noun: one who returns, especially from the dead or a long absence They lost her once. They'll burn the world to get her back. Cecilia Bonetti has spent her life locked away in a care home - isolated, overlooked, and surviving in silence. What she doesn't know is that five powerful men have been searching for her since the day she vanished... and they're her brothers. As the feared leaders of the Bonetti mafia, they believed Cecilia was gone forever. Until now. But blood has memory. And when sunshine slips into their dark world, even the coldest hearts begin to crack. They'll fight to keep their composure - ruthless, untouchable - but with Cecilia back, staying cold might be the hardest battle they've ever faced.

Daisy Thompson is your typical University student; her sleep schedule is practically non-existent, she's barely surviving on her minimum wage job, she's constantly falling behind in her assignments, and the state of her mental health is certainly questionable. When she's not studying or working, she's down at the local gym learning self-defence. But when her shifts at the café change, her gym sessions are forced to change with them. Used to the sparse lunch time numbers, the new, rougher crowd is a shock - especially when she lays eyes on a recent one night stand. [18+]

Wattpad Editors' Choice, Winner of the 2020 Fiction Awards (for Best Plot Twist) and 2020 Mafia Romance of the Year. A chance encounter with an enigmatic Russian oligarch turns a young woman into the target of a criminal empire. Caught in a web of deceit, greed, and betrayal that stretches from the depths of Russia's gangland to the Kremlin's gilded halls, she is forced to forge a perilous alliance with an unlikely protector. From London to Moscow, this thrilling, sensual, and richly textured story transports the reader to the heart of a mafia empire - perfect for fans of dark romance and spine-tingling suspense. Originally published under the title "Russian Gambit". Genres: spy fiction | espionage thriller | political thriller | spy thriller | mafia romance | mafia thriller | romantic suspense | mystery Featured on: Wattpad Picks / Wattpad Editors' Choice Wattpad General Fiction @generalfiction Wattpad Dangerous Love @dangerouslove Wattpad Action @action Wattpad Ambassadors UK @AmbassadorsUK Wattpad Romance @Romance Wattpad Psychological Novel @PsychologicalNovel Mafia Community @MafiaCommunity Mafia Book Picks Mafia Community @MafiaCommunity Mafia Book of the Year Awards: Fiction Award for Best Plot Twist Mafia Community " Mafia Book of the Year " award

PREVIOUSLY CALLED 'THEIR LITTLE PRINCESS' HIGHEST RANKINGS: #1 in teenagegirl #1 in overprotective #3 in anxiety Maddie Rossi is only 13, and has known nothing but pain and heartbreak her entire life. Only a shell of what she was before her mother took her away when she was 2, she has no recollection of who she was before. All she knows now is her mom and her stepfather who made sure that she would never be whole again. The Rossi brothers have struggled to cope with having lost their only sister to their mother when she was only 2 years old as well as the pressure of running their father's mafia following his death. When her guardians' deaths reveal 6 brothers she didn't know existed and the Rossi family finally gets their little girl back, they all have secrets to hide and they realize she isn't the happy little girl they once knew.

💔 Hurting You, Loving You (Avery LaCroix & Roman St. James - Book Three in The Hurt series) Roman St. James doesn't lose control. Not in court. Not in life. And definitely not over her. Avery LaCroix. Nineteen. Sharp-tongued, reckless, and way too comfortable walking around his apartment like she doesn't set everything on fire. She's also his stepsister. He met her when she was still a teenager. Now she's grown - and staying in his space for the summer. Which is a problem. Because Roman's twenty-five . All clean lines and self-control. And Avery? She's chaos in eyeliner. The temptation he swore he'd never touch. They pretend the tension doesn't exist. That they're not circling something dangerous. But one spark... and it's over. This isn't the kind of love that waits its turn. It's the kind that breaks rules - and hearts - just to feel alive. 🔞 Mature Content Warning 🔞 This story is 18+ and intended for mature readers only. It includes: ✨ Explicit sexual content ✨ Strong language & adult themes ✨ Underage alcohol and drug use ✨ Forbidden, age-gap romance ✨ High emotional tension & family conflict A steamy, slow-burn, off-limits romance between a rule-following law student and the one girl he should never touch.

💥 Grumpy sunshine. Age-gap. 💔 The Hurt Between Us Book Two in The Hurt Series (Rowan & Nate's world) He was never hers to want. Too old. Too broken. Too buried in a past he never crawled out of. Dean Callahan lost the love of his life in Afghanistan. Now, he keeps his heart locked behind grief, guilt, and a garage door. Cassie Monroe? She's the storm he didn't see coming. Too young. Too reckless. Too good at getting under his skin. One night. One kiss. It should've meant nothing. But she tastes like a second chance- and Dean hasn't believed in those for a long, long time. He's the mistake she can't stop making. She's the fire he should've stayed away from. And this time? Walking away might just hurt more than falling ever did. ⚠️ Content Warning ⚠️ The Hurt Between Us is a New Adult romance intended for mature audiences 18+ This story contains explicit sexual content, coarse language, and themes of emotional trauma and grief. It also includes depictions of drinking, smoking, and complex emotional relationships involving past military loss and guarded intimacy. Reader discretion is strongly advised. All rights reserved. This work is the intellectual property of the author. No part of this story may be copied, reposted, or reproduced without permission.

💔 Where It Hurts the Most - Part One: The Hurt Series He's her brother's best friend. A cop. Too old. Too off-limits. Rowan Hayes stopped caring the day her brother died. At seventeen, she's reckless, wild, and halfway to self-destruction-drinking too much, feeling too little, doing everything she can to forget. And Nate Delaney? He's the one picking up the pieces. Writing her up. Dragging her out. Dropping her off. The cop who's supposed to follow the rules- But breaks every single one when it comes to her. He promised he'd take care of her. But every time he sees her like this- Drunk. High. With the wrong guy. Something inside him cracks. She's the girl who doesn't want to be saved. He's the man who's breaking himself trying. He touches when he shouldn't. Stays when he should walk away. And looks at her like she's already his. The more he protects her, the harder it is to pretend he doesn't want her. And the closer they get, the more impossible it becomes to walk away. She's too young. He's sworn to stay away. But some lines don't just get crossed. They get shattered. A slow-burn, forbidden, age-gap new adult romance about grief, guilt, and the one person you should never want-but can't walk away from. ⚠️ Trigger Warning ⚠️ This story contains mature and sensitive content that may be distressing to some readers. Please proceed with care. Topics include: ✨ Explicit sexual content ✨ Substance use (alcohol, weed)Infidelity themes✨ Emotional trauma, grief, and self-destruction ✨ Strong language & adult themes ✨ Age-gap romance (all characters are 17+ and the story abides by the legal age of consent in Colorado) 💔 This is a New Adult / Mature Romance 🔞 Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Addison May and Jack Carter share a past that neither of them talks about anymore, the kind of past that still aches if you touch it too closely. Years ago, they were inseparable-young, in love, and full of plans they thought were unbreakable. But everything changed when Jack's mother fell ill. The grief hit him like a tidal wave, dragging him under before anyone could reach him. He turned to drinking, to shutting people out, to numbing himself in any way he could. And Addison, who loved him more than she ever admitted out loud, tried to hold on. She tried until she had nothing left to give. But the lowest point came the night she found out he'd cheated. In that instant, every version of their future shattered. She walked away without letting him explain, without letting herself look back. She swore she'd never trust him again. Never speak to him again. Never, ever let him close enough to hurt her again. Over time, her heartbreak hardened into anger, and that anger turned into something she told herself was hate-sharp, cold, and permanent. Years passed. They built separate lives, avoided the same rooms, the same conversations, the same memories. Addison convinced herself she was over it. Over him. Until now. At their best friends' wedding-surrounded by soft lights, slow music, and too many glasses of champagne-fate throws them right back into each other's orbit. One look across the room unravels her, one awkward "hi" tempts him, and one moment of shared laughter feels dangerously familiar. The night blurs, their walls loosen, and every emotion they buried rises to the surface. And when one thing leads to another... Addison is forced to face a truth she's avoided for years: The past isn't done with them. Not even close.

After spending most of her life surrounded by the noise and chaos of the big city, Winnie Grant found herself yearning for something quieter-something real. When the restlessness became too loud to ignore, she did the unthinkable: she quit her job, packed away the pieces of her old life, and accepted a new position in Red Lodge, Montana-a small town where everyone knew everyone, and secrets traveled faster than the wind. As the city skyline disappeared in her rearview mirror, Winnie could only hope she was making the right choice. Her new home was everything she hadn't realized she needed-quiet, quaint, and surrounded by the kind of stillness that made her both uneasy and comforted. After a few days of settling in, curiosity (and perhaps a touch of loneliness) led her to the local bar-a warm, wood-paneled place that smelled faintly of pine and spilled whiskey. That was where she met him. Sheriff Ben Langley. The man everyone in town seemed to know, and more than a few wished would so much as glance their way. Steady, reserved, and impossibly grounded in this small-town life-he was the last kind of man Winnie expected to notice her. But that night, under the soft glow of the bar's lights, it was the newcomer-the woman with city eyes and a quiet kind of courage-who caught his attention.

A young woman and her baby traveling to start a new life meet a kind stranger at the perfect time. My entry for the SouthwestContest!