Queen of hearts
/1/114527/coverbig.jpg?v=58fe795a9395370e26f9acaf84058720)
Shielded By The Ruthless Military Boss
I was an intern nurse working exhausting shifts, yet my mother constantly forced me into blind dates with wealthy, arrogant men to secure our family's social standing. During a terrifying hospital lockdown, an assassin disguised as a doctor held a scalpel to my throat. I was almost killed, but a high-ranking military colonel threw his own body down a flight of concrete stairs to shield me. I survived with cuts and bruises, but when I went home, my mother didn't care about my near-death experience. She was only furious that I had rushed out on my blind date with Preston, a rich financial analyst. She forced me to meet him to apologize. When Preston grabbed my arm, bruised me, and mocked my attack as a pathetic lie, my mother still took his side. "Men get angry," she told me coldly. "It's your job not to provoke them. You will beg for his forgiveness, or you are no longer welcome in this house." I had narrowly escaped an assassin, yet my own family was willing to feed me to a monster just for a fat paycheck and neighborhood gossip. My heart went completely dead. So, when the intimidating Colonel appeared, offering me maximum military protection through a sudden marriage, I didn't hesitate. I walked back into my parents' house and calmly slapped a crisp marriage certificate onto the coffee table. "I won't be apologizing to Preston. I got married today."
Chapter 1
"If you're going to order the salmon, make sure they don't overcook it. The last time I was here, it was practically cat food."
Caroline Thompson stared at the man sitting across from her. Preston Finch. Financial analyst. Ivy League graduate. The eighteenth blind date her mother had forced her into in the last two years.
He wasn't looking at her. He was using his silver fork to trace the menu like he was grading a flawed exam paper.
"The wine list here is a joke," Preston continued, snapping the leather bound menu shut. He finally looked at her, his chin tilted in perpetual judgment. "At my club in New York, we have a sommelier. Here? I wouldn't trust them to open a beer."
Caroline's fingers dug into the fabric of her dress under the table. This was her life now. Sitting across from arrogant men who thought a fat paycheck bought them the right to treat everyone else like peasants.
"So, Caroline," Preston leaned back, offering a smirk that was probably meant to be charming but landed closer to constipated. "My mother mentioned you're a nurse?"
"Intern nurse," Caroline corrected automatically. "At Washington United Medical Center."
"Right." The smirk deepened into outright dismissal. "Must be exhausting. All that cleaning up and taking orders. And the pay? Practically minimum wage, right? Honestly, a pretty girl like you should just find a guy who provides. Someone who makes enough so you don't have to wipe up vomit for a living."
A muscle ticked in Caroline's temple. She opened her mouth to tell him exactly where he could shove his financial advice, but her phone buzzed.
She never took personal calls on a date. But right now, it was the only thing keeping her from baptizing Preston with her ice water.
She glanced at the screen. Her breath hitched. It wasn't just the hospital. It was the direct emergency line from the Chief of Staff.
She answered it right there. "Thompson."
"Caroline." Dr. Alistair Cromwell never used her first name. His voice, usually dripping with academic condescension, was flat. Breathless. "Get back here. Now."
"I'm off the clock, Dr. Cromwell. Is something—"
"I don't have time to repeat myself." The line crackled with background shouting. "This is not a drill. We are at Code Atlas. I say again, Code Atlas. Get here in ten minutes or don't bother coming back at all."
Click.
Caroline sat frozen, the dial tone buzzing against her ear.
Code Atlas.
In all her years of training, she had only heard that term whispered in break rooms like a ghost story. It meant catastrophe. Mass casualties. A high-level terror threat. It meant the world was falling apart.
"I have to go," Caroline said, already grabbing her coat.
Preston scoffed, slamming his water glass down. "You're joking. What kind of emergency could a nurse possibly have? We haven't even ordered."
"It's a Code Atlas," she said, not caring if he understood. She pulled a fifty-dollar bill from her wallet and dropped it on his pristine white tablecloth. "This covers my share of nothing. Goodbye, Preston."
She didn't wait for his face to finish flushing red. She turned on her heel and practically sprinted out of the restaurant.
The Washington air hit her in a heavy, soaking downpour. Adrenaline washed away the lingering disgust of the date. She flagged down a cab dropping someone off at the corner, sliding into the back seat before the passenger was fully on the curb.
"Washington United Medical Center," she gasped. "Step on it."
By the time the cab screeched to a halt, the rain had slowed to a mist, but the chill in Caroline's bones only deepened.
She stepped out and stopped dead.
The hospital had been turned into a fortress.
The main entrance wasn't blocked by ambulances, but by military police. Two armored Humvees idled across the driveway, their headlights cutting through the fog. Men in full combat gear, rifles strapped to their chests, stood behind concrete barricades.
This wasn't a mass casualty event. This was a federal lockdown.
Heart hammering against her ribs, Caroline approached the nearest checkpoint, holding up her ID badge with a trembling hand. "Caroline Thompson. I was paged by Dr. Cromwell."
The guard, a soldier with eyes like flint, scanned her badge, checked a clipboard, and stepped aside. "Go straight to the main desk. Do not deviate from the hallway, ma'am."
Caroline slipped under the yellow tape. The lobby was unrecognizable. The usual chaotic symphony of the ER was gone, replaced by a suffocating, terrified silence. Doctors and nurses huddled in clusters. Armed soldiers lined the corridors like statues.
"Thompson!"
Dr. Cromwell was striding toward her. He looked like he had aged a decade since morning. His white coat was rumpled, a dark coffee stain splashed across his tie.
"Listen carefully, I don't have time for questions," he snapped, his forehead gleaming with sweat. "You are assigned to ICU Room 3. You will monitor the patient's vitals. You will not speak to him. You will not touch any personal effects in the room. If his heart rate fluctuates by more than ten percent, you hit this button." He shoved a black pager into her palm. "Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir."
"Go."
Caroline walked briskly toward the private elevator bank. The air smelled different here—sharper, metallic, like ozone and gunpowder.
As she turned the corner, the doors of the VIP elevator slid open. A group of people emerged, moving like a single, lethal organism. Men in dark suits. Military brass with medals gleaming.
But they were just background noise.
In the center, walking slightly ahead, was a man who looked like he had been carved from granite and violence.
He was well over six feet, his shoulders straining the seams of his digital camouflage uniform. The rank on his chest—a silver eagle—demanded absolute submission. His face was a landscape of sharp angles and hard lines, his jaw set like a steel trap.
As the group passed, the man turned his head.
His eyes—a cold, piercing, impossible gray—swept the corridor. And for a fraction of a second, his gaze locked onto Caroline's.
It was like stepping onto a landmine.
The air was violently sucked from her lungs. A jolt of pure, electric heat shot down her spine, freezing her blood. Those eyes didn't just look at her; they stripped her down, assessed her threat level, and branded her in the span of a single heartbeat.
"Colonel Romero," an aide murmured, handing the man a classified tablet.
The spell shattered. The man—Colonel Romero—broke eye contact, taking the tablet without missing a stride. He began firing off orders in a low, gravelly voice that vibrated down the hallway.
Caroline let out a shaky breath, her knees suddenly weak. She hadn't realized she was holding onto the wall until a hand grabbed her arm.
"Are you breathing?" her friend Brenna whispered, pulling Caroline into a supply alcove. Brenna's face was paper-white. "Oh my god, Caroline. Did you see him?"
Caroline swallowed hard, her throat like sandpaper. "The Colonel?"
"Jarrod Romero," Brenna breathed, the name heavy with awe and terror. "Department of Defense. My cousin at the Pentagon says he's the guy they call when the world is ending." She clutched a medical chart to her chest. "He looks like he'd shoot you just for breathing his air."
Caroline rubbed the back of her neck, trying to dispel the lingering, phantom heat from that brief eye contact. "Where are you headed?"
"ICU 3. Cromwell's special assignment."
Brenna's eyes widened, all gossip vanishing instantly. "Oh, God. Caroline, be careful. That patient... this whole thing is black-ops. The FBI tried to get in twenty minutes ago and Romero's men turned them away at gunpoint."
"I just have to watch the monitors," Caroline said, though her voice lacked conviction.
She grabbed a supply cart and pushed through the double doors of the ICU wing. They hissed shut behind her, sealing her in a sterile, fluorescent-lit silence.
Two MPs stood outside Room 3, their faces blank masks. They checked her badge twice before unlocking the door.
The room was freezing. The steady beep-beep of the heart monitor was the only sound.
In the bed lay a young man, motionless. His face was a swollen canvas of bruises, thick bandages wrapping his torso. Caroline moved to the bedside, picking up the chart.
Alston Petersen. Lieutenant. JAG Corps.
The list of his injuries read like a torture report.
She set the chart down, her eyes fixed on the rhythmic spike of the heart monitor. Her pulse thrummed in her ears.
She had told Brenna she just had to watch the monitors. But standing in the freezing room, looking at the broken soldier, Caroline knew the truth.
She had just walked into the eye of a very deadly storm. And the man with the ice-gray eyes was the one holding the lightning.
/0/20109/coverbig.jpg?v=3d7aa366f9214347e00f8835d9a152eb)
The Alpha King's Hated Slave
Once upon a time, there were two kingdoms once at peace. The kingdom of Salem and the kingdom of Mombana... Until the day, the king of Mombana passed away and a new monarch took over, Prince Cone. Prince Cone, has always been hungry for more power and more and more. After his coronation, he attacked Salem. The attack was so unexpected, Salem never prepared for it. They were caught off guard. The king and Queen was killed, the prince was taken into slavery. The people of Salem that survived the war was enslaved, their land taken from them. Their women were made sex slaves. They lost everything, including their land. Evil befall the land of Salem in form of Prince Cone, and the prince of Salem in his slavery was filled with so much rage. The prince of Salem, Prince Lucien swore revenge. 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳 Ten years later, thirty-years old Lucien and his people raided a coup and escaped slavery. They went into hiding and recuperated. They trained day and night under the leadership of the fearless and cold Lucien who was driven with everything in him to get back their land, and take Mombana land too. It took them five years before they ambushed and attacked Mombana. They killed Prince Cone and reclaimed everything. As they screamed out their victory, Lucien's eyes found and pinned the proud princess of Mombana. Princess Danika. The daughter of Prince Cone. As Lucien stared at her with the coldest eyes anyone can ever possess, he felt victory for the first time. He walked to the princess with the slave collar he'd won for ten years rattling in his hand as he walked. He reached close to her and with a swift movement, he collared her neck. Then, he tilted her chin up, staring into the bluest eyes and the most beautiful face ever created, he gave her a cold smile. "You are my acquisition. My slave. My sex slave. My property. I will pay you in spades, everything you and your father ever did to me and my people." He stated curtly. Pure hatred, coldness and victory was the only emotion on his face. .
/0/23319/coverbig.jpg?v=9e239fef649a09842f6d61a15b40f5ae)
Royally Desired
Twelve years after the death of her best friend and also future alpha of Eclipse pack, Tiana Aldridge finds herself mated to his twin brother, Jordan Walker, but he doesn’t want her. Her pack hates her and everyone blames her for the death that happened twelve years ago. She grows up an outcast and Jordan wastes no time rejecting her, all her hopes of ever finding happiness come crashing. Tiana only has one wish; an opportunity to leave Eclipse pack for good. The former Alpha King passes on, and her alpha gladly gives her out in tribute to the king. What he doesn’t know is karma is coming back in the deadliest way he least expects. ** As the first Alpha Prince and also next in line to be king, Ryder Cadwalder is used to getting what he wants. He is surly, overly possessive, and outrightly arrogant. Past experience with his ex-mate taught him to have little trust for the opposite sex and when he finds out he has a second chance mate, he takes no chances with her. His past still haunts him, but he must find a way to move on from it. Fate takes him to Eclipse pack, and as the Alpha prince tries to solve the riddle that has hunted the werewolf kingdom for years, secrets are being unraveled and truths unfolded. What happens when the Eclipse pack is at the mercy of the alpha prince’s mate? Would Tiana forgive? Or would she have her revenge on those that caused her pain all her life?
/0/69157/coverbig.jpg?v=0c7d9e41b2482e8ffca3b7eab7d2e5ec)
The Queen of Hearts
The elderly Brothers Owen, Morgan and Griffith live a quiet, retired life in the countryside, which is turned upside-down by Griffith's ward, the young Jessie Yelverton. Originally, her visit to them was to last only six weeks, but for a very certain reason, the gentlemen must find a way to prolong
/0/1268/coverbig.jpg?v=20171120181629)
The Queen of Hearts
WE were three quiet, lonely old men, and SHE was a lively, handsome young woman, and we were at our wits' end what to do with her. A word about ourselves, first of all - a necessary word, to explain the singular situation of our fair young guest. We are three brothers; and we live in a barbarous, di
/0/91597/coverbig.jpg?v=20250911040659)
Queen Of Hearts: My Ex Or My Next
Anniversaries were meant to celebrate marriage milestones- not mayhem wrapped in diamond rings. Too late. ------------------------------- On the night of her wedding anniversary, Laura Deville's world shattered beyond repair. Betrayed by the man she loved, the angel in her died that night-- givin
/0/1744/coverbig.jpg?v=20171116205917)
A Little Queen of Hearts - An International Story
A few years ago, when my first story saw the light, a little fellow, a stranger to me then, but who has since proved himself the truest of friends, wrote me a most welcome letter. He said, among other things: “I have read the book five times through. My nurse, Lily Jones, read the book to me t
/0/66358/coverbig.jpg?v=65fdf4eb1f8d74228aaf7aadbf4cf0b8)
Whispers Of The Hearts
When bestselling author Charlotte Davis returns to her picturesque hometown of Meadowbrook for her best friend's wedding, she never expects to fall for a man who has everything to remind her of why she left. Ethan Cooper, the town's charming and ambitious lawyer, is everything Charlotte doesn't want
/1/118677/coverbig.jpg?v=87f0c789ddb0cf10c5c5a1b0e302debb)
THE DEBATE OF HEARTS
"How convenient of you to speak about changing it 'from the inside.' The rich kid gets to feel noble while keeping his spot. Tell me, Mr. Lakes, if your family legacy is such an unfair advantage, have you ever turned down a single opportunity that came to you because of this same legacy?" The room
/0/18539/coverbig.jpg?v=d06a50eeadb322c2c4f38da1f7357999)
Queen Of Racing: Rebirth And Revenge
On a spring morning, she opened her eyes to a different world. A world that looked familiar, yet eerily strange. Wendy woke up as a child again! By a stroke of mysticism, her life had started all over again. But her destiny was fixed. She grew up to become the queen of racing again. This time aro
/0/78798/coverbig.jpg?v=e2d1a2c0982a967317a4c5be0c108fe4)
Ecstasy Of The Hearts
Cressida, the unloved adopted daughter, marriage was destroyed by her sister. But fate had other plans. A contract marriage brought her together with Alaric, the crippled heir to a business empire. Forced to take her sister's place, she saw an opportunity for revenge and empowerment. With a burning
/0/61257/coverbig.jpg?v=a77f936b4a0a020bca567470df9eaf8c)
A Trio Of Hearts
In "A Trio of Hearts," Anna is torn between three very different men, each representing a unique aspect of love. Joshua is supportive yet competitive, pushing Anna to excel. Michael provides the stability and deep understanding she craves, offering her a safe space to grow. Daniel is the mysterious
/0/46681/coverbig.jpg?v=fdea1c8c6da61bc7f1dfbe3e2f9486c4)
Game Of Hearts
When Jenna Brooks's family goes bankrupt, she's forced to move in with the Declan family in Houston for her senior year. Getting to Houston, Jenna quickly realizes that things have changed since she last saw them. The Declan brothers, once innocent little boys, now have now grown up to be hot and at
/0/66295/coverbig.jpg?v=65d19d6cc8fd19ff0990ac7a6a74b941)
Forge Of The Hearts
Sarah lost hope and direction in life, yet she doesn't want to give up. Torture, Pains, Betrayal... She deals with them all, but life keeps treating her like crap. She struggled to see the breaking down most of the time until her ex-lover showed up and asked for a second chance. He's ready to sa
/0/27644/coverbig.jpg?v=b344a20e0940d5575ffa1e76d5d2d294)
Emperor of Hearts
This book is set to describe the lives of two people, Tamara and Royal. Tamara is a foreigner that left for New york to study there for two years. Upon her graduation, she decides to go have some fun at nearby bar. Royal on the other hand is a celebrity of the popular DIAMOND CREW. Tamara does not r
/0/58021/coverbig.jpg?v=c10b2d8fdae886893a81ab1397d7c3ab)
THIEF OF HEARTS
Larisa Morello was still in college when her dad, Lucas Morello, the Capo of Chicago threw the papers that she needed to sign to automatically become the heir to the Mafia empire when he dies. She went ahead and told him that she wasn't into claiming his properties, and she was ready to make haste f
/0/61130/coverbig.jpg?v=e995b6f282ba091622126ed1dd317566)
THE BILLIONAIRE'S GAME OF HEARTS
Mary, a grieving widow finds herself caught up in the rivalry of the Wilson siblings who inhabit a thrilling world of high stakes gambling and hidden motivations. As Victor, Noah and Jane compete for her affection she unintentionally stumbles upon a bet that puts their fortune at risk. With her inte
/0/72246/coverbig.jpg?v=a2f7a7108380435a3305750d492610eb)
Twisted Hearts... Tangled hearts
Emilia Hayes had it all-a thriving career, a fiancé who adored her, and a future full of promise. But when a tragic accident robs her of her memories, she wakes up in a hospital to find herself engaged to Julian Cross, a cold and enigmatic billionaire she doesn't remember. Julian claims they were o
/0/80611/coverbig.jpg?v=80c457813108bc705125d538cd532167)
Vows of Convenience, Hearts of Fire
Asher Lemaire, a brilliant yet ruthless tech CEO, and Elara Wren, an accomplished and morally grounded woman, are forced into a contract marriage for three years by their powerful and well-off families. Though initially their relationship was cold and distant, they slowly fall in love through shared
/0/67135/coverbig.jpg?v=d0b8e111e594dc4dd4835a13a6a0a1fd)
A Tale of Two Hearts
Ivy Taylor is unique in the lavish world of London's high society, where scandals and old money rule supreme. As the daughter of a self-made millionaire who loves poetry and painting, she is accustomed to feeling alienated from the elite. But one fateful night at a grand gala changes everything when
/0/20555/coverbig.jpg?v=468676cc238158d67ef6f31478c21f53)
Queen of Ruin
After being betrayed by her coven, a young Tessa Mason barely escapes Savannah with her life. With a price on her head, the witch goes into hiding for ten years with her twin brother and her ancient guardian. Once all her enemies have been eliminated, Tessa accepts an invitation to study under the g
/0/23658/coverbig.jpg?v=615463b48171edbac2dce38c6ca8c9ab)
Queen of Arabour
Prince Edward that go to haunting as separated from the royal entourage. They were attacked by the group of the Orcs at the border of the Dark Forest. A forests that believed to be inhabited by Evils Spirit, Devil, Dark Wizard, Orcs and Gollums. Anyone who enters it will be impossible to get out ali
/0/18304/coverbig.jpg?v=7b24d093d5317cb6ea5463c2d5f899a1)
Queen Of My Heart
Ronald Gidwani, a billionaire, who is also a single father, finds love again when he meets Raina, The Queen Of His Heart.
