When billionaire Alexander Westfield acquires a quaint small-town bakery as part of a corporate takeover, he's stunned to learn that the previous owner, spirited baker Lily Monroe, fabricated a fake engagement to him in a bid to save her struggling business. As the media catches wind, Alexander insists they continue the charade to preserve his public image. But as they navigate glitzy galas, intense paparazzi scrutiny, and the undeniable chemistry between them, both Lily and Alexander begin to wonder if their "royal ruse" is turning into the real deal.
Lily's POV
The sharp ringing of a bell announced my entry as I stepped inside. Within moments, the warm sweetened air of freshly baked pastries enveloped me. Sweet Crumbs had always been a refuge, which seemed to be a place of peace. The rich aromas of cinnamon, vanilla, and butter in it made everything seem just a little better no matter what was happening without those walls. But today, those alluring smells simply reminded me how much everything hung in the balance.
I glanced at the clock on the wall, and it was almost noon when the bakery would fill up with people. I pulled up my apron tightly and tied the strings behind my back. It was pending scones to be baked, loaded bread from the oven, and almost endless small chores. My mind, though, kept wandering back to the news I heard early this morning.
Sweet Crumbs was no longer there. At least, it felt like it. A small but suddenly monumental part of me would slip through my fingers realizing that the beloved haunt was no longer just mine-it had grown into something larger, a part of an acquisition, an afterthought in a deal that would likely change everything.
I wiped my hands clean on my apron, my chest feeling tighter. It was hard to wrap my mind around it. How had this all happened so quickly? I hadn't even been given the chance to fight for it. I'd spent years growing Sweet Crumbs from a dream into something real, but the thought of it being torn from me in the blink of an eye felt... suffocating.
Firmly I pushed such thoughts aside. Panic wouldn't assist, I reminded myself, gnawingly wiping flour off the counter and gathering ingredients for the next batch of cookies. Everything would go, having no choice but to find a way to protect Sweet Crumbs.
I glanced at the front door, where yet another customer entered: Mrs. Delaney, a regular favorite of mine, with her bright purple scarf wrapped around her neck like a flag. She always looked like she had just stepped out of a magazine. I gave her a smile, attempting to mask the worry creeping up my spine.
"Morning, Mrs. Delaney. What can I get you today?" I asked, trying to sound cheerful.
She spent some time examining the pastries before deciding on her favorite, the raspberry tart. As I packed it into a box, she raised her eyebrows and leaned a little closer, lowering her voice.
"Have you heard the news, dear?"
I froze, my hand hovering over the box. I had a sinking feeling I knew exactly what she was about to say.
"About what?" I asked, feigning ignorance.
Mrs. Delaney lowered her voice further. "About Mr. Westfield. They say he plans to raze the whole bakery to the ground, you know. The whole town is buzzing about it."
I could feel my stomach drop. There it was, the whisper of something I'd feared ever since I'd first heard Alexander Westfield's name in connection with the acquisition of Sweet Crumbs.
"He's planning to replace it with one of those...what do you call them? A corporate coffee chain, I think. Probably going to bulldoze the place. It's only a matter of time, not now.
Her words were heavy, as if someone had lifted a ton of bricks onto my chest, and I felt the sharpness of panic coming up in me as if it was almost uncontrollable. I smiled weakly as I handed her the tart.
"Thanks, Mrs. Delany," I said, a little unsteady in voice as I had wanted. "I'm sure everything will work out,"
But I knew it wasn't going to work unless I did something to make it so.
Mrs. Delaney gave me an understanding look. "I hope you'll do something about it, dear. This town needs Sweet Crumbs. It's the heart of the Dales. Without it, what would we have left?"
I nodded, but her words were in my ears long after she'd gone. Sweet Crumbs was not a bakery, but a part of the fabric of this town. The regulars who stopped by each morning for their coffee, families who picked up pies for their Sunday dinners, and tourists who had stumbled in, lured by the smells of fresh bread were all part of something bigger. Losing Sweet Crumbs would be like losing a piece of Dales itself.
I stood right in the center of the bakery, and the very worrisome situation was pressed down on my head, making me feel more hopeless than before. What can I do now? I can't allow this to happen. But what have I got?
It was just then that the thought occurred to me: wild, absurd, and altogether impulsive, but the only thing that I could think of might work.
I turned quickly as I grabbed my phone from the counter and quickly dialed Emma's number. She was my best friend, my rock, and she would help me figure this out.
After several rings, Emma picked up the phone.
"Lily? What is it?", she asked cheerily, but I could tell she was in the middle of the bustling café sound in the background.
"I want you to do something for me. Something big," I said with a sobering undertone in my voice.
I could hear her drawing a breath on the telephone. "What's going on, anyway? You sound tense."
"Emma," I said quickly, heart thumping madly. "I need you to start a rumor. A big one. Enough to get everyone's attention-from Dales and beyond. Tell them that Alexander Westfield proposed to me."
There was a long silence at the other end of the line.
"What?" asked Emma, at last, her disbelief sounding in her voice.
"I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. I'm going to tell everybody that he proposed to me when he visited this town. That's why he's buying up Sweet Crumbs-to keep it as a romantic gesture for his fiancée." I let out a shaky breath. "I know it's a lie, but I've got to do something, Emma. If this town thinks I'm engaged to him, maybe they will leave the bakery alone."
One moment longer, Emma's silence dragged on before she spoke again, her voice soaked in doubt. "Are you absolutely sure about this? This could backfire, you know."
"No choice," I replied shallowly. "If I don't do something right now, everything slips away."
She sighed, and I could hear the hesitation in her voice. But finally, she spoke again, but more assertively, "Fine. I'll help you. I'll spread the word."
Ana Reed is wallowing in huge debts with no means in sight to pay them, until she meets Asher Howard, the grandson and CFO of the multi-billionaire company, Howard Companies, who offers her more than enough money to pay her debts in exchange for a marriage contract with him. With her creditors threatening her and the mouth-watering offer, Ana is left with no choice than to accept Asher's proposal. Will their fake marriage blossom into something more beautiful or will the various obstacles such as Asher's conniving and overly ambitious cousin who is determined to bring Asher down, his wife, who would support her husband in everything he does, Ana's dirty past as a drug dealer and Asher's inner demons, swallow them whole?
All Lyla remembered was waking up in a pool of blood. She was supposed to get married to Alpha Thorn the following morning but everything was going wrong for her. " I didn't do this. Please believe me." She pleaded with the teary eyes. " Have her locked up!" Thorn shouted seeing the corpses of his father. Lyla had been chosen by the moon goddess to be the next Luna of the Silver moon pack but Georgina had been ever jealous. She was from a prestigious family and a powerful blood line while Lyla was from a lowborn. In fact she didn't know who her biological parents were. She had always believed she was a nobody and she grew up in the orphanage The day Alpha Thorn was to be married to Georgina was the same day Lyla was to be killed but on that day. Lyla was immediately killed but then the. moon goddess gave her a chance to avenge herself. Waking up in the body of the most powerful daughter of the neighbouring Alpha pack. Lyla decided to take revenge on those who lied about her killing Alpha Thorn's parents.
Jason, a hardworking student barely making ends meet, is constantly manipulated by his girlfriend, Linda, who takes advantage of his earnings for her extravagant lifestyle. When Jason discovers that Linda has been secretly involved with Ethan, a wealthy classmate, his world falls apart. Publicly humiliated as Linda denies their relationship and sides with Ethan, Jason resolves to turn his life around and seek revenge on both Linda and Ethan
Lucia Balstone thought she had chosen the right man to spend the rest of her life with, but he was the one who ended her life. Their ten-year marriage seemed like a joke when her husband stabbed her with a dagger. Fortunately, God is never blind to people's tears. Lucia got a second chance. She was reborn at the age of 22, before all the terrible things had happened. This time, she was determined to avenge herself and let those who hurt her pay! She made an elaborate list of her goals, and the first thing on her list was to marry her ex-husband's enemy, Alonso Callen!
In the previous life, Maggie Johnson was so cowardly, gullible and stupid that she was coaxed by her fiance and stepsister and then broke her legs and lost everything including her fortune, love and even life. However, she was so lucky that she was reborn in the year before everything happened. Since her life restarted, how could she repeat a previous tragedy? Therefore, in this life, she took the opportunity to improve herself and take revenge on the ones who had ever insulted her. Facing the people who had humiliated her previously, she became smart and experienced to break their frames and tricks that had caused her to hurt in the previous life. Finally, no one could stop her pace to amaze the world any more.
“Do I want a taste?” his voice deeper than he had ever spoken. His eyes pinned on me like I was the only thing that fascinated him. “What do I do?” I thought to myself as he moved closer to me, I wanted to run away, to resist him but I was pinned to the wall by him. “Gosh I hate this man so much” his scent, his body, his beautiful green eyes, he was driving me crazy. I know this is wrong, he has a fiancee and all but that makes me want him even more. “Get on the bed and spread your legs” his cold voice woke me up and then I remembered I was just a maid to him. “Yes master”.
Blurb "Part your legs for me, princess" Alpha Damian humored huskily like he was intoxicated, I whimpered as he voice sents a jolts of emotions round my body. An emotion that I wasn't supposed to feel. Selene was 18 years old when she found out that Alpha Jasper of the Silver Crescent pack was her mate at her Awakening ceremony. Being a reject with no parents she lived with him for over one year as a slave and he never acknowledged her as his mate because he couldn't accept a reject as his mate. On her 20th birthday, her mate not only rejected her and chose her best friend; Imogen, as his new mate, but he also sold Selene to the most feared Alpha; Alpha Damian of the Crimson Moon pack whom everyone referred to as a beast. Not knowing why Alpha Damian chose to buy her, she can only resign herself to fate. What has the moon goddess installed for me again? Is this the freedom she solely crave for? Will she be tied down with the shackles of the unknown?
"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?"
P-please, I beg you. Come let's go tell Christian I had no hand in whatever happened, p-please." I clutched the lapel of his jacket desperately. "Let's go. You need to tell my husband you were paid." "Young lady, you're harassing me." His tone was cold and his stare granite. But I could care less. "You harassed me first! You had sex with me without my consent, my husband knows and now I'm pregnant with this child he doesn't want. You ruined my marriage! I-I hate you!" ************************************ Caught by her husband with another man on their matrimonial bed the morning after her birthday, Hailey Codza could not defend herself. As though it's not enough, she gets pregnant. Her enraged husband decides to pay her back for her infidelity by having an affair with his ex-girlfriend - Denise Kellers, the family Hailey never knew she had. Losing her family's wealth and company to her husband and his ex (now girlfriend), she is devastated, homeless and penniless as all her credit cards are blocked by her husband. She sees the man who is responsible for her pregnancy. The man she has no idea how he'd found his way to her matrimonial bed - Jared Johnson. Jared is annoyed when this strange woman disrupts his meeting and accuses him of ruining her life, marriage and impregnating her. It affects his business deals and having no choice, he marries her to calm the public whilst engaged to someone else. But he loathes her and allows his family treats her badly. Hailey who has fallen in love with Jared is broken when she can no longer take the humiliation. She signs the divorce papers and leaves, only to arrive six years later to the country as a self-made, secret billionaire and a mother of twins. Now her two ex-husbands are begging to have her back...