Stealing The Groom For Sweet Revenge
I was an unwanted foster kid taken in by the Goodwin family, about to marry into the wealthy Cantu family to secure my adoptive father's power.
But at my rehearsal dinner, my adoptive mother drugged my champagne, intending to have me assaulted and ruined.
The next morning, my fiancé and my sister burst into my hotel room with a swarm of reporters, pointing fingers in manufactured horror.
"You filthy whore! The engagement is over!"
My fiancé roared for the cameras, while my sister sobbed about my betrayal. They had brought the press to publicly slaughter me, justifying their own secret affair while my adoptive family cursed me as a disgusting stray.
For years, I had endured their toxic abuse, only to be thrown to the wolves so my sister could steal my life. They truly believed I was just a helpless pawn they could crush and discard.
But they didn't know I had anticipated their trap and deliberately walked into the bed of Dorian Underwood—the ruthless billionaire and the only man the Cantu family actually feared.
As I calmly hit 'send' to broadcast my fiancé's explicit sex tape to every reporter in the hallway, I met Dorian's dark, predatory gaze.
I wasn't just surviving anymore; I was going to tear both their empires to the ground.
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Chapter 4
The grand ballroom of the Plaza Hotel had been transformed in hours. The Cantu PR machine worked flawlessly.
Elizabeth sat in the bridal suite. She wore a sleek, minimalist silk gown that clung to her curves, a stark contrast to the ruffled monstrosity Meredith had picked out for her original wedding.
The heavy oak door clicked shut. Dorian walked in. He wore a tailored black tuxedo that fit his broad shoulders perfectly. He waved a hand, and the makeup artists scrambled out of the room.
He walked up behind her. Their eyes met in the vanity mirror.
Dorian placed his large hands on the back of her chair. He leaned down, his breath warm against her neck. "Were you drugged last night?"
Elizabeth didn't look away from his reflection. "Meredith's doing."
Dorian chuckled. It was a dark, appreciative sound. "You used her trap to corner me. Impressive."
Elizabeth stood up and turned to face him. "If you didn't want to be cornered, you could have told your grandmother no."
The air between them thickened. The space felt too small.
The wedding march began to play through the speakers.
Elizabeth walked down the aisle on the arm of her adoptive father, Kerr Goodwin. Kerr's face was pale and tight. He had planned to control the main branch of the Cantu family through Acey. Now, he was handing her over to the unpredictable outcast.
They reached the altar. Kerr shoved her hand toward Dorian and forced a sickeningly sweet smile for the cameras.
Dorian took her hand. His grip was firm, his thumb brushing over her knuckles.
The priest read the vows. They stood face to face, the picture of a couple fighting for their forbidden love.
"I do," Dorian said. His voice was steady, his eyes locked onto hers, stripping away her defenses.
"I do," Elizabeth replied, her voice equally cold and resolute.
Dorian pulled a ring from his pocket. He slid a massive, flawless emerald cut diamond onto her ring finger. The weight of it felt like a shackle.
At the reception, they played their parts perfectly. They smiled at the whispering guests. Dorian kept his hand on the small of her back, his fingers pressing into her spine.
Hours later, the stretched Lincoln town car pulled up to a sleek glass tower in Tribeca.
The private elevator opened directly into a massive penthouse. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the glittering Manhattan skyline.
Elizabeth kicked off her heels the moment the doors closed. She walked into the living room, her feet sinking into the dark rug.
Dorian pulled off his bowtie. He walked to the marble bar, poured two glasses of neat whiskey, and handed her one.
Elizabeth took the heavy crystal glass. "Let's set the rules. Separate bedrooms. Financial independence. We don't interfere in each other's private lives."
Dorian leaned against the bar. He took a sip of his whiskey, his eyes tracking the movement of her throat as she swallowed.
"You are Mrs. Underwood now," Dorian said, his voice dropping an octave. "You will attend the required events. You will play the part. You will not embarrass me."
Elizabeth let out a short, mocking laugh. "You're on the front page of the Post every other week with a different model. I think you handle the embarrassing part just fine."
Dorian set his glass down with a sharp clink. He closed the distance between them in two long strides, backing her up against the edge of the marble bar.
He planted his hands on the counter on either side of her hips, trapping her. His chest brushed against hers.
"Don't get too smart, Elizabeth," he warned, his voice a low rumble.
Elizabeth didn't flinch. She reached up, grabbed the lapels of his tuxedo jacket, and pulled him an inch closer.
"Keep your hands to yourself, Dorian," she whispered, "and I'll be the perfect wife."
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9.4
Michael Carter is an undercover FBI agent on a mission to take down ruthless mafia king Fernando Ramírez-the man he believes killed his sister. But getting close to Fernando means playing a dangerous game, one where seduction and power blur the lines between enemy and lover.
When Michael uncovers a shocking truth, his thirst for revenge turns into a fight for something far more dangerous-his own heart. Now, torn between duty and desire, he must decide: destroy the man he swore to take down or surrender to the one thing he never saw coming.
Love has never been more lethal.
7.2
Azura Briggs was just a broke college student working freezing valet shifts to pay her adoptive mother's crushing medical debt.
Her desperate life shattered the night a bulletproof Maybach violently cornered her in an alley, and a ruthless billionaire kidnapped her by mistake.
After a harrowing escape, Azura was forced to take a humiliating "plus-one" gig at a high-end gala just to survive. But her date turned out to be the billionaire's arrogant nephew, who promptly abandoned her to the wolves. Cornered by a sleazy executive and his psychotic wife, Azura was publicly slapped, her dress torn, and left bleeding on the floor while hundreds of elites watched in disgust.
Just as she prepared to fight to the death, the crowd violently parted. Hunter Mcintosh, the terrifying man who had kidnapped her days ago, dropped to his knees in the broken glass and wrapped his bespoke jacket around her trembling shoulders.
Azura was completely paralyzed. Why was the monster who threatened her life now destroying billionaires just to protect her?
But the illusion of safety didn't last. Trapped in his Maybach hours later, Hunter threw a draconian employment contract at her feet.
"Sign it, and her care is covered. Forever."
He knew exactly how to break her. He was offering to pay off her mother's debt, but only if she signed her life away to become his personal assistant. With no other way out, Azura picked up the heavy pen.
8.5
Five years ago, Nina Hale lost everything... her family, her reputation, and the man she once loved. Betrayed by her own sister and abandoned by those she trusted most, she disappeared without a trace.
Now she's back.
With a new identity and a burning determination, Nina is ready to reclaim her life and chase the dream she once gave up: becoming a star actress. But her return awakens old enemies, and her scheming sister Lydia is determined to ruin her again.
Just when Nina thinks things can't get worse, she's caught in another trap... and unexpectedly crosses paths with a quiet, lonely little boy.
Ethan Grant hasn't spoken in years.
Feeling responsible for him, Nina agrees to stay and help the child come out of his shell. But she didn't expect Ethan's dangerously charming father, Lucas Grant, to enter the picture.
Cold, powerful, and impossible to read, Lucas slowly finds himself drawn to the woman who brightens his son's world.
What begins as a simple act of kindness soon turns into something far more complicated, because Nina came back for revenge.
She never planned to fall in love.
**********
"I saw you with him," Lucas said quietly, but the tension in his jaw gave him away.
Nina exhaled, crossing her arms. "You don't get to care."
"Don't I?" He stepped in, close enough that she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes.
"This is just a contract."
"Then why does it bother me?" His hand hovered near her waist, not touching-yet.
"It shouldn't." Her breath faltered.
His gaze darkened, "And yet it does."
9.6
My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend.
From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down."
That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny.
But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded.
I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said."
Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off."
My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers.
I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal.
Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing.
As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury.
In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho."
How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me?
Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault?
Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred?
I would not be his victim.
Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done.
I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties.
This was not an escape; this was my rebirth.
Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.
9.5
"You shouldn't be here, Fiona," his deep voice rasped against her ear, his hand still pressed against the wall behind her.
"Then tell me to leave," she whispered, her lips trembling inches from his. He didn't move. He didn't breathe. And in that moment, she knew he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.
Fiona Harry has lived her whole life in a golden cage of wealth, reputation, and suffocating rules. University was supposed to be her escape, her first taste of freedom. But nothing could prepare her for the moment she came face-to-face with Professor Jalen Hart, her father's best friend. One reckless night changes everything. A drunken mistake turns into an irresistible obsession, pulling her deeper into Jalen's forbidden world. But secrets don't stay hidden forever. Between Jude, her possessive friend who knows too much, Marian, Jalen's wicked wife, and the dangerous power of desire, Fiona is about to risk not only hers and her family's reputation but her entire future.
And what happens when the truth comes out especially to Marian?
8.9
The mangled car teetered on the cliff's edge, my leg crushed, gasoline fumes thick in the air. My husband, Holden, stood safe on the highway, directing the rescue – but not for me. He was saving her, the woman in the passenger seat, leaving me and our unborn child to the ocean below.
I woke trapped in the crushed Maybach, leg pinned. The cliff loomed; the driver's seat was empty.
Holden, safe outside, directed paramedics past me to Giana, his "most valuable asset," ordering her rescue first.
I watched him comfort Giana, oblivious, as the car slid. My baby barely viable. Holden offered a black card for silence; Giana gloated.
Ten years of devotion, a cruel lie. Rage fueled me: how could he abandon his wife and child?
I swore a venomous oath: never again an accessory. I flicked his card away, shielded my pregnancy, and promised my baby escape.