Paula Gardini
10 Published Stories
Paula Gardini's Books and Stories
Accidental Seduction: The Priceless Pregnant Prey
Billionaires My adoptive sister drugged me and sent me to a hotel for a fake audition, where a powerful stranger assaulted me in the pitch-black suite.
When I escaped home, my fiancé, Ethan, and my entire family ambushed me. They threw staged photos in my face, accusing me of selling my body to a sleazy director.
They called me a whore, stripped me of my trust fund, and threw me onto the street. But Ethan refused to let me go. He had me blacklisted from every job and even froze my only friend's bank accounts, trying to break me completely.
Forced into a corner, I had no choice but to attend a high-society party as his date, where he and my sister made sure everyone in New York saw me as worthless trash.
I couldn't understand the depths of their cruelty. Why would the very family who took me from an orphanage orchestrate such an elaborate plot to ruin me?
But during a sudden blackout at the party, I ran straight into the arms of my attacker. When the lights came back on, I finally saw his face. He wasn't a director—he was Abraham Bush, the most ruthless billionaire in the country. And just as my ex-fiancé is about to strike me after discovering I'm pregnant, Abraham's men have surrounded the house. Choosing The Imposter Over His Dying Wife
Modern My fiancée sacrificed five years of her life to save my family, falling into a deep coma.
But when she finally woke up, I didn't greet her with love. I greeted her with pure hatred.
Convinced by my mistress, Hailie, that Ericka was a traitor faking her illness for sympathy, I became her tormentor.
When she told me she had stage four cancer, I laughed and accused her of manipulation.
I locked her in a freezing safe house.
I forced her into a sauna until her skin blistered, then doused her failing lungs with ice water.
I dragged her out of the hospital to kneel in the rain until she collapsed.
Even when she fell from a balcony, broken and bleeding, I let my men beat her.
I watched her waste away, believing every one of Hailie's lies over Ericka's desperate truths.
It wasn't until I saw her cold, blue body on the rocks below the cliffs that the truth finally shattered me.
The autopsy confirmed the cancer I mocked was real.
A hidden recording revealed Hailie had framed her all along, admitting she treated me like a dog on a leash.
I realized I had tortured the woman who saved my life until she bought her own grave just to escape me.
I burned Hailie alive at Ericka's funeral, but death was too easy a punishment.
I lived in agony, a scarred monster praying for the end.
But when I finally closed my eyes in the fire, I didn't die.
I heard a beep.
I opened my eyes, and the date on my phone was three years ago.
The day Ericka woke up. Into The Rival's Arms: The Decoy's Escape
Mafia I stood behind the velvet curtain, clutching a positive pregnancy test, waiting for the perfect moment to tell Dante our family was growing.
Instead, I heard him laugh.
"She is not the bride," Dante told his Consigliere, swirling his fifty-year-old scotch. "She is the bulletproof vest I wear until it is safe for Sofia to enter the city. When the bullets stop flying, we throw the vest in the trash."
My world shattered.
When Sofia arrived that night, she didn't just take my place; she boiled my beloved cat for dinner. Dante didn't defend me. He told me to clean up the mess or face punishment.
To prove his devotion to her, he had his men drag me to "The Pit"—an underground fight club.
I was thrown into a cage with a starving Doberman.
I looked up at the VIP box, begging the man I loved to save me. Instead, Dante pressed the intercom button, his voice booming over the speakers.
"One million dollars on the dog," he said. "She won't last three minutes."
He covered Sofia's eyes to protect her innocence while the beast tore the flesh from my arm.
That night, Elena Vance died in the dirt.
One year later, the grieving Dante Moretti attended a gala for a mysterious new artist in New York.
He dropped his champagne glass when he saw me on stage, alive, wearing a dress that revealed my ruined, scarred arm.
"I didn't leave you, Dante," I said into the microphone, my voice cold as ice.
"You killed me. And now, I'm here to collect my winnings." My Lucky Day, Her Fatal Flaw
Modern My name is Gabrielle Johns, a rising architect with everything going for me – a dream career, a great apartment, and loving parents who sacrificed for my future. I was heading to my family's lake house for a long weekend, my best friend, Jen, complaining beside me as usual.
That' s when the vintage hearse hit my car, a minor fender-bender that Jen immediately declared my "lucky day."
Bizarrely, her words seemed to come true: my career soared, and my parents had the full down payment for my new condo. Jen, consumed by envy, became convinced the hearse was a source of "luck," deliberately getting herself hit by it.
But her "luck" turned into ruin. The hearse was priceless, and its owners sued her for damages that would devastate her. Spiraling into a paranoid rage, she blamed me for "stealing" her luck. One night, as I left my new condo, her madness culminated in the ultimate betrayal. Jen, my childhood best friend, plunged a knife into my chest, hissing, "This was supposed to be mine."
Darkness consumed me, my last thought of my parents and their future, stolen.
How could someone I loved become such a monster? Why did she believe my hard work was just "luck" she was entitled to? Why did this happen?
Then, I gasped awake. I was in my bed, in my old apartment, on the very morning the nightmare began. My phone buzzed: a text from Jen, "I've got a feeling this is going to be a very, very lucky weekend. ;)" She was back. And this time, I wouldn't be kind. The Unseen Killer Next Door
Horror Twenty years. Twenty years our lives had been haunted by the ghost of a distorted lullaby and an antique music box, the only clue left behind by the monster who murdered my wife Jennifer' s parents.
Just when a new murder-a replica of the old horror, right next door-offered a flicker of hope, I found myself slammed against a patrol car, my own badge glinting uselessly on the wet asphalt.
My wife, Jennifer, stood before me, not with relief, but with eyes full of a terrifying resolve, and cuffed me.
My partner, Andy, and Captain Clark, men I' d bled with, stood by silently, staring as the music box' s brass lid supposedly showed my reflection murdering the victim.
They believed it. My wife, my partner, my captain-they all believed it, accusing me, a veteran detective, of a preposterous crime based on a magic music box.
I stood there, handcuffed, watching the man I' d just tackled, the real running suspect, get set free, wondering if the entire world had gone mad, or if the cold case had finally shattered Jennifer' s mind… and mine. The Bait Boy's Billionaire Secret
Xuanhuan The preliminary exam for the Presidential Scholarship was about to begin. I stared at the essay prompt: "The Nature of Ambition." I knew exactly what to write.
A flawless essay, every sentence a stroke of genius, destined to secure my spot in the finals and launch my brilliant future.
But in my last life, that perfect essay became my death sentence. Mere minutes before I could hand in my paper, my rival, Ethan, uploaded an identical one online.
Then, he and my girlfriend, Jessica, launched a brutal campaign, painting me as a fraud, a plagiarist who stole from the school's golden boy.
The scandal utterly destroyed me. I was expelled, the scholarship snatched away. The immense stress broke my mother's weak heart; she died, still questioning my integrity.
My father, a humble bait-and-tackle shop owner, spent his entire life savings trying to clear my name before he perished in a suspicious boating "accident." Left with nothing, watching Ethan celebrate his Yale graduation online, I extinguished my own life.
The cold, hard rage of that injustice consumed me, even in death.
How did they know every thought, every perfect turn of phrase? How could they have replicated my genius so flawlessly, systematically dismantling my life while I was powerless?
Now, I'm back. In the same exam room, at the same desk, with the same clock ticking down. This time, I' m not just rewriting an essay. I' m rewriting history. And the script calls for a reckoning. Southern Melody, Broken Heart
Romance I woke up young again, back in my Southern hometown. For sixty years, I' d been married to Mark, my childhood sweetheart, and I cherished the hope for a perfect do-over. This was our second chance, our love story, chapter two.
But then, Mark arrived at the welcome-home BBQ. He didn't even glance my way as he strode to the gazebo, microphone in hand, and publicly declared his undying love for Jessica Miller, the town's golden girl. My heart, still aching for shared pasts, turned to ice.
My whole life with him-our sixty-year marriage, our shared memories-cracked and shattered, revealed as nothing but a carefully constructed lie. He began showering Jessica with grand gestures he'd always dismissed as "silly," utterly ignoring me. At the town dance, he publicly humiliated me, accusing me of theft and jealousy. Then, at the talent show, he even sabotaged my guitar, desperate for Jessica to win, trying to silence my last shred of hope.
How could the man I spent a lifetime with, the man I thought was my soulmate, inflict such cold, calculated cruelty? Was our entire love story truly just a sham, a convenience concocted by him? Every memory of our intertwined past felt tainted, leaving me heartbroken and desperate for an answer.
Just as despair threatened to consume me, a stranger-a music scout-approached me after hearing my raw, pain-filled song. He offered me a chance at a dream I' d long buried. It was time to write a new song, for me, and reclaim a life he never wanted me to have. Reborn from Betrayal: The Scientist's Reckoning
Modern Ellie Vance, a brilliant scientist, thought she had it all: a groundbreaking research project nearing completion, and a loving fiancé, Ethan. Her engagement party was supposed to be the celebration of a perfect future.
But then, the world stopped. At her own party, Ethan announced he was marrying her cousin, Vicky Croft. And in front of everyone, Vicky unveiled Ellie' s life' s work, presenting it as her own.
Ellie' s protests were met with dismissals, even from her own brother, Leo. As Ellie' s world spiraled into grief and disbelief, Vicky' s insidious cruelty secretly targeted Ellie' s ailing mother, accelerating her decline and ultimately leading to her death. Ellie was emotionally and physically broken, effectively "dead."
The injustice burned. How could they flaunt her stolen work and celebrate their deceit, while her mother suffered and died from their malice? The betrayal was absolute, leaving Ellie with nothing but shattered dreams and a profound sense of wrong.
Yet, a casual, cruel confession from Vicky changed everything. Overhearing her gloating about tormenting Ellie's mother and effortlessly stealing her research ignited a cold, steel resolve. The naive girl was gone. Now, Ellie would attend the grand gala celebrating Vicky, not as a victim, but as a force reborn, ready to unleash a reckoning and expose every single lie. The Monster in My Marriage
Modern My mother was dying, and the transplant was her only hope, but it was "very expensive." I swore I'd find the money, somehow.
But then, my fiancé broke off our engagement, choosing Sophia Bellweather instead.
Desperate, I accepted my childhood friend Ethan Miller's shocking proposal: he'd cover all medical costs if I married him. He became my savior.
My mother still died shortly after the surgery, her body rejecting the organ.
Five years into our stable, quiet marriage, I overheard Ethan and his friend talking. "That organ was meant for Sarah Williams. You diverted it, Ethan. You played God."
My world stopped. He admitted my mother's organ had been rerouted to save Sophia Bellweather' s mother.
And our marriage? "A penance," he confessed, "to give Ava a good life, to protect her. And… it kept things quiet."
The man I married, my supposed savior, had orchestrated my mother's death out of obsession for another woman.
My entire life, my grief, my five-year marriage-a meticulously crafted lie. My heart hammered, a cold fury rising.
I was a fool, walking blindly into a monstrous deception. He destroyed everything. Now, everything will be destroyed, starting with finding the truth. You might like
The Discarded Heiress: Marrying My Lethal Husband
Xiao Wang The rain in Detroit was slick with grime when my family finally came to fetch me. They didn't want a reunion; they wanted a sacrificial lamb to marry into the Kaufman empire to save their failing business.
I thought I was just being sold off, but the limo ride ended under a dark overpass where six hired thugs were waiting with chains. My own sister had ordered them to "break my spirit" so I’d be a shaking, pathetic mess by the time I reached the altar.
They called me "Detroit trash" and sprayed air freshener when I sat on their leather seats. My stepmother wanted a video of me begging for my life, and my father was ready to trade me like a used car to a man everyone called a "vegetable." They expected a submissive country girl, unaware that I was a high-level "cleaner" who could snap a radius bone before they could even scream.
When I finally reached the Kaufman estate, I found my fiancé, Barron, slumped in a wheelchair, drooling and silent. But as soon as the doors closed, the "invalid" grabbed my wrist with a grip of iron and whispered a command that changed everything.
I didn't understand why my own blood was so desperate to see me destroyed. What had I ever done to deserve a hit squad and a forced marriage to a man they thought was a corpse?
But Barron isn't a vegetable, and I'm not a victim. We just touched down at the Moon family gala in a matte-black helicopter, and as the doors slide open, the "broken" bride is about to show them exactly what happens when you throw away the wrong daughter.
"If we're going to crash a party," Barron whispered, his eyes burning with lethal clarity, "we should make an entrance." I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis
Jessica C. Dolan Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé.
Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now-billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn't mind. I'd crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?
Wrong.
One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That's when it hit me-he didn't love me. He didn't even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn't even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.
So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster-my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.
Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.
Enter him.
Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I'd met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.
It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.
But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.
And, as it turned out, the best decision I'd ever made.
Because my one-night stand isn't just some random guy. He's richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.
And now, he's not letting me go. Craving for My Tyrant Husband
Cosme Seidel I was cheated on by my scumbag boyfriend.
On the night I got blackout drunk, I married a stranger, and when I woke up, I only found a marriage certificate and a black card.
He took care of my scumbag ex for me, gave me a canary diamond ring, but refused to show his face—he only called me baby on video calls.
I ran to my best friend’s house to hide, only to find that the billionaire next door, who made my heart skip a beat, had the exact same scent as him.
My best friend cried and begged me: "He’s Augustus, a tyrant who eats people alive!"
But only I knew that the man who pressed me against the terrace railing, leaned down to kiss me, and whispered "I’ll protect you" softly.
Fifty thousand dollars to sneak photos of his private office? I’ll go.
Not for the money, but to ask him to his face—
Gus, how many secrets are you hiding? And how long have you been craving me? Wrong Room: Sleeping With My Fiancé's Uncle
Natala O'neal To revenge herself on her unfaithful fiancé Kevin, Isidora hides her striking beauty behind a plain disguise, and targets his uncle — the most formidable man Kevin fears.
After one reckless night, Isidora leaves cash as payment and says lightly, "You were good last night." She tries to leave quietly, but is pulled into his arms.
"You think you can walk away after this?" he says, his tone low and possessive.
Cedrick is a feared, untouchable titan on Wall Street — elegant, aloof, and completely uninterested in women. Not even the most beautiful socialites in the city can catch his eye. When gossip spreads that he was seen pressing a woman against a wall and kissing her fiercely, no one believes it.
When the rumors name Isidora, the crowd scoffs. He rejects even the most beautiful women, so why would he notice a plain girl like her?
All doubt disappears when they see the dignified Cedrick drop to one knee to help Isidora with her shoe, pleading softly for just one kiss.
When Kevin finally sees Isidora's true beauty and begs for forgiveness. But Cedrick kicks him out at once, slams a marriage certificate on the table, and says sharply.
“Call her Aunt.” Pregnant For My Ex-Fiancé's Father
Havilworth
I think it was more of guilt than worry. I was fucking my ex fiancee's father and while I may not know how this leads, I knew I never wanted it to end.
Liv Bennett thought she had her future all figured out-until the night she caught her fiancé, Aaron Blackwood, in a passionate betrayal with her step sister just a night before their wedding. Heartbroken and humiliated, Liv drowns her sorrows in alcohol and ends up sharing a heated, unforgettable night with a mysterious older man.
But when the haze of the night clears, Liv's world is turned upside down again. The man she had a one night stand with is none other than Kaelon Blackwood-Aaron's father and a powerful billionaire alpha. As Liv struggles to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, she discovers she's pregnant with Kaelon's child, throwing her into a whirlwind of scandal and forbidden love.
Caught between the betrayal of the past and the temptation of a forbidden future, Livphina must find the strength to choose her own path. But can she overcome the obstacles of age, power, and family to claim the love that was never meant to be hers? Will she walk away from the man who could destroy her-or embrace the one who might just save her?
Craving The Wrong Brother
Elysian Sparrow She spent ten years chasing after the right brother, only to fall for the wrong one in one weekend.
~~~
Sloane Mercer has been hopelessly in love with her best friend, Finn Hartley, since college. For ten long years, she's stood by him, stitching him back together every time Delilah Crestfield-his toxic on-and-off girlfriend-shattered his heart.
But when Delilah gets engaged to another man, Sloane thinks this might finally be her chance to have Finn for herself. She couldn't be more wrong.
Heartbroken and desperate, Finn decides to crash Delilah's wedding and fight for her one last time. And he wants Sloane by his side.
Reluctantly, Sloane follows him to Asheville, hoping that being close to Finn will somehow make him see her the way she's always seen him.
Everything changes when she meets Knox Hartley, Finn's older brother-a man who couldn't be more different from Finn. He's dangerously magnetic. Knox sees right through Sloane and makes it his mission to pull her into his world.
What starts as a game-a twisted bet between them-soon turns into something deeper. Sloane is trapped between two brothers: one who's always broken her heart and another who seems hell-bent on claiming it... no matter the cost.
CONTENT WARNING:
This story is strongly 18+.
It delves into dark romance themes such as obsession and lust with morally complex characters.
While this is a love story, reader discretion is advised.
SCORNED EX WIFE : Queen Of Ashes
Annypen Camille Lewis was the forgotten daughter, the unloved wife, the woman discarded like yesterday's news. Betrayed by her husband, cast aside by her own family, and left for dead by the sister who stole everything, she vanished without a trace.
But the weak, naive Camille died the night her car was forced off that bridge.
A year later, she returns as Camille Kane, richer, colder, and more powerful than anyone could have imagined. Armed with wealth, intelligence, and a hunger for vengeance, she is no longer the woman they once trampled on. She is the storm that will tear their world apart.
Her ex-husband begs for forgiveness. Her sister's perfect life crumbles. Her parents regret the daughter they cast aside. But Camille didn't come back for apologies, she came back to watch them burn.
But as her enemies fall at her feet, one question remains: when the revenge is over, what's left?
A mysterious trillionaire Alexander Pierce steps into her path, offering something she thought she lost forever, a future. But can a woman built on ashes learn to love again?
She rose from the fire to destroy those who betrayed her. Now, she must decide if she'll rule alone... or let someone melt the ice in her heart.
Sexy Behind The Mask
Ellie Wynters She hides behind ugly suits and fake names. He's done trusting women. When they meet in a masked sex club, neither realizes they've been fighting each other across boardroom tables for eighteen months. At Taylor Industries, she's Joy Smith-the frumpy CFO who drowns her curves in shapeless polyester and wearing a wig. At home, she's the forgotten wife of a cheating lawyer who hasn't touched her in so long she's starting to wonder if she's broken. When she finds hot pink lace panties stuffed in her couch cushions...definitely not hers, it's not heartbreak she feels. It's freedom. Grayson Taylor doesn't do relationships anymore. Not after walking in on his actress fiancée with another woman. Now he channels everything into hostile takeovers and board meetings, especially the ones where his overcautious CFO fights him on every goddamn acquisition. Joy Smith is brilliant, infuriating, and funny when he pushes all her buttons. But Honey is tired of being invisible. Tired of never having felt real pleasure. So, when her best friend gives her the details of The Velvet Room-Manhattan's most exclusive masked club-she promises herself just one night. One night to find out if her husband's right, if she really is frigid, or if she's just never been touched by the right hands. She doesn't expect the masked stranger who claims her the second she walks in. Doesn't expect the chemistry that ignites between them, the way he makes her body sing, or the orgasms that leave her shaking. Doesn't expect him to hand her an email address with one command: "Only me. No one else touches you." Call Me Fake Heiress? Now I Bought My Ex's Company
Khira Mirena never imagined that one day, she'd be labeled an impostor.
Five years ago, the Sterling family "rescued" Mirena from an orphanage, calling it fate. Then, to "protect their honor," they married her off to George Ashton, forcing her into five years of a humiliating, submissive marriage.
Now, their "true" heiress has returned, and Mirena is discarded overnight-divorced, disowned, and the scandal of the city.
What they never knew? She never needed their name to build her own.
The world watches now as the woman they mocked rises as the legendary "Investment Queen." And the family that cast her out can only watch in terror as she buys their most prized possession: her ex-husband's company.
When George crawls back, begging for another chance, Mirena doesn't even blink.
"Sorry, darling," she smiles, cold as ice. "I don't recycle trash."
Beside her stands Alexander Pierce-billionaire titan of Wall Street, her once-rival, now the man who can't stay away. His hand rests, possessive and warm, on the small of her back.
"Eyes forward, love," he murmurs, his voice a low command. "You only look at what's yours now."
And he's making it very clear-he intends to be at the top of that list. 
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