The Good Lie

Our Black Friday sales broke ten million. I allocated a budget of $100,000 and told my deputy to organize a celebration dinner for the team. However, after the party ended, everyone in the team looked at me in disdain. I only realized the reason when I heard their complaints in the break room one day. “Ms. Heaton is such a cheapskate. We made ten million in sales, and she treated us with a $3.99 budget takeout for the celebration.” “Seriously, I heard from Ms. Reiser that Ms. Heaton kept the money for herself! She just didn’t want to spend it on us.” My assistant even showed me a post circulating online, accusing me of exploiting employees and lining my own pockets. I summoned my deputy manager, Casey Reiser, to my office. She fell to her knees in tears and confessed everything. “I’m so sorry, Ms. Heaton! My daughter needed emergency heart surgery. In a moment of weakness, I misused the funds!” However, I had clearly seen her daughter sign up for a dance class just yesterday! Since everyone was so quick to judge without knowing the truth, I would retract the team’s monthly budget of one million then!

I endured hundreds of injections just to give Stanley Brighton a child. He was moved to tears and held me, promising that even if we couldn't have children, he would love only me. I diligently followed the doctor's advice and underwent treatment. The day I confirmed my pregnancy, I was so excited that I wanted to rush home and share the good news with Stanley. But what awaited me was unimaginable. Stanley and the female tenant we shared the apartment with were lying naked together in the bathroom, sharing an intimate bath. He was behind her, holding her close, his lips incessantly biting at her earlobes. "I'll give you as many children as you want! Ten, eight—whatever it takes! Just divorce her!" "Alright, just give me some time. I'll divorce her for sure!" Hearing their whispered entanglement, I turned away, stepping into the rain, determined to leave. I would disappear to a place where Stanley could never find me, not in this lifetime.

After receiving the news that her husband had died during a mission, my sister-in-law collapsed from the shock. When she woke up, she'd lost her memory. She clung to my husband and refused to let go. Our husbands were twin brothers. The doctor said she couldn't be triggered, so my husband and mother-in-law sat me down and begged me to play along until she got over this. Every time I brought it up again, they shut me down. "This is only until she gets her memory back!" So I watched as my husband and his widowed sister-in-law eat, sleep, and live under the same roof. Even our daughter could only stand by and watch her cousin call him "Daddy". One day, my daughter spiked a high fever and wouldn't wake up. I begged my husband to take us to the hospital. Unexpectedly, his sister-in-law went berserk over it and threatened to kill herself. In the chaos, I was stabbed in the heart by the scissors she swung around. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back to the day my husband agreed to play the role of a substitute husband.

In the second month of my relationship with my best friend Sophie Vaughn's older brother, Elias Vaughn, Thanksgiving arrives. Sophie leans in, eyes gleaming with mischief. "Elias is bringing his girlfriend home for the holiday. Let's see what all the fuss is about." I take my time getting ready, heart fluttering with hope. Just maybe, I'll finally be formally introduced as his girlfriend. But the moment I step inside, I see him with another elegant, beautiful woman, smiling as he introduces her to his parents. "This is my girlfriend," he says. He then inadvertently looks over at me, stiffening for a moment, clearly caught off guard. But just as quickly, he recovers and turns to the woman beside him. "That woman over there is my sister's friend and a part-time student. You could say she's a maid in our household." A maid? As it turns out, I'm nothing more than someone for him to kiss and sleep with. I was never someone worthy of standing by his side publicly. I turn away and board the train back to Ashcroft University, choosing my future over another night in his bedroom.

Book 2 Princess Rori Sinclair has lived her whole life in the Palace or at the Mystical Academy. Her every movement is watched and is lived in a fish bowl with paparazzi taking photographs. Her life lived under the gaze of the public. Growing up she had close friends but something always drew her to her best friend Ben. As a twin has a close tie to her brother but even that pales in comparison to her need to be near Ben. Then suddenly Ben changes and like all the men in her life becomes controlling. Overnight her world crumbles, she had never liked the idea of mates she didn't want another person in her life with a claim over her that could change and hurt her. He knew her better than any one but that was before. Ben has always known on some level Rori was his mate. He felt something at sixteen but she was just fourteen so he needed to give her space. He had no choice but to distance himself from her. A push and pull dynamic developed between them. Now Ben has to fight his possessive nature, find a way to mend what he destroyed with Rori and give his mate the freedom she wants. The way to happiness is blocked by many hurdles, can a pampered Princess settle for a life with a working Alpha Bear in a rural place? Will a werewolf Princess even make a good Luna Bear? But more importantly can she stand firm with him against the threat of the hunters and an enemy with a grudge? The Royal Green wolf series. Book 1 The Alpha and the lost Celtic Princess Book 2 The Princess and the Bear.

At a gathering, I noticed that Jade Shaw, the woman that my best friend, Michael Ronan, had a crush on, slipped something into his drink. When she walked over and offered him the glass, I deliberately knocked it over, spilling the drugged wine and saving his life. She stormed off in anger. The very next day, she announced her engagement to someone else. Michael came to me in a rage, convinced that I had ruined things out of jealousy. "Taylor, if it weren't for your meddling, I would've already slept with her! She would've engaged with me instead! You just can't stand seeing me happy! You destroyed my love life! You'll pay for it with your life!" He shoved me off a high building. I died instantly. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day of the gathering. Michael was staring at Jade with a lovestruck expression. Then, he glared at me, warning me not to interfere. So, he had been reborn too. But what he didn't know was that the woman that he adored had always been disgusted by his persistence. What she put in the drink wasn't some aphrodisiac. It was something lethal that could kill him.

My older sister, Scarlet Dawson, is an absolute saint with a savior complex. When the apocalyptic heatwave hits us, she gives out water to our neighbors, food to strangers, and even invites her boyfriend's entire family to live with us. When our supplies are finally depleted, Scarlet actually considers selling me off to a perverted old man in exchange for supplies to look after her boyfriend, Marcus Crosby. I promptly pull out my stun gun and knock her unconscious. Then, I hand her straight to the perverted old man instead. I go back to my villa, where the temperature is constantly kept at 60°F, and enjoy a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream under the air conditioning. Not only that, but my villa is stocked with enough supplies to last me for the next few decades!

I'd been engaged to Ivan since we were kids. When he went off to the military, I stayed behind—ten years of caring for his paralyzed mom, putting my whole life on pause. By the time he came back, I was at the age where most women were settling down. And he showed up with someone else. Ivan laid it out, stone cold: "Nadia's my comrade's widow. If you want to marry me, you'll have to accept her too. Most of my pay goes to her. I promised I'd take care of her. She gets first pick of everything in the house. Don't like it? Then forget about getting married." I looked past him. Nadia stood there, tears dripping down her cheeks, playing the poor little victim. Right then, I ended it. No drama. No regrets. Signed up for the Rural Teaching Support Program the same day. Left love behind. Threw everything I had into teaching.

In the dangerous world of organized crime, love is a luxury few can afford. But for Andrea Lopez, the daughter of a powerful mafia family, it's the one thing she craves most. Despite her kindness and resilience, past traumas have left her wary of opening her heart. When fate brings her face-to-face with Stefano Costanzo once again—her best friend's brother and the ruthless don she's always longed for—sparks fly, and old wounds reopen. Stefano, a cold and ruthless mafia don, lives a life devoid of emotional attachments, harboring a secret pain known to few. Yet, seeing Andrea again after so many years reignites emotions he thought long buried. As they navigate the treacherous waters of their shared past and uncertain future, they're drawn inexorably together despite their best efforts to resist. But their reunion is not without peril. Stefano's dangerous world threatens to consume them both, and Andrea must confront not only her own demons but also the demons of the man she loves. Can they find redemption in each other's arms, or will their love be their undoing?   *** “Why the hell did you just do that?” I demand, my anger rising. “I’m trying to protect you,” he says, his eyes blazing. “Protect me from what? A good friend?” “He’s not who you think he is. I don’t trust him.” “You don’t trust him, or you’re worried he’ll take me away from you?” I challenge. Stefano’s eyebrow arches. “You think I’m worried he’ll take you away from me?” He leans in close, his lips brushing my ear. “Oh, luce del sole, no one can take you from me. You’re mine.”

Before the Callisto's became the alpha pack of Peskington, the Mazzeos, revered as the last azure pack, ruled over it. Then, in an ungodly massacre, the Mazzeos are displaced, and the Callisto's reigned as the head of the five families. As the last azure, Elyssa Mazzeo abandoned her family name, only returning years late to attend the Moon Ball where the alphas converge once a year, to finally get her revenge. But the goddess has other plans for her chosen. After her race through the Labyrinth, and torrents of revelations, she realizes she's a pawn in a game between the gods and the dark. When forced to pick a side, will the hunter become the hunted? Will she pursue her revenge or allow destiny to run its course?