The Stoic

A well-known actor, Ellie Syallis have fans of varying levels— most of them are obsessed, very obsessed. A day awaited by her fans came, where people that won and bought the limited slots came. They finally met their idol face to face, got to shake hands with the female and an autograph on one of her limited-edition DVDs, on cards and on pictures as well. But her once peaceful life will start to take turn for the worse she sees at that very moment. A man wearing a formal business suit with a stoic appearance approached her. She gladly offered her hand and so they shook hands. The male asked for her autograph and she said "yes" with a brimming smile. She couldn't take her eyes of the male. He was undeniably handsome and somehow mysteriously attractive. "Here!" She handed her autograph on the sheet of paper the male gave. “Have a nice day! And oh, please keep on supporting me!” She added and partly bowed. The stranger flashed a smirk that made her heart skip a beat, both in a pinch of threat or fear and in unknown excitement. "You're now my wife. Hello, Mrs. Folster. Can't wait to spend the rest of my days with you." Her facial expressions shifted to surprise, annoyance, fear, melancholy, and into anger as she finally took a glance on the paper she signed. It was a marriage contract!

On our wedding night, my husband didn't stay long enough to toast with champagne. He left me alone at the reception and retreated to the chapel. Because from the very beginning, this stoic, untouchable man had only ever loved my younger sister. For three years of my marriage, I poured myself into thawing a heart of stone, only to be met with glacial silence. "Claire," he said coldly, "I'd rather take vows of celibacy than ever love you." But when the truck came barreling toward me, the man who had resented me his entire life used his own body to shield mine. Just before I lost consciousness, I saw him gripping the paramedic's sleeve, blood staining his lips. "Don't tell that crazy woman who saved her… And don't let my family… make things difficult for her." Tears welled in my eyes. Only then did I realize I wasn't the only one at fault in this marriage. After coming back to life, I chose to join the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces and head straight to the front lines. If we were never meant to grow old together in this life, then let my final wish for him be this: A lifetime of peace, and an eternity of never crossing paths with me again.

Can you ever understand the feeling of having sex with your husband as he keeps calling out another woman's name? Yes, that was my life as the wife of the ruthless, stoic CEO. With my sister, his childhood sweetheart on the run with her boyfriend and his need for a Mrs Levine and an heir, I was picked in the stead of my sister to temporarily fill up the space. “ You're not pregnant yet?!” He banged his hand against the bedside table in anger. “; I guess we just have to keep trying then,” he smirked. I was always afraid of that statement, he indirectly meant sleeping with me every single day but no one dared to say otherwise even if I would fall sick after. What's weird about the heart is how it falls in love with the weirdest persons. I loved Asphalt even though he didn't love me and I believed I could make him love me but that dream came crashing down when Janet returned. As I pushed my babies into the world, I wondered if  Asphalt would love me once he sees our kids but with his plans of taking my kids and reuniting with my sister, I wasn't going to wait until I was kicked out. Taking my babies in my arms, I ran away from the hospital as the rain went pit-pat concealing the tears and I for the first time resented Asphalt.

Anais Vale vanished three years ago, breaking the terms of a legally binding marriage contract with billionaire CEO Cassian Vale. To the world, their short-lived marriage was a mystery. To Anais, it was survival. But when a mysterious legal summons pulls her out of hiding, she’s forced to return—not as a woman in love, but as a wife under obligation. Cassian, ruthless and unreadable, never divorced her. Their original contract still holds, and now he wants her back—if only to fulfill the remaining years and protect his corporate empire from a hostile takeover. Emotion is not part of the deal. But the contract hides more than just legal conditions. It conceals a past filled with betrayal, a family legacy steeped in secrets, and a shared history neither of them fully understands. Anais returns as a woman determined to endure it quietly. But things change quickly: she discovers Cassian’s health is failing, that someone wants her dead, and that her own tragic past may be connected to his family’s crimes. As the truth unravels, Anais is forced to confront who Cassian really is—and who she must become if she wants to survive in his world. Along the way, both begin to transform. Anais, once passive and self-effacing, begins to find her voice and strength. Cassian, seemingly heartless and stoic, is forced to feel and face the consequences of his past. Their story is a collision of control and vulnerability, love and guilt, power and protection. What begins as a contract slowly becomes a reckoning—and a second chance neither of them expected. But second chances come at a cost. And not every ending is fair.

“Your name?” a woman who’s wearing a dress, has pale lips and short hair asked me. I stuttered. “L-Livia Washington, ma’am,” I answered. “My husband and I can’t produce a child. I need your help and in exchange, I will reward you with money at your price. Just help me…” she said, her face screaming desperation and almost pleading. Without further hesitation, I nodded my head. “Just tell me what you want me to do, Ma’am…” I didn’t know that an offer I would be accepting would ruin the pipe dream I yearned for. Money. I need money. Surrogacy is the only quick way to get a billion dollars just like what they offered. However, things didn’t go the way I liked. “You came out with a woman again?” I busted out in anger after waiting for Archer to come home. He only scoffed, he was supposed to come upstairs yet I held his hand. “Just to remind you, Archer, you still have a wife waiting for you!” His jaw clenched then took his arms roughly. “Then you should have thought of your husband before cheating on me, and bearing someone else’s child, then, Livia!” he backfired, critically narrowing his eyes on mine. Being married to Archer for five years never became easy. I’m tired of it and was tormented with the punishment he had given to me. “A divorce won’t happen, Livia. I won’t give you the freedom you want. This is your punishment,” he narrowed his rough, stoic voice before coming to his room directly.

Johanna Thorne and her sister, Allison Thorne, marry into the Silverplume family, the most prestigious werewolf family in the Northern Wolflands, on the same day. Their husbands are the only pair of pureblood Alpha twins in the family—Carlin Silverplume and Uriel Silverplume. Throughout the continent's long history, fewer than ten such twin pairs have ever been born. They are seen as blessings from the Moon Goddess herself, a source of pride for the entire family. Johanna is wed to the calm and stoic younger brother, Carlin. Her sister becomes the mate of the elder twin, Uriel, the family's strongest warrior Alpha. But during a mission to hunt down rebel wolves, Uriel is tragically killed. His body is never recovered. With his death, his bloodline ends. The news devastates the matriarch. She weeps before the altar, crying that this is punishment for the Silverplume family. With Uriel gone and no heir left behind, one of the family's two remaining pureblood lines is now severed. The future of their legacy hangs by a thread. Three days later, the matriarch summons Carlin and Johanna to the council hall. Before the gathered elders and priests, she solemnly proposes a solution. "Carlin shares the same blood and bone as Uriel... In the name of our ancestral spirits, I ask that Carlin form a breeding pact with Allison to fulfill Uriel's unfinished duty." Johanna's hands clench tightly. She turns to look at Carlin. In that moment, she doesn't know whether she's still his Luna or just a sacrifice offered up to preserve the family's bloodline.

Everything happened too fast after I completed the sentence, one minute I was staring at the back of Damien's head, and the next minute I was pinned against the wall. His face was so close to me that I could feel his minty breath, "You can try to run but I will always catch you, you can try to hide but I will always find you. Get one thing clear, Nora, no matter what road you take it will always lead you to me." I licked my lips unable to utter any word. His thick eyelashes fell on my lips and my heartbeat sped up instantly. "Are you scared of me, Nora?" the corner of his lips curled up giving me a full blown smirk. I gulped, "No," the word came out weak between my shallow breaths. I tried to keep my face stoic even though my nerves were no longer in my control. I shut my eyes tightly as his face inched forward. I inhaled a sharp breath feeling his soft lips on my ear, "Then why is your heart beating so loudly?" ......................................................................... Eleanor has it all, loving parents, a good career, everything is presented to her on a silver platter or that's what everyone thinks. What happens when she gets tangled in a world she never knew existed because of a prince who seems to hate her but can not let her go. Will she ever be able to get her normal life back or will she become a part of his ruthless plan?

"You're one interesting girl my princess," he said. At the same time, his eyes peered into mine as his hands slipped into my dress tracing my legs up to my upper thigh. My bare back pressed against the wall feeling the touch of his palm on my skin which sent tingling shivers down my spine and for some reason, I felt a smile creep up on my lips. "And you aren't a Saint either". __ Jade Flores who works part-time at the infamous Red bar, had just graduated and is looking to make her life better. She's innocent, makes impulsive decision sometimes and just wishes to continue hiding from her wicked uncle. Saint Gennaro Guerra, the city's infamous Mafia lord. He's Stoic, stern, dominant and of course, handsome. No one who has ever crossed him made it out of the 'dead hole'. The two cross paths when one of Saint's men who betrayed him happens to be Jade's cousin, Marcel popularly known as 'Tequila'. Saint rescues her from his archenemy, Matrix who is also in search of Tequila. Saint then holds Jade as his property when he cannot find Tequila. Jade starts to fall hard for him and in as much as he pushes her away each time and keeps his walls high, she doesn't stop trying to break his walls. What happens when the city's infamous man keeps facing different situations with the girl who works at the infamous bar? Will they have themselves to fall back to? Will Saint reciprocate her feelings?

“You don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to, Lilliana,” Dante reassured me, standing in his tuxedo, looking far too delicious to be saying that on my wedding day. “But everything is settled,” I said, trying not to smear too much of my makeup as I cried uncontrollably. “Why doesn’t he love me, Dante?” A sob tore through me. “Come with me,” he said, his voice low and dark—practically a command. “What?” I asked, looking up at the stoic, dangerous man in front of me. “Come with me,” he repeated, holding out his hand. “I’ll make sure everything goes away, fiorellino.” I looked down at his hand, at the tattoos swirling around his fingers. And even though a hand like Dante Gallo’s should have scared me, nothing had ever felt so safe. So I stepped forward, took his hand in mine, and looked up at him. “Take me away.” ** Two ruthless men. One stolen bride. A love too wild to be contained. Lillian thought she had finally secured the life she always dreamed of — until her perfect engagement crumbles in one night of shocking betrayal. Whisked away from the wreckage of her wedding by the dangerous and devastating Dante Gallo, she finds herself caught between two powerful forces: Dante, the mafia king who has loved her from afar, and Damien Volkov, the lethal enemy who refuses to let her slip through his fingers. Torn between loyalty, passion, and a fierce desire for freedom, Lillian faces a choice that could break all three of them. But what if she refuses to choose at all? In a world of power, obsession, and forbidden love, some hearts aren't meant to be divided — they're meant to be shared.

“You're a long way from safe, Miss Allard,” he whispers, his fingers tracing the strap of my bra until I shiver. "If you want to turn around, I’d suggest you do so now.” I stare up at him, watching as his dilated grey eyes dip to my cleavage. “Where will I go, Mr. Sinclair?” I ask, pulling him closer until our lips are inches apart. “Where can I go that you won’t find me?” **** 24 year old Ava Jade Allard has a few problems, but like most issues, there’s nothing a little money can't fix. So when Ava attends an art show to sell a few of her paintings to some of the richest, high-society members of New York, she’s sure she can kill two birds with one very rich stone. In and out, just like she hoped. But New York seems set on eating Ava whole, and as one mess leads to another, she finds herself in the arms of Billionaire Leonel Sinclair, a ruthless CEO who is still dealing with the consequences of a scandal he was entangled in 4 years ago. Now more desperate than when she started, Ava reluctantly turns to this stone-cold, terrifying, but somehow insanely hot Billionaire to help her set right what was wronged 4 years ago, while somehow doing the same for him, and with one contract marriage, Ava signs away her single status, anonymity and possibly her soul. Will this contract fix the manytraumatic wrongs of her past, or will Ava crumble under the weight of her grey-eyed, stoic CEO, whom she seems less and less able to keep her body and heart away from with each passing day? What happens when Ava agrees to these reckless vows and emerges as the Billionaire’s Bride?