Uche Lawrence

Irina Volkov has three rules: no emotions, no real names, and never meet in person. For two years she has survived on those rules alone - running romance scams on wealthy men, funneling every stolen dollar toward the crushing debt her abusive stepfather signed in her name before she escaped. She is not greedy. She is desperate. And she is very, very good. Until she targets Nikolai Dragunov. What Irina doesn't know is that Nikolai has known about her from the beginning. He created the perfect bait - a lonely businessman with money to burn - and waited for her to find him. Because in a world Nikolai controls down to the last detail, Irina Volkov is the only unpredictable thing left. He wanted to see how far she would go. Now the game is over. The con is exposed. And Nikolai isn't asking for his money back. He's keeping her. Trapped in his penthouse with nowhere to run and a Bratva boss who looks at her like she's both a puzzle and a prize, Irina has to survive the most dangerous mark she's ever made - and somehow stop herself from falling for him in the process. She's a liar. He's a monster. And neither of them expected to fall. "You took my money, malyshka. Now you belong to me."

Camila Damien has spent years avoiding Eric Sylvester-the ruthless CEO whose cold reputation precedes him. But when a career-making promotion forces them together on a billion-dollar pharmaceutical project, avoidance becomes impossible. Eric can't shake the feeling that he's seen her before. The mysterious woman in his wallpaper. The missing pieces of a night he can't remember. And now, the brilliant scientist who challenges him at every turn. But Camila is hiding something darker than career ambitions. Three weeks of her life is gone. Stolen by a drugging incident she can't remember and a saboteur she can't identify. As corporate espionage, toxic family ties, and a dangerous conspiracy close in around them, Camila and Eric must decide: trust each other with their carefully guarded hearts, or lose everything, including their lives. In the high-stakes world of pharmaceutical giants, where betrayal comes from those closest to you and the truth is buried in forgotten memories, love might be the most dangerous risk of all.

How do you feel when you got deceived by your best friend. Just to get you raped. Your male best friend. You got deceived, your best friend whom you trust so much tricked to a birthday party. Suddenly, he started acting cold and you're wondering why he's like that. Everyone gathered around you, smiling like devils. Your best friend pushed you to the floor, tore your dress and had his way. He raped you. Not listening to your cries, your pleas. How wicked he is. Everyone watched. Every f*cking one. You felt ashamed right? When they say bad things to you. Your best friend called you a whore, saying he never loved you as a friend but was just lusting after your body. He laughed at you, everyone mocked you. Even for being raped. What a pity! You can't do anything other than to stand up shamefully, embarrassedly and painfully walked out of the party. It gonna take long before overcoming that trauma. You tried to forget it. Traveled out of the country to begin a new life. Filled with hope. You don't wanna trust anyone again. Especially men. You became happy at last but the happiness didn't last when you finally found out that you're pregnant for the bastard. You never wished for that right? No one do too. But you got no choice dear. Abortion is risky. Nine months later, it's like heaven didn't smile on you when you gave birth to a set of twins. You laboured hard to take good care of them. And also, you're always shouting here and there because of your troublesome kids. Five years later, you saw the bastard again. That day, with your kids. Surprisingly, he told you, he never had peace since day he raped you. He wants your forgiveness. Haha! The question is, are you? Are you gonna forgive him? Think about what you went through. Will you? It's hard for some and easy for some. It's your choice. He's also trying to take responsibilities. He's trying to gain your trust again. Okay, let me stop here. Am Kira Michael. This is my story. It begins, right here.

Kimberly White got a job in one of the biggest company in Germany after she ran away from her stepfather and stepbrother who made life miserable for her. She was to be the secretary of a strange CEO who left his seat vacant for almost a year and half. When the staffs have a problem, they take it to his mansion to sort it out. Some of the new staffs haven't seen his face before. Damien Anton is the CEO of the company, no one knows why he decided not to come to his company. But at last, he came back looking more cold and inhuman all of a sudden. He needed a new secretary and eventually employed Kimberly because he met her few hours to her interview. It was a very bad meeting. Damien made life difficult for her but Kimberly being a no-nonsense girl would sometimes talk to him back not caring about loosing her job. Kimberly knew something was wrong when she found out Damien many weakness. Darkness has been surrounding him. She decided to find out what happened to him and will do her very best to bring him out of darkness? Will she succeed?

Camille Laurent was stolen at birth. Swapped by a greedy nanny, abandoned without a second thought, and erased from her rightful place in one of the most powerful families in the country. While the real heiress struggled to survive, the nanny's daughter, Talia, was raised in luxury as the beloved jewel of the Laurent family, pampered by Camille's parents, adored by her three brothers, and even promised to the prestigious Matteo Devereux through a childhood engagement arranged by their grandparents. Then the truth came out. Six months ago, Camille was finally brought back to the Laurent family. To protect the family reputation and prove their devotion to their bloodline, the Laurent patriarch transferred 35% of his personal shares into Camille's name overnight, instantly making her one of the wealthiest heiresses in the country. It brought anxiety to all the Laurent family. But what they don't know.is that Camille never needed them. Behind her elegant smile lies a woman filled with secrets powerful enough to shake the whole family. She's a miraculous healer capable of curing the incurable poisons. Yet despite everything, her family still chooses Talia. Every accusation against Talia is forgiven. Every scheme against Camille is brushed aside. Even Matteo, the man who was supposed to be Camille's fiancé-cannot let go of the woman he always believed belonged by his side. But while the Laurent family underestimates Camille, another man begins to see exactly who she is. Dante Moretti. The ruthless heir of an old-money dynasty. A billionaire CEO worshipped by the public.and the merciless king of a criminal empire hidden beneath the city's glittering surface. When Dante is poisoned by a rival syndicate with a deadly toxin no doctor can cure, he offers a fortune for anyone who can save him. Only Camille can. Their deal is simple: she becomes his personal physician, and he gives her anything she wants.

I was three days away from marrying the Underboss of the Fazio crime family when I unlocked his burner phone. The screen glowed toxic bright in the dark next to my sleeping fiancé. A message from a contact saved as 'Little Trouble' read: "She is just a statue, Dante. Come back to bed." Attached was a photo of a woman lying in the sheets of his private office, wearing his shirt. My heart didn't break; it simply stopped. For eight years, I believed Dante was the hero who pulled me from a burning opera house. I played the perfect, loyal Mafia Princess for him. But heroes don't give their mistresses rare pink diamonds while giving their fiancées cubic zirconia replicas. He didn't just cheat. He humiliated me. He defended his mistress over his own soldiers in public. He even abandoned me on the side of the road on my birthday because she faked a pregnancy emergency. He thought I was weak. He thought I would accept the fake ring and the disrespect because I was just a political pawn. He was wrong. I didn't cry. Tears are for women who have options. I had a strategy. I walked into the bathroom and dialed a number I hadn't dared to call in a decade. "Speak," a voice like gravel growled on the other end. Lorenzo Moretti. The Capo of the rival family. The man my father called the Devil. "The wedding is off," I whispered, staring at my reflection. "I want an alliance with you, Enzo. And I want the Fazio family burned to the ground."

"Where do you think you're going, huh? You're mine now, Little Mouse. Get back in the house!" Vincenzo's voice boomed, sending chills down Victoria's spine as her world seemed to crumble. Victoria Washington was shattered-betrayed by her boyfriend who dumped her the day before his wedding, to her sister. She was left humiliated, mocked by everyone. But fate had other plans for her. She's broken, he's lost. She's full of fear, and he's the monster. Yet, somehow, he's her light while he remains in darkness. Vincenzo Dante will stop at nothing to tarnish his family's name for forcing him into a marriage he never wanted. But what he doesn't realize is that his new wife is stronger than she seems-too broken to bend under his cruelty. But when love begins to bloom, and secrets start to unfold, what will happen next?

On my wedding day, my father sold me to the Chicago Outfit to pay his debts. I was supposed to marry Alex Moreno, the heir to the city's most powerful crime family. But he couldn't even be bothered to show up. As I stood alone at the altar, humiliated, my best friend delivered the final blow. Alex hadn't just stood me up; he had run off to California with his mistress. The whispers in the cathedral turned me into a joke. I was damaged goods, the rejected bride. His family knew the whole time and let me take the public fall, offering me his cousins as pathetic replacements-a brute who hated me or a coward who couldn't protect me. The humiliation burned away my fear, leaving only cold rage. My life was already over, so I decided to set the whole game on fire myself. The marriage pact only said a Carlson had to marry a Moreno; it never said which one. With nothing left to lose, I looked past the pathetic boys they offered. I chose the one man they never expected. I chose his father, the Don himself.

For seven years, I was the architect of my fiancé's criminal empire and the strategist behind his every move. I was Dante Gallo’s unofficial Consigliere, his partner in everything but name. Tomorrow, I was finally supposed to marry him and take my place as the queen to his throne. But on the eve of our wedding, a single text message sent by mistake detonated my life. It was a photo from Dante, showing a platinum wedding band on his hand. The message read: “Married this morning. She’s safe now.” My gaze fell to the engagement ring on my own finger. It was the identical band, just smaller. The engraved initials ‘D.I.’ didn’t stand for Dante and I. They stood for Dante and Isabella—his childhood sweetheart. My entire relationship was a lie; I was just a shield to protect his one true love. He dismissed my discovery as a "tantrum." Then, his new bride began taunting me, sending a picture of them tangled in bedsheets with the caption: "Loser." They expected me to break. They thought I would shatter. They were about to find out just how wrong they were. I forwarded the picture to Isabella’s fiancé, a man far more dangerous than Dante. "Your fiancée is in Suite 8808 at the Grand Hyatt," I told him. "I'll meet you downstairs. We're going to crash their party."

On our first wedding anniversary, my husband walked out the door. Not for business. For her. I left the divorce papers on the table, my wedding ring next to his untouched champagne, and I disappeared into the night. For a year, I watched Dominic Rossi—the ruthless Underboss of the New York syndicate—drop everything the moment his phone buzzed with another crisis from Sophia. A panic attack. A sleepless night. A lie. I was his wife, the woman he’d promised to cherish, but I was never his priority. So I chose myself. Now he’s tearing the city apart trying to find me. But I’m already gone—building a new life with a job that’s mine, an apartment that’s mine, and a name that doesn’t belong to him. The girl who waited in that penthouse is dead. The woman who walked out isn’t looking back. When Dominic finally corners me, I see the cracks in his armor. He says he’s sorry. He says he loves me. He says he finally understands. But some words are too late, and some promises can’t be fixed. He made me guess for a year. Now it’s his turn to wonder if I’ll ever come back. A heart-wrenching, standalone mafia romance about a woman who refused to be second choice, and the man who learned too late what he’d lost.

I was standing at the cathedral altar, ready to sign the sacred mafia marriage pact with Leo, my fiancé of three years. But right before my pen touched the vellum, the heavy oak doors burst open. A club dancer stumbled in, clutching her stomach. "I'm carrying the twin heirs of the Falcone Family!" Leo dropped the pen and abandoned me in front of the entire underworld to coddle his mistress. Back at our penthouse, he ordered me to wash fruit for her and pack my bags. When the mistress intentionally threw boiling water and pure alcohol on my skin, Leo held her protectively. "You stubborn, psychotic bitch! She was only trying to help you!" He then locked me out on the balcony in a freezing downpour, ultimately leaving me to be cornered by street thugs in a dark underpass. I had endured his constant coldness and swallowed his endless betrayals for the sake of our families' alliance, only to be discarded like garbage for a cartel corner-girl's fake pregnancy. My twenty years of absolute loyalty had been nothing but a massive, pathetic joke. Watching the thugs approach in the dark, I didn't panic or beg for Leo to save me. Because from the deeper shadows stepped Don Gabriel—the ruthless, terrifying Boss of the ruling Syndicate. I looked right at the devil himself and accepted his marriage proposal, ready to become his Queen and bury Leo's entire family in rubble.

Three days before the wedding. I was hiding in the dressing room, watching my fiancé caress the swollen belly of another woman. Luca, the man who had saved my life five years ago, was smiling at his mistress, Sofia. But the real knife to the heart wasn't the affair—it was the dress. The custom wedding gown he had "lovingly" ordered for me featured intricate silver embroidery along the hem. It didn't spell Elena. It read Sofia. He was planning to make me walk down the aisle wearing his mistress's name. Later that night, I found a video of him mocking me to his crew, calling me a "dead fish" and admitting he only wanted my family's Capo status. He planned to keep his "true love" on the side while I played the role of the oblivious, ornamental wife. He thought I was just a sheltered princess. He forgot that my bloodline was built on vengeance. I didn't cry. I didn't confront him. Instead, I scrubbed his scent off my skin and dialed a number everyone in Chicago feared. "The pact with the Cavallaro family," I asked my father, my voice cold as stone. "Is it still valid?" "Dante is the Underboss now," my father warned. "He is a butcher. He breaks men for sport." "Good," I replied. "I am done playing with boys." I secretly booked the Gold Ballroom across the hall from my original venue. Luca thought he was walking into a marriage on Saturday. He didn't know I was bringing a monster to the altar instead.

For seven years, I scrubbed floors, cooked books, and hid my identity as the Vitiello heiress just to test if Dante Moretti loved me for me, not my father’s power. But the massive digital billboard in Times Square froze the blood in my veins. It wasn’t my face next to his under the headline "The King and his new Queen." It was a cocktail waitress named Lola. When I walked into the lobby to confront him, Lola slapped me across the face and crushed my late mother's locket under her stiletto heel. Dante didn't defend me. He didn't even look sorry. "You’re useful, like a stapler," he sneered, checking his watch. "But a King needs a Queen, not a boring clerk. You can stay on as my mistress if you want to keep your job." He thought I was a nobody. He thought he could use me to launder his money and then discard me like trash. He didn't realize that the only reason he wasn't in federal prison was because I was protecting him. I wiped the blood from my lip and pulled out a secure satellite phone. Dante laughed. "Who are you calling? Your mommy?" I stared him dead in the eyes as the line connected. "The pact is void, Papa," I whispered. "Burn them all." Ten minutes later, the glass doors shattered as my father’s military helicopters descended onto the street. Dante fell to his knees, realizing too late that he hadn't just lost a secretary. He had just declared war on the Capo dei Capi.

I was a top underground fixer and the wife of the most ruthless Mafia Capo in New York. I managed his money, built his empire, and spent countless nights waiting in terror for him to survive bloody turf wars. But one night, a desperate woman hired my encrypted network, begging for advice because her mafia protector was pulling away. When I looked at the photos she sent, my blood ran cold. The man she was crying over was my husband. He lied to my face, claiming he was busy with dangerous Family business and ignoring my texts. Yet, through the surveillance footage the woman sent me, I watched my ruthless husband stand in the pouring rain until dawn. The man who treated me like a servant was groveling like a beggar, clutching imported medicine and food, pleading with a civilian to open her door. "I will never leave you unprotected again," he promised her. I had bled my own inheritance dry to cover his careless mistakes, only for him to give his devotion to an outsider. He took my loyalty for granted, assuming I would always sit in our empty penthouse waiting for him. I realized my intellect and ambition were never meant to be buried for a man who didn't respect me. So, I logged into the Cayman Island banking portal and revoked his access to millions in offshore accounts. I took off my gold Famiglia signet ring, packed my bags, and left his territory forever.