Stuff To Trace

"You woke me up," a cold voice echoed from the shadows. Ivana gasped awake, heart pounding, unsure if it was a dream—or something far more dangerous. ~~~~~~~~~~ Years ago, Ivana should have died in her mother’s womb—until a mysterious seer performed a forbidden ritual to save her. The price? The unborn child had to be betrothed to a god, bound to him for life without her parents ever knowing the true cost. On Ivana’s eighteenth birthday, her parents mysteriously vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a notebook filled with strange symbols and cryptic warnings. Now, years later, her search for answers leads her to Egypt, where she joins an archaeological team investigating a newly uncovered chamber. Deep inside, they break a seal that should have remained untouched… and awaken the very god she was promised to. A god who despises humans. With divine wrath rising, ancient secrets unraveling, and a bond she never asked for tightening around her fate, Ivana must confront the truth: The answers to her parents’ disappearance begin with the god she was forced to belong to.

I’m the daughter of the Alpha of the Embermoon Pack. As my post-transformation wolf form was tall, powerful, and strikingly beautiful, I had always been favored by my parents and cherished by the pack. Yet, during a journey with my brother, Gariel, I was betrayed, ambushed, and sold into an illegal mining camp on the frontier. There, electric fences, raised gun barrels, and endless despair became my prison. To prevent escape, the overseer would select a group of so-called “lucky ones” at regular intervals. In front of all the miners, they would hack off their hands and feet. Half a year slipped by in torment, and I wasted away until I was barely recognizable. My body was covered in scars, looking like a demon dragged out of hell. Even so, I clung to the belief that my brother would come for me. Then, one day, by pure accident, I overheard a phone call between the overseer and my brother. “You sure are ruthless to have the heart to sell your beautiful sister to us. Your parents must be losing their minds by now.” Those words instantly extinguished the very last trace of hope I had left.

She gave him her virginity that evening. What did she get in return? Arnold was cheating on her. Frustrated and angry, Stacy heads for a bar where she has a one-night stand with a stranger. She later discovers she is pregnant. Despite the changes a baby will bring to her life, Stacy decides to keep the baby. Kirk cannot get the lady at the bar out of his mind. He is determined to trace her and when he does he finds out she is pregnant. Slowly he gets her to fall in love with him and she agrees to marry him. However, when he introduces her to his family as the woman he wants to marry, she and his brother recognize each other. Arnold begins to lay claims on the pregnancy and the marriage has to be postponed. Kirk and Arnold's parents are very clear in their decision- the baby's father gets to marry Stacy. Will nature betray love or will it favor two people who would die to be with each other? And if it doesn't, will their love get trampled upon by uncontrollable circumstances? Join these two lovers in finding out what fate has to say about their situation.

After being missing for eighteen years, I was finally found by my wealthy birth parents. The impostor—the young man who had taken my place all this time—dropped to his knees, sobbing. "Goodbye, Mom and Dad. Thank you for raising me. Now that Jason is back, this family doesn't need me anymore." My parents hugged him with heartbreaking tenderness. "Don't be ridiculous," they said. "You're our only real son." Even my fiancée confessed her love to him. "I don't care who you really are. You're the only one I love." They all orbited around him, like planets around the sun. When I was nearly killed in a car accident, they were too busy throwing a birthday party for his dog. So I packed my things in silence. Without a word, I accepted an invitation from the space agency to join a five-year satellite research mission in complete isolation. Yet after I left, it was like the whole family lost their minds. They scoured the entire country, desperate to find any trace of me.

He is the richest billionaire and business mogul in the whole of Italy. David Salvatore can do anything to get what he wants and that includes getting the woman he wants. When the woman he loves ran away with her parents 10 years ago without a trace, he searched the whole world for her using his power and influence but the more he searched the more difficult it was to find her, like an unknown force was preventing him from finding her. David was determined to find her, and he finally did after ten years. “Let me go David, I have a flight to catch” Hanan struggled away from his hold. David looked at her in anger " Do you really think that I will allow you to run away the way you did 10 years ago? Never!! Hanan shivered in fear and wasn't able to look at him. She became distressed and lost in her thoughts. David looked at her distressed face and immediately his anger disappeared and was replaced with something unreadable. Now that he found her, what is left is to find out why she ran away from him.

Nyssa finds herself knee-deep in debts she had no idea about. Her misfortunes climaxes when she is sold to a stranger. Roman, the ruthless and enigmatic mafia boss, bound her to a contract she couldn't escape. Though he was known for being cold and indifferent, he kept her by his side, making her his possession in both name and body. Many told Nyssa that her entire worth would be to warm the Mafia Don’s bed only to be tossed, but each day everyone sees that the ‘naive and simple’ Nyssa leaving Roman was never an option. When she’ vanished’ without a trace, he hunted her down, his obsession burning hotter than ever. "You belong to me," Roman growled, his icy blue eyes filled with rage. "You are the lover of a Mafia—you don’t get to leave." Now trapped between her thirst for revenge against those who wronged her and a man who refuses to let her go, Nyssa must decide: fight for her freedom or surrender to the dark, possessive love of the most dangerous mafia king she’s ever known.

I should step back. But I don’t. His hand slides to my waist, firm, deliberate. Not asking. Claiming. My stomach tightens, heat curling low, and I feel every inch of him before I even see him. He’s behind me, close enough that I can feel his breath at my neck. My pulse stutters as his fingers trace slow, unhurried circles up my back, and I know I should pull away… but I can’t. His lips brush my neck. Not a kiss yet, just the promise of it. My head tilts back before I can stop myself, back arching like my body is betraying me. Then he speaks. Low, calm, in control “Don’t make a sound.” A shiver runs through me. Not from fear. Not exactly. From… him. He’s in control. I can’t fight it. I don’t want to. And somewhere deep inside, I realize the terrifying truth: I’m letting him have me.

During the five years I was in a vegetative state, all ten family soldiers assigned to guard me were murdered. One of them merely smoked a cigarette outside my hospital room. The next day, he was found upside down, drowned in a toilet. Another simply adjusted my pillow. The next day, he took a dive from a skyscraper rooftop. The Corleone family was in chaos, but they couldn't find a single trace of the killer. With no other choice, the ten executions, all textbook Mafia hits, became cold cases. Strangely, the very second the tenth guard's heart stopped, I opened my eyes. The first thing I did upon waking was call the FBI and turn myself in. The agents were stunned. "Miss Corleone, are you saying that while in a coma for five years, you planned and executed the murders of ten fully armed Mafia soldiers?" My fingers tapped lightly on the table, a faint smile playing on my lips. "That's right." "Being in a vegetative state only means I couldn't move." "Who ever told you that killing, something so crude, required me to get my hands dirty?"

***This book contains violence, cursing, sexual content, and talk of suicide, enjoy at your discretion.*** I was walking through an unknown foggy forest when I spotted a field of wildflowers. My feet had a mind of their own as they led me to wander through the flowers. I nonchalantly dragged my hands over the flowers. It was a beautiful and serene sight. I deeply inhaled the sweet scent of the flower and gave a little shudder of bliss. I closed my eyes and just absorbed the moment wanting to remember it. Suddenly the sounds of paws hitting the forest floor overwhelmed me. Then the forest was ignited with flames. Everything glowed vibrant oranges and reds as heavy smoke smothered me from above. I threw myself to the ground desperate for any trace of clean air. As I attempted to crawl out of the flowers a new sound harmonized with the thunder paws, screams and howls for help terrorized me. I clawed at the ground desperate to escape the menacing choir. Fire licked my skin and I screamed for help. Sobs escaped my lips as flaming branches fell on me from above. The smell of burning flesh was the only thing that consumed me as everything went dark.

Kingdom of Ash and Blood Book one of the Sicilian Ruin Series She was the fire he thought he had extinguished. He was the ruin she barely escaped. Three years ago Amara Varela vanished without a trace --- betrayed, broken, and hunted by the man who once owned her heart. Now she's back in Sicily, not as the naive girl he left behind, but as a woman forged by survival and secrets. She has a score to settle and Luca Moretti is at the top of her list Luca, the heir to the brutal Moretti empire, never forgives himself for losing her. When he finally finds her alive, everything he buried erupts --- lust, rage, obsession. But the Kingdom he now rules is built on blood, and his bride-to-be is not the one who haunts his dreams. Torn between a crown he never wanted and a woman who could destroy it all, Luca must choose loyalty or desire, power or love. In a world of violent cartels, arranged alliances, and ruthless vendettas, Amara and Luca's reunion is anything but tender. It's a war. And their passion? It could burn Sicily to the ground. Dark. Obsessive. Addictive. This is not a love story. This is a Sicilian ruin.