Empty Smiles

When 24-year-old Lila Carter returns home for the summer, she expects an empty househer mother is away on a three-month cruise. Instead, she finds Julian Reyes, her mother’s dangerously handsome 39-year-old husband, the man who’s fueled her forbidden fantasies for years. With the house to themselves, the tension that’s been simmering since Julian married her mother finally ignites. Stolen glances turn into midnight swims, whispered touches become breathless, sheet-clenching nights, and every moan is caught on hidden cameras neither of them knew existed. They’re careful. Or so they think. One stormy night changes everything. One secret lens records it all. Soon, a faceless blackmailer has every explicit secondthe pool, the laundry room, the master bedand the price of silence is climbing fast. If Lila and Julian don’t pay, the first clip goes straight to her mother. Caught between scorching desire and the threat of total destruction, they’ll risk everything to keep their darkest fantasy alive… even if it means burning their old lives to the ground. A high-heat, age-gap, forbidden step-romance loaded with sneaking around, possessive passion, heart-pounding close calls, and sex so intense it’ll leave you aching for more.

Adrian Vale is powerful, successful, and untouchable. At twenty nine, she is the CEO of Vale Noir Group, admired for her intelligence, respected for her leadership, and protected by a family no one dares to cross. Adrian is kind, warm, and loyal, even as powerful men orbit her world, each drawn to her for different reasons. A brilliant lawyer who challenges her mind and tempts her restraint. A businessman from her past who knows the woman she used to be. A dangerous connection she never fully escaped. But danger does not always arrive openly. Celeste Ashford is charming, helpful, and always close. A friend who smiles easily and listens carefully. When envy turns into entitlement, proximity becomes a weapon, and betrayal sets off a chain of events Adrian never sees coming. Whispers turn into threats. Threats turn into violence. And a reward is placed on Adrian Vale. Forced to confront the cost of being desired and the danger of being known, Adrian must decide who truly deserves her trust and how far she is willing to go to survive. This is not a story about a woman waiting to be saved. It is a story about power, desire, loyalty, and what happens when the wrong person gets too close.

Right before my wedding, my fiancé, Benjamin Gray, holds another wedding at an old settlement with his true love, who has lung cancer. He holds Jennifer Robinson close and smiles tenderly at her underneath the starry sky. "According to the local customs here, the woman whose wedding is held first is considered a man's actual wife. I might have already registered my marriage with Samantha, but she's more like my mistress." Everyone cheers and blesses them as they toast each other and enter their room for the night. I witness all of this, but I don't cry or kick up a fuss. Instead, I make an appointment for an abortion. I've loved Benjamin for 15 years, but I still can't compare to Jennifer, who is my stepsister. If that's the case, I'll let him go. Later, I join a geological exploration and research team in the South Isles and am cut off from the world. All I leave behind is a divorce agreement and a divorce gift. Benjamin has never cared for me, so it's odd that he loses his mind overnight after my departure.

I'm betrothed to Hylton Miller from the moment I'm born. For as long as I can remember, he protects and loves me like I'm already his wife. Even if I get a tiny splinter on my hand, he holds it carefully as he gently clips it away. That is, until the young woman his family sponsors offends a client and is about to be sent to Zubania. He drugs me with a glass of wine. When I wake up, I'm in a foreign country and trapped in an illegal factory. Here, I endure inhuman abuse, torment, even humiliation... At my lowest, when despair almost swallows me whole, that sponsored young woman appears before me in a pristine, custom-made white gown. She smiles sweetly and presses the play button on a voice recording. And from the speaker comes the voice I long for every day and night. "It's fine. Alina's the young lady of the Winslet family—they won't do anything to her. But Priscilla? She's different. Worst case, I'll make it up to Alina when she gets back…" In that moment, it feels like someone tears my heart open with their bare hands.

Leah gave him everything, her trust, her heart, even the future she thought they would share. But Shane's smiles always found her sister, Mary, and the man Leah loved never loved her back. Broken and humiliated, she leaves to the ruthless Northwind Pack, determined to bury the past and build a life where no one can make her feel invisible again. What she doesn't expect is Darien. Cold, dangerous, and the Alpha's advisor, Darien is nothing like the wolves she's known. He sees through her walls with unnerving precision, challenges her at every turn, and refuses to let her fade into the background. But Darien carries secrets of his own, and the pull he feels toward Leah doesn't fit into his carefully laid plans. Caught between a bond she never asked for and a destiny she doesn't understand, Leah must decide: will she guard her heart behind the walls she built to keep her safe, or will she embrace the power rising within her and become the wolf she was always meant to be? In the North, not everything is what it seems. The Northwind Pack remembers its legends, and some bloodlines refuse to stay buried.

Jayden resumed speaking, his voice full of command. "Our new Luna is someone we all know well. A kind, loving, and brave soul—she is the most beautiful woman on this earth." A tint of red crept up my cheeks. I straightened my gown, ready to go up the stage. "It's none other than… Daisy Andre." Immediately I heard those words from him, my shoulders dropped, my face tightened. The smiles that once decorated my face vanished, leaving me with a frown. ****** Ashley gave her heart to Jayden, the Alpha of the Oakwood Pack, believing he was hers forever. But when he chose her best friend, Daisy, as his Luna instead, Ashley was crushed. Banished, humiliated, and rejected, she was left to pick up the shattered pieces of her life. But fate had more in store for her. After a near-fatal car accident, Ashley wakes up to the news that she is pregnant—with triplets. Now, Ashley has to make a choice: to raise her children on her own or go back to the man who broke her heart and demand he take her back. Will she find the courage to forgive Jayden, or will the wounds of the past deny her the future she deserves?

She is Kiara Monera—New York’s Ice Queen, an award-winning CEO who built an empire from nothing. Ruthless. Brilliant. Untouchable. She doesn’t believe in luck—only in power, control, and winning. He is Silva Blackwood—the heir to the Blackwood dynasty, feared and desired in equal measure. Arrogant. Dangerous. A man who has never been told “no.” They were supposed to marry. Not for love, but for legacy, power, and bloodlines. But Silva would rather die than marry a woman like her. And Kiara? She would never beg for a man’s love. Yet one reckless night in a dark club changes everything. A kiss that feels like war. A night that feels like surrender. And a consequence neither of them can ignore. Now, she carries a secret that could shatter her empire. And he carries a rage that could burn the world. Bound by betrayal, pride, and a baby they never planned, Kiara and Silva are forced into a dangerous marriage where passion and hate blur into obsession. But in a world where enemies wear smiles, secrets can kill, and love feels like the ultimate weakness— Can two people who would rather destroy each other than submit… Survive being tied together forever?

After two years of marriage, I believed I was living the dream—until the day I gave birth to our long-awaited heir. The house was filled with joy as my husband's family arrived, bearing gifts and ready to bestow a name upon our child, as tradition dictated. But the happiness of the day shattered in an instant when my husband walked in, hand in hand with his childhood sweetheart. In front of everyone, he announced not only our divorce but also his engagement to her, as if I had never mattered. *** "I’m divorcing Stacy," Jason announces, his voice unwavering, "to marry Nicole Cruz, my childhood sweetheart." He points to the woman standing before him who smiles and waves at everyone in the room. My world tilts on its axis. The words echo in my mind, louder and louder until they drown out everything else. What is going on?? "But why?" I whisper, my voice barely audible, even to myself. I'm unable to believe his betrayal. Jason doesn’t even glance at the child in my arms. "Because this has been a long time coming, Stacy. I’ve only stayed this long out of obligation and not love."

He divorced her for another woman, not knowing she was carrying his heirs. For three years, Elara was the invisible wife of Lucian Thorne. She warmed his bed, managed his life, and loved him in silence. In return, he gave her cold stares and divorce papers on their anniversary, accusing her of betraying his company. Heartbroken and pregnant, Elara signed the papers and vanished into the night. Five years later, Lucian is the King of Wall Street, but he is haunted by the memory of the wife he discarded. When a mysterious, stunning CEO named "Ella" arrives in the city to acquire a rival company, Lucian is drawn to her. But this isn't the meek Elara he remembers. She is powerful, engaged to a handsome doctor, and she looks at Lucian with nothing but disdain. And she isn't alone—she has two children who look suspiciously like him. When Lucian discovers the truth, he falls to his knees. "Elara, please, come home." She looks down at him and smiles coldly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Thorne. My husband is dead to me. You are just a stranger." Can the Billionaire win back the heart he shattered, or is it truly too late?

Alexis was your typical everyday good girl with excellent grades, a single best friend, an annoying elder brother and a family that loved her to no end. When senior year rolled up, Alexis wasn't looking to expand her small social circle of friends or put herself out there but things are meant to change, after all, change is the only constant thing in life. Paired to do a group assignment with the school's three new mysterious gorgeous looking guys at the start of the term, Alexis is tested in more ways than one. Cheesy pick up lines, rude guys, charming smiles, motorcycle rides, coffee dates and long hours together is all it takes to make her question everything she ever thought she knew. But what happens when she falls for one of them? The one with the dark hair and green eyes? What will she do when he finds out about the secret she's been harbouring all her life? She begins to regret her decision and wish she'd met him long before, but life has its own way of playing with one's feelings. Will her secret break their newly found relationship or will it make it grow stronger?