The Man By The Sea

The news that Angelo Rizzo was becoming the new Don of Brucklin District had spread throughout the entire family. Everyone knew except me, Lila Bennett, his fiancee. He had always thought I was childish, like an irritating tail he couldn't shake off, sticking to him wherever he went. "I've only managed to bag Brucklin District all thanks to Cyrus." The study door was ajar as the scent of cigar smoke drifted out along with his voice. "Lila? Why bring her up? She's annoying. Like a piece of gum stuck to your hair." I crouched on the hallway carpet, lost in thought. Before, it was always Angelo leaving first and me realizing it too late. This time, I wanted to surprise him by going to Brucklin ahead of him. When he saw me there first, he'd realize that I was smart. But the next day, at the bus station, when the driver asked where I was going, I mixed Brucklin and Mannattan up. The driver grew impatient. Afraid he'd call me an idiot like Angelo would, I hurriedly shove the money at him. "To Mannattan! I'm going to Mannattan District!"

Raine’s life was forever changed on the night she was supposed to be joined to Alpha Ronan. Instead of a romantic mating ceremony, Ronan rejected her in front of the entire pack, leaving her shattered and humiliated. In a desperate bid to reunite with him after her banishment, Raine returned to the pack, her emotions in turmoil. In a drunken haze, Raine made a reckless decision that would change her life forever. She spent the night with the alpha of her dreams, only to wake up the next morning in the wrong room and on the wrong bed. The man she had given herself to was not Ronan, but his father, Matthias Draven - the untouchable and forbidden alpha of the Draven pack.

My boyfriend, Miles, finally invited me to his family’s Christmas dinner. I passed out on the way there. Half-conscious, I heard him whisper, “Sorry, Eva. Those thugs said you’re just their boss’s type. Too pretty for your own good, babe. Blame that—not me.” “Don’t be scared. If you help me pay off the debt… maybe they’ll let me have you back. I’ll make it up to you. For the rest of your life, I swear.” He wheeled me through the back of a casino. My family’s casino. The boss he was selling me to… was my brother. Ever since our parents died in a crossfire, my brother had taken full responsibility for me. More than a brother, he’d become a father figure—a protector. My stupid boyfriend should be scared—he had no idea how fiercely my brother protected me, or how ruthless he could be to anyone who dared hurt me.

Everyone thinks Jimmy Hudson, my college roommate, is the typical brutally honest and socially clueless guy who just has zero filter sometimes. A friend and I meet up to go boxing and practice our hooks, but he calls it a hookup when texting the group chat about it. He even nonchalantly says he won't be deleting his message. When I meet my boxing buddy, he says I'm meeting my hookup buddy. He even has the nerve to say, "It's just a joke. Don't be overly sensitive and read so much into it." Thanks to a few more of his dirty tricks, my reputation is ruined, and the entire class ostracizes me. But Jimmy doesn't stop there. He slips sleeping pills into my drink, which leads me to miss an exam. Later, he claims it was just a careless mistake and blames it on his scatterbrained tendencies. Eventually, he dumps crushed cherry pits into my water bottle, which ends up poisoning me to death. This all happened because our campus belle, whom he has a crush on, helped me with my luggage on our first day on campus. All of a sudden, my eyes open again. I've returned to the first day of my freshman year at college. This time, I'm going to let Jimmy get a taste of what it's like to have his life ruined with a helping of some social cluelessness of my own.

The 99th time my fiancé, Draven, hung up on me, I dragged myself to the family's church, my diagnosis of end-stage renal disease clutched in my hand. "Father, I wish to renounce the Rocci family and break off my engagement to Draven Frost." The words had barely left my lips when my parents burst in with my adopted sister, Bianca. My father, the family's Consigliere, didn't hesitate. He slapped me across the face, right there in front of the priest. "Your fiancé is a respected Capo in our world, and you choose to insult him like this!" "You're dragging our family's name through the mud in front of the whole organization!" My mother snatched the diagnosis from my hand, sneering after a brief glance. "Playing sick for attention again, are you? What is it you want this time?" My adopted sister, Bianca, clung to our parents' arms, her voice choked with tears. "I'm so sorry, sister. You can have my place at the gala. Please, just stop making trouble for Mom and Dad!" I wiped the blood trickling from my nose and calmly repeated my words to the priest. "I am no longer a daughter of the Rocci family. I am not worthy of an alliance with the Frosts." "I will be dead in three days. I want this engagement broken before then."

WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS EXPLICIT SCENES AND MATURE ELEMENTS, SUITABLE ONLY FOR READERS AGED 18 AND ABOVE. On the day of a billion wedding, the bride disappears without a trace. With their family on the edge of ruin, Yvo Valdez makes a desperate choice. He takes his twin sister’s place, hides behind a veil, and marries a man he has never met. He only needs to survive the ceremony. He only needs to escape. But everything falls apart the moment the groom lifts the veil. Because Alessandro Montenegro already knows. Now, the ruthless trillionaire CEO keeps him and trapped in a marriage built on lies, Yvo is forced to play the perfect spouse while searching for his missing sister. But the longer he stays, the more dangerous things become. Now Yvo must decide. Run while he still can… Or stay with the man who refuses to let him go.

Eliza's whole life is turned upside down when she crashes and rolls her car. A mysteriously beautiful man walks into the wreckage and saves her, but as she gets a better look at her hero, she knows he is more than just a human. Now it seems as though she is connected to this sexy demon and their fates are tangled together somehow, but humans don't bond to demons, do they? In search of answers, they adventure out together on a journey to find someone who may know and to escape the demons that are following them, threatening to get to Eliza before Ash can keep her from all the dangers that lurk in the shadows. Will Eliza be safe with Ash or is this love too dangerous even for a demon.

Alessandro, a name which can make men double his size shudder with fear. He is the Boss of the Russian outfit. He made a mistake, that he knows he would regret as long as he lives. A mistake which almost cost him his outfit. He never let anyone see how deeply that one mistake affected him. But it did. He decided to kill everyone who backstabbed him. That's when he saw Olivia. She was brought as a peace offering by her step mother to save her father's life. The same father who betrayed Alesso by helping his cousin Victor. He is not interested in school girls who are too innocent to stay alive in their world for long. But something in Olivia pulled to him, begging for mercy and help. He wanted to refuse her and kill her father. But he couldn't. So he bought her as his slave. Thus began their journey. This was something he was not expecting. She hated his guts. He saw how much she loathe him. But that never bothered him, until she started affecting him. He used to have fun when she is riled up. He loved when she is flustered. Making her go red with anger and frustration was his favorite. She was his reprieve from his guilt. A light at the end of a dark tunnel, which never seems to have an end.

YOLO! You only live once.That is my motto in life. I don't care about what other people would say and think about me. I am me. And others' opinions don't matter.I am Alexa Lopez, Alex for short. Everyone calls me by that name, including my parents. I am a proud lesbian and I am lucky that my parents accept me for who I am but sometimes my mom still wishes that I will wake up to my senses one day and meet a man.Me? Meeting a man? Yuck!I heard many times from my friends and some relatives that I look pretty. They said I have a good body and they are sure that if I am a straight girl, many boys will chase after me.But that will never happen. I am not pretty, I am handsome.I am 17 years old, still a teenager and young as they say but I am already mature. I already had 3 girlfriends in the past and all of them were head over heals at me. I can't blame them, I treated them nicely and I did my best to be a good partner for them, giving them gifts, accompanying them when they go shopping and help them with their studies. I sometimes even do their homework and their projects.I am the only child in my family and I must say we are financially stable. My dad is a lawyer and my mom is a dermatologist.I am currently a senior high school student in Mary Poppins International School and I am also one of the varsity players of the women's basketball team. I am quite famous I must say.It may seem that I have everything, but inside this tough person is still a fragile lady.

In the third year after my fiancée, Iris Ford, falls off a cliff during a sketching trip in the mountains, I accidentally walk into her personal art exhibition. The person I have longed for day and night is right there, gently adjusting the scarf of the young man beside her. The walls are covered with portraits she once promises to paint only for me, but every subject of her paintings is that young man. Violet Bardot, Iris' best friend and the one who once helps me handle her funeral affairs, grabs me anxiously. "Graham, don't do anything rash. Iris has her reasons. After Jack Glenwood saved her, she suffered from a head injury and lost her memory. She didn't mean to stay away." I smile at how ridiculous she is. "It's one thing if Iris lost her memories, but did you lose yours too? Since Iris is still alive, why do you not bring her back? You've watched me live in pain and misery for three years. I had to rely on sleeping pills just to get by. Do you find that amusing?" Violet falls silent and doesn't dare to look at me again. The young man named Jack hides behind Iris timidly. In the next moment, Iris turns to look at me with a frosty expression. "Mr. Stevens, I do not wish to go back. The person I love now is Jack. Since I've forgotten my past, just treat it as memories from a previous lifetime."