The Forty Five

After five long years of dating, Winona Shaw finally said yes. I was elated, like a scavenger who'd struck gold. I put everything I had into the engagement party, but out of the blue, Winona embraced Claude Landton instead. She even tried to frame me and boot me to jail. I canceled the party and called the cops instead. That made Winona mad, and Claude started panicking. Icily, I said, "Now, calm down. We have a lot of trials to go through. See you in court."

That year, during the Sicilian arms trafficking conflict, my lover of three years, Silvio, deliberately betrayed my transport routes at a critical moment in a deal with the rival "DiMarco" family, causing me to lose all my territory. He immediately defected to the DiMarco family's leader Marina, becoming her lover. As he left, he didn't even bother to disguise his betrayal, coldly tossing out, "What we had was just business, nothing personal." While I was burdened with my family's blood debts and pushed to the edge of a cliff, Lorenzo, who had secretly harbored feelings for me since childhood, found me and offered his family's entire fortune. "Isabella, don't be afraid. In my eyes, you'll always be Sicily's most formidable Queen of the Arms Trade," he said. He took the Colt pistol from my hand, and his voice was gentle yet resolute. Five years later, my power resurged. I was about to completely crush Marina's smuggling network and reclaim everything I had lost. My caporegimes, the captains of my organization, were ready and waiting for my command. But on the night before the operation, my weapons warehouse suddenly exploded, turning priceless arms into worthless scrap metal. I barely escaped through the thick smoke, my body covered in burns. In a secluded monastery, I overheard Lorenzo and Silvio whispering outside my door. "You really had the guts to blow up the arsenal. Weren't you afraid of blasting her to pieces too?" Silvio's voice carried a mocking tone. "If she died, just died. I've always loved Marina. If it weren't for that unlucky family marriage lottery five years ago, I wouldn't have had to endure this ugly bitch for all this time." Lorenzo's voice was ice-cold and unfamiliar. I closed my eyes, feeling like a dagger had pierced my chest. Explosion. Arranged marriage. Ugly bitch. So those five years of shared hardship were just his unwilling choice after losing a high-stakes gamble. "I married her to keep watch. If it weren't for me paving

"You can't keep dancing with the Devil and wonder why you're still in hell. It was my fault to trust you again." I created this hell for myself. "In the end, it's her over me." Tears of betrayal slide down my cheeks, and Denzel looks at me desperately. However, I don't care. I feel so much at once that I feel nothing at all. I should've killed him when I had the chance. ****** Naomi West fled her wedding to the ruthless and domineering billionaire of the state. Five years later, she has to come back home for work. But on top of being constantly at threats and stalked by a creepy fan, things take a different turn when she encounters Denzel Flynn, her ex. And Naomi must do all she can to keep Denzel away from her son. However, Denzel has other plans for Naomi. He will do anything to get her and his son back in his life, even if it means getting rid of her lover, Marcus. And as they come together to solve their grudges, their enemies hide in the shadows, waiting to strike. And their friends abandon them. Naomi and Denzel can only rely on each other. But how can Naomi trust Denzel when she's just a substitute for his ex? When he possesses no genuine feelings for her? Will the history from five years ago repeat itself and force her to lose everything again?

Alpha's first mating. As tradition demands in the Grey-Halfmoon Pack located on the west side of the paramount island hidden from curious human eyes. The next Alpha to rule the pack had rules to follow before being crowned the Alpha of the pack. Young Aiden was no different. Like his father before him Aiden had to attend the alpha's training that took almost six and half years to complete, and he hadn't seen the pack and his parent for over six years now but now that he was back, and ready to serve his pack and take over from his father, the second tradition that was performed every twenty one years had to commence. It is a tradition where five she-wolves from the pack, aged from eighteen to twenty were chosen by the highly respected Seer, which the pack has trusted for over seventy years to help guard the island and foresee the future. She was the closest thing to talking to the goddess herself. And not once in seventy years was the woman wrong, and this year she had planned to the same thing she did for the previous alpha, and find Aiden the woman who will compliment him and help rule the pack beside him not forgetting that the woman would prove to be fertile and able to give the pack their next Alpha to rule after Aiden. This year was not different, tradition would be followed, and the pack house was getting ready to welcome the five chosen, and let the Alpha's first mating resume.

I am Pearl Gem Valley. An omega. From one of the lowest tribes in the Wolf Empire. A world ruled by a cruel system where omegas are spat on and branded as slaves from birth. Five years ago, I saved the life of the Alpha Prince, Kade King Majesty, and he repaid me with a proposal, right in the middle of the omega ghetto. Obsessed at first sight. In love at first glance. I said yes. Little did I know I was just a pawn used to provoke his longtime lover. I was used. Betrayed. Abandoned after my role was served by Kade King Majesty himself while his mother, the ruthless Queen of the Wolf Empire, made my family pay for daring to dream that I could ever be anything more than an omega. All was lost… or so I thought. Until the cruelest revelation came from a doctor. Five years of grief had shrunk my heart, leaving me with only 90 days left to live. Stunned by fate. Abandoned by destiny. I decided to take the law into my own hands. I will make him pay… tenfold. I will make sure using me becomes his last regret. And as if the Moon Goddess herself supported my quest, Kade King Majesty returned but this time, as the King of the Wolf Empire. His eyes softened. Possession burned in them. And then he said those words. “I want you back, Omega. This time, I am claiming you for myself.”

Then, I feel it. That cold current in the atmosphere that screams all too loudly of one name. The name I dreaded the most in the whole world and beyond. Lycan king Duncan Smith, my ex-husband! Our shock mirrors each other as we lock gazes but mine is worse. “Ma’am, here’s the man that found your son. Alpha Duncan!” ***** In one single day, Lyra's marriage is turned upside down, as her husband, the Lycan king, brings in a pregnant woman who is none other than the woman who tormented her endlessly in her previous pack. But that is just the beginning. Lyra soon finds out that her husband has never truly loved her. He was only trying to use her for his selfish purpose, and to top it all, she gets framed for treason and thrown out of the pack. Determined to make a name for herself and pay back those who betrayed her in their own coins, she goes back into her old pack. Five years later, she's now the Alpha of the Blood Moon pack and what more can she ask for when she has the most protective and supportive beta by her side who plays "daddy" roles to her five year old son. What happens when some unexpected spark begin to ignite between them? But things are always not predictable in life— Her ex-husband soon regrets his actions and comes back begging on his knees.

He snaked his arm around my waist and pressed my body against his. I stiffened in his hold, frozen with fear, anger, and a strange desire pulsing through my veins. “I’m Dante Romero, sweetheart.” His voice was low with a dangerously seductive edge, and I flushed with heat. “There are a lot of things I would dare that are beyond your imagination.” Dante tilted his head, placing his sinfully enticing lips above my ear. “I’m giving you a choice, Olivia: move in with me or get ready to never see your boys again.” ~~ Five years after a blurry one-night stand that led to a major sex scandal, Olivia Miller returns to Los Angeles with her triplet sons to start a new, peaceful life. That was until Dante Romero, the ruthless, cold-hearted CEO, barged into her life, outraged at her for hiding his children. Much to her dismay, he gives her two options: fight him for custody of their sons or move in with him. Helpless and afraid to lose her sons, Olivia decides to move in but vows to avoid him at all costs. But how could she when Dante, who claims she was paid to set him up and despise her, remains at her side, luring her in like a terrible dark temptation? What really happened five years ago on that dark, passionate night, and how is it tied to the death threats she’s receiving? ~Book one of The Billionaires' Lovers Series~

You're the spawn of that monster, so tell me, did you really think the Moon Goddess pairing us together was a blessing?" His voice was low and cold and his grip on my chin burned. "Then reject me!" I spat in defiance, although my fists were trembling from the aura this man let out. A dark laugh escaped his lips. "Reject you? No, little red. My brothers and I have a better plan. We're going to keep you. And then we'll make you wish that you died a million times over." Hailey Yuriel fled the moment she accidentally killed her tyrant of a father. For years, she hid and survived in the gutter, her sharp mind her only tool Her plan was simple. Never let them catch you, but fate had a way of being cruel. A brutal accident hurls her straight into the arms of the five Grey brothers - the ruthless Alphas of the Blood Moon Pack. The very men whose family her tyrant of a father destroyed. The moment their eyes meet, something impossible happens. The mate bond ignites between them. All five of them. Now, Hailey is a prisoner of their revenge especially since they can’t reject her, so they vow to make her life a living hell. But Hailey is no docile woman. She’s a survivor and she won't let them break her. At least that's what she thinks.

Elina Hemsworth ran away from her happy marriage because she lost another child to miscarriage. She's been married to Noah Woods for five years and she knows what havoc the news would bring to him. She ran, ignoring his calls and blocking him, only leaving him with a text that she is sorry for what she has cost him. She created a new life for herself, hoping that her old life would stay dead, but that is not always how it ends. Noah Woods was hurt. The separation left him cold and hard hearted. He believed Elina left him because she found someone else and that he wasn't good enough to take care of her. He focuses all of that pain into his business and immediately, skyrocketed to be one of the biggest billionaires in New York. To him, Elina was dead, but dead things still find a way back to life. Noah Woods hired a big interior designer to help design a new estate of his and he is beyond shocked to find out that it is none other than his wife that left him five years ago. As old wounds opened and secrets surfaced, Elina and Noah found themselves caught between the past they never healed from, but when a blackmailer threatened to expose everything, love may no longer be enough to save them. This time, the truth doesn't hurt, it could destroy them both.

Billionaire heiress Julia Wilson had come to loathe Christmas. Five years ago, it had shattered her life when she walked in on her husband, Ryan Thompson, in what appeared to be a compromising position with his secretary. The heartbreak had forced her into premature labor. By the time her twins, Lucien and Olivia, were born, she’d signed the divorce papers, severing ties with the man she once loved. Ever since, Julia buried her pain behind an iron-clad business persona, working herself and her employees to the bone every holiday season to escape the memories of her ruined Christmas. For Ryan Thompson, Christmas was no easier. A top-tier lawyer and businessman infamous for his undefeated courtroom record, Ryan’s victories felt hollow compared to the loss of his family. A misunderstanding had cost him his wife and the chance to watch his twins grow. For five years, he’d kept his distance, silently watching over Julia and their children, waiting for the right time to make amends and reclaim what he had lost. A chance encounter with a stranger leads him to his family’s doorstep, dressed as Santa Claus. Will Julia slam the door in his face, or will she accept him for the sake of their children? Can they rekindle their love and fulfill the twins’ Christmas wish, or will their relationship burn in the wake of his betrayal? What Julia doesn’t know is that fate—or perhaps the twins’ clever planning—has something else in store.