Bound By Secrets
/1/122052/coverbig.jpg?v=d94b4979d565327cfdd332399e3adad1)
Nine Rejected Marriages, I Wed My Ex's Rival
Amelia sat alone at the City Marriage Bureau, watching the clock tick down to closing time. Fifteen minutes before the doors shut, a phone call shattered her last flicker of hope. Her fiancé, Kayson, wasn't coming. He had abandoned their wedding registration because Kamila-her stepsister-had twisted her ankle. It was his ninth broken promise. When Amelia returned home, there was no comfort. Her biological mother sneered at her humiliation, shielding the stepsister while ordering Amelia to apologize to Kayson. "Who would she marry without Kayson?" her mother mocked. "Let's see how long she survives out there without his money." Meanwhile, Kayson arrogantly dismissed her absence. Finding out she had vanished, he just laughed it off with his assistant. "It's just a tantrum to force my hand," Kayson smirked. "She still can't live without me." After nine years of absolute devotion, she was nothing but a convenient placeholder to the man she loved, and a worthless joke to her own family. The suffocating weight of their betrayal finally snapped something inside her. She packed a single suitcase, threw away nine years of anniversary gifts, and permanently blocked Kayson's number. Standing in the freezing wind, she pulled out her phone and dialed the private number of Kayson's biggest, most ruthless rival. "Mr. Thornton, what you said seven months ago... does the offer to marry me still stand?" Ten minutes later, a sleek black Maybach pulled up to the curb.
Chapter 1 The Abandoned Bride
Amelia Frye glanced at the Van Cleef & Arpels watch on her wrist.
The delicate gold hands pointed to 4:45 PM.
Fifteen minutes until the New York City Marriage Bureau closed for the day.
Her thumb unconsciously picked at the already frayed skin beside her index fingernail. It was a nervous habit, one she thought she had kicked years ago.
Clerk Sullivan, a kind-faced woman with salt-and-pepper hair, poked her head out of the office for the ninth time. Her eyes were full of a pity that made Amelia's stomach clench.
"Maybe it's the traffic, dear," Ms. Sullivan offered, placing a cup of lukewarm water on the small table beside Amelia's chair.
Amelia forced a smile that felt like cracking plaster. "Yes, New York traffic is always terrible."
Her gaze drifted to the poster on the wall. A beaming couple, with the words "Happy Marriages Start Here" printed in cheerful script below them. The irony felt like a physical weight on her chest, making it hard to breathe.
A vibration buzzed from her handbag.
Her heart leaped into her throat. Kayson.
She fumbled for her phone, her fingers clumsy and cold. The screen lit up, but the name flashing wasn't his.
It was "Leo Foster." Kayson's assistant.
The last flicker of hope inside her died, leaving a cold, dark void. She took a sharp breath, the air stinging her lungs, and answered the call.
"Ms. Frye," Leo's voice was polite, professional, and utterly detached. "My sincerest apologies. Mr. Edwards has an urgent situation. Ms. Carlisle twisted her ankle during a rehearsal, and he had to go to her immediately."
Kamila Carlisle.
The name was a familiar poison, seeping through the phone and directly into her brain. It was always Kamila. The reason for the first missed anniversary, the third missed birthday, and now, the ninth missed promise.
Amelia said nothing.
She simply ended the call.
The phone's screen went black, reflecting her own pale, numb face. She looked like a stranger.
She opened her message thread with Kayson. Her thumbs moved with a strange, detached precision.
"Kayson Edwards, we're over."
Send.
Then, without a moment's hesitation, her finger found the option: "Block and Delete Contact."
A profound silence filled her head as she did it. The giant stone that had been crushing her chest for years finally rolled away. She could breathe again. The air, once thin and sharp, now felt full and clean.
She stood up so abruptly that the chair scraped against the linoleum floor with a screech.
Ms. Sullivan jumped, her expression shifting from pity to alarm.
Amelia walked to the clerk's desk and placed the untouched cup of water down gently.
She looked Ms. Sullivan directly in the eye, her voice clear and steady in a way it hadn't been in years.
"I've decided. I'm not getting married."
Ms. Sullivan's mouth opened, but no words came out.
Amelia added, more to herself than to the clerk, a vow whispered into the sterile office air. "Not ever again."
With that, she turned and walked out of the Marriage Bureau.
The cold November wind hit her face, but it didn't chill her. It woke her up.
She pulled out her phone again, scrolling through her contacts to a name she had saved seven months ago. A number she had never called.
She remembered the man. Kayson's biggest rival. He had cornered her at a gala, his blue eyes full of a mocking amusement, and said something utterly absurd to her.
At the time, she'd dismissed it as a provocation, a way to get under Kayson's skin.
Now, it was her only option.
Her heart hammered against her ribs as she pressed the call button.
The phone rang only once before it was answered. A deep, magnetic voice cut through the city noise.
"Who is this?"
Amelia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let the words rush out before she could lose her nerve.
"Mr. Thornton, what you said seven months ago... does the offer still stand?"
There was a beat of silence on the other end, followed by a low, dangerously amused chuckle that sent a shiver down her spine.
/0/63626/coverbig.jpg?v=4f2fd7dca7b6aad4580e7ab926138046)
Bound By Secrets
Lena lost her mind for a moment and actually had a one-night stand with her boss, Ethan Walker, after too much drinking! She was so terrified, afraid of being discovered by him, that she would lose her good job. So she ran away. But the very next day, Ethan found her and showed her a necklace. "Whos
/0/64643/coverbig.jpg?v=63cc61e3eeb10c7c909462e8be7e1802)
Bound by Secrets.
Lila Anderson accepts a convenient marriage to the enigmatic and aloof Ethan Cross with the expectation of living a life of solitude and silent sadness. She enters Ethan's world and is thrown into a mystery where love may be both dangerous and seductive. She soon finds out that their contract is mor
/0/69487/coverbig.jpg?v=11d23cfd40d6c2f7138a295a2df5f2b8)
Bound by Secrets by Anastasia Riley
Damian Cross is a reclusive billionaire, haunted by a past so dark that it keeps him isolated from the world and from love. A traumatic witness to his father's murder, he's spent years building an empire while secretly seeking vengeance on those responsible. But when Emma Blake enters his life as an
/0/75218/coverbig.jpg?v=7793e533919a62db993cd226489c56ba)
Bound by Sacrifice
Ethan Sinclair has always put family first, so when his younger sister, Claire, becomes obsessed with outshining her academic rival, Elena Carter, he makes a drastic choice. Knowing that marriage would force Elena to leave school, Claire's ultimate victory, Ethan proposes-despite being in love with
/1/106685/coverbig.jpg?v=580c800e266d126901b62cfb0ceee045)
Bound By His Child
Married off to him to pay a debt that was never mine, my only purpose was to give him an heir. Year after year, my foolish heart fell harder while he shattered it without mercy. When my service ended, my debt paid, and no child to bind us, I chose freedom through divorce. But just when I thought
/0/71810/coverbig.jpg?v=577f3c30b5c194d3127a7068a5bf8a09)
Bound by Vengeance
To pay off her family's debt, Alina Moretti is forced into a contract marriage with Dante Valenti, the ruthless and feared leader of the Valenti Mafia. He believes Alina is responsible for his sister's death and marries her to make her suffer. However, as truths unravel and his hatred turns into obs
/0/71546/coverbig.jpg?v=0f6d9c31e337f1cf213119fcdf7f6543)
Bound By Duty
Velia Angelica Howell's perfect life shattered in a single night when a tragic accident took her parents and left her fiancé in a coma. Just as her world crumbled further with job loss and loan sharks threatening her, Lucas Hernandez, a powerful and enigmatic CEO, made her an offer she couldn't refu
/0/74338/coverbig.jpg?v=677008675397b927c915855c168e67d9)
Bound By The Midnight
Bound By Midnight In a kingdom ruled by vampires, where power is absolute and the weak are forgotten, two souls from opposite worlds are bound by fate. Elliot King-ruthless, powerful, and the most feared vampire of his kind-rules his vast empire with cold efficiency. Wealth, loyalty, and blood ar
/0/78048/coverbig.jpg?v=275b7bac8814658a4c67d0375aad0d3f)
Bound by Obsession
Sofia D'Angelo was raised to be perfect - the golden daughter of one of the city's most powerful families. Groomed for an arranged marriage that promised to merge empires, she was meant to smile, obey, and never stray from the gilded path carved for her. But behind the glittering façade, Sofia's wor
/0/78550/coverbig.jpg?v=0ff2061e8f81f367d9ed1a1ff3ac2f39)
Bound By Desires
"You're mine to touch-fûcking no one else's." His voice was deep, dark, and dangerous, sending an electric shiver through her soul. What began as a desperate decision turned into a lifetime bond. Annabella, a struggling young woman fighting to keep her mother alive, sold her innocence to a ruthl
/0/77843/coverbig.jpg?v=c24926639425f800adc49d03b3521d3e)
Bound By Lies
Scarlett Blackwood, a beautiful and independent woman, had it all - wealth, love, and family. But when her twin sister Scarlynn died in childbirth, Scarlett's life took a drastic turn. To protect her family from a powerful mafia leader, she assumed her sister's identity and married him. Now, Scarlet
/0/87404/coverbig.jpg?v=537f4fc56259f8d2546b566f06c21568)
BOUND BY HIS TERMS
He bought her brand. She refused to sell her heart. Lila Hart built her fashion label from scratch, bold, independent, and fierce. But when her company falls into financial crisis, ruthless tech billionaire Jaxon Vale swoops in with an ultimatum: sign over control and stay as Creative Director for
/0/67867/coverbig.jpg?v=d4401e1f7436ec2e86f740c95ada7f30)
BOUND BY TRADITION
The good-for-nothing son-in-law hides his powers and influences forever. When his wife is insulted, he decides to break through his real face.
/0/57635/coverbig.jpg?v=7ed105044ea84df553ee3ca6cfe403b2)
Bound By Blood
Contracted to marry the devil's reincarnate Lucien Wolfson, Freya Hawthrone lives in hell. What happens when she falls in love with his best friend?
/0/79809/coverbig.jpg?v=cf75b2f661e8b138b28e0f9dbb998ba1)
Bound By Bellarmine
Elettra has big plans. Finish her degree, get her mother healthy again, then get the hell out of Dodge. She's done with the Bellarmine family. Would've run years ago if she could. She just wants a life free from their control, the memories they buried, and-most of all-free from Dorian Bellarmine. Bu
/0/92899/coverbig.jpg?v=ea662cb1ba9ddc6ef4b230b50c8ecaa8)
Bound by Fatal Obsession
Caius glared at me as his jaw clenched. "What the fuck did you just do to my fiancée?" I can feel the rage in his voice. I took the bomb's activator from my bag and showed it to him. "Just one press here, and the bomb beside your woman will explode... All you have to do is sign that paper and w
/0/54305/coverbig.jpg?v=a81e10818fc1a030f5c2f09262d71b64)
Bound By Scandals
The woman advanced on her in fury. "Shut up! I know exactly who you are. The conniving slut who seduced my fiancé Luke for his money!" Samantha's eyes widened in shock. Before she could respond, the enraged stranger drew back her hand and slapped Samantha hard across the face. "Luke was mine until
/0/62405/coverbig.jpg?v=4401f4e76974b7c3bbbcfdeb1593ad4c)
BOUND BY VENGEANCE
His second name is Death. Anyone who tries to get too close to him loses their lives. He was cursed with the blood of his dead brother, and till he finds the killer of his brother, he'd forever be bounded with the curse. He's avoided like a plaque, but he even loves it that way. He's so addicted
/0/64603/coverbig.jpg?v=0b44f43c50b9077bd6e690fa2e5660ec)
BOUND BY BUSINESS
Alessia Thompson is a brilliant and determined businesswoman whose world is turned upside down when she is forced into an arranged marriage with Ethan Blackwood, the son of the ruthless corporate mogul Reginald Blackwood. This union, orchestrated by their families, aims to merge their companies and
/0/45420/coverbig.jpg?v=5066d178b3829da00b159ff1284c1906)
Bound By paper Hearts
Left on their wedding day by her fiancé, Alice finds herself in a contractual union with a wealthy man urgently seeking a bride. Over time, she came to the realization that dealing with the billionaire was no simple task, and being married to this formidable yet merciless man felt like navigating a
