HOW TO CATCH A BAD BOY
/1/127579/coverbig.jpg?v=2ea34f2e2c2f3053a637d5acfe2fbf25)
His Unwanted Wife, The Hidden Genius
I flew back to New York on my twenty-fifth birthday, carrying vintage gold cufflinks I spent weeks finding for my billionaire husband, Declan. But when I walked into our townhouse, I found him throwing a massive victory party with Sloane, a glamorous socialite, standing by his side as the proud hostess. "Don't cause a scene. Go upstairs." Declan coldly dismissed me in front of his guests. Even Poppy, the rookie player whose shattered ankle I had painstakingly rebuilt, rolled her eyes and ignored me to suck up to Sloane. Hiding in the shadows, I heard the maids gossiping that everyone thought Sloane was the future Mrs. Hartford. To make matters worse, I discovered Sloane had stolen my anonymous, groundbreaking medical algorithm and was planning to present it as her own. First my husband, then the girl I mentored like family, and now the scientific foundation I had built with my own hands. Declan even texted me to cancel our birthday breakfast without a single apology, treating me like an annoying afterthought. My tears vanished, replaced by a freezing clarity. I signed the divorce papers, leaving them on his desk with zero demands for his money. Then I packed my bags, booked a one-way ticket to Boston, and prepared to destroy them on the global stage.
Chapter 1
Aurelia Vance POV:
I had been married to Declan Hartford for three years.
Today was my twenty-fifth birthday, and I had flown back from Boston in secret, hoping for one quiet evening with my husband.
I'd spent a week carefully picking out a pair of gold cufflinks as a gift for my husband.
But the laughter spilling from the front door told me I was already too late: the woman who had taken my place at his side was already inside.
The heavy oak door swung open before I reached the porch. Three young players from the New York Titans, Declan's NHL franchise, stumbled out with crystal tumblers of scotch, laughing loudly. They barely glanced at me as they passed.
I stepped into the grand foyer. The heat hit me instantly,expensive champagne, roasted tenderloin, cigar smoke.
Dozens of people filled the double parlor: executives, scouts, wives in designer dresses.
In the center stood Declan, tall and broad in a bespoke charcoal suit. Beside him, laughing into his ear, was Sloane Whitfield, her backless silver dress catching the chandelier light. Her hand rested on his forearm like she belonged there.
Before I could take another breath, a blur of blonde hair darted past my elbow.
"Sloane!" Poppy Delacroix cried, throwing her arms around Sloane's slender waist. "You were completely right about the catering! This is literally the best victory party the team has ever had!"
Poppy is fourteen, a junior elite forward prospect.
I scouted her two years ago from a crumbling youth league, back when she was at her lowest.
Her parents had once shown me great kindness, and I knew they had already passed away, leaving her all alone in the world.
Declan and I adopted her together.
I rebuilt her shattered ankle with a custom rehabilitation plan.
I had always loved and cared for her as both a mother and a sister.
Now, she did not even glance in my direction.
Declan turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd until his eyes locked onto mine. The easy grin on his sharp jaw vanished instantly. His brows drew together in a hard, irritated line.
He excused himself from Sloane, cutting through the throng of players with long, impatient strides.
"Aurelia," Declan said, stopping two feet in front of me. His voice carried zero warmth. "What are you doing here?"
My throat felt like sandpaper.
"I took the four o'clock flight from Boston," I whispered, clutching the strap of my bag until my knuckles turned white. "It is my birthday, Declan. I thought we could—"
"We are celebrating the division win," he cut in, his tone sharp enough to draw blood. "The board is here. The sponsors are here. Sloane spent four consecutive days coordinating this event so the organization could project stability."
He did not look at me. His gaze slid past my shoulder to the bar, like I was a waitress who had wandered into the wrong room.
"Don't cause a scene," he added quietly. "Go upstairs."
A soft, mocking murmur rippled through a cluster of players' wives standing near the grand staircase. Two women with platinum blowouts exchanged knowing glances over their flutes of Dom Pérignon.
"I didn't know," I said, my voice barely audible over the swelling music. "I am sorry."
I turned toward the staircase, my legs trembling beneath my wool trousers.
Near the landing, Poppy was adjusting her designer jacket in the hallway mirror.
"Poppy," I said softly, pausing beside her. "How is your ankle feeling after Thursday's third period? Did you complete the isometric sequence I sent?"
Poppy rolled her eyes, sighing loudly as she pulled out her phone.
"Aurelia, please, not right now," she muttered without looking at me. "Sloane is introducing me to a marketing director from one of our partners. I don't have time for your spreadsheets."
The dismissive edge in her voice hit me harder than Declan's coldness. I had stayed up until three in the morning reviewing her biomechanical scans while she was recovering from surgery, and now I was just an annoyance in the way of her social ascent.
I walked up the rest of the stairs and entered the primary suite—the massive, sterile bedroom allocated to me under our prenuptial agreement.
I sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled out the velvet box. The gold cufflinks gleamed under the bedside lamp, cold and useless.
Downstairs, cheers erupted. The sound vibrated through the floorboards.
I walked to the French doors overlooking the rear garden. Down on the illuminated patio, Sloane was directing two servers by an ice sculpture. Declan stood beside her, his head bent down as he listened to her speak, his hand casually brushing the small of her back.
They looked like the couple the city expected them to be.
My phone buzzed in my coat pocket. I pulled it out, hoping against hope.
It was an email notification.
"Happy Birthday, Aurelia. Remember that true science requires patience and solitude. You are meant for greater arenas than New York boardrooms. -Dr. Edmund Sterling."
My mentor at Harvard was the only person in the world who had remembered.
I typed a brief "Thank you, Professor" and shut off the screen.
Hours passed. The bass eventually quieted, replaced by the occasional clatter of glassware and slamming car doors. My throat burned with thirst.
At two in the morning, I padded downstairs in my stocking feet to fetch a glass of water from the butler's pantry.
As I rounded the corner near the service hallway, the voices of two newly hired catering maids stopped me dead in my tracks.
"Miss Whitfield is stunning," the first girl whispered, scraping dessert plates into a bin. "Mr. Hartford's girlfriend carries herself like royalty."
"A girlfriend?" the other asked, pausing. "But isn't Mr. Hartford rumored to be married? Is it inappropriate to be this close with Whitfield?"
"Married?Where did that come from? Even if there was one, they must have split long ago. I've worked three events here this month, and Miss Whitfield is the only woman hosting by his side. Everyone knows she's the future Mrs. Hartford."
I shrank back into the cold shadow of the archway, my blood turning to ice.
In the home where I held a legal marriage certificate, my presence had already been wiped clean.
/0/53173/coverbig.jpg?v=fb1ab7bb0631d71248299d4a002c51d4)
HOW TO CATCH A BAD BOY
Elena stifled a smile, but he already saw her mouth start to curve upwards and he grinned at her. She ignored him. "I'm serious, Chandler." His smile was instantaneous. "Noted." She licked her lips. Her eyes were wide and nervous, and she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "And you can't kiss me.
/1/121128/coverbig.jpg?v=4bc582cad61727c71be938f1387711e8)
How To Catch A Lycan Prince
My sin was being born with my twin sister Savannah, causing my mother's death, and "stealing" part of the gift the Goddess had given Savannah. Hated by my father, humiliated, hidden away in my own pack, I became someone with no name, no identity... just my twin's double. Until the day an accident le
/0/33412/coverbig.jpg?v=5ffc1062042d07b589538a6e624a7f10)
A Dare To Kiss The Bad Boy
Ivy Young is a final year student whose only aim is to study hard, have good grades and get a scholarship to college. Everything is going according to her plans until she crosses the path of the school bad boy, Romeo Sparks. When she attended a party and got into a TRUTH or DARE game with h
/0/21993/coverbig.jpg?v=1c74474e2ed5f4fd72a3b04f2e5a7325)
Bad Boy!? My Foot!
Alan Rush is a sloppy potato as he claims himself to be, but one must never judge a book by its cover. Charlie Swift, the typical bad boy of his college has somewhat entangled fate with this potato. A contractual marriage brings the two close but it brought alongwith itself eyes of a psychopath kill
/0/63784/coverbig.jpg?v=32cca0a1b8937a65f0a514801c3c509e)
Scary Psycho Bad Boy
"P-please d-don't," I said to him fearfully. "Uh huh, let me enjoy tonight, baby," he whispered in my ear. Tears streamed down my face as my body trembled from his presence. I never wanted to wear this to our prom. I didn't choose this. I should have refused back then so none of this would have h
/0/22918/coverbig.jpg?v=a594f8e2699a6868ae22dd5bdd63a85f)
Dating the bad boy
"Do I seem like an idiot to you princess?" he sassed taking another agonizinly slow step towards me. "N-no" I stuttered out a blabbering mess, unable to think straight with his sudden closeness. "Do I have to show who you belong to again Bella?" "I-don't know" I whispered out too far gone within
/0/273/coverbig.jpg?v=20171219150625)
The Story of a Bad Boy
This is the story of a bad boy. Well, not such a very bad, but a pretty bad boy; and I ought to know, for I am, or rather I was, that boy myself. Lest the title should mislead the reader, I hasten to assure him here that I have no dark confessions to make. I call my story
/0/21201/coverbig.jpg?v=fd03e97b583f3e819ac21ce79c343d56)
REDEEMING THE BAD BOY
The untimely death of his father was all it took to turn Zack Grover's life upside down. Overnight, the high school champion athlete turned into a bad boy after he shifted back to his hometown. However, twist of fate didn't stop there as the entry of his ex-girlfriend pushed him into much more chaos
/0/55066/coverbig.jpg?v=c5434ade7090ff3b17b9212eeb97ba73)
How To Bag A Billionaire
Alicia is a naive and simple twenty three year old young woman . Her whole world and life is focused on her boyfriend and helping him build up his empire .It is her dream to become his wife and have a family with him , he dumps her without notice for a rich heiress telling her she is now beneath his
/0/40097/coverbig.jpg?v=3075b6bf9159888e6741ecf51ee2f2a2)
Bad Boy Alphas Series
MINE TO PROTECT. MINE TO PUNISH. MINE. I’m a lone wolf, and I like it that way. Banished from my birth pack after a bloodbath, I never wanted a mate. Then I meet Kylie. My temptation. We’re trapped in an elevator together, and her panic almost makes her pass out in my arms. She’s strong, but broken
/0/62230/coverbig.jpg?v=7c62fa21def1bc1666c72abc82445af6)
Bad Boy Love
It all started with a Dare , a mean one a that . A Dare that would ruin her life and destroy her dreams . Every message pass through the messenger . And who was the messenger ?. Jayden Brooklyn , A name that would change her life forever . Dove William was a 3rd year psychology student ,
/0/27171/coverbig.jpg?v=dbadfe8150377681ba1521cae9427531)
The Bad Boy Sweetheart
Despite being an easy target for bullies; Tessa O’Bailey never got bullied. The bullies weren’t scared of her but they never touched her either. And Tessa had no idea why but she was glad, at least she could now do whatever she wanted but when she somehow got into detention with the school’s bad boy
/0/19967/coverbig.jpg?v=1080661ee1e1726c1ed81bcde571dd51)
The Agent's Bad Boy
He finally had it and stripped her naked, she didn't struggle, she just looked at him and let him do what he wanted with her. Until he had her wrists cuffed to the bedpost and she looked like a fragile beautiful woman who he was going to protect and cherish. "You've never been a loser in my eyes.
/0/50083/coverbig.jpg?v=22ca79e05eaef7580868fe78c3ce69cc)
Millionaire Bad Boy
full of cars on both sides, at the leaving I hear the loud sound coming from inside the house, the most impressive I have ever seen. I walked along a stone path and saw several teenagers outside. Only Bella could make me leave the house at midnight to pick her up from this party. Today marks a week
/0/94501/coverbig.jpg?v=f9c3a3aa44a17b9301d9df3688cbec14)
Bad Boy And Me
It started with a DM from a guy named Jules. One night on his Yacht. No strings. No promises. Tori thought it was all fun until she caught feelings. What began as a crazy night on his Yacht turned into crazier days... Now she's drowning in a love story that's hotter, messier, and more dangerous th
/0/72047/coverbig.jpg?v=de4f9e083886f1d3b161ace9c28072a9)
How to bake a scandal
Avery Sutton survives writing silly articles for chit chat weekly, Ethan Chase a tech billionaire, who dated Avery's boss Miranda Hartley. When her boss, Miranda, blackmails her to ruin Ethan chase life by writing a fake article about his charity fundings. Avery disguises to be a reporter from a mag
/0/98769/coverbig.jpg?v=50eb3118d3c8dc4d96cfc532dc55a92e)
Bad Boy Attraction
Haisley Flynn has lived behind her twin's shadows her entire life: So when she and her sister goes to one of the most prestigious-and notorious-colleges filled with spoiled elites and ruthless bullies, she tells herself one thing: "Keep your head down, stay quiet, graduate, and make something of
/0/79383/coverbig.jpg?v=cfa57022d86d02b1c7ecde24afd0b5d6)
Bad Boy Alpha
He's the rich, handsome, ruthless alpha heir who wouldn't even spare her a glance. And she's the girl who secretly crushed on him for years. Azaria Brooke had spent years crushing on her best friend's older brother Nicholas Sinclair, the pack's alpha heir. He was a well-known bad boy she-wolves wan
/0/18140/coverbig.jpg?v=0102717dfcd2b66e38bbd40c1be33d5e)
My Bad Boy Neighbour
Chad has been my neighbour for as long as I can remember. We practically grew up together since our parents were the best of friends. Out side of school, he would tease me and inside of school, he'd ignore me. He was the most confusing but hottest guy I knew. No lie. He was gorgeous with his chocola
/0/39624/coverbig.jpg?v=93c7b2beba0677c63a74ff5f0e2fead4)
My Favorite Bad Boy
"I take a step, two until I feel the door behind me, he approaches and goes down without looking away, I think he is going to kiss me, but instead he buries his head in my neck, and breathes Deep down, your hands on either side of my body are flat against the door..." Keith is a young woman who l
