Stepping Up

Ketika sedang membantu suami membersihkan laptopnya, aku tak sengaja membuka sebuah folder. Ada ribuan video vulgar di dalamnya. Pemeran utamanya adalah suami dan sahabat baikku. Setelah melahirkan, suamiku bilang ada masalah kesehatan pada tubuhnya, sehingga tidak bisa berhubungan intim. Jadi, dia tak pernah menyentuhku dan kami hanya menjalani cinta platonis selama empat puluh tahun. Aku menghabiskan sepanjang hidup dengan kerja keras, melahirkan dan membesarkan anak-anak. Pada akhirnya, semua ini ternyata adalah sebuah kebohongan besar.

An apocalypse driven by natural disasters. Survival of the fittest. Typhoons, floods, deadly cold, scorching heat, earthquakes, tsunamis, insect plagues, acid rain… After struggling through three years of the apocalypse, Nicole Floyd met a brutal death. Miraculously, she woke up and found herself three days before it all began. Nicole seized the advantage to reclaim her storage space, flipping the switch on full-on stockpiling mode. She shopped until she ran out of money, and her storage was packed tight. She also looked for the dog that had saved her life once before. She sharpened her knives, stacked her supplies, and took care of unfinished business. She paid back every debt, whether owed in blood or in kindness. And then, disaster struck. Her right hand gripping a knife and her left stroking the dog, Nicole pressed on through the ruins of a world without order or morals.

Exactly Five years ago, I discovered my union with my ex-husband was all a cruel lie. Before we married, my best friend Mirabel had introduced him to me as her brother. He was a poor talented but unrecognized fashion designer then, so I picked him up and helped him build his career with my father’s wealth. We later got married, and he eventually coerced me to sign off my father’s asset to his name and reeled by my undying love for him, I did. I trusted and believed that nothing could ever break us apart that I never saw Austin’s betrayer coming! First, I found out my best friend wasn’t his sister. They were a couple who had been having an affair under my nose, and it had been their plans to steal my heirloom. More heartbreaking enough, the day I found out was the day I discovered I was pregnant after three years of marriage. Austin, having gotten what he wanted, divorced me and threw me on the street with his seed growing inside me. He didn’t know, and I never intended to tell him. All I wanted was to hurt him back and take back everything he stole from him. However, helpless and left with nothing, I couldn't fight Austin back. I relocated to another city where I gave birth to twins who had rare talents. Five years later, their Talents brought me unexpected fortune. Now the most powerful and influential woman in the world, I could finally bring my bastard ex-husband to his knees... As if fate was on my side, everything fell right into place until it all came crumbling down again!

Humiliated by her lying fiancé and seeing that all those people believed that litany is like having your life exposed. Marriage would save her family from chaos, that is the definition. Linna needed to marry Robert to get dowries and the compensation to save her family's business. However, everything that was going well just fell apart. Robert didn't show up at the wedding, I mean, he showed up when his bride was already at the altar. And he said everything he wanted to say and then some. Stepping out of reality. Ten years later they meet again, now Robert needs help. His company is about to go bankrupt due to misconduct and the checks he owes to his clients. He is left with no other option but to propose being a partner in a growing San Francisco middleman firm. Robert knows that what he needs is a marriage, but well, a woman who has already been left at the altar never thinks about getting married again.

*Book 6* Gabriella is a no nonsense kind of woman. She loves deeply and fights for what matters to her. Her life was going along just fine, that is until she catches her boyfriend cheating on her. That should have been the worst of her issues, but soon a cheating boyfriend pales in comparison to being fated to a God, and a brooding one at that. Quickly Gabriella will be pulled into thousand year old drama and find out she is part of a prophecy that could potentially destroy the world depending on what choices she makes. How will this simple human handle carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and a possessive God on her back? A Queen Among Gods is the sixth book in the Queen Among series. Characters and plot pots have been meticulously set up in previous books building up to this one. So, many events and terms in this book will not make sense if you haven't read the previous books. Here are the books in the series: A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1 Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2 Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel (coming soon) A Queen Among Blood - Book 3 Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4 Dark Vocation - A Queen Among Darkness spin-off (coming soon) A Queen Among Tides - Book 5 Valor, Virtue, and Verve - A Queen Among Tides Prequel Spin-off (coming soon) A Queen Among Gods - Book 6 A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7 (coming soon)

Carl Anderson doesn't show up for our engagement party. I finally find him in a bar's private room after night has fallen. "I only think of her as a sister. Who would've expected her to want to latch onto me like that? There's no way I'll marry her in this lifetime!" He downs his drink. Later, when he and Angela Moran get married, he tells his friends to stop me at the entrance. He's afraid I'll crash his wedding and ruin it. "Keep an eye on Iris, guys. Don't let her crash the wedding!" he says. As soon as the words are out of his mouth, I show up with Henry Moran. "Don't even dream of stepping in there, Iris!" Carl looks at me warily. "You're so rude! You have to call her Aunt Iris now!" Angela greets me warmly and leads me inside.

Gideon Snow presides over Oasis Vale. A warlord who dominates the battlefield, the king of the underworld, a country's military governor, the king of strength, the king of destruction, and the king of information… Many world-class giants are busy farming in Oasis Vale. When Gideon's fiancé, a female war hero, arrives to call off their engagement, he knows it's time for him to look at the outside world. The world will tremble at his feet.

I'm not only ugly, I'm an idiot. Because, tell me, why would I think that the hottest guy at school would be interested in me? To make it even worse, he was dating my sister. My sister was perfect. She was the golden daughter—perfect at everything, beautiful. So why would I, in my right mind, think that Damien Salvatore would be interested in an ugly duckling like me? That was my first mistake. *** I couldn't believe Damien had just said that to me. Damien wanted me.... Me!? Inner squeal. He cupped my face and kissed me fiercely, catching me by surprise. My body sprang to life, answering to the need in his kiss until it became more, heated, too much. I tore away from him, shaking my head, even as my body throbbed with desire. “Wait...” Why was I stopping this? Am I an idiot? I have dreamt About this since forever.... I have never wanted anything so bad in my life. "Don't you want to kiss me??" He rasped out.

“Get undressed and wait for me in bed. Keep your legs open until I finish my shower,” he commanded with the power of his Alpha status and as her mate. She wanted to resist. “Do you think I'm the same Luna you forced in the past? I refuse to submit to you. I won't let you touch me.” He growled softly, feeling a hot desire for her. She was no longer the unattractive Luna he remembered. She was gorgeous. He wanted to devour her with his tongue. He pulled her close and pushed her onto the bed, licking the back of her ear, making her moan in pleasure. He whispered, “I won't touch your body. Just your pussy until you beg for more.” He used to be next in line for Alpha and was under the control of his grandfather, the Alpha king. He had to accept mating with the woman he disliked the most - the daughter of one of the most powerful Alphas in the werewolf kingdom. If he didn't, he might lose his chance at being Alpha king after his grandfather's death. He thought he was mateless at the time. He didn't choose to mate with the unattractive woman, so he cheated on her day and night. But, one drunken night, he lost control and slept with her. Later, he forced her to break their mating bond. But, he discovered she was carrying his triplets. He forced her to be his mate again, or she wouldn’t see her children again. Six years later, he was no longer weak. He was the Alpha king of werewolves.

Melissa Anderson who has had her fair share of heartbreaks decides to break free from the baggage she has been carrying as she joins an online dating community seeking the life of the rich and boujee. With no intent to have any emotional attachment, she stumbles upon Micheal Scott, the Wealthiest bachelor in Vegas who is disguised as a normal guy. Micheal was a force to reckon with, one that made Melissa question her defenses and took her on a journey of self-discovery. Lies were told, and secrets were exposed, would love conquer all?