Staring Contest

A year ago, when Bailey Knight's side girl, Lucy Day, showed up in front of me, causing a scene, he had his people beat her until she lost the baby and tossed her out. Then he groveled before me for three straight hours, begging me to forgive him. Looking at the man I'd loved for ten years, looking so pitiful and broken, I eventually caved. Later, I caught Lucy sneaking around Bailey's villa in the suburbs, so I had her thrown out again. Three days before our wedding, Bailey grabbed me by the neck and shoved me up against the railing on the second-floor balcony, yelling so hard that his voice broke. "We already took Lucy's baby once! She can't handle it happening again. She's fragile. You're a woman—how can you not understand that? "I've given you the title of Mrs. Knight. I'd give you my life. Isn't that enough? Why can't you just accept her?" The next second, his secretary ran up to say they'd found Lucy. He shoved me down the stairs. The pain when my arm snapped made me feel like my whole body was being torn apart. But he didn't even look back. Staring at the cold, heartless man in front of me, I felt something inside me go completely dead. I picked up my phone and called Arnold Greenwood. "I don't wanna marry him anymore. Come get me."

In the glittering coastal city of Lumine Bay, where wealth hides corruption and power is protected by shadows, Elara Moretti appears to have the perfect life as the wife of billionaire Damon Moretti. But behind the luxury, her marriage is cold, controlled, and full of locked rooms she has never been allowed to enter. Her world fractures the night she returns from a charity gala to find a threat note waiting in her car: “Your husband built an empire of enemies. You’ll be the first to fall.” By morning, Damon had vanished. His phone is off, his safe has been opened, and the mansion’s security system shuts down in a mysterious lockdown. The Moretti estate, an ultra-modern fortress, becomes a cage. Then a stranger enters through the darkness. Kai Valez, a disciplined, unreadable operative, arrives claiming to have Damon’s clearance and strict orders to protect her. Elara doesn’t trust him… but the attacks closing in leave her no choice. As danger intensifies, she uncovers alarming secrets hidden within Damon’s world: classified files, coded messages, surveillance footage of herself, and a mission tied directly to her past. The deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes, Damon didn’t disappear. He planned everything. Now Elara must navigate a web of lies involving her husband, his powerful family, and the man suddenly risking his life for her. Loyalties blur. Enemies multiply. And the line between protector and threat becomes terrifyingly thin. Just when Elara finds the strength to fight back, she receives a final message: A video. Damon is alive. Staring straight into the camera. “Elara… don’t trust the man beside you.” And the mission truly begins.

"I won't let them hurt you," Jade vowed, staring intently into Kalista's tearful eyes. "I will protect you with my life, even if I have to choose you over my own pack" Kalista felt her heart flutter at his words. She tried to smile as he wiped her tears. "You would do that for me?" she whispered. "I will do whatever it takes to protect you," Jade replied and gently kissed her. ... Kalista, leading a quiet life in the human world changes her fate when she discovers a mysterious gem in the forest. This discovery unveils her true identity as a halfblood; a forbidden creature that isn't meant to exist; half-human, half-werewolf, mated to Jade, the Alpha Prince. Alpha Jade, the most powerful and strongest lycan ever, lost his parents to his evil uncle and now, avenging their death is the only thing he can think of. On his quest to find the Soul Gem that was stolen, he finds his mate, a halfblood who possesses part of the powers of the gem. She becomes his obsession and he was prepared to destroy the entire realm to keep her safe. As both humans and werewolves pose a threat to her due to the gem's powers she possesses, and her forbidden existence, Kalista has no one to rely on for protection except her mate. But when trials and conspiracies arise against them, with Jade's evil uncle threatening to destroy the entire world with the Soul Gem he stole, only one thing can save them both, and the world. The sacrifice of a halfblood. Will Jade stand back and watch his mate give her life to save the world?

I, alpha Connor Tomson, reject you, Elara Silvius, as -," he stops, and a wicked smile forms on his full lips, " I won't reject you. You'll carry around the bond and get to suffer with it. It is payback for what your family did to mine," He sneers, staring at me with a penetrating gaze. Am I imagining this? What is happening right now? I can't speak. I'm too shocked. The room is spinning, and my heart is pounding against my chest. ... Alpha Connor has one thing he wants more than anything. To make the family responsible for his sister's death pay. He plans to kidnap and torture their beloved daughter, Elara, and it seems luck is on his side when he finds out she's his mate. Elara is beautiful and strong but the strenuous treachery from her mate crippled her heart. Alpha Connor slept with another woman to cause her pain. Gathering her strength, she decides to run from his pack. However, she did not expect to meet Zuriel, a man who made her heart beat faster and faster since she was a child. Zuriel's heart is cold and isolated from the world. He is dangerous, broken, and the only one of his kind. He meets Elara when he is about to plummet fully into darkness. No one has ever challenged him but her. Elara is rebellious and tests his patience, but he opens up to her. However, everything gets complicated when Elara's mate appears in her life, and Zuriel's dark, concealed past catches up to him. Follow my instagram- authorsunshine97

After being left at the alter shattered and heartbroken. Frederico DELUCA vowed to never get involved with any other woman in his life . He became cold and heartless and a heartbreaker. With their family being one of the leading crime families in Italy and as the second in command of the mafia, he is not a man to be messed with, but what happens when he meets her again. Aria Esposito The woman who took his heart in her hands and shred it into million pieces without remorse. After almost six years of being apart , they are brought together by faithand both wants nothing to do with each other. But when Frederico finds out about his son with Aria, he is willing to go to any length to keep his son even if it means walking down the alter with the woman he wants nothing to do with. EXTRACT " Let me go Fred, I said leave me " I yelled at him as i tried to free my wrist from his grip. ' Frederico DELUCA, i said let me go ' I screamed angrily as he threw me on the bed and lit up a cigarette whilst staring as my dress moved up. My heart beat against my chest crazily. " Where is my son?" " He's my son Frederico" I screamed in panic. " I won't repeat myself woman, tell me where Red is before I.............." He trailed. " You are a criminal, you are a criminal" I said as my breathing came out in cuts. " You should have thought twice before letting a criminal fuck you " he spat and i froze at his raw use in language. He's a criminal.....! I knew the DELUCA, they are all criminals

SPIN- OFF TO SECRET OBSESSION. Ben x Beatrice's Story. You can read this book as a stand-alone novel. WARNING: This book contains Matured and Explicit content, with triggering emotions, strictly for 18+ and the above... You've been warned!!! After leaving him for years to Study in a faraway country, Beatrice returned to work as a Personal assistant in one of the famous and prestigious technology companies in New York. Everything was going on smoothly in her life when she returned to New York only for her to wake up and resume work as she does normally, then to found out the company where she was working was bought completely by a famous and popular private company named ClAK limited. Saddened that her lovely and caring old boss will have to leave her behind, she got the shock of her life when she saw who the new CEO would be, the one person she deserted in high school to purposely study in another country. It was no other than Benjamin Clarke... How could things go this way for her? She left him because she wasn't the one to be in an earnest relationship when she could still enjoy and have fun with her life. Find out what happens when she realized that Ben wasn't the loving and caring guy she used to know in high school days but nothing as a dominant and obsessed, cold, and arrogant bossy guy who would put her life in chaos... "You left me shattered Beatrice but I'll make sure to make your life a living hell," He said coldly as a devilish chuckle escaped his lips while his eyes grew dark staring at her tremulous state.

Warning🔞: This book drips with heat and secrets. It’s bold, shameless, and unapologetic. Vows will be tested. Desire will betray. Step inside and let passion, temptation, and sin consume you. “He doesn't make this pussy drip like this, does he?” he strokes my folds and I bite my lip, staring at him, withholding my answers and moans. He halts and I almost jerk off the edge of the desk to meet his long, rough veiny fingers. “Use your words or you are not getting any.” “No.” ~ Nadia Richards seemed to have the perfect luxurious life that every woman dreamed of—a successful designer and married to one of the richest men in the world. On the outside, her marriage bore no cracks, but behind closed doors when the cameras were off, Nadia struggled with pleasing her husband who seemed to be drifting away from her. Her once-perfect marriage was now a shell and she was desperate to fix it. Her whole world crumbled when her husband insisted that he wanted to make their relationship open. To Nadia, that meant that she was slowly losing her grip on her marriage. When push came to shove, Nadia found herself at a club, entangled in a sizzling one night stand with a hot, mysterious stranger. What should have ended as the gravest mistake she had ever made turned around to haunt her like a nightmare when she found out that the man she slept with was Jordan Hayes, her husband's mysterious best friend who abhors secrets and mysteries of his own. Nadia soon decided to play her husband's game by getting into a mutually benefitting arrangement with his best friend, but could she really not catch feelings when sparks started flying?

“Mate.” He says. I stand there staring at the incredibly gorgeous male in front of me. I blink when what he says sinks in. There is no way this is possible. My beloved died 300 years ago. I felt the pain of losing him, even if I had no idea why I was in such severe pain then. I turn around and run. Kynessie - I might have been born a princess, but I never felt like it, and I knew this life wasn’t for me. I stayed for my family, but I can’t stay any longer. They knew I needed to leave and have never tried to force me to stay. As soon as I step off the plane and take a deep breath of the Louisianna air, it feels like I am home. Tiernan - My Lycan has been restless this entire trip. We are both anxious to get home. A rogue attack might have drawn us home earlier than expected, but something else is pulling us back to the pack. The girl in the background caught our attention, but that night's scent was the nail in the coffin. Now I need to wait for her to come back. She is the vampire princess, and he is the Lycan King. Two souls are brought together because of something that happened in her past. What happens when Kynessie runs into an old friend, and the truth comes to light? Will she give Tiernan a chance or walk away from their bond? What will he do when he finds out his mate has a very rare and unique gift that has only been seen one other time? Can he accept her, or will he reject his Heart Of Darkness?

Camilla's entire world shattered when her husband Nick Sinclair abruptly ended their three-year marriage, hurling divorce papers at her. His cruel, harsh words still echoed in her ears... "I'm done with this marriage. Get out of my house!" She always knew their arranged marriage was devoid of love, but she had clung to the possibility that he would one day grow to love her. However, the arrival of his first love, bearing a child she claimed was his, destroyed any lingering hopes and exposed the emptiness of their relationship. Fingers trembling, heart bleeding, she signed the divorce agreement. But the shock overwhelmed her just as she stepped outside Nick's mansion and she collapsed. Hours later, she awakened in the hospital, staring into the icy blue eyes of the stranger who saved her. ... Derek Donovan, New York's heartthrob and wealthiest billionaire CEO, had been searching for a way to deflect the media's attention from his status as a sought-after bachelor. In exchange for saving her life, he proposed a contract to Camilla: pretend to be his wife for three years to keep the press and paparazzi off. With no other options and no one to rely on, Camilla felt compelled to accept the proposal and sign the contract. But as they navigated the path of their fake marriage, the lines blurred. Derek's icy facade cracked, revealing a burning passion for Camilla. As Camilla's heart wavered, a shocking truth emerged: Derek's past hid secrets, and she was now entrenched in a deadly game of wealth, power, and deception. Will she risk everything to love again, or will the shadows of her past and the danger lurking in Derek's world destroy her forever? The contract has been signed, but the real stakes are only just beginning...

He haunted her dreams by night and tormented her mind throughout the day. Filled with desires and lust for a man she had never met. She was his soulmate and he would have her by his side forever! It would only take one kiss to turn her. Matthias is will ruthlessly rip her away from her world and throw her life into chaos as she learns about soul stealing vampires, the Fae and dragons. Will Emma survive her new life and learn to love Matthias and take her place among the ruling Elders in the Foundation? Or will betrayal within the castle walls bring about their downfall? Excerpt: She was tethered to him and couldn’t resist her desires for him. It was as if they were truly one. To hate him was to hate herself. A tear formed in the corner of her eye as she brushed it away, it caused Matthias to stir, ever so slightly. Not wanting to wake him, she froze into a statue, not moving an inch. She needed this alone time to process and think how to move forward. She couldn’t leave him and go back to her old life for the changes in her body were too drastic. Emma was fractured in her decisions. Could she leave him? Start over again, somewhere else? Would her soul be truly fractured? How could she love this man that turned her into a monster? She was a freak! It was his fault! Then she made the mistake of looking at him and he was staring at her with eyes wide open. The look on his face said it all. He knew. He knew every thought and he just stayed silent, letting her try to explain the chaos forming inside of her brain.