Torment Crossword Clue

I'm Caleb Jennings. When I announce my early retirement, everyone in the city cheers. Only Nathan Sloan, my junior from the police academy, who claims to be able to see things from the criminal's perspective, panics at the news. During the party organized in his honor, he openly states his intention to find me. "I owe my success to the guidance Caleb Jennings has provided me all along. I hope everyone can help me find him and bring him back into the police force." Scoffing, I choose to ignore that. … In my previous life, I was the celebrated captain of a criminal investigation team. Yet, whenever I uncovered a clue, Nathan, a rookie in the city police department, would announce it first, beating me to it. After multiple incidents like this, everyone started saying that I was past my prime. To prove myself, I worked myself to the bone for three months before finally locating the hideout of a human trafficking ring. However, when I arrived on the scene with my team, Nathan had already swept through the place. He was launched into stardom, becoming the rising star detective that everyone adored. As for me, the public mercilessly tore me apart, labeling me as incompetent and shaming me. Due to the pressure from work and the negative public opinion directed at me, my mind was distracted. I ended up getting killed while hunting down the remnants of the trafficking ring. When I open my eyes again, I find that I'd gone back in time—to the day we launch a raid on the human traffickers' hideout.

Ember accepted her lot in life. On the run, she only wishes to find out the truth behind her dreams and solve the memory of her past. Keegan has only cared about protecting his pack, but when he sees the beauty dancing on stage and the flicker of flames in her eyes his body screams, Mate! Can Keegan tame the flames of Ember and together solve the mystery of her missing past? Or will they all burn together? Excerpt: “This is the reason I’m always tired,” I think to myself. Twenty-four years of coming here and still not a single clue, but every time I close my eyes, I return to this place. I know my surroundings perfectly. Oddly the place is beautiful to the eyes. The old house sat among flowers growing around all sides. The aroma of honeysuckle and jasmine fill my lungs filling me with a moment's peace. I’m sitting in my usual spot. Gripping the ropes of a swing in the front yard held by a large oak tree. Waiting I begin pushing my legs back and forth sending me in motion. I know something is about to happen. It happens every night. The house moves in front of my eyes. I see the shadows coming, but I don’t stop swinging. They are black as night but I can see smiles within the shadow grinning bright. “What is this place!” I cry, fed up with this nightly repetition, but no sound emerges. A noise can be heard from the back of the house. One of the shadows turns toward it. I jump down to follow only to have the other shadow hold me back. “Don’t go. Not yet. Listen to me!”

Aubrey's twin sister doesn't want to leave her singing career to go work for her father's billionaire bachelor best friend across the country. Aubrey takes her place with their father's blessing and escapes torment for long term bully and the mate who rejected sweet Aubrey. Aubrey arrives in LA and is given an apartment in the elegant packhouse of the most prominent werewolf pack on the West Coast, but when Aubrey starts work as the Alpha's Personal Assistant the last thing the little fox shifter expects is to fall in love with the boss. Adonis lost his mate just hours before they had planned to commence the date they planned before officially mating and marking one another. That was over two decades ago and while he has had lovers, none are suitable to stand by his side as Luna and the wife of a billionaire CEO. After the gold digging Personal Assistants of his past he asks his college best friend to send one of his twenty four year old twins to be his Personal Assistant. He needs a Personal Assistant he can trust. What he doesn't expect is to find love with his best friend's child who is more than half his age. Will his best friend approve? How will his pack members take it? Or the West Coast Shifter Council? What about the snakes hidden in his company trying to undermine his business success?

"I have Two Rules For You. One; Do Not Fall In Love With Me. Two; Never Forget Rule Number One!" *** Jonathan Black, a formidable mafia tycoon, finds himself ensnared in a personal hell. Scarred by a previous distraction that cost him the life of his own brother, he swore an oath to prevent history from repeating itself. But little did he know, fate had other plans in store. Desperate for redemption, Jonathan is confronted with an unthinkable proposition—a marriage to his late brother's widow, the alluring and mysterious Hazel. As they embark on this union, the lines between loyalty and love blur, igniting a tempestuous attraction that defies all reason. Bound by the levirate contract, Jonathan and Hazel try to resist the magnetic pull between them. Yet, like an unbreakable elastic band, their desires only grow stronger, threatening to shatter the delicate balance they have meticulously built. In this high-stakes game of passion, each touch, each stolen glance, becomes a dangerous step towards a perilous edge. But beware, for the consequences of letting go are dire. As Jonathan begs for absolution, he teeters on the precipice of a choice that could either lead to their ultimate salvation or plunge them into an abyss of irreversible destruction. Will they succumb to the intoxicating allure of their hate-love, risking everything they hold dear? Or will they find the strength to resist, knowing that the consequences could be devastating for both their souls? Can Jonathan Black find redemption and hold onto the woman he craves, or will his insatiable hunger for absolution condemn them both to an eternal torment?

Ten years ago, Elara’s only refuge from Kaelan Vanderbilt’s cruel torment was her sketchbook. Now, she wears his brother’s engagement ring, poised to claim the loving family and safe life she’s always craved. Her past is a locked box, and gentle Liam Vanderbilt is the key to her future. But for Kaelan, the past is a weapon. The moment his brother introduces his fiancée, the quiet, artistic girl he once broke becomes an all-consuming obsession. He sees the fear in her eyes and replaces it with a dangerous, simmering desire. He will sabotage his brother, risk the family empire, and tear her perfect world apart to make her his. Elara is trapped between the man who represents everything she needs and the man who embodies the darkness she’s always feared… and secretly craves. As Kaelan’s campaign of seduction and psychological warfare escalates, he forces her to confront a terrifying truth: was she ever truly hiding from him, or was she waiting for him to find her again? The gala is the pinnacle of her new life, a celebration of her future with Liam. But as Kaelan’s hand settles on the small of her back, his lips brush her ear, and he whispers the same taunt that haunted her high school halls, the line between hatred and obsession shatters. “Run along, little mouse,” he murmurs, his voice a dark promise. “I’ve always loved the chase.”

"My daughter needs heart surgery," Riley whispered, clutching four-year-old Lily to her chest. "I'll do anything." Brett Graham's steel-gray eyes never left hers. "Anything?" "Yes." "Then you'll be mine. Completely. For six months." Riley Plia is homeless with a dying daughter when ruthless billionaire Brett Graham offers her a deal: pose as his girlfriend for six months and earn $500,000 for her child's heart surgery. She thinks she's found salvation. Instead, she finds herself trapped in a contract written in cruelty. Brett treats her like property—controlling her meals, her words, even when she can see her daughter. He humiliates her at galas, dismisses her tears, and uses her desperation as a weapon. But beneath his ice-cold exterior lies a man terrified of abandonment, testing her loyalty through suffering because everyone he's ever loved has left him. As Riley endures his torment to save Lily, she discovers an inner strength that refuses to break. And Brett finds himself addicted to the one woman who won't shatter under his worst behavior. In a world where love is the ultimate luxury, can two damaged souls heal each other's wounds—or will Brett's need for control destroy the only real thing he's ever found? When the contract ends, will she stay... or will she finally run?

After I'm abducted, I call my mother, a policewoman, for help. However, she hangs up on me and stays by my adoptive sister's side. "Go to hell if you're so keen on it!" she snaps. I calmly watch as the abductors pluck my nails and torment me until none of my skin is left unharmed. In my past life, my mother actually came to my rescue. She left my adoptive sister by the roadside, and the latter ended up being violated and murdered. From then on, I became a criminal in my mother's eyes. She received an anonymous text on my adoptive sister's death anniversary. "I bet a good girl like you wouldn't want your mother to know you hired us to abduct you, right?" She thought I orchestrated the abduction because I wanted to vie for her attention. She thought that was the cause of my adoptive sister's death. "I've saved people all my life. I never would've expected my flesh and blood to be such a shameless monster! You should go to hell as atonement for killing Charlene!" She sewed my mouth shut, shattered every bone in my body, and threw my ashes into a junkyard. When I open my eyes again, I find myself back to the day my mother makes her choice.

I died the day my husband forced the doctors to take our baby from my womb. I thought I’d never love again after losing my ex-boyfriend to a heart attack. But fate gave me a second chance. I married the man I adored, a billionaire named Maxwell. Just when I was about to share the joyful news of my pregnancy, I caught him getting cozy with my best friend, Morgana. Worse, he believed her lies: I was a drug addict. The truth? I was battling a severe mental illness triggered by my ex’s death. I needed medication to cope, but Maxwell never cared to understand. He refused to believe a word I said. They locked me away in a private rehab clinic. But that place wasn’t for healing, it was a trap. Morgana used it to cut me off from Maxwell and torment me without consequence. And just when I thought things couldn’t get worse… Maxwell signed off on a surgery to take my baby. I lay on that cold operating table, tears streaming down my face, and died in the fire that followed—broken, betrayed, and alone. But I never expected to wake up again. This time, I have a new life. A new family. And even one of my children survived. Maxwell, Morgana—this time, I’m coming back. And you’re both going to pay.

TAEYANG SHIN I was never meant to come here. The Alpha Court Academy is a place for heirs, leaders – not broken things like me. I keep my head down, lock my wolf away, and pretend I don’t feel the pull of fate tightening around my throat. Then I meet Ronan Blackwood. The connection is instant, undeniable… and I know what it means. But instead of claiming me, Ronan hates me. Bullies me. And yet, even when his words cut, his eyes burn. I wasn’t looking for a mate. Especially not one destined to ruin me. RONAN BLACKWOOD I’ve spent my life training to inherit a title I never asked for. Son of a dying Alpha. Heir to a bloodline soaked in expectation and control. I don’t have time for distractions – especially not a delicate, sharp-tongued outsider like Tae Yang Shin. The moment I see him, something inside me twists. A dangerous, primal instinct I refuse to name. I push him away, torment him, but the bond coils tighter with every cruel word. I can’t want him. Can’t need him. But fate is cruel — and it’s about to take away our choice. In a world where bonds mean power, desire is weakness, and fate never asks for permission… two souls on opposite sides of pain and pride are bound to collide.

I had been married to Lucius Martin for three years, and in all that time, there was never a shortage of women around him. Each time he brought another woman home, he would give me a necklace worth a fortune. In just three short years, I had accumulated ninety-nine necklaces. When Lucius fastened the hundredth necklace around my neck, I no longer cried or made a scene. Because this time, the woman he cheated with was my own older sister, the one who had beaten and scolded me since we were children. The man I loved most joined hands with the person I hated most to torment me together. At that moment, my heart finally died. This time, I took the initiative and walked up to Lucius, placing a house purchase contract into his hands. "As long as you sign this," I said, "you can do whatever you want with her." A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, but in the end, he signed without hesitation. For the first time ever, he even leaned down and gently kissed my cheek. "Good girl," he murmured. "You've finally learned to behave." I personally opened the car door for him and watched as he hurried off toward my sister. When the car disappeared completely from sight, I let out a long breath. Then I reached beneath the documents and pulled out the paper hidden there—a divorce agreement.