Joanna never imagined that a desperate job interview would lead to a whirlwind of unexpected opportunities-and complications. Hired as a personal assistant to the enigmatic billionaire Zac Cross, she quickly learns that working for him means navigating not just high-stakes business but also undeniable chemistry. But Zac isn't looking for help, and Joanna isn't looking for trouble. As their worlds collide, will they be each other's downfall-or their greatest chance at something real?
CHAPTER 1
THE INTERVIEW
JOANNA
OKAY. YOU CAN DO THIS. You can totally do this. It's going to be an interview, just like all the others, okay? You've nothing to worry about. Just keep your shit together, and you'll get through and actually have a chance at this job.
As I walked down the street to the building where my latest interview was taking place, I felt that rush of panic consume me once more and tried my best to calm it down before it got the better of me. I needed to play it cool.
I knew I had been way too enthusiastic in my last few interviews over the past couple of weeks. I thought it would be a good thing to come out swinging with such enthusiasm, but I had swiftly discovered that no company seemed to want to hire someone who was almost down on their knees begging for a chance at a job.
Which was why I was going into this next interview totally calm. As calm as they came. If there was a calmer person in this city right now, I would like to meet them. Mainly so I could ask for tips on how not to freak out right now. Ugh. Why couldn't I ever keep myself together when things got tough?
I came to a halt outside the building that was my destination, and I lifted my gaze to look up at the place that stood before me. Tall. Lots of floors. That was a good sign, right? Floors meant upward mobility, and upward mobility meant that I had a chance to work my way up. I didn't care if I had to start at the bottom if there was a hope in hell of me ever getting to the top.
Not stopping to let myself get distracted, I pushed the door open and tried to stride over to the reception area with some confidence. I wasn't sure I was selling it. I certainly didn't feel like I was.
I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, even as I tried to soothe myself. I needed a job, something that told me I wasn't a total waste of space. My heart couldn't take another rejection, and my thighs couldn't take any more of the commiseration sundaes Violet made for me every time I got turned down.
"Hello," I said to the woman behind the desk, my voice sounding way squeakier than it ever had before. "I-I'm Joanna I'm here for the-"
"For the interview." A voice caught my attention, and I glanced around to see a woman striding toward me. She looked to be in her sixties, with a short coif of no-nonsense grey hair and bright grey eyes that seemed to pierce straight through me. My heart twisted in my chest. This must be the woman I was interviewing with.
"Yes, that's right," I replied with a smile.
She extended her hand to me. "Melanie," she said and jerked her head beyond the desk. "Come with me, will you? I want to get started on this so we can get to know each other."
"Sure," I replied, and I realized she was still holding her hand out to me expectantly. I took it.
"And I'm Joanna," I blurted out quickly as I shook her hand with a little too much enthusiasm. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too," she replied, and she led me to a room beyond the reception desk which must have been her office. She opened the door and ushered me inside, and I hoped that I hadn't already done something to make a fool of myself.
I took a seat at the desk in the middle of the room, and she planted herself down on the other side of it, clasped her hands in front of her, and just eyed me for a moment as though she was trying to get a read on me.
I shifted back and forth on the spot, not sure how to react or if I was even remotely comfortable with this.
"Thank you for inviting me to the interview," I finally managed to say, figuring that it was up to me to break the silence one way or another.
She nodded, pressed her fingers together, and finally began to speak. "So, can I ask about your relevant work experience?"
I blinked. What position was I interviewing for again? I had thrown in so many applications that I had forgotten the specifics of this one, even though I had checked the messages before I left. Shit. Well, I would just have to give her everything and hope that it would be enough to save my ass.
"I worked at an art gallery," I said finally. "A couple of years ago. That was the longest I ever worked in one place. I helped organize exhibitions there and contacted new artists and stuff, uh, so I would say I have good communication skills, and if you ever need someone to put together a staff party, I definitely know what I'm doing there and-"
"And why did you leave that job?"
The panic had started to get the better of me, and I bit my lip. There was a thrumming need at the back of my head to just tell her the truth, even though I knew she probably didn't want to hear a word of this.
"My boyfriend got me the job," I confessed. "My boyfriend at the time, I mean. His family owned the gallery. Then it came out that they were involved in some shady stuff, and the business was investigated as part of that, eventually shut down, and-"
I caught my breath."And I lost my job," I finished up finally. She didn't need to hear all of it. She had just asked for work experience, not for my whole damn life story. I really didn't enjoy reopening or even thinking about that period of my life. There was one word for it. Darkness. That was what I felt.
In a world where the supernatural has stepped out of the shadows, Clara is one of the few who stand between humankind and the deadly creatures lurking in plain sight. As an enforcer for the Guild, she's trained to keep Otherworld beings in check-but when she's assigned to steal the Dark Prince of the Fae's crown, she knows she's walking into a death trap. With secrets buried deep in her past and a thirst for vengeance against the Fae who murdered her family, Clara is prepared for danger-but nothing can prepare her for Ryan, the Dark Prince himself. Deadly, seductive, and impossibly powerful, he sees through her deception with a single touch. Now, bound by magic and caught in a web of betrayal, Clara must play a dangerous game of survival. As forbidden desires ignite and the lines between enemy and ally blur, Clara faces an impossible choice: betray the Guild, or surrender to the darkness calling her name. But in a world where power is everything, can she afford to lose herself to the most dangerous Fae of all?
Adrianna Banner doesn't do love-at least, not anymore. After a string of heartbreaks, she's sworn off relationships, opting for uncomplicated fun instead. But when a weekend getaway at Ransom Canyon throws her back into the orbit of Jackson Dune-the one man who burned her the most-Adrianna is forced to face the fire she thought she'd extinguished. Jackson has never been the settling-down type. A whiskey-fueled bad boy with a past as reckless as his charm, he's always lived life on the edge. But seeing Adrianna again reminds him of everything he lost...and everything he still craves. Between old wounds, undeniable chemistry, and a family drama that could shake them both, Adrianna and Jackson are playing with fire. And this time, one of them might get burned for good.
A runaway with nothing to lose. A powerful man with everything at stake. A fate neither saw coming. Sheila'Lning has spent her life running-from her past, from her captors, from the cruel hands that sought to claim her. But when a desperate escape lands her in the arms of Dean'Changli, a brooding businessman with a mysterious past and a baby in his care, her world takes an unexpected turn. Mistaken for a nanny, she seizes the chance for safety-only to realize she's stepped into a dangerous game of power, deception, and hidden enemies. Dean has no patience for complications, especially not ones wrapped in lies and defiance. But when an attempt on his life forces him and Sheila into the unknown, their survival depends on trust-something neither of them can afford. As secrets unravel and passions ignite, they find themselves bound by more than just circumstance. But danger is never far behind, and Sheila's past isn't the only one with unfinished business. In a world where loyalty is a rare commodity and betrayal lurks in the shadows, can they protect what truly matters before it's too late? Love. Power. Survival. Some bonds are written in starlight... and forged in fire
6 years ago, Lydia suffered a brutal betrayal orchestrated by her own husband and step-sister, who drugged her and framed her. In a twist of fate, she ended up having a one-night stand with a stranger. Don't even remember what he looked like. Later, in the throes of death, she discovered the truth about her mother's death all those years ago. In the blink of an eye, she lost everything. 6 years later, Lydia returned with her genius son, vowing to exact revenge on all her enemies! Little did she know, she encountered an incredibly familiar man at the airport! *** The man was briskly pushing open the door to the restroom, heading to the urinal. Even with such a mundane action, he did it with unparalleled elegance and grace. Lydia, following him in a daze, saw his fierce lower body and suddenly snapped back to reality. She let out a high-pitched scream, instinctively covering her eyes with her hands, her cheeks flushed, and stood there stiffly, unsure of what to do. Lambert furrowed his brows slightly but remained calm as he continued to relieve himself. The sound of water hitting the urinal made Lydia's face even redder. She angrily shouted, "You pervert!" Little did Lydia know that Lambert, seeing her in this state, had a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Memories from many years ago flashed through his mind, and his heart couldn't help but stir. It was her!
Janet was adopted when she was a kid -- a dream come true for orphans. However, her life was anything but happy. Her adoptive mother taunted and bullied her all her life. Janet got the love and affection of a parent from the old maid who raised her. Unfortunately, the old woman fell ill, and Janet had to marry a worthless man in place of her parents' biological daughter to meet the maid's medical expenses. Could this be a Cinderella's tale? But the man was far from a prince, except for his handsome appearance. Ethan was the illegitimate son of a wealthy family who lived a reckless life and barely made ends meet. He got married to fulfill his mother's last wish. However, on his wedding night, he had an inkling that his wife was different from what he had heard about her. Fate had united the two people with deep secrets. Was Ethan truly the man we thought he was? Surprisingly, he bore an uncanny resemblance to the impenetrable wealthiest man in the city. Would he find out that Janet married him in place of her sister? Would their marriage be a romantic tale or an utter disaster? Read on to unravel Janet and Ethan's journey.
Lindsey's fiancé was the devil's first son. Not only did he lie to her but he also slept with her stepmother, conspired to take away her family fortune, and then set her up to have sex with a total stranger. To get her lick back, Lindsey decided to find a man to disrupt her engagement party and humiliate the cheating bastard. Never did she imagine that she would bump into a strikingly handsome stranger who was all that she was currently looking for. At the engagement party, he boldly declared that she was his woman. Lindsey thought he was just a broke man who wanted to leech off her. But once they began their fake relationship, she realized that good luck kept coming her way. She thought they would part ways after the engagement party, but this man kept to her side. "We gotta stick together, Lindsey. Remember, I'm now your fiancé. " "Domenic, you're with me because of my money, aren't you?" Lindsey asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Domenic was taken aback by that accusation. How could he, the heir of the Walsh family and CEO of Vitality Group, be with her for money? He controlled more than half of the city's economy. Money wasn't a problem for him! The two got closer and closer. One day, Lindsey finally realized that Domenic was actually the stranger she had slept with months ago. Would this realization change things between them? For the better or worse?
Bailey seems to be never destined to fit in, a little geeky, but under it all, a hidden beauty that so many seem to miss, but still not what her pack Alpha is looking for in a fated mate... so he is determined to reject her and make her life hell. Bailey, knowing her life will likely never be the same focuses on what she can control, her future, and heads off to study; becoming a teacher. Asher is the Beta of Autumn Valley Pack, a neighbouring pack. A broken man having suffered the loss of his mate after a rogue attack, Asher is slowly crumbling. Falling to pieces. A shadow of his former self, and not a man that anyone wants to be around anymore... Until, Autumn Valley Pack require a new teacher, and Bailey finds herself there and pushed together with the Beta. Is there a connection building or is that in their imaginations? And what will happen when Bailey's mate comes back to claim what is his?
Iris grew from an orphaned child to the adopted daughter of the Stewart family at age ten, finding warmth in her nominal uncle Vincent's kindness. Seven years later, she became his secret lover. When Vincent's engagement was announced, gossip spread about the notorious playboy CEO finally settling down. But only Iris knew the extent of his cold, two-faced nature. Iris fell for Vincent and, through tears, begged, "Marry me," only to be met with his frosty refusal. Defeated, she accepted a lawyer's proposal, sparking public excitement. Then, on her wedding day, Vincent pleaded desperately, "Don't marry him…"
After two years of marriage, Sadie was finally pregnant. Filled with hope and joy, she was blindsided when Noah asked for a divorce. During a failed attempt on her life, Sadie found herself lying in a pool of blood, desperately calling Noah to ask him to save her and the baby. But her calls went unanswered. Shattered by his betrayal, she left the country. Time passed, and Sadie was about to be wed for a second time. Noah appeared in a frenzy and fell to his knees. "How dare you marry someone else after bearing my child?"