Smug

The world snapped back into focus, the memories of my brutal end crashing into the present. I was back—right here, right now, the exact moment Jarrold Jameson was trying to hand me that obscenely expensive purse. In my past life, he'd had a nasty fight with his precious Cindy Mayford. To make her jealous, he decided to use me as his pawn. I'd been stupid enough to love him once, but my pride had revolted. I'd refused to be a stand-in. It didn't matter. He kept engineering "accidental" run-ins, crafting one public misunderstanding after another, all to get a reaction from Cindy. I had done nothing wrong. I gained nothing. But I became Cindy's enemy. Her jealousy festered until it turned lethal. She had me kidnapped. The men she hired left my body shattered and broken. And Jarrold? He held his sobbing darling close and whispered those unforgettable words, "She got what she deserved." In the end, they stepped right over what was left of me and walked off into their picture-perfect life. Now, staring into his smug face, a cold clarity settled over me. This time, everything would be different. I snatched the handbag from his grasp. "A present for me?" I asked, my voice sweet, a sharp, calculated smile on my lips. "I love it. But just so you know, for next time… I've always preferred the classic design from her family's brand. That's the one you should be buying me."

Ean's face twisted with anger as he grabbed me by the arm, dragging me toward the old, rusted freezer in the corner of the warehouse. "You're going to feel what Helen felt," he spat. "Maybe that'll teach you not to mess with her." I struggled against him, panic rising in my chest. "Ean, this is insane! It was an accident! Let me explain—" He wasn’t listening. He shoved me inside the freezing metal box and slammed the door shut. The echo of the lock clicking into place made my heart pound in my ears. I banged on the door with my fists. "Ean, please! You can’t do this!" I screamed, but the sound of his footsteps grew fainter as he walked away. He left me with nothing but a single bowl of water, like I was some kind of prisoner. I slumped against the cold metal, shivering. The temperature plummeted almost instantly. The hum of the freezer kicked in, and I realized too late—it wasn’t broken like he thought. It was working, and I was trapped. My body shook uncontrollably as the cold seeped into my bones. I screamed for help until my throat was raw, clawing at the walls in desperation. My bloody handprints smeared across the icy surface, a silent plea for mercy that no one would hear. Seven days passed. When Ean finally returned, the look on his face was one of smug satisfaction. He had expected me to beg, to apologize. But when they pried open the freezer, all they found was my frozen body, stiff and silent, my suffering long over.

Three years after Alpha King Damien Caldwell marks me, Drake Whitaker finally remembers I exist. Turns out he really believes I'll "wait for him forever." Twenty black SUVs clog the private road into Ridgefield pack territory, trunks crammed with moonstone jewelry, old talismans, and rare herbs. Drake steps out of the tricked-out Hummer, wearing a smug smile and clutching a stack of parchment contracts. "Aria," he calls up, like some medieval knight, "I told you once the Silvermoon Coalition was official and Kenneth's supply lines were stable, I'd bring you to my pack. "The High Council finalized five packs yesterday. I came first thing this morning to show you I mean it." I sit in the upstairs study, watching a video Damien just sent of him playing with our son, then glance through the blinds at the ridiculous scene unfolding below. Drake lifts his face toward the second floor. "I know you're upset, but Kenneth controls the biggest timber in the Eastvale region. I had to mark Isabella. It was politics. You get that. Feelings don't need a mark anyway. I'll treat you better than a Luna." His words made my skin crawl. I pressed the intercom button on the desk. "Clear the drive. Tell security someone's trespassing." What a day! I've just taken my son to the medical center for his one-month checkup. Damien sends me back to Ridgefield pack for a week to rest. Instead, I get this mess on my doorstep.

“Shut the fuck up Carter, I don’t give a damn about you.” Mariah spat at him with her eyes blazing and Carter only smiled. “You do give a damn about me sweetheart, your body still remembers her lord.” Carter replied with a smug look on his face. “You are lying, and don’t call my sweetheart” Mariah fired back and Carter stepped a little too close, making the sirens go off in her head. His closeness was doing thins to her body. “With this” He smirked before he smashed his lips against hers, all anger melting out of her body. ______ Mariah had one wish, never to meet Daniel Carter anymore for the rest of her life. After her marriage of barely three months crashed, Mariah picked up what’s left of her broken soul and she went home to Mama. She never wanted to be associated with the Carter name anymore or get involved with the man bearing the name. Five years after Mariah had brought the jewelry line of her grandfather back to life, it was about to be taken away from her. Her grandfather had given the entire company to Daniel Carter as their wedding gift and now she is about to lose the only thing keeping her sane to the same man who took away her sanity in the first place. Daniel Carter had a simple offer for her in exchange for the jewelry line; she had to get married to him again!

My whole body began to quiver as I looked up at Ryan who wore a smug or was it? I couldn't tell as my vision was blurred with tears. "What is the meaning of this?" I questioned still in disbelief. Where had it all gone wrong??!. "It's exactly what it says in the paper, Ciara" "And what is that?" I stubbornly inquired. It was as if I didn't want to believe what the paper read until Ryan says it. A part of me still wanted to fight for whatever we still had left. But then he'd said it. Ryan had uttered those words I so desperately dreaded," I want a divorce, Ciara" *** Ciara is the heiress to her father's company but she left all of that to be in a contract marriage with Ryan. It was supposed to be a 'no-strings-attached' kind of feeling but, she couldn't help but fall in love with him. Just when she wanted to start a clean slate on their first anniversary, she was handed a divorce paper. Ryan is a billionaire and a man with a hardened heart. He never saw Ciara as something more than just a 'fake wife' who was willing to help him out with a case. Deciding that he had had enough, Ryan hands Ciara a divorce paper setting himself free from her. But on his way to the office of the new investor of his company one day, he is overcomed by a welling shock that the name of his new investor was Ciara. The same Ciara he'd once known. What happens when this two duo meets for the first time since their rough divorce? Find out!

The night before our wedding, word spread like wildfire through high society that my fiancee had thrown herself a bachelorette party with ten virgins. When I storm into the villa, I find her nestled in the arms of my chauffeur's son, her skin blotched with fresh red marks. "It's just a wild night before the wedding. You get that, don't you?" Melissa Young says. She looks up at me with indifference, not bothering to explain herself. I catch the smug challenge in the eyes of the man holding her. My eyes burn red as I hurl the wedding invitations to the floor. "The scandal is everywhere! Have you even thought about what tomorrow's wedding will look like?" I yell. "This isn't just about you and me. It's about the future of both our families' businesses! Call a press conference and explain yourself." She frowns, irritation flickering in her eyes, but gives a grudging nod. Yet the next day, the internet explodes with a new bombshell—the Zucker heir is impotent, leaving his fiancee unsatisfied. When I demand answers, Melissa puts her foot down, her voice dripping with venom as she says, "All I see now is Nicky." She snaps, "No matter how many times you threaten to pull your investments, my mind's made up!" In that moment, the last ember of love I feel for her goes out. I call my dad, my resolve steeled. "Cut off all funding to Young Group, and buy out every one of her partnerships at triple the price!"

In my tenth year of being the Luna of the Nocturne pack, the first love of my mate, Alpha Stellan Caldwell, returns to the pack. With a bouquet of dead wolfsbane in her hands, Nigella Starveil barges into the anniversary of the mate-bonding ceremony between Stellan and me. "Stellan, I still remember you telling me that you're willing to endure all types of poison in the world just for my sake. Does that promise still count?" Before Nigella finishes her sentence, Stellan, my powerful yet distant Alpha, feels his expression change instantly. He doesn't even bother sparing me a glance. All he sees is the bouquet of dead flowers that are equally deadly to Nigella. Stellan rushes up to Nigella and swipes the bouquet out of her hands roughly, not caring about the fact that everyone is staring at him right now. Silence befalls the hall instantly. From my position behind Stellan, I know right away that I've been reduced to the biggest laughingstock in the Northern Territories. The fact that Stellan doesn't hesitate to protect Nigella becomes the biggest insult that humiliates me to no end. It turns out that ten years of companionship and shared struggles are nothing compared to the bouquet of dead wolfsbane in Nigella's hands. After that, Nigella shoots me a smug and contemptuous look while rubbing her reddened wrist. "Do you see now? This is proof that he loves me. You've already tried to do your part as the breeding machine, so you can now retire from your position." In the past, Stellan had barged into the forbidden lands in search of Nigella. He almost got shredded into a thousand pieces there. But now, he's still willing to humiliate me in public just for her sake.

Behind every great Queen stands no one; something Miliani Hwang learned from the early age of ten after she was forced to take over the Hwang Family Mafia when her parents died in a murder-suicide. In light of their tragic end, she built herself up from the ground for 11 years, trusting no man to stand behind or even beside her. The sheer sound of her name was enough to have even the toughest men on their knees and despite not ever taking a life with her own hands, everyone in the crime world knew they should never cross The Great Miliani Hwang. It doesn't surprise her when she is betrayed on her 21st birthday but she never expected her own blood to be the mastermind. She flees to Sicily with the help of the Ravello Crime Family, where she learns many secrets about her lineage and starts falling for the smug Vincenzo Ravello. Now a disgraced mob boss with nothing but her name and rage a lingering question lingered in the back of her mind; who was she now if not The Great Miliani Hwang? Vincenzo Ravello, the eldest son of the Ravello Crime Family knew all too well about the dangers that come with his title as heir to the Cosa Nostra. He's spent the past few years of his life reminding his enemies time and time again that he wasn't a man they wanted to mess with. His heart was made of stone and women, to him were nothing more than playthings until her. He would do anything for her. Every Queen needs a King to avenge her and Miliani must learn to trust her heart to stand beside hers because he will burn the whole world until all her enemies bow at her feet.

“I want to taste you, can I?" He asked pleadingly. I was gonna say no, but the throbbing in my nether region said yes. “Yes," I breathed shakily. He then started to kiss my hip bone trailing as he pulled my panties off. “Raise your legs," he instructed and I obeyed. He pulled my legs apart and inhaled. “Exquisite," he praised as he lowered his head and gave me a long, luxurious lick. ************ Dionnah Delaney is a hardworking, ambitious African American. She is headstrong and knows exactly what she wants in life. She does accounting plus she runs a successful design business with her other sister Danielle, who is engaged to Johnathan Mulroney. Johnny cannot stop raving about his other brother Mikey who has retired from being a Navy seal and he's coming home just in time for the big wedding. Dionnah doesn't want love and commitment after her first love broke her heart several years ago. But things change when Mikey steps into the picture. He's a billionaire playboy, who is smug and conceited on top of all that. Even though the two butt heads they can't deny their undeniable attraction. After one night of steamy sex, Dionnah and Mikey agree to never talk about it again, until weeks later when two pink lines show up on a pregnancy test. What will happen when Mikey wants more than what Dionnah has to offer, will she be able to let love in her heart, or will her ambivalence cause her to miss her chance at happiness and her forever after?

My girlfriend had one of those guy friends she insisted was basically family. On a group hike, he knew I had diabetes and couldn't eat anything high in sugar, but he still coaxed me into eating a high-sugar energy bar, and my blood sugar spiked almost instantly. When I pulled out my insulin to inject, panic shot through me. My medication had been switched out for saline. I collapsed to the ground, shaking and retching. The fake nice-guy just looked down at me with a smug twist of his mouth. "Seriously, man? You're being dramatic. It's just a little sugar. Good thing I told Selene to swap your meds, or we'd never know how far you'd go to fake it. With a body this weak, how are you supposed to protect Selene?" I turned to my girlfriend, my breathing already turning shallow. "Selene, give me my insulin. If I don't inject it right now, I'm going to die." She frowned as if I were the one being unreasonable. "You're overacting. I've never heard of someone dying from a bit of sugar. Adrian's right. You're always looking for attention. Everyone finally got together today, and you're here ruining it." I felt everything inside me go cold. I didn't even bother arguing anymore. I grabbed my phone with shaking hands and rasped, "Mom, your son's about to get bullied to death. Are you going to step in or not?"