The Debt Collector's Bride
Sera Hale is a young art student living a completely sheltered life, unaware of her father's dangerous secrets. When her father's debt is called in by the ruthless mafia boss, Damien Vescari, Sera is suddenly kidnapped and forced into marriage.
She's terrified of Damien, especially because she suspects he was involved in her mother's death. But what truly confuses Sera is the intense, almost obsessive familiarity in his eyes and the surprising kindness he sometimes shows her.
Sera doesn't realize the shocking truth: Damien was her anonymous online soulmate from years ago-the boy she fell in love with before her father suddenly cut her off. Damien has been searching for her ever since.
Now, he finally has her, but their reunion is a nightmare. She sees him only as a kidnapper, and her love is replaced by fear.
As Sera fights for her freedom, she discovers that their past is tangled up in dangerous secrets.
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Chapter 2
Sera's POV:
My art room was the only place that was truly mine. It didn't belong to my father. It didn't belong to his enemies. It was far away from the violence that followed him like dark mud.
Here, everything was calm. The air smelled thick with paint. Soft music played. The white canvas waited for whatever I wanted to make.
I dipped my brush in blue and moved it across the canvas slowly forming waves, calm waves. The kind of waves that never had screaming or gunshots near them. When I painted, the outside world didn't exist. Or, I tried to make it not exist.
And suddenly a loud slam came from outside the door. I froze. Another argument, probably. My father always had loud, angry, dangerous business. I tried to look back at my painting. Just breathe, just keep going.... I tell myself.
Another bang. Harder this time. My heart jumped hard. Before I could put the brush down, the door broke open. Three tall men in black rushed in like a storm. My paint jar fell and blue water splashed all over my legs.
"What... Who are you?" I stammered, backing up until my spine hit the wall. The closest man stepped forward. "Sera Voss?
I nodded, shaking.
"Don't fight," he said. "We don't want to hurt you. He reached for me.
I slapped his hand away. "Stay back!"
But another man was already behind me. A black glove covered my mouth before I could scream.
I kicked and fought, gasping against the leather.
"Hold her hands," the first man ordered. "Boss wants her alive. No marks." Alive? What do they mean? They grabbed my arms and pulled them behind my back. My heart was pounding so loud I could barely hear anything else.
"Who sent you?" I forced out when the hand moved away from my mouth.
The man's black eyes did not blink. "Damien Vescari." That name hit me like a solid punch. Damien.
I had heard it before, in hushed arguments and behind closed doors. My father's voice, shaking in a way I had never heard, saying, we never cross that man, never.
A monster. A name that made grown men terrified.
"No," I whispered. "You have the wrong person. I don't know him. My father..."
"Your father knows him," the man cut in. "That is the problem."
I shook my head hard. "Please... stop." He pulled a black cloth from his coat.
"No," I said, backing away uselessly. "Please don't..." The blindfold went tight over my eyes and darkness swallowed me.
"Move."
Strong arms dragged me. My feet hit brushes and broken glass. I cried out when my shoulder hit the door frame.
"Slow down!" I begged.
"No time."
Cold night air hit my skin as they pulled me outside. A car door opened. They lifted me and shoved me inside a dark metal van. No windows, no escape. The door slammed shut. My breath came too fast, too raw.
"Where are you taking me?" I whispered.
"To the man you should be most afraid of," one of them said.
The van lurched forward.
"Why me?" I choked. "What does he want?"
The man went silent then laughed coldly. "He wants what was promised." I shook my head hard. Promised? By my father?
My voice broke. "I don't know what you mean!"
"No," the man said. "But he does."
The van stopped. A door opened and hands yanked me into a place that smelled expensive, cold, and wrong. I hear the footsteps of men... then a quiet voice ordered:
"Take the blindfold off."
Light crashed into my eyes and I blinked hard. Then my breath stopped. A man stood in front of me. He was very tall and had dark hair. His eyes were like a storm-sharp and familiar, like they had been waiting for me forever. He didn't smile, he didn't move, he just stared.
"Hello, Sera," he said, a little bit too soft, too certain.
I swallowed. "I don't know you. Why did you take me?"
His gaze dropped to my lips, then came back up to my eyes.
"You know me," he whispered. "You just don't remember."
I shook my head. "Let me go."
"I will," he said. "When your part of the deal is finished."
"What deal? I don't know what you're talking about"
"Your father made a deal with me," Damien cut in, his voice hard as steel.
"Twelve years ago." He added.
I froze.
"Twelve... years?"
A mix of pain, anger, and longing crossed his eyes.
"Yes, you were promised to me," he said softly.
"Promised?" I repeated, barely able to breathe.
His lips twisted into something dark.
"You will be my wife, Sera."
The room spun.
"No," I gasped. "No, I won't-"
"You already are," he said. "By blood and by vow."
Before I could scream, a door slammed open behind us. A guard rushed in, bleeding.
"Boss," he said urgently. "We found him."
Damien didn't move. "Who did you find?"
"Her father. He's at the gate. He's almost dead."
The ground disappeared from under me.
"Dad?" I whispered.
Damien turned to me, his eyes burning with ownership.
"You'll see him," he promised, stepping closer.
His voice felt like fire sinking into me.
"After we are married."
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8.5
To the Dark Moon Pack, I wasn't just invisible; I was a stain. Dean Lee, the Alpha designed for my soul, treated me like a shameful secret while he paraded his mistress, Karina, in red silk.
The night of the Charity Auction, Dean bought my late mother's moonstone pendant—the only thing I had left of her—for a hundred thousand dollars.
I begged him for it. Instead, he clasped it around Karina's ankle.
With a cruel laugh, Karina stomped her stiletto heel, crushing the moonstone into dust. Dean just watched, his eyes cold and unfeeling.
"It was just a cheap rock," he said. "I'll buy you diamonds."
But the cruelty didn't stop at emotional torture. When rogues attacked, Dean used me as live bait to distract them from Karina.
He threw me into the Blood Pit, a gladiator arena, to fight a massive Feral wolf while he sat in the VIP box with Karina on his lap.
"She won't last three minutes," I heard him say through our dying bond.
He watched with bored detachment as I was ripped apart, refusing to save me even as I screamed his name. He saved the mistress and drowned the mate.
I died on that arena floor. Or so he thought.
Years later, the mysterious and world-renowned artist "H.Y." returned to New York for a gallery opening.
When Dean saw me on stage, he rushed forward, tears streaming down his face, trying to claim the wife he had mourned.
"Hayley," he choked out, reaching for me. "You're alive. You're mine."
I didn't cry. I didn't run.
I unleashed a shockwave of ancient White Wolf energy that blasted him across the room, shattering the glass displays.
"I don't take orders from dogs anymore," I said, looking down at him.
"I, Hayley York, hereby reject you."
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."
9.4
Hayley was betrayed by those who should have loved her most. To save their precious adopted daughter from a punishment she deserved, her own parents sent Hayley straight into a living hell—an infamous prison where survival demanded cruelty, and weakness meant death.
Four years later, the girl who had entered those iron gates no longer existed. She emerged with a single, unbreakable rule carved into her soul: Every betrayal would be repaid tenfold.
The day she walked free, the world trembled. A convoy of luxury cars lined the road. A legion of loyal followers awaited her triumphant return.
Her father tried to buy her silence with money. But money had long lost its power over her.
Her adopted sister hid behind sweet words and false kindness. But empty smiles no longer fooled her.
Everything that had once been stolen would be reclaimed—piece by piece.
When her parents attempted to tie themselves to the city's most feared man by offering their adopted daughter, Hayley's lips curved into a cold smirk. "Not on my watch."
Backed by a legendary hacker, shadowy allies, and an entire prison willing to burn the world for her, Hayley dismantled her enemies with terrifying precision.
Then the tyrant noticed her. "You're interesting," he said. "Be my woman, and the city is yours."
Hayley raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You want to own me? Survive me first."
High society became their battlefield. Power collided with desire. Ambition clashed with obsession. In this ruthless game of dominance and temptation, only one would kneel first.
The girl once abandoned in hell rose from its ashes, crowned by fire and vengeance—And in the end, even the most feared ruler in the city would bow, offering his empire to the woman who had conquered both hell… and him.
7.4
In a world ruled by guns, secrets, and blood-soaked loyalties, love is the most dangerous currency of all.
Alessandro De Luca is the unseen king of a global cartel-ruthless, brilliant, and feared across continents. His word is law, his mercy nonexistent. Until one night, one woman, and one mistake unravel everything he has built.
Elena Hart is innocent but unbreakable, drawn into the underworld through a debt she never created. She should have been collateral-nothing more. Instead, she becomes his weakness.
As enemies close in and betrayal festers within the cartel, Alessandro must choose between the empire crowned in blood... or the woman who threatens to destroy it.
Love was never part of the plan.
Survival was.
And in this world, both demand a price.
9.7
She came to kill him.
He made her his queen.
Valeria Romano spent five years with one purpose ... destroy Lorenzo De Luca, the mafia king who murdered her father. She trained in silence, sacrificed everything, and finally had him in her crosshairs on a cold Sicilian night.
Then he showed her the truth.
Her father's killer was never Lorenzo.
It was the man who held her at the funeral. The man she called every week for five years. The man who handed her the wrong name and watched her walk toward the wrong target while he rebuilt his empire on her father's grave.
Her uncle Marco.
Now Valeria is bound to the enemy she came to destroy ... in a contract marriage she didn't choose, inside a world she doesn't yet understand, hunting a man who has been ten steps ahead of everyone for twenty years.
But Marco has never faced a woman who has nothing left to lose.
As the truth unravels and the bodies pile up and the line between hatred and something far more dangerous begins to blur ... Valeria must decide who she is willing to become to protect the people she loves.
Because in Lorenzo De Luca's world, power is everything.
And she is about to become the most powerful thing in it.
Some wars are fought with guns. The deadliest ones are fought from the inside.
7.5
I was Nyx, a top-tier covert operative. But when I opened my eyes, I was trapped in the unfamiliar, overweight body of a bullied girl named Eliza.
Before I could even process the body swap, the bedroom door splintered open. I was in bed with Julian Malone, a wealthy military heir, both of us heavily drugged. Cameras flashed wildly. It was a vicious setup to ruin his career, and I was the bait.
To save his family's reputation, Julian was forced to marry me. But the moment the wedding was over, he abandoned me. His elite family treated me like a disease. His mother froze my only bank account, trying to starve me into submission.
I even intercepted a private conversation between his parents.
"Once she's in a private facility, she loses all legal standing. We can sign anything we want on her behalf."
They planned to lock me up in a mental asylum and erase my existence entirely to get rid of the "trailer park trash."
To them, I was just a weak, pathetic pawn they could crush without a second thought. They thought they had backed a helpless girl into a corner.
They had no idea they had just declared war on a lethal weapon.
I didn't cry or beg. Instead, I bypassed their state-of-the-art security, cracked their safe, and stole the financial secrets that could destroy their entire empire.
"I want five hundred thousand dollars, or these files go to the IRS."
This time, I was playing by my own rules.