"You really think I'm out here giving this dick to anybody else, beautiful?" She swallowed, watching my hands go to my zipper. I smirked, leaning down, dragging my fingers up her thigh, over her soaked panties. "Look at yourself in the mirror, Jade."

Isabella learned too late that love is the most dangerous currency of all. As Queen of Mayhern, she ruled through restraint, not fear choosing compromise over conquest, mercy over suspicion. Every alliance cost her something. Every promise demanded a sacrifice. She gave until there was nothing left but the crown and the quiet ache of everything she had denied herself. The betrayal came from the hands that touched her daily. Those she trusted most sold her death as necessity, wrapped in loyalty and whispered justifications. Isabella was erased carefully, efficiently her blood spilled not in war, but in silence. Her crown passed on before her body was cold. She dies believing love made her weak. Death returns her broken and changed. Isabella rises bound to power that does not forgive and does not forget. The woman who believed in peace is gone, replaced by something sharpened by rage, grief, and the memory of betrayal burned into her bones. She no longer seeks mercy. She seeks control. And then there is him. A man who should have been her enemy. Dangerous. Unyielding. Everything she was taught to fear. He stands at the edge of her revenge, tied to her fate by blood, power, and a truth she is not ready to face. He does not ask for her trust. He does not offer redemption. He offers understanding the kind forged through shared darkness. As Isabella dismantles the lies built over her grave, she finds herself drawn to the one man capable of matching her fury and surviving her wrath. Loving him would be reckless. Trusting him could destroy what remains of her. But some bonds are born in ruin.

I promised to take care of him until he didn't need me anymore. I made a mistake. I was twenty-two. Just a broke artist with a pair of scissors and a flashlight, hired to be his nanny. I did my best. I built him a sky out of cardboard boxes. I held his hand when the thunder was too loud. I taught him that he didn't have to be alone in the dark. But children grow up. And Silas Vane grew up... different. As the years passed, I started noticing things I couldn't explain. My dates getting cancelled. My debts mysteriously paid off. The feeling of eyes watching me while I slept. I thought I was raising a lonely boy. I didn't realize I was becoming the center of a dangerous obsession. Now, he is a man. A genius who controls everything around him. And he has finally solved the only equation that matters: How to keep me forever.

On the morning of her third wedding anniversary, Charlotte Wilson learns the truth-her husband, David Jones, has been betraying her for years with her best friend, Morecea Hale. The betrayal cuts deeper when she discovers her stepsister, Anna Wilson, has been helping them, eager to seize the inheritance her mother left behind. Stripped of her shares, framed for fraud, and left to die in a staged "accident," Charlotte's final moments are filled with one bitter truth: the people she trusted most were the ones who destroyed her. But death is not the end. Charlotte wakes up five years in the past-two years before her doomed marriage-armed with the knowledge of every betrayal, every deal, and every face that smiled while stabbing her in the back. This time, she will not be the woman they ruined. She will be the storm that topples their world. With her foresight, she builds an empire untouchable by lies, dismantling her enemies piece by piece. Her path unexpectedly collides with Warren Solomons-her former childhood friend turned bitter rival, now one of the most dangerous businessmen in the city. In a game where trust is a currency no one can afford, Warren becomes both her greatest challenge and her most unlikely ally... if she dares let him in before the final reckoning.

UNEDITED Between his semi-committed addiction to smoking and his role as CEO of Elemental Coffee, Cassian Russell has spent the majority of his life running one of the most popular coffee shops on the Island with his best friend, Jake Swift. After an initial decision to expand their business, Cassian and his fellow investment partner, Penelope Montgomery, stay in West Kelowna to promote their business to a new winery. While Cassian's aware the head of the management team of Utterly Uncorked is someone he was madly in love with when he was a kid, he's not prepared for the unfathomable relationship that follows their reunion. Penelope Montgomery has been working double time to expand the horizons of Elemental Coffee since Jake and Cassian hired her, so when she's presented with the opportunity to help them open up shop in West Kelowna, with new responsibilities and additional incentives, she jumps on the job. Working with Cassian, the man she's been crushing on since they met during a business trip, is supposed to be easy, right? No. When Cassian reunites with an old friend and she sees the smouldering flame between them, things get harder for Penelope. How long can she watch the man she loves fall for another woman? After feeling out of place for decades, Penelope is more lost than ever. As time goes on, Cassian begins to realize the calamities of having a relationship with another big-corporation business person. Relationships come with a price, and he doesn't know if he's ready for the one he has to pay. And when a shocking new revelation comes to light, he's forced to make a choice between his company and the broody, cynical attributes of love.

Charlotte Hevemeyer. At twenty-two, Charlotte Hevemeyer is a gifted civil engineer with a bright mind, a passion for travel, and a deep love for timeless romance novels. Raised under her father's protective eye, Charlotte has lived a life sheltered from the world's harsher realities. Despite her brilliance and independence, she still dreams of a love that mirrors the stories she reads, unaware that her life is soon to be rewritten by an arranged marriage she never saw coming. Jude Leland Balfour. At thirty-four, Jude Leland Balfour is the disciplined and sharp-minded heir to the vast Balfour conglomerate. Devoted to his work, Jude has little patience for emotional entanglements and views marriage as an unnecessary distraction. To him, success is earned through grit, not sentiment, and tradition is an obstacle, not a guide. Their worlds collide in a union neither wanted, bound by duty but tested by desire. Beneath the surface of appearances lies a story of clashing upbringings, contrasting love languages, and the thin line between resentment and connection. At its heart, Elites explores how lies can both destroy and create beauty in unexpected ways.

𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.

She hated him as much as he wanted her, a thorn in her side ever since they met, and it had only gotten worse with each lingering gaze between them. As an aspiring journalist, Presley didn't believe in love-or lasting romantic relationships of any kind. The last thing she needed in her whirlwind of life was to get involved with her best's friends bodyguard-or rather the head of the Cosa Nostra. A man with little use of manners and secrets in his past. Tall, handsome and covered with tattoos, a living and breathing hazard with a cold nature and quiet demeanor. A beautiful monster dressed in leather jackets, and tight fitting shirts. A made man. Silvio had ever met a woman like her, who spent every minute glaring at him. One who he was consumed to touch despite his dislike for touch. A stubborn femme fatale with soft brown eyes and obsidian curls. A woman he'd been trying to resist for a long time. When a threat from her past lands her into the very arms of her nemesis and into a fake relationship, she's forced to get to know him and suddenly, their fake relationship feels more real than anything she had ever own. - preview - God, it felt right like this was where it belonged-this was where I belonged. And she felt it too, given by the slight rush of her breathing, and dazed eyes. There was always this magnetic pull and tug between us, so irresistible and consuming. "Silvio." She let out a small gasp, obviously not expecting me to touch her, and it burned. Everything right now burned but it felt good. Almost in an addicting way like the pain crossed the threshold and soared to become another feeling. "I don't think this is a good idea." "You want me to stop right now, say it but this is a damn good idea." I said in a gruff voice. "Tell me you don't want this, tell me it's a bad idea and I'll stop."

{ Book 1 of the Marino Series } "Don't ever walk alone." My mother once said. Well, about that... I might've walked alone & witnessed a brutal murder. If it isn't the consequences of my own actions... I witnessed a murder & now I've gained a stalker, a man who's dangerous & a psychopath. Well a sexy psychopath. Emilio Marino. READ!!👇🏾 !Warning! This story contains, violence, smut, A LOT OF NAMING CALLING, humor & death. If you cannot handle neither of these, do not read stink🧍🏽‍♀️. Started: 09/05/22 Finished: 03/09/23