Silent Photo

She was promised to the devil but she fell in love with the weapon meant to guard her. Arranged to marry the most ruthless mafia don in the city, Serafina learns early that obedience is the price of survival. Luca De Santis doesn’t love, he owns. And she is his most valuable possession. Inside an empire built on blood, fear, and unbreakable loyalty, there is only one man who never looks at her like property. Matteo De Santis. Luca’s cousin. His enforcer. His shadow. Falling in love with him is forbidden. Being discovered means death. As loyalty fractures and betrayal ignites, Serafina is forced to choose: remain a silent bride to a monster or rise beside the man willing to burn the empire for her. In a world where love is treason, survival demands rebellion.

When Damien Wolfe raids a cartel safehouse, he isn’t looking for a girl he’s looking for revenge. But then he finds Aria: wounded, silent, staring at him like he’s the last thing she’ll ever see. He should’ve left her. He didn’t. Now she’s under his protection, trapped in his world of secrets and scars, and the line between guardian and captor burns thinner every day. Because the more he tries to save her, the more he remembers the one thing he swore he’d buried mercy. A dark, addictive romantic thriller about two broken people who were never meant to meet and the fire they can’t escape. #darkeromance #hatetolove #enemiestolovers

Rachael seemingly has it all; a perfect marriage, an intelligent daughter, a good career and a supportive husband. Her life became a center of envy but that didn't last long enough when she caught her husband cheating on with her secretary. Instead of her yelling at them, she kept silent and left the room. Feeling betrayed, she swore to divorce him but couldn't, so she exact revenge on them. She used her silence to sharpen her revenge blade. As she embarked on her revenge journey, she found herself drawn to her husband's brother. Their forbidden ignites a fire that could destroy everything Rachael had worked hard for.

On the day I was declared pregnant, I ran into my husband in the ob-gyn. He was with his long-lost love for a prenatal checkup. "I'm not going home tonight. As you can see, I have business to attend to," Lawrence said quietly as he left with an arm wrapped around Melissa. I fell silent and booked an abortion surgery. Everyone around us thought I was a simp for Lawrence. They thought I wouldn't leave, no matter how badly he mistreated me. He had the same thought. No one knew that I only married him to repay a debt. That debt was now repaid. Ten years was up, and I could finally end this abominable marriage.

My mother, Mariana Heimann, has terminal cancer. She wants me to get married before she dies. It takes 57 days of me pleading with my boyfriend, Hayden Weatherford, before he finally agrees to marry me. On the day we agreed to register our marriage, he's a no-show even after the city hall staff have clocked off from work. At the same time, Hayden's childhood friend, Scarlett Needham, shows off a photo of her and Hayden holding up their marriage certificate. It's captioned, "Time sure flies. In another week, we'll have been married for two months." It dawns on me that Hayden and Scarlett were married on the day I first begged him to marry me. I receive a message from Hayden on my phone. He apologizes, "Scarlett's family members were forcing her into marriage, Lucy. I couldn't stand by and watch her suffer, pressured into marrying a stranger. We'll get divorced in a week, after which you and I can get married." … One week later, I send Hayden a message as he waits for me in front of the city hall, dressed in a suit. "We'll never meet again, Hayden."

It was midnight, and I was out at my stall when the cops took me to the station. They checked my profile and looked at me weirdly. "You're a Greatpeak graduate. What are you doing setting up shop in a bazaar?" That was odd. I went through the profile and realized that yes, while the student's ID was mine, the photo was not. I knew the guy in the photo. Josiah Ferguson. I had no idea I got accepted into Greatpeak University twenty years ago. Eventually, I was released, but I had no idea how I trudged back home. Then, I heard Hazel Quinley, my wife, talking to someone on the phone. "I won't let Michael get in your way, Josiah. Just go abroad." So that's it! It was her! My wife helped Josiah take what was supposed to be mine! I was sick. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to confront her and Josiah, but then she stabbed me in the back, and I died. "I'm sorry, Michael. I can't let you ruin Josiah's future." And then I woke up. I was taken back in time to my high school days. Our homeroom was giving out college application forms. This time, things would be different. This time, I would take back what was rightfully mine!

Even though this is my eighth time proposing to Beverly Galvan, she still coldly turns me down again. She says that she isn't ready yet and that she needs more time. Since that's the case, I tell myself I will wait as long as it takes. That's when I see it—her and my brother's marriage certificate, posted for everyone to see on her social media. When I question her about it, she merely says in a calm voice, "Timothy's unwell. He can't get too upset, so you'd better not start anything!" They are wearing wedding rings in that photo, and there is a barely visible bump on her belly. In that moment, the storm within me dissipates. Hitting the like button on the post, I type out a comment. "I wish you both a lifetime of joy. May the two of you grow old together!" A year later, a desperate-looking Beverly shows up in front of me, begging that we get back together. Unfortunately for her, her best friend, who was clearly pregnant, steps in with a smile and pushes her aside. "Give it a rest, will you? My husband already has a wife. We can have kids of our own. There's no need for him to be someone's fallback guy."

Tristan is an alpha, strong and silent, with control over everything around him, he only screws omegas, everyone knows that, he is a perfectionist, everyone knows that, Dylan Harper is the only assistant he tolerates, everyone knows that, but what everyone doesn’t know is Tristan is the Alpha under Dylan’s sheets. Dylan is just a beta, kind and invisible. When they’re forced together by work, tension builds between them, but Dylan knows his place. Alphas don’t look at betas like him. There’s no room for dreams or hope. But after waking up one day with an Alpha under his sheets, Dylan starts to wonder if he’s been wrong about everything. Will he remain just a shadow to Tristian, or is there more to his story? ••• Tristan’s breath was steady, but I could feel the tension in the air between us. I stood too close. My fingers brushed against his arm, just enough to make the heat between us undeniable. “Don’t…” he murmured, his voice a low growl that sent a shiver down my spine. But I didn’t move away. I couldn’t. His presence was too much, too magnetic. My body hummed with a hunger I didn’t know how to quiet. His eyes locked with mine, intense, searching, like he knew what I was feeling before I did. “You’re too close,” he whispered. I stayed silent, caught between the urge to pull away and the need to be closer. His breath, warm on my skin, made it harder to think. “Do you intend to trigger your heat again, my pretty little thing?” He breathed out and I could have climaxed right there and then.

I get picked up by the cops in the middle of the night for street vending. While questioning me, they pull up my file. One officer eyes me suspiciously through my mask and asks, "What's a Clairefield University graduate like you doing selling stuff on the street at midnight?" I freeze and lean over to look at the file. The ID number matches mine, but the photo has been replaced with one of Madison Bass. That's when it hits me—20 years ago, I was the one who got accepted to Clairefield University! Dazed and numb, I stumble home only to hear my husband, Joseph Gunther, speaking on the phone. "Madison, don't worry. I won't let Lucy interfere with your life. Just go abroad in peace." It's him! Joseph helped Madison steal my identity and my future. My stomach twists. I turn to confront him, to expose the truth. But before I can, he strangles me to death with a belt. "I'm sorry, Lucy. You can't ruin Madison's future…" When I open my eyes again, I'm back in the classroom. Our homeroom teacher is handing out university application forms. This time, I'm taking my life back.

The day my mother brought her childhood sweetheart back to the villa, my father—who had already quit smoking—stood on the balcony and smoked through the entire night. Back then, his colleagues at the research institute all envied him for having a wife who was a CEO. They said he should have stayed home and enjoyed life—why work so hard outside when all he needed to do was keep a firm grip on the household finances? But my father never agreed. "Those things are all external," he would say. "As long as the feelings are still there, we'll be fine whether we're rich or poor. And if one day she no longer loves me, I'll leave with nothing and walk away alone." He never expected his words to become prophecy. My mother truly did stop loving him. Later, when she appeared before the media, arm in arm with that man, my father didn't look back. He boarded a flight overseas and disappeared from our lives. And as I stared at the photo in my social feed—my fiancée's hand entwined with someone else's—I knew it was time for me to leave too, just like my father had.