Smoke And Steel

“I don’t want you. I hate you.” Those words from her only son slice deeper than any blade. Sarah returns from the hospital expecting love, only to find her place at the family table stolen. Her husband, James, stands arm in arm with Tiana — his late brother’s widow, while her son clings to the other woman’s waist, rejecting his own mother. The betrayal does not end there. After a confrontation with Tiana, she woke up in an abandoned building, her hands tied, and mouth taped. Beside her was Tiana too. Tied. James stood, his confused gaze darting from Tiana to Sarah. And then came the baritone voice from one of the kidnappers: “One life. One choice. You can only save one. Choose!” Sarah turned, seeing how Tiana was communicating with the kidnappers with her eyes. She struggled to let James see the truth; that this was all a setup. But she couldn’t. Her mouth was tapped. But then, like a match striking steel, James’ voice came brittle and final. “Tiana.” He chose his ex over his own wife. Over the mother of his child. Sarah was abandoned in the warehouse. Immediately they left, the warehouse exploded, covered in flames. And Sarah’s screams and cries inside, filled the night. Did Sarah survive the fire outbreak? If she did, can they stand her revenge when she finally returns?

Seven years ago, I broke his heart to save his life. I just didn't realize he’d grow up to be the man who owns mine. Ethan Hawke wasn't always the "Ice King of Manhattan." Once, he was just the boy from the wrong side of the tracks who promised me the world. But I left him in the middle of a winter storm, taking a secret with me that changed everything. Now, he’s back. He’s no longer that boy. He’s a billionaire predator with a memory like a steel trap and a heart made of frost. When my father’s debts come due, Ethan is the one holding the check. But the price isn't money. It’s me. The Deal: Move into his penthouse. Wear his ring. Play the happy fiancée until Valentine’s Day. The Catch: He hasn't just been waiting for me. He’s been watching me. As the line between his revenge and his obsession blurs, I realize the "Dirty Secret" isn't the fake engagement. It’s that even after all the pain, his touch is the only thing that makes me feel alive. But when the gala lights go down, I have to decide: Can I love the man who is determined to ruin me? And more importantly... what will he do when he finds out the secret I’ve been keeping for seven years?

Two souls, one body. One was a feared assassin, and the other was a beautiful soul brought up and given everything she could ever want. Both were betrayed and killed by those around them on the same day and time. Fate, it seems, could only give one of them a second chance to make things right, a chance at vengeance for both lives.********* "What is this?" Aurelia asked her. "It's a note for a surprise that was prepared for you by your father. He said to hand it to you before the party. You should open it," Nella said. Aurelia smiled at her and tore it open. It was obviously typed in bold letters. SEE YOU AT THE ATTIC, DEAREST. Dearest? That's what her father always referred to her as. "I guess I should start going there," there," Aurelia said and left. The attic had been closed since the incident, and Aurelia had always wanted to go in there and see. It was only reasonable now that her father should let her see before getting married. She entered. "Dad?" She called out to him, but there was no answer. She went in further, and then she saw what was written on the wall. 'DIE BITCH! ' Just then, she heard from behind her as the door closed. Soon, something like a pipe was let in as smoke was being let inside the room. Aurelia ran to the door and started banging, but just then, the violinists started to play below along with other instrumentalists. She kept banging until she started to feel faint and slumped as she gasped for air. There were only a few who knew about her asthmatic condition. her father, her late mother, and Nella. Why would her father want her dead?****************** Read to know what happens next.

Once I became pregnant, I was hailed as the most precious woman in the underworld. My husband, the new Don of the Jenkins family, shut down an entire private hospital wing for my check-ups, while my father, the Collins Don, summoned every Michelin-starred chef in New York to the estate, just so I could pick whatever I craved. The baby I carried was destined to be the sole heir of the two most powerful mafia families. But on the day we were to sign the papers securing my child's inheritance, they both vanished. "An urgent family matter came up," my husband, Vincent, said, kissing my forehead. "We can finalize the child's inheritance when we get back. There's no rush." Shortly after they left, I received a link to an anonymous live stream. My father's voice came from the video, colder than I had ever heard it. "You're saying your marriage contract with Evangeline was never valid. Doesn't that make the child a bastard?" Vincent, lounging in a club, blew a smoke ring. Cradled in his arms was my half sister, Sarah. "Evangeline has always had all the love and affection. Her child will want for nothing." "Sarah has been mocked for her status for years. I have to make things right for her, give our child a legitimate name." In that moment, my heart seized, and I could barely breathe. Then my phone vibrated again. It was a text message: "Welcome home to the Gallo family, my queen." "Just give the word, and the child you carry will bear the Gallo name and become the most powerful heir in the American underworld."

“We shouldn’t be doing this, Blaze.” I whispered as I tightly clutched his silky shirt, even though it felt so right, even though everything inside me burns brighter when he looks at me— even though my knees buckled right now, when he slowly slotted his firm thigh between my legs. “You know you want it.” He slowly pressed his index finger into my mouth, and my eyes fluttered shut when he pressed an open kiss against my jaw. “But- my brother...” I mumbled around his finger, as I forced my eyes open. He lifted his thigh and pressed it against my core and I let out a stuttered cry as I threw my head back, my knees threatening to give out this time. “... doesn’t have to know.” —————— To hide her dark secrets, Tessy Roper is content with playing the good girl of her college. She keeps up to her grades, doesn’t drink or smoke or go to notorious college parties, and most definitely doesn’t involve herself with pant-dropping bad boys like Blaze Colt - feared gang leader and her elder brother’s best friend. But things take a turn for the worst when her dark secrets get exposed to Blaze Colt and the only way to protect it is to strike a dirty deal with him. Through this sinful man, she’s introduced into a world of whips and chains and one demanding master who’s determined to unravel every perfectly aligned piece of her body - and heart.

He is the sin she can't resist. A cursed hybrid of tainted blood, Kieran Anubis is hunted and captured by his mortal enemies, the lycans of the earth realm. He is imprisoned, shackled with chains of silver, humiliated and tortured… but with each passing day, his rage increases. He waits patiently for the day he will break free from the chains of slavery. The lycans will feel his wrath. He will burn down every last one of them. But everything changes when he crosses paths with the lycan princess, the daughter of his enemy. His mate. … She is the forbidden fruit he craves. Princess Gwendolyn Bowen is no ordinary shifter. Beneath her kindness and warmth is a cold hearted she-wolf, a woman of steel, burning with vengeance towards the cursed demon shackled in the dungeon. She wants one thing. The death of Kieran Anubis, for murdering her father and abducting her mother ten years ago. But to succeed, she must get closer to him, even if it means surrendering to his devilish charms and smouldering proximity. Yet with every step she takes, she realizes that she's walking straight into his raging inferno, which will either melt the ice around her heart or consume her whole. ~~~~~~ Warning: Contains dark content like captivity, degradation, offensive language, explicit steamy scenes and graphic descriptions, etc. Dive in at your own risk. You can follow my socials for book trailers and teasers. FB: Author BellaCupid. Tikitoki: @author_bella_cupid.

In the kingdom of Drakemont, silence hits harder than any blade sometimes. Selene is this mute servant girl, cursed to stay hidden in the shadows her whole life. She has always known how to survive without anyone noticing her. But then one night changes everything. A single glance from King Aurek, the ruthless Alpha King, breaks down those walls she built around her secret. His wolf wakes up inside him. It claims her as his mate, something she can never let happen. Destiny bites deep, though. The queen-in-waiting, this witch named Veyra, will do anything to lock down Aurek's throne. Selene turns into the target right away. Her only real ally is Maris, an old childhood friend. But that loyalty has some serious weak spots in it. The court is full of whispers that cut like daggers. Alliances shift around like smoke in the wind. Selene has to figure out if she runs from the king's shadow. Or if she steps right into it completely. The more she gets pulled into Aurek's world, the more secrets she finds out about. There are his cursed brothers, the ones who shift between man and beast all the time. A prophecy talks about a silent queen coming along. And a betrayal that is so close to home, it might stab her heart before any enemy even gets near. Selene and Aurek are stuck between love and just trying to stay alive. They have to untangle all the lies holding them together. Otherwise, the witch's crown gets made from their blood. In a realm run by wolves, where silence covers up the worst truths, The Alpha King's Shadow tells a haunting story. It is about forbidden love. Dark magic pulls at everything. And a fate that just will not let go.

"I, Grace Hawthorne reject Logan Harper,” I announced with steel in my voice. The hall fell into deep silence, I could hear the sound of sweat dripping from Logan’s forehead or my father’s increasing heartbeat. Logan's face contorted with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "Grace, what are you doing? This is our wedding!" “Not anymore. I reject you.” I announced once again. My father, Daniel, standing nearby, was seething with rage. He stepped forward, his face contorted with fury. In a fit of madness, he raised a hand as if to strike me, but before he could make contact, a commanding voice rang out, stopping him in his tracks. "How dare you lay a hand on my Mate?" Xander had appeared in a flash of power, his presence filling the room. His eyes bore into Daniel’s with an intensity that sent a chill down everyone's spine. Everyone’s face paled seeing the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, anger rushed through Daniel’s features and he roared. "Not your mate, she is my daughter." Xander cut him off with a wave of his hand. "You dare to touch what’s mine and I will show you what a real Alpha can do for his mate." Xander’s growl had an intensity that shook even The wolf council. His deep blue eyes bored into mine and a slow smile grazed his features, he gestured to me to come toward him and I did. “Miss me Darling.” he purred, and a chill ran down my spine.

"You gonna spank me, uncle?" That was it. Surging forward I grabbed her and pulled her close to me. I could easily feel her heart beating steadily against my chest. Clearly she was taking all of this as a joke and I would need to prove to her I meant what I said. "You know," I husked leaning close to her ear. "Spanking you doesn't sound half bad." Letting an amused laugh escape me, I did just that. I smacked her amazing ass and squeezed enjoying the feel of it in my hand. Damn, she was going to make controlling myself hard. Arissa Armondi was born to be the alpha heir of her pack. However, once she discovers she doesn't have a wolf, she becomes nothing more than an omega and her life of promise comes crashing down right before her eyes. Thrown into a life of kill or be killed, she becomes nothing more than a killing machine with a strong desire for blood and a wall of steel against the outside world. Ivan Fredrickson is the war hero alpha with a strong sense of right and wrong. He lives his life by the rules and has no time for love or mates. Therefore, he decides to find an omega to help bear him an heir to one day lead his pack. This desire causes Ivan and Arissa's paths to cross and so begins their love/hate relationship. What will happen when Ivan begins to realize that he and Arissa are mates? Will they be able to move past their demons and grow closer? Read Sold To The Untouchable Alpha to find out!

They thought he was just another runaway. They never knew she was a storm waiting to rise. After the tragic death of her parents, Alex a girl mistaken for a boy all her life was one step away from being dumped into a foster home. But instead of surrendering to the system, she ran. That night on the streets, she didn’t find safety. She found the mafia. Dragged into the brutal underground world of Vegas, Alex was forced to train like a soldier, live like a ghost, and survive like a killer. No one ever questioned her identity not when she could fight better, bleed harder, and keep her mouth shut longer than anyone else. They called her a boy. She didn’t correct them. Not when being seen as male was the only thing keeping her alive. Sent to Base Two, the deadliest tier of training, Alex learned to fight, spy, kill and to hide her real self behind layers of silence, steel, and scars. Years later, she walks the streets of New York, not as the scared runaway girl from the past, but as The Rival. A faceless vigilante by night. A silent infiltrator by day. And a weapon forged for one purpose: revenge. Alex isn’t just hunting criminals. She’s chasing the truth behind her father’s deathand every masked figure connected to it. But the deeper she digs, the more twisted the game becomes. Hidden enemies, familiar faces, and a web of betrayal that leads right back to the organization that made her. How long can she keep the mask on... before her real identity shatters everything?