The Manipulated Man Book Novels & Stories

’ I was now married to not just any man, but a Made man, a dangerously handsome man, a soon-to-be Bratva. It felt all too wrong, but I had to live with it. There was nothing I could do about it. “Thank you.” I returned her smile with the same enthusiasm. “Lead her to my room.” Vincenzo ordered and my head whipped in his direction. A Made man never cracks a joke and Vincenzo wouldn’t be the first. To ease the tension warming up in the form of a pool in my stomach, I had counted his earlier words as a joke.

The sealed book trembled once. Then became still again. The gray-coated man folded his hands behind his back. "You've spent your life searching for answers." "But answers change people." "Sometimes..." "...they erase them." The woman stepped forward. "If you know so much..." "Why not open it yourself?" A faint smile crossed the stranger's face. "I tried." "I couldn't." "The book refuses anyone..." "...except its rightful Author." Silence. Every gaze slowly turned toward Adrian. The silver lock on the black book reflected his face.

“I want to tell you what kind of book it is. Not what the back cover says you’ve read that. What I think it actually is.” I looked at the room. “It’s a book about a man,” I said. “Specifically, a particular man his hands, his voice, the strong black tea he drank every morning for thirty years, the way he cried at my school graduation and didn’t pretend he hadn’t. The way he cooked on Saturday afternoons and believed, without sentimentality, that paying full attention to the small things was the substance of a life.” I paused. “It’s also a book about what happened to him. What was constructed and deployed against him by people who found him threatening and found it convenient to remove him. W

"I tell ye my friend, I didn't change 'er mind nor did she want to give me the book. I used my charms on 'er by making 'er mind. No, why should I lie to ye? In all honesty, I took the book without 'er knowin'." Louisa looked at her friend with horror. "You stole the book?" "Stole? That's what ye'd call it. But I am telling ye the truth; what I did was takin' and not stealin'. But if ye say I stole it, then I did. I did it for ye, Louisa. I had sleepless night thinkin' of the book for yer sake. I thought and thought askin' myself 'ow will I get it?', and the one thing came to my mind that night like a whisper. Ye should understand it was night; a night is a time of the dark to manipulate our

Manik smiles. The white Iru enveloping him vanishes. “Harasho is the most reasonable dogma. You can say that it projects the current life.” Manik reaches into his jacket pockets and draws their contents. There are two books on his hands. A pink book with a couple smiling at each other on a heart frame on the cover is on his right hand and a red book with a short hair woman crying on the cover is on his left hand. “Which Doujin do you like, Your Highness?” Manik asked.

And leaned back. Surely, there must be a rule that I can manipulate against the High Council to get Elora out. There has to be. I just need to figure it out. A book came to my mind. It was a book I glimpsed ‌years ago. A book that spells out some complications of the council and how people can manipulate it to serve justice. I jumped to my feet. It has to be on one of the shelves in this room. As I stood up, I glimpsed what I hadn’t noticed on my desk before now.

That implies they would need to apprehend Killian. "Or deceive him into taking part," Selena continued somberly. With each new discovery becoming more horrifying than the previous, the pieces began to fit together. Veyron was tampering with the core fabric of our relationship, not only using force. I was bothered by something else, however. "The margin notes in this book... they mention manipulation," I answered slowly, "Selena." Command. Her expression clouded. "The reason for this is that the person who completes the ritual gains control over the one who lives."

The memories flowed in like a broken dam. The man said there was some group of people who were after him. They had been looking for a book. When he heard a book, he knew immediately what the man meant. He checked the house and his eyes caught the book in a conspicuous position. The man had told him the implantation of what would happen. But he left the man there. He had no idea if the man died it not. And to be frank, he didn't care. He had gone to the forest to learn a part of the magic. He still felt the pain he felt that day.

“An affidavit. A clear narrative that Mr. Vance used his foundation, his money, and his influence to manipulate her.” Sameer stared at him. “She won’t sign anything,” he said. “She chose him.” The words tasted bitter. “People under pressure don’t always recognize manipulation,” the man replied. “She’s not stupid.” “No,” the man agreed. “She’s loyal.” A pause. “And loyalty can be redirected.” Sameer felt something cold creep up his spine. “How?” The man leaned forward slightly. “Sometimes,” he said evenly, “people only break away when the illusion shatters.”

“I did. I planned the entire thing, Harold. I manipulated you. I lied to you from the very start. Valentina has always been telling the truth... and I am the mastermind behind everything.” I could feel the color drain from my face in a sickening wave. The room tilted slightly beneath my boots. “You made it so incredibly easy,” she continued, her voice dripping with absolute disdain. “Loyal, desperate, obsessed and predictable. You practically begged to be manipulated, and I simply gave you exactly what you wanted.” How was this even humanly possible? My breathing became shallow and uneven, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. “You wouldn’t. You couldn’t have done that.”