Staring Contest

"Ms. Rowe, are you certain you want to delete all identity records? Once they're erased, you'll be completely removed from the system. No one will be able to find you again." Eva Rowe pauses for a moment before nodding with quiet resolve. "Yes. I want to disappear from this world. I want to make sure no one can ever find me." Two seconds of silence follow on the other end, as if they're giving her one last chance to reconsider. "Understood, Ms. Rowe. The wipeout protocol will be completed within 14 days. By then, you'll be officially 'dead' in all databases. Please make the necessary arrangements." With that, the call ends. Eva books a one-way ticket to Felnor, scheduled for 14 days later. Then, she turns off her phone, watching as the screen goes dark. She stands by the floor-to-ceiling window, staring out at the endless city lights, and lets out a soft, cold laugh. She is no longer anyone's Eva.

I was a mafia princess, sick of the life. After my father died, all I wanted was a normal life. I helped my husband, Marco, take his company public. I fought his battles. I took care of his mother. I paid for his sister’s tuition and her addiction to luxury. Then, at our tenth-anniversary party, he gave my mother's bracelet to his childhood flame, Isabella. He even fucked her in our bed. I hired a PI. Found out he knew who I was from the start. He used me. Planned to be a Wall Street hotshot, then toss me aside. He thought my family was wiped out. That no one had my back. That he could walk all over me. He didn’t break until his company was bleeding partners and staring down bankruptcy. He got on his knees, crying and begging me to forgive him.

Because her precious Jeremy needed a lab rat, Harper shipped me off to Bendora Mental Health Institute after my surgery. I got electroshocked until I was drooling and twitching, and she? She just slapped her hand over Jeremy's eyes like, "Ew, babe, don't look." Jeremy scored a Research Award nomination off that mess. Harper celebrated with fireworks so loud they could've woken the dead. Meanwhile, I was lying there in the dark, staring up at the sky while they took my leg. To keep it quiet, Jeremy slapped on a prosthetic and threatened me if I ever opened my mouth. He told Harper I just got "a little banged up" in the trial. Numb, I boxed up my leg in a freezer box. Seven days later, at Jeremy's big gala night, guess who would unwrap it like a party favor? Yeah. Harper.

My marriage to Dante, the Moretti heir, was meant to be a union of power, an alliance of empires. But for me, it was also the real deal. Then his adopted sister, Clara, showed up at a party. She was wearing his custom leather jacket, straddling his prized Ducati, and she looked right at me with a smirk. "Dante says," she purred, "that I suit these precious things better than you do." My smile froze. Dante had her on a plane overseas so fast it was like she'd never existed. Five years later, the night before our wedding. I found him staring at the design for our wedding rings. He'd changed the engraving. The "Amor Aeternus"—Eternal Love—was gone. In its place: "Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa." My sin, my greatest sin. I took off my veil right then and there. "The wedding," I said, my voice like ice, "is off."

There are three stories to tell. But for now, all you have to know is it all revolves around one dead girl. Sierra McCarthy had been declared dead for nearly five years. But Archer is the last one who believes she is still alive. He never expected to see a spitting image of Sierra McCarthy again as the people of Camden Town stared down on him. And it strengthened his hope when the girl who resembled Sierra rushed away when she caught him staring at her. This leads him to believe Sierra is hiding something that drove her to fake her own death. Everson Griffin was curious about Sierra's demise, but he avoided becoming involved in her death. But one night, standing in front of his house's porch on what appears to be the most crucial question to him that turned everything he thought upside down. But, no matter what questions they ask, a dead girl can never answer for herself.

My name is Cassie Aster. I was born Cassandra Burton. I wasn’t born rich, or with a powerful name. But I was born smart—some would say lucky. At fifteen, I entered a contest for a scholarship to the most prestigious school in the country: Aster Academy of Excellence. Out of more than four hundred applicants, only five were chosen. By sixteen, I was walking through its gates. That’s where I met him—Jacob Aster. The son of the school’s owners. The heir to one of the wealthiest families on Earth. I fell for him immediately, but I rejected him—over a hundred times. My studies, my scholarship, my future came first. To him, that meant only one thing: he had to buy my love. Over a decade later, we’re married. And to the world, I’m the luckiest girl alive—proof that fairy tales come true. From rags to riches, just like that. But I never thought of myself as having only rags. And I didn’t marry him for his riches. Still, every time he strays, he buys my forgiveness—for $100,000. For him, I gave up my career. For him, I live like a caged bird, taken out only for display. For him, I die a little every day. Every time my card doesn’t decline, my heart does. Most of his women at least have the shame to stay out of my sight. But not her. Coral Monroue is shameless. He favors her now. And I can’t help but wonder— will she be the one who finally pushes me to leave?

Ayla Bailore has never had it easy in her life. From being orphaned at a young age to being mistreated as the wolfless runt of her pack. Her only resolve is the hope of finding her mate. The man destined by the goddess to love and protect her. Ayla's last hope is shattered when she discovers her mate is no other than Alpha Garrick of the Red River Pack. And he is the opposite of the mate she envisioned. He derives pleasure in causing her pain. He hates her but still wouldn't reject her. Faced with a dreadful situation, Ayla has no other choice but to escape the Red River Pack with her sister, to save their lives. Unfortunately that one bold decision started to seem like a mistake when they stumbled upon the ruthless Iron Claw Pack conspiring to assassinate the King during his Luna Queen's selection contest. And now this information would cost them their lives. To save her life and the life of her sister, Ayla’s given a choice. To surrender their lives to the hands of death, or a choice to join the upcoming Queen selection contest as a member of the Iron Claw Pack, charm her way into the King’s heart, warm his bed if she has to, or make him fall headlessly in love with her, and when the time comes, successfully completes her mission, assassinating the King. Ayla has no choice but to accept and joins the battle for the Luna crown to complete her mission and eliminate the King. But what happens when she meets the Alpha King and he's not what she was expecting. And what's worse, he knows her secret, one that should get her killed. She's stepped into the Wolf's den, and now there's no way out.

"Mate," he blurted out, his eyes widened in disbelief, as I opened my mouth while staring at the Alpha of Silver moon pack in awe. I couldn't believe what was happening. "How can this be?" I voiced out, recalling the mating ceremony and the shock of being rejected. "You are my mate," Alpha Ryan grinning , but I was still confused and couldn't just believe it yet. How was it even possible, I mean I just got rejected a while ago. . . Sasha thought her life would be better when she found her mate, but she was rejected and humiliated by her own mate, make her get drunk, and had a reckless night with the most ruthless and feared Alpha Ryan. Ashamed and scared of what might be her fate she fled. Sasha returned five years later with her quadruplets, who happened to be a product from that night. Will Alpha Ryan claim his quadruplets and her heart? Or will their Second Chance be her doomed?

I'm undressed and bound to a testing table when my family comes to pick me up. A thick, sharp needle pierces into my neck. A drug is administered into my blood, and the pain almost makes me lose consciousness. Behind me, I can feel a man's cold hands stroking my skin amorously. Before me, several people are staring at me. They point at me and treat me like an educational instrument. I tremble in fear and curl up on the testing table in pain. Three years ago, my brother sent me to Mykorra's war zone to stand up for Yvette Sanders. Those were the three most insulting and torturous years of my life. They burned away my hope for kinship but not my desire for survival. As the hands roam lower on my body, I bite my lip so hard that I almost draw blood. As the hands start to go overboard, someone knocks on the door. "Wendy Sanders, your brother is here for you."

Amelia looked at Xavier shocked by what she saw. His eyes were no longer filled with love for her like they once were, just an empty ink black eyes staring right into her soul. "How long?" Xavier asked. Realization dawned on her immediately 'he had found out'. "How long do you plan to deceive me?" He asked again in a cold, harsh but calm voice- the calm before a storm. His eyes shades darker-if that was even possible. Amelia stood silent, fear consumed her, she knew that no word can hold back his furry. "When did you plan to tell me that you were not the woman I was to marry, that you had snatched another's woman identity?" He said in a cold and furious voice. *************** Amelia's act of kindness landed her in an unexpected marriage with a stranger. What happens when hidden secrets are revealed and she finds out that her husband is the head Leader of the Australian Mafia and she was in the middle of it all?