[WARNING! FOR 18+ ONLY] After a fight with her stepmother, Beverley Holmes suddenly received a wedding invitation that made her face pale. Not because it was from her ex-boyfriend, who was getting married to another woman. It was because the bride's name written on it was her own! How could it be?! So, her stepmother didn't lie to her? The woman had actually sold her to pay off a multi-million dollar debt? Then who is her future husband? *** The first time Brent Oliver saw his future wife on the wedding altar, he vowed never to be seduced by her beauty and sexiness. However, he didn't expect that the more time he spent with her, her innocent, virtuous, and hard-to-get demeanor would be so seductive that it would drive him crazy. Can he continue to maintain his relationship with his secret lover? Or is he stuck with his alluring wife instead?
"Marry?!" Beverley could hardly believe her own ears. Her gaze was filled with confusion as well as shock.
"If I get married, how can I work and raise money to treat James?" asked Beverley.
Her mother, Emma, started to get annoyed. "That's why I want you to marry the son of the Oliver family!"
"So you want to use me to pay off your debts?"
Beverley's eyes were red. Not because she wanted to cry, but because she felt very angry. How could Emma think of such a thing? Is it because Emma is just a stepmother?
"That is not what I mean. I just want you to live comfortably with rich people. You can live in peace without having to think about money. Am I wrong?" Emma asked innocently.
Beverley snorted. "Who do you think you are tricking? Emma, I'm not a kid to be fooled. I will never agree," she hissed sharply. She knew what situation she was in.
Emma, the money-loving stepmother, wants to use her daughter to pay off her debts to the Oliver family. In what way? Marry Beverley to Michael Oliver's son, who is being rumored to be gay!
Beverley was very understanding. The marriage must have only been used to cover up the gay rumors. Of course, she didn't want to. Marriage is a sacred thing. She doesn't want to marry carelessly. Especially, with people who she doesn't know at all.
After all, the one who owed a lot was Emma. Why was she the victim? Why didn't her rotten stepmother marry Michael Oliver's son? She was very happy if her father divorced that crazy woman.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Don't like me, huh?" she asked. She sat piling his feet and looked at Beverley with her head raised.
"If you argue, then I will leave your house and leave your crippled father stranded alone," said Emma quietly. Although it sounds subtle, there is a real threatening tone to it.
"Emma!" Beverley immediately shouted angrily. She clenched her fists so tightly that her body trembled as well. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth was tightly shut.
"You dare shout at me?" Emma furrowed her brows deeply. "Don't think just because I'm a stepmother that you're freely disrespectful to me!" she continued in an elevated tone.
"Then just because I am a stepdaughter, you can freely determine my life?!" Beverley shouted back.
She had had enough of Emma. The woman was by no means a good stepmother. If she knew her true character was like that, then in the past she wouldn't have allowed James to marry her.
Yeah, Beverley's father, James, did remarry after his first wife died. However, this past year James suffered a stroke that made him unable to work anymore.
The extravagant Emma has credit card bills running into millions of dollars. It made her dizzy because she didn't know how to pay it off. In the end, with her husband's sick alibi, she borrowed millions of dollars to pay off the bank bill.
Then who is the person lending the money? That person was Michael Oliver, James' boss. Maybe it was because James was one of his confidants that Michael Oliver could lend that much money.
Sometimes Beverley really wanted to kick Emma out of James' house. However, that was impossible because her father loved the woman very much.
James seems to have been driven mad by Emma, who has a pretty appearance. Could it be that the woman used a magic spell to seduce him?
"Bev, you're all grown up. If you marry a rich man, won't you also benefit?" Emma said sarcastically. She blew on her long red nails and stared at them proudly.
How sickening!
"You should know, Emma. I don't know the man at all. I don't know like his appearance, his nature, and his-"
"Why do you have to think about such things? What is most important is a guaranteed life. Getting married isn't always about love or any bullshit," Emma replied nonchalantly.
Beverley grew even angrier. "What do you mean? Haven't you ever loved James?"
"I didn't say that."
Beverley snorted coldly. She took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. "I'm not getting married. And your debts have nothing to do with me," she said coldly.
"Well, you can refuse now. However, for sure... you will inevitably go to the wedding altar."
Suddenly Emma stood up and carried her expensive bag. Then the woman sauntered away unconcerned with Beverley's pale face.
Before completely closing the door, Emma turned her sharp gaze at Beverley. "Don't think about running away. I can leave James anytime." After saying that threat, only then did the door actually close.
The room became silent. Beverley's breathing rose and fell erratically. Her hands clenched into fists. Her teeth began to grit.
"You damn woman!" Her voice echoed throughout the room. Luckily no one heard.
The closed-door suddenly opened. A woman who looked to be Beverley's age stepped in. The woman was wearing a blazer that looked quite classy. Her hair, which was tied up high, swayed with her footsteps.
"What's the matter, Bev? I just saw your mother come out of here. Did you two fight again?"
"Don't call her my mother, Katy," Beverley said quietly. She sat on a chair and massaged her dizzy forehead.
Beverley's friend, Katy, sat down as well. "You look so annoyed. You are okay?"
Beverley took a deep breath. "Emma tried to take advantage of me. Katy, she wants to use me to pay off her debt!"
"How could it be? In what way?"
"She's going to marry me to a man I don't even know. Gosh, what should I do now?"
"What the heck! She is crazy!"
Katy was furious. It had been a long time since she had heard stories from Beverley about her stepmother's bad nature and behavior. As her best friend, of course, she didn't like Emma. That woman was like a snake.
"I don't know what to do if she actually did that." Beverley bit her lip.
"What if you run away?" Katy suggested. Unfortunately, Beverley immediately rejected her proposal.
"I can't leave my father. James is sick. I was afraid that Emma would also leave that man alone." She shook her head a few times.
"How much is that debt? Maybe I can lend you a hundred thousand dollars."
Beverley sighed in frustration. "More than that. Even if you sell this cafe, the money won't be enough. There is no other way. If Emma did that deal, they'd never let me go, Katy. My life is over...."
"How Outrageous!" Katy pounded the table in front of her. "If I ever meet your mother-I mean Emma, I want to punch her thick lips!"
Katy suddenly looked at Beverley seriously. "Are you sure she's serious? Did she have the heart to do this to you? I mean... you're still her daughter after all."
Beverley just shook her head weakly. She didn't know if Emma would do that or not.
At that moment, suddenly the door of the room was knocked from outside. A cafe waitress came holding out an ivory yellow invitation that looked very elegant and classy. There is another folded paper tied with a gold ribbon on the invitation.
"Miss Holmes, this is for you," said the waitress.
Beverley's brow furrowed. Hesitantly she took the invitation letter. The recipient's name there was indeed her, Beverley Holmes. Who's getting married? There doesn't seem to be any news of her friends or colleagues getting married soon.
Out of curiosity, she opened the gold ribbon that was there. Then the invitation letter was immediately opened. For a moment, she was silent as she read who the person will marry.
Her heart seemed to stop beating when she saw the name written on it. Her face turned pale. The name of the bride written on the invitation letter is none other than her own name, Beverley Holmes!
"No way," Beverley muttered, lowering her gaze. She immediately read the name of the groom.
Brent Oliver.
Her hands immediately trembled. The invitation slid down to the floor.
"What's the matter, Bev? Who's getting married?" Katy picked up the invitation. And after reading what the bride's name was, her reaction wasn't much different from Beverley's.
"The date... when is the date?" Beverley immediately snatched the invitation from Katy's hands.
"The seventeenth...."
Her body went limp for a moment. It's the sixteenth. That means the wedding will take place tomorrow!
[DARK ROMANCE STORY] "Who sent you to me?" the man asked. His fingers traced every inch of Natalie's beautiful face. "No one." She remained expressionless. "Liar!" Mr. Vittorio grabbed Natalie's long hair with such force that she winced in pain. Tears finally dripped from her eyes. Natalie thought being imprisoned by her ex and losing her modeling career was the most horrible thing in her life. However, she was wrong. Being auctioned off and bought by Don Vittorio was far more horrifying than anything else!
As a simple assistant, messaging the CEO in the dead of night to request shares of adult films was a bold move. Bethany, unsurprisingly, didn't receive any films. However, the CEO responded that, while he had no films to share, he could offer a live demonstration. After a night filled with passion, Bethany was certain she'd lose her job. But instead, her boss proposed, "Marry me. Please consider it." "Mr. Bates, you're kidding me, right?"
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?
Trigger warning!!! Intended for mature readers who enjoy morally complex, slow-burn, poseesive, forbidden, dark romance that pushes boundaries. ***EXCERPT*** Blood everywhere. Trembling hands. "No!" My eyes blurred. His lifeless eyes stared back at me, his blood pooling at my feet. The man I loved-dead. Killed by the one person I could never escape - my stepbrother. *** Kasmine's life was never hers to begin with. Kester, her stepbrother, controlled and monitored her every move. At first, it was all sweet and brotherly until it began to turn into an obsession. Kester was the Alpha, and his word was law. No close friends. No boyfriends. No freedom. The only consolation Kasmine had was her twenty-first birthday, which was supposed to change everything. She dreamt of finding her mate, escaping the sickening control of Kester, and finally claiming her own life. But fate had other plans for her. On the night of her birthday, not only was she disappointed that she wasn't mated to the love of her life, but she found out that her mate was none other than him - Her tormentor. Her stepbrother. She'd rather die than be mated to a man whom she had known as her big brother all her life. A man who would do just anything to make sure she was his. But when love turns to obsession, and obsession turns to blood, how far can one girl run before she realizes there is nowhere else to run to?
Rachel used to think that her devotion would win Brian over one day, but she was proven wrong when his true love returned. Rachel had endured it all—from standing alone at the altar to dragging herself to the hospital for an emergency treatment. Everyone thought she was crazy to give up so much of herself for someone who didn’t return her feelings. But when Brian received news of Rachel’s terminal illness and realized she didn’t have long to live, he completely broke down. "I forbid you to die!" Rachel just smiled. She no longer needed him. "I will finally be free."
Blinded in a crash, Cary was rejected by every socialite—except Evelina, who married him without hesitation. Three years later, he regained his sight and ended their marriage. "We’ve already lost so many years. I won’t let her waste another one on me." Evelina signed the divorce papers without a word. Everyone mocked her fall—until they discovered that the miracle doctor, jewelry mogul, stock genius, top hacker, and the President's true daughter… were all her. When Cary came crawling back, a ruthless tycoon had him kicked out. "She's my wife now. Get lost."
"There will be no falling in love, we will only act as a loving couple when we are in public, we will share a room to make it believable, but no intimacy, touching is off-limits. We'll only have sex once a month, and that's solely to produce an heir. You won't interfere in my business, and I won't interfere in yours. You will be my wife in every sense and you will not be involved with any other man," he said, arrogance seeping from every word. I watch his mouth move, I'm not ready to fall in love with any man, especially not one as arrogant and egoistic as him. I can handle acting as a loving couple, and as for intimacy once a month. I can agree to that just to satisfy my sexual cravings with no strings attached. "Where can I sign?" I asked since I had nothing to lose. *** Nadine's wedding dreams turned to nightmares when she caught her sister and fiancé cheating! With a secret recording, she's ready for revenge. But then mysterious billionaire Logan West offers a deal: A Contract Marriage to take down her ex's empire. But what Nadine doesn't know is her life is getting complicated as she takes her chance to get revenge or risks everything for a chance at love?"