empty smiles

"It's just...I don't think this is working out,” he gestured at the empty space between us. My mind reeled. "What do you mean? We're fine, aren't we?" I asked, holding onto hope. "Honestly, Kalynda, I deserve better." "What's wrong with me?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. Jake's gaze dropped to my body, and he didn’t even try to hide his disgust. "It's just...your weight, Kae. It's...unattractive." Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. "You're ashamed of me," I stated, my voice cracking. Jake shrugged. "I'm just being honest, Kae. You need to lose weight if you want to keep a guy like me.” "You're breaking up with me because of my weight?" I asked, incredulous. Jake nodded. Kalynda hits rock bottom when her boyfriend breaks up with her and she realized he’d been using her all along. The bullying and ridicule from her peers, including her step sister, increased, and Kae wants to end it all. But the brooding Max steps in and stops her. She sees life in a new light and works in herself. What happens when she returns as a completely different person?

'He tried to force her to submit, but he wasn’t her Alpha. No, SHE was his.' Becoming an Alpha seemed like too much responsibility for a newly turned teenaged werewolf, but life doesn’t always go the way we planned. It was a lesson that Alexa Winters had to learn, and fast because the world continued to spin even when she was falling apart, and it wasn’t going to wait for her to catch up. And ready or not she was the Alpha. Learning to lead whilst fighting enhanced emotions makes for a really stressed, she-wolf. Add super strength to the mix and you have disaster, and a lot of broken furniture. Well, at least she was keeping the handymen busy. Just when she starts getting the hang of things the nightmare from her very recent past comes back, and this time he isn’t planning on leaving empty handed. With events from her family’s past coming to light and secrets making themselves known they have to face something much older, crueler, and so much stronger than she could ever hope to be. With Aiden at her side, she just might be able to do it. Can she learn to control this newfound power before her enemies succeed in their mission to take it from her?

“You can feel it right? The burning attraction.” Giovanni whispers, trapping her by the wall. He rests his palm beside her head, lowering his head to her height. Mia swallows her spit as she automatically clasps her thighs together trying to soothe the ache down there. “No– I don't feel anything.” she says trying to sound firm, but her voice betrays her coming out in a breathy whisper. He smirks, trailing his fingers down her cheeks tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Deny all you want. You. Are. Mine!!!” he growls, slamming his lips down on hers hard. ~~~~ Mia Neomi didn't know what she dragged herself into when she innocently saved a mafia lord from death in a dark alley one night. Thinking everything was going to be fine after she woke to an empty bed, life shows her it's more fucked up than she thinks when they meet in the most uncanny way ever. The man she saved turns out to be her cold, ruthless, and merciless boss at her office, Mr Giovanni Antonio. A cold blooded killer, the Capo of the Italian Mafia. A man whose sole purpose is to ruin everything he touches. He hates her because he can't stop thinking about her while she hates him because he makes her life hell. But when the attraction overtakes the hatred. Mia soon discovers that the man she is attracted to isn't who he says he is, and the woman he is attracted to isn't who he thinks she is. Lies, secrets, and betrayal threatens to tear them apart. Will their attraction conquer it all? Or will they be consumed in the web that entangles them together? I mean is attraction even worth fighting for?

Amelia's leg tapped against the table as she asked, "What are your thoughts on love?" Her hands were clasped together on her lap, but her eyes sparkled with curiosity. Lucas met her gaze, a smirk playing on his lips. "Love is a waste of time," he replied. "It's a tool designed to weigh people down. Without it, we could achieve so much more." Amelia's eyes lit up with interest; he had just ticked almost all her boxes green. "I agree," she said, her smirk matching his. "Love is nothing but bullshit. We could save a lot of time by keeping our relationship minimal." With a proactive glint in her eye, she added, "What do you say? We should get married to fulfill our filial duties." _____________ Their marriage was a facade, a contract between two individuals who didn't believe in love but were forced to get married to fulfill their obligations. Everything was going as planned, until suddenly... "Have you eaten, dear?" "How is my baby?" "Is he doing well?" Lucas's words, once empty and mechanical, now held a tender tone. Amelia found him falling for her, and she seemed to be falling too. Why were they succumbing to the very thing they once scorned? Love, once a distant possibility, was now becoming an option. But would they choose it?

To save his childhood sweetheart suffering from a congenital heart condition, my mate Ethan—the storm pack’s Alpha—forced me to remove my heart to be given to his beloved. "Don't worry, you are the rarest white wolf with the strongest healing ability. I have prepared an artificial heart for you, and you will be fine." Ethan said. I tried to explain to my mate Ethan that my healing ability has become very poor in the past year, so that transplanting my heart would kill me. My mate snarled at me with disgust, "Selene is so gravely ill, and here you are, jealous and fighting for attention! She saved my life when I was suffering from silver poisoning a year ago! You won't die anyway, so why can't you help her?" Under the mandatory order of my mate, I was sent to the pack healer for the heart transplant. He didn’t know that I was the one who had exchanged my rare white wolf's healing ability with a witch to save him from silver poisoning. In the end, with my healing abilities gone, I died miserably in a forgotten corner of the empty healer's cabin.

"This is the body donation agreement, Mr. Lewis. Please sign here." Joel Lewis looks at the paper before him. His hand trembles as he grips a pen. The other party can sense his hesitance. They say considerately, "Body donation is a big thing, and it's normal for people to change their minds at the last minute. You can go home and discuss this with your family—" "I've already signed it." Joel smiles bitterly. "Family" is a term that's beyond him. There's no longer any space in his wife's heart for him, after all.

“Damn it, Viola! Do you even hear yourself? You’re miserable, and you’re pretending it’s normal!” Logan says, clenching his fists beside him. I drag in a shaky breath. “What do you want me to do, Logan? Just leave my marriage?” “Yes!” I freeze. He steps closer. “Leave. And let me love you the way you deserve.” *** She thought heartbreak was the worst thing he could do to her. Then he came back. Three years ago, Logan Reynolds chose ambition over love, leaving Viola McCoy behind—and breaking her heart in the process. Determined to move on, she made a choice—one that led her into the arms of Julian Cruz, a man who vowed to love her but only saw her as a means to an end. Now, trapped in a loveless marriage, Viola endures the whispers, the neglect, and the bruises she hides beneath designer sleeves. But when Logan returns as the new CEO of Reynolds Publishing—her boss—Viola’s carefully constructed world begins to crack. He sees through her forced smiles and polite lies. He soon realizes the woman he left behind is still fighting to be heard. Logan is determined to save her. Viola? She’s certain she can’t be saved. But in the middle of stolen glances, midnight confessions, and the words they can’t say out loud, one question remains: Can love be rewritten, or are some stories doomed to end the same way twice?

After losing his best friend from a horrible encounter with few wolves from an enemy pack, Kael became sad and empty, then he met Ana , a human on his journey back home. Ana became Kael’s obsession, sparking a forbidden love that defied the rules of his pack. Wolves and humans could never end up together, the unlikelihood of conceiving together made their union unacceptable. Determined to disobey tradition, Kael was prepared to risk everything for Ana. But his pack, being scared of his dissent, thought to eliminate Ana. She was luckily rescued by wolves from the white wounds pack, led by their enigmatic Alpha- Kael’s estranged stepbrother. As Ana drew closer to her hero, fate brought her and Kael back together during an intense journey, igniting a clash of betrayal, loyalty and love. Secrets of the past unfolded, including the unsettling truth of Kael’s stepmother’s betrayal and the battle that claimed his father’s life. Will Kael and Ana’s love for each other endure the forces ripping them apart, or will destiny lead them down different directions forever?

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉... 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅. Lindsay Maxwell had once been happy in her marriage until a twisted turn of events ruined it all for her. She can't say, but lately, she has noticed her husband, Engel, has become distant and less affectionate; their marriage has been a cold place in their empty mansion. All she wants is to be separated from him. Engel Gunther, first of the Gunther sons with an alias of the devil himself, when his beloved wife turns her back on him, Engel is forced to show a side of him he has withheld for long, his greed getting the best of him just to keep Lindsay with him. To him, he was protecting his most prized possession; to her, he was hurting her.

“Find her!” a gruff voice yelled, voice echoing in the empty alley as Elara Beckett ran as fast as she could. She didn't dare look back, she couldn't, as terror shot down her spine. Her heels clattered against the pavement as she sprinted in and out of alleyways. She cursed her choice of shoes but she didn't have time to stop and take them off. Her c'est burned as she took ragged breaths. She clutched the envelope tighter in her trembling hands, it was her lifeline— the key to everything. All of Ivy and Aiden’s crimes, their lies, financial records, email, everything was in it. She thought she had been sneaky but somehow they found out and they were now coming after her. “Don't let her get away!" another voice roared, closer this time. She let out a squeak as she willed her legs to go faster, her heart pounding and threatening to burst out of her chest. The dark walls around her seemed to be closing in as the footsteps behind her drew nearer. **** Elara Beckett picture perfect life crumbles when her step sister, Ivy, stole her fiancé, Aiden, and her father’s company. Heartbroken Elara leaves then returns five years later as a successful fashion designer who is determined to take back her legacy and bring her sister down. She teams up with billionaire Killan Hayes, a ruthless man who has his own vendetta against ivy. A fake engagement is created and they work together to defeat Ivy and Aiden. In the process, sparks fly between Killan and Elara, this complicates their alliance. Dark secrets about her family and Killian's hidden motives come to light threatening to destroy everything. Elara must rise up and reclaim her destiny and find love in the chaos.