Novel & Cerita The Queen Of Hearts

Harry DuBois is the name everyone knows. At 6'4", sharply dressed, with silver at his temples and a velvet voice, he commands attention the moment he enters a room. Owner of DuBois Fine Arts & Jazz Lounge, the town’s cultural heartbeat, he offers a haven for music, poetry, and taste. Women adore him, men envy him, and all assume he’s living the dream. But Harry is haunted. Beneath success lies a past that won’t let him go, a tragedy he never speaks of. For Harry, love isn’t just risky, it’s dangerous. He’s a single father to Naomi, his teenage daughter, the only light he’s allowed to stay. Yet even with her, there are walls. When new art curator Elena Rivera arrives from New York to partner with his lounge on a revival series, a celebration of Black art, music, and history. Harry is drawn to someone he hasn’t been with in decades. But Elena has secrets, and she’s starting to notice cracks in Harry’s perfect image. As past and present collide, Harry is forced to confront the pain he has buried for over 25 years. A love lost, a betrayal unforgiving, and a night that changed everything. The question is: can Harry finally allow himself to feel again, or will the past claim him once and for all?

I was born into hardship, but my beauty led to my adoption by the Maddox family. When I was 18, they brought home two boys. Dustin Holland, a piano prodigy, quickly bonded with my sister, who was the darling of our social circle. Nathan Holland remained in the shadows. He didn't like to talk, laugh, or even show the normal emotional fluctuations of a person. His stubborn, wooden gaze was like that of an abandoned stray dog. Diagnosed with emotional detachment disorder, he became my project. I vowed to heal him. He locked me in a dark room, scarred my face with a branch, and encased my favorite doll in plaster. I forgave it all, thinking he was just traumatized. The elite in the circle mocked us, urging me to abandon him, but I kissed him publicly, declaring, "I love Nathan. Anyone who hurts him will pay." Then a fire tore through our home. Nathan stepped over my broken body to save my sister, his eyes wet with rare tears. Turned out, his disorder had a cure. It was just not me. Reborn on the day they arrived, I looked at the taciturn boy and sneered, "Dad, must we take in every stray?"

With her father's design company bankrupt and her mother's medical bills crushing her, Elara Quinn had 72 hours before she loses everything. Then Lucien Blackwood walks into her office with an insane offer: marry him for one year, get paid $3 million and save everything. The catch? A contract. Lucien needed a wife to secure his inheritance after his grandfather's will trapped him with a deadline to get married before the age of thirty three. He needs someone who would marry him. Someone desperate enough to follow the contract but proud enough to make it believable. Someone he could never actually fall for. Elara needed money while Lucien needed a wife. It was supposed to be clean and transactional. Until it wasn't. Denying their bond could cost them their happiness. Admitting it could cost them everything else. Can love rewrite a marriage built on rules? What happens when the cursed clause becomes the only truth that matters?

During the mass terrorist attack in Manila, every legal-aged citizen is required to work for the government in order to reclaim the living land by battling as an option. The country where the terrorists originated is still in the unknown and under further investigation. Meanwhile, juveniles who were separated from their families had no choice but to live by themselves — whereas building a town, planting food crops, hunting animals and even manslaughter is even a necessity by means of survival. Keisha and his brother, Jaden, are left alone to be chased by vicious brutes hiding from the shadows. Until then they found hope wherein they can rule over and claim justice in the ongoing catastrophe. Is this going to be their chance to be the unsung heroes?

Layla is standing too close to him. She knows it the moment she stops moving, when the space between them shifts from accidental to deliberate. Luca doesn’t step back. He never does. He only looks down at her, dark eyes steady and unreadable, as if he’s been waiting to see whether she’d do exactly this. “You’re doing it again,” he says quietly. “Doing what?” Her voice gives her away—soft, breathless. “Standing where you shouldn’t.” His gaze drops briefly to her mouth. “And pretending you don’t know.” Heat coils low in her stomach. “Maybe I don’t care.” That gets his attention. Something sharp flickers across his expression—control tightening. He reaches out slowly, giving her time to pull away. She doesn’t. His fingers hook lightly under her chin, tilting her face up. The touch is barely there, but it steals her breath all the same. “Careful,” he murmurs. “That’s not something you say to men like me.” “Why?” she whispers. “Because you might misunderstand?” His thumb traces her jaw, deliberate. “No,” he says. “Because I won’t.” His hand stays there, steady, grounding. She feels the restraint in him now—the effort it takes not to close the distance completely. “There are lines I don’t cross lightly,” Luca says. “And once I do, Layla, I don’t step back.” She swallows. “Then why are you still here?” He leans in just enough that his breath ghosts her skin. “Because you haven’t asked me to.”

Elsa thinks she will be a slave for Aiden after their marriage. For him, she is his first love. A Mafia and a CEO for the world, but for him she is his whole world, his possession, his obsession. She is fighting with her demons and with her traumatic past. Aiden became a knight in shining armour for Elsa despite being a devil of the underworld. She starts to love him, but what will happen when she knows about his real identity?

I was supposed to be collateral. A body left in an alley to settle a blood debt. Varek was supposed to be my executioner. Instead, Vespera's most ruthless syndicate boss put a diamond on My finger. He thinks he bought a terrified pawn. He is dead wrong. I Maevia isn't a nameless stray from the outer wards. I am the last heir of a slaughtered royal dynasty. The blood in my veins is worth billions on the black market. And the men who butchered my family are finally coming to finish the job. Varek thought he caged a bird. He's about to realize he locked himself in with a queen. When the global syndicates kick down his door to claim my bounty, Varek faces one choice. Hand over his wife. Or drown the world in blood to keep Me.

*** Mature themes*** *Alaina* Growing up I was always told I was 'special', that the moon goddess had this big plan for me one that involved Selene cursing a guy 5,000 years ago... a plan I wanted no part of. A plan that my entire pack figured out the first time I shifted, a plan that put me in right in the line of danger. I found the love of my life when I was a child, a chosen mate, hoping that I could live a normal life. That was until I went to the all Alpha meeting in Spain and met... him... and my life changed forever. *Ashton* I grew up being told stories of a prophecy. The actual texts have been lost for generations, and at this point they are bed time stories. Stories about what happens if you reject your fated mate, about Selene being born on earth. I never thought it was real, let alone be apart of the prophecy, until I first shifted. Then I met my mate, my strong willed, stubborn, smart, loving, mate. It's been a wild ride ever since. Daily updates until June 19, Bi-weekly updates (hoping for Tuesdays and Fridays) until, at least, September.

Victoria Calloway is the most pampered and radiant woman in the elite society of Dravenia. She's a gorgeous woman by nature—with just a glance from her alluring eyes, she can easily make heads turn. Everyone claims that the line of suitors attempting to woo Victoria can extend all the way to the moon and back. Unfortunately for them, Victoria never gives them the time of day. That is, until her best friend, Pamela Larkson, decides to place a bet with her. "Vicky, if you can capture the heart of my youngest uncle, Caden Larkson, you can pick any of my cherished cars from my garage!" Caden Larkson is the current head of Larkson Capital. He's known for his glacial personality and his disinterest in women. While he carries himself with a noble air, he's also extremely arrogant. To countless socialites, Caden is the unapproachable man whom they can only admire from afar. Rumors have it that no female lifeforms are capable of approaching him. But Victoria merely chuckles in return. She has never failed in obtaining whatever she wants in her entire life, after all. Alas, things don't progress in the direction she expects them to.

My name is Valerie Sanchez. My husband's childhood sweetheart is pregnant, just like I am. To shield her reputation, he claims the child she's carrying is his. As for mine, he accuses me of cheating, saying it's the result of my sleeping with other men. Devastated, I confront him, but his response is as cold and unfeeling as ever. "Evelyn's family has always been strict with her. She can't bear hearing the rumors and gossip." Gazing at the man I had given my heart to for so long, I make an unspoken resolution—I will never love him again.