Thin Almond Eyes

She fell in love with a lie. Elena Cross has nothing. No money, no safety net, no parents left to call. She has a voice that stops rooms and a stubborn refusal to let the world win. When she meets Danny Miller, a quiet sound engineer with sad eyes and steady hands, she does the one thing she swore she wouldn't do: she trusts him. He falls for her too. For her fire. Her music. The way she fights for her little brother and refuses help from anyone. Danny Miller wanted someone to love him without knowing his last name. Because his last name is Ashford. As in Ashford Global Industries. As in billions. When the truth explodes in public, his family goes to war. Not against him. Against her. His mother smiles for the cameras while orchestrating Elena's destruction. His brother, who wants Daniel erased from the inheritance, uses Elena as the weapon. A famous ex-girlfriend pretends to help while twisting the knife. Elena loses her career, her home, her reputation, and the man she loved in the same week. She discovers she's pregnant in the wreckage. She runs. She rebuilds from silence. She turns her pain into songs that millions hear. Daniel walks away from everything to find her. No money. No name. No family. He becomes the nothing she always was, searching for the woman who loved him when he pretended to be nobody. But his brother has one final lie: he tells the world the baby is his. Now Elena and Daniel have to fight an empire, a public scandal, and every person who ever tried to keep them apart. Some love stories are fairy tales. This one is a war.

I was eighteen when I got together with Sam Bennett. We were in love for two years—at least, that was what I thought—until I found out I was nothing more than a stand-in for someone else. After a huge fight, we broke up. Not long after, Paxton Gibson, the warm and caring senior who had always looked out for me, began pursuing me passionately. He was persistent, unwavering, and so sincere that I finally let down my guard and accepted him. Just when I thought I had finally found true happiness, I overheard a phone call between Paxton and Sam. “Don’t worry, Leah trusts me completely. Take good care of Georgina. The surgery will happen soon.” In the end, when I really did disappear, they changed their minds. “Leah, come home with me, please?” I smiled, at peace with myself. “But I haven’t had a home for a long time.”

Everyone knew that the mafia family's second son, Luca Romano, loved Serena Vitale to his very bones. Five years ago, Serena climbed into bed with the Romano family's eldest son, Adriano Romano. Photos from that night spread everywhere, but Luca quietly suppressed them all. Four years ago, Serena gave birth to Adriano's child, but Luca raised the baby as his own. He could forgive Serena for anything she did, as long as she loved him. The underworld whispered that Serena stayed with Luca not out of love but to grab at the mafia's power and influence. Luca did not care. He poured every ounce of his strength into treating Serena and the child well, but it was not enough. Serena became Adriano's caged canary instead. The night they broke up, she threw his illegitimate birth in his face to humiliate him. Yet she willingly, even gladly, let herself be imprisoned by Adriano, enduring the wax and the whips. Everyone cursed Serena for being shameless and desperate, but she was the only one who knew the bitterness she endured.

If I can't have you... no one else will. Elsa never saw Derek as anything more than her best friend, who was loyal, harmless, and always there. But it took another woman to love him, to see the hunger in his eyes, the madness in his heart... and now Elsa finally sees him too. But it's too late. Derek belongs to someone else now. Or at least, he tries to... Now, Elsa will stop at nothing to make him hers. She'll destroy anyone who stands in her way, even the woman he loves. What she doesn't know is that Derek is far more dangerous than she ever imagined. And the obsession he has buried for years is no longer under control. If anyone tries to take Elsa from him... he won't just hurt them. He'll ruin them.

"Darby.” My name comes out as a low snarl and I struggle to think. “I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Alpha.”"That's how I like you.” This almost purrs. He shifts his weight to the thigh between mine, brushing against my clit and I tremble as agonizing pleasure spirals through me. His nostrils flare with his next breath and the purr is a low sensual growl. “The better to see to every pleasurable need you have.”Big bad devilishly sexy wolf. Oh shit.

I was just about to drink a soup meant to supplement my pregnancy, a frantic voice suddenly called out. "Mommy, don't drink it! It's an abortion drug. Someone's trying to harm you!" Startled, my hand jerked, and I knocked the soup over. My husband's cousin teared up, her voice choking, "B-But I cooked that soup myself as an apology…" I didn't pay her any heed, only checking the contents of the medicinal soup. There was a large amount of poison in it, enough to not just harm the baby, but even make it impossible for me to ever conceive again! "Mommy, it was me! I protected you!" I caressed my pregnant belly, listening as the child inside told me that he was the incarnation of a lucky star, sent to bring me good fortune. Because of this, we even gave him the nickname Lucky. And sure enough, under his guidance, I helped my husband secure numerous contracts. The whole family was overjoyed. I grew to love him even more, consuming precious supplements as if they were free. Within just three months, my family's assets grew tenfold, while I grew thirty pounds. Just as I stuffed the roast pork into my mouth, I heard a weak, faint voice. "Mom, don't listen to him! He was switched into your womb, and he stole my good luck! "If you continue listening to him, he'll be the death of us both after he's born!" Confused, I stopped eating. Who was I to believe, when there were two voices within my womb?

Ryan,a seventeen years old boy finally escaped from his abusive adoptive father after getting beaten to pulp. And ran away in a new city where he knew no one except his childhood buddy, Darius who lived in that city for his studies. This young man was delighted to hear from Ryan, who had gone incognito for over a year. Atleast finally Darius would get a chance to confess his feelings but he decided not to rush. However,when Ryan met Owen, a good-looking guy in the book store, he felt something. Something so different and dificult to understand for a teen boy who never went out of the mansion his adoptive father kept him like a prisoner. Will his budding feelings for Owen Davenport, son of a CEO, lead him to happiness with acceptance or someone else will take his heart, like his childhood friend who was blessed to have him again in his life? What will happen when Ryan tells Owen about his feelings? Acceptance or a heartbroken rejection, Read the novel to find

Kane has spent her whole life believing she was ordinary. Just a quiet girl with a strange past and a father who refuses to talk about her mother's death. But one reckless night-when she's bitten by a rogue wolf-something ancient stirs inside her. Heat burns beneath her skin; her senses sharpen, and a howl rises in her chest. A howl she was never supposed to have. Aria is no ordinary girl. She is the last descendant of the ancient werewolf royal line, one whose power was sealed when her human father's dominant genes buried her mother's legacy. Until now. But as her powers grow stronger, so do the shadows of her mother's world. Ancient enemies awaken. Centuries-old prophecies whisper her name. And worst of all, there is the person close to her, one whom she had trusted, determined to claim her power for themselves. Torn between a modern world she knows and an ancient world calling her home, Aria must make a choice: become prey… or heir to a blood-soaked throne. Yet there is always a cost with power. and hers may be her heart.

**Dez** Dezmond woke in a cold sweat. The ache in his heart was worse than ever before. It had been growing more intense over the past few weeks. He got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash his face. He didn't bother looking in the mirror, he knew what he would see. His face would be white and his eyes haunted with the need to find answers. Dezmond needed to know why he was being tormented in his dreams. He was never supposed to dream again. "I can't take this anymore." said Dezmond gloomily. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **Ruby** Ruby couldn't focus in class, another night of tossing and turning. Seeing the flames consume her house. Hearing the screams as her family slowly died, knowing there was nothing she could do. It had been almost three years since the incident. The day she lost her family in the fire. She was the only one who wasn't in the house. And she relived that horror every night in her dreams. Though recently her nightmares felt different. More like a warning rather than a memory. "Rough night?" whispered Haven. Haven had been friends with Ruby since they were little kids. "Yeah, they started happening again." Ruby whispered back. They never really stopped. "Have you talked to anyone about it? Ruby, you can't keep it a secret forever." This is the same discussion they had just after the incident.

Autumn Shade only wants one thing: to get away and live her own life. Tired of being forced by her father to take on the business, and follow in his steps, she leaves. She wanted to show her father that she was capable of making her own decisions and not screwing up. But just when she successfully leaves, she's caught up in another whirlwind which threatens to deem everything she'd known a lie.Justin Black and his friends see Autumn and they find that she was perfect for what they were planning, given that it was her father they wanted to take revenge on.Autumn learns a shocking truth about a scandal involving a murder and her father, and persistently denies it. But apparently they have proof.All Autumn wants to do is the right thing. If her father is innocent she gets to say 'I told you so' and if he's really a cheating murderer then she does what's right and gets out of this mess once and for all.But as usual, things get complicated. Actually, feelings get complicated, because the longer she stayed, the closer the broken boy held her.© 2020 by Everleigh Winters