The Cellar Natasha Preston Novels & Stories

Isabella Rossi has gotten reborn. The moment she opens her eyes, she sees the divorce agreement that her husband, Enzo Caro, has pushed toward her. He spins the ring that symbolizes his status as the Don of the Caro family, his tone so calm that one would think he's discussing today's weather. "Let's get a divorce, Bella. Sofia is pregnant, leaving her with volatile mood swings. I can't bear to see the love of my life suffering this much. Go ahead and ask for any form of compensation you want." Today is their seventh year wedding anniversary. Enzo has gone missing for one whole night, and yet the first thing he brings up is divorce right after he returns to the seaside villa. As Isabella stares at the man whom she had once loved with all her heart, she finds herself starting to space out. After this moment played out in her previous life, Isabella hadn't wasted her breath on Enzo. Instead, she picked up the fruit knife on the coffee table and plunged it into his chest. His blood had sprayed all over her face. With red-rimmed eyes, Isabella demanded in a quivering tone, "If Sofia's your true love, then what about me and my role in these past seven years?" No one won the battle afterward. Isabella had torn up the divorce agreement and spent the next ten years pestering Enzo. When Isabella slapped Sofia, Enzo dragged her into the interrogation room without hesitation and slapped her for a hundred times. When Isabella smashed Sofia's birthday cake, Enzo locked her up in a basement cellar for three days and nights, where a nest of venomous snakes remained her only company throughout that period. There, Isabella had lost her unborn child. Incidents such as those kept happening throughout the years. Enzo, the man who used to shield Isabella from harm, ended up being the same man who'd then torment her to the point of no return for the sake of another woman. In order to back Sofia up, Enzo made sure to cut off the Rossi family from Millbrook's shipping channels, pharmaceutical lines, and several legitimate financial pipelines. With all their paths cut off from them, Isabella's parents had no choice but to commit suicide by shooting themselves in the head. It's all thanks to this wrongly placed love that Isabella lost her family, her pride as the principessa of the Rossis, as well as her bright and vibrant life. This time, she won't go down the same tragic route, that's for sure!

“If you have any sense you would run away from me as fast as you possibly could,” Dougal Wilde said, his voice betraying some new emotions I couldn’t pinpoint. I looked at him through my lashes, and gently touched his cheek. “I do not think I want to take a single step away from you,” I whispered. He flinched at the touch of my finger. His eyes narrowed, the first indication of letting me know I was winning this war already. “Just as well. I am suddenly not in the mood to let you escape from me.” He lowered his head and his mouth moved on mine with astonishing tenderness, easing apart my lips until I obeyed the silent command. His lips surged into my warmth with stunning intimacy. I moaned softly and sagged against him. Never had a man kissed me in this manner. I shivered as he lifted me up against his chest. “Kiss me.” He ordered in a deep, dark voice that sent a delicious chill down my spine. Without stopping to think, I wrapped my arms around his neck. I moaned and sagged against him, my lips taking his in a soft whisper, lashing unto his tongue to suckle. “You little…” a groan was what ended his little speech. His hands found the strap of one end of my dress and pulled it down my arm, exposing my breast and pink little nipple. “So perfect.” He moaned. Without warning, he reached down and latched unto the nipple. ***** Natasha found herself falling for a man who is her father's friend and business partner. She knew she ought to run and never look back, but there was something in the way he looked at her that made her want to fall into sin with him.

Yana Brighton (29) and billionaire Zach Lindsay (32) each get a second chance at love when they coincidentally meet at a business conference. Sparks fly instantly but Yana's overbearing and jealous boss Damon Blackstone causes them to lose contact. Fate intervenes and they reunite when Zach and his best friend Kyle Parker broker a with Yana's sister Laura Payne. An embittered Damon partners with Zach's gold-digger ex-girlfriend Natasha Gomez to seek revenge when Yana repeatedly rejects him and he later gets fired. Yana and Zach fall in love but a major scandal coupled with deception, trust issues and a near death experience leaves their relationship hanging in the balance. A heartbroken Yana disappears; she keeps her a secret while Zach struggles to find her and balance his work life. Months later, Yana returns home with new relationship terms but Zach pursues her until they rekindle their relationship and eventually get engaged. A complication later endangers both Yana and the baby's life, forcing Zach to make a tough decision for his family. Will LOVE and FAITH be enough to overcome all obstacles they face? Excerpt: Zach pressed my cold hand to his , right above his heart. "Feel what you do to me Yana…” He my forehead gently. "You have my heart forever and always.” My aching heart desperately wanted me to melt into his warm embrace, but I steeled my resolve. "You promised you would never hurt me Zach but look at us now…"Tears streamed down my face in torrents and I hiccupped, "I love you Zach, but I choose me this time.” A pained expression crossed his face and his eyes glossed over. Willing myself to look away, I quickly grabbed my bag and walked out the door. My heart broke with every step I took.

Everyone in Phantom Pack knew their Alpha, Riven Drake, was devoted to me — completely and without question. No matter how slammed he was, he always called to check in, right on time, every time. But the night before our marking ceremony, he vanished. No call, no word, nothing. I lost all sense of him through our mate bond, and my gut told me he was in danger. I was ready to drop everything and go find him — body wrecked as I was — when he finally walked through the door. He came in holding a woman who reeked of him, barely able to stand, and dropped to his knees in front of me. "Natasha, Helen got hurt saving my life. I can't just let her die." To atone for his sins before me, he stabbed himself with a silver dagger. Then, not even an hour after our marking ceremony ended, I heard his Beta laughing with him: "Alpha, that aphrodisiac must've been something else. Helen looked like she was about to pass out." Riven's voice had a satisfied edge to it. "Yeah, I'll have to go easier next time. Don't want her cutting me off." "Anyway — my little troublemaker's calling." It hit me like a punch to the chest. I picked up my phone and called my brother. "Cole. I want to come home to Starlight Pack. Can you send someone in five days?" He sounded surprised, then happy. "Of course. I'll have someone there in five days." Five days. I was giving myself five days. Giving Riven five days. He thought I was just another werewolf. Thought he had me completely figured out. He had no idea I was something else entirely — a descendant of the Dragon Clan, something out of legend. I was never his to control.

On the night my family got wiped out, someone had hidden me behind the barrels inside the wine cellar. The gunshots kept going off the entire night outside the cellar. I could only curl up between the barrels while listening to unfamiliar voices cursing in Etarino. All I could do was gnash my teeth together in order to not make any sounds. At the break of dawn, the wine cellar's door was opened from the outside. Two people could be seen standing in front of the pouring light. The first person was Antonio Corleone, a 15-year-old teenager who was also the oldest son of the Corleone family. He was still holding a gun, which had smoke wafting from its barrel. The second person was Matteo Corleone, Antonio's younger brother. His clothes were stained with blood that didn't belong to him. Antonio crouched down before draping a coat over my body. "Don't be scared, Elena," he said. "From today onward, I'm your family." Matteo squeezed Antonio away before stuffing a warm slice of panettone into my hands. With red-rimmed eyes, he said, "My brother is right. I'll kill whoever has the guts to hurt you." It was Christmas Day of 1999. Back then, I was ten years old. For the next 20 years, I grew up in the estate located in Vosaro and became an essential part of the Corleone family. At the same time, I also grew up to be the woman both Antonio and Matteo have a crush on. The entire family has noticed their obsession and love for me. Antonio and Matteo help me exact vengeance on the people who killed my family. They even buy a football team and name it after me. Everyone thinks that the brothers are head over heels in love with me. They patiently wait for the news when one of them will marry me. Even I also think the same. But on the night before my 30th birthday, when Don Corleone asks the brothers who among them wishes to marry me, Antonio snuffs out the cigar in a crystal ashtray. "Father, you should know that I'm terribly busy with the family's affairs, so I have no time to marry anyone." Matteo swirls the whiskey in his glass while wearing a flippant smile. "Father, I'm only 33 years old, and I'm not done having fun just yet. Besides, marrying Elena is just a joking promise that I've made when I was young. I'm not going to follow through with it." The next day, the brothers decide to propose to my enemy's daughter, Sophia Volpe, at my birthday banquet which I have painstakingly prepared. They even force me to drink the entire bottle of grappa despite the fact that I've been suffering from stomach issues for ten years just to please Sophia. When I get carted into the ambulance after suffering from stomach bleeding, Antonio and Matteo immediately cover Sophia's eyes with their hands while claiming that I'm just faking my illness. The moment I feel blood rising from my throat, I've made up my mind. On the day I'm set to get discharged, I dial a phone number. "I will get married to the heir of the Rossi family."