The Emperor's Lover

When the mafia heir, Marco Gallante, barged into the family vault with his mistress, I was standing before the Virgin Mary statue, cross-checking bloodstained ledgers. Fiore Albero cowered behind him, pointing at the ledgers in my hands and shrieking, "Marco, I'm scared..." I did not even bother looking up, just flicked the ash off my cigar. However, Marco kicked the desk over with one swift boot. "Chiara Moltisanti, Fiore can't stand the sight of all this blood and violence. Sign the divorce papers, now!" I stared at the mess scattered across the floor, thinking back to the pregnancy report the family doctor had handed me just ten minutes ago. The Gallante bloodline was dying out in this generation. Ever since the eldest son, Luca Gallante, died in that accident, Marco became the sole heir. The Don, Carmine Gallante, dreamed of nothing more than a legitimate boy of pure blood to carry on the family name and glory. So, I smiled, bright and sharp, with unmistakable mockery. "Perfect. Since you want true love, then the Don's throne will never be yours." Besides, I never wanted Marco, that useless fool. What I wanted was the Gallante empire, a mafia dynasty spanning three continents with 100 years of roots, and the control that left him with nowhere to run and no legs to stand on. This time, I would cut him out completely, keep the bloodline, and sit at the head of the family.

My blood-bonded vampire mate left me while I was pregnant to be with his "first love" in the human world. When danger struck, he abandoned our son to protect her human child, who was not in any danger. While our son was struggling with lethal UV burns and calling for his father through a high fever, he was celebrating under citywide fireworks with that human boy, who only had a common cold. He even took the life-saving serum I had prepared for our son, just to use it for the boy’s "pre-transformation conditioning." He coldly stated, "Vampires are resilient; he’ll endure it. Human children are too fragile." After four years of raising our son alone, I finally decided to leave. I officially cut our blood ties and moved away with our son. Only then did he find out that his "first love" had been lying to him all along. After learning the truth, the arrogant vampire prince wept and begged for us to come back.

All it took was a gunshot to have this criminal fucking her senseless.... Avery had spent months trying to being down Andrew Richardson the Black heart don and the criminal she swore to put behind bars. She even set a trap for him using someone close as bait. But instead of giving down in chains,she was offered to him in marriage in exchange of company share and stakeholders unknowingly to her. She should have run away when she found out, she should have followed through with the mission,but as a young girl craving warmth, how could she resist the way he touch her, the way he makes her feel when looking at her, the way his fingers made her forget the rules she lives by. This wasn't the plan. She didn't come her to get addicted to her enemy who becomes her nemesis, yet every night with him, the Mafia lord leaves her wanting more and drags her deeper into the dangerous world. He's supposed to die for his crimes, but unfortunately the real crime is how badly she wants him.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, I took my boyfriend's sister to his flashy new influencer hub. Fresh off brain surgery, Benedetta Griffin needed a break from her recovery, and I hoped the trip would lift her spirits. In the hub, a streamer was hawking a face cream like a carnival barker. "Listen, fam! The boss lady is slashing prices. Get this $3,800 cream for just $398 today!" Benedetta tugged my sleeve. "That cream is bad news." She'd interned at the FDA last summer and could spot a scam from a mile away. "It's packed with steroids. Long-term use will ruin your skin." Driven by her sense of justice, she marched up to the streamer. "You can't sell this unlicensed junk. The steroids exceed legal limits. Pull it from the shelves." Morgan Lamb froze, but then her fake smile twisted into a scowl. "Who the hell are you to trash my product?" Benedetta didn't back down. "You're scamming people, and you know it." Morgan planted her hands on her hips. "I'm the boss lady here. How dare you slander my brand? Nobody leaves until you cough up $500,000 for damages." "Boss lady?" My stomach churned. My boyfriend's sudden venture into the streaming industry now made sense. He was sinking money into this hub to bankroll his lover. I fumbled for my phone to call him, but Morgan was faster. "Babe, get to the hub. Two haters crashed the party, trying to tank our business."

On the day of my mate bond ceremony with Harry, his first love, Teresa, suddenly appeared. She tried to stop Harry and me. But Stephen, the Alpha of our pack, ordered the servants to block her outside. At the final step of the ceremony, when Harry and I were on a power stone at the bottom of a sacred cliff, Teresa fell from the sky. When we approached, she was already dead. Harry held back his tears and proceeded to complete the mate bond ceremony with me. In the following years, Harry hated me and Stephen deeply. As the Beta, he should have been Stephen’s most powerful supporter in the pack, but he took over the Alpha’s position and expelled Stephen from our pack. Stephan became a bankrupt and wandering werewolf. Harry brought different she-wolves home every night, and even took other werewolves to our bedroom while I was asleep. Until one day, Harry kidnapped Stephen and me. He brought us back to the same cliff. “Teresa jumped from here. Only one of you will live. Let’s see who will push the other down.” To his surprise, we both jumped. When I opened my eyes, I was back to the day of the mate bond ceremony. I saw Teresa was still alive and about to break into our ceremony. Stephen was standing beside me. We quickly changed looks. I shouted, “Wait a minute! Let her in.”

After I announced my exit from the music industry, the public response was overwhelmingly positive. The only person who voiced his objection was my girlfriend's rumored lover, the up-and-coming songwriter Lucas Zacker. He put on a show of sincerity in front of a crowd of reporters. "It's all a misunderstanding. Matthew is an irreplaceable talent in the music industry. I sincerely hope he returns to the stage." I shut off my phone and turned a blind eye to his public plea. In my past life, one of my songs had been identical to his supposedly original single. As such, netizens accused me of plagiarism, cursing me and wishing death upon my family. Frustrated, I posted the entire creation process online, but it couldn't stand up to the timeline. His new song had been released ten minutes ahead of mine. Just because of the ten-minute difference, netizens sent me photoshopped mourning portraits of myself and even went so far as to come to my house and vandalize it with paint. The relentless cyberbullying went on for years, and it drove me into a deep depression. My parents exhausted their life savings trying to clear my name, only for crazed fans to set our house on fire, causing my parents to burn to death. In the end, when his song won an award, I jumped off a building. But who would have guessed that when I opened my eyes again, I was reborn on the very day the new song was set to release.

"When Violet's past and present collide, she discovers her mate is the one person she never expected - her mother's former lover, Alpha Ares. But their love is threatened by a dark history: Ares once sought to sacrifice Violet to save himself, and Alpha Damien, who's always wanted her dead, will stop at nothing to eliminate her. She's a threat to his power, and he'll do anything to keep his secrets buried. Can Violet forgive Ares' past betrayal and trust him to protect her from those who seek to destroy her, or will the truth tear them apart forever?"

Five years into marriage, Silvia Serra becomes both Dante Valenti's most lethal weapon and his most invisible presence. She shields him from bullets. She crosses a freezing river for him. Her scars accumulate, and his response is an assumption that it is how things are meant to be. In time, Dante grows repulsed by the violence clinging to her. He derides her lack of charm and gives his warmth to another woman instead. He allows others to grind down her dignity, and with a new lover in his arms, he openly stains her name. Silvia tolerates it so she can continue guarding him. Everyone mocks her as if she's numb to it all, driven away again and again, but never truly gone. Then comes the night of pounding rain. Cast aside without ceremony, Silvia erases every sign she was ever there and leaves with finality. Dante treats it as nothing more than sulking, convinced she will return within three days. Later, the once-untouchable Don was seen on his knees at Silvia's feet, stripped of all pride, begging her to turn back and look at him just once.

Angela Bailey spent six years believing her marriage was built on love, only to discover her devoted husband was nothing more than a polished illusion. When she filed for divorce and asked her daughter to leave with her, the little girl clung to another woman’s hand and called her “Mom.” Donald Turner, cold and entitled, told her, “As long as you apologize to Nina, you can still live your high-society life.” Angela scoffed. “You might not even stay in high society yourself.” She walked out of the Turner household with nothing, determined to rebuild her life from the ground up. With her own talent and grit, she joined a new company and went head-to-head with her ex. Just when Donald realized his mistake and wanted her back, another man stepped into Angela’s life—someone who protected her openly, supported her quietly, and cherished her without hesitation. Donald regretted everything and wanted her back. He appeared with their daughter, eyes red as he pleaded, “I’ll give you the entire Turner family. Please love me and our daughter again.” The man beside Angela laughed. “The Turner family? That means nothing. Angela doesn’t need it. And as for a daughter…” He looked at Angela, and together they said, “We already have one.”

Aliyah Sanchez, a twenty-seven years old young independent author, after she managed to get out of her first marriage that almost ruined her life, decided to live the rest of her life caring for her happiness, which was her daughter. Giving love another chance was the last thing she would ever do, but that would only last until she met Jeffrey Cooper, a thirty-two years old bachelor and the CEO of a publishing company, who was hell-bent on winning the single mom's heart over. Will Aliyah ever give him a chance?