The Lottery By Shirley Jackson Summary

Ellen noticed. Her arms crossed over her chest defensively and she glared hard at him, "Stop looking at me like that." Ivan tilted his head. "Like what? Like I want to pin you to a corner and make you scream my name?" "You’re sick." His voice was low. "You don’t even know what you’re doing to me." "I don’t care," she snapped. He stepped closer. Her back pressed instinctively against the wall. "You should." *** Ellen Adams, a college student who just came back for summer break witnessed the devil reincarnate- Ivan Vladimir, CEO of BSC Company demanding the money he lent her father for reviving his company. Immediately he set his eyes on her, he demanded Ellen to be used as a collateral till he pays back his debt. Will the ruthless CEO give Ellen’s father a leeway to pay back his debt?

Aria Holt knows she's walking into a trap. When Damien Cross offers her a job at his tech empire, she knows exactly why eight years ago, her father's company killed his sister and destroyed his family. This is revenge. She takes the job anyway. Her family's name is a curse everywhere else, and her father is dying. She'll endure Damien's cruelty if it means survival. But Damien doesn't just want to humiliate her professionally. He wants to break her, piece by piece, until she feels every ounce of pain he's carried for eight years. He'll control her days, invade her thoughts, and prove that he holds all the power. Except his plan begins to unravel. Behind closed doors, the punishment turns into obsession. The cruelty shifts into desperate need. And Aria—quiet, guilty Aria—starts pushing back in ways that shatter his carefully constructed walls. When the truth about the accident finally surfaces, Damien faces an impossible choice: complete his revenge and destroy the woman he's fallen for, or let go of the only thing that's kept him alive for eight years.

The silver fur of the rogue slowly vanished, and its four legs turned into a pair of hands and feet. Hair emerged, flowing from the top of its head and cascading down to its chest. The hair was beautiful, a silvery blonde, like a waterfall kissed by sunlight. Scott was stunned as he gazed upon the naked body lying before him. The rogue was... a woman? * Scott hates women. All because at seven, he witnessed his mother cheating with the Beta of Silvercrest, a pack led by his father. Since then, all that’s on Scott’s mind is how to give the best out of him as the Future Alpha. He never has time, nor cares, for love and a mate. However, when his father requires him to have a mate as a condition to become Alpha, he has no choice but to accept the arranged marriage set by his father. Scott thinks everything is settled until a rogue named Ciara comes into his life and claims him as her mate. Can Scott face Ciara, who is so possessive of him? And who Ciara really is? * Throughout her lifetime, Ciara has never known what it feels like to be part of a pack. Until an incident forces her to break into Silvercrest territory and leads her to meet Scott Griffith, the future Alpha who drives her wolf crazy. He wants her... but Scott rejects her. The only thing he wants from her is knowledge of her past. Yet Ciara won’t give it to him if all she gets is expulsion from his side.

Natalie Harper leads a simple life. A trained professional secretary, she had always been diligent, organized, and committed to staying out of trouble. Her uneventful life is upended when her gruff boss, Alexander Hayes-a wealthy CEO-makes her an offer she can't refuse: a marriage contract. Alexander needs a fiancée to save his reputation and to get that crucial business contract, and Natalie fits perfectly. From the beginning, it would seem pretty easy: she gets financial security, and he saves his company. But getting into Alexander's glittering world is far from simple. Thrown into a whirlwind of lavish parties, prying socialites, and Alexander's guarded past, Natalie quickly realizes she is in over her head. Things get even more complicated when Alexander's ex-fiancée resurfaces, determined to wreak havoc. As old secrets start to unravel, Natalie begins to question everything-especially her own feelings. The more time she spends by Alexander's side, the more impossible it is not to feel the emotions she was so determined to keep out of their deal. Is this a game he is playing, or is there really something genuine behind those cold and remote eyes? Can Natalie navigate his world of deceit and power, or will she lose herself in the process?

Elena Jones, a recessive omega, has spent the past twenty years living in the shadows, avoiding trouble and hiding her true identity. Life was finally beginning to fall into place—she’d found the love of her life and was planning her dream wedding. But everything shatters the night she saves a stranger during a rainy night. By morning, she's summoned to the Pack Leader’s Manor… and her carefully built world begins to crumble. The infamous and ruthless Alpha, Mikhail Sokolov, isn't just the man she had saved the last night but also the Pack Leader and her second mate. And worse, he’s obsessed. Elena will do anything to escape the grip of the dangerous Alpha, but Mikhail will stop at nothing to claim her—not even if it means burning down the world or destroying her in the process. Because if he can’t have her alive, he’ll take her dead.

In a country ruled by vampires, becoming a pet means losing everything—your dignity, your rights, your freedom. But Aria, with her golden eyes and warm brown skin, ends up as the only pet no one wants to buy. She’s an outsider, treated like a flaw in the system, pushed aside and looked down on her whole life. Until fate twists. The vampire prince, Dorian, chooses her—the one girl everyone else rejected. And from that moment on, Aria’s world turns upside down.

The deal was simple – have one dinner with the notorious crime lord, Declan Shaughnessy, and my dad’s gambling debts would be canceled. But I knew I was in deep trouble when he met me at the door looking fine as hell with those piercing blue eyes and a mouthwatering body built for sin. Over dinner, I could barely breathe when his hand grazed mine, and that wolfish grin set me quivering down below. An innocent slow dance quickly turned into a down-and-dirty horizontal mambo on his couch. Now I’ve become his burning obsession, and I’m trapped by the new debts my father owes the mafia. When that devilish grin spreads across Declan’s handsome face, I know that he'll never set me free-- especially now that I’m carrying his baby. ******** This steamy romantic suspense story is a standalone novel in the Wicked Billionaires Club series. Enjoy!

Aria and Destiny's world have collapsed, leaving them feeling devastated. Just when the sisters thought things couldn't get any worse, they are taken captive by the Crimson Moon Pack, a notorious werewolf group governed by a cruel Alpha king. Forced to endure the pains imposed upon them, they must find their freedom and escape through this dark time. As days pass by, a spark begins to grow inside Aria. She swears to reclaim her freedom and put her life back together again alongside her sister. Her will and determination become stronger with each passing day, but things become complicated when Destiny finds out she is the cruel Alpha king's mate!

"This is all your fault!" he seethes. His eyes ablaze, I could feel his rage creeping up my skin and leaving goosebumps behind. "We never should have met. You should never have gone down that alley, and we would never have met. I should have just listened to Marco and killed you." "I should never have taken you to... to..." his voice trails off as his expression mirrors that of anguish. He is in pain and it's all my fault. A knot forms in my throat as I attempt to reach out and touch him, to tell him that I had meant no harm. But for some reason, when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. It was as if I had suddenly lost my ability to speak. ***** Alessia Di Napoli accidentally witnessed a murder in an alley on her way back from work on a rainy night. She manages to escape and attempts to bury that traumatizing memory, but all hell breaks loose the next morning when the whole town of Verona seems to be talking only about the murder of the only son of Antonio Cappello, the second most dangerous mafia Lord in the city, and she had witnessed it. Betrayed by her best friend and with two mafia gangs after her, she falls into the hands of Dante Marino, the leading Mafia Lord in Verona. The need to protect his gang from a war with the Cappellos compels Dante to take responsibility for Alessia because she is the only person that can link him to the crime, and because his nemesis, Antonio, would do anything to get his hands on her. Alessia is thrown into the dangerous world of these Mafia Lords, and she gets a private insight into the life of Dante Marino.

Dysis Salmon’s life has been shaped by the cruelty of her father, a man consumed by debt and selfish ambition. Struggling to survive in the shadows of his abuse, Dysis is forced into a terrifying new reality when her father offers her as payment for his debts to Alexander Levi, a ruthless and powerful mafia leader. Alexander, a cold and calculating figure, is used to controlling everyone and everything around him, but Dysis is different. Her defiance ignites something in him, both a desire for power and an attraction he cannot ignore. Dysis discovers she has lost control of her life after being brought to the Levi estate, a world of luxury and peril. She discovers the harsh reality of being imprisoned in a golden cage: resistance might be her only chance to survive, but escape is impossible. Despite Alexander’s iron grip on her, Dysis finds an unlikely ally in Vee, a loyal maid and bodyguard who shares her own dark past. Together, they form a fragile bond, but Dysis’s escape attempts are swiftly punished by Alexander, whose growing feelings for her complicate his ruthless, mafia-driven world. Meanwhile, Lucian Everett, the family doctor, offers Dysis a glimpse of kindness amidst the chaos, stirring emotions that further unsettle her. As Dysis navigates this twisted power struggle, secrets about her father’s betrayal and Alexander’s tragic past begin to surface. Dysis must choose between fighting for her independence at all costs or submitting to Alexander's domination in a world full of deceit, deception, and relentless control. However, a terrifying foe that threatens to destroy them waits in the shadows. Love and survival are the ultimate goals in the sinister romance *Claimed by the Mafia Billionaire*, which is full of passion, power, and danger.