Year Of Yes

She was auctioned like an object, bought like a secret, and caged like a sin. After a brutal betrayal by the people she trusted most, Seraphina Vale is left drowning in debt and despair—until she’s sold at an underground auction to the one man every criminal fears: Lucien Marchesi, the ruthless head of a powerful mafia empire. Cold. Controlled. Deadly. The world assumes she’ll be discarded like the others who came before her. But Seraphina isn't a lamb sent to slaughter. She’s a lioness in velvet chains—calm, calculating, and waiting for her moment. Lucien didn’t expect her fire. She didn’t expect his scars. What begins as a twisted game of control and survival becomes something far more dangerous: emotion. As secrets unravel and obsession burns into something deeper, Seraphina edges dangerously close to what she swore she’d never feel again—trust. Love. Want. But she hasn’t forgotten her mission. Lucien was supposed to be her weapon, not her salvation. And when her revenge explodes into reality, both hearts will shatter under the weight of betrayal. Until he asks the one question that changes everything: “Have you ever loved me?” Chains of Velvet, Heart of Fire is a gripping dark mafia romance about love born from power, loyalty forged in fire, and two broken souls who dared to rewrite their fate. Perfect for fans of morally gray heroes, twist-filled emotional sagas, and heroines who take their power back—beautifully, mercilessly, and on their own terms.

As I was cleaning up the house, I noticed something had fallen out of the cabinet my wife always kept locked tight. I remembered Megan's constant warnings. "That cabinet holds all our family's important records. If anything gets lost, there's no getting it back. Just leave it alone and don't touch it." Worried something valuable might have fallen out, I rushed to pick it up. But what I found was a thick stack of remittance slips. From forty years ago to now, every month, my wife had been sending money to the same account. And that's when it hit me. My wife had been lying to me. The money I'd been pouring into this family had been flowing right out, into the hands of someone else.

At sixty-five, I got served divorce papers. The same day, my husband Sebastian — decked out in his wedding suit, of all things — popped a handful of sleeping pills in a suicide attempt. For years, we were the perfect couple. The kind of pair neighbors whispered about with envy. I couldn't wrap my head around it. The divorce. The pills. None of it made sense. Not until I found the photo and letter in his pocket.

My boyfriend's childhood sweetheart, Janine Swettenham, returned to the pack, alone and heavily pregnant. To protect her reputation, Aiden Monroe decided to mark her. I asked him in disbelief, "What about me? What about our baby?" He just shrugged and said, "Janine’s not like you. I’m the only family she has left. She can’t handle the gossip. Just wait for me. Once she has the baby, I’ll mark you." However, Aiden forgot that I don’t have any family either. While the entire pack mocked and slandered me for being pregnant out of wedlock, Aiden was by Janine’s side, holding her hand through every hospital visit. That’s when I finally understood that some favoritism didn’t need a reason. I left in fury. Then, the accident happened. I lost the baby. Broken and numb, I chose to walk away from it all. I left both him and the pack, vanishing from his world completely. Five years later, I returned, accompanying my mate on a business trip to the Silverglade Pack. Craving the taste of old memories, I went to the pack restaurant alone. I never expected to run into Aiden again. He looked at me with that same cold gaze and said, "You’ve caused enough trouble, haven’t you? The kid must be four by now. Bring him back. He can grow up alongside Janine’s child."

Yesterday she was nobody, but today she had the chance to be the queen of the town.  Yesterday she was just a normal twenty-five-year-old with a lot of responsibility and debt that was greater than the hours she worked, but today the opportunity was right in front of her that would alleviate all of her financial worries. The only thing she needed to do was to say "Yes" to her boss and the world would be on her feet. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that held the power to change her miserable fate. This was her second and last chance to say yes to happiness, life, and love. The only problem was she needed to marry her ruthless, cold, heartless billionaire CEO, whom she loathed more than the one-bedroom trash apartment she was sharing with her sister. Now the decision depends on the next word she was going to say. The next morning, either she would have another world in her palm, or she would continue to have this pathetic life. Only time will tell.

My husband, Matthew Glover, fabricates a scandal to help his childhood sweetheart, reporter Melanie Reed, boost her numbers. "Mrs. Glover Sleeps Around—Multiple Affairs Lead to Repeated Miscarriages." He uses it as a gimmick to grab attention. Next thing I know, my name's in the mud and the internet's tearing me to pieces. When I bring up divorce, Matthew says I'm blowing things out of proportion. "Melanie just started at the TV station. If she doesn't deliver, her coworkers will laugh at her. You're just doing her a favor. It's not like you're actually losing anything." I don't even bother arguing with him. I simply push the divorce agreement toward him. "If you want to help her, go ahead. But we're getting divorced!"

Willow must find a way to break her father's curse to prevent him from dying, and in pursuit of it, she accidentally gets lost in a hidden vampire kingdom where humans are supposedly a myth. She must find her way back home without being killed. Fortunately, the vampire prince is aware of human existence, and is willing to help her, although his benevolence isn't free of ulterior motives. When she is sent back to the human world, he follows her. He soon finds her and makes her an offer that would resolve all her troubles. Knowing how desperate she is to save her father, she would say yes, but what does he want in return?

Gordon has fallen in love with Sharon since the first day he met her, even before knowing she is his chosen mate. But a lycan and a human mating has never been heard of and is forbidden, because human are fragile species and he could kill her in mating process but not being with her and loving her is already killing him. ****** Maxwell stay back and look at his son’s dishevel hair and resentful look, he questioned him. “Is she your mate?” “I don’t know” he sigh “I just have the fearful feeling whenever I see her, as if I might lose her.” He slowly places his hand on his shoulder, “Son, don’t take me wrong, but if she is not your mate you have to let her be. Sometime we feel attracted to things that are not meant to be.” He look at his father with painful eyes “What will happen to her when you find your mate, you know we have no control over us at that time. She is so young; you might end up breaking her.” “I have no control over my emotion when it concerns her, dad. I know you are right and I will distant myself from her once she is ok.”

Year 3150 where flying cars exists, time machines are prohibited, where existence are being questioned, and secrets are more important than truth. Time is a secret and none of you is the answer. Buried should not be unveiled or else the secrets will be told and you're the one who will be kept. Who are you when even your identity is a mystery? Does time really has a buried secrets or time is the secret itself?

Isabella Sterling, formerly Katherine Carter, is a brilliant architect driven by revenge. Her brother, Jackson, was wrongfully imprisoned for a building collapse orchestrated by the Ashford family, leading to his death and their father's demise. Determined to avenge them, she infiltrates Ashford Global Architecture and the lives of people who were once close to her brother. She took out her heart and left it in Italy while her mind plotted a terrible future for her enemies. But can the love of a man make her change her path, or only reinforce her thirst for blood?