Deadly contract
"So we have a deal, do we? We do things my way, no argument, no buts."
"Yes," she bit out.
"Good,"he said, smiling wryly to himself at the thought that yes wasn't a word Joy was used to saying to men. But she was going to say it a lot during their time together. He would make her say it. No, he would make her want to say it.
34-year-old Joy Mike, who, after a failed engagement and struggling with infertility, seeks to conceive a baby alone. Childhood acquaintance and now successful, attractive John Davis intervenes with a tempting proposal: he will help her conceive in the "traditional way". The contract leads to intense passion and emotional risk for Joy as she risks losing her heart to the man who promised her a baby, but not a marriage.
Chapters
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Chapter 1
“You are mine.”
“Said who?”
“Said the way you breathe when I’m close.”
By five thirty, the party was winding down, with people gradually leaving. By six, the Davis place was almost empty of guests and Joy and her mother stayed back to help clean up.
“I had my four month ultrasound on Friday, Melissa said out of the blue as she and Joy were restocking the dishwasher together. Their mothers were outside at the time, piling up more dirty plates to carry in.
Joy stiffened as she always did these days when girls she knew talks about their pregnancy.
“Oh?” She managed to reply as casually as she could manage.”Everything well,I hope?”
“Marvelous.”
Joy was on the verge of tears herself. She didn’t give a damn if she had a girl or boy. She just wanted a baby.
“Would you like to see the pictures of the ultrasound?” Melissa asked her. “I brought them,” she added before Joy could say yes or no.
John saw the stricken look on Joy’s face the moment he walked into the kitchen.
“What is it?” He asked straight away. “What happened?”
“I have to get out of here, she muttered.
Too late Melissa was back in a flash with the dreaded pictures.
John had no idea what had distressed scarlet earlier but he suspected by the look on her face that she still wanted out. He did, too. Hell, yes. And the sooner the better.
“Sorry to love you and leave you, folks,” he said once his mother stopped to draw breath. “But i asked Joy our tonight and she said yes. So if you don’t mind, we’ll be off.” So, saying, he took hold of a startled Joy and steered her firmly towards the front door.
Five minutes later, John was reversing her car out of their garage, Joy only then realizing she’d have a lot of questions to answer when she finally got home that night.
“Nice wheels,” Joy,” John said once they were underway. “The last time i was home you were driving an old white rust bucket.”
“I decided to spoil myself this year,” she replied.
“Am i allowed to ask what upset you so much?
Suddenly, the tears which had been threatening ever Melissa brought up the subject of her pregnancy came back with vengeance.
“I’m thirty four years old. My biological clock is ticking away like a bomb. Already the odds of my conceiving a child are going downhill. If i don’t have a baby soon, I might never have one.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Joy. Women of forty and older are having babies all the time.” But you’re not over forty yet, Joy. Not by a long shot. There’s no reason to panic.
“I have every reason to panic.”
“Look, if you’re so damned desperate to have children, then why don’t you go out and get yourself pregnant? You’re gorgeous, you’ll have all the offers you could want.”
Joy gave him a totally scandalized look, determinedly ignoring the fact that he thought she was gorgeous.” You think i would risk falling pregnant to just anyone, potentially also risking my sexual health?”
“So you’re just going to wait till Mr Right comes along?”
The thing is, John, she said, still slightly hesitant. “I’ve decided to have a baby by artificial insemination. I investigated it thoroughly on the internet first,” she rattled on, feeling compelled to explain it more fully. “Anyway, I found a local clinic where they had a whole catalogue of sperm donors to choose from. All their background information was listed: their physical characteristics, health records, intelligence levels, I picked one out which I liked the sound of. He’s American , tall , good looking, with dark hair, blue eyes and an IQ of a hundred and thirty.
John shrugged. He wasn’t sure why he found the idea of Joy having a baby with Mr IQ of a hundred and thirty so uncomfortable, but his whole body objected.
“Wanting a baby is not exactly complicated. It’s basics drive in most women.”
“I dare say you’re right. Look, it’s obvious that you’re determined on this course of action, so I have a suggestion to make which I think would be infinitely preferable to your being impregnated by some stranger who will impart nothing to your child’s life but a set of genes, which may not be as desirable as they read on paper. After all, what do you really know about this sperm donor? Nothing of any depth, that’s for sure. You don’t know his background or his family or his mental health. Perhaps it is a blessing that you haven’t conceived his child so far.”
Joy couldn’t believe that John was being so negative. She had no idea what his counter suggestion was going to be, but if he thought she was going to change her mind about trying for a baby then he was delusional.
John knew that what he was about to propose would shock her. He was pretty shocked at it himself. But something deep inside him was driving him on the thought of Joy having a baby to some anonymous stranger wax repulsive. She deserved better than that.
“So, joy , in the internet of the future happiness and security of your offspring, I propose that you ditch your present sperm donor in favour of me.”
She just stared at him with rounded eyes, looking for the catch. Or the joke.
“You have to be kidding me!” She exclaimed at last.
“Actually, no,” he said feel perversely pleased with his offer now that he’d made it. “I’m not.”
“But why?”
“Why not? I qualify, don’t I? I’m tall, responsibly good looking, with dark hair and blue eyes. Unfortunately my IQ is a good bit over a hundred and thirty but that’s a moot point. I promise i won’t interfere with the way you had planned. Thought I would like to see the child occasionally.
Joy shook her head from side to side. “I’m having serious trouble taking this all in.”
“Take your time.”
Joy blinked, then frowned. “I still can’t see why you would offer to do this.”
“I’m capable of kindness, you know.
“This is more than just being kind,” Joy said, trying to get her head around John’s offer. “ I have confess that I’m tempted. Mum would certainly be more comfortable with you being the father than some stranger.”
“I would manage so. She quite like me, you know. Has done ever since I promised to look after you on the school bus.”
“Rubbish! Come now, John, you’ve never been the Good Samaritan type. Which makes you offering to be my sperm donor all the more puzzling. Heavens, I don’t know what Yo think or what to say.”
“Just say yes, Joy.”
“But it’s such a difficult decision. I mean… it’s a big thing to have a child together. Different if we were in love.”
John snored. “As we both know, being in love is no guarantee of future happiness. People fall out of love all the time.”
“Oh. Lord, I still don’t know. If we go ahead and do this, what on earth are we going to tell everyone?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Your priority at this point is becoming pregnant. Your body obviously isn’t clicking with the sperm donor you chose,” he went on with cool, corrupting logic. “You need to try someone different.”
Joy knew that, if she failed to get pregnant again with her chosen sperm donor, she’d regret not accepting John’s offer. It was a case of do now, or possibly die childless!
“Okay. Okay. I’m going to throw caution to the winds and just say yes.”
“Great,” John said, feeling more excited than when he’d found oil. “So what’s the plan?”
“ I’ll contact the clinic first thing tomorrow morning and arrange for a time for you to go in and give them a sperm sample. Then, when…..”
“Hang on!” John interrupted immediately. “That’s not how it’s going to be done at all!”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean i have no intention of becoming a father vis a turkey baster. Or a syringe. Or whatever they use these days. If we’re doing this, let’s do it right.”
“You mean you… you want to have sex with me?”
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9.2
For three years, Rachel lived in a marriage that almost no one knew existed.
To the outside world, Captain Jared Holland-the cold and powerful second son of the influential Holland family-was single.
Only a handful of people knew the truth: Rachel was his legal wife. Their marriage had begun because of a mistake and was bound by a prenuptial agreement that promised it would end quietly after three years.
And in Jared's heart, there had always been someone else-Olivia, his foster sister and first love.
When Rachel returns from a grueling flight and sees a video of Jared desperately carrying Olivia to the hospital, the last illusion she held onto finally shatters. That same night, she signs the divorce papers and walks away with nothing but a suitcase and her dignity.
But when the time comes to finalize the divorce, Jared refuses to sign-always finding excuses to delay it.
The woman he once ignored is now determined to leave.
And the man who never valued her is suddenly unwilling to let her go.
Rachel looked at the man in front of her and frowned: "Jared what are you playing? Sign the divorce papers."
Jared smiled, "Darling, I am sorry, I was wrong. Please, let's not get divorce."
7.9
June was an ordinary architect struggling to pay rent, completely estranged from her high-society mother.
But one night, she was kidnapped and beaten in an abandoned warehouse by Gage Becker, the city's most ruthless billionaire, who demanded payback for her mother's sins.
Gage pointed a high-definition camera at June's battered face and video-called her mother, threatening to release the footage and ruin her upcoming billion-dollar wedding.
"I will never throw away a billion-dollar marriage for a useless daughter."
Her mother's cold voice echoed through the warehouse before the line went dead.
From that moment, Gage systematically destroyed June's life. She was publicly humiliated and forced to hack off her own hair with a cigar cutter. She was blacklisted from every firm in the city, evicted by her landlord, and violently mugged in a freezing New York blizzard.
Curled up in an icy tunnel waiting to die, June felt a suffocating despair. She hadn't spoken to her mother in months. Why did she have to endure this hell for a woman who didn't even care if she lived or died? Why was a monster like Gage so obsessed with driving her to the grave?
When Gage's armored Maybach pulled up, he stepped into the snow to mock her, waiting for her to finally surrender and beg for his mercy.
But the absolute humiliation snapped the last thread of June's sanity.
Instead of crying, she lunged forward with feral energy and sank her teeth directly into the devil's flesh.
8.6
I was the untouchable Mafia Queen, but my reign ended in the blood-soaked depths of a damp dungeon.
My half-sister, Kelsey, drove a rusted, sharpened spoon into my chest, screaming about the unfairness of fate.
In my past life, my father sold me to the ruthless Don Dante Blackwell as collateral to pay off his debts.
To survive, I took a black-market fertility drug, birthed his heir, and clawed my way to the throne through sheer ruthlessness.
But in the mafia world, a pregnant woman isn't a queen; she's a walking target.
I survived countless bombings and poisonings, only to be betrayed and slaughtered by my own family.
Until my last breath, I couldn't understand. I had sacrificed everything to secure our survival in the empire. Why did my blood and tears only earn me a rusted spoon to the heart?
Opening my eyes again, I am seventeen, sitting in my father's drawing room.
Two black velvet boxes sit on the mahogany table.
Kelsey greedily snatches the box containing the fertility drug, her eyes gleaming with feverish triumph.
"I'll take this one, Papa."
She thinks she is stealing my golden ticket to the crown, completely unaware that she just chose a death sentence.
I lower my gaze, letting my eyelashes mask the cold, lethal amusement pooling in my eyes as I take the remaining box.
Inside is the detailed psychological profile of the Don's dead fiancée.
This time, I won't be a breeding mare fighting off assassins. I will dissect the devil himself.
7.2
Every story in this collection is a direct line to your own wanting, each read leaves you drenched, and craving more thighs pressed together, breath caught in your throat.
From a stranger's fingers finding you in a crowded bar to the slow, devastating unraveling of a woman on her knees, these are the moments you'll return to, again and again, until you're trembling.
Warning: "Not for the faint of heart-only for the Dirty Slut-Seekers who crave the filth.
Open the book only when you're ready to be ruined, and consumed by your filthy fantasies.
7.5
Plot.
Synopsis.
Liora could never belong. The daughter of an extramarital affair, she had lived in the shadows, cut off from the rest of the family, and learned to fend for herself while surviving. Stripping gave her life now, but everything changed one wild night.
Two days before his wedding, Darius entered her club, craving for the last taste of bachelorhood, he pays Liora for a special dance which led to a one-night stand. Neither of them expected to see each other again or that Liora's long lost sister, Selene, was the bride waiting at the altar.
The one-night stand becomes a dangerous truth that must be hidden. Lies never remain hidden, however, and when Liora learns she is pregnant with Darius's child, silence may be not be an option for her.
Exposition.
Liora, a daughter born as a result of her father's infidelity with a maid, which resulted in the divorce that separates her from her big sister. Due to the family's financial difficulties faced while growing up and the consequent death of her father, Liora eventually becomes a stripper to put food on her table. Unknown to her at the time, she carried the hidden omega bloodline from her father's alpha lineage, suppressed by years away from the pack.
Inciting incident.
One night, she is hired by a man who is getting married in just two days and wants to enjoy his last moments of bachelorhood. She ends up having a one-night stand with him. The moment they touched, an undeniable mate spark ignited between them-raw, electric, and impossible to ignore-but neither understood its full power yet.
When Liora returns home that same night, she encounters an old man who introduces himself as the butler of the Blackwood family, tells her she has been invited to the wedding of her sister. This comes as a shock-Liora grew up knowing she had a sister, but Harlan never allowed them to meet. He carried that secret to his grave, and after his death, Liora stopped thinking about it. Despite her hesitation and doubts as to if they got the wrong person, she agrees to attend.
Rising action.
She arrives the night before the wedding , finds out she has been a daughter of the well known Blackwood family all along and learns the truth: it was her stepmother, not Harlan, who had always been against their meeting. The stepmother is currently serving time in jail for a minor business-related crime and her elder sister, Selene had her research done to find her because she wanted to reconcile with her younger sister and what better opportunity than a wedding. Liora also discovers that Selene is a sweetheart who had longed to meet her, but had been forced to stay away because of Ravenna's influence.
But then, another huge blow hits-Liora finds out that the man she was with last night, the one she slept with, is the man Selene is set to marry, Darius. She holds this secret to herself, haunted by the mate pull that now torments her every thought.
The marriage happens, and it all goes well. After that, Selene gives Liora a new path, far from her old job. She brings her into her home and starts to look after her. But soon, Liora finds out she is going to have a baby. With fear and shame, she hides this news.
Climax.
When Ravenna is released from prison, she is furious to find Liora living with her family. She makes it clear that she does not accept her, resenting her existence as a reminder of Harlan's infidelity. A few days later, Selene announces that she is pregnant too. Ravenna immediately becomes protective of her "real" daughter, which only deepens Liora's insecurities. She considers leaving before her secret is exposed.
But fate intervenes. An accident happens, and they find out Liora was pregnant. Since she was once a stripper, no one talks about the dad. But Darius, who knows they share risky secret, sets up a secret meeting for them to talk. He wants to know if he is the dad, and Liora says yes-but she will keep it quiet and plans to leave soon. In their tense exchange, the mate bond flares again, confirming what they both sensed that first night.
Ravenna,who happens to be at the wrong side at the right time ,overheard part of their talk. With doubts in her mind, she quietly does a DNA test between Darius and Liora's unborn baby.
The results confirm he is the father. Seeing her chance to drive a wedge between the sisters, she keeps the secret until the gender reveal party for both daughters. There, in front of everyone, she exposes the truth. The revelation makes headlines.
Selene feels utterly betrayed-by both her husband and her sister. She leaves Darius's house with Ravenna and sends divorce papers days later. Liora feels destroyed, her betrayal now public, and her pain is doubled when she learns Selene has lost her baby and is battling ovarian cancer, which requires an urgent bone marrow transplant.
Through her best friend, Dr. Thorne, Liora learns this. She gets tested and finds out she is a match , but her unborn baby stops her. Darius knows she got test
8.6
Genevieve was heavily pregnant, holding the legal papers that would transfer her massive family trust fund to her loving husband, Clinton.
But as she approached his study, she heard a familiar giggle. Through the cracked door, she saw her cousin Carolynn sitting on his desk, her skirt hiked up, while Clinton smirked and poured bourbon.
"Once she signs those papers, we don't need her anymore," Clinton laughed coldly. "The kidnapping is staged for tomorrow. She and the brat disappear permanently."
Genevieve gasped, and he spotted her. When she frantically tried to run, her trusted housekeeper blocked the stairs. Clinton dragged her back, beat her mercilessly, and locked her in a freezing, underground cellar.
Denied any medical help, she endured agonizing hours of labor alone in the dark, only to deliver a stillborn child. Clinton then walked in, ruthlessly tossed her dead baby's tiny body into a pile of dirty rags, and brutally strangled her.
As her lungs burned and the world faded to black, her heart shattered into a million jagged pieces. She had given him everything. How could they be so monstrous as to murder her and her innocent child just for money?
Opening her eyes again, the freezing cellar was gone.
She was standing in an emerald silk gown at an elite charity gala—the exact night their original kidnapping plot began, a month before she even announced her pregnancy.
This time, the naive socialite was dead, and she was going to make them pay in blood.