*FREE STORY* with exclusive chapters STORY LEAVING WATTPAD ON THE 2ND OF JANUARY 2025 Mason Langley has just opened up The Amethyst Casino hotel with his best friend Gunner Scott. The two met 2 years ago in a sex club, where Mason was looking for his next hookup, and Gunner was crazily searching for a long-term relationship. The two couldn't be any more opposite of each other. But as they bonded over their past criminal activities, they became the best of friends and set up their 'legit' business to cover up their illegal business. Delilah has just quit her office job finally having enough of living a boring life and now finds herself on a tragic date in The Amethyst. Just when she thought her night couldn't get any worse, it does the minute she makes eye contact with Mason and Gunner. Two men on a mission to drag her down into their dark world. The problem is, that Delilah is stronger than they think, and she doesn't back down from a fight too easily. Mason vows to never fall in love. Gunner craves it like there is no tomorrow. And Delilah doesn't know what she wants. So what is it that these three really need? *** "I'll ruin your life." Mason rasps, reaching forward to tuck a curl behind my ear, a smug look on his face that I want to get rid of. "We'll ruin you, sweetheart." "Mason, shut the fuck up," Gunner says with gritted teeth. "You sure about that?" A harsh frown etches onto Mason's face at my question, and his hand drops from my face like I've just scorched him. "What do you mean?" I smile. "I'll ruin you." I look at Gunner standing tall behind him. "Both of you."

Temo McCarthy works in the call center for Passion Financial. He spends his days "dialing deadbeats", convincing broke, desperate customers to pay their overdue credit card bills. Every year, Passion's CEO gives $100,000 to the top earner in the call center. Temo sees the award as a chance to give his new family the life he never had growing up in a broken home. When his main rival is gunned down in the company parking lot, Temo realizes he must find the killer in order to prove his own innocence. - Wattpad Top 10 Ranking in the Mystery/Thriller category. "Dmitri Ragano is a creative, unconventional author who knows how to tell a story that other people aren't telling. He takes the hooks of the mystery/thriller genre and fills it in with ambitious themes and compelling original characters. Prepare to be intrigued and entertained!" -- Seth Harwood, Best-selling Amazon Mystery Author.

A 2019 Watty Winner. For fans of Allison Pataki and Philippa Gregory, THE NYMPH OF VERSAILLES is based on the true story of Madame Montespan's rise and fall at the court of King Louis XIV. Being the Sun King's mistress is a coveted position in a court full of greedy courtiers vying for power and Athénaïs de Montespan won't let anything stand in the way of her stealing the king's heart-not even poison. When the king's interest in his mistress Louise begins to wane, Montespan sees the position as a possible escape from her husband's mounting debts and loveless marriage. Her strained friendship with Louise doesn't stop her from charming the king. However keeping his heart is tricky in a court full of plotting beauties eager to have him for themselves, especially with her jealous husband bent on ending her seduction. Then her children's governess becomes an unexpected rival for the king's heart and the only woman who can contend with Montespan. With the court swirling with rumors of poison, Montespan finds herself caught in the web of accusations. Her position with the king begins to crumble as she fights to hold on to the life she's built. Without the king's love, she fears she will lose everything as she falls from grace.

[ORIGINAL DRAFT SAMPLE] She is twenty-nine when the FBI comes for her, but Catherine Themis was only seventeen, grieving and naive and angry, the first time she wiped someone else's blood from her fingers and felt the snake rise in her chest. She was seventeen when she stepped into the dark and never looked back. ***** By day, Catherine Themis is an unassuming civilian administrator for the Dedwich Police Department, but by night, she is a notorious vigilante known as The Hangman. Struggling with her violent urges and the psychological cost of her actions, Catherine becomes the target of an obsessive serial killer and a relentless FBI agent, and as the hunt for the Hangman intensifies, Catherine must decide which life she wishes to live and what she values more: vengeance or her fading humanity? A psychological thriller in the vein of MINDHUNTER and HANNIBAL, SERPENT HEART is a deep-dive into the life and history of a conflicted vigilante forced to confront her inner demons and evade a national manhunt. Catherine questions the efficacy of her own convictions as the FBI closes in and a vindictive murderer puts her family, love, and identity in jeopardy. With everything on the line and time running out, who will Catherine Themis become? --- [[AVAILABLE ON AMAZON]] [[REMOVED 24 DEC 2021]] [[2019 Watty Winner - Mystery & Thriller]]

"Night, Forgotten" is available everywhere books are sold (W by Wattpad Books, 2022). As a Wattpad reader, you can access the Wattpad Original Edition for free and Wattpad Books Published Edition here upon purchase. Thank you so much for your support! Go get your copy of "Night, Forgotten" anywhere books are sold and be sure to tell me whether you guessed the twist! No spoilers 🤫 ***** A desperate new mother can't remember the most violent night of her life - but she must confront the truth about the ghosts that have haunted her ever since. This is Version 2, with new characters and plot reveals inspired by Wattpad readers' comments and questions about Version 1 (posted during #NaNoWriMo 2017). The original version is still up on Wattpad, so if you're one of the folks who read it as I wrote it, you can compare how your feedback has changed the structure and content in this updated version.

A magic-addicted spy trapped in the queen's service must track a princess-turned-assassin in order to earn her freedom, but things get complicated when she falls for the princess she's supposed to capture. ***** Weak. Cursed. That's how seventeen-year-old Kayden Branimir, the realm's deadliest assassin, views herself. Some believe she could save the world with her rare healing magic, but she gave up on her powers long ago after failing to save her best friend. Her life changes when she receives a letter from her supposedly dead twin brother, Alaric, begging to be rescued from rival territory Leodia. For the first time since her friend's accident, Kayden is determined to be the hero, but she must learn to embrace her magic--and herself--along the way. Strange. Unnatural. Those are the words whispered about eighteen-year-old Zara Tait, a Leodian spy addicted to soul-stealing magic. Forced into the queen's service, Zara wants to escape and return home, but she has nothing to offer the queen in exchange for her freedom. When Kayden arrives in Leodia, Zara sees the quiet girl with unique magic as the bargaining chip she needs. But the more she learns of Kayden, the more her feelings grow. Now, Zara must choose between her freedom and the dangerous assassin she hadn't meant to fall for. [2020 Watty Award Winner] Content warning: This story contains mature themes of violence, addiction, abuse, self-harm, and mental illness. Cover by Faera Lane