
Introduction
Every habit, talent and allergy of four-year-old Mia matches Ethan, the brilliant pharmaceutical genius who was once her lover. But a forged paternity test has convinced him the child is not his flesh-and-blood.
Deceived by his fiancée's lies, Ethan turns a deaf ear to all Chloe's desperate pleas. No one believes she is dying. No one believes the truth about the little girl.
Against ticking time and overwhelming injustice, Chloe fights desperately for her daughter's future. Will the buried secret surface before everything is lost?
Chapter 1
Chloe's POV
The diagnosis came out.
The doctor set the imaging report on the desk and said the words in the careful, practiced tone of a man who had delivered this kind of news many times before.
"Stage IV. Non-small cell. Liver, stomach. You won't make it to Christmas, Ms. Winston."
I sat in the plastic chair across from him and listened, and the fluorescent light above us hummed on exactly as it had before he spoke, as if nothing had changed at all.
Only I knew how hard I was working to hold myself together.
I drove home and made Mia her oatmeal.
After she fell asleep, I sat on the edge of her bed and watched her face in the dark, thinking of everything and nothing all at once.
Three months. If the doctor was right and that was truly all I had left, then there was only one thing I could not let go of — Mia. What would happen to her when I was gone, and who in this world could I trust to give her to?
Ethan. His name surfaced before I'd finished the thought.
Ethan Hartman — Mia's father, even if he didn't yet know she existed. No one in the world had a stronger claim to her than he did.
I had to go back to Cedar Haven. Back to the place where I had once been happy, and where I had been buried alive.
The day we landed at Cedar Haven Regional, Mia was beside herself with excitement, the way small children are when the world still feels like something worth running toward.
Mia ran ahead so fast that I couldn't keep up, and I watched from a few steps behind as she lost her footing — my chest seizing before I could close the distance.
Then a tall figure swept in and caught her before she hit the ground, and I exhaled.
I started forward to say thank you, and then I saw his face, and I stopped.
Ethan Hartman.
He set her gently back on her feet, smoothing her coat with the same careful hands, and said something low and even — something about slowing down, about how the floor was wet, the kind of quiet, unhurried words you'd use with a child you didn't want to frighten.
That gentleness used to belong to me.
Before the case. Before everything broke apart five years ago and became something I no longer recognized.
I hadn't finished the thought when a familiar voice rang out across the terminal, calling his name.
I looked up. Serena — my sister in name only, the woman living in my house, wearing my life — crossed toward him with her hand already reaching for his arm, and together they turned and walked away without looking back.
I must have gone somewhere far away inside my own head, because I didn't come back until I felt Mia's arms clamp around my legs, her face pressed hard into my coat.
"Mommy, I won't run anymore, I promise, please don't be mad," she was saying, her voice climbing toward panic, and I blinked and looked down at her and came back to myself.
I crouched down and pulled her in.
"Mama's not angry, baby," I said against her hair. "I was just thinking about something."
She went still in my arms, the panic draining out of her small body, and I held her a beat longer than I needed to. Over her shoulder, the departures corridor was empty.
Ethan and Serena were gone. It was not hard to tell that they were a couple now. Would he even want Mia? Would there be any room for her in that life?
The thought sat in my chest like something swallowed wrong.
But he was still the only person I could think of when I tried to imagine leaving her with someone. Her father.
And whatever else he had become, whatever had passed between us — I had just watched him crouch on a wet airport floor for a child he didn't know, patient and unhurried, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
That had to count for something.
The apartment I rent was on Birchwood Lane, half a level below the street, the kind of place where the windows showed you nothing but passing ankles and tire slush.
It was small, and it was cold, and the baseboards clicked all night like something trapped inside the walls, but it would keep the wind out, and for now, that was enough.
I got Mia settled first.
She was half-asleep by the time I carried her through the door, her head heavy against my shoulder, her small fingers still loosely curled around the strap of her backpack.
I laid her down on the mattress I'd had delivered the week before, pulled the secondhand quilt up to her chin. I stood there in the dark for a moment, just listening to her breathe, before I quietly pulled the door shut and went back to the main room.
Then I picked up my phone and called Carter Hartman.
He was Ethan's old friend, the only person left in that circle who would still take my call. And he was the only one who had never fully believed I was a traitor, the only one who still thought — or wanted to think — that I had nothing to do with what happened to Hartman five years ago.
He was also the only way I had left to reach Ethan.
The line connected after two rings, and the voice that came through was familiar and carefully courteous, the kind of tone you use with numbers you don't recognize.
"Carter Hartman speaking. Who's calling?"
"It's Chloe," I said. "Chloe Winston."
The courtesy dropped out of his voice all at once.
"Chloe." A pause, brief and weighted. "When did you get back?"
"Today," I said. "Just got in. We're settled now."
"We?" Carter asked, puzzled.
"My daughter," I said.
There was a sound on the other end that might have been him inhaling wrong. "Your — Chloe, you got married?"
"No," I said. "She's Ethan's."
The silence that followed was long enough that I pulled the phone from my ear to check the call was still connected. I couldn't blame him for it. When I'd left Cedar Haven five years ago, I hadn't told a single person I was pregnant.
"Carter," I said, before the silence could settle into something harder to move. "I need you to help me get Ethan to meet with me. Just a conversation. Can you do that?"
Last Chapters
#32 Chapter 32: The Second Verdict
Last Updated: 9/15/2026#31 Chapter 31: Severance
Last Updated: 9/15/2026#30 Chapter 30: The Bitter Truth
Last Updated: 9/14/2026#29 Chapter 29: What the Blood Knows
Last Updated: 9/14/2026#28 Chapter 28: A Coincidence, Nothing More
Last Updated: 9/14/2026#27 Chapter 27: The Interrogation Room
Last Updated: 9/14/2026#26 Chapter 26: What Remains
Last Updated: 9/14/2026#25 Chapter 25: The Engagement
Last Updated: 9/14/2026#24 Chapter 24: The Terms of Survival
Last Updated: 9/14/2026#23 Chapter 23: I Want the Money Back
Last Updated: 9/14/2026
You Might Like 😍
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
“Burn those who burned me!”
Burn those who burned me is an anthology book circulated on truth; justice; and REVENGE!
Story #1 The Ballad of Rabena Price.
Story #2 The rebirth of Clara Granger
Story #3 The violin of Graceland Teague
Story #4 The list for Josie Taylor
Story #5 COMING SOON!
Mated To The Last Scribe
A missing woman is found exactly where her latest story said she would be.
A warehouse burns down hours after she publishes another.
Then anonymous messages begin appearing.
WE KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW.
The problem is that Iris doesn't know anything.
At least, she doesn't think she does.
When her stories attract the attention of billionaire Alpha Cassian Blackmoor, Iris is pulled into a hidden world of werewolves, secrets, and deadly conspiracies.
Cassian believes she may be connected to a mystery that has claimed the lives of powerful Alphas for years.
His wolf believes something else.
That she is his mate.
As enemies close in and events from her stories begin unfolding in real life, Iris must uncover the truth behind her impossible gift before she becomes the next target.
Because someone is watching.
Someone is waiting.
And someone will kill to keep the truth buried.
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
The Family Books 1-3 (A Mafia romance)
The saint to my sinner. with her innocent eyes and devilish curves.
A Madonna that was meant to be admired but never touched.
Until someone took that innocence from her.
She left.
The darkness in my heart was finally complete.
I avenged her, I killed for her, but she never came back.
Until I saw her again. An angel dancing around a pole for money.
She didn’t know I owned that club. She didn’t know I was watching.
This time I won’t let her escape.
I will make her back into the girl I knew.
Whether she likes it or not.
2/ Judge and Jury- I can’t stop watching her.
I’m not even sure I want to.
Taylor Lawson, blonde, beautiful, and totally oblivious to how much dangers she’s in.
She’s also the one juror in my upcoming murder trial that hasn’t been bought.
The one who can put me behind bars for a very long time.
I know I should execute her.
After all that’s what I do.
I am the Judge.
I eliminate threats to The Family.
And Taylor is a threat.
But I don’t want to kill her.
Possessing her, making her love me seems like a much better plan for this particular Juror.
3/ Rags and Ritches-
From Substitute To Queen
Heartbroken, Sable discovered Darrell having sex with his ex in their bed, while secretly transferring hundreds of thousands to support that woman.
Even worse was overhearing Darrell laugh to his friends: "She's useful—obedient, doesn't cause trouble, handles housework, and I can fuck her whenever I need relief. She's basically a live-in maid with benefits." He made crude thrusting gestures, sending his friends into laughter.
In despair, Sable left, reclaimed her true identity, and married her childhood neighbor—Lycan King Caelan, nine years her senior and her fated mate. Now Darrell desperately tries to win her back. How will her revenge unfold?
From substitute to queen—her revenge has just begun!
Pregnant by My Husband's Rival Alpha
Those words should have destroyed me, but the truth was worse: I'd been used as a broodmare by the man who swore to love me, set up in a hotel room with a stranger because My husband Alexander Cross couldn't father children himself, and now I carried the secret babies of Damon Lester—the most powerful and dangerous Alpha in San Loris—while my own family replaced me with the daughter they'd always wanted. But when that same stranger's doctor appeared at my door, when twenty million dollars exchanged hands over a fake perfume bearing my secret identity, and when Damon's gray eyes locked onto mine with recognition I couldn't afford, I realized my carefully hidden life as the legendary perfumer Vera was colliding with a pregnancy that could cost me everything.
Could I protect my babies from the husband plotting my death, hide my true identity from the Alpha who's been hunting me for years, and reclaim the freedom I'd buried along with my dreams—even if it means standing alone against the wolves who see me as nothing more than a womb to be used and discarded?
Tempted By The Enemy
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
Iron And Glamour Just Don't Mix
Well… Sometimes you just might turn out to be right.
It turns out, the fae stole my little brother. In his place? A pixie with boundary issues and a talent for home repairs.
I’ve spent my life taking care of everyone else. So when my baby brother is taken, I don’t hesitate. I walk straight into a faerie mansion and make a bargain with its infuriatingly charming master.
Kie is everything you’d expect from a dangerous fae, beautiful, political, and entirely too amused by me. Power wrapped in a smirk. Sensual, mischievous, and far too aware of the effect he has on people. He agrees to help me find my brother.
For a price.
Now I’m bound by a faerie bargain and navigating a world of glamour, manipulation, and ancient rules I definitely should have learned sooner, enchanted forests, political games, magical contracts, and a fae lord who treats seduction like a perfectly reasonable negotiation tactic.
Iron is how I keep people out.
Glamour is how he draws them in.
And apparently, they just don’t mix.
Kaged In
Follow Kage's journey as he tries to heal, falls in love and faces his inner turmoil.
Tango with the Alpha's Heart
“He met her at the Alpha training camp,” he said. “She is a perfect suitor for him. It snowed last night, indicating that his wolf is happy with his choice.”
My heart sank, and tears made their way down my cheeks.
Alexander took my innocence last night, and now he is taking that thing in his office as his Luna.
Emily became the laughingstock of the pack on her 18th birthday and never expected the Alpha's son to be her mate.
After a night of passionate love, Emily finds out that her mate has taken a chosen mate. Heartbroken and humiliated, she disappears from the pack.
Now, five years later, Emily is a respected high-ranking warrior in King Alpha’s army.
When her best friend invites her to a night of music and laughter, she never expects to run into her mate.
Will her mate figure out it is her?
Will he chase after her, and most of all, will Emily be able to keep her secrets safe?












