Sam needed a wife. I needed a stable for my horses. We agreed to a marriage of convenience, but it seemed to be more. For a while. Until my distant cousin, who was Sam's ex, showed up on our doorstep. And I was no longer convenient.

Emerald Sawyer has always been my home. She was the one who saw something in me when everyone else saw a hockey goon who couldn't even read properly. When the world called me stupid, she called me capable. When I had nothing, she sacrificed to give me everything. Now, I'm Hayden "Haymaker" Sawyer-the league's most feared enforcer. My violence goes viral. My fists pay the bills. Every fight, every brutal hit, every autograph, every picture, every deal-I do it all for her. But somewhere along the way, I lost sight of her. I missed the warning signs-the threats, the harassment, the shaming, the strangers who hate her simply for being mine. When she showed me, I told her it didn't matter. It was jealousy. It was nothing. I told her that she was safe. I was wrong. The losses started piling up. The fans raged. My anger grew. My fights became more reckless. My temper snapped, and I said careless words that pushed away my entire world. While I'm smiling for the cameras, my wife was brutally attacked by a fan. While I'm protecting my career, my Emerald was fighting for her life. Every moment I'd ignored her, every time I'd put hockey before her, every careless word I'd ever said-all of it hit me at once. Now I see everything. She's alive, but terrified. She doesn't trust me. She doesn't feel safe with me. She flinches when she sees my jersey. I will never forgive myself. But I cannot give up. I will prove to the only person who ever saw me-the only person who ever loved the real me-that I am still worthy of her. That I can put her first, that I can make things right, that I will fight with everything I am to keep her safe, to bring her back to me. I demand vengeance for my wife, against everyone who ever harmed her-and that includes me. Because Emerald Sawyer is my home, my heart, and my everything. This fight-for her-is the most important fight of my life. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ykD1DIiMtJwouI2choaIJ?si=c70ab896ac4446b8

Lavender faced the ultimate betrayal after discovering that her fiancé, the man she loved most, had been using her all along. He had only dated her to seek revenge against her father and to claim everything her late mother had left her as a gift to his real fiancee. Devastated, Lavender lost everything she owned to him, and her family was plunged into dire poverty as a result. Heartbroken, she fled her past, running away from her disowned father and the agonizing pain. She dedicated her life to caring for the "blessings" her ex-fiancé had left behind. But just when Lavender thought she had found a measure of peace, everything starts falling apart again. Forced to reconcile with her ex, Lavender is torn-he is a changed man now, but to her, he remains an enemy. As her bottled-up emotions resurface, past cases reopening, and his persistent efforts to win back her affection intensify, how long can Lavender's hatred last? --- This story is significantly different from the original version. It maintains the key plot while changing the outline, fixing as much plot holes as possible, adding new characters, depths, and chapters. I wrote this to better suit the sequel, <It Started With A Kiss>

When Sophie's marriage implodes in her face, she has no choice but to start over with her infant daughter Lou. Betrayed and jaded, Sophie is struggling to establish a life with her young daughter, while still bound to the man that chose another woman over his wife and child. When she meets Linc, a new vision for her future begins to appear.... but can their relationship withstand the forces against them? Faced with Sophie's controlling ex-husband and his jealous new wife, Linc has to fight to protect the burgeoning relationship he is building with Sophie and her daughter. For Linc, Sophie is so much more than a pretty face. Second best? A place holder? No, for Linc, Sophie was his everything.

𝙒𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮. He was the boy who would sneak through my windows late at night to hold me in my sleep. We made plans for forever. Dreamed of the life we would build full of adventures and unending happiness. 𝙒𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, it's what they always say. Until we weren't... 𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚. 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝.

❌ Blurb coming soon ❌ This story has been living rent-free in my mind for weeks - until I finally had to stop fighting it and just listen. It wasn't even supposed to be next. It quietly shoved its way ahead of two other projects I planned to post first. That said, there won't be a set posting schedule, and there may be weeks without updates at all. My other WIPs are still my priority, and between writing, work, and life, it's tough to keep a steady pace across multiple projects. I hope you understand - and only start this one if you genuinely feel like it, knowing it will take its time. ⚠️Content Note This is a cheating romance - there are explicit infidelity scenes on page. The main couple will find their way back to each other, and the story ends in an HEA. If this theme or ending isn't for you, please feel free to skip this one. I have other stories on my profile with different tones, tropes, and outcomes that might better suit what you're looking for. 💫 About the Story Lines of Lust & Betrayal is a standalone told in two parts: Part I - betrayal: messy and painful. Part II - the journey back: redemption, forgiveness, and rebuilding something worth keeping - deeply human.

*PREVIEW ONLY* AVAILABLE ON AMAZON, KU, AND PAPERBACK US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GJFKTCGK UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GJFKTCGK CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0GJFKTCGK AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0GJFKTCGK cor·ner·stone /ˈkôrnərˌstōn/ noun an important quality or feature on which a particular thing depends or is based. Wendy has loved her husband, Atlas, since she was twelve years old. He was her first kiss. Her first love. Her forever. Together, they built what everyone else called a perfect life. They married young, raised two beautiful boys, and were still deeply in love. Until Atlas pulled away. Wendy does everything she can to save their marriage, carrying the weight of the house, the kids, and all the invisible labor no one ever sees. But when Atlas doesn't show up to their final resort, marriage counseling, Wendy makes a choice that breaks her heart. She stops waiting for him. As Wendy rebuilds her life and rediscovers the woman she was before she became a wife and mother, Atlas begins to unravel. Watching his sons look at him like a stranger, and the woman he's loved his entire life slip through his fingers, forces him to confront the truth he's been running from. But to heal their fractured marriage, Atlas will have to face the real reason he pulled away. And what does it have to do with his brother's late wife, Carrie? A deeply emotional, marriage-in-trouble second chance romance about the damage silence can do, mental health, forgiveness, and finding your way back to the person who has always been home.

I knew my best friend since childhood loved me. I knew it. And when I got back from my business trip, I was going to tell him how I felt, especially when he told me he had something exciting to tell me. But it wasn't that he loved me. He'd gotten married while I was on an overseas business trip to my worst enemy.