The Promise

I worked for a restaurant, and our boss loved making empty promises about giving us restaurant shares. The boss said we would start with zero shares, but we could earn 0.01% for every two hours of overtime, covering someone else’s work or saving the restaurant 1,000 bucks. I suggested she write this down in an official document and have someone track it properly. She just smiled and told everyone to work harder. She never actually put it in writing. The experienced staff did not believe her, but one prep cook took it seriously. At the end of the year, he went to the boss to claim his shares. The boss said, “Sorry, the head chef told me there’s no official document, so it doesn’t count. You can’t claim any shares.” The prep cook worked hard all year and got nothing for it, so he took his anger out on me. The day before I was going home for the New Year, he killed me with a knife. “If you hadn’t said it doesn’t count without an official document, this whole restaurant would’ve been mine!” I lay in a pool of blood. When I opened my eyes, I was back to the day the boss first made those empty promises.

Zachary Anderson, CEO and billionaire from the outside looks as though he has everything. A super model fiancés, money, and looks. One thing he hasn’t been able to achieve was happiness. An accident three years ago had him missing six months but nothing seemingly important happened and only deals with the slight headaches that came with it. Until he starts to remember. Remember a woman. A woman who saved his life. Evelyn Harris turned out to be far more than what he originally remembered. Can Zach keep his life together while dealing with this mystery woman? Or will everything he built over the last three years go down in flames?

Isabella Moretti, the spirited daughter of an Italian mafia boss, has always lived a life of luxury but dreams of freedom. Damian Volkov, the cold and ruthless heir to the Russian Bratva, hides a tragic past behind his icy demeanor. When their families arrange a marriage to secure a fragile truce, both feel like pawns in a deadly game. At first, they clash—Isabella defying the union and Damian seeing it as a mere duty. But after an assassination attempt throws them into danger, they are forced to rely on each other. As their partnership grows, they uncover a conspiracy threatening both their families, with betrayal coming from within. Through danger, bloodshed, and secrets, Isabella and Damian begin to see each other’s true selves, and their reluctant alliance turns into genuine love. Together, they fight to protect their families and rise above the chaos, discovering that even in the darkest world, love can be their strongest weapon.

"Henceforth, you will live here. You belong to me now." Ryan declared, his deep voice slicing through my defenses. --- At just twenty-two, Jack Harris was on the brink of despair in the dangerous Stone City. Alone in the world and struggling to survive, he was ready to give up. Then, he crossed paths with Ryan Thompson, the man who held the city in his grasp. By day, Ryan was a charming CEO; by night, he ruled as the feared Mafia boss. Rather than seeing Jack as a victim, Ryan perceived him as the universe's gift to him. He offered Jack a chance at life, unaware that the price would entail facing his deepest fears. Ryan quickly became fixated on Jack, drawn in by the very terror Jack embodied. After enduring a series of pain, terrifying BDSM and displays of dominance, Jack ultimately surrendered, marking the most significant compromise of his life.

When Damian Bernardi, heir to one of America’s most ruthless crime families, is forced into an arranged marriage with Sophia Morelli, he believes his greatest problem is escaping a wedding he never wanted. Sophia is ambitious and dangerous, willing to weaponize anything, including her twin sister Sareena, the prodigy who fled the family years ago, to secure her place at Damian’s side. What begins as a broken engagement spirals into a war of reputations, betrayals, and blackmail. Sareena’s return drags her back into a world of secrets she swore to leave behind, and Damian is pulled into a love that could ruin them both. In the Mafia, nothing stays hidden forever. Every lie demands proof, every betrayal demands blood, and every truth comes with a cost.

Giulia Cavalieri grew up running from the mafia, and she always knew that one day they would find her. Fruit of a forbidden marriage between his mother, sister of a capo from Chicago, and a member of the Russian mafia, sealed his fate, and aroused the fury of the Villani family. Five years ago Giulia was entrusted to the care of the same hands that welcomed her mother, when she had nowhere to run, in the care of the sisters of a small convent a few kilometers from Rome. Now, about to complete adulthood she is awakened with gunshots in the middle of the night, and tries to escape, even knowing that it is impossible to escape from Michael Villani. Michael knew that the marriage between his parents was an arrangement, which is very common in the mafia, but what he never imagined was that his father had loved Donatella Cavalieri all his life. On his deathbed, Erico makes a last request to him, who claims Giulia, and ensures that she stays under his protection as his wife. All Giulia wanted was an ordinary life, studying, traveling, knowing the world. Among Michael’s goals, marriage would appear, and he was very happy with Carolyn, his mistress. But an agreement must be made in the name of peace between men of honor. Kept in a property and watched constantly, Giulia sees little of her future husband, until the night of her eighteenth birthday, when the engagement would be announced. When Michael kisses her, after putting the expensive ring on her finger, a spark ignites between them, in acombination of attraction and repulsion. Two sides of a story that had a tragic outcome that can either hate each other all their lives, or allow themselves to live an overwhelming love story.

Seven years into their marriage, Bella got hit with a truth—Steven had a kid. A six-year-old. She crouched behind the preschool slide, barely breathing, as Steven bent down to scoop the boy up. "Daddy, you haven't come to see me in forever." "Be good, Ollie. Work's been crazy. Listen to your mom, alright?" Bella froze. Same face. Same eyes. It was obvious. Everything about them screamed it—The man who swore he'd love her forever had been cheating on her this whole time. Steven and Bella weren't just a couple. They were childhood sweethearts. She once took a knife for him. Nearly died. Lost their baby. Lost the chance to ever have one again. Steven had held her hand back then, eyes red, saying, "I don't care if we never have kids. As long as I have you, that's enough." She still heard the shake in his voice. Now? Every promise. Every memory. All of it—gone.

Atasha Quinn thought she had a perfectly planned life not until a promise from the past hunts her down. Atasha has one goal in life and that is to become a well-known neurosurgeon but when Conrad Sawyer appeared in the picture her dreams came crashing down because Conrad made her realize that her life is full of lies. Atasha refused to accept her written fate but no matter how hard she tries to deny she can't change the fact that she is bound to marry Conrad, a ruthless Mafia who messed up everything. Atasha was forced to live in a world where she was told what to do but when secrets from the past unveils she found the strength to fight and get her sweetest revenge. Will love sprout when one's heart is filled with hate and pain?

Kaden Zacarias and I have been together for a decade. He gives me all his love throughout that time. But one day, I see the news of him marrying Gwendolyn Crawford as part of a marriage alliance. He tells his friends, "I'm only fooling around with Ella—does she think I'll actually marry her? It's not like my parents will ever agree to it. I can just keep her around as a mistress after getting married. Remember to keep your mouths shut about this." Our decade-long love goes up in flames, but I don't question him. Instead, I call my father with a withered heart and say, "I'll go through with the marriage alliance. I'll leave the country."

Ellyse Kennedy and Kai Laurent have been married for six years. During those years, their marriage was spent apart with Kai being on business trips and Elleyse caring for their child at home. It was an arranged, loveless marriage and Ellyse has had enough. The moment she finds out that her husband was meeting with his ex girlfriend after finding out that she was pregnant again, her desire to file for divorce ignited. When Kai went home to find divorce papers sitting on top of his desk with his wife’s signature, he demanded her to come home. “Divorce? Have you lost your mind?” Kai says with emphasis on each word, confusion dripping from his eyes. It was the very first time Ellyse saw her husband show any emotions after six years.