Standing For

*Excerpt* My gaze met Sergio's. He didn't look away. I couldn't look away either. It felt like there was an invisible magnet pulling us towards each other. He looked away, breaking us from the trance. "Are you sure you're okay, Nicole?" "Come inside." He shook his head. "I was worried, and—" "Come inside, let's talk." He shook his head again, unyieldingly. "We're already talking." "Are you scared?" I asked in a challenging voice, my gazed fixed on him. "What are you so scared of?" "Nicole..." "To answer your question, no, Sergio, I'm not okay." "What's bothering you?" The vulnerability in his eyes towards me was palpable. It was my chance to act. I couldn't afford to waste it. "You," I replied, my gaze still boring into his. "And your fiancee. I couldn't bear watching you together." Sergio swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I was jealous, Sergio." • *Blurb* In a turn of events, Juliana bears witness to the brutal murder of her father—a sight she never thought she'd witness. Amidst the turmoil, she finds out she's their next target, but somehow, she manages to evade them. Determined to seek closure and justice for what happened to her father, Juliana takes on a new identity as Nicole and embarks on a quest for vengeance against the masterminds. With a heart hardened by grief, she takes on the journey. A journey that would test her limits and push her to do unthinkable things. Will she succeed? Follow her on this journey as she confronts the demon of her past.

When sweet and shy Ava Banks meets mysterious Tobias Aetós, she was swept off her feet. Literally. She had no idea he'd turn out to be the infamous Reaper who plagued the streets. Just a whisper of the name Reaper would make a grown man tremble. Tobby had lived his whole life as an assassin and he never questioned his life's choices... Not until a ray of sunshine in the shape of Ava, waltzed into his life. Through the ups and downs, the killings and the torture, the crime and the thrill...has Tobias gone past redemption? Or will Ava be just what he needs to make him whole again?

An impulsive murder of the next Tzar landed the Russian Mafia Princess, Dinara Anya Isyanov in the States as a fugitive. The perfect plan was to flee to a safer secluded area but the night she was to be shipped, she was kidnapped. Her Kidnapper insisted that she was their daughter, Serena White, who happens to be her doppelganger! With the shipment off-shore and Dinara on the shore; she decided an identity theft was in order. But as if she wasn't in jeopardy enough Serena White was engaged to the Italian Mafia's heir who was an arch-enemy of the Russian Mafia!

Athena suffered deep emotional pain upon learning about the betrayal from her boyfriend and her stepsister. She had given all her love to the man and all her understanding to her stepsister, yet they still managed to hurt her. Because of that, she then approaches Euwenn, whom her stepsister wants to marry. Euwenn Cervantes is the grandson of Prime Global's founder. He is smart, handsome, and known for being a successful young businessman. Athena wants to enter into a contract marriage with Euwenn, and he willingly accepts. But he wants the contract marriage to become a real marriage.

Will she discover the truth before she makes her choice? When Theresa returns to her home town in Montana with her veterinary degree in hand, she finds her childhood heartthrob divorced, embittered, and sworn off women. It isn't until she becomes engaged to his younger brother that he steps forward to declare his love. Now she must choose. One brother wants her for love while the other wants the inheritance she brings with her.

Lynette was determined to have a long-lasting marriage despite her husband's infidelity until her husband declared their marriage open. She had a one-night stand with a call-boy out of frustration. The “call-boy” finds her again, and he turns out to be one of the wealthiest men in the city who refuses to let her go. Everything changes when Lynette finds out she's pregnant from her one-night stand. Now she's torn between a broken marriage she refused to leave and a love that wasn’t meant to exist. But she's determined to protect her child at all cost.

Selyna: I was adopted, raised by humans but strange things happened after I turned 13. It turns out that I am a witch and my best friend, Ashe is a werewolf. When we move for college everything changes. I meet my coven, start having strange dreams and meet him. He is the surly but undeniably hot future Alpha of the Moonlight Dance pack. We would never work, but how long can I deny this attraction? Damian: I was born Beta but after the Alpha disappeared my father took over. His relentless search for the missing Alpha family often driving me to fits of anger. I have been chasing dead ends for him for over a decade. My father thinks that I was born to lead and that I must have a powerful mate since he believes the true Alpha heir is alive. I don't think I have a mate and just hope for my father's sanity that he is right about the Alpha heir. I have had little more than a passing interest in any female before she came into my life. The little witch moved here for college and she is smokin' hot. I need to forget about her, but how can I when she is all that I can think about?

In the fifth year of my marriage to Jordan West, he cheats on me with a blind woman. She's young, pretty, and demure. Jordan scours the best hospitals in the country to treat her eyes. In the end, he fixes his gaze on me and tells me he wants me to donate my corneas to her. "They're just a pair of eyes, Hazel. Please help her. Can you really stand by and watch as she withers away?"

My wife, Christine Leigh, forced me to the brink of death all for her first love, Henry Carson. To give him a liver transplant, she sent me to the surgery table. I told her I had cancer and that the doctors had advised against the surgery. She just looked at me with an undisguised contempt, "Jason Lowe, stop with your petty tricks. Don't forget, you owe our family your life!" I lowered my head and smiled bitterly. I never left the surgery table.

Sophia Gates, an orphan transfer student got attracted to her faculty professor, and despite his nonchalant attitude towards her, they somehow had a one-night stand. She found it fun flirting with Eric, her school professor who was way older than her, and also found herself wishing they were more than a fling, but along the line, she discovered he was the father of her new bestie. Stunned, Sophia finds herself unable to accept this fact and unable to stay away from Donald despite not wanting to hurt her best friend who was always wishing for her father to get back with her mum. But that wasn't the worst. Sophia's new bestie was gay and wanted Sophia for herself as well. Now Sophia was torn between loyalty and love. What was she going to do? Pick one and risk losing both or avoid them completely but then, what if her parents’ death was connected to their family?