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Brought together by their needs, Alana and Alan entered a marriage contract that's to last for a year. Alana Boyce is an eighteen year old orphan that had lost everything and has to find a way to survive and oiut a roof over her head. Alan Winters is a twenty-three year old son of a billionaire and the next CEO of his father's company. When he was placed under a condition before he could take over his father's company, he entered a contract marriage with Alana who was in dire need of cash. Will they be able to abide by the rules of their contract and split up in a year as agreed? Will Alana be able to find her place in a world where power and greed is the order of the day? Will Alan be able to overcome his fear and build a great future and an even greater company?
Alana's POV
"Please, I don't have anywhere to go", I cried as the landlady threw my belongings that consisted of a knapsack and overnight bag onto the curb.
"Listen here kid, it's been four months since you gave me your last rent. I don't want to hear your sob story. Leave my house, so that people that can afford it can move in", she said to me harshly before closing the door in my face.
I tried calling Lacy for the billionth time that night to no avail. She lied to me for 6 months. I have been duped by someone I regarded as a friend and now I have nowhere to go.
I sat by the curb crying. What do I do from here on? Most importantly, where do I sleep tonight? I did not want to go back to sleeping in the restaurant where I work.
I carried my knapsack and overnight bag and started wandering aimlessly around the neighborhood.
Life has not been fair to me. I grew up in the orphanage before I was passed around foster homes. I'd been in 8 foster homes in 8 years. Things I can't even begin to recount have happened to me but I kept pushing with the hope that I'll be free once I turned 18.
I turned 18 seven months ago, and a month after, I met Lacy. Lacy was everything I did not have growing up- a friend, a sister, a confidante, she was my family.
I met her at the restaurant where I waitressed. She was a waitress too and we became friends very fast. She was sweet, caring and loving, everything I did not get growing up. Even though she was three years older than me, she treated me like we've been friends forever. I took to her and she let me sleep in her rented room since I was always sneaking back into the restaurant to sleep at night when everyone had left.
We got thrown out of the room a month later and we decided to get a cheap apartment together and split the bill. We've been living together for 5 months until I came home today from work to find my things outside and the landlady told me that we've been owing her for 4 months.
I paid my share of the bill to Lacy on time. I should have paid attention to her sudden change in behavior. She suddenly stopped coming to work and told me she got another job. She'd go out late at night and won't come back until early morning. I'd hear her talking on the phone quietly sometimes so I just thought she was going through a rough patch and would tell me when she's ready.
I guess I'd just go back to sleeping at my place of work. I cried harder as I thought about how I've trusted the wrong person and now I have to bear the consequences on my own.
I suddenly heard footsteps behind me and was reminded that I was a fragile, helpless girl walking the streets of Dallas alone at night. I hastened my footsteps but stopped abruptly when I realized I had no idea where I was.
I had been so engrossed in my thoughts, I had lost my sense of direction. Oh, God, I'm going to die.
I looked back and saw a hooded figure walking towards me, looking at me creepily and shudders ran down my spine. No, no, I can't go through this tonight. I can't go through this again.
My heart started beating rapidly and my flight or fight instinct kicked in. I ran as fast as my tiny leg and body could carry me but the load I had on me slowed me down.
Should I have thrown it? Then, I'd have been left with nothing in my pathetic life. I kept running but as my luck would have it, I tripped near a dark alleyway and the hooded figure caught up to me.
I tried to stand up to run again when I felt something hard connect with my jaw and I fell to the ground again. I tried to reign my tears in, neither did I make any noise which seems to infuriate the stranger further.
"You were trying to escape from me, b**ch? Who's going to save you now?", He laughed maniacally, his face so close to mine I could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Please, let me go. I'm begging you,sir, please let me go", I pleaded to him in a shaky voice hoping my body won't betray me by letting my tears spill down my cheeks.
He sent another slap to my left cheek and the impact made me hit my head on the concrete. I did not need to touch it to know that I was bleeding.
"It's too late to beg now, b**ch. You're going to get what you deserve", he said as he pulled me by my hair into the dark alleyway.
What I deserve? Why should I deserve what he's about to do to me? Why am I so unlucky? These were my thoughts as I screamed and begged him to let me go but he continued to drag me by my hair.
He pulled me up on my feet and held my hands above my head while he groped me, invoking feelings and memories I'd like to forget forever. I wasn't thinking when I raised my leg and kicked him where the sun doesn't shine. He released his grip on me and that gave me the opportunity to run again.
I had not gone far when I was yanked back by my hair and slammed against the wall. I saw stars with how hard I hit my head against the wall.
I closed my eyes, expecting him to hit me again when I heard a loud noise. I opened my eyes as fast as I closed them and saw the guy in the hoodie being beaten into a pulp by another man. I covered my eyes and ears and tried to block out the noise.
When I could not hear any more noises, I opened my eyes to see the strange man squatting a safe distance from me. I tried to take in his features but I could not because of the dark alleyway.
"Are you okay, Miss?" He asked me and that was what brought me out of my trance. I bolted out of the alleyway to get my belongings that I dropped when I fell.
Then I ran like my life depended on it because it obviously did.
Sheila had her back against the wall when her family tried to force her to marry an awful old man. In a fit of rage, she hired a gigolo to act as her husband. She thought the gigolo needed money and did this for a living. Little did she know that he was nothing like that. One day, he pulled off his mask and revealed himself to be the world's top magnate. This marked the beginning of their love. He showered her with everything she could ever want. They were happy. However, unexpected circumstances soon posed a threat to their love. Would Sheila and her husband make it through the storm? Find out!
Linsey was stood up by her groom to run off with another woman. Furious, she grabbed a random stranger and declared, "Let's get married!" She had acted on impulse, realizing too late that her new husband was the notorious rascal, Collin. The public laughed at her, and even her runaway ex offered to reconcile. But Linsey scoffed at him. "My husband and I are very much in love!" Everyone thought she was delusional. Then Collin was revealed to be the richest man in the world. In front of everyone, he got down on one knee and held up a stunning diamond ring. "I look forward to our forever, honey."
Kaelyn devoted three years tending to her husband after a terrible accident. But once he was fully recovered, he cast her aside and brought his first love back from abroad. Devastated, Kaelyn decided on a divorce as people mocked her for being discarded. She went on to reinvent herself, becoming a highly sought-after doctor, a champion racer, and an internationally renowned architectural designer. Even then, the traitors sneered in disdain, believing Kaelyn would never find someone. But then the ex-husband’s uncle, a powerful warlord, returned with his army to ask for Kaelyn’s hand in marriage.
She thought she was the love of his life, and he became the love of her life that fateful day she had seen him at the pack's party. Selene Grace was only a replica of Alpha Leo's real mate, and when he spotted her, Leo immediately claimed her as his Luna in order to suppress the rumors of him being mateless. Being unable to conceive turns Selene's marriage into a nightmare, and as if that wasn't enough, Alpha Leo finally reunites with his long time lover and mate, rejecting a pregnant Selene as a result. 5 years later, Selene, a now successful doctor, receives an invitation to the moon shadow pack in order to rid the pack of a deadly disease which has struck it. Will Selene return back to the pack which had caused her so much pain, and what would she do when she realizes that she is mated to the Alpha who had betrayed her in the past?
Life was perfect until she met her boyfriend's big brother. There was a forbidden law in the Night Shade Pack that if the head Alpha rejected his mate, he would be stripped of his position. Sophia's life would get connected with the law. She was an Omega who was dating the head Alpha's younger brother. Bryan Morrison, the head Alpha, was not only a cold-blooded man but also a charming business tycoon. His name was enough to cause other packs to tremble. He was known as a ruthless man. What if, by some twist of destiny, Sophia's path were to intertwine with his?
For as long as Emily can remember, she has wanted to overcome her shyness and explore her sexuality. Still, everything changes when she receives an invitation to visit one of the town's most prestigious BDSM clubs, DESIRE'S DEN. On the day she chose to peruse the club, she noticed three men, all dressed in suits, standing on the upper level, near the railing. Despite her limited vision, she persisted in fixating on them. Their towering statues belied the toned bodies concealed by their sharply tailored suits-or so she could tell. The hair of two of them was short and dark, and the third had light brown-possibly blond-hair that reached the shoulders. The dark, crimson background incised their figures, exuding an air of mystery and strength. They stood in stark contrast to the unfiltered, primal energy that pulsed through the club. Shocked by the desires these men aroused in her, she was disappointed to learn that they were masters seeking a slave to divide and conquer. She couldn't afford the fee, and she also realized that they were outside her league. Emily hurriedly left the club, feeling disappointed and depressed, unaware that she had also caught the group's attention. A world of wicked pleasure, three handsome men. Over the years, they have lived a life of decadence, their lavish lair serving as a stage for their most sinister desires. But despite the unending parade of willing subjects, one woman sticks out. A mysterious stranger with white porcelain skin and a killer body, a slave, a name with no address, the first lady to attract their eye and they will go to any length to obtain her no matter the consequences.