merman, Zirion, at first sight. Despite the gossip and criticism, she rescues him from the beast pit. Although he's indifferent toward her, she never complains. She merely wishes that he never again suffers pain and hardship. She even vows to protect him for a lifetime. This goes on until the day he personally sends her into the beast pit, where she's torn apart and killed by a savage beast. Only then does Selene realize that from the very beginning, everything has been an elaborate scheme set by her younger sister, Vanessa Wyndham, to become the head of the family. And Zirion was Vanessa's very first pawn to set her plan in motion. "How does it feel to be sent into the beast pit by the very man you love, Selene?" As a set of sharp teeth pierce through her body, Selene's consciousness fades away. When she opens her eyes again, she has returned to the moment when she rescues Zirion from the beast pit. This time, Selene drives Zirion away and saves a young wolfman instead. She then makes him her personal guard. One day, the rain is pouring heavily when the once lofty and proud Zirion kneels at Selene's feet, ignoring the mud and filth on him. He digs out a scale from his body and begs in a sorrowful voice for her to spare him another glance.

For three years, Eliza Sterling has lived with a quiet grief. After giving her husband, Scott, her entire fortune and her father's company, her only regret is the child they've been unable to conceive. On the morning of their third anniversary, she discovers Scott’s real betrayal: a secret plan to sell her father's empire out from under her, confiding in his CFO that his wife is “a soft spot” to be managed. But the real devastation waits in his office. There, she finds Scott with her stepsister, Chloe—a betrayal made monstrous when Chloe reveals the truth: their infertility is Scott’s choice, a cold strategy to prevent a true heir. Eliza is left utterly ruined, her heart, her home, and her legacy stolen. Her only offer of help comes from Adam Thorne, Scott’s rival, who presents not condolences but a partnership. In exchange for his legal and strategic might to destroy Scott, he wants a piece of the company. Eliza accepts, forging a bond built on revenge and a sharp, growing respect. As Scott watches the wife he took for granted become his most dangerous enemy, he is consumed by a regret that may be too late. Eliza must navigate a war on two fronts: a corporate battle to reclaim her power, and a personal war for her future, caught between the husband who shattered her and the rival who challenges her to rebuild herself from the ashes.

"Despite your protests look at you now." He smirked bending down and placing a kiss on my neck. "In the end you easily succumbed to me without any protest." "I don't want to die." I responded as he continued to trail small butterfly kisses along my throat, all the while lightly grazing his sharp canines against it. "Your mouth is very dishonest woman." He said lifting and staring into my eyes. "It says no while your body says yes." "You're wrong." I whispered. "Am I now?" He spoke against my skin sending goosebumps all over my body. "I don't think I am." Valerie Anderson was your normal everyday secretary, at least she was until the day she died. Killed by her sex crazed supervisor by falling down a flight of stairs, Valerie finds herself waking up in the bed of the cold and oppressive Elias Langley. First prince and next in line for the throne of the land of Allsbrook, Elias gives Valerie two options, either be his slave or die by his hands. Unable to remember a thing, not even her name, Valerie isn't ready to die, not until she discovers how she appeared in this strange land and who she is. Desperate Valerie agrees to be Elias' slave, thus beginning their master and slave relationship. Will the cold Elias end up warming up to Valerie, allowing someone into his cold dead heart? Will Valerie be able to find her memories and figure out her mysterious background?

"He vowed never to love her. Now he’ll stop at nothing to reclaim her.” When ruthless billionaire Adrian Blackwood and a sharp witted journalist Elena Carter find themselves entangled in each other's arms, they had an intoxicating one night stand that leads to a scandal that threatens to tear their world down. Their solution was straightforward: a marriage of convenience. No love. No strings attached. Nothing but cold, calculated damage control. Elena is faced with emotional neglect in a marriage that seems to slowly tear her apart. When framed for betrayal, Elena was sent packing and unknowingly to her she was pregnant. A secret she had kept hidden from Adrian. Four years later, fate draws them back into each other's lives. Adrian, colder and more commanding than ever before, discovers the truth: Elena is more than just a ghost from his past. She’s a mother. His child's mother. And the child she’s fiercely protecting bears his storm-gray eyes. Now, the CEO who once said love was a weakness is tearing the world apart to reclaim what is his. But Elena is no longer the woman he abandoned. Rising from the ashes of their failed marriage, she has created a life—and a legacy—that refuses to submit to his demands. But as explosive secrets resurface and old enemies emerge, Adrian and Elena are forced to play a deadly game in which the stakes are higher than pride or passion. Someone wants Elena destroyed. Someone wants Adrian broken. And their daughter's life is on the line.

Eight years into our bond, I spotted a child at the kindergarten who looked uncannily like Malcolm—my mate. Malcolm had told me he was away on a business trip. However then he was holding that child in his arms, gently coaxing him. "Be good, sweetheart. In a few days, I'll bring you and your mom home. You're my only child. I'll never abandon you." The child smiled, content and trusting. I stood hidden around the corner, unable to breathe from the pain gripping my chest. Eight years ago, I had taken a silver blade to the stomach to save Malcolm. I lost my wolf that day—and with it, the ability to ever carry a pup. Back then, Malcolm had sat beside my hospital bed and made a promise: "You are the only mate I will ever choose. Whether or not we have a pup doesn't change that." However, what I saw now felt like a brutal slap—a reality too sharp to ignore. What value would Luna have if she'd lost her wolf and could no longer bear heirs? How could I possibly compare to someone who could give him a child, and the pack, a future? Choking back the pain swelling in my chest, I picked up the phone and called my father. "Dad… would you still want a daughter who's lost her wolf?" His voice came through, steady and sure. "Of course. No matter what happens, I'll always be here for you."

~ ALISTAIR ~ I hate him. There’s no point in admiring what you can’t be. I hate his sharp tongue, his smug smirk, the way he looks at me like he already knows how this ends. I don’t like men. Calvin Rutledge is a problem. A problem I can’t ignore. A problem that’s in my face, under my skin, unraveling me one smirk at a time. But the worst part? I want him. And he knows it. Now, every glance burns, every touch lingers, and every fight makes me crave the one thing I swore I’d never want—him. A man. A know-it-all who plays by his own rules. I was never supposed to want him. And yet, here I am… falling. __ ~ CALVIN ~ I know his type. Rich. Arrogant. A cocky football star who thinks the world revolves around him. Alistair Morano is all that—and more. My sworn enemy. My reluctant project partner. My ‘boss’. He thinks I’m just another nerd he can push around. Cute. But here’s the thing—he’s the one being played. By the time he realizes I’m the one pulling the strings, it’ll be too late. Because he’ll be mine. Mine to tease. Mine to break. Mine to ruin. And when he finally falls? I’ll be right there, waiting to catch him, just to break him all over again.