The Drowning

" Please." she croaked out, the pain slowly paralyzing her body. " No! I can't marry you anymore, Sage. You're broken, used, and tainted. How am I supposed to marry you now knowing so many men used you like a fucking public property?" Enrique snapped, glaring at his fiance who was on the hospital bed. " She was raped, Enrique. How can you say this?" Sabrina growled, not believing what he just said. " Not my fault but I can't marry her now. I can't even look at her after knowing how dirty she is. I'm sorry Sage but our story has to come to an end here." Enrique looked at his childhood love, on the bed helplessly drowning in her own tears as he walked out of the room. --- Love lasts all fights but unfortunately, Enrique's love couldn't. He walked out on the very first step leaving Sage to deal with herself. Two years later, he is back in the same town only to marry Sage's sister. Will he regret his decision or will it be too late? Read to find it all out.

She was the sacrifice—married off to the city's most ruthless billionaire to save a family that never loved her. But when she discovered his betrayal with her own sister, everything shattered. Pregnant, penniless, and abandoned, Bella Hart disappeared into the night, vowing never to be powerless again. Few years later, she returns as the CEO of an international empire, more powerful than anyone imagined possible. Her secret weapon? The little boy with piercing grey eyes who calls her "Mommy, he is the son of the man who destroyed her. Caleb Black spent years drowning in regret, searching for the wife he threw away. Now she's back, untouchable and unforgiving. He'll do anything to reclaim what he lost his wife, his son, his chance at redemption. But Bella didn't return to forgive, she returned to conquer. With enemies circling, old wounds bleeding, and a passion that refuses to die, Bella must decide: Will she let the man who broke her back into her heart? Or will she destroy him the way he once destroyed her? In a world of billion-dollar deals and deadly secrets, love is the most dangerous gamble of all.

He demoted me. Humiliated me. Made my life a living hell. And now, he's claimed me as his. When ruthless billionaire Nathan Bryant bought the company I worked for, I became his favorite target. One day I had a promotion waiting—the next, I was nothing but a data entry clerk beneath his cold, piercing gaze. I should have quit. I should have run away and never looked back. But I couldn't afford to. So I stayed, enduring his cruelty, surviving his games... until the night everything changed. The night he saved me. The night he kissed me like I was the only thing keeping him alive. Now I'm trapped between his arms and his secrets, drowning in a love I never saw coming. There was just one tiny problem: He's the stepbrother of my best friend—the girl who was betrayed by his family. Loving him means losing her forever. And when the war for control turns deadly, I'm caught in the crossfire. But will our love be enough to survive the wreckage? Or will we both burn in the flames of forbidden desire?

On the day of the Sacred Forest Rite, my Alpha father and Luna mother were mysteriously murdered. Soon after, my fiancé Jem abruptly broke off our engagement and held a bonding ceremony with his childhood friend, Sarah. While I was still drowning in grief, Jem's elder brother, Nom, came to me with a proposal. He swore he would uncover the truth and bring my parents' murderer to justice. So I married him—and brought what was left of my pack into his. Seven years passed. No killer was found. No justice delivered. Then today, I overheard a conversation between Nom and his Beta outside the study. I learned the truth. Someone had seen Sarah at the scene of my parents' deaths during the Sacred Forest Rite. However, Nom silenced that witness. He shut down the investigation, convinced Sarah was innocent—that her presence was nothing more than a coincidence. However, my mother died with Sarah's earring clenched in her hand. It was never justice. It was a cover-up. Seven years of marriage, built on a lie—his way of protecting the one truly responsible. This time, I will take vengeance into my own hands. Alone.

Ayana Rivers had spent the last three years working as the secretary to the CEO and cofounder of Sterling conglomerate the most powerful tech force in Los Angeles. Working schedules, running after and clearing Ruan’s public messes was not new to her but what Ayana doesn’t know is that Ruan Sterling’s life doesn’t end in boardrooms, fancy newsletters and red carpets. By day he is the CEO of Sterling Conglomerate. By night he is an Alpha, one bound by ancient pack laws that threatens to strip his entire lineage and him of the throne and alpha title if he does not take a wife. When Ayana’s family is drowning in debt and every door closes on her, Ruan offers Ayana instead of help, a marriage, Ruan has no interest in Ayana beyond the contract. She is human, harmless, ordinary, and perfect for protecting his secret. A wife on paper. Nothing more. When Ruan’s dark world creeps into Ayana’s carefully controlled life. Desires beyond control and heat amidst silence grow between them. Except secrets have a way of unraveling especially when she discovers that the man she married is not the most dangerous secret in the house. She is.

“Let go of me Adam! You don’t own me anymore and you never will!” “No! I’m not letting you walk away thinking this bullshit is true,” he says, his voice shaking between begging and fury. As if he has the right to be angry after he's done cheating on me. ~~~ He married her for revenge. He wanted to destroy her family. But Adam Hilton didn’t plan to stupidly fall in love with Hermione, the woman he swore to use and ruin. To remove her from the cruel plan he made against her dad and family, he serves her divorce papers while she’s still in prison. When she’s finally released, Hermione finds Adam in bed with another woman. Broken, she signs the papers and disappears. But Adam finds out the truth—she isn’t the real daughter of the family he wanted to destroy. Now, Adam is drowning in guilt. For eight months he searches for her. When he finally finds her, Hermione swears never to forgive him, but Adam swore to never let her go. PS: He has reckless ways of begging. As wild and consuming as his love for her.

Antonio 'Tony' Santa De Leones. The CIA's black sheep. Foul mouthed. Rude. Known for his penchant for pretty little things. A weakness, they said. But Tony beg to differ. Suspended and very bitter. He flies to Italy. Spends one night drowning his regrets in the arms of a beautiful stranger. A man. A mistake? No. Not a mistake. Then, Tony's past comes knocking. His real past. The CIA found out, that he came from a long line of Mafia royalty. Also a black sheep to that family. The CIA wants him to go undercover in the very mafia he was born into—the family that disowned him. The legacy he buried. And their bait? Reinstate his rank. Reclaim his pride. And what will he get in turn? A chance to burn his bloodline from the inside. But nothing could prepare him for what he finds out. The mysterious one night stand? His name was Angel. The prized possession of a rival mafia leader. And the key to everything. Tony should just act. Use Angel how he see fit. Then discard him. But he's already addicted. Obsessed. And in the criminal underworld where loyalty is a lie and love is a weakness? Obsession can be deadly.

Zara Adigun never believed in fairy tales especially not the kind that involved arrogant billionaires and cold, calculated marriages. But when her father fell ill and her family is drowning in debt, she agrees to a one-year marriage contract with the most powerful and emotionally detached bachelor in Lagos (Dami Adeyemi). The deal is to pretend to be the perfect couple in public, live together under strict conditions that she must comply with, and leave when the contract ends with no strings and no emotions attached. But Dami’s icy rules begin to melt as Zara’s fire draws out the man he’s buried deep beneath his grief and guilt. The closer they get, the harder it becomes to stick to the rules, until secrets from the past threaten to destroy everything they were nurturing. Jide Adeyemi—Dami’s estranged brother and Zara’s first love came into the picture to reignite old flames and dark family secrets, Zara finds herself caught in a dangerous love triangle where trust is fragile, and the truth is a weapon. Now, she must decide: 1. To follow the terms of the contract. 2. Run back to the man who once broke her heart, or 3. Fight for a love that was never meant to happen. When hearts are bound by fate, will love survive the truth?

Brody Lewis, my fiance, said that I had a rare form of transient global amnesia, which was a sudden, temporary memory loss. Every seven days, I would open my eyes and become the twenty-five-year-old Riley Taylor again. My memories were forever stuck in the past. In my pen drive were videos of Brody taking me on trips, bringing me for treatment, and proposing to me. Everything seemed great between us, but I remembered none of it. “Riley’s still around. Can’t you keep your hands to yourself?” “Don’t worry. It’s Monday tomorrow. After she wakes up, she’ll remember none of it,” Brody said, and my heart sank. “Isn’t this more exciting?” Brody embraced my best friend, and they made out brazenly in front of me. They were not shy about it at all. I wondered just how many times this had happened over the past two years. I ran as tears blurred my vision. When I arrived at a tattoo shop, I grabbed the tattoo artist like a drowning man holding on to a log. Then, I asked the tattoo artist to tattoo these words on my arm in my handwriting. [Leave him.]

"You belong to me, Crystal. And I’m going to remind you of that.” His husky breath fanned her ear. Crystal Lin is drowning in the debt her father left behind, a deadly 10 million dirham IOU to a ruthless Dubai loan shark. With just two months left before her organs become the payment, Crystal juggles two lives: waitress by day, stripper by night. But everything spirals when she unknowingly gives a lap dance to the heir of the Al-Fayad empire. Amir who is a cold, commanding, and dangerously powerful. Amir doesn’t want love. He wants an heir. And he’s offering Crystal a marriage contract worth millions to get it. Desperate to survive, she agrees. But fate has one more cruel twist, Ahmad. Amir’s kind-hearted twin who turns out to be the mysterious stranger who once stirred her heart with a glance. Now he’s her husband’s brother and he's the man she can't stop thinking about. Torn between duty and desire, caught in a billionaire’s twisted game, Crystal must decide. To lose the life she’s barely clinging to, or risk it all for a love that was never part of the deal.