River-rose thinks what her and her high school sweetheart has is love, but when she's told she needs to marry a complete stranger all of that changes. Hayze is only 24 and owns his own thriving architectural business. After a business problem, his father puts together a deal to earn back what the law firm had lost him. He's offered the chance to marry a young, beautiful girl who he had seen once before and he already knew he would adore. He wanted to know what being loved by her would feel like, so he accepted. When he finds out that River already has a boyfriend, the guilt eats away at him. Little did he know, that by marrying her, he was saving her and in return getting a little bit of love back. Along the way River is shown what real love is and she can't help but fall in love all over again. Started: May 5th, 2018 Finished: December 8th, 2018 Fully published: May 13th, 2019

Some flames burn quietly... until they don't. Aurora Bellini is the picture of innocence. Quiet. Kind. A law student with a soft heart and a tragic past. When a violent attack threatens her safety, she's placed under the protection of the Vitti family - Italy's most feared crime syndicate. More specifically, under the cold, watchful eye of their heir: Angelo Vitti. Angelo doesn't want her there. Too sweet. Too soft. Too breakable. But there's something about her that unsettles him. Her gentle smile, her quiet strength - it seeps past the walls he's spent years building. He tells himself she doesn't belong in his world. He tells himself to stay away. But he watches her anyway. Protects her anyway. And slowly, against his better judgment - he starts to burn for her. With war simmering between the Italian and Russian mafias, every secret is dangerous. Every glance, every touch, every whisper in the dark... it all matters. Because nothing is ever what it seems. And sometimes the softest things burn the most.

[COMPLETED] Three years ago, she ran away from something she doesn't want to go back to, and never looked back. But that doesn't mean she's safe. 21 year old Alina Anthony thinks New York City is safe for her-well, safe enough to not be found. Hidden in plain sight, she goes to school during most of the year, but works at a florist shop for the summer. But the switchblade she always keeps on her is a reminder of what she and those searching for her are capable of. So she has her one rule: don't get too close to anyone, no matter how bad she wants to. But when Daemon Kade sneaks into her life without an explanation to who he is, the two opposites can't help but attract, even if she hates his bossy demeanour and how attached he is to his gun. She knows he's dangerous, and he is definitely hiding things from her, but she can't help but fall deeper with the guy with a cold heart and even colder eyes. But when his secret comes out, all that's left is betrayal and heartache. t r o p e s : grumpy/sunshine, frenemies-to-lovers, banter, secret identity, mafia fiction, smut, no strings attached

Perfect Althea Carras creates a sex to-do list after being cheated on, with the help of Myles Wayne; her towns most known tattoo artist and bad boy. xxx Althea Carras sees life as a fairytale: with prince charming and a happily ever after. That comes crumbling down after catching her prince not acting so charming. In her last semester of college, Althea realizes she never had the chance to experiment and decides to curate her own sex to-do list at a bar, only to catch the wrong kind of attention. Myles Wayne is far from her usual type: a good boy with good looks. Good. Good. Good. When he shows up with messy hair, tattoos for days and a face with less emotion than a rock, she doesn't expect to like him, let alone tolerate him. Yet he offers his services: help her commit to her list. But the more he helps her, the more she feels like there is more to him. He challenges her, and as much as she hates it, for the first time in her life, she feels alive. But nothing is as it seems, especially Miles Wayne. And when all there is left is secrets, everything will be in ruins.

[2021 Wattys Shortlist] Monica Kelly returns to her hometown years after abandoning it, only to bump into and befriend Liam Belkin-who, despite his walls and issues, cannot help but draw himself closer to someone he can't have. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎✦ ✦ ✦ After being screwed over too many times, Monica Kelly ran from her hometown as soon as she graduated high school, leaving her brother and former life behind. But it isn't until four years later when she returns, and in need of money and a distraction, she gets a job at the local diner. She swears this isn't a forever thing-when the summer is done, she'll go get her masters and become somebody, far away from the people who screwed her over. But when Liam Belkin, the towns residential brooding man who hides behind a baseball cap, steps into the diner every night, she finds herself breaking down her one rule: don't get close to anyone. And although he doesn't talk, or even smile for that matter, he finds himself doing so every time Monica is around. But when two people with broken pasts come together, there's no telling if two wrongs can make a right-especially when betrayal is right around the corner.

BOOK ON HOLD-- writers block 😔 𝗜𝗩𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗝𝗘𝗡𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗦 is the perfect little ballerina - soft-spoken, obedient, and untouched by the world that sold her. To everyone else, she's just a quiet girl with lowered eyes and pointed toes. But 𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗢 knows better. He sees the way her hands tremble. The way her smile doesn't reach her eyes. The way she obeys like she's afraid not to. And it pulls him in. She was promised to him-a contract sealed in blood, not love-and now she belongs to a man as cold as he is calculated and controlling. Rafael doesn't crave her affection. He isn't looking to be wanted. What he wants is to unravel her. To possess every piece of the girl the world calls delicate. But Ivory isn't fragile. She's fractured. And the closer he gets, the more she falls apart for him. In a world of shadows, power, and pain, their connection becomes something twisted. Addictive. Dangerous. Because when you give yourself to a monster... you don't get to choose what parts of you he keeps. And when control slips... Desire takes its place. And Rafael never loses. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ・❥・ "Careful, Ivory. I play rougher when someone thinks they can outmatch me." ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ・❥・ { 18+ | Dark Mafia Romance } 𝖢𝖮𝖯𝖸𝖶𝖱𝖨𝖳𝖤 𝟤𝟢𝟤5 @𝗐𝗋𝗍𝖾𝗇𝗂𝗆

He burned for control. She was born of chaos. Together, they'll shatter the laws that broke them-and forge a love fierce enough to change everything. - In a kingdom where magic is law and the powerless are sold like cattle, survival is a coin few can afford. Every season, the poorest are swept from the streets and auctioned off as Familiars - living mana batteries to feed the ambitions of greedy sorcerers. Forgotten. Disposable. Erissa expected pain when she was claimed by Lord Kaelen Carmentis - the coldest sorcerer in the court, and heir to one of the oldest bloodlines in the realm. She didn't expect the bond to awaken something inside her. And she certainly didn't expect that, in the silence between them, she would feel safe. But Familiars aren't meant to be felt. And whatever is growing between them... is breaking every rule. Because she was never meant to survive the system. She was meant to rewrite it - and burn the old world down in the process.

"You want to act reckless? Fine. But don't think for a second you're not being watched. This city is full of men who'd love to carve a message into you just to make a point." "And what message would you carve?" I whispered. He reached out. Brushed the back of his knuckles down my jaw, rough and slow. "Mine." It wasn't sweet. It wasn't romantic. It was a brand. And then he dropped his hand. "You have ten minutes to get out of here before I make a fucking scene." ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Massimo Bianchi is ruthless, the kind of man who leaves blood in his wake and never looks back. At 29, he's the trusted enforcer for one of the most feared mafia bosses in America - my father, Lorenzo DeLuca, the ghost I never knew but can never escape. I, Francesca DeLuca, have spent my life in the shadows of wealth, too blind to see the truth behind my family's fortune. But when I confront the mysterious man who's been following me, I'm thrown into a world of blood and betrayal, where loyalty is bought and sold like a commodity. Massimo is everything I should fear - cold, dangerous, and bound by an oath to my father. But there's something in the way he looks at me, a dark hunger he refuses to acknowledge. I should hate him, push him away, but the deeper I fall into my family's twisted legacy, the harder it is to resist the pull. But loving a man like Massimo is a risk, and in our world, mistakes are paid for in blood. So the question is - will I be his downfall, or will he be mine?

"Do you know what I do to girls who don't answer when they're spoken to?" she murmured, her voice dripping with quiet menace under the mask. "N-no," Salma breathed, her voice barely audible as she kept her eyes locked on Nerezza's dark eyes. Nerezza hummed, tilting Salma's chin up with a gloved hand, her grip firm but teasing. "I fuck the answers out of them," she whispered, each word slow and deliberate. ••••• Salma, a well known radio show host, is used to strange calls-but nothing like this. One Wednesday morning, an anonymous woman dials in live on air, her voice low, dripping with eerie amusement as she confesses to a murder. Convinced it's a twisted prank, Salma plays along, her tone teasing-until the caller whispers something only Salma could know. What starts as a disturbing coincidence spirals into a chilling obsession. Night after night, the woman calls back, turning Salma into her unwilling confidante, her chosen messenger. Each call comes with cryptic clues, taunts wrapped in silken words, a deadly puzzle Salma is forced to solve-because if she doesn't, she'll be the next victim. But fear gives way to fascination. Then obsession. As the game between them intensifies, Salma finds herself drawn to the voice on the other end of the line-a voice that knows her deepest fears, her darkest desires. The hunt for the truth becomes a tangled web of danger, passion, and something far more dangerous than death. They should be enemies. One is the hunter, the other the prey. But what happens when they fall in love? Written by: Tzipora Rosen Edited by: Lean Catherine Benton Disclaimer: Sexually explicit content Violence Strong language 🏆 #1 horror-thriller 🏆 #1 Toxic

When a deadly plague spreads like wildfire, 17-year-old Bren Watts is trapped at Ground Zero of a global pandemic. ---- Bren and his classmates are stranded in New York City, now filled with thousands of murderous infected and desperate survivors. Forced into an unlikely alliance with his school bully and former friend, Logan Hardy, the two boys must find a way back home, traversing through the ravaged landscape of the United States. With their odds stacked against them, Bren has no choice but to use the skills taught by his ex-Navy SEALs father to fight and survive. But the path ahead is bloodied and broken, and if he wants to reunite with his family, Bren must tap into his darkest heart for not only the infected are capable of hatred and violence. The Bren Watts Diaries tells a dark and gritty account of the end, all narrated in the survivor's own voice as a first-hand witness to humanity's end. The story will cover the first year of the Apocalypse, depicting the beginnings of the disease, society's war against the pandemic, and the eventual collapse of civilization. [[Current word count: 450,000 - 500,000 words]] ----- The series portrays an LGBTQ+ protagonist and numerous other characters. Violence, like any medium of zombie stories, is described in detail.