Stepping Stones Synonym Novels & Stories

'THE BIG FOUR': Steven Chase Baron Sage Iphan Carter Kane Richmond A group of gangsters who for their own interests, build up a conglomerate with the label, 'X-HABIT'. Their activities are no different from vices, but their main aim is to keep the money rolling in, Kaching! Kaching! In hard, hard currency. Betrayed by one of them, the conglomerate fades into fragments of two: X-HABIT and ICE, syndicates of their own, tugging at each other's throats. Steven's regime faces out, but he leaves behind an heir, who continues the game: shuffling, dealing and cutting cards, playing tit for tat. The heir? He's Adrian Chase. A drop dead gorgeous billionaire, an Adonis and New York's shaker. Out of the blue comes 'THE MEN', a rival who watches Adrian keenly and has eyes on everything he's got. This only lengthens the saga, creating another pile of screwed up shit. Aside from Adrian's lethal life, he's got an allergy - WOMEN. Only a quartet add up to his living: his daughter, his step sister, his step mother and his nanny. The rest are no lesser than muddle-headed, fatuous bitches. Well, there's that 'bitch', a naive Megan Stones whose world crumbles when the cold jaws of death snatch her parents away, leaving her with a mouth to feed. She is a college drop-out who's a waitress and a washer-up by day, a stripper at night. Fate punches some buttons, Chase and Stone happen to meet. Strings are pulled and sparks fly. She quenches his allergy and ignites in him, an addiction: HERSELF. Their love story has its fair share of thorns but after many times of falling and rising, they solemnize their love in holy matrimony. After tons of games, gut flaunting and bloodbaths by these rival syndicates, X-HABIT is ascribed the glory.

May Austin is left to care for her sick younger sister, Lily. Struggling to afford Lily’s medical treatment, May signs a surrogacy contract with the powerful Stones family, agreeing to bear a child for Damien Stone, the ruthless and handsome CEO. The procedure is impersonal—they never meet, and Damien only glimpses her in dimly lit rooms. May gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The family takes the boy, leaving May to flee with her daughter and sister, disappearing abroad to build a new life. For five years, she raises her daughter Aria while Lily grows healthy and excels academically. Their paths cross unexpectedly at an airport when Aria bumps into Damien. He feels an instant, inexplicable attachment to the girl, unaware she is his daughter. Sparks fly as Damien encounters May professionally when she returns as a director at his company. Attraction, tension, and unresolved pasts begin to surface. Meanwhile, their children play a pivotal role in reconnecting their parents. Damien’s grandfather, Daxton Stone, disapproves due to class differences and manipulates circumstances to challenge May and Damien, while Damien’s parents wholeheartedly support May. Corporate intrigue, sabotage, and a vindictive fiancée create further tension, especially as May’s son, Aiden, suffers domestic abuse and entrusts May to protect him. Alongside a parallel romance between Damien’s boyfriend, David, and May’s best friend, the story weaves love, resilience, and family into a gripping tapestry. As truths emerge and past grievances confront them, Damien and May must navigate threats, heal old wounds, and embrace the family destiny they never imagined. One Pregnancy, Two Babies is a story of love, sacrifice, second chances, and the unbreakable bonds of family, where children are the bridge that reconnects hearts separated by fate.

Lena Marek never imagined she would end up cleaning the halls of one of the richest families in the country. Once an art student with dreams of stepping inside the exclusive Argent Gallery, life had other plans. After her parents’ reckless debts left her drowning in bills, Lena takes the only job she can find,working as a maid at Hawthorne House. The estate belongs to Adrian Hawthorne, a cold and dangerously handsome billionaire CEO raised in old money and ruthless discipline. He trusts no one, keeps people at a distance, and has long since given up on love. But Lena isn’t like the others. She’s too sharp for a maid. Too observant. Too bold to stay invisible. What begins as quiet glances across marble hallways slowly turns into a dangerous attraction neither of them planned. As secrets about Lena’s past begin to surface and enemies from Adrian’s world start circling the line between employer and temptation begins to blur. In a house full of rules, one mistake could destroy them both. And some nights, the distance between power and desire is only one set of sheets away.

It was Christmas Eve. Once again, my parents left me alone at home, chasing triple pay at work. However, after twenty years of the same lonely holiday, I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to sit in the quiet house by myself again, so I packed up some sandwiches and went to them. What I didn’t expect was to see them stepping out of a luxury car, arms linked with a boy who looked about my age, laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world, heading straight into a five-star hotel. “Mom, Dad, is it okay to leave Suzie all alone at home like that?” My mom waved it off and said, “It’s fine. She’s used to it.” My dad just brushed it off with a chuckle. “She’s nothing like you. You're our real treasure.” Upon hearing that, I turned and walked away. They'd been pretending to be broke all these years, lying to me about working overtime, about scraping by. Well, fine. If they don’t want me, I’m done wanting them, too.

Ever since my CEO husband returned from his business trip, he's been acting strange. His hugs are stiff, and his kisses are empty. Even when we're intimate, something just feels off. When I ask him why, he just smiles and says he's tired from work. But everything falls into place the moment I see his first love stepping out of his Maybach, her body covered in hickeys. That's when I finally give up. I don't argue or cry. I just smile… and tear up the 99th love coupon. Once, he wrote me a hundred love letters. On our wedding day, we made a promise—those letters would become 100 love coupons. As long as there were coupons left, I'd grant him anything he asked. Over the four years of our marriage, every time he left me for his first love, he'd cash in one. But what he doesn't know is that there are only two left.

Warning! Explicit content! I smelt something different the moment I stepped foot in my room. It was dark and I couldn't see a thing, but something smelt different. I moved my hand to the wall, turning on the light switch. The entire place became bright immediately, and that was the moment my nightmare began, the moment my life changed forever. Electrifying shock tingled through me as I found a strange figure, seated in the middle of the room. My blood ran cold instantly. My legs tottered and my lungs stopped pumping air. His presence froze me at once, or was it his eyes that were as cold and dark as shadows carved in stones? They stared so coldly at me, cloaked in an eerie stillness that sent shivers down my spine. I had never seen a picture of the devil before. But this guy in front me looked like someone who must be very close to him. **** He had been stalking her for three days. He knew where she worked, where she lived and the dumb people she visited. She didn't have much friends, just a bunch of nuns who appeared in fúcking white garments. She smiled so brightly like she was the purest soul on earth. She acted so naive like she's never been fucked before. It didn't matter how much she pretended, how much she tried to hide her identity. She was his next target and he'd be treating her like one. He didn't become the King of the night for no reason; the renowned torturer. He'd torture her like he did to others, get the information he needed and put a sweet bullet in her head. She was not getting off his list.

"I want to taste you until you beg for me." “You belong to me and me alone “. Lexi Thompson’s life is falling apart. Her family’s once-successful business is ruined, destroyed by her father’s gambling and drinking. With creditors closing in and no way out, she’s given an unbelievable offer by billionaire Julian Blackwood. Julian is no ordinary man. He’s powerful, ruthless, and always gets what he wants. His proposal is shocking: spend one year as his lover, give him a child, and he’ll save her family from ruin. Desperate, Lexi considers the deal. It means stepping into Julian’s world of wealth and control, where everything comes at a price. But his money and power hide dangerous secrets. As Lexi gets drawn deeper into his life, she realizes his obsession isn’t just about desire—he wants to own her completely. Can Lexi break free from Julian’s hold, or will his obsession consume her forever? “I will burn the world down for you just to get you to say my name “

I was seventeen when I abandoned my Beta family's fortune to love a rogue named Ethan. I gave him everything—my virginity, my pack connections, my wolf's loyalty. I helped him claw his way from nothing to Alpha, building his territory stone by bloody stone. For seven years, I stood beside him as his Luna, his mate, his partner. Then he shoved me off a cliff for a prettier Omega. I should have died. Instead, I woke up at seventeen again, back in that filthy shack where our "love story" began. This time, I know the truth: Ethan doesn't want a partner. He wants a stepping stone. So I'll give him exactly what he deserves—nothing. This time, I'm keeping my mark for an Alpha who actually values his Luna. And when Ethan comes crawling back, begging for the woman he threw away, I'll make sure he knows: some mistakes don't get second chances.

‎ ‎“Lyra, what are you?” Kaely’s voice shattered, stepping back as Lyra hovered, power crackling through the air. “This isn’t possible you’re one of them!” ‎“I don’t even know what I am!” Lyra cried, trembling midair. “But I am not your enemy!” ‎“You’re a Moon Caster,” Kaely snarled. “And I will hunt you like one.” ‎ ‎•••••••••• ‎ ‎Twenty years after the Lunar Reversal shattered the world, Lyra’s dream of belonging turns into a nightmare when Kaely her fated mate becomes her executioner. Branded an abomination, Lyra must survive a brutal wasteland while unraveling the truth of her forbidden power. ‎ ‎Alongside Cassian, a rebellious shifter who challenges everything she believes, and Milo, a mysterious hybrid who mirrors her curse, Lyra confronts a haunting reality: the bond meant to complete her is destroying her. ‎ ‎This gripping tale subverts classic shifter romance, blending betrayal, survival, and identity into a dark, emotional journey where the heroine is the very monster her world fears. ‎ ‎Will Lyra master her power or be consumed by it? ‎Can she break the bond before it leads her to death?

When I was discharged from the psychiatric hospital, my brother and sister-in-law dropped everything to personally pick me up. Even my nephew, who had just finished his college entrance exams, arrived with a box of carrot cake he had waited in line all day to buy. His warm smile was the picture of innocence. “Auntie, congratulations on your discharge. With me here, you’ll never feel lonely again.” To outsiders, we were the perfect family—envied by all and even awarded the title of a local model family. But behind the facade of family bliss lay a very different story. On the very day my brother transferred the last of the family properties to me, I went live on social media. In front of an audience that idolized my so-called perfect family, I boasted about my "accomplishments." I conned my nephew into paying for a spot at an elite school, duped my sister-in-law into stepping into a scandalous club, and tricked my brother into losing everything he had worked for. “My brother has treated me with nothing but kindness. And I can only repay his kindness with betrayal.”