Steps Synonym

She thought love had an expiration date. He proved it could burn forever. Veronica Hale walked away from passion at twenty-five and paid for it with twelve years of a loveless marriage. Now forty-one, divorced, and convinced desire has passed her by, she steps into the glittering world of high fashion as the right-hand to powerful CEO Sandra Lawson her long-lost best friend. Then she meets him. Ethan Lawson. Twenty-five. Brilliant. Dangerous. Sandra’s only son. What begins as stolen glances and forbidden conversations ignites into a secret, all-consuming affair that neither can resist. When the truth explodes, Veronica flees carrying a secret that will change everything. Three months later, fate forces them back together. One child. One unforgiving city ready to judge. One love that refuses to die. In a world obsessed with age, status, and propriety, Veronica and Ethan must decide: Is forever worth the scandal… or is it the only thing that ever mattered?

After ten years of silence, a call from the Philippines disrupts Katharina Esmeralda Grimaldi’s carefully constructed life. Once treated as a burden by her family, she fled their chains to carve out her destiny in Europe. Now a Duchess of Monaco and a powerhouse in the business world, Katharina has no intention of letting her past taint her success. But when the request comes for her to return, curiosity drives her to face the place she once called home. What could possibly demand her presence after a decade of independence? As she steps back into a world she vowed to leave behind, Katharina finds herself entangled in a shocking twist—a forced marriage to Rome Benjamin Azcárraga, the cold, enigmatic CEO of Asia’s largest shipping empire. Power collides with passion, and the stakes are higher than ever as Katharina navigates a dangerous game of love, revenge, and ambition. Will the Duchess who conquered Europe bow to her past, or will she rise even stronger?

Selene was sold to Alpha Kael Rashford as payment for her father’s debt a human girl trapped in a wolf’s world, treated as a possession instead of a mate. Cold, dominant, and still grieving his first love, Kael keeps her close… but never in his heart. Until she becomes pregnant with his child. When danger strikes and Selene’s hidden Luna-born power awakens, everything changes. She is no longer fragile. No longer silent. She is a force capable of commanding wolves even an Alpha. As Kael begins to see the strength and fire he once tried to crush, their broken bond ignites into something fierce, possessive, and dangerously passionate. But war is coming. Enemies rise from every side. And a rogue Alpha immune to her power steps into her life offering protection, respect… and a different kind of love. Now Selene must decide: Forgive the Alpha who broke her heart… Or choose the one who never tried to control it.

“Marry him, or your brother dies.” To protect the only family she has left, Elena Russo agrees to marry Dante Moretti—New York’s most feared mafia heir. Cold. Controlled. Lethal. He offers her no love, no choice, and no freedom. Only a diamond ring and a cage with silk sheets. But from the moment she steps into his estate, she learns the rules don’t matter—because Dante doesn’t follow them. He doesn’t touch her. Doesn’t even look at her. Until he does. And when he does… it’s to remind her who owns her. She was supposed to hate him. She wasn’t supposed to want the man who watches her from behind glass. Who whispers commands through locked doors. Who punishes with silence—and rewards with ruin. In this house, obedience is survival. But what happens when the bride stops playing by the rules?

When the ruthless heir of a crime syndicate comes to collect an old debt, Jade's world shatters. His father owes money he can't repay, and his desperate solution is unthinkable. He offers Jade's underaged sister as a bride to the merciless Salvatore Domenico. But Jade won't let his sister be sacrificed. Instead, he steps forward, offering himself in her place. What Jade doesn't know is that Salvatore has been waiting for this moment. Years ago, Jade's powerful family branded Salvatore's father a traitor and had him killed. Now, Salvatore has returned, not for money, but for revenge. Taking Jade into his world of blood, loyalty, and violence should have been the perfect punishment. Yet, the closer Salvatore draws him into the shadows, the more the line between vengeance and desire blurs. Revenge was supposed to be sweet. But Jade tastes like something far more dangerous.

Tru Parker didn’t know how ideal her life was until everything normal and safe evaporated in an instant. With her mother gone and nightmares plaguing her sleep, it takes the iron will of her best friend to help her fit in again at school. But that’s hard to do when supernaturals start popping up all around her -- and she learns that one of them killed her mother. Even worse, she realizes she might not be human herself. You’d think that the two swoon-worthy guys dogging her steps at school would make life better, but deciding who to trust only comes after more heartbreak, danger, and self-discovery. Unlikely alliances form around Tru, and together they work to debunk supernatural lore and decipher a prophecy that places two people in the center of it -- the boy she’s falling in love with and herself. The TRUE NATURE SERIES is created by KAREN LYNN BENNETT, an eGlobal signed author.

They say every omega dreams of finding her pack. Mariah dreams of living without one. After escaping the alpha who destroyed her life, Mariah Finch only wants to survive her full-ride to Blackridge University unnoticed. No packs. No marks. Just freedom. But fate has other plans. The moment she steps on campus, two Sovereigns upend her fragile peace—Cassian, the Alpha who burns too bright, and Jacek, the Beta who hides behind control. They’re powerful, dangerous, and everything she swore to avoid. As old threats resurface and the shadows of her past close in, Mariah’s instincts wage war between fear and the magnetic pull of fate. Between desire, danger, and the scars she’s still learning to live with, she’ll discover that even fate can’t be defied—and sometimes the bonds we fear most are the ones that save us. He burns. He controls. She’s the storm that will undo them both.

As the bastard daughter of the Beta, Layla Fabrini has always known her place in the Sanguis Pack. She is used to flying under the radar, but all of that changes when she discovers her fiancé's betrayal with her half-sister. Suddenly, Layla becomes the target of cruel bullying and vicious attacks that almost cost her her life, until the pack’s enigmatic Alpha, Hector, steps in to save her. … My mouth filled with saliva, moistening, and I felt the air around us go taut with a specific type of tension that always found its way into all of our encounters. Not trusting myself to use words, I nodded in answer to his question and a dangerous glimmer lit up his eyes, causing the hairs at the nape of my neck to stand up in warning. “Prove it, then,” he told me, and I blinked. “Excuse me?” “Prove that you mean it when you say you will submit to every command I give you.”

“What is this?” Aria asked as she stared at the envelope. “A marriage contract,” he told her, “I need you to get married to me and be my wife and then I'll help you get revenge against your ex-husband. That way we both get what we want.” Aria's gaze was fixated on the envelope. Contract marriage?, She questioned herself. This could be the answer she needed right now. A revenge that would put her ex-husband in the worse of all places. She wants to make him feel so miserable, just as he has made her feel. *** After being betrayed by her ex-husband, Aria is left with nothing, not until the ruthless young millionaire Damien Blackwood offers her a deal: marriage, power, and retribution. As she steps into his world, she soon realizes that vengeance comes with a price… and a passion she never expected. But in a game of secrets and betrayal, is she the player—or the pawn?

Sienna Carter never wanted to be part of Damien Cross’s world. She built her life on independence, fighting to keep her struggling business afloat. But when a devastating financial blow leaves her with no options, she’s forced to make a deal with the most ruthless billionaire in the city. Damien Cross doesn’t believe in love. He believes in power, control, and getting what he wants. And right now, he wants Sienna. Their arrangement should be simple cold, transactional, without emotion. But from the moment she steps into his world, the lines begin to blur. Sienna challenges him in ways no one ever has. And the more he tries to keep his distance, the more obsessed he becomes. What starts as a deal quickly turns into something far more dangerous something neither of them are prepared for. Because in this game of power and passion, the greatest risk isn’t losing control. It’s falling in love.