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.
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Chapter 5
THE BROWN'S RESIDENCE*
Hailey wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, her arms aching as she stirred the pot on fire. The rich aroma of stew filled the small kitchen, but she barely had time to breathe it in.
The washing machine rumbled in the corner, the sound mixing with the sizzle of frying plantains.
At the same time, she was scrubbing a plate with one hand, trying to keep up with the never-ending chores.
Her blouse clung to her damp skin, and her legs felt like they could give out at any moment.
She was tired, she has been working since she came back.
"Hailey!"
That was definitely Cecilia calling.
Hailey sighed, quickly rinsing her hands before stepping away from the sink. She didn't even get to rest before she was being summoned again.
"Yes, ma'am?" she called.
Cecilia appeared in the doorway, her arms crossed, eyes scanning Hailey from head to toe. A look of mild disgust crossed her face.
"Go to the store and get me some eggs and milk" Cecilia ordered, tossing a few crumpled bills onto the counter.
"And be quick about it. Dinner better not be ruined by the time you're back"
Hailey swallowed down her frustration, nodding.
"Yes, ma'am"
Without another word, Cecilia turned and walked off,
Hailey took a deep breath, pushing down the exhaustion weighing on her chest. She grabbed the money, wiped her hands on a rag, and headed for the door.
The night air was cool against her skin as she stepped outside, but it did little to ease the tightness in her chest.
She walked into the small convenience store and she quickly grabbed the eggs and a carton of milk, then she paid.
"That's all?" the cashier asked, barely looking up.
"Yes" Hailey murmured.
"Have a good night" they said flatly.
Hailey nodded, murmuring a quiet "thanks" before stepping out into the night.
She tightened her grip on the plastic bag, quickening her steps. Cecilia won't like it if she comes back late and again, she placed something on fire.
She was halfway down the sidewalk when she felt something.
Like someone was watching her.
Or worse...following her.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she glanced over her shoulder, but the street behind her was empty. The only sound was the distant hum of traffic from the main road..
She swallowed hard and picked up her pace, her fingers gripping the bag tighter.
Maybe she was imagining it.
Maybe it was just her nerves.
But the faster she walked, the heavier the feeling became.
Hailey barely made it a few more steps before a strong hand suddenly grabbed her arm, yanking her into a dark corner between two buildings.
Her breath hitched and she tried to scream but rough palm clamped over her mouth, muffling the sound.
Her wide eyes darted upward, heart pounding so loudly she could hear it in her ears.
And then...a low, familiar voice sent a chill down her spine.
"Hello, princess?"
Her stomach dropped.
Xavier.
His grip was firm but not painful, his scent was a mix of smoke and something darkly intoxicating.
She struggled, her hands pushing at his chest, but he didn't budge.
Instead, his lips curled into a slow, lazy smirk as he leaned in just enough for her to feel his breath against her cheek.
"Scared?" he murmured, teasing.
She shook her head, though she wasn't sure if it was a denial or just a desperate attempt to make herself believe it.
Xavier chuckled, his thumb brushing against her jaw before he finally pulled his hand away from her mouth.
She gasped for air, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
"What is wrong with you?" she snapped.
Xavier tilted his head, studying her.
"Many things, princess, but that's not why we're here, is it?"
Hailey took a step back, pressing herself against the cold brick wall.
"We're not here for anything. You just grabbed me like a psycho!"
His smirk widened. "Psycho? Cute. But I think we both know you're more curious than scared"
"You don't know anything about me"
Xavier took a step closer, effectively caging her in.
"Don't I? You're trembling, but you're not telling me to stop"
Hailey whimpered as Xavier's grip remained firm, his fingers pressing lightly against her waist. He didn't let her go.
"You know, princess, you shouldn't walk around this late... especially looking like this"
Hailey frowned, her brows knitting together. "Like what?"
Xavier chuckled, the sound low and almost sinful.
"Like something waiting to be devoured"
"W-What?"
His grip on her waist tightened for a brief second before he leaned in, his lips just inches from hers.
"You have no idea what you do to me, do you?"
Hailey's eyes widened, her lips parting slightly.
"I...I don't-"
"Those innocent looks again" he muttered almost to himself.
For a second, Hailey thought he might actually kiss her like she'd seen in movies, considering their proximity and position.
But instead, he exhaled slowly, his eyes on her.
Xavier's hand slid down, gripping her waist before trailing lower.
And then...a firm squeeze.
A shocked gasp left her lips, her body jerking instinctively.
Xavier's smirk only deepened as he watched her reaction, his fingers lingering, pressing.
"So damn soft" he muttered under his breath, almost like he was talking to himself.
"X...Xavier-"
He leaned in, his breath fanning over her ear.
"Better get used to my hands on you, princess"
Her heart pounded. She couldn't move, couldn't even think.
Just as quickly as he had grabbed her, Xavier pulled back, his smirk never fading.
"Innocent little thing. Wonder how much sweeter you'd sound moaning my name, makes me want to ruin you even more"
And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving her breathless, confused... and completely rattled.
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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.