BAD INFLUENCE
The moment she stepped into the wrong restroom, everything changed.
Hailey had only been at Hillsworth College for a day, a fresh scholarship student, eager yet nervous.
She had simply been looking for the restroom, but fate had other plans.
The thick scent of smoke filled her lungs the second she pushed the door open. The air was dense, intoxicating. Her breath hitched when she saw him.
A dangerously handsome guy.
He leaned lazily against the sink, a cigarette dangling from his lips, his sharp eyes flickering toward her. Tattoos curled around his arms like inked secrets, and silver rings glinted from his eyebrow and tongue. A dangerous smirk lifted his lips as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"Lost, princess?" He asked with a smirk, raking her with his eyes from head to toe.
Hailey 's heart pounded. This was the boys' restroom.
And somehow, she had just collided with trouble.
___
Hailey had learned early on that life was rarely fair.
She barely remembered her parents, their faces were blurry images in an old photo album she had once clung to as a child. After their deaths, she was taken in by her uncle, the only family she had left. At first, life had been tolerable-until he died too.
That was when everything changed.
Her uncle's wife, Cecilia, had never truly cared for her, but after his death, the cold indifference turned to outright cruelty. Hailey became the unwanted burden in their home, forced to endure harsh words and extra chores.
Unlike her cousin, Brielle, who lived in luxury and had everything handed to her, Hailey had to fight for the smallest things. When Cecilia refused to pay for her education, she had thought her dreams were over.
But then the scholarship to Hillsworth College came like a miracle.
She studied tirelessly, poured everything into that exam, and when the results came in, she had been one of the few selected. It was her chance at freedom, her chance to escape.
There was just one problem.
Hillsworth was Brielle's school.
And if there was one thing Hailey knew, it was that her cousin would make her life miserable.
But none of that compared to the storm she was about to walk into.
Wanna know what the encounter with the bad boy leads to? Come with me đź«Ł
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Chapter 3
SCHOOL CAFETERIA*
Hailey sat at one of the tables in the cafeteria, her tray of food untouched in front of her as she absentmindedly poked at the fries. She had just finished her first class of the day and had gone to the dormitory, only to find it locked.
"Hey, is this seat taken?"
Hailey looked up, startled. A girl was standing in front of her, a friendly smile on her face.
"I'm not sure. I mean... yeah, sure" Hailey replied, gesturing to the seat across from her.
The girl slid into the chair, setting down her tray with a relieved sigh.
"Thanks. I just needed to get away from all those people" She chuckled, glancing around at the busy cafeteria before turning her attention back to Hailey.
"You look like you could use a break too"
Hailey smiled awkwardly. "Yeah... just trying to get through the day, you know?"
"I'm Jessa, by the way. We're in the same class, right?"
Hailey blinked, trying to place her.
"I think so. We had that...um, the intro to English class this morning"
"That's the one! You seemed kind of quiet, but you've got that... serious vibe. Like you're here to actually do something"
"Yeah, that's the plan " Hailey said with a smile.
"Well, if you ever want to study or just, you know, talk, let me know, I'm still trying to figure out where everything is on campus, and it looks like you might know your way around"
"I...actually went by the dorm, but it was locked" Hailey said, pushing the food around on her plate.
"Lucky you, I will be coming from home" she said.
'Not like I'm staying there' she said inwardly.
The cafeteria that was buzzing with loud conversations suddenly stopped the moment he walked in..
Xavier.
With his hands shoved casually into the pockets of his black jeans, he strode in like he owned the place.
Girls all around the cafeteria stilled, their eyes locking on him like he was gravity itself, pulling them in effortlessly. Some whispered among themselves, others bit their lips as they stared at him.
Jessa nudged Hailey slightly.
"Yup. That's Xavier Knight, the guy everyone warns you about"
Hailey stiffened, her fingers gripping the edge of the table. She didn't need the warning.
She already knew.
Her mind flashed back to the restroom, to the suffocating scent of smoke, the way his gaze had raked over her like he was seeing straight through her, stripping away every layer with just a look.
And now...he was here.
His gaze swept over the cafeteria lazily, as if he was unimpressed by the attention, used to it. But then, his sharp, dark eyes landed on her.
Hailey's breath seized.
Staring at her like he had just found something interesting.
A slow, knowing smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
Jessa shifted beside Hailey.
"Uh... do you know him?" she asked, sensing the strange tension between them.
Hailey quickly tore her gaze away, her heart hammering in her chest.
"No" she said.
She forced herself to focus on her food, her fingers tightening around the fork, but it was useless. The energy in the room had shifted, and it was because of him.
Jessa was still talking beside her, something about a professor and an assignment, but Hailey could barely hear her.
Her chair suddenly jerked backward.
A gasp escaped from her lips as she was pulled away from the table in one swift motion. The cafeteria spun for half a second before she felt warm hands grip her waist, steadying her.
Firm. Possessive.
The entire cafeteria went dead silent.
Hailey's breath stuttered as she tilted her head up only to find herself face-to-face with Xavier.
His grip on her waist didn't loosen. If anything, it tightened, his fingers pressing slightly into her sweater.
His dark eyes flickered with amusement, like he was enjoying her reaction.
"Told you we'd see each other again, princess" he murmured.
Hailey tried to move, but his hold didn't let her.
Everyone was watching. Jessa's jaw was practically on the floor. Girls were glaring, enviously. Others were watching with open anticipation on what's about to happen since it's Xavier.
'This wasn't happening'
'This couldn't be happening'
"Let go" she begged.
Xavier's tongue flicked over his lip piercing, his smirk deepening.
"Make me"
He was playing with her. Toying. And the worst part? She had no idea how to stop it.
Before she could react, before she could even breathe properly, he leaned down, his lips brushing just beside her ear.
"You're cute when you're nervous"
Heat crawled up Hailey's neck, spreading to her face.
And then, just as effortlessly as he had grabbed her, he let go.
Like he hadn't just thrown the entire cafeteria into chaos.
Like he hadn't just flipped her entire world upside down.
He stepped back, shoving his hands into his pockets again, that signature smirk still playing on his lips. Then, without another word, he turned and walked away, leaving behind nothing but shocked stares and a pounding heartbeat.
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9.7
"How do I tell the world that my first orgasm came from my father's son-my brother, and he doesn't know yet?"
Annabel Green, who had caught her first ever lover, James, in bed with Stephanie, her best friend, went on a mission of revenge.
After she found out that the man who she bumped into at the club that night she caught her ex cheating, is actually Stephanie's fiancé-Daniel stroke.
She planned on using him as a tool just to make James regret cheating on her and drive Stephanie insane.
But she had no idea that Daniel was her father's son. By the time she had gotten her revenge, only then did they realize how late it was, because they had both fallen hopelessly in love.
Now the question is who will let each other go? Will Daniel and Annabel agree to part ways just to see their parents happy. Or will their parents actually get a divorce in order to see their children live a happy life?
9.7
Brenda's world ended the night her father sold her to a monster.
To protect his pack from destruction, her father traded her to Alpha Aaron, the cruel ruler of the Northern wolves - a man who never spent more than one night with any woman... because none of them survived.
But Brenda did.
That became her curse.
For three years, she endured his brutality - his control, his obsession, his endless hunger for power. She prayed for rescue, for her father, for anyone. But no one came.
Until one mistake changed everything.
A blindfold. A wrong room. A night with a stranger who touched her with tenderness instead of pain.
That stranger was Alpha Leon, Aaron's business partner and unknowingly, her destined mate.
When Leon discovered the truth, he struck a dangerous bargain to take her away. But by then, Brenda was no longer the girl she once was. She was a shell, numb, broken, and incapable of love.
Now, Leon must battle not only Aaron's shadow but also the darkness inside Brenda herself.
Can love heal what cruelty destroyed?
Or will her pain consume them both?
9.2
For five years, I hid my identity as a legendary White Wolf, swallowing suppressants that tasted like ash just to protect Alpha Grafton.
I played the role of the spineless "Shadow," enduring his pack's ridicule and his cold indifference, all to fulfill a promise I made to his dead twin brother.
But when I finally exposed my powers to save Grafton from a rigged car crash, shattering my leg with liquid silver in the process, he didn't thank me.
Instead, he stepped over my bleeding body to comfort Cherrelle, a socialite who was faking a wrist injury.
He believed her lies over my sacrifice.
When I tried to warn him about the poison in his drink, he forced me to swallow the Wolfsbane myself.
He watched me convulse on the floor, calling me a "drama queen."
He even threw me into a dog kennel, crushing the only photo I had of his brother—the man I actually loved—under his boot.
He thought I was a stalker obsessed with him.
He didn't know I drank black coffee I hated every morning just to be in sync with him, or that the "jealousy" he saw was actually grief for the ghost of his twin.
Broken and done, I stood on the edge of Blackwood Bridge and sent him one final text.
"I'm going to be with the man I actually love."
Then, I rejected him as my mate, severed the bond that linked our souls, and let the dark river wash away five years of lies.
8.9
I was the lead architect for the Pack's billion-dollar tech company, and I was secretly carrying the Alpha's heir.
I thought the merger would finally make Caleb Mark me.
Instead, I walked into my office to find a mistress sitting in my chair.
Caleb didn't just fire me. When I refused to hand over the encryption keys to the system I built, he locked me in a reinforced closet lined with silver mesh.
For a pregnant wolf, silver is poison.
I pounded on the door until my knuckles bled.
"Caleb! Please! It burns! I'm losing the baby!"
I screamed until my voice broke, feeling the life drain from my womb.
But outside the door, his mistress laughed. "Don't listen to her, Caleb. She's just a weak Omega faking it for attention."
And my Fated Mate believed her.
He left me in that dark box while our son died in a pool of my own blood.
He thought he had broken me. He thought I would die a silent death so he could parade his fake heir around.
He forgot one thing: I wrote the code that runs his entire life.
Three days later, I didn't show up to the hospital morgue.
I rolled my wheelchair onto the stage of his global press conference, flanked by the rival Alpha he feared most.
I held up the remote to the main server.
"You killed my son for a lie, Caleb," I smiled into the microphone as the screens behind him broadcast the footage of his crime. "Now, say goodbye to your empire."
9.2
For three years, I was the one scrubbing the scent of blood from his hands and holding him while he screamed in pain. I was the one who taught Coleton Barron how to walk again after the car bomb nearly took his legs.
But the moment he reclaimed his seat as Don, I became invisible.
At his recovery gala, he draped his arm around Charly—the woman who fled when he was crippled—and laughed as he told his inner circle I was "just the hired help."
It didn't stop at insults. When Charly faked a fall, he shoved me aside with enough force to crack my skull against the pool edge.
When a bomb went off in a gallery, he looked me in the eye, saw me trapped under debris, and turned his back to carry her to safety instead.
He even held a gun to my head because she lied about me poisoning his soup.
His mother threw a check at me, telling me that tools go back in the box when the job is done. They thought I would beg to stay. They thought I was weak.
I took the five million and vanished without a word.
Three years later, I returned to New York. Not as his nurse, but as the fiancée of the only man Coleton fears.
And when he saw the diamond on my finger, the King of New York finally realized he had thrown away his only lifeline.
9.6
"Not guilty."
With those two words, my husband, the Alpha, acquitted his mistress of poisoning my mother.
I had the toxicology reports. I had the receipts. But Garrison didn't care.
He looked me in the eye, his hand resting possessively on Keyla's back, and told me to stop making a scene.
That was just the beginning of my hell.
He moved Keyla into our master suite and forced me into the servant's quarters.
"Since you can't give me strong pups," he sneered, "you can serve those who do."
I became the maid in my own home, washing Keyla's silk lingerie while she wore my Luna robes.
When I tried to fight back, he used the Alpha Command to silence me and locked me in a room filled with silver dust that burned my skin like acid.
He even drugged me and offered me to a rival Alpha just to secure a timber deal.
He thought he had broken me. He thought I was just a weak Omega who would eventually fade away.
But he forgot that my mother taught me everything about poisons.
On the night of the yacht party, I didn't just jump into the dark ocean to escape.
I jumped to be reborn.
I flushed my wedding ring, severed the bond, and let the icy water swallow Janette the victim.
Garrison thought I was dead.
He didn't know that the ocean wouldn't kill me. It would awaken my true bloodline.
And when I came back, I wasn't his wife anymore.
I was a White Wolf, and I was going to burn his pack to the ground.