9708 Book(s) Related to a heart for the ceo

"Eyes on me," he orders.
"Alpha," I panicked, my eyes softening with tears.
"Up here, keep your eyes on me. You are my mate," the Alpha I just met tells me and I mouth the words back.
"Mate!" I whisper.

I have been on the run since I was eight and the Moon Goddess has been my only companion, well, with my grandmother. What I don't know is that the alpha who is bound to be my mate is the rival I don't want to meet right now.
He attacked my family and kept me on the run.
Will I ever accept his terms and be his Luna?

The story, 'The Last Omega" centers around the theme of love, deception, hatred, redemption etc. Although it seemed like something impossible to happen, the cruel and wild alpha, Conall, an an omega filled with so much hate, Carina, fall in love with each other and get married despite their love being forbidden.

Erica Briggs grew up as an outcast. She was brought up by Alpha Arnold and became the target of constant bullying in the pack.
Her only hope in escaping this hellish life was by finding her fated mate on her 18th birthday. But things didn't go as planned...
Her mate, Alpha Carl rejected her in front of everyone. This brings shame to Alpha Arnold and the pack so he makes the decision to sell her off to the ruthless Alpha Logan.
Within her new home, she meets the kind and handsome son of Alpha Logan, Dante. The two became quick friends and developed feelings for each other. Dante is put in a dilemma - his loyalty to the pack and his father, or his feelings for Erica
How will Erica and Dante's story unwrap?

This is a Blood Legacy spin-off, following Jess & David's romance story
Can be also read as a standalone
~
Jessica Aelyn Fey is an air-headed and very clumsy wolf...Some say that she even might come off as a little shy...but very few know about her stubborn nature and loud mouth when provoked...

Born and raised into a family of lone wolves, she enjoys her simple and carefree life, so very different from the complicated and harsh one the pack wolves have... But all that changes the moment she discovers that not only is she mated to one, but he also happens to be the Alpha King's Beta...The Royal Commander...

What will happen when she also discovers that pack wolves are not as cruel and merciless as her family painted them to be...but rather...kind and protective, especially with their smaller and weaker mates?

Will she change her mind and give the Royal Beta a chance? Or will she run away?
~

After the war between the humans and werewolves died down an accident made Red Blake lose contact with her wolf which was a secret kept from every member of the pack—

Even though her families were worried about her being a weak girl, Red ought to prove to them she was more than a girl without a wolf, to her no wolf meant no mate so Red couldn't be happier with the way things are until Ace walked right into the werewolf academy.

Ace Misha Laurentiis is a shy nerd who kept to himself and unfortunate accidents cause him to cross paths with one another, they find themselves drawn to each other.

Warnings were spread out, hearts would be broken and suddenly Red started to wish everything were much different.

What happened when someone showed up claiming to be Red's mate?

Looking for a badass girl werewolf heroine with a shy hot nerdy human boy? Then this book is for you!

Now let your imagination run wild!

What would be your reaction if your husband-to-be gave you out as collateral to a total stranger on your wedding day?

Rosa Brooks, a timid, and naive lady.

Fabio Dante, an arrogant, and, Ruthless
DON, who possesses concubines.

Both star in this love and hate Dark Romance Novel.

Dante signs a contract stating that he will release Rosa back to her fiance after a few months if he (Rosa’s fiance) meets his end of the deal.

Rosa was so sure that her Fiance had abandoned her. As days turn into weeks, Rosa finds herself inexplicably drawn to the dark and brooding Dante, and he (Dante) makes her his. But, what happens when her fiance comes back asking for his bride, Rosa?

Will Dante keep to his word, or will he risk losing everything, including his position, for love?

Grab some tissues, and read to find out how these two opposites, stood up to obstacles, and hurdles just to be together.

She was the voice the world couldn’t stop listening to—until it was silenced.

Alice Rodriguez had it all: a voice that turned hearts inside out, a boyfriend adored by the fashion elite, and a future drenched in spotlight.

But when the police stormed her concert and arrested her for a crime she didn’t commit, everything shattered.

Framed.

Forgotten.

Replaced.

Two years later, she walks free with nothing but scars and silence.

Her name is poison. Her fans, now enemies, and the man she once loved? Vanished—leaving behind betrayal and a child with his childhood best friend.

But revenge gives her purpose.

Infiltrating the notorious DeVescori mafia—known only as La Casa di Sangue** (“The House of Blood) She trades her mic for a blade.

Alice becomes entangled in a world of blood, power, and lust.

She’s hired as a pianist for Silas DeVescori, the fragile, mentally unstable heir… but it’s Tiberio, his ruthless brother and underground music producer, who marks her as his next obsession.

He offers her a deal: become his assassin, reclaim her career, and take down the man who ruined her.

The only catch? Her soul might not survive.

Torn between two dangerous brothers and caught in a deadly game of love, power, and vengeance, Alice must choose:

Will she become the instrument in Tiberio’s ruthless symphony…

Or will she compose a final note that silences them all?

After jumping to her death when a cruel prank ruins her life, Lila, a quiet scholarship student, wakes up reborn as a siren, powerful, beautiful, and dangerous. Still trapped in the same elite college that broke her, she hides her new identity while working nights as a stripper to survive. But when she discovers her fated mate is the school’s golden boy, captain of the football team and heir to the rival pack that once slaughtered her kind, she must decide whether to seduce him, destroy him, or risk everything for a love that shouldn’t exist.

As a rouge she-wolf, she decided to keep her identity hidden to protect her family. She, however, fell into the bet of a rich and spoiled Alpha who also happened to be her mate.

“I reject you as my mate, Addison!” These were the words of Agatha.

Addison could not afford to lose the bet and did everything possible to win her heart.

With Adolf in the picture, things got more difficult for Agatha. But Addison offered her a juicy proposal to be his mate.

Thinking it was all a game and contracted relationship, Agatha thought she would never fall in love with Addison.

But what happens when she does? What could possibly go wrong when she finds out that Addison only wanted her first the bet and also has a fiancée?

Abigail Delaney, the youngest female servant of the Williams household came with the intention to work for a period of time in order to save up enough money to pay for her mother's surgery.
Unintentionally, she fell in love with the only son and heir to the Williams empire, Liam Williams.
It took just one night to lose her virginity to him. And later discovering she was pregnant, she decided to leave and never return. Hopefully, Liam will never find out that she left with his heir.

Ally is your everyday typical emo but he's bullied, he's alone and he's somewhat broken. He only wants to end his life and he had tried many times but failed.

His bully,levii then began to treat him nice,care for him and protect him. Ally didn't understand why he was doing this,was he playing with ally,was it a bet.Ally is having a difficult time trusting levii but levii won't give up.

Elena had loved Nicola for eight years until she overheard him.
She lay in a supernatural slumber for three years, a pawn in her husband's cold bargain with his family's cruel legacy.
Now, awake and alone in a world that has moved on, Elena makes a desperate deal with fate itself.
Armed with an ancient ritual that could rewrite history, she returns to the past—not to win back Nicola's heart, but to escape it.
She flees to London, reinventing herself as an artist and daring to hope for a life without him.
But some bonds transcend time.
Nicola, the man who sacrificed everything to protect her, will stop at nothing to find her again.
When their paths finally cross under London's rainy skies, they must confront the truth: Was their love destroyed by betrayal or merely tested by it?
This is a haunting tale of second chances and the courage to choose one's own destiny.
This time, what will you choose?

Every night, my mother-in-law Margaret would make a special cup of hot cocoa just for me, a Harvard graduate—my husband and his younger brother never got this special treatment.
The night before my first bar exam, Margaret brought me my usual mug of hot cocoa as always.
But the next day, despite being perfectly healthy all my life, I blacked out right in the exam hall!
I missed out on finishing the test and failed outright. Meanwhile, my husband, who flunked every single law school class, somehow miraculously passed California’s notoriously brutal bar exam, widely regarded as the hardest in the country.
Margaret told me not to worry, saying I could just retake it the following year, and she kept making my nightly hot cocoa without fail every day after that.
When the second bar exam rolled around, my cousin was staying with us temporarily. She only wanted a tiny sip of my cocoa, yet Margaret screamed at her, calling her shameless.
This time, sharp, crippling abdominal pains hit me the second I stepped into the exam room, and I had to rush to the hospital for emergency care.
Once again, I failed the exam. My cousin, who’d only attended a community college, shocked everyone by walking away with a full attorney’s license.
The whole family celebrated nonstop, and I was the butt of everyone’s jokes.
I couldn’t wrap my head around why my body would break down in every possible way whenever bar exam season rolled around.
Heading into my third attempt at the bar, I told myself this was my last shot—I could not afford to let my guard down for even a second.
But the night before the exam, my mother-in-law showed up at my door yet again, holding a warm mug of bedtime hot cocoa just for me…

Adrian Hayes has two rules: never steal another man’s girlfriend, and never lose his dignity over a woman.
Then he meets Emma.
Three weeks, one anonymous advice thread, and several terrible decisions later, Adrian is ready to betray his best friend, beg Emma to choose him, and even bring in his parents for backup.
There’s just one problem.
The man he thinks he’s stealing her from is her brother.

I can see other people's net worth.

The day my boyfriend learned he was the long-lost son of the richest man in this city on the East Coast, he came home and lied to my face.

"The DNA test didn't match," Caleb Foster said with a sigh.

Above his head, his net worth climbed past $14 million.

I did not expose him. I only smiled and said, "Don't worry. As long as you can take hardship, there'll always be more of it."

I took my fiancé, Julian, on a Caribbean vacation aboard my private yacht.
But he took the liberty of bringing Harper, a childhood best friend my family had financially sponsored growing up.
"Eve, she's practically your sister," he argued. "She hasn't had your luck in life. I brought her along to help you take care of her. Don't tell me you're jealous of your own bestie?"
Once on board, Harper feigned seasickness, melting comfortably into Julian's arms.
Yet, to chase views for her videos, she miraculously recovered, insisting on a cageless deep-sea dive with bloody chum.
When I forcefully stopped them, they started a live stream, framing me as an arrogant rich girl crushing a poor girl's ocean dream. They milked my warnings for millions of views.
Drunk on viral fame, Harper dragged Julian for a secret dive behind my back, instantly attracting a frenzy of aggressive bull sharks.
I dove in to save them without hesitation. But to escape, Harper kicked me straight toward the shark frenzy, while Julian scrambled up the deck without looking back.
I was torn to pieces alive.
They built their fame over my dead body, took over my trust fund, and indirectly caused my devastated parents to die in a plane crash while rushing to the Bahamas.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the first day of that fatal trip.

I was a broke scholarship student. Chloe was an old-money heiress and the untouchable cheer captain.

She paraded me through her elite world and even generously shoved me at her ultimate crush—Aston, the ruthless son of the school board director.

But when Aston and I actually got together, the princess bared her fangs.

She staged a severe fall to drain my meager savings, then framed me for stealing her family's heirloom necklace. And Aston? He dumped me immediately, sneering that I was just a cheap prop desperate to climb the social ladder.

Ostracized and cyberbullied by the entire school, I was locked on the rooftop during the Winter Formal and left to freeze to death in the snow.

But when I opened my eyes...

I was back at that deafening party. Right at the moment Chloe first introduced me to Aston.

My mother had no medical license, yet wealthy socialites lined up to hand her fat checks.
I often saw her lead those women into the treatment room, where agonizing screams would pierce through the locked door.
But strangely, those same women emerged radiant, as if they'd shed twenty or thirty years overnight, pressing stacks of cash into her hands with tearful gratitude.
What baffled me more was how she doted on the hired girls like her own daughters.
Yet toward me, her actual daughter, she was nothing but cold—always quick to criticize or strike.
Finally one day, curiosity won. I mustered the courage to peek through that door crack and saw what really happened inside...

I'm eight months pregnant, throwing up so violently I can taste bile, three "miracles" growing inside me.

Until that night at their celebration dinner, when I leaned against the wall and heard laughter from inside the private room.

I could hear the amusement in my husband Frank's voice: "Let's up the bet—another million. I'm betting two boys, one girl."

His mistress Ava giggled: "You already know the results."

"Of course," he said casually. "They're my children. Of course I know."

Then I heard it.

They talked about my womb like I was some kind of breeding machine.

They clinked glasses, debating "whose eggs were worth more."

They were even betting on "which baby would come out first."

And there I was, outside the door, my swollen feet barely holding up my aching, stretched body.

Inside, they were laughing and celebrating.

Celebrating their perfect little surrogate, carrying my husband's babies with his mistress.

Right then, the nausea just... stopped.

I just felt cold.

And slowly, a plan started forming in my head.

For five years, Reese was dead certain I couldn't survive without him. That arrogance was why he dared to strap me to a polygraph chair on my birthday. Why he looked me dead in the eye and said he regretted marrying me. Why he transferred the tickets for my birthday getaway to his first love, letting her lounge in my pajamas, sleep in my bed, and flaunt the heirloom my mother left me before she died.
As the electric shocks sent my body into violent spasms, he didn't even flinch. "It's a safe voltage," he dismissed.
When I choked out the word divorce, he didn't so much as turn his head. "You'd never leave me."
But there was one thing he didn't know. When I went back to the escape room to grab my forgotten purse, the owner showed me something—an audio recording from the control room, captured right before our game began.
In it, Reese casually admitted that the only reason he married me was because I looked like her.
I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I just signed the divorce papers, pinned them to the table beneath my positive ultrasound report, and dialed 911.

To buy gold for my boyfriend whom I was supporting,
I resorted to doing borderline live streams to earn money.
The price of gold soared,
But his demand for it showed no signs of decreasing.
It was only then that I found out the "pumpkin porridge" he drank every day
Was actually made of gold.
He had a pica for gold.
I treated him so well,
But he cheated on me with my boss.
I wanted to leave, but he imprisoned me.
There was an even bigger secret hidden behind all this.

Blood pooled beneath Eloise's head just moments after she discovered the truth about her husband. The man she built her world around wanted nothing more than to destroy her. He stole everything, her company, her pride, her future, and left her to die. But as the darkness closed in on her, fate offered a second chance.

**

Now she is back, with bloodstained memories and a thirst for revenge. Desperate and broken, she made a deal with the devil, a man powerful enough to hand her the weapons.

But his help comes at a price.

To be owned by him. For four months. A strict deal with no strings or feelings attached. But nothing about him is simple. He's infuriating, intoxicating, and every second with him chips away at her control.

What starts as business quickly spirals into a dangerous game of possession, secrets, and desire. And when hearts get involved, the real cost becomes something more than she bargained for.

He’s the last man she should trust… and the only one who makes her lose control.

AN AGE GAP, FORCED PROXIMITY, BLACK FLAG ROMANCE

Vincenzo Valentini is a man who sees the world as a business counter and human beings as merchandise.

The owner of an empire built upon corpses and submission, he is the reflection of pure perversity.

When fate places Andrew Thompson, the son of his greatest rival, into his hands, the plan was simple: use him, break him, and discard him like a toy that has lost its appeal.

What Vincenzo did not expect was that, beneath the youthful skin and the appearance of innocence, Andrew hid the same abyss as he did.

Vincenzo never wanted redemption. He never wanted someone to save him from his own darkness. He was seeking a mirror. And in Andrew, he found the partner who, upon seeing his blood-stained hands, does not recoil in terror, but trembles with desire.

In this perverse game, the "little toy" proves to be the perfect executioner. The mafia leader found someone who not only accepts his cruel side but cultivates it, feeding the monster Vincenzo has always been.

Where there should have been fear, lust emerged. Where there should have been hatred, a perverse loyalty was born. Andrew Thompson is the dark reflection of Vincenzo, the soldier the underworld did not see coming, and the man who proved that, for some, paradise only makes sense if it is in the middle of chaos.

Vincenzo opened the doors to his empire, but Andrew was the only one capable of invading his heart.

They are not heroes. They are hell on earth.

Five years ago, Elena overheard the ambiguous whispers between her husband Arthur and his first love. In that split second, all her love for him crumbled to dust. She left the country with her pregnant belly, vowing never to have any connection with this man again.​
Five years later, Elena returns to her home country with her twins Liam and Luna—now a world-renowned top doctor. Unexpectedly, she finds herself entangled with Arthur once more. His eyes reddening with emotion, he grabs her abruptly and pleads, "Elena, I was truly wrong. This time, I will never let you get hurt again."

"Marry me," my billionaire CEO demanded, trapping me in his office, completely unaware that my father was the man who murdered his parents.

I stared at John Alexander Blackwood, a man who evaluated people like stock options. He was cold, calculated, and terrifying. "A contract marriage," he said with dead eyes. "Three years. In exchange, your family's financial ruin disappears." I should have screamed no and ran out of that top-floor office. But I signed the papers, binding myself to a man I barely knew.

Moving into his sterile, expensive penthouse felt like walking into a beautiful prison. We lived like ghosts, avoiding each other in the hallways. But the ice between us started to crack. Late-night encounters in the kitchen turned into shared whiskey, and his dark, calculating eyes began tracking my every move with a burning intensity. Behind his cold armor, I found a broken man still grieving the parents he lost in a tragic car crash twenty-six years ago. I was falling for him. Hard.

But then, the anonymous envelope arrived.

My hands shook as I tore open the seal, staring at the faded contract inside. Fifty thousand dollars. That’s what my father was paid to sabotage the brakes on the Blackwood family car. The crash wasn't an accident. It was a cold-blooded assassination ordered by John's own grandfather, and my father pulled the trigger.

I was sleeping under the same roof as the man whose life my family had destroyed. If John found out, he wouldn't just divorce me—he would obliterate me.

Was I my father's daughter enough to pack my bags and run, or was I reckless enough to stay and let the truth burn us both to ashes?

“A MASTERPIECE OF THRILLER AND MYSTERY. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.” --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) FACE OF DEATH is book #1 in a new FBI thriller series by USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews. FBI Special Agent Zoe Prime suffers from a rare condition which also gives her a unique talent—she views the world through a lens of numbers. The numbers torment her, make her unable to relate to people, and give her a failed romantic life—yet they also allow her to see patterns that no other FBI agent can see. Zoe keeps her condition a secret, ashamed, in fear her colleagues may find out.Yet when a serial killer strikes across the Midwest, strangling women in remote places and seemingly at random, Zoe, for the first time, is stumped. Is there a pattern? Can there be no pattern at all? Or is this killer as obsessed with numbers as she is?In a mad race against time, Zoe must enter the diabolical mind of a killer who always seems to be one step ahead of her, and stop him from claiming his next victim before it’s too late. At the same time, she must keep at bay her own demons, which may ultimately prove to be even more threatening.An action-packed thriller with heart-pounding suspense, FACE OF DEATH is book #1 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Books #2 and #3 in the series—FACE OF MURDER and FACE OF FEAR—are also available for pre-order.

From #1 bestselling author Blake Pierce comes a heart-pounding new mystery series.In the cornfields of Nebraska a woman is found murdered, strung up on a pole, the victim of a deranged killer. It doesn’t take long for the police to realize a serial killer is on the loose—and that his spree has just begun.Detective Mackenzie White, young, tough, smarter than the aging, chauvinistic men on her local force, finds herself called in grudgingly to help solve it. As much as the other officers hate to admit it, they need her young, brilliant mind, which has already helped crack cold cases that had left them stumped. Yet even for Mackenzie this new case proves an impossible riddle, something the likes of which she—and the local force—have ever seen.With the FBI called in, together, an intense manhunt ensues. Mackenzie, reeling from her own dark past, her failed relationships, and her undeniable attraction to the new FBI agent, finds herself battling her own demons as her hunt for the killer takes her to the darkest places of her mind. As she delves into the killer’s mind, obsessing over his twisted psychology, she finds that evil truly does exist. She only hopes it will not be too late to extricate herself from it, as her entire life collapses around her.As more bodies turn up dead and a frantic race against time ensues, there is no way out but to find him before he kills again.A dark psychological thriller with heart-pounding suspense, BEFORE HE KILLS marks the debut of a riveting new series—and a beloved new character—that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #2 in the Mackenzie White Mystery series will be available soon. Also available by Blake Pierce is ONCE GONE (A Riley Paige mystery—Book #1), a #1 bestseller!

“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.” --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) HOMECOMING (A Chloe Fine Mystery) is book #5 in a new psychological suspense series by bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has over 1,000 five-star reviews. When two husbands, best friends, turn up dead in a wealthy suburban town, FBI VICAP Special Agent Chloe Fine, 27, is called in to unmask the lies in this small town and to find the killer. Chloe will have to penetrate this town’s perfect façade, to get past its public appearances to understand the truth of who these men were, and who may have wanted them dead. And in a town that thrives on its exclusivity, that won’t be easy to do.What secrets were these husbands hiding?An emotionally wrought psychological suspense with layered characters, small-town ambiance and heart-pounding suspense, HOMECOMING is book #5 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #6 in the Chloe Fine series will also be available soon.

Seraphina Lancaster believed she was living a life that many women could only dream about. She believed she had married the man she loved, and built a successful future alongside him.

Damien Roth had saved her life at a crucial moment, and she did everything she could to support him and his business.

But what happens when her whole world comes crashing down with one painful truth?

On their sixth wedding anniversary, while preparing a gift for her beloved husband, she discovered that their wedding certificate was fake, and everyone she held dear had been deceiving her from the very beginning.
What she believed was a beautiful marriage was nothing but a calculated betrayal orchestrated by Damien, her best friend Camilla, and the Roth family—people who watched her sacrifice everything while quietly stealing the life she built.
Seraphina was beyond heartbroken, but she wouldn’t let her pain define her. Instead, it awakens something far more dangerous.

The burning desire to make them kneel at her feet.

Then comes Cassian Blackthorne.
A billionaire with his own scars, and a man the world calls cold and untouchable. But to Seraphina, he was her ticket to the ultimate revenge.
As Damien’s biggest rival, she offers him a proposal too sweet to ignore, one that pulls them both into a game neither of them can afford to lose.
Will Seraphina get everything that was stolen from her? Or will she find herself trapped between destruction and desire?

My grandmother left me three things: a crumbling inn, five guests, and a warning to take good care of her guests.

She forgot to mention that the guests were dead.

Just when I'm getting used to my unusual residents, Adrian Salvatore checks in.

Handsome, infuriatingly charming, and a necromancer who can actually see my ghosts, Adrian is everything I don't need in my already complicated life.

Unfortunately, my ghosts disagree.

They've decided he's my perfect husband.

Now they're arranging romantic dinners, interfering in our private moments, and doing everything possible to make us fall in love.

And the worst part? I think their ridiculous plans might actually be working.

But Adrian is hiding something, and he seems suspiciously unwilling to leave my inn.

Then one evening, one of my ghosts disappears.

By morning, the others insist she never existed.

And the only person who might help me find her is the handsome necromancer who's been keeping secrets from me.

I inherited an inn full of ghosts. How on earth did I end up with a love life more complicated than theirs?

My name is Marlow Kane. I’m an orphan. I grew up in a lab—daily injections, pills, training—until I escaped and learned how to pass as “normal.”

No one knows what I used to be.

To my classmates, I’m the quiet nobody—the guy you forget is even there.

Then graduation trip hit. The boat went down, and I dragged seven classmates onto a deserted island.

At dawn I scouted the treeline and found a corpse—its wounds looked like someone had chewed the flesh right off.

I warned them not to go inland, not to wander. The school bully laughed in my face, said I was making up ghost stories because I wanted to play leader.

That night no one took watch. Everyone slept shoulder-to-shoulder by the fire—except me.

After midnight, one of us started shivering, shaking uncontrollably… then snapped upright and launched at the person next to her, teeth first.

The bully stumbled back. I was the only one who moved. I rushed in and drove a knife straight into her skull.

Firelight washed over her gray skin and bloodshot eyes. No one laughed anymore.

Blake sat in the sand staring at me, lips trembling, unable to say a word.

Ten years into my marriage, I'd traded my paintbrush for a spatula and turned into Mrs. Holloway.

Ever since my sister Brooke moved in, my husband Bennett and my daughter Lucy had picked up a habit. Anytime Brooke and I disagreed, they put it to a vote.

On my birthday I wanted steak. Two hands went up for the salad bar Brooke liked. When I hadn't slept in weeks and wanted to see a therapist, they sided with Brooke, who said I just had too much time on my hands.

We'd decided long ago that for our tenth anniversary, we'd go back to Jenny Lake, where Bennett had proposed. Then Brooke mentioned she wanted to surf in Maui. Another vote. Two to one, again.

Bennett finished booking the tickets before it even occurred to him to look at me.

"There were only three business-class seats left, so we grabbed them. Just book yourself an economy seat, okay?"

I nodded and bought a one-way ticket to Wyoming.

This time, I wasn't going with them.

It was Valentine's Day when my fiancé, Gavin Pierce, took me out to that survival course in the Catskills — him, me, and Riley Harper, the girl his family took in when she was fourteen, after her parents died.
I'd asked for a table at the Gramercy Tavern. He'd said he hated standing in line for a reservation, that he wanted to do something that actually got our blood moving.
So he booked the three of us into a couples' wilderness challenge — which should have told me something, right there, when the booking was for three.
The final round was a solo penalty draw. One of us would pull the short stick and spend ten minutes locked inside The Freezer.
Riley hooked her arm through Gavin's, half pouting, half flirting. "Gav, if I pull it, are you gonna come get me out?"
Gavin laughed. "Rules are rules, Ri."
She stuck her lip out in a sulk.
Beside her, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
Then Riley drew the black stick, and her tears came instantly, like a faucet turning on.
Less than a second later, Gavin spoke.
"It's too dark in here. Drew the wrong one, didn't I?"
He slid the safe stick out of my hand and swapped it with hers — smooth enough that it took me a beat to understand what I'd just seen.
"You're up, Caro."
Riley's tears dried up on the spot.
Gavin turned and murmured close to my ear, "Come on. Riley has a thing about tight spaces. You're tough. Ten minutes. You'll be fine."
This wasn't the first time Gavin had dropped me the moment it counted.
I looked down at the cold already seeping through the soles of my boots, and the phone sealed in my waterproof pouch lit up.
It was the man my father had been quietly pushing on me for months.
[Valentine's Day, Miss Langley. Have you made up your mind?]

My mother-in-law was a spoiled and soft woman.
Fifty years old and she couldn't book a rideshare. Couldn't pick up a package. When the breaker tripped, she cried into a video call to her husband and her son.
The whole family agreed on it. Her only skills were clinging and being adorable.
Then I bled at nine weeks and took myself to the ER.
The OB who picked up my chart was my husband's best female friend. Sable.
She saw me, photographed my chart into their med-school group chat, and hit record.
"Come look, everybody. Dog's wife. Pregnant five minutes and already bleeding from bed."
"Twenty-eight and she's already a geriatric pregnancy. You've got to pace yourself, honey."
The whole room laughed and looked at my stomach.
My face burned white. My nails went numb in my palm.
Thirty minutes later the door hit the wall.
My mother-in-law, the woman who covered her ears in her husband's arms over a tripped fuse, walked in on four-inch heels.
Behind her: hospital administration, the compliance office, and the sitting Chief of Obstetrics.
She pulled the chart out of my hand without lifting her eyes.
"Twenty-eight is advanced maternal age? Normal physiologic fluid, and you called it too much sex?"
"Dr. Smith, is your mouth that filthy because your brain's been marinating in locker-room jokes, or did your ethics get eaten by a dog?"

The world knew my grandfather as Professor Guo Zhenghua—a man who spent fifty years lecturing about justice.
They knew his wife as Lin Wanyu, a celebrated artist admired for her integrity.
Both reputations were built on a stolen identity.
The real Lin Wanyu was my grandmother.
She died in a mountain village with no legal name, no recognized grave, and her eyes still open.
When their grandson demanded a place at my law firm, I gave him the answer no one had ever dared give his family.
“No.”
By morning, they had taken my job.
By noon, I was ready to take everything else.

“I just gave you pleasure,” Valen skited like it was a great achievement to boast about. He felt no guilt for his earlier sin.
“I did not ask you to.” I retaliated. It was wrong of me to fall victim to his allure. It was purely Zeus’ fault. His wolf was nicer.
“You like it though.” His voice was low and throaty with a triumphant grin. Damn his ego! “You didn’t want me to stop before.”
Blood rushed to my face and I blushed in shame as he stared at me. I stretched for a pillow and sailed it at him. He caught it with a devious chuckle.

Alpha Prince Valen, the next in-line to be Alpha King, has been Raina's crush since childhood. For years she yearned for the attention that he never gave. She was ecstatic when Valen turned out to be her mate. He was hers.

Sadly, something’s wrong with the mate bond. The old books refer to them as unfortunate soulmates. This implied that the bond would never last.

Forced to reject her and sever the bond, the painful separation exposed Raina to numerous challenges and dangers. A glimpse of the future has left her torn between the desire for her mate and the doom of their fate.

Will Raina and Valen have their happy ending or did the moon goddess have something else in store for them? Should she fight for her mate or let the course of destiny unfold? - Find out as Raina embarks on a journey filled with heartache, revelation, and an uncertain future.
^-^
This is Book 2 from the Mates series. Can be read as a standalone, however, to understand the characters, you might want to read Book 1 - Mates: Regrets and Redemption
© All rights reserved.

Isabella’s world shatters when her longtime boyfriend, Damon Sanchez, publicly proposes to her best friend. Humiliated and heartbroken, she drowns her sorrows in a bar—only to wake up on the bed of Matteo Moretti, the city’s most powerful billionaire.
Their one-night stand should have been the end of it.
But when her brother Alan's illness and Damon's vengeance leave her jobless, fate delivers Isabella straight into the jaws of her most dangerous mistake—Matteo Moretti, now her ruthless new boss.
Caught between Damon’s vindictive games and Moretti’s dangerous allure, Isabella must decide—is survival worth the cost of her heart?
Especially when Matteo’s seven-year-old son, Noah, starts calling her "Mom."

Wale never expected the world he built to crumble. One drunken night with his staff, Maya, led to a scandal that forced him into a marriage he never wanted. Behind closed doors, he promised his true love, Kate, “I’ll get rid of her in a year.”
For a year, Maya tried to win Wale’s love, enduring his coldness and distance, but he remained emotionally locked away. Just as he was about to hand her divorce papers, she revealed a shocking secret—she was pregnant. Wale, torn but still set on leaving her, abandoned Maya on the day she went into labor to be with Kate. In a cruel twist, a devastating accident claimed their baby’s life.
Devastated and broken, Maya confronts Wale with a chilling finality, “Congratulations, Mr. Wale. My baby’s gone. I want a divorce. You’ve taken the last reason I had to stay.”
For the first time, Wale feels something he’s never experienced—fear. Fear of losing the woman he dismissed for so long. But now, as Maya walks away, he’s faced with the hardest question of all; is it too late to win back the woman he pushed away? And even if he tries, can Maya ever forgive him for the pain he’s caused?

Eilidh MacLeod thought she had escaped. Seven years after walking away from a cold marriage and a ruthless man, she has built a life of quiet stability with her son, Finlay.
But ghosts don’t stay buried forever. When Ruaridh MacKinnon—her powerful ex-husband—suddenly steps back into her world, her worst nightmare comes true. As the new owner of her company, he is now in control of her professional fate. And if he looks too closely, he may uncover the one secret she swore to protect.

Stacy was a brilliant and beautiful girl in her days in Hillary High School, Everyone want to be friend with her.

She is one of the hottest girl in the School. She was indeed the Queen in the Hillary High.

Her Parents were business Tycoons. So they were super dopey Rich.

They were not always home and not always available though they provided her with more than enough money.

She sometimes lack parental care and this has always sadden her, she never got the love and attention she needed. She was a genius, always taking the First position.

She had a lot of admirers, boys always trying to woo her but she declines them and hates to be pestered. But Luckily that's gonna change as a matter of time.

It was a new day in Hillary High School. This day was the day of Resumption. Stacy was now in Grade 11 {SS2}, she had done well asusal in collecting most Prices at the Price giving day Emerging as the Overall Best Student, but she is ignorant of a New Rivalry.

As Stacy been the goddess of Hillary High.

One day, came a god

His name is.

“Thriller writing at its best. Thriller enthusiasts who relish the precise execution of an international thriller, but who seek the psychological depth and believability of a protagonist who simultaneously fields professional and personal life challenges, will find this a gripping story that's hard to put down.”--Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan (regarding Any Means Necessary)“One of the best thrillers I have read this year. The plot is intelligent and will keep you hooked from the beginning. The author did a superb job creating a set of characters who are fully developed and very much enjoyable. I can hardly wait for the sequel.”--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Any Means Necessary)When nuclear waste is stolen by jihadists in the middle of the night from an unguarded New York City hospital, the police, in a frantic race against time, call in the FBI. Luke Stone, head of an elite, secretive, department within the FBI, is the only man they can turn to. Luke realizes right away that the terrorists’ aim is to create a dirty bomb, that they seek a high-value target, and that they will hit it within 48 hours.A cat and mouse chase follows, pitting the world’s most savvy government agents versus its most sophisticated terrorists. As Agent Stone peels back layer after layer, he soon realizes he is up against a vast conspiracy, and that the target is even more high value than he could have imagined—leading all the way to the President of the United States. With Luke framed for the crime, his team threatened and his own family in danger, the stakes could not be higher. But as a former special forces commando, Luke has been in tough positions before, and he will not give up until he finds a way to stop them—using any means necessary.Twist follows twist as one man finds himself up against an army of obstacles and conspiracies, pushing even the limits of what he can handle, and culminating in a shocking climax.A political thriller with heart-pounding action, dramatic international settings, and non-stop suspense, ANY MEANS NECESSARY marks the debut of an explosive new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night.Book #2 in the Luke Stone series is also now available!

“A masterpiece of thriller and mystery. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.” --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) IF SHE KNEW (A Kate Wise Mystery) is book #1 in a new psychological thriller series by bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews. 55 year old empty nester—and freshly retired FBI agent—Kate Wise finds herself drawn out of her quiet suburban life when her friend’s daughter is murdered in a home invasion—and she is implored to help.Kate thought she left the FBI behind after 30 years as their top agent, respected for her brilliant mind, tough street skills and her uncanny ability to hunt down serial killers. Yet Kate, bored with the quiet town, at a crossroads in life, is summoned by a friend she can’t turn down.As Kate hunts the killer, she soon finds herself at the forefront of a manhunt, as more bodies turn up—all suburban moms in perfect marriages—and it becomes apparent there is a serial killer stalking this quiet town. She unearths secrets from her neighbors she wishes she never knew, discovering that all is not what it seems in this picture of model streets and neighbors. Affairs and lying are rampant, and Kate must sift through the town’s underbelly if she will stop the killer from striking again.But this killer is one step ahead of her, and it may end up being Kate who is in danger.An action-packed thriller with heart-pounding suspense, IF SHE KNEW is book #1 in a riveting new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #2 in the KATE WISE MYSTERY series is coming soon!

Luna Chen wanted a quiet life. Instead, she got a 1940s architect in a tailored suit who appeared in her bedroom at 3 a.m. and calmly announced:

“You’re my wife now.”

Rhen Blackwood has been trapped in her grandmother’s apartment for eighty years, bound by a supernatural contract.

The final condition? Fall in love for real… or the Spirit Broker drags his soul into eternal nothingness.

Luna doesn’t believe in ghosts. She definitely doesn’t believe in love. But Ren is infuriatingly perceptive, dryly funny, and the only person who sees straight through her walls.

As the deadline closes in, the lines between annoyance and aching want begin to blur. Lights flicker. Secrets surface.

And every time Ren’s form starts to fade, Luna realizes she might lose the one man who finally makes her feel alive.

She was supposed to fix his unfinished business.
She never expected him to become hers.

A slow-burn paranormal romance full of dark humor, haunted hearts, and one very stubborn ghost who refuses to stay dead.

Woke up with the power to command endless zombies. I guarded the fortress for my sister, only to find her tortured, drained of blood, and used as live bait. A fake hologram fooled me for two years. Now I unleash my million undead army to burn all traitors to ashes.

Three days after I lost our baby, my husband finally remembered to call.

I was packing when Adrian Whitmore's name appeared on my screen.

"Vanessa told me you caused another scene over the medical bills," he said, sounding irritated. "I've authorized the payment. Can we please move on?"

I stared at the tiny knitted sweater lying in my suitcase.

I'd bought it the day I learned I was pregnant.

He didn't know I'd already prepared our divorce papers.

For three years, I'd been Mrs. Whitmore, the wife of one of New York's wealthiest men. No one would believe that after three years as Mrs. Whitmore, I couldn't find four decent outfits in my own closet.

Every dollar I spent required approval, and even my clothes and jewelry were locked away. To access anything, I had to ask his assistant, Vanessa Reed.

Adrian believed my modest upbringing made me incapable of handling money responsibly.

Three days ago, seventeen weeks pregnant, I needed money for an emergency medical transfer.

Vanessa deliberately delayed the approval until it was too late.

I lost our baby.

Adrian never cared enough to notice what I'd been through. I had endured years of humiliation just because I loved him, still holding out hope for the happy marriage he'd once promised.

But now our baby was gone.

And I had no reason left to stay.

In my previous life, I ran a barbecue restaurant to support my family for ten years, but my parents secretly sold the restaurant to a gang because of my younger brother's vanity in wanting him to study abroad.
An hour later, the apocalypse began, and my little shop became a god-level safe house—
Those with superpowers who enter the store have their abilities automatically copied to the store owner; the store is absolutely safe; the store owner decides who enters and who leaves.
My family ruined my amazing little shop, and they scolded me, saying, "Who told you to be unable to keep the shop?"
I was heartbroken and torn to pieces in the mouth of a zombie.
In this life, I was reborn back to an hour before the shop was taken away.
I must protect my shop!
As for those so-called family members—let them fend for themselves in the apocalypse!

On the eve of the apocalypse, I awakened a survival system: send me $5,000, and the sender can unlock a safehouse and awaken a life-saving ability.
The first person I told was Chloe, my girlfriend of three years. In return, she humiliated me in public and cheated on me without a shred of remorse.
That was the moment I finally gave up. The "nice guy" she had drained dry was dead for good.
One month later, the zombie horde arrived right on schedule. For old times' sake, I saved her one last time. And she repaid me by shoving me straight into the jaws of the mutated dead so she could save herself.
What she didn't know... was that I wasn't the only one who had awakened powers.

I pursued Kaelzen, Alpha of the Frostfang Tribe, for four years and was about to marry him, only to expose his deception shortly before the wedding. A serious head injury erased all my memories of him. My family arranged a new marriage with the Duskthorn Tribe heir, and I agreed, planning to leave once the Ash Gate opens in seven days. Unaware of my memory loss, Kaelzen still treats me arrogantly, yet he is just a stranger to me now.

Three years since I married into the Hawthorne family, I had already lost two children.
And the one who decided whether my babies lived or died wasn't a doctor—it was a potted plant in the manor's living room: the Crimson Orchid.
In this family, if the petals withered and reeked after drinking the pregnancy blood, it was an unbreakable rule: the child had to go.
The first two times, all I could do was lose my children in despair under the anesthetic mask at some underground clinic.
To save my third pregnancy, I secretly went to a top medical center out of state for an amniocentesis.
The diagnosis, there in black and white, proved it: my baby was perfectly healthy and carried the purest family bloodline.
I thought I was safe this time. But when my finger blood dripped into the black soil again, the orchid once more oozed foul-smelling black water.
My in-laws crushed my medical report underfoot without mercy and had their people drag me toward the operating table.
I couldn't understand it: the scientific evidence clearly confirmed my child was healthy and pure-blooded.
Why did they insist on trusting a mutated, stinking flower and killing their own grandchildren over and over again?