The Eight

By a twist of fate, my husband, Morgan Lancaster, and I perish together in a sea of flames. When I open my eyes again, I find myself back on the very day we received our marriage certificate. In my previous life, we appeared to be a loving couple in the eyes of others, yet Morgan refused to share a bedroom with me the entire time we were married. It was only moments before our deaths that I discovered I was merely a substitute for his first love and that he had chosen to remain chaste for her for life. After getting another chance at life, neither of us mentions the past. Instead, by mutual understanding, we file for divorce that same day. From that point on, we go our separate ways. Eight years later, Morgan shows up arm in arm with his childhood sweetheart, Freya Springer, at a business summit. He is now a prominent and celebrated rising star in the business world. Seeing me dressed in a plain outfit, he approaches with a glass of champagne. His tone drips with mockery as he asks, "Ms. Smith, even if you still have feelings for me, there's no need to dress like a waitress just to get close to me. You aren't hoping for a reconciliation, are you?" I say nothing and simply smile as I wave at someone in the distance. My son, Theo Coltrane, toddles over and tugs at the hem of my shirt. "Mommy, Daddy says that he's tired from waiting so long. When are you coming home with us?" The smile on Morgan's face freezes instantly, and he nearly loses his grip on the glass in his hand.

Tied to a chair, it scraped against the concrete as Victor struggled. "Damn it, lady, I’ll give you this—you’ve got balls that even some men lack." he smiled, blood dripping from his mouth. Celestina pulled back the slide, the metallic click echoing in the quiet room as a bullet locked into place, ready to fire. She Pressed the gun to his head, "Are those your last words?" she asked coldly. ....................... How do you find peace when you're married to chaos itself? You don't. You become chaos. What would you do if your husband who murdered you and slaughtered your family proposed marriage again, and didn't recognize you? For Aria D'Amore, the answer is simple: marry him again, and make him pay for every drop of blood. When Aria is forced into a peace-treaty marriage with her family's enemy, she believes the war is over. Instead, Dante Vallenis uses their wedding celebration to massacre every D'Amore, making her watch before ordering her execution. She survives, barely, and "dies" in the eyes of the world. Eight years later, she returns as Celestina Vale, the mysterious Mistress of The Graveyard, an underground network that controls the Italian mafia through secrets and assassinations. When she manipulates her way into marrying Dante again, he doesn't recognize the stranger he's obsessed with controlling. But as she systematically destroys his empire from within, she falls for his uncle Adrian, the one man who tried to save her that night, and the one man who harbors a secret that could shatter everything she's built. So what will it be, love or revenge?

After eight years of love, Liz Smith went from being the woman Zac Lincoln once saw as the love he could never forget, to someone he couldn’t wait to get rid of. She had spent three years trying to hold on, giving everything she had. But once her last bit of affection ran dry, she finally gave up and walked away. On the day they broke up, Zac sneered coldly and said, “Liz, I’ll be waiting for you to come crawling back, begging me to take you back.” But what came instead wasn’t a plea—it was news that she was getting married. Furious, he called her. “Are you done with your little game?” A deep male voice answered from the other end. “Mr. Lincoln, my fiancée is in the shower. She can’t come to the phone right now.” Zac let out a bitter laugh and hung up. He convinced himself it was just another one of Liz’s tricks—playing hard to get. It wasn’t until her wedding day, when he saw her in a white gown, holding a bouquet, walking down the aisle toward another man, that reality finally hit him. Liz had truly let him go. Like a madman, he pushed through the crowd and rushed to her. “Liz, I know I was wrong. Please don’t marry someone else. Please.” Liz lifted her dress and walked right past him. “Didn’t you say you and Xena were perfect for each other? Why are you kneeling at my wedding now, Mr. Lincoln?”

My husband and I were the two people who hated each other most in this world. He hated me for tearing him away from the woman he loved. And I hated him because that his heart remained occupied by another woman. For eight years of marriage, the words we spoke to each other most often were not love, nor duty, but curses. Yet on the day the city fell, everything changed, the enemy banners were already visible beyond the inner gate. He rode ahead and took the road, putting his body between the enemy and my escape. “Live,” he said quietly. Then he raised his blade and did not look back. Arrows came like rain. As they tore into him, he turned his head once—only once— After that, his body held the road,and nothing passed. “If there is another life…may Your Highness grant me the mercy to belong to her.” That night, with the city in ruins and the people either dead or fleeing, I climbed the highest tower of the palace. I leapt. When I opened my eyes again, I went to the king. “The northern kingdoms require a royal bride,” I said. “I will go.” This lifetime, I will be the one to cross the border. In my previous life, he died believing he had failed her. This time, I will not allow that regret to exist. I will take the marriage meant for her. I will carry the crown meant to exile her. I will walk into a future she should never have to endure. Let her stay. Let him protect her. Let him live his life believing he has finally kept his promise.

“Miss Megan Gomez,” he grins. “What a beautiful name for a gold digger and social climb—.” He couldn’t continue his words when my palm met his cheeks. Hell… Who am I to do this to him? "I did this to save my siblings from debt and my father’s hospital bill, I have no interest for a personal reason. And the deal with your tricky old man is too simple for me not to grab the opportunity." He grins even more. “I see. Prove it then by following my rules. But each time you break my rules, I’ll claim a part of your body as mine.” “That’s not part of your old man's deal with me, I just need to marry you and live for two months!” “Heh. Are you afraid?” Megan Gomez was tricked by the old man to marry the heir of the largest mafia syndicate for a sudden financial need. "Live with my son for two months. If you don’t fall in love with him, I’ll cancel your debt and the marriage.” She agreed. She will be going to live with handsome, hot, and domineering Damian Quinn for the next eight weeks, without falling for his charm in order to break the contract. Or else, she is going to bear his child. However, not only can his physical charm lure Megan to fall for him, but there are rules to living with the devilish CEO. And as Megan breaks them, she learns pleasure that she never knew existed. But do the two have a future together when Damian is in love with someone else and Megan is confused about her real feelings toward him? If it is lust, she didn’t lose the game, but if it is love, she failed herself.

The day my birth parents found me, the reunion banquet they threw turned into their funeral. My parents and their adopted daughter, Leila, died of food poisoning that night. The only one who survived was my older brother, Alpha Kian. He didn’t like sweets, so he never touched the cake. The cake that I handed to them myself. “So you want to take Leila’s place. “You’re just jealous because she got all our love! “She was the only one who ever accepted you, and you still killed her!” Those were Kian’s exact words as he shouted at me right outside the hospital room. From that day on, I became a sinner. To make up for it, I barely slept four hours a night and worked five jobs just to buy back the villa the rival pack seized during the chaos. However, the day I finally saved up enough, I saw my dead parents throwing a birthday party for Leila in that very villa. Kian stood among them, looking at her with a warmth I didn’t recognize. My mother said, “Isn’t today also Lily’s birthday? It’s been eight years. Maybe it’s time to forgive her.” However, Kian didn’t hesitate to refuse. “No. Even though Leila sniffed out the wolfsbane and saved you, we agreed that Lily gets ten years. “We can’t risk her ever trying to poison Leila again. Not even a day less.” I clutched the diagnosis paper from the clinic tightly and laughed through my tears. I knew I wouldn’t get to ten years. I was already dying.

Just as the Garner family teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, Seth Garner's parents come to my doorstep. They beg for a marriage alliance. My father knows I've loved Seth for ten years. So, he pours ten billion into the Garners to save their empire and marries me off to him. On our wedding night, Seth blindfolds me with red silk and takes me again and again with ruthless intensity. A month later, I excitedly bring him the pregnancy report. However, I overhear him at a bar, laughing with his friends. "So, who do you think knocked up Luna?" Laughter erupts. "Seth, don't tell me the child's mine!" "I bet a hundred grand it's his!" That’s when I realize the man in my bed on our wedding night wasn't even Seth. I storm in and demand answers, but he just sneers. "What are you crying for? If your family hadn't threatened me with money and driven Ash away, you think I'd treat you like this? "Let me be clear—the day Ash forgives me is the day I let you go." Dead inside, I ask for a divorce. He responds by threatening me with footage from our wedding night and locking me in the basement. "You're not leaving. You owe Ash, and you'll repay it!" Eight months later, I die in that basement, along with the baby I couldn't deliver. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day the Garner family first begs my father for that deal. This time, Seth is the one crying on my wedding day.

Dr. Ivy Smythe left Heath Allan the day before they graduated from university after they'd fought long and hard about her having an affair. He wouldn't accept her word over the stories he'd been told and the photographic evidence. Heath didn't believe she would leave and was stunned when she disappeared. Now, eight years later, he finds her working in the museum, where he's the new CFO, and she's got a little boy who looks like him. She's also walking with a cane and giving him the cold shoulder. His family's money and influence originally created this mess when his mother set her sights on him marrying another woman. Back then, he did what his parents wanted and married Monica. After the wedding, he discovered Ivy wasn't the gold digger, as his mother and Monica portrayed her. Monica was. Now Monica is fighting the divorce, and Ivy won't admit Geoffrey is his son. Does he have any hope of fixing this? He wants to be his son's father and make things right with Ivy. Will she take him back? He knows Monica won't slip away into the shadows peacefully. He's sure Monica will attempt to manipulate things again to push Ivy out of Heath's life. Read on to find out what Ivy will do when the Cat Fight for the Billionaire Daddy goes for a second round. Will she forgive him for the sake of their son? Does she still love him? What would she do with Monica if she could have her revenge on her?

When Jeremy Sterling is framed by his rival, he immediately urges me to run for my life. "Save yourself! Pretend you never met me!" Despite being eight months pregnant, I leap from the moving car. I kneel in the snow for two days straight. Finally, I manage to secure a witness for his trial. The ordeal costs me our baby and leaves me with lasting health issues. The radiant principal dancer I once was becomes a frail shadow, gasping at the slightest breeze and surviving on pills. Later, Jeremy claws his way back to the top. He cradles the belly I fought through 18 rounds of IVF to have and makes a solemn vow. "When the baby's born, we'll name him Ryan Sterling. I'll never forget that you saved me." Tears of joy stream down my face. But shortly after I give birth, I overhear someone questioning him. "Mr. Sterling, this is Regina Gomez's flesh and blood. Is it appropriate to register Ms. Jenson as the baby's legal mother?" Jeremy gazes fondly at Carolina Jenson, who is holding our son, and scoffs. "When I was framed, she didn't even care about her own life. Do you really think she'd care about this baby? Besides, she already lost one baby back then. What's one more?" He shrugs. "At worst, I'll just break up with her. We never got the marriage license anyway." Outside the door, I clutch my aching stomach and turn away. Since we're not bound by a marriage license, this is where it ends for us.

WARNING THIS BOOK CONTAINS MATURE CONTENT. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED. "Madison is pregnant. And she says that…that you are the father of her child." Time seemed to stand still as Dominic let out a heavy sigh, his expression shifting to one of cold indifference. "Yes, it's true," he stated flatly. "If Madison is with child, then I am the father." The words cycled my brain like the world’s most horrifying mantra, shattering the delicate surface of the life we had built together. "How could you do this to me? To us?" I cried, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. *** Selena Valeria Winters has been the wife of Alpha Dominic, the Alpha of the Knightstorm Pack, for eight years. They had it all when they combined their packs together and were blessed with three beautiful daughters. Though they were happy, there was a problem: Selena was unable to provide him with an heir. Everything changes when Selena finds out that her husband, a once caring and cherishing Alpha, has taken someone else as a mistress and has gotten her pregnant. Hurt and betrayed, she asks for a divorce, but instead, she is treated as a prisoner in her own pack. In the heat of it all, Selena manages to escape with her daughters, without Dominic knowing that she is pregnant with his child. Five years later, Selena appears in the Knightstorm Pack again, but this time it’s because of a life-and-death situation. So, she has to face the man who betrayed her and those feelings again while trying to survive at the same time. Alpha Dominic has no idea that she bore a child in secret, but he wants Selena and their daughters back. Will Selena accept the Alpha back and return to the life she once fled?