
Introduction
Not after the memories. Not after the abandonment. And definitely not after the mother who chose ambition over her own daughter.
But when her estranged mother—now the powerful CFO of Sterling Crest Bank—asks her to return home for the summer, Natalie reluctantly agrees. Years ago, after her parents divorced, Natalie left town with her father and never looked back. While her mother built a new life with a wealthy husband and a stepson Natalie has never met, Natalie spent years trying to bury the hurt that small town left behind.
From the moment she arrives, Blackwood Ridge feels suffocating. The whispers, the memories, the people who still remember her family’s scandal—it all makes Natalie desperate to escape. So when an old acquaintance drags her to a local frat party on her very first night back, she throws caution aside and drinks far too much.
The night should’ve ended in disaster.
Instead, a mysterious stranger pulls her out before things spiral completely out of control. He had striking heterochromia—one eye a vivid emerald green, the other an icy ocean blue. The contrast was sharp and almost hypnotic. He takes care of her when no one else does. But when Natalie wakes up the next morning tangled in his sheets with almost no memory of the night before, panic sets in. Certain she made a terrible mistake, she prepares for the worst.
What she doesn’t expect is him.
Cold, guarded, and hiding secrets of his own, the last thing he wants is Natalie disrupting the carefully controlled life he’s built. Yet the more they collide, the more impossible it becomes to stay away from each other.
Chapter 1
I have a feeling I’m going to regret agreeing to spend the summer with my mother.
Olivia Blackwood was anything but maternal. When my parents divorced, she practically signed away her rights to me without hesitation, leaving Dad and me to move six hours north while she stayed behind in her polished, perfect world. A world where I didn’t belong. I never fit into the image she wanted beside her new husband, the wealthy and ridiculously famous Richard Blackwood.
Yes, that Blackwood.
The Blackwoods founded Blackwood Ridge generations ago, turning a sleepy stretch of Southern California into a town filled with sprawling vineyards, luxury estates, and old money prestige. Their name was on practically everything—the wineries, the private hospitals, entire streets, and especially Blackwood University, one of the most elite Ivy League schools in the country.
My mother met Richard at a banking conference years after high school, reconnecting over champagne and mutual ambition. Apparently, rekindled teenage crushes and shared wealth were enough to build a marriage. At least for people like them.
For people like me? Not so much.
“Earth to Natalie!” Cara practically screams in my face.
I blink and look up from my thoughts. “Jesus. You trying to kill me?”
She laughs, tossing a pillow at my head. “Only if you keep zoning out like that. I asked if you’re coming to the party tonight at Brody’s frat house.”
We’re sprawled across her bed surrounded by old photo albums from middle school, the pages filled with awkward hairstyles, braces, and memories from before everything in my life went to shit.
I shrug lazily. “Sure?”
Cara narrows her eyes. “That sounded painful.”
“It probably will be.”
“When are you seeing your mom?” she asks carefully, like the topic itself might detonate.
“Tomorrow.” I groan dramatically, throwing an arm over my face. “At the prestigious Blackwood Manor.”
Cara winces in sympathy.
She’s the only person from Blackwood Ridge I stayed in contact with after Dad and I moved away. Ironically, she now attends Oakbrook University with me in Northern California, where my father teaches history courses. Oakbrook is another Ivy League school full of overachievers and trust fund kids pretending they understand struggle.
Meanwhile, I’m over here double majoring in library science and history because apparently I enjoy making my own life difficult.
Still, I love it.
Books have always been my safe place. Especially old books. Dusty pages, worn leather bindings, faded ink—something about them calms me. The smell alone is enough to settle every anxious thought in my head. Ancient texts make sense to me in ways people never do.
Which is exactly why I volunteered at the Blackwood Ridge Library for the summer. Their historical archive contains one of the largest collections of apocryphal texts and rare manuscripts in the country. Most people come to Blackwood Ridge for wine tastings or lake parties.
I came for dead languages and fragile paper.
Exciting, right?
Cara continues rambling beside me, flipping through another photo album while filling me in on every piece of gossip I missed over the years.
Apparently, half the town is cheating on the other half.
“Wait,” I interrupt, pointing at a picture she shows me. “Didn’t those two hate each other?”
“They’re engaged now.”
“What?”
“And she cheated on him with his cousin.”
I stare at her. “This town is insane.”
“That’s not even the worst part.” Cara grins wickedly. “You haven’t met the out-of-town hotties yet.”
I snort. “Please never say hotties again.”
She ignores me completely. “Brody’s friends all came in early for the summer because they’re working at the lake resort.”
“Thrilling.”
“One of them is apparently six-foot-five and covered in tattoos.”
I look at her blankly.
“What?” she asks. “You’ve been single too long. I’m trying to help.”
“I’m busy.”
“With books.”
“Yes.”
“With dead people books.”
“They’re called historical texts.”
Cara laughs so hard she nearly falls off the bed.
Her boyfriend Brody apparently plays football and somehow manages to have both muscles and a functioning brain, which she talks about like she discovered a rare species. They’ve been doing long distance while he attends Blackwood University, and honestly, I have no idea how she manages it.
Relationships sound exhausting.
Between school, volunteering, cheerleading, and trying not to disappoint my father, I barely have time to sleep. Dating someone feels impossible.
Not that anyone around Oakbrook really interests me anyway.
I know exactly why my mother suddenly wants me back in her life this summer. She wants to parade around her accomplished daughter like some kind of trophy. Look at Natalie with her perfect grades and athletic scholarships and Ivy League education.
Never mind the fact she barely raised me.
I cheer professionally for the San Francisco Sharks, this year’s Super Bowl champions. Calling it professional feels generous since the pay is practically nonexistent, but I genuinely enjoy it. It’s one of the few things in my life that lets me shut my brain off for a while.
Dad says I work too hard.
He’s probably right.
Cara suddenly jumps off the bed, nearly giving me whiplash as she rushes toward her closet.
“We need outfits.”
“We absolutely do not.”
“Yes, we do.”
“No, you do.”
She spins dramatically. “Natalie Marie Bennett, you are not wearing ripped jeans and a white T-shirt to a frat party.”
I glance down at exactly that outfit. “Seems fine to me.”
“You look like you’re about to alphabetize someone’s bookshelf.”
“That’s because I probably am.”
Cara groans loudly before diving into her closet like her life depends on it. Clothes immediately begin flying across the room.
A black dress smacks me in the face.
“No.”
A crop top lands next.
“Absolutely not.”
“You’re impossible!” she shouts.
“I drove six hours today. I’m lucky I’m conscious.”
Honestly, I don’t even want to go to this stupid party. My suitcase still sits unopened in the corner of Cara’s bedroom because I’ve barely had enough energy to shower since arriving in town. But Cara insists I need to meet Brody and his friends before they all disappear to work at the lake resort for the summer.
Apparently she has an entire vision planned out involving sunshine, bikinis, boats, and excessive alcohol.
Meanwhile, my ideal summer involves hiding in the library basement surrounded by ancient manuscripts while avoiding my mother as much as humanly possible.
If I’m lucky, I’ll only have to see Olivia during mandatory family dinners at Blackwood Manor. Pretend to smile. Pretend we’re normal. Pretend she didn’t choose her new life over me years ago.
Easy enough.
At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.
But deep down, I already know this summer is going to change everything.
Last Chapters
#88 Chapter 88 Break Up
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#87 Chapter 87 Christmas Morning
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#86 Chapter 86 Still Mad
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#85 Chapter 85 Miss Me
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#84 Chapter 84 Pictures
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#83 Chapter 83 The Red Club
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#82 Chapter 82 You Said What
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#81 Chapter 81 The Bomb
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#80 Chapter 80 The Chase
Last Updated: 6/3/2026#79 Chapter 79 Thanksgiving Dinner
Last Updated: 6/3/2026
You Might Like 😍
The Missing Mafia Princess and her CEO Mafia Don
BRUISED LOVE
The safe dorm.
The boring dorm.
What he got instead was Maverick Hale campus menace, underground street fighter, walking bruise factory, and the last person he ever wanted anywhere near his neat piles of textbooks.
Maverick doesn't care that he's broke.
or in arrears with his fees.
Or one wrong move away from getting kicked out.
He’ll graduate out of sheer spite—he refuses to give his estranged, homophobic father the satisfaction of calling him a failure.
He definitely doesn’t care about the determined, overachieving half-Indian nursing major he’s stuck sharing a room with…
Until Bodhi becomes the only thing keeping him in school.
His tutor.
His healer.
His undoing.
And when Maverick stumbles into their dorm one night with a knife wound and Bodhi stitches him up with shaking hands and a breaking heart…
no longer can that be denied.
Opposites weren’t supposed to collide this way.
But they did.
Hard.
BROKEN TRUST
Neither of them knew she was carrying his child.
Emily’s affair didn’t just end her marriage—it erased the life she thought was guaranteed. Ryan left without looking back, carrying his anger like armor and leaving Emily alone with regret she would never outrun. Three years later, fate drags them back into each other’s world, along with a little girl who has Ryan’s eyes and a truth that shatters everything he thought he knew.
Old wounds reopen, grief masquerades as rage, and love refuses to stay buried. As parenthood binds them together and the past demands accountability, Emily and Ryan must face the question neither of them is ready to answer: is broken trust the end of their story… or the beginning of a love forged through loss, forgiveness, and brutal honesty?
After the Divorce She Became Untouchable
Her husband, Abel Donovan, a ruthless and powerful figure, gave her no chance to defend herself, readily believing his stepsister's lies.
Anna was pregnant with his child and was cruelly driven away.
Five years later, Annabelle was no longer the infamous, abandoned woman she once was. She returned as the CEO of the global fashion empire BelleNova.
Abel never imagined she would return, especially with his child.
Ruined : You will always be mine.
“Fuckkk”, I couldn’t help but scream.
“You need to learn to be obedient” he said as he kept thrusting into me. When I felt his hands on my clit my body shook.
“Asher please, it’s too much”.
“No. if I really wanted to punish you, I would give you all of me”, he said against my ears and my entire body froze. Suddenly he moved and I was standing again. This man was insane.
I felt him behind me. “Ten Lashes for your disobedience”, he said
“Asher please”,
“No”. His voice was cold and void of any emotion.
Asher was what I wanted , what I truly craved until it was too late. An orphan should never fall in love with someone out of their reach. I thought loving him was the right thing to do until he revealed his true identity and Ruined me. I was ruined for everyone one else . I could still feel his touch, it was as if it was etched into my skin. I tired to avoid him but fate wouldn't let it happen.
The Sterling's were the most powerful in Havenwood and Dorian Sterling was off limits.
As an orphan finding out you still have people looking for you is hard to take but when it turns out to be people of wealth and standing I took the other road and ran, but running led me right back to the place I was avoiding and the person I was avoiding.
Asher and Dorling Sterling one and the same. When his first love shows up and along with everyone that has set out to ruin me, I prayed that he could protect me.
Accidentally His: The Billionaire’s Wife in High Society
Five years later, Freya Myers returns to the city with a pair of exceptionally gifted twins, desperately trying to conceal their existence from the world. But when she interviews for an internship, she unexpectedly encounters Declan Castle—the very same man from years ago—as her interviewer. From then on, Declan Castle becomes a persistent, demonic force haunting her!
Five years ago, a single, desperate mistake changed Freya Myers's life forever. Intending to secure a future with the man of her dreams, she ended up in the wrong room, stealing the 'seed' of the wrong man. That man was Declan Castle—the cold, ruthless, and enigmatic CEO of the world-renowned Castle Group.
Now, Freya has returned to the city as a struggling single mother, hiding a pair of genius twins from the world. When she lands an internship at the Castle Group, she hopes to remain invisible. But fate has other plans. Declan Castle, a man who has remained mysteriously untouched by any woman since that fateful night, instantly senses something familiar about the new designer. He has spent years searching for the woman who 'ruined' him, and now that he has found her, he has no intention of letting her go.
Forced into a high-stakes marriage of convenience with the domineering CEO, Freya must navigate the treacherous waters of high society while desperately guarding her children's true identity. Between a scheming stepmother, jealous socialites, and a series of deadly secrets, the walls are closing in.
What started as a game of cat-and-mouse and a quest for revenge soon ignites into a passion that neither can control. In a world where power is everything and betrayal is a way of life, can Freya protect her heart and her children, or will the relentless Mr. Castle claim everything she’s been trying to hide?
The Last Sempyr: Alpha's Fated Mate
“Watch me,” I snap.
His icy gaze flicks to my lips.
I know I’m trapped.
I’m a stray fighting to keep orphans alive—until I’m caught and chained to the North’s most feared Alpha.
Xuaru Ruel is war-forged, ice-cold, bound to a king who owns him.
He was born to kill my kind. Instead, he keeps me close.
Calls it discipline. Lies.
The fated mate bond ignited, and his wolf won’t let me go.
He fights the pull, yet always comes back.
If he learns my secret…
He’ll choose: hand me to his king…
Or burn the world to claim me as his.
A pack of their own
Billionaire love and pleasure
The Vampire Prince's Hybrid Bride
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.
Alpha Cameron's Vengeful Mate
Alpha Cameron is the strongest Alpha in America and the most feared, but he has a secret. He doesn’t want a mate because of this and has decided to take a chosen mate to become his Luna in name only. His mother, sister, and beta urge him constantly to rethink his decision as the woman he has chosen is a nightmare. They believe that he should wait for his fated mate, but their pleas fall on deaf ears. What happens when he visits the Red Dawn Pack for the Alpha daughters’ coming of age party and finds his fated mate being beaten? Will he save her or reject her?












