A vow of Violence

THE KING IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE MONSTER. Five years ago, Julian Thorne was the golden heir to London's most powerful banking dynasty. Then, his own brother paid to have him murdered. The world mourned. The family moved on. And his brother claimed everything Julian left behind-including Isolde Sterling, the icy, breathtaking heiress to the shipping empire. But Julian didn't die. He survived hell, forged in the brutal underground fighting pits of the East, and now... the ghost has returned home. He crashes his brother's engagement party with a scar on his face, violence in his veins, and a single vow: Burn it all down. He will strip his family of their fortune. He will expose the dark conspiracy that rules the city. But his sweetest revenge? Stealing the bride. Isolde knows she should run. The man who returned is a predator-cold, lethal, and terrifyingly seductive. But when he looks at her with those dark, possessive eyes, she realizes the terrifying truth: she doesn't want to be saved. She wants to burn with him. Revenge is a dish best served hot.

Chapters

Chapter 10

The Whispers of the Syndicate

The fashion show was chaos-a mixture of art, noise, and power brokers exchanging whispers. Julian hated it. Too many people, too many distractions.

He guided Isolde through the crowd, never letting go of her waist. She felt perfect against him-sharp angles and soft curves, responding to his grip with a subtle, electric tension. She was a professional weapon, and he was the one holding the trigger.

"There," Isolde murmured, nodding toward a corner booth. "The man with the silver hair. That's Reginald Vance. He controls the majority of the Sterling debt."

Reginald Vance was a ghost-a financial fixer with hands in every shadowy enterprise in London. He was known to be a key lieutenant for the shadowy "Syndicate" that backed Lord Alistair.

Julian walked Isolde directly to his table.

"Mr. Vance," Julian greeted, his voice polite, yet dangerous. "Julian Thorne. And my fiancée, Isolde Sterling."

Vance's eyes-cold, reptilian-swept over Isolde's exposed figure before landing on Julian's scar. "I understood you were indisposed, Mr. Thorne."

"I took a short sabbatical. Turns out, death is overrated." Julian smiled, a hollow, terrifying expression. He didn't ask to sit; he pulled the chair out for Isolde, positioning her with her back to the wall, and took the seat next to her, completely surrounding her.

"My sincerest condolences for your brother," Vance continued smoothly. "Harrison is... a disappointment."

"A shame," Julian agreed, sipping a glass of water. "I wanted to kill him myself. Now, let's talk business. The Sterling debt. You hold twenty million in floating notes."

"They mature next month. With the instability, I may call them in early." Vance's voice was pure blackmail.

"If you do," Julian countered, leaning close, his voice a low threat. "I will call in the fifteen years of tax evasion you filed through your Macau shell corporation-the same one that operates the fighting pits I just escaped."

Vance's face didn't move, but his eyes narrowed to slits. Isolde's elbow twitched against Julian's ribs. She was taking everything in.

"Blackmail, Mr. Thorne? Crude."

"Survival, Mr. Vance. And a proposition. Sell me the Sterling debt for ten percent under market value, and I'll ensure the Macau file vanishes. If you don't, I will sell the full ledger to the Daily Mail before midnight, and you can explain Project Aether to Parliament from a jail cell."

Vance stared at him. The reference to 'Project Aether'-the hidden item from Jax's report-was a perfect, calculated strike. It showed Julian knew the Syndicate's deepest secrets.

After a long, agonizing silence, Vance nodded once, curtly. "My solicitor will be in touch tomorrow morning."

Julian stood up, pulling Isolde up with him. He didn't look at Vance again.

"You should get a gun license, Isolde," Julian whispered in her ear as they walked away. "The game just got real."

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Abducted from her mother’s grave, a young woman is brutally tortured by drug dealers targeting her brother, Zack Smith. Despite her desperate plea for help, the forensic pathologist rejects her, blaming her for their mother's death. After her captors discard her remains in a trash can, Zack is tasked with reassembling the unidentified body. He meticulously pieces her back together, unaware the victim is the sister he despised until the truth shatters his sanity.

Action Horror Modern Mystery

9.6

Guess Who's Not Sweet Anymore?

9.6

Eve Roosevelt spent years funding Albert’s life, only for him to murder her at his wedding to another woman. After waking up in the past, she finds herself back when Albert still treated her like a personal bank account. This time, Eve refuses to be his victim. Instead of showering him with designer clothes and tuition, she demands he kneel for his charity. In this young adult romance, Eve uses her wealth and status to ensure Albert’s pathetic secrets are never buried.

Action Modern Mystery Romance Young Adult

7.6

No Longer Your Spare Part: The Luna's Revenge

7.6

The drill's whine was the only thing in my world, vibrating through my skull and drowning out my own screams. I was strapped to a cold metal table, paralyzed by wolfsbane, while surgeons bored into my hip bone to siphon my essence. "Just a little more," the surgeon muttered. "Isabella needs the boost for the wedding photos." They weren't saving my sister's life. They were harvesting my marrow just to make her skin glow for a picture. I looked at the observation window, begging with my eyes. Dante, the Alpha I had dragged from the jaws of death, stood there. He wasn't looking at me. He was holding Isabella's hand. He didn't know I was the one who healed him. He believed her lies. "Take it all if you have to," Dante's voice drifted through our fading mate bond. "Don't let her fade." The drill punched through. My heart stuttered and stopped. I died on that table, a hollowed-out husk used to feed my sister's vanity. "Seraphina! Are you deaf?" A sharp voice snapped me back into existence. I gasped, clutching my hip. No blood. No drill. No pain. I looked at the calendar on my father's desk. I was alive. And I had exactly one year before the surgery that killed me. I looked at my trembling hands and felt the ancient anger of my White Wolf stirring. I wasn't going to be the sacrifice this time. I was going to be the arsonist.

Action Romance Werewolf

9.6

Promises in the Grave

9.6

After Maverick Lowe abandoned his bride to save another woman, her life spiraled into public disgrace. She eventually found peace and motherhood with Alfred Hawkins, her devoted childhood friend. However, their domestic bliss is shattered when she discovers Alfred’s horrific secret. To save his former flame's dying daughter, Alfred intends to orchestrate a fatal accident for his own child, Ruby, ensuring her heart is harvested for a transplant. Now, she must face a deadly betrayal.

Action Mafia Modern Mystery Romance

9.7

Sparks of Vengeance

9.7

After her husband Louis Banks supposedly dies in a car crash, his widow is left to face crushing debts and the loss of all assets. Years of poverty follow until a chance encounter reveals the truth: Louis is alive, wealthy, and flaunting his new life. He admits the entire tragedy was a scheme to exploit her. Consumed by fury, she dies, only to suddenly wake up on the day of the fatal accident. This time, she will not be a pawn in his billionaire game.

Action Billionaire Modern Mystery Romance

7.7

The Abandoned True Heiress's Lethal Comeback

7.7

Alondra woke up choking on synthetic drugs, pinned to a mattress by a massive, sweating VIP guest. Her adoptive family, the Franks, had deliberately drugged her and offered her as a plaything to secure a ten-million-dollar financing deal. The sheer terror and humiliation had already killed the original owner of this body. When the VIP was left screaming on the floor, her adoptive mother and sister didn't care about what she had just endured. They shrieked that she had ruined their wealth and destroyed their future. Her adoptive father threw a cheap prepaid card onto the Persian rug like he was feeding a stray dog. "Take this five hundred dollars and crawl back to the trailer park where you belong!" They ordered their bodyguards to drag her out by her hair, mocking her as uneducated white trash who would rot in the slums. The original girl had died in absolute despair, believing she was worthless and unloved. She never knew she was actually the true biological heir to the Kerr family, the untouchable dynasty that practically owned Wall Street. But the soul that had just awakened in this fragile body was no longer a weak victim. It was the soul of a centuries-old European medical assassin. Alondra calmly shattered the bodyguard's wrist, exposed the Franks' impending bankruptcy, and walked out the front door. Outside in the cold night, a fleet of bulletproof Maybachs was already waiting to take the real princess home.

Action Billionaire Modern

A vow of Violence

Chapter 10

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