The Fix David Baldacci Novels & Stories

"I'm the only one that can have you, you belong to me now." He pins my arms to the wall behind me while leaning in. I catch his scent, forest pine. My head feels dizzy as he bites my bottom lip. "But why? I-I'm not, I don't deserve-" "Shut up Calvin and take off your clothes." ------------------------------------------------------- David is a star billionaire of a affluent company, having a very abundant net worth. He has it all, the amber fiery eyes that melts everyone in sight, the strong, chiseled facial features that make even the most blessed weep. He has everything, so he should feel like the most complete man in the world right? Not really. ============== Calvin's soft, sweet, quiet and in shambles whenever he thinks of his looks. Never was man as humbled as he. He let people walk over him since birth (quite literally since he chose to be born a day later since the actual day was a inconvenience to his mother) and could only mutter a small sorry whenever someone would tease him of his weight. Ever since a youngen, he dreamed of someone to accept him for what he looked like, but did he ever think he'd be able to find that? Nope. Maybe these two are the pieces they need to complete the shambled puzzle in their souls. Or maybe not, who knows? ---- All rights reserved.

Nia Whitaker built her reputation solving disasters for the powerful. As one of the most sought-after corporate crisis strategists in the country, she’s hired to clean up scandals that could destroy billion-dollar empires. But when a catastrophic data leak threatens SatoTech’s largest acquisition, Nia is pulled into a crisis unlike anything she’s handled before. Because the company’s heir isn’t just another client. Kenji Sato is brilliant, ruthless, and always three moves ahead. A tech empire rests on his shoulders, and he protects it with calculated precision. The deeper Nia digs into the breach threatening his company, the more she begins to suspect the impossible. The crisis may have been engineered. By Kenji himself. But corporate warfare is only the beginning. Rival companies move in the shadows. Government investigators begin asking dangerous questions. And someone inside Kenji’s world is willing to burn everything—including Nia—to seize control of the empire. Caught between enemies, betrayal, and a man whose obsession with her grows more dangerous by the day, Nia realizes she’s no longer just managing a crisis. She’s inside the war. And the man she’s supposed to expose may be the only one powerful enough to protect her. In a game where power is everything, and loyalty can cost you your life, one truth becomes impossible to ignore: Kenji Sato doesn’t just want Nia Whitaker to fix his empire. He wants her. And in his world, the things he wants… he claims.

Marie, a young beautiful woman who just graduated from college departs back to her family, she belongs to a branch of the Genovesse family and she is to be the Heir of her Family, she goes home to meet her Father who she hadn't seen in over four years, along with her brother but soon after her arrival. A Mafia Lord shows up, Mancini proposes a meeting with Marie's Father, to discuss matters concerning the Family, while Maries waited for her aging father to finish his meeting, she hears gun shots from the room her father was in. In a rush, she carries some men and breaks down the door just to see her father bleeding to death, at the same time she sees her father, Marie's is also shot by Mancini's right hand man, in her confusion she sees her father dying before her, she was also dying but she didn't care about any of that, she struggled to reach her father and prayed for a chance to save her father, to fix all of this, to save her family, afterwards Marie dies of blood loss from bullet wounds to her chest. Marie later wakes up in a plane going back to her family's house, in her confusion, she realizes she had gone back in time, back to when she had finished college and was returning back home. Now that she knew what was going to happen, will Marie be able to change the future and save her family or will be unable to change the unmovable hand of fate?

On the day I went to try on my wedding dress, Enzo had said he would come with me—but he never showed up. The train of the gown was too long. I stood alone in front of the mirror, bending over again and again to fix it more than a dozen times. The third time I stepped on the hem, my phone finally buzzed. 'Natalie just came back and isn't used to the weather here. I'll go pick her up. You try on the dress first.' The next second, a new post popped up on social media. Natalie had uploaded a photo. In it, Enzo was crouched in front of her, one hand wrapped around her slender ankle as he carefully fastened the strap of her high heels. The caption was only one line. 'He still couldn't bear to let me bend down.' When I tapped into the post, I saw that Enzo had already liked it. The bridal assistant sensed the shift in the air and tried to comfort me in a low voice. "Ms. Blackwood, Mr. Beck really cares about you. He was worried you might secretly diet and hurt your health, so he specifically told us not to alter the waistline any further." I smiled. He cared about me, yes. But his care had never stopped him from favoring someone else. I lowered my head and looked at the wedding dress on my body. Then it suddenly struck me. The thing that did not fit had never been the dress. It was this wedding.

"What do you want? I thought I warned you to stay away from me the last time we talked on the phone?” I said, with my hands across my chest. “Alexandria! What did I do wrong? Please tell me, if it's something I can fix, I will gladly do it! Why all this coldness towards me?” He said, moving closer towards me, and I did not move. Looking at his cute face, I sigh softly. “Fred, you did not do anything wrong, okay! We just had fun, and nothing more!” “Fun? Was that all it was to you?” He asked, his eyes turning red at my words. “Yeah! What else? I asked you out myself, didn't I?” “Yeah, but I thought we were dating? Alex, please don't do this to me! After what I have been through, I thought, I have finally found someone who is genuine, and sincere to fall in love with!” He said, with so much passion that I felt it a little bit. But then, I wasn't the type to love someone. "Can't you see? I have fallen in love with you! I'm head over heels for you, Alex!” He spoke softly, holding my hands again, and looking into my eyes. I could see the truth in his eyes, I could tell that he really does love me. But then, it's a pity that I can't feel anything for him.

When my boyfriend pressed the wrong elevator button for my sister's floor yet again, he gave me a blaming look. "Why didn't you remind me? Whatever. Since we're already outside her door, I might as well help Nicole change her broken lightbulb." I managed to force a bitter smile. There it was again. "Since we're already here." Ever since my sister, Nicole, moved into the penthouse of my apartment building a year ago, my boyfriend had consistently pressed the wrong button. When we were supposed to watch a movie together, he carried the champagne he bought straight to Nicole's door and knocked. When I had a raging fever and asked him to bring me medicine, he bought painkillers instead and delivered them to Nicole because she happened to have a headache. Even on my birthday, he walked right into Nicole's apartment carrying my birthday cake. "Since the cake is already at her place, let's just use it to celebrate your sister's housewarming," he had said. "And since I'm already here, the light in Nicole's living room is out. I'll fix it for her real quick." Right now, I watched as he walked into Nicole's apartment without even looking back. With an expressionless face, I hit the button to close the elevator doors. He had completely forgotten that my lease expired today. It was moving day. Since he chose Nicole, there was no reason for me to wait for him any longer.

TARA   A family custom forces me to run away from home, leaving me disgraced and my family in shame.   Just when I start making new friends, someone threatens to expose who I am and the person behind my nom de plume. The condition— a contract marriage.   So, what’s so different this time? The groom? Mad Shanewood— the achingly handsome, with waving red flags and an irrefutable passion.   But after a glimpse beneath his shallow exterior, there is a damaged soul who makes me feel as if I’m everything to him.   While the whole world is watching, our delicately fragile public image is at stake. And how is it that the one thing I never wanted has me fighting so hard to keep?   ***   MAD   I always get the deal done until my recklessness has thrown the company into a tailspin, derailing my path to a billion-dollar project. With my image under brutal public scrutiny, marriage is my last straw.   But Tara Montimer not only intrigues me. She’s kind-hearted and sexy as hell, and something deep in her eyes makes me doubt if I’m worthy of her.    For me, it’s not just fixing my reputation— the entrancing deposed princess didn’t only steal my breath away. She penetrates the protective wall around my heart.   Our goals may be aligned, but then there’s a disapproving father who is a King, constant threats around us, and a law that prevents us from getting married.   Will this razor-thin edge arrangement be enough to fix what’s been broken, or is something between us worth fighting for?

“Are you going to kill me?” Shawn whispered. Owen’s fingers slid up his throat, squeezing lightly as he backed him against the wall. “If I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t still be talking.” Shawn swallowed hard. “Then what do you want?” His mouth curved, giving him that dangerous rugged smile. “I’m deciding.” *** That morning, Shawn only wanted to finish his shift, collect his pay, and get back to the real problems waiting for him outside the hotel: tuition he couldn’t afford, a mother dying in a hospital bed, and a younger sister who still believed he could fix everything. Then he walked into the wrong suite. There was blood on white sheets. Fangs buried deep in a dying man’s throat. Crimson eyes meeting his across the room. The creature should have killed him. But no, it didn't. It let him run. Now it’s everywhere. In his dreams, his space and in his thoughts. Watching him. Waiting… And just when he thinks the nightmare can’t follow him into daylight, he learns. The vampire has a name. Owen Rothwell de Valemont, as old as history. And he’s Shawn’s new boss. Owen doesn’t chase him. He doesn’t threaten. He simply moves closer, adjusting the world around Shawn until escape becomes impossible. And Shawn, fear should drive him away. Instead it turns into something darker. Something harder to resist.

When my boyfriend hit the elevator button for my best friend's floor by mistake for the ninety-ninth time, he shot me an accusing look. "Why didn't you remind me? Forget it. Since we're already here, I might as well replace Gem's light bulb." I froze, then forced a thin smile. It was that line again. "Since we're already here." Ever since Gem Shaw moved into the apartment upstairs a year ago, my boyfriend Simon Lawson, had pressed the wrong floor every single time. When we were supposed to watch a movie together, he carried the milkshake to Gem's door and knocked. When my fever wouldn't break and I asked him to bring me medicine, he brought it to Gem's place instead because she had cramps. Our date for two became a movie for three, and my fever medicine became painkillers. Even on my birthday, he carried the cake to Gem's place. "Since we're already here, might as well celebrate your ten years of friendship." "Since we're already here, I might as well fix Gem's clogged drain for her." As I watched him walk into Gem's apartment without looking back, I silently pressed the close-door button. He had already forgotten that today was the day my lease ended, and it was also the day I was moving out. Since he was already here, he didn't need to come back to me.

Seven years into our marriage, my husband Theo ordered me an Americano, the way he always did. Except I'd just told him, again, that caffeine made me sick. The moment I opened my mouth to say something, his phone rang. He stood up and walked out without a word of explanation. Half an hour later, Lydia posted to her socials. "Thanks to a certain someone for taking time out of his insane schedule to fix my plumbing. Also, the fresh hot cocoa was incredible." The comments filled up with people gushing over her. Steam curled off the mug in the photo. It made the drink in my hand feel even colder. Lydia and Theo had grown up together. Seven years ago, within months of each other, they'd both rushed into marriage. The difference was that Lydia had married a man who hit her. Night after night, Theo would peel himself away from me and run off to defend her. Sometimes he'd fought with her husband and end up at the police station. It happened more than once. I used to think it was just his sense of justice, so I always cleaned up after him and smoothed things over. Now I could see it for what it was. He'd given so much of his attention to someone else that all I got were the leftovers, neglect and a cold shoulder. Fine. This love had already gone cold. I didn't want it anymore.