Shame

Joyce loves Luca. Luca loves Joyce. Frank loves his family and will do anything to protect it, even if it means taking away his brother's reason for existing. Falling takes only one step, one movement of the chess piece, and in Joyce's fall she took more than just one heart with her. Go back to the beginning, where the drama of the Elect all starts. Go back to the first part of the story, where true love tried to conquer all. Where true love failed.

I'm not your typical girl. I've been running away from the memories that haunt me for so long that depression has become my only comfort. I was content in the darkness...until Wes Michels offered to be my light. I didn't know that time wasn't my ally - that every second that ticked past was one step closer to the end of something that was beginning to mean the end of myself. He tried to warn me. He promised me all he was able to offer - each moment as it came - but it would never be enough.

Part of a world I loathe. Part of a family who hates me more than I hate myself. Living with a girl who reminds me of my darkness. I'm. In. Hell. Also known as the Cosa Nostra. My life was over the minute I stepped off that plane. Son to a murdered mob boss. Heir to a throne of murder and lies. My name is Dante Nicolasi. And there will be blood.

Jane isn't entirely sure that Cinderella got such a raw deal. Sure, she had a rough start, but didn't she eventually land a prince and a happily ever after? Meanwhile Jane is busy waiting on her demanding, entitled sisters, running her cleaning business, and, yep, not a prince in sight. Until a party and a broken shoe incident leave Jane wondering if princes - or at least a certain deliciously hunky billionaire - maybe do exist.

Blaire has never quite gotten over Jessie Beckett, the ex-NFL star whose kisses were hot enough to ignite the entire Eastern Seaboard. When he chose work over her, Blaire was left brokenhearted. Why else would she have married a skeezy two-timer, just to divorce him less than a year later? Now Blaire is getting even by becoming one half of Dirty Exes, a PI firm fully committed to humiliating cheating jerks. If only the new jerk she’s been hired to uncover wasn’t Jessie Beckett himself.

Losing your ability to speak at the age of 17; it's not normal or fair. But trauma has a way of throwing normality out the window. Dani lives anything but a normal life: her sister is married to one of the biggest names in Hollywood, her best friends are rock stars, and she has more love around her than most people experience in a lifetime. But that doesn't change the fact their parents are dead, or that it's her fault. It seems her new normal is being a mute, living on the inside, unable to actually communicate on the outside.

Seattle heiress Mackenzie Dupont is treating herself to a single-girl honeymoon in Mexico and a desire to relinquish her innocence to a gorgeous one-night stand. Fake names. True pleasure. But when she wakes up alone, Mackenzie realizes just how much anger is left in her broken heart. Suffering a tragic personal loss, pro soccer player Slade Rodriguez has his reasons for vanishing without a good-bye. Right or wrong, he’s blaming the beautiful and infuriating stranger he never wants to see again. They’re both in for a shock when Mackenzie shows up as his new personal assistant.

My estranged twin brother, Julian, was always the wonder boy - and soon-to-be CEO of our ruthless father’s corporation. My mother and me? Left behind. Now, years after tearing our family apart, my father dares to ask me for a favor? Pretend to be Julian while he fights to survive a tragic accident. It can save the company. Nobody will be the wiser. It’ll be our secret.

They're not kids anymore, but Milo Caro is certain that Colton Mathews will only see her as his best friend's little sister for the rest of their lives. After all, he made that clear the night before she left for college. But four years later, her brother is getting married and Colt's the best man - and guess who is the best man's last-minute date?

He was my best friend...until he became my enemy, all within the span of one night. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. The rapid fire of gunshots became the soundtrack to my life. This is the Mafia. Lines are blurred. Choices are never black and white. And the life you thought you knew is one giant lie. He was dead. I didn't want his life to be in vain, so I tried to make something of myself. Tried and failed. Now he's back. Alive. And he wants me. Nobody ever said the Mafia played fair.

Turning 35 doesn’t mean much to most men. For Sebastian Wakefield, it’s the end of life as he knows it. When your father is the King of England, 35 is the year that a marriage will be arranged, a suitable bride cementing a future you didn’t choose. The obvious solution for escaping the archaic laws of the throne is for Sebastian to leave the country. And where better to go than America?

New Hope, South Carolina is my home. It’s where I grew up, got into trouble, and fell in love for the first time. Scarlett Kincaid was more than the girl next door, she was my best friend, until she decided that small town life wasn’t for her. The girl I used to fish with down at the creek is now the biggest name in country music, and I haven’t seen her since she left. Until today when she sped through town in her fancy car. One look at her big brown eyes was all it took to stir up a whole slew of emotions. Emotions I’d long ago buried and sure as hell don’t have time for.

The day he said he'd never love me is when I vowed Quinn Miller would never break my heart again. I wanted a family - but he wouldn't give me that. As one of the top embryologists in the country, I've spent years creating babies in the lab for other people as my own dreams of motherhood fade. I'm done waiting. I decide to start the journey to parenthood alone. Then Quinn strolls back into my life, with all the finesse of a hurricane. I'm a fool to think I don't want him anymore, and one reckless night of passion ends with me pregnant by the man I swore I'd never love again.

Hannah Malone loves her new town. Despite living in Cunningham Falls for five years, she's still considered a "move in" by most of the locals, and that doesn't bother her in the least. She's the "new girl", and she hasn't regretted it for one day. This town is her sanctuary. Her home. The one place she finally fits in and feels safe after a lifetime of being different and running from the memories and a past so far away it can't haunt her anymore.

Moving back home to my parents' cattle ranch in Texas was the last thing I thought I'd be doing. But, here I stand...in front of my high school girlfriend. A beautiful, confident woman has replaced the young girl I once knew and loved. Hell. I'm still in love with her. Yep. Paxton Monroe was my first love and the one girl in town who now hated my guts. So much so, Paxton swore her revenge on me if it took her until the day she died.