Understanding By Design

Vincenzo doesn't forgive. He doesn't forget. And he never, ever loses. When you spill Mancini blood, payment comes due—with interest. Stacy Salvatore should have been an easy target. The daughter of the man who slaughtered his mother and tried to burn his family empire to ash. His perfect revenge, gift-wrapped and delivered to his doorstep. He had it all planned out: take everything from her, break her spirit, and kill her. What he didn't plan for was her backbone of steel and eyes that burn with the same ruthless determination as his own. She's no cowering captive. She's a storm wrapped in human skin, fighting him with every breath, challenging the code he's lived by since childhood. With each clash between them, the lines blur. Enemy. Obsession. Addiction. Her defiance becomes the only thing that makes him feel alive, and the vengeance he's chased for years might just start tasting like ash in his mouth. But blood debt must be paid. In full.

Rafael DeLuca is a man forged in blood and betrayal. Once the rightful heir to a powerful mafia empire, he lost everything when his family was slaughtered in an act of treachery. For years, he rebuilt his power from the shadows, rising as the most feared mafia strategist in the underworld. Now, the time for vengeance has come, and his enemy’s greatest weakness is within his grasp—Sophia Romano. Sophia has spent her life in a gilded cage, unaware of the sins that stain her last name. Sheltered and untouched by the violent world her father commands, she believes she is destined for an ordinary life. But when she is kidnapped by a man as dangerous as he is captivating, her world shatters. Rafael is her captor, her tormentor, and her only protector in a world far darker than she ever imagined. What begins as a calculated act of revenge soon turns into something Rafael never anticipated—obsession. Sophia’s innocence should make her easy to break, yet her quiet defiance ignites something primal within him. He tells himself she is only a pawn, a means to an end, but with every glance, every forbidden touch, she threatens to unravel his carefully crafted plans. As hidden truths come to light and past betrayals resurface, Rafael is forced to make an impossible choice: will he sacrifice the one woman who has become his greatest weakness, or will he forsake his vengeance for a love that could destroy them both? In a world where love is as deadly as betrayal, Rafael and Sophia will have to decide—will their obsession ruin them, or will it be the only thing that saves them?

My body hurt—badly. The bruises from Logan’s fists were fresh, my ankle throbbed from where he kicked me, and one of my eyes was nearly swollen shut. But I still limped down the hallway with a cold pack in hand, desperate for something… maybe comfort, maybe just his attention. I didn’t know. Then I heard it—low groans, heavy breathing, the unmistakable sound of skin against skin. Sweaty. Lustful. Raw. I opened the door and my heart shattered. There he was—Logan Hart. My husband. The man I loved more than myself. And with him? Tessa Black—his girlfriend, his mistress, the perfect model everyone adored. They were tangled in the sheets, bodies slick, eyes wild, too lost in each other to even care that I stood there. I couldn’t breathe. I screamed. And Logan… he didn’t even flinch. He didn’t apologize. Didn’t care. “Get out,” he said coldly. “I’m in the middle of something.” That was it. That was the moment I broke. I ran. Limping, shaking, crying—I ran and didn’t look back. What I didn’t know was… that heartbreak would be the beginning of everything.

"I didn't ask for your help, you piece of , so you can keep your arrogant remarks to yourself." I snapped back, not liking the stranger's approach. "What did you just call me?" He demanded, halting. His voice sounded like the thunder that made the ground underneath my feet quake. At this moment I knew I had overstepped my boundaries. **** Jaclyn Tarr had not lived a normal life ever since she was a child. She was born on the night of the Wild South fire and for some bizarre reason, a golden fire symbol existed on the skin right above her heart. This, coupled with the mysteries surrounding her birth, made her the abnormal one as a child. And even now at nineteen, she was still labelled the abnormal one due to her dormant werewolf gene. Her life, however, changes when Alpha Dane Vixon walked into her life and she fell in love with him, but little did she know the alpha wasn't who she thought he was and the love she felt for him would be the death of her.

Allison, daughter of Fox City's most powerful gang family, a medical doctor, a passion and dream contrast to her family's life back at home. Her past, a ghost she thought she'd buried, was about to return with a vengeance –colliding with the present life she had built. On her birthday, a letter arrives from her father, Gerald Wenston —a man who has ignored her for years. His words, cloaked in a sweet tone, are not a request, but a command: return home and marry the heir of a rival gang —Michael Shelby, to secure an ancestral peace and rule treaty. But peace is the last thing Allison finds on her return, a single, forbidden night with a stranger —Luke Reynolds, her father’s right-hand man, ignites a dangerous passion that threatens to shatter the fragile truce. Caught between the duty to her family and a love that could ignite a gang war, Allison must navigate a web of family secrets and deadly betrayals. For in the shadows, a rival —her half sister Hayley also vying for Michael's affection, is waiting to claim everything she holds dear, even if it means destroying her and the city she's meant to save. Allison's choices could either save her family or condemn them all to a bloody war.

My name is Rayna Giancarlo and I’m many things. I’m an abused daughter, the school ridicule, the abused fiancée, the vengeful daughter, the bitter niece, the runaway wife. But not for much longer. I won’t always be a victim. Soon I’ll rise up from the flames like a Phoenix and then I’ll burn everyone who had ever wronged me to ashes.

Betrayal. Murder. A heart-wrenching escape to New York City. Eloise's decision to leave her hometown of Blue Creek leads her to find a passionate love with charming heir Stanley Bradshaw. But a shocking revelation forces her back to her small town, where buried secrets threaten everything she's built. As she unravels the truth about her best friend's death, Eloise must choose: embrace the love she's found or confront a powerful family who may not accept her past. Can Eloise find love and justice, or will the sins of her past destroy her future?

~"I will not touch you until you beg me to" he whispered the words heatedly in my ears. ~ I never wanted to marry him, he was a stranger, a handsome stranger with looks to rival a Greek god, and a smile that could make angels weep with envy. But it was the wish of my dying father. Marry Ian Quinn, the new owner and a notorious businessman, and ensure our blood continues to be a part of the company. I would be giving up my life, my future. Still, I signed my name on the dotted line. And then I said the two words. I do.

Zara Adigun never believed in fairy tales especially not the kind that involved arrogant billionaires and cold, calculated marriages. But when her father fell ill and her family is drowning in debt, she agrees to a one-year marriage contract with the most powerful and emotionally detached bachelor in Lagos (Dami Adeyemi). The deal is to pretend to be the perfect couple in public, live together under strict conditions that she must comply with, and leave when the contract ends with no strings and no emotions attached. But Dami’s icy rules begin to melt as Zara’s fire draws out the man he’s buried deep beneath his grief and guilt. The closer they get, the harder it becomes to stick to the rules, until secrets from the past threaten to destroy everything they were nurturing. Jide Adeyemi—Dami’s estranged brother and Zara’s first love came into the picture to reignite old flames and dark family secrets, Zara finds herself caught in a dangerous love triangle where trust is fragile, and the truth is a weapon. Now, she must decide: 1. To follow the terms of the contract. 2. Run back to the man who once broke her heart, or 3. Fight for a love that was never meant to happen. When hearts are bound by fate, will love survive the truth?

“Go down on your knees and show me you can be a good little student for me.” My heart rate and my breathing became labored. “N-now?” I stuttered. “Class is about to start.” Damon smirked, uncaring that we could get caught. “I guess you’d have to be fast then.” Dahlia Carrington cuts off her parents and runs away from home and she has to survive somehow and pay for her education herself. When she isn’t granted a student loan because of her rich background, she has to resort to other means to get herself through school, which lands her in a complicated relationship with her professor. Damon Valentino knows any kind of sexual relationship with his twenty year old student is immoral, but he can’t help himself, not after having a taste of her. BOOK TWO IN THE VALENTINO SERIES CAN BE READ AS A STANDALONE AND DOES NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK