In a world where soul-bonding allows true lovers to share thoughts and emotions, Sylvia Hopkins possesses a unique ability-she can read anyone's mind with just a spark of attraction. A gift like hers is rare, but it's also dangerous. Born an orphan, Sylvia learned early that life isn't fair. She ran from the oppressive walls of an orphanage and survived the streets by becoming a master con artist. For years, she stayed ahead of the law, scamming the rich, outwitting criminals, and dodging the FBI. But everything changes when she makes the mistake of crossing Evans Alberto-a ruthless mafia boss on the verge of entering politics. She cons him out of $170 million, only to find herself hunted. When he catches her, he gives her a choice: death or a contract marriage. Forced into his world, Sylvia is no longer just a lone thief-she's a weapon. Her mission? To infiltrate Evans' biggest rival, seduce their heir, and bring the entire family down from the inside. But as the lines blur between duty and desire, Sylvia faces a bigger danger than the mafia, the FBI, or even Evans' wrath. She's falling for him. And worse-he might be the only man whose mind she can't read.
"I'm not afraid. I can do this."
Sylvia was sweating, panicking like a legion of ants crawled up her skin while she lay stiff in bed. Only, it wasn't ants but a creeping sense of anxiety. Her heart pounded louder with each footstep of Sister Agnes echoing through the hallway.
'Can't she walk faster? It's not like she's old or something,' she grumbled in her thoughts. But Sylvia knew this was just her panic talking.
"She never checks inside the rooms," she mumbled to herself. "Just the hallway, then straight to bed."
She had spent the past few nights memorizing the nun's routine, staying up much later than the other girls in her dorm, carefully planning her escape. Even so, her senses spiked when the beam of Sister Agnes' flashlight swept beneath the door.
Sylvia held her breath, fingers tightening around the sack in her arms. Inside, it held everything she had in the world-a few clothes and half a loaf of stale bread. Not much, but enough to survive.
"Just a few more seconds," she whispered. "Just a few more seconds, and you'll be free."
The light slowly faded from the gap underneath the door, with the sound of the nun's footsteps growing distant. Then, finally, a door creaked shut, and silence settled over the orphanage. Sylvia exhaled shakily, forcing her body to move . . . It was now or never.
Her gaze darted to the window-the first obstacle in her escape. It was slightly open, letting in the cool night air, thick with the scent of damp earth and leaves. The other girls were all still sleeping deeply, their quiet breaths filling the dormitory-except for Rachel and Dorcas, who snored like the greedy pigs they were.
They alone would miss her. Without her, who else would they have to torment?
"No one here will miss me," she told herself quietly.
She slipped off her bed and crept toward the window, her bare feet making no sound on the cold wooden floor. The old hinges groaned softly as she pushed it wider. Sylvia froze. Waited. No one stirred.
'I can do this,' she thought, even as her chest tightened.
The orphanage hadn't been home for a long time-not since Sister Agnes doubled down on her strict rules after the board's last inspection. Warm meals had turned to watery soup, and the little kindness Sylvia once remembered had been replaced with cold stares and sharp words.
But the final straw had come just days ago.
Marilyn-her closest friend, the girl she had practically grown up with-was adopted. Just like that, gone. Sylvia had always known adoption was the goal, the dream every child was supposed to hope for. But Marilyn leaving had torn something inside her.
At first, she tried to pretend it didn't matter. But everything changed after that. Rachel and Dorcas, the two oldest girls in the orphanage, turned on her. They had always been cruel in passing, throwing sharp words her way, but now they had a new target-someone alone, someone too angry to bother making new friends.
It started small. Taking her blanket when she wasn't looking. Knocking over her bowl at breakfast and laughing when she had to clean up the mess. Then it got worse-whispers behind her back, lies to the nuns, sharp pinches and elbow jabs when no one was watching.
Sylvia reported them, but it only made things worse. The nuns barely paid attention, dismissing her complaints as childish bickering. And then Sister Agnes, the one person she had hoped would listen, scolded her instead.
"How do you expect to get adopted with such poor behavior?" the nun had said, shaking her head in disappointment.
Sylvia had stood there, fists clenched, biting back the words she wanted to scream. That was the moment she knew she wasn't going to wait around, hoping to be chosen by some stranger. She was going to leave. On her own terms.
Sylvia climbed onto the ledge, gripping the frame. The drop was far, and the ground below glistened with mud from the rain. Her knees wobbled, but she bit her lip and jumped.
The impact jarred her legs, sending a shock up her spine, but she didn't stop. She scrambled to her feet, the sack pressed to her chest, and ran. The gate was ahead, the iron bars rusted and bent just enough for her to squeeze through.
"Sylvia!"
Her name cut through the darkness. Sister Agnes!
She didn't look back. Her breathing was ragged as she pushed through the gap in the gate, the metal scraping her arms. The cold air stung her lungs, but she kept running, her bare feet slapping against the wet pavement.
Freedom.
~•~
Sylvia huddled under a crumbling brick wall, holding her sack tightly to her chest. The rain had stopped, but her clothes were soaked, clinging to her thin frame. Her stomach growled. The piece of bread she'd packed was long gone.
She had walked all night, hiding in alleys and under bridges. The city was bigger than she imagined, louder too. Every sound made her jump-the rumble of a passing car, the chatter of strangers, the occasional shout in the distance.
She was terrified. And yet, for the first time in her life, she wasn't trapped.
Sylvia rubbed her arms, shivering as the wind bit at her skin. Across the street, a vendor was setting up a small stall, arranging loaves of bread. The smell wafted toward her, making her stomach ache.
Her eyes darted around, scanning for anyone watching. Slowly, she inched closer, her gaze fixed on the vendor's hands as he placed a basket of rolls on the counter.
"Hey!"
Sylvia's heart jumped. She spun around, ready to run, but a boy about her age stepped out from the shadows. He was scrawny, his clothes too big for his small frame, but his dark eyes gleamed with mischief.
"You're terrible at stealing," he said, grinning.
Sylvia clenched her fists. "I wasn't-"
"Relax," he said, holding up his hands. "You look hungry. Follow me."
She hesitated. Her instincts screamed not to trust him, but her hunger won out. She followed him down a narrow alley, her steps cautious.
He stopped near a cart piled with vegetables. "Watch this," he whispered, slipping a potato from the pile when the vendor turned away.
Sylvia watched, wide-eyed, as he handed it to her. "Your turn."
She shook her head.
"Suit yourself." He tossed the potato in the air, catching it with a smirk. "You'll starve out here if you don't learn how to play the game."
Sylvia bit her lip, her pride warring with her hunger. Finally, she nodded.
"Good," the boy said. "I'm Danny, by the way."
That night, Sylvia sat in an abandoned alley, nibbling on the small stash of food Danny had helped her gather. She had no idea where she was or what tomorrow would bring, but she made a silent vow:
She would survive. No matter what it took.
Elizabeth's life was never easy, but she worked hard to turn things around-until her fiancé, Daniel, betrayed her. Teaming up with her childhood friend, Stephanie, he cheated, stole her wealth, and left her to die. But fate gave Elizabeth a second chance. She wakes up in the body of Aurellia Blackstonne, America's wealthiest heiress, and finds herself with the means to destroy the people who wronged her. Armed with beauty, influence, and newfound confidence, Elizabeth begins her quest for justice. Yet Aurellia's life wasn't as perfect as it seemed. As Elizabeth uncovers the dark secrets of her new identity, she learns that revenge might come at a higher cost than she imagined. They thought they buried her. But Elizabeth is back-and she's not the same.
One law keeps the peace in Parlem, where the undefeated Sky Border separates the territories of werewolves and human mages. And that is that hybrids born of both species are forbidden-even by the gods. Jade Ishola doesn't know she's a hybrid. All she knows is that a wild, uncontrollable creature lives inside her. One night, it takes over. When she wakes by a stream, bruised and aching, the villagers are already hunting her for a crime she doesn't remember-something inhuman, something monstrous. She's saved by Kema, a golden-eyed warrior who offers her a way out: to hide what she is, she must train with the Watchers, the warriors who guard the Sky Border. Having little choice, Jade agrees. But as she sharpens her awakened fire magic under Kema's watchful gaze, forbidden feelings rise between them-dangerous, undeniable. Then, the truth of her birth is revealed. A secret dark enough to reignite the Great War between humans and werewolves. Her hybrid nature is exposed, and soon, she is being hunted-not just because she is forbidden, but because werewolves can gain immense power from consuming her kind. With time running out and enemies closing in, Jade must decide: will she fight for the love she sees with Kema, for control over the curse of her kind, or will the beast within her destroy everything she loves?
In order to fulfill her grandfather's last wish, Stella entered into a hasty marriage with an ordinary man she had never met before. However, even after becoming husband and wife on paper, they each led separate lives, barely crossing paths. A year later, Stella returned to Seamarsh City, hoping to finally meet her mysterious husband. To her astonishment, he sent her a text message, unexpectedly pleading for a divorce without ever having met her in person. Gritting her teeth, Stella replied, "So be it. Let’s get a divorce!" Following that, Stella made a bold move and joined the Prosperity Group, where she became a public relations officer that worked directly for the company’s CEO, Matthew. The handsome and enigmatic CEO was already bound in matrimony, and was known to be unwaveringly devoted to his wife in private. Unbeknownst to Stella, her mysterious husband was actually her boss, in his alternate identity! Determined to focus on her career, Stella deliberately kept her distance from the CEO, although she couldn't help but notice his deliberate attempts to get close to her. As time went on, her elusive husband had a change of heart. He suddenly refused to proceed with the divorce. When would his alternate identity be uncovered? Amidst a tumultuous blend of deception and profound love, what destiny awaited them?
"I'm going to tell you what I have in mind," he murmured. "First you're going to strip down until you're completely naked," he whispered against her ear. "Then I'm going to tie you up so you're completely powerless and subject to my every whim." "Mmm, sounds good so far," she murmured. "Then I'm going to insert a plug to prepare you for me. After that I'm going to spank that sweet ass of yours until it's rosy with my marks." She shivered uncontrollably, her mind exploding with the images he evoked. She let out a small whimper as he sucked the lobe of her ear into his mouth. God, she could cum with just his words. She was already aching with need. Her nipples tingled and hardened to painful points. Her clit pulsed and twitched between her legs until she clamped her thighs together to alleviate the burn. "And then I'm going to f**k your mouth. But I won't cum. Not yet. When I'm close, I'll flog you again until your ass is burning and you're on fire with the need for relief. And then I'm going to f**k that ass. I'm going to take you hard and rough, to the very limits of what you can withstand. I won't be gentle. Not tonight. I'm going to take you as roughly as you can stand. And then I'm going to cum all over your ass. Are you ready to be completely and utterly dominated?"
"You're a creepy bastard." His eyes smolder me and his answering grin is nothing short of beautiful. Deadly. "Yet you hunger for me. Tell me, this appetite of yours, does it always tend toward 'creepy bastards'?" **** Widower and ex-boss to the Mafia, Zefiro Della Rocca, has an unhealthy fixation on the woman nextdoor. It began as a coincidence, growing into mere curiosity, and soon, it was an itch he couldn't ignore, like a quick fix of crack for an addict. He didn't know her name, but he knew every inch of her skin, how it flushed when she climaxed, her favourite novel and that every night she contemplated suicide. He didn't want to care, despising his rapt fascination of the woman. She was in love with her abusive husband. She was married, bound by a contract to the Bratva's hitman. She was off-limits. But when Zefiro wanted something, it was with an intensity that bordered on madness. He obsessed, possessed, owned. There'd be bloodshed if he touched her, but the sight of blood always did fascinate him. * When Susanna flees from her husband, she stumbles right into the arms of her devilishly handsome neighbour with a brooding glare. He couldn't stand her, but she needed him, if she was ever going to escape her husband who now wanted her dead. Better the devil you know than the angel you don't. She should have recalled that before hopping into Zefiro's car and letting him whisk her away to Italy. Maybe then, she wouldn't have started an affair with him. He was the only man who touched her right, and the crazy man took no small pains in ensuring he would be the last.
The day Lilah found out that she was pregnant, she caught her fiancé cheating on her. Her remorseless fiancé and his mistress almost killed her. Lilah fled for her dear life. When she returned to her hometown five years later, she happened to save a little boy's life. The boy's father turned out to be the world's richest man. Everything changed for Lilah from that moment. The man didn't let her experience any inconvenience. When her ex-fiancé bullied her, he crushed the scumbag's family and also rented out an entire island just to give Lilah a break from all the drama. He also taught Lilah's hateful father a lesson. He crushed all her enemies before she even asked. When Lilah's vile sister threw herself at him, he showed her a marriage certificate and said, "I'm happily married and my wife is much more beautiful than you are!" Lilah was shocked. "When did we ever get married? Last I checked, I was still single." With a wicked smile, he said, "Honey, we've been married for five years. Isn't it about time we had another child together?" Lilah's jaw dropped to the floor. What the hell was he talking about?
Maria took her sister’s place and was engaged to Anthony, a disabled man who had lost his status as the family heir. At first, they were just a nominal couple. However, things changed when things about Maria were gradually exposed. It turned out she was a professional hacker, a mysterious composer, and the sole successor to an international jade sculpting master… The more that was revealed about her, the less Anthony could rest easy. A famous singer, an award-winning actor, an heir of a rich family—so many excellent men were chasing after his fiancee, Maria. What should Anthony do?
Five years ago, Alessia La Rosa's life took a drastic turn when, suffering from memory loss, she wed to Dominic Carter under her grandfather's mysterious arrangement. But their marriage was a facade, bringing her only humiliation and heartache as Dominic showed no love, and she couldn't conceive. Upon discovering Dominic's infidelity, Alessia sought liberation through divorce. Yet, fate had more in store for her. Five years later, spurred by an anonymous email hinting at her lost child's whereabouts, she returns to the city with her twin babies in tow, determined to uncover the truth. As she navigates the tangled web of her past, a surprising twist awaits. Dominic, upon meeting her again, finds himself drawn to the woman she has become, unaware of her true identity as his former wife. Little does he know, the woman he's falling for is not only his ex-wife but also a powerful Doctor and Master Hacker.