They Tricked Me Crossword Clue Novels & Stories

In a world where love's course is never predictable, Anastasia Perry's life took a dramatic turn on her wedding day. Upon discovering her groom, Matthew Smith had been cheating on her through a video. She made a heart-wrenching decision: to run away, leaving her own wedding in chaos. Now, two years later, Anastasia returns. Anastasia is now married to Matthew's uncle, Harry Smith. Her unexpected reappearance rocks Matthew's world. Harry and Anastasia are involved in a secret contract marriage in order to save his inheritance. The question lingers: Can Anastasia prevent herself from falling for Matthew all over again? As Harry finds himself falling for Anastasia, can he convince her to make their one-year contract permanent? Will Matthew's secret plans to destroy his uncle succeed? With emotions running high and a web of complicated choices to navigate, their story unfolds in a captivating dance of secrets, forgiveness, redemption, and the ultimate question: Can love truly conquer all?

Alora After surviving an abusive childhood and aging out of the foster system, Alora learned to rely on no one but herself. She’s finally built a quiet, stable life—working the overnight shift at a 24-hour diner, keeping her head down, staying invisible. Until everything changes. When her car won’t start outside her apartment, she’s forced to cut through a dark park to make her shift. She expects inconvenience—not violence. Not teeth. Not the kind of attack that leaves her broken… and remade. She wakes in a cage, disoriented and terrified, only to discover the truth: she’s been turned into something she never believed in. She has a wolf now. Worse—she’s something the werewolf world isn’t supposed to have. A female alpha. Rescued from the pack that abducted and changed her, Alora barely has time to process what she’s become before another complication crashes into her life—her mate. Killian. Powerful. Dominant. Unyielding. He expects her to accept the bond. To claim—and be claimed. Alora refuses. She didn’t choose this life, this power, or this world. And she won’t choose a man who thinks he can decide her future for her. But Killian isn’t used to hearing “no.” And he’s not going anywhere.

At the company's annual gala, the CEO announced that this year's top sales performer would receive a two-million-dollar year-end bonus. I was the top performer. However, my manager called me into his office the very next day and explained that the company was cutting costs and improving efficiency. As a result, my bonus had to be reduced. I initially assumed everyone's bonus was being cut. Then, I found out I was the only one getting shortchanged. Even worse, they handed my position to a useless coworker who could barely do the job. I understood everything immediately. 'So this is how it is. You're tossing me aside after you got what you wanted from me.' Fine. I stopped putting in any effort from that day forward. I clocked in, did the bare minimum, and watched the company slowly fall apart. Sales began to drop month after month. Even the major clients I had already secured began withdrawing their investments. That was when the CEO finally panicked. He showed up at my front door, begging me to fix things. I kicked the door open and looked down at him. "You think a garbage company like yours deserves my help?"

When Éric brings home a young woman with a disturbing look, he tells his wife, Clara, that she is his distant cousin coming to stay with them temporarily. Clara, suspicious, reluctantly accepts this intrusive presence in their home. But very quickly, the exchanged glances, the unexplained absences, and the silent tensions sow doubt. Because this "cousin" is not one… she is Éric's mistress. Between lies, manipulations, and forbidden passion, Clara's home becomes the stage for a betrayal orchestrated under her own roof. How far will Éric go to protect his secret? And what will happen when Clara discovers the truth?

She captivated me like a storm crashing into my life, becoming the very reason I breathe. This woman who broke through my darkness and melted my soul, becomes the one woman I cannot have. Claire Santos finds herself heartbroken when she finds her boyfriend cheating. In order to get over him she goes to a club with her friends but ends up drugged by a stranger, she is rescued by Vincent Morano, a Mafia don who is captivated by her. After that one encounter she wishes to see him again but has no idea who he is, but when he crashes back into her life, she becomes his only obsession. He would possess her, make her his entirely until she becomes forbidden for him, but will he let her go? Never!

When I returned to the Costello family as the long-lost daughter, I was dressed in my adoptive sister's hand-me-downs, and the family driver came only for her. Still, they felt guilty toward the daughter they had raised in my absence. So when the government rolled out the Fairness System, they registered the whole family before I could blink. My father exhaled with relief. "With this system enforcing absolute equality, Brittany won't ever have to suffer again." My mother took my hand, her voice leaving no room for argument. "You came home and stole everything that belonged to her. That's not fair to Brittany." My brother didn't bother hiding his contempt. "I only acknowledge one sister. You already got more than you deserve. Don't push your luck." I ate leftovers while she had private chefs. I sweated in a closet while she slept in a custom-designed suite. I almost laughed. When the system went live, they were the ones who fell apart.

"Turn," he growls, and I can see that he's barely containing himself. I immediately face the wall and wait for the next command. It feels dirty, like I'm his sex toy, but I love it. "Hands on the wall, feet apart," he says. He kicks my feet apart at the same time as he gives the demand, just as impatient as I am. He pulls out my hips so I'm leaning forward, then smacks my ass. He groans deeply in his throat and says, "Seeing your ass jiggle under my hand is f-cking beautiful." I'm squirming, wishing I could put my legs back together to get some friction. "Please Cass, I need it," I whine in a voice that doesn't sound like my own. "You know I can't resist when you beg, my angel," he praises, then slams into me brutally and starts f-cking me hard. *** Alexa relocated to Chicago to work as an assistant and Cassio was exiled by his older brother, the don of the biggest Italian mafia family in New York. Alexa is Cass's assistant at Ombra, the company he built over the 10 years he's been in Chicago. Both are independent and have no interest in love. A mistake at work turns into an opportunity and Cass offers Alexa a contract as his fake girlfriend to keep women away. The two make a great team and in such close proximity they discover that their sexual chemistry is off the charts. Alexa just has one condition and Cass easily accepts. Don't fall in love. As their fake relationship develops, Alexa learns that Cass isn't the upstanding businessman she thought he was and Cass learns that his heart can still beat. Too bad it takes Alexa's kidnapping for him to realize how much she means to him.

After failing the SAT, my parents had kicked me out and sent me overseas to work, forcing me to earn money to support my younger sister's college education. I had worked abroad for ten years, sending almost everything I earned back home. When the first song I wrote was released, it gained a bit of attention. Around that time, my childhood friend, Ian Swain, flew in from overseas just to find me. "Lexi, I didn't know your family sent you here to suffer like this. From now on, you won't have to face it alone." He had registered our marriage with me abroad and stayed by my side while we worked. I had been deeply moved—I shared every song I wrote with him and even let him manage my accounts. That was, until I overheard a conversation between Ian and my family. "Ian, isn't it a bit wrong for you to keep giving me the songs she wrote? What if Lexi finds out?" "Relax. Back then, when your family handed me her college admission letter, she didn't suspect a thing. Compared to that, this is nothing."

There wasn't a package pickup station anywhere in our apartment complex. So out of goodwill, I turned my storage room into a pickup station. I took in packages, organized shelves, labeled everything, and stayed up late every night waiting for people to pick up their deliveries. Then one day, a resident showed up at my door and accused me of stealing her $3,000 gold necklace. "You signed for the delivery. Now it's gone. You had to have opened the package and swapped it out." Residents crowded the hallway, whispering behind my back. Not one person defended me. My stomach dropped. They were the ones complaining about packages getting stolen off their doorsteps. I was the one helping them. But over one baseless accusation, they turned on me instantly. I didn't argue. I just sent a message in the group chat: [Notice: Effective immediately, the One-Penny Pickup Station is officially closed. I will no longer accept, store, or manage packages for residents. Please make other pickup arrangements going forward.]

Around the seventh month of my pregnancy, I overheard a conversation between my mate, Zane Andrews, and Ciara Phillips, the she-wolf I had taken in out of compassion after her family was brutally slaughtered by rogues. In a sultry, flirtatious tone, Ciara purred, “Zane, my love, if your wife discovers that the fertilized egg I planted in her womb isn’t truly hers by blood, she’ll be devastated—perhaps to the point of despairing suicide, don’t you think?” Zane snorted, his voice dripping with disdain at the mention of me. “It’ll work for us if she simply dies from heartbreak. Damn it. I can’t shake the worry that she might sever our bond and leave me with nothing. Let’s keep this under wraps until our child inherits all her assets. Only then will we reveal the bombshell, plunging her into darkness.” Ciara giggled, praising Zane for his cunning. My claws itched to lash out, but I held back, knowing the time for confrontation wasn’t yet. My heart sank as their betrayal cut deep. Years ago, I had defied my pack elders’ warnings about Ciara being a potential threat, taking her in and grooming her into our pack's doctor, funding her education out of sheer empathy. Now, I regretted every moment of my kindness. To think that my mate, who had once begged for my protection for his fragile pack, had the audacity to betray me. If not for my support, his pathetic pack would have crumbled long ago, leaving him nursing his wounds in a dark corner, fretting over survival. After a long moment of contemplation, I made my decision. I would feign ignorance to their schemes and play along by giving birth to Ciara’s baby. Two decades passed. Ciara’s child grew up, bearing the name Simon Andrews. Aware of their treachery, I still transferred all my assets to him. Once the paperwork was completed, Ciara boldly approached me in front of the entire pack, a maternity DNA test in hand. With a smug smile, she declared, “Leia Holland, look at this! I am Simon’s biological mother. Leave h