Stepping Stones Synonym

Jessica is living her life peacefully with her husband, Adam Peterson, when a creep shows up at her work place and sneaks a photo of her. Soon after that, an infamous boss of a drug cartel, Hugo Ortiz, arrives at her workplace with an army of guards. He calls her "Camila" and asks her to leave with him. She does not remember the man at all. She realizes that her husband had been keeping things from her. Upon digging deeper, she finds out that she had been married to Hugo Ortiz. It didn't take long for Hugo's enemies to use her as a target. Ivan Volkov, the most feared name of the bratva, has been sniffing for an opportunity to get his hands on Hugo and have his revenge for killing his only son. Jessica finds herself caught in the crossfire of a gang war while she struggles to remember how she ended up in Nebraska. What is the reality of her "husband"? Who Hugo Ortiz? Why doesn't she remember any of this? When she actually stumbles upon the answers to her questions, a part of her preferred living in blissful ignorance rather than stepping back into the world of blood and misery.

After taking her stepsister’s place, Yvonne Miller is married into a wealthy family. To take back her family business, she plots each step she takes carefully. Everyone knows Stephen Anderson is a cruel and ruthless person. Yet, his ugly and uncultured wife has him wrapped around her little finger. Stephen doesn’t mind that his wife’s an ugly duckling. On the contrary, he dotes on her excessively. When he hears gossip about his wife being ugly, with cosmetic surgeons offering her discounts, he whirls into a rage. “These blind dogs! My wife’s the most beautiful woman alive!” he insists.With that, a rumor spreads in Northerna City that Yvonne is Stephen’s retribution for his past misdeeds… Until one day, Yvonne returns from abroad drop-dead gorgeous, sending shockwaves all across the city. However, she doesn’t show up in Stephen’s life again. “What do you take me for, coming and going as you please?” he demands. Stepping aside to present the young kid behind her, Yvonne says in chagrin, “My child’s father?”

The owner of a small company gives me an expensive bag as a gift because I want to invest in his company, yet his wife mistakes me for a homewrecker. She and her entourage crash my engagement party and trash the place. "All homewreckers need to go to hell!" "Shameless women will always be shameless. Strip her so everyone online can see what she looks like!" "Share the livestream and like it, everyone! We'll disfigure her once we hit 500 thousand likes!" Not only does my fiancé refuse to help, but he even announces that the engagement is off. "A homewrecker doesn't deserve to marry me!" I repeatedly warn them not to act rashly, but they ignore me. So, I give them each a swift punch to the gut before stepping on the perpetrator's face. Then, I call my secretary. "Tell Mr. Lane that I'm pulling out of the investment. Also, call the police and my lawyer. I've been robbed and insulted in public—I want the culprits to go to jail for this!" My fiancé regrets everything and asks me for a reconciliation, but I kick him aside. "Get lost! I'm not dumpster!"

After being publicly betrayed by her unfaithful ex-boyfriend and her two-faced best friend, Ariana is determined not to show up at their high-society wedding alone. In a moment of desperation, she heads to the Rosewood Hotel to hire a professional actor to play the part of her devoted, successful new boyfriend. However, a case of mistaken identity leads her to "hire" the wrong man. Enter Adrian Sterling: a cold, powerful billionaire who is actually at the hotel to close a multi-million dollar deal. Intrigued by Ariana’s fiery spirit and her ridiculous proposition, Adrian decides to play along, stepping into the role of a lifetime. As Mark and Lucia grow increasingly suspicious of Adrian’s impossible perfection, Ariana finds herself trapped in a web of lies with a man she can’t control. What started as a one-night play evolves into a high-stakes contract that takes Ariana from her modest life into the exclusive world of Ford City Heights. Between "fake" kisses that feel far too real and a billionaire who refuses to follow her script, Ariana must navigate a world of corporate sabotage and old-money secrets. She wanted a distraction to save face, but she ended up with a storm that is about to rewrite her entire life.

300 years ago, humankind created their own nightmare. Demons, are originally humans but the lust for power changed them inadequately, this is humans own doing. Around 300 years ago, a large asteroid bombarded the earth's very ground. This is the beginning of the birth of demons. This meteor was large, but out of the blue, a mysterious lifeform is intact in it's very core. A human named Cruzius Akiyoma was intrigued when witnessing these menacing looking creature. He interpret this as a blessing from heaven. He then owned the creature and conducted an experiment. He was surprised when he saw the structure and building blocks of life of this creature. He obsessedly pictured this as a one stepping stone through human evolution. He extracted the DNA of the creature and modified it in able to merged it to human DNA. Without any hesitation he then merged his DNA to the DNA of the creature. He is willing to offer his body to attain his goal, thus sacrificing his body is necessary. After the merging, he was surprised because nothing in particular happened. But, he suddenly felt a surging power circulating through his body. He screamed in pain as his body is gradually changing. Darkness fell upon humans as the scream of the first demon engulfed the sky, seas, forest, and fortress.

I've sustained grievous wounds thanks to me stepping into a trap by accident. While I'm dying in the forest, my parents, older brother, as well as my fiance are busy preparing the afterparty for my older sister, Selene Sutton, who has put on an outstanding performance at the hunting rite. I use what's left of my energy to ask for help through the mind-link connecting me and the others. Yet, none of them bothers replying to me. Even Leon Lane, the next candidate set to inherit the Alpha position as well as the wolf who's betrothed to me, blocks out my pleas for help. A long, long time later, I finally hear Leon's message coming through the icy expanse of the mind palace. "Stop it with your tantrum, Ivy. Tonight is Selene's afterparty. We'll talk more once the party is over." As I stare at the moon in the sky, I lose the will to struggle to survive anymore. It turns out that my life isn't as important as one of Selene's afterparties. This is the 99th time everyone has abandoned me for Selene's sake. Well, this time, I don't want them in my life anymore.

Blurb: A retelling of Cinderella, with a twist. Her Prince never met her at a ball, but in a bike crash, when she tried to escape years of abuse. She was never the beauty in a glass slipper, but a wolfless girl born from an Alpha’s line. He was not a Prince Charming. Not a saviour. Just a Don from a line of ruthless Rogue Alphas, and heir to a fearsome security company the packs could not mess with. Yet Donna-Belle accepted whatever life threw at her when she wound up under his protection and had to sign a contract that promised his protection and her cooperation. As long as she had a way to get back her inheritance and fight her stepfamily, she did not mind getting entangled with danger and mixed signals. Being the Don’s ‘personal heiress’ was not a day’s job, but Donna was determined to raise her company to greater heights and get back at her abusive stepfamily. Even if she played with a volcano yet to erupt, she was set on breaking away her fears and insecurities and stepping up for herself. He never believed in the old myth of mates. She never wanted to be entrapped by him. They both never got what they wanted. Fate decided.

Billionaire heir Alexander Sterling is tired of his mother’s relentless matchmaking with spoiled socialites. In a desperate move to escape, he proposes a contract marriage to Elena Carter, a struggling waitress he met on a drunken night at a restaurant. She sees it as a golden ticket to cover her mom's medical bills, unaware she’s stepping into a life of cold indifference and relentless torment. Bound for three years, their marriage is filled with icy glares and unspoken pain. But in their second year, a mistake leads to an unexpected pregnancy. Fearful of his wrath and threats of Eleanor, Elena hides the truth, enduring his cruelty in silence. As time passes, Alexander begins to feel something he never expected. But pride keeps him from showing it. On the verge of the third year, unable to bear the suffering any longer, Elena disappears, presumed dead. Devastated, Alexander is haunted by regret, not knowing she has survived and given birth to their twins. Years later, fate brings them back together this time, as equals. Wealthy. Independent. A mother of two. Elena is no longer the fragile woman he once controlled. But their reunion is complicated by the arrival of Matteo De Luca, a ruthless Italian billionaire with a vendetta against Alexander and an interest in Elena. With enemies on all sides and unresolved emotions between them, will love conquer all? Or will the past destroy any chance of redemption?

Aria thought she had found her forever in Cassian—the campus golden boy, fated mate, the werewolf who promised her a better life. Until the night before their wedding she caught him in her wedding dress… with another woman. His cruel confession shattered everything: she was nothing but a stepping stone for his ambition. Humiliated and heartbroken, Aria publicly burned their future to the ground, slapping him in front of his pack and walking away with nothing but rage. Desperate to save her dying father and escape Cassian’s revenge, she turns to the one man who can protect her: Damian Hawke, the most powerful alpha in the state. The man she unknowingly kissed in a drunken haze the night before. Damian offers her shelter but only if she lives under his roof, works for him, and becomes… available. A maid by day. Something far more dangerous by night. Aria thinks she is trading one cage for another. She doesn’t know Damian is Cassian’s adoptive father. She doesn’t know the mate bond is already pulling them together. And she doesn’t know the secret buried in her own blood will change everything. Revenge was supposed to set her free. Instead, it bound her to the one man she should never want.

Happy 18th Birthday to me. I found my fated mate... cheating on me with my stepsister. Heartbroken, humiliated, and rejected, I made a vow. I wouldn't just cry; I would get even. In a fit of drunken rage, I stormed into the forbidden wing of the Pack House. I wanted to sleep with the most dangerous man I could find—just to prove I wasn't the weak omega my ex said I was. I found him in the shadows. Dark. Lethal. Possessive. I thought it was just a one-night stand with a stranger. A way to numb the pain. I was wrong. The next morning, when he walked into the pack meeting, the entire room fell to its knees. My ex-boyfriend trembled in fear and called him "Father." The man I slept with isn't just a rogue. He is Killian Blackwood—the ruthless Lycan King, and the most feared Alpha in the world. And now, he’s looking at me with hungry eyes. "You ran away this morning, little one," he growled, stepping over my ex to corner me against the wall. "But you can't run from this." He thinks he can claim me. He thinks I'll be his obedient Luna. But I have a secret. I'm pregnant with the King's heir... and I'm about to disappear.