"You know what happens when you run, spitfire." Tobias nips my lower lip with his teeth then soothes the sting with the gentle caress of his tongue. "I catch you!" --- I should have known that Tobias Landry was behind the circus of my troubles. He, who once was a man I adored in my past life, is now a man who leaves nothing but devastation in his wake everywhere he turns. He can pretend all he likes that he is innocent, but the slight twitch in his left eye says a completely different story. I will fight him to the end to keep the bakery that I have poured my sweat, blood, and tears into! Even, if that means that I have to marry him and give in to his sexual desires. My name is Keri Appleton and this is a dangerous and sultry tale about lies, secrets, and the fine line between love and obsession.
PROLOGUE:
TOBIAS:
Our eyes met from across the room as she stands at the bar, ordering herself a drink.
My glass is half full. Whiskey.
The ambient colour of love, lust, and sin. Burns you right down to the core, menacingly destroying your insides with no fucks given.
Love.
Some say it is a distraction to a path of destruction, and I, for one, can vouch for that.
I have been burned not once, but twice by Keri Appleton and each time, I've only just managed to claw my way out of the hole of self-torment I dug for myself.
But this time around, I won't let her go.
She is mine. She has always been mine. Even when she left the country without saying goodbye, even now, when she believes that she isn't tied to me.
She looks different. She's filled out in places that make her look devastatingly gorgeous; almost being enough to make my heart cease on the spot.
My thumb twitches as I roll my heavy steel ring around my finger like it somewhat calms the hostility that is burning deep inside me.
"She looks Happy," Melanie says across the table from me as her gaze follows mine.
My eyes narrow when my gaze shifts to the man standing next to her with his hand on her hip, whispering in her ear.
"Happy?" I snort. "That's not her being happy. That is revenge." After all these years, I'm intrigued to find out why she has returned. With him.
I stand up from my chair, downing the rest of my whiskey. I need to know why she is here. Of all days, why make yourself seen?
"Mr. Landry, where are you going? We still need to close this deal." Mr. Adem calls out to me over the loud music.
I ignore him. Melanie is more than capable of handling all the paperwork on our end of the deal.
Strolling towards Keri, I pass Davis sitting at the table, his chin touching his chest, swaying side to side with a bottle of beer still in his grasp.
Ava sits beside him with their daughter sound asleep in her arms as she pats her bottom, rocking back and forth in her chair.
The closer I get to Keri, the more I feel like I need to obliterate something. Preferably her.
Setting her glass on the bar top, she turns away and heads towards the back exit door. I follow her, keeping my distance, and the second I step outside, the cold air snakes its icy tentacles around the base of my throat as I shove the door open.
"It's okay, my little darlings, I'll be back soon. Mummy just needs to... Oh..." I reach around her curvy body, forcing the door behind her shut as I press her body against it. "Tobias!" She exclaims, swallowing thickly with her wide eyes darting between me and her phone.
"Mummy, Mummy... where are you? We can't see you," a high-pitched voice screams through the other end of the phone.
Anger disperses across my chest. Did I hear right? Was the voice of a little girl calling Keri mummy, on the other end of the phone?
I rip the phone out of her hand, "No, please... Tobias!" her voice fills with panic as I lift the phone to my face to see who she is talking to.
I stumble back, feeling like I've been kicked in the gut as my gaze collides with not one, but two sets of eyes that look identical to mine.
"Mummy? Mummy... who is that man? He doesn't look like our uncle?"
"Tobias... I..."
"You're a mother?" I spit out with venom, unable to hide the rage behind my words.
"I... yes," she replies softly, hanging her head in shame.
"Are they..." My voice trails off, knowing that they can't be. "When were you going to tell me?"
I pass her the phone back as she slouches against the door with tears sliding down her cheeks.
"Don't you think I have a right to know that my wife fell pregnant to a man who took her away from me?" I ask darkly, anxiously waiting for her reaction after she registers what I've just said.
Her head snaps up with a look of shock burning brightly in her eyes, "your wife?"
Pressing my hands against the door on either side of her head. I cage her in between my arms, leaning my head next to hers, my lips a whisper away from her ear.
"That's right, spitfire," I whisper in a raspy voice, filling my lungs with her scent. "You are still my wife, and I am your husband. Those divorce papers you sent me, I never signed them."
---
FOUR YEARS EARLIER:
My heart sinks into the pit of my stomach as I continue to read the letter left on my bakery's doorstep upon my arrival this morning.
"Mother..." I hiss, refraining from finishing my sentence.
I clench my jaw, screwing up the letter as I refuse to let Landry Enterprise spoil my day. Especially when I haven't had the chance to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee just yet.
I toss the letter into the garbage where it belongs.
You know what they say: out of sight, out of mind.
If they want my company, they will have to take me to court because I'm not selling it to them.
As the bell on the door chimes, I look up to see who my first customer of the day is, and a wide grin spreads across my face.
"Chase!" I scream, moving out from behind the counter, I run straight into his open arms. "What... When did you get into town? You should have called me, I would've picked you up from the airport. " I coo as I step back and take a good look at him.
It's been 8 days since I dropped him off at the airport for a business trip, and my gods, those 8 days felt like 8 long and lonely excruciating weeks.
Chase and I have been dating for about two years now. It hasn't been easy when he spends most of his time flying back and forth between Auckland and Wellington for his job. I run my fingers through his hair, missing the silky sensation upon my fingertips.
"Keri, there's something that I need to tell you." He sighs, placing his hands on my shoulders with a distressed look tarnishing his handsome features.
My smile instantly falters, and I know, I just know that what he has to say next isn't going to sit well with me. My pulse begins to spike as I notice the sweat that beads along his brow line as he refuses to meet my gaze.
He reeks of guilt, sin, and betrayal. A smell that I am all too familiar with.
"What's wrong?" I take two steps back and wrap my arms around my waist as I anxiously await his response while my voice quavers.
He blows air out of his nose, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen, you gotta believe me, babe." He murmurs in a pleading tone with his shoulders sagging at the same time.
"Chase, I can't forgive you if I don't know what it is that you have done wrong."
He raises his gaze to meet mine taking a step toward me, and the bell to the door goes off again.
In walks the most beautiful female I've not seen in a long time. And for good reason.
"Ava?" I whisper with tears brimming my eyes as I take in her appearance.
As the pieces to the puzzle slowly start to fall into place, I begin to feel sick with repulsion.
"Keri please..." Chase pleads as he rushes toward me.
I shake my head, holding my hand up as my heart starts to shatter in the nest of my chest.
"You and my sister?!" I can barely contain the horror in my voice as shock and animosity swirl in the pools of my eyes.
I look past Chase, watching as my younger sister stands behind the man, I thought loved me in return, rubbing her swelling belly.
"And you, you are meant to be my sister." I sob, "How could you do this to me after everything I have done for you, for the both of you?"
Raising my hand, I violently wipe away the tears that stain my face with deception and heartache.
"It was only one time," Chase quickly states in his defense
"You say it like it's meant to dull the unnecessary pain that you have both caused me. If you wanted to be together, you should have told me first Chase." I swallow thickly trying to suppress the emotions that are coaxing the back of my throat.
Ava sucks on her upper teeth as she holds out her hand revealing an elegant engagement ring that sparkles when the light hits it on her slender finger.
"Well, now you know." She says in a snarky tone, adding salt to my wounds. "It was better this way, like ripping off a band-aid wouldn't you say?" She snickers.
And just like that, the genuine nature of my little sisters' feelings for me became evident.
Such a fool I was. I should have known something was stirring in her pot the moment she so innocently asked me for Chase's address in Wellington a few months ago when she flew out there.
She insisted that she wanted to speak to him about something important. Initially, I thought she was planning to throw me a surprise birthday party in a few days.
"Shut up, Ava. Didn't I tell you to wait in the car for my text?" Chase hisses with a look of pity pooling in his chocolate brown eyes.
"You did, but when have I ever done something that is required of me?" She sighs, turning her hand over to admire her engagement ring.
"I'm happy for the pair of you." I sniffle, straightening my posture as I refuse to let them tear me apart in my bakery which is supposed to be my safe haven.
"Keri, if you'll just sit down and give me a chance to explain what happened between us, I think you-"
"OUT!" I snap, cutting him off. "I want you both to get out of my bakery, now."
"Keri, please..."
"No," I retort looking at Chase through narrowed eyes. "You have no right to ask anything of me. You have made your bed, now it is time for you to sleep in it."
I turn around and walk to the back of the building, pulling ingredients down from the shelves to start making my infamous chocolate brownies for the day.
I'm barely keeping it together and I want them both gone from my life, for good.
How could he do this to me?
How could he sleep with me, knowing that he had gotten my sister pregnant?
I feel sick just thinking about our passionate nights spent under the stars on his balcony. As soon as I hear the door close behind them and the feeling of being all alone washed over me. I slide down the cold steel refrigerator and I let the torrent of tears loose.
I'm on the brink of losing my bakery, I've lost my boyfriend and it seems like my sanity is hanging on by a thread too.
How, how can fate be so cruel?
Being forged from the trauma that clings to your soul like an additional layer of sin has an elegance to it. When my father and I buried my sister, falling in love with her first love wasn't on the agenda. Don Alessandro Valentino has something I want. Something he refuses to depart with and no matter how much pain he inflicts upon me, I will never give up. I vowed to never let him win. I thought I had escaped his grasp, but his torment had only just begun. Despite everything, he still held the power to manipulate my heart and make me crave to be possessed by him. As secrets come to light and the truth is exposed, can I surrender the battle and surrender what I've been fighting for all along, without hesitation? --- He tore his lips away from mine, peering down at me, brushing the pad of his thumb along his lower lip-smearing my touch as far as it would travel. "You taste like mine." He said in a cold and condescending tone. Then he left. He walked out of the wine cellar without a second glance over his shoulder as Riccardo locked the door behind them.
He pins me against the wall, all 7ft of him, towering over me. "Tell me to stop. Tell me you don't want this and I will walk away." He mutters with his hot breath fanning my face. "I want you, Zion," I whisper breathlessly against the shell of his ear. "If you walk out that door, you'll never get to feel how good I'll feel wrapped around you." I nip at his earlobe with my teeth. Something snaps within him as a low rumble vibrates from the back of his throat. "Mine..." He snarls as he picks me up from the ground and crushes his lips against mine. --- The moment I met Zion, I knew my life was never going to be the same again. Being in his presence did crazy things to my body. He is my fated mate, the other half of my soul and the only male who can save me from myself. Turns out I'm not your average human and I have the entire universe questioning my very existence and what energy I possess. They fear me and they have every reason to. Including Zion, his elite of warriors and light oracles.
"Fuck.." I moan as my feverish skin makes me dizzy with lust. [Yes.] "Evet, Mila. You make me want to ravage you when I should be disgusted by the thought of even touching you." He mutters. "But I'm not. Instead, everything about you makes me mad with desire and I can not control it. God's, I tried to but I don't want to anymore." He removes his hand from the wall, wrapping his fingers around my jaw and he forces me to stare up at him. "You've already had a taste of me and one taste is all you get." I swallow loudly, throwing his words back at him. >>> Mila Starkk is a lively young woman trapped in a terrible relationship with her mafia-infiltrated boyfriend, Ace. After the Esposito boss points a gun at her, she flees, seeking sanctuary in an Irish bar that no Italian soldier would dare enter. She has a one-night fling with a seductive Turkish gentleman. The following day, she is dragged through an alleyway with a knife pointed at her, and by chance, stabs one of the guys before fleeing to the Esposito family for protection; starting a war between the Irishmen. She is thrust into an entirely new world, assigned on missions under their protection, and when she learns she is pregnant, she assures Ace that he is the father. After giving birth, she is given the orders to destroy Aydem Burak, Sedar Ozturk's second cousin. The Don of the Turkish Mafia. Mila is sent by the Esposito's to steal something from Aydem that will financially cripple him. From the time she enters his company, sparks fly between them and when her baby is held as ransom for her completion of the mission, she must decide where her allegiance
Working in the sex industry isn't always what's cut out to be... Some find love, like to cause chaos, and others just simply try to get away with murder. "Am I turning you on, Mikros?" He grunts loudly in my ear. "I can feel you soaking me like a cascading waterfall." He hisses, his hot breath fanning my exposed skin as he continues to caress me with long strokes. "My body is a treacherous vessel; it appears to have its own mind." I retaliate by pushing against the wall, and he slams me against it. "That's all you'll ever own, Amar." a soft moan escapes my lips. "Is my body, never my heart or my mind,"
"You taste like warm sweet honey, and I want more of you!" He growls as he presses his manhood into my hip. "Give yourself to me, tesoro." [Treasure] His words are like fuel to my igniting fire. I want him, I crave him, and when his lips start to suck on my heated skin, I turn into a puddle of water when his hand dips into the top of my dress. He finds my breast, and he kneads it, flicking my erect nipple has my panties moisten with arousal --- Vanessa Maddison: She is as gorgeous and flawless on the outside as she is scarred and tormented on the inside. Luca Venturi: Came storming into Vanessa's life like a raging blaze that burns everything it caresses. He's an Italian billionaire doctor who can have any woman he wants, but he has his sights set on Vanessa. Intertwined by their secrets, they try to defy the odds. They make their own rules and quickly surrender to the exquisite power of possession. What began as a fling evolved into something far greater than either of them could have imagined. What will the Italian billionaire do to save Vanessa when they are thrown into a world they are both unfamiliar with time and time again?
Bethany, a stunning woman burdened by financial woes, wrestled with her future prospects in the city after fleeing her manipulative former lover. At the same time, a bold and unyielding man began to pursue her with relentless passion. The word on the street was that the aloof Mr. Swanson had taken under his wing a woman of striking beauty, allegedly snatched from his best friend. He showered her with lavish gifts and was captivated by her every word. They said she was not merely a beautiful woman, but a unique treasure that demanded constant dedication and attention.
For the sake of their company, Atasha Rae was forced to marry the known heartless billionaire, Lorcan Amadeus. But it only took her a week as his wife because later on, he suddenly wants a divorce immediately. So as he wished, she signed the divorce paper even after admitting to herself that she was somehow starting to fall inlove with him. Heart badly wounded, she ran away from his life. Until she discovers that she's pregnant with his child and as a result, she ends up with no choice but to keep it a secret. Out of Lorcan's awareness, she's keeping a secret that would lead him to an overflowing regret. Because for a week of their fallen marriage beyond repair, she's carrying the billionaire's heir.
After three secretive years of marriage, Eliana never met her enigmatic husband until she was served with divorce papers and learned of his extravagant pursuit of another. She snapped back to reality and secured a divorce. Thereafter, Eliana unveiled her various personas: an esteemed doctor, legendary secret agent, master hacker, celebrated designer, adept race car driver, and distinguished scientist. As her diverse talents became known, her ex-husband was consumed by remorse. Desperately, he pleaded, "Eliana, give me another chance! All my properties, even my life, are yours."
It was a big day for Camilla. She looked forward to marrying her handsome groom. Unfortunately, he abandoned her at the altar. He never showed up throughout the wedding. She was made a laughingstock in front of all the guests. In a fit of rage, she went and slept with a strange man on her wedding night. It was supposed to be a one-night stand. To her dismay, the man refused to let her be. He pestered her like she had stolen his heart on that night. Camilla didn't know what to do. Should she give him a chance? Or just stay away from men?
My family was on the poverty line and had no way to support me in college. I had to work part-time every day just to make ends meet and afford to get into the university. That was when I met her—the pretty girl in my class that every boy dreamt of asking out. I was well aware she was out of my league. Nevertheless, I mustered all my courage and bravely told her that I had fallen for her. To my surprise, she agreed to be my girlfriend. With the sweetest smile I had ever seen, she told me that she wanted my first gift for her to be the latest and top-of-the-line iPhone. I worked like a dog and even did my classmates’ laundry to save up. My hard work eventually paid off after a month. I finally got to buy what she wanted. But as I was wrapping my gift, I saw her in the dressing room, making out with the captain of the basketball team. She then heartlessly made fun of my inadequacy and made a fool out of me. To make things worse, the guy whom she cheated on me with even punched me in the face. Desperation washed over me, but there was nothing I could do but lie on the floor as they trampled on my feelings. But then, my father called me out of the blue, and my life turned upside down. It turned out that I was a billionaire's son.
Haisley Jefferson, daughter of the Alpha of The Ashen Crescent Pack, finds her life far from fulfilling. She yearns to meet her mate so she can finally escape the hellhole she once called home. Instead of meeting her mate and escaping, fate takes an unexpected turn on her 21st birthday. Rather than a mate, she's given a husband – Hades Stone, the future Alpha of The DuskBane Pack, and a man she has secretly loved for years. The only problem is he has his eyes set on Alice, her adopted sister. In the face of this dilemma, Haisley rejects the marriage, but destiny seems to have its own plans beyond her control. Haisley finds herself at a crossroads. While she wishes for her mate to rescue her, she's also entangled in a deep affection for Hades. A forced marriage to him was not her desire, but it seems destiny has other plans.