Smoke And Steel

She froze, breath caught, facing the storm in his delinquent brown eyes. He leaned over her, hands gripping the rail, boxing her in. The air was thick, too heavy to breathe. Her gaze locked on his unwilling, yet unable, to look away. The closer he leaned, the harder her heart pounded. She bit her lip, nerves twitching. No matter how far she ran, he always found her. “Why do you keep chasing me?” she asked, barely above a whisper. Her voice trembled, as if volume might shatter her. He didn’t answer. Silence roared between them. His cold and expressionless never left her face. “Do you like me?” she pressed, ignoring the disinterest in his eyes. She needed something. He gave a soft tut, then brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, twirling it lazily. The touch was light, but his closeness made her pulse race. “‘Like’ is a bit heavy, Tinkerbell,” he murmured, voice low and indifferent. The nickname slipped out like smoke, mocking, yet oddly tender. He leaned in, close enough for her to feel his heat. Close enough to unravel her. But his eyes stayed dark. Empty. She swallowed hard, unsure what hid behind them. “It’s strange,” he added, voice softer now. “But you’re the first woman I’ve ever aknowledged as a lady, Snow White.” — She was the good girl. Quiet. Overlooked. Her life, a shadow. No warmth. No safety. For a moment, she thought she’d found love, someone who saw her. Someone worth clinging to. But he broke her. When he left, he took her love and her self-worth. She hated herself after that. Then she started to rebuild. And that’s when Zachary Gonzalez appeared. Mysterious. Magnetic. Dangerous. Everything she shouldn’t want.

When Tessa Shoreman read Henry Jennings' cancer report, she immediately paid her hard-earned money of sixty thousand to the hospital. She had saved the money from working part-time while she was in university. However, she was worried the money was not enough, so she held back her fear as she sold a kidney to the black market to get more. As she walked to the ward door with a heavy bag filled with cash, she heard shrill laughter coming from inside. "That cheap woman, Tessa Shoreman, got tricked by us again. Haha!" Tessa's hand gave pause right when she was about to push the door open. What did he mean by saying she was tricked? Tessa looked through the glass on the door to see inside the ward. When she left, the man looked extremely weak, but he was now sitting up lazily in bed. Henry had a cigarette in his mouth, and he was blowing smoke rings nonchalantly. He did not look like a cancer patient at all. "It's been two years, and that woman still has no idea." "If she hadn't beaten Serene to first place, Henry would never have left behind his life as a rich heir and planned such an elaborate scheme to become a working-class man living in a cheap rental home. The way that cheap, penniless woman looks at Henry is so amusing." "We agreed that the punishment ends when Henry and Serene get engaged. It looks like time is almost up. We've probably punished her 108 times in the past two years." "The first time was lying to her that Henry didn't have a suit for a job interview. She worked tirelessly for 72 hours straight before she earned enough money for one, but that suit was given to the domestic help to use as a cleaning cloth. The second time was tricking her into believing Henry had a high fever. She forfeited during the finals of a scientific research competition to race home and take care of Henry in the hospital…" "Sigh. Too bad it's coming to an end. I'm going to miss entertaining myself with her."

*SNEAK PEAK* "Olivia wait." "Just stop and listen to me..." "Olivia!" he snapped. I stopped in my tracks before I turned around and glared at him. "What the f**k do you want? I'm done with you. I'm done trying to win you over okay!?" I felt my eyes burn as I panted. Emotion after emotions swirling around like a f*****g whirlpool. I hated this feeling...I wanted it gone. The overwhelming feeling of betrayal piercing at my heart the longer I stared at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to get hurt." I took a deep breath as I silently cursed when a tear escaped and trailed down my cheek. "It's not that you didn't intend to hurt me; I just wasn't meant to find out, was I." "It's a lot more complicated than that." I shrugged and wiped at my face before looking off into the distance. After staying in silence for a minute or so I met his gaze. He took a step forward as he frowned. "Olivia..." "We all have the right to love someone right?" He hesitated before he nodded his head in agreement. I faintly nodded my head agreeing with myself before I sighed. I have to do this. I could almost feel my heart breaking into a million pieces. "I, Olivia Steel from the nightingale Pack reject..." Before I could continue Damon's eyes darkened before he stalked towards me and pushed me against a tree causing me to gasp at the impact. "Don't you f*****g dare."

Tiana Greene arrives on Lycan Isle with nothing but a suitcase, a scarred past, and a desperate need for work. When she is hired as a maid in the sprawling cliff-side mansion of Ross Lycan – the island’s reclusive billionaire – she expects long hours, strict rules, and silence. What she does not expect is the man himself: cold as the steel in his voice, brutally private, and carrying a shadow in his gaze that keeps everyone at arm’s length. Rumours whisper through the island of former staff fleeing in fear, of Ross’s cruelty, and of the mysteriously vanished brother whose memory haunts the mansion halls. Tiana tries to keep her distance, but every forbidden glance and accidental touch tightens the invisible thread pulling them together. When a near-fatal accident on the cliffs pushes Ross into her life more violently than either of them intended, the dynamic shifts. Ross grows protective yet distant, drawn to Tiana in ways he cannot accept – while she fights her own confusion over the man beneath the frost. As the annual island festival approaches, tensions rise. Tiana becomes a target for the island’s elite women, whose humiliation of her sparks a dangerous, possessive reaction in Ross. Social pressure thickens, rumours spread, and the boundaries of employer and servant begin to blur into something darker, deeper, and irresistibly intimate. But everything changes the night Tiana slips into a forbidden study and uncovers the truth about Ross’s past – a past woven with loss, guilt, and secrets buried beneath the island’s stormy surface. Now she must decide. Can she love a man built from shadows? And can Ross love someone brave enough to walk into the darkness he’s spent years trying to hide?

My throat burned as he wrapped his hand around it, his grip was firm but not crushing—cold steel pressed against my neck, the knife. I gasped, my bag slipping from my shoulder. It hit the ground with a dull thud, spilling open, and my book tumbled out. He glanced down, bent, picked it up, and flipped it open. His eyes skimmed the page. Then his mouth curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile, a dark smirk, like he knew exactly what I had been reading. And worse, he saw the notes. My handwriting in the margins, messy lines of ink: God, I wish someone would ruin me like this. I shouldn’t like it, but I do. Imagine the knife on me instead. Heat exploded in my face. I wanted the ground to swallow me. His eyes lifted back to mine, and I couldn’t breathe. ***** I was just a college freshman, lost in dark romance novels and fantasies of forbidden love. But my life took a deadly turn when I stumbled upon a mafia boss's secret in a dimly lit alley. Little did I know, the killer I witnessed would become my professor, and my obsession would become my downfall. Now, I'm trapped in a game of cat and mouse, where the stakes are higher than I ever imagined. My obsession grows with every passing moment, and I'm forced to confront the shadows within myself. But not everything is what it seems. What begins as an obsession may turn into something far more dangerous….. like revenge.

"Did you think I’d just let you go?" Suzanne’s grip on her son tightened as Charles took a slow step forward, his smirk curling like smoke in the air. "I sent you the damn divorce papers, Charles. Sign them and leave." He chuckled. "Oh, I got them." Another step. "But I don’t sign away what’s mine." She backed up. "I am not yours. I stopped being yours the night you betrayed me." His jaw clenched. The silence stretched—thick, suffocating—before he lunged. Suzanne barely had time to gasp before his hands were on her, ripping their son from her arms. The boy hit the couch with a soft thud and let out a startled cry. "You son of a—!" She shoved at him, clawing, struggling, but he was stronger. His hands dug into her waist, yanking her against him, his breath hot and reeking of alcohol. "You’re mine, Suzanne," he growled, fingers digging into her skin. "And if I can’t have you—" his grip tightened, his lips brushing her ear, "no one will." Then—CRACK! Charles gone—ripped off her, sent flying across the room. Suzanne gasped, chest heaving, scrambling back just as her attacker crashed into a table. A voice, dark and furious, sliced through the chaos. "Touch her again, and I’ll kill you." Her heart stopped. She knew that voice. Liam Carter. --- Trapped in a loveless marriage to a ruthless CEO, Suzanne Smith thought she had no way out—until Liam Carter, her high school sweetheart, walked back into her life. He’s everything her husband isn’t—kind, passionate, and willing to fight for her. But leaving Charles Langford won’t be easy. His Lies. Betrayal. Violence. Will she escape his grip, or will her past consume her? How far will she go for freedom?

Adrian Cain has no past. At least, not one he remembers. He woke up at eighteen with a name, a guardian, and a carefully constructed identity that led him to build one of the most powerful tech empires in the world. Now, as the CEO of CainTech, Adrian is feared, admired, and emotionally impenetrable, his past locked behind clinical amnesia, sealed files, and a steel wall he doesn't dare breach. Until the suicides start. After two employees from his most classified division die under suspicious circumstances, trauma counselor Sera Vaughn is brought in to assess the psychological impact on staff. But Sera has her own reasons for stepping into CainTech, her older brother vanished fifteen years ago, and the only lead she has left is a face in an old photograph: Adrian’s. But his name back then wasn’t Adrian. It was Daniel Ward. As Sera begins digging into Adrian’s history and as Adrian’s carefully managed psyche begins to crack, long-buried memories start surfacing: a mysterious basement, whispered codewords, and a girl calling his real name. What neither of them knows is that they were both part of a covert experiment known as Project Phoenix, designed to erase identities and rebuild human obedience from the ground up. Together, they uncover a trail of lies, altered files, and fractured lives along with a chilling truth: Adrian may have been programmed to forget what he did… and who he destroyed. Now hunted by the people who created him, stalked by a version of himself he doesn’t remember becoming, and drawn to a woman whose trust he doesn’t deserve, Adrian must face the darkest corners of his past before they both disappear into it. Because some memories don’t stay buried. Some were never meant to.

Harley Gibson is a strictly by-the-book homicide detective with an impressive conviction rate. She is also living a dangerous double life. In the human world, she is respected for her skill at always getting her perp. However, in her native werewolf world, she is on the run, being hunted by the Lycan king, who also happens to be her sperm donor. To Lycan Ian Steel, his only daughter is only a means to an end. Harley doesn't know, but she was destined from birth to become one of the highly sought guardians of Sauther Lake. Ian always had. He killed his mate, Harley's mother, to keep her from taking their daughter back to the lake, where she would be protected from him turning her into his assassin. With divine intervention, Harley escaped Ian's pack. For a while, she stayed under her father's radar by changing her last name and never staying in one place for too long. She became too comfortable in LA after being promoted to homicide detective at the prestigious Santa Monica Police Department. After years of searching for his wayward daughter, Ian finally finds her and pulls out his big gun. Bounty hunter Nicholas Reins is to bring her back. Ian uses his mafia ties to get Nick into the police department under the ruse that he is an FBI agent sent to help Harley solve a high-profile murder case, making national news. Only Ian doesn't know that he also has ties to the syndicate committing the string of murders his daughter is investigating. Nick may be a ruthless huntsman, but the Lycan Princess will soon show him she isn't his usual bounty. Together, they will uncover the truth about her past, their future, solve the 'Anacapa Island' murders, and take down two of the mafia's bosses.

I was married to one of the city's richest billionaires, but inside his home, I was just a ghost. Damian never once looked at me with love. Never did he touch me with kindness. He didn't see me as a woman, or even a person. I was just… a stand-in. A stand-in while he waited for someone else to come and my heart broke in silence. But the day he walked into our home with his first love, Vanessa, hand in hand it finally broke for good. I found my strength and I placed a signed divorce papers on his desk. Damian scoffed, his eyes cold. “You’ll regret this. You’ll crawl back. Women like you always do.” I thought he was right. I thought I had no one, nowhere to go, and nothing to live for. Until the black car stopped in front of me. That night, three powerful men stepped out, calling me by a name I didn’t even know was mine. Adrian Valehart, a ruthless tycoon whose eyes were as sharp as steel and silenced a room. Nathaniel Valehart, the cold, brilliant lawyer who never lost a case. And Leo Valehart, the superstar adored by millions. They told me I was, their long-lost sister, the only daughter of a billionaire family. I thought they were wrong. But when Adrian gave me shares worth billions, Nathan vowed Damian would walk away with nothing but shame. Leo wrapped his arm around me and declared to the world, “This is my sister, my one and only.” Everything changed And Damian… Damian refuses to let go. He came crawling back, begging for a second chance. “Please, give me another chance,” he said. But my three overprotective brothers wouldn't let him touch me and his pride will not die quietly.

Elias Rourke was more than a billionaire he was a tempest in a custom-fitted suit. As the CEO of Rourke Enterprises a bachelor, he was known for his icy effectiveness, merciless transactions, and total absence of emotion. Everyone referred to him as “Ice King” when he wasn't around. Up until her. Chloe Hart had worked as his secretary for slightly more than two weeks. Timid, kind-hearted, and excessively courteous, she was the type of woman who kept track of birthdays, tended to plants, and uttered "please" to the coffee maker. Elias hardly paid attention to her,until the morning she entered his office unannounced. “I apologize for the interruption,” she said, her voice shaking, “but you haven’t had anything to eat today.” "It's nearly four." He looked at her, irritated. “That’s none of your business.” “I prepared a sandwich for you.” She places it on his desk and walks away before he has a chance to reply to her. Even with how rude he is to her, she brings him homemade meals everyday and lavender tea after tough meetings. He started to notice little details about her, the way she played with her necklace when anxious, she shows no emotions even when he yells at her. One day, he sees himself approaching her desk not to order her around, but to ask her about her well being. When a scandal almost destroys Elias’s empire. She stays by his side, not out of obligation, but because she trusted him. He looked at her and whispered, “You are the gentleness in my whole existence." "I don't know how to show emotions, but I will learn just for you." Chloe smiled, looking at him and said "Steel is capable of melting, Elias." "Even kings can experience love."