The Ruins By Scott Smith Novels & Stories

My husband of five years, Eric Vale, came home drunk again. As I laid him in our bed, he murmured, “Don’t worry, my love… I’ll take care of you and our baby.” My heart stopped. Baby? We’d been on birth control since the day we married. There was no baby. I shook him lightly. “What are you talking about, Eric?” He blinked at me, confused, then smiled like nothing had happened. “Hey, babe… did I say something?” The next morning, I checked our joint account. Every month, ten thousand dollars had been wired to a woman named Bella Evers. Yesterday, he sent two hundred thousand more—with a note: I can’t wait for our baby to be born. Bella was Eric’s mistress and was now six months pregnant. So I made one call. “Papa,” I told the most feared Don in the South, “I’m getting a divorce.” I glanced at my sleeping husband. “I want him gone. And I want him broke.”

On their first anniversary, Demi finds her boyfriend fucking her best friend after standing her up on their dinner date. Feeling betrayed, she decides to drink her sorrows where she meets a stranger who will change her life for good. Gavin Morgan, a public figure, and one of the youngest billionaires in New York, is caught by her beauty at first sight. He sees her in a vulnerable state but doesn't take advantage, despite his attraction towards her. When he learns that she's set for an interview with his company, Demi is guaranteed the job. Working together, they grow fond of each other and fall deeply in love. Gavin gives Demi a luxurious life more than she has ever dreamed of. Demi experiences a love she has never seen before from Gavin who treasures her more than anything. However, there are outside forces trying to break them apart. So many girls are obsessed with Gavin and jealous of what Demi has, including her former best friend. Seeing her glowing, her ex also wants her back. To add on that Gavin's family doesn't accept Demi since she doesn't come from a rich family. But Gavin is determined to protect his woman no matter what. Will the opposing forces win or will love conquer all?

The night before our 17th wedding attempt, my mafia husband, Rafaeal Holloway, looks at me and promises an uninterrupted wedding. He solemnly swears. "Gianna, I promise you. I told Natalia that even if the sky falls, she'll deal with it alone." I am five months pregnant by then. After three years of dating and five months carrying his child, we've never managed to make it down the aisle because he's canceled the past 16 weddings. Every single time, it's for his sworn sister, Natalia Sullivan. The first time, she claims she has a fever. I spend the whole night at the hospital, still in my wedding dress, just to find out she has a mild cold. The second time, she claims her chest hurts. Rafael abandons me mid-wedding and rushes to her side, while she's out laughing over afternoon tea with friends. The third time, she cries for fear of thunder. He bolts mid-vows and leaves me alone in a hall full of staring guests. But everything's different now. Three days ago, a letter arrived from Northern Silenzio. My father, the Don of the Rossetti family, has finally summoned me home. If Rafael walks away for Natalia one more time, I'll leave for good.

Aiden Veylor’s university life has always been quiet, predictable, and painfully ordinary. He is careful to stay out of the spotlight, keeping his head down and avoiding the attention of the university’s untouchable elites. That all changes when Silas Rennick, the mysterious and dangerously magnetic transfer student, sets his sights on him. With Silas’s striking presence and reputation as the hot new guy everyone whispers about, Aiden knows one wrong move could turn his life upside down.

"You're going to take it, aren't you, little lamb?" Dominic's voice is low, teasing, dark. A hand grips my throat, just enough to make me gasp, make my pulse hammer beneath his fingertips. I whimper as Dominic's fingers slide between my thighs, teasing, parting, finding me already soaked. "Fuck," he groans, rubbing slow, torturous circles over my clit. "She's dripping. You feel that, Ash?" My body trembles, caught between pleasure so intense it borders on pain. "Cum for us, little lamb," Dominic commands. **** Caught between two brothers... One my best friend, the other my deepest desire. Dominic was everything I dreamed of-hot, charming, and completely unattainable. Especially with a girl like Cassie already by his side. Then there was Ashton-my childhood best friend, my safe haven, the one who had always been there. But one reckless dare changed everything. The night I was dared to kiss the Alpha, marks the beginning of my ruin. And just when I thought things couldn't get more complicated, Ashton confessed his feelings for me. Now, I'm trapped between two brothers-one who's always been my heart, and one who might just break it. How do you choose between love and desire when both could destroy you?

Lisa Quinton spent her life at the bottom. Scorned as an omega, and forgotten by a pack that never saw her worth. On the night of her eighteenth birthday, she dared to dream of a mate who would save her. Instead, she was brutally rejected by her mate. There was no way to escape her ill fate, or so she thought…. Lisa would’ve never imagined that a reckless night with a stranger would change everything. Sold to a powerful Lycan Alpha, Lisa enters a new world, one filled with secrets, intense desires, and a bond that defies logic. She didn’t expect to be drawn to the ruthless man with her freedom, but what happens when he’s not the only one who craves her? Lisa had already been rejected once, but what are the odds of her getting four sexy new mates? Four mysterious brothers who share more than just power and a mansion… they share her. Will Lisa reclaim her freedom? Or will we be entangled in a web of passion and unfiltered desire?

On the very morning Kari was meant to become Luna, she is publicly rejected by her fated mate. Humiliated and then replaced by her stepsister. She’s cast out from the pack with nothing but a broken heart and mate bond, but she must rise from the heartbreak and into the arms of the man she least expected. Her second chance mate, none other than the lifelong enemy of her first mate, just when she thought it was all over; The Alpha who broke her now wants her back, her sister who betrayed her wants her dead. But Kari must now choose, the mate who rejected her or the one who would burn down the world to keep her safe. Because this time she won’t be the one to beg but make them regret ever letting her go.

"Your sister has already been through so much, why can't you let her have this?" "But today was supposed to be my wedding! How can I just stand aside and let her have my mate?" •••••• After four long years, her awaited wedding finally arrives. What Tamara Vladis expected to be a pivotal moment in her life remained so but for all the wrong reasons. Her mate, the future alpha of Crestwood Pack, publicly humiliates her, firmly stating that she cannot be his mate because she is wolfless. In the same breath he shares a deep kiss with her twin, Tiana, declaring her as his luna. Tamara turned to her parents for support, but they had her flimsy excuses, firmly backing the union of her longtime mate and sister. Tamara no longer has a place in Crestwood, she is pressured to leave and accidentally trespasses into Phoenix Dawn territory, the moment she locks eyes with their Alpha her entire world tilts on his axis as the mate bond between them sparks to live. But unfortunately between their families lies a checkered history painted with blood and betrayal. Will this fresh flame that burns them to their core wiping off any rational thought in their heads survive a past fault that birthed present scars? Or will it couple with the overwhelming power awakening within Tamara and consume both of them?

Sold out for the betterment of the family, she was forced to marry him. A man thrice her age. Just when she thought the worst had happened, she found out Lawson never married her for any wifey duties but to seduce his son. Jayden is dangerous. Cold. Ruthless. He is everything Lawson isn’t anymore. Amelia was meant to distract him, manipulate him, and break him from the inside. She was never meant to feel desires, never meant to crave his touch, never meant to fall in love but fate took a different turn. Caught between a husband who owns her life and his son who sees through her lies, Amelia must decide how far she’s willing to go to protect herself and how much of her soul she’s willing to lose. Because in a house ruled by power. Betrayal is like a medicine and love is the deadliest mistake of all.

“Used. Marked. Betrayed. Now it’s her turn to break the rules." Elena thought being mated meant safety, love, and forever. But forever shattered the day her husband brought another woman home, under the lie of sickness, only for Elena to discover she was pregnant with his child. And worse? He wanted an open bond, like she was some convenience to be traded when bored. Heartbroken but not broken, Elena makes the boldest decision of her life: divorce him, break the mate bond, and make him bleed for every lie he fed her. But Michael isn't letting go that easily. Not when power, pride, and his darkest secrets are tied to her. When Elena turns to Alpha Horace, the ruthless Alpha King and her husband’s estranged cousin, she finds more than protection; she finds someone who sees her, desires her, and is willing to burn everything down to keep her safe.