0
TOP UP
Reading History
Sign out
Get the APPRising from the ash
/1/106756/coverorgin.jpg?v=2993ae90a66b7c82c22fce8075ae3fb4&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rejected by the Son, I Chose the Don
On my wedding day, my father sold me to the Chicago Outfit to pay his debts. I was supposed to marry Alex Moreno, the heir to the city's most powerful crime family. But he couldn't even be bothered to show up. As I stood alone at the altar, humiliated, my best friend delivered the final blow. Alex hadn't just stood me up; he had run off to California with his mistress. The whispers in the cathedral turned me into a joke. I was damaged goods, the rejected bride. His family knew the whole time and let me take the public fall, offering me his cousins as pathetic replacements-a brute who hated me or a coward who couldn't protect me. The humiliation burned away my fear, leaving only cold rage. My life was already over, so I decided to set the whole game on fire myself. The marriage pact only said a Carlson had to marry a Moreno; it never said which one. With nothing left to lose, I looked past the pathetic boys they offered. I chose the one man they never expected. I chose his father, the Don himself.The air tasted like copper and burnt sugar. It was a thick, suffocating blanket that pressed down on Kala's chest, refusing to let her lungs expand. She coughed, a violent, hacking spasm that tore at her throat, but the sound was swallowed by the roar of the fire.
She tried to move, to roll off the mattress that was rapidly becoming a pyre, but her body refused to obey. A heavy weight pinned her left leg to the floor. Through the stinging haze of gray smoke, she saw the outline of the oak beam from the ceiling. It had snapped like a twig, trapping her against the hardwood floor.
Pain wasn't immediate. It was a delayed signal, a dull throb that suddenly sharpened into a white-hot lance shooting up her thigh. She opened her mouth to scream, but the smoke stole her voice, turning it into a rasping whimper.
The silk curtains-the ones her mother, Doloris, had picked out because they matched the "Kensington aesthetic"-were gone. In their place were tongues of orange and blue flame, licking the plaster walls, curling toward the bed where she lay pinned. The heat was a physical blow, slapping her skin, drying the tears before they could even track down her soot-stained cheeks.
Footsteps.
They were heavy, frantic thuds vibrating through the floorboards. Hope, cruel and bright, flared in Kala's chest.
"Daddy!" she tried to yell. "I'm here!"
The bedroom door burst open. The influx of oxygen fed the fire, causing it to roar louder, a hungry beast welcoming a meal.
Arthur Kensington stood in the doorway. He had a wet towel pressed over his nose and mouth, his eyes wide and watering. Behind him were her brothers-Archer and Jules. They looked like a phalanx of saviors, silhouettes against the hellscape of the hallway.
Kala reached out a hand, her fingers trembling. The movement sent a fresh wave of agony through her crushed leg, but she didn't care. They were here. They had come for her.
"Help," she mouthed.
Arthur's eyes scanned the room. His gaze landed on Kala. He saw the beam. He saw the blood pooling around her leg. He saw her outstretched hand.
And then, his eyes moved.
They slid past her, glossing over her suffering as if she were a piece of furniture, and locked onto the corner of the room near the closet.
"Karly!" Arthur screamed, his voice muffled by the towel but distinct enough to shatter Kala's heart.
Karly was huddled in the corner, far from the flames. She was coughing, yes, but she was mobile. There was no beam crushing her bones. There was only a smudge of soot on her perfect, pale cheek.
"Daddy!" Karly shrieked, a high-pitched sound that cut through the crackling of the wood.
Archer didn't hesitate. He rushed past Kala, his heavy boots inches from her outstretched fingers. He didn't look down. He went straight to the corner, scooping Karly up into his arms as if she were made of spun glass.
"I've got you," Archer said, his voice thick with emotion. "We've got you, Karly. Don't look at the fire."
Kala watched, her vision blurring. Not from the smoke, but from a realization that burned hotter than the flames.
/1/105669/coverorgin.jpg?v=08252983093595957cca58c963da3b7b&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rising From The Ashes Of Betrayal
I spent my whole life trying to fit into the "Kensington aesthetic," dyeing my hair blonde and playing dumb just to earn a crumb of my father's approval. But when the manor went up in flames, I realized I was never a daughter to them-I was just an inconvenience. I lay pinned under a heavy oak beam, the smell of copper and burnt sugar filling my lungs. My father, Arthur, stood in the doorway with my brothers, looking like a phalanx of saviors, but their eyes weren't on me. They rushed past my outstretched, bloody hand to save my sister, Karly, who was huddled in a corner without a scratch on her. My brother Archer scooped her up like spun glass, stepping over my crushed leg without a second glance. Just before they crossed the threshold, Karly looked back at me and smiled-a small, victorious, terrifying smile. My father didn't offer help; he just shouted that I was an arsonist and slammed the door, sentencing me to burn alive in my own bedroom. As the crystal chandelier melted and crashed toward me, I didn't feel fear anymore. I felt a guttural, distilled hate for the family that left me to die because of a lie. I had spent my life begging for scraps at a table that was never meant for me, and I died realizing they never loved me at all. "If I come back," I promised into the void, "I will burn you all down." I gasped for air and woke up in my bed, the smell of lavender replacing the smoke. It was September 14th, five years before the fire, the exact week I had started ruining myself to please them. I looked in the mirror, scrubbed off the pathetic makeup mask, and realized the old, desperate Kala was dead. If I was going to burn, I'd make sure they were the ones who felt the heat first. "Queen is back online," I whispered./1/106618/coverorgin.jpg?v=1cad2ef9392fda9e5db5d8510994d28c&imageMogr2/format/webp)
The Billionaire's Disguise: Rising From The Ashes
I spent two years sweating on construction sites, hauling drywall and mixing cement, just to give Brittni the normal life she said she wanted. On our anniversary, I sat in our dark kitchen with a plate of homemade fettuccine and a one-carat diamond ring I’d saved six months of wages for, waiting forRising From The Ashes Of Betrayal
I spent my whole life trying to fit into the "Kensington aesthetic," dyeing my hair blonde and playing dumb just to earn a crumb of my father's approval. But when the manor went up in flames, I realized I was never a daughter to them-I was just an inconvenience. I lay pinned under a heavy oak beam,/0/35268/coverorgin.jpg?v=5ae86d9ad041242cdee0e650c6491415&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rising From The Ashes (Book 2 Of The Blood Moon Saga)
Drake and Lilly’s story continues here in book 2 of the Blood Moon Saga Drake and Lilly are the perfect couple, they are loyal, fierce but most of all they are addicted to each other and the amazing life they have created together. Unfortunately that only makes the threats that loom over there hea/1/106588/coverorgin.jpg?v=6ad077eae5a6cf0efd0a52ce67baf276&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Jilted Heiress: Rising From The Ashes
I stood in the center of my Manhattan penthouse, staring at the empty satin hanger where my custom Vera Wang gown should have been. It was a masterpiece of silk and pearls that had taken six months to perfect for my wedding to the billionaire heir, Boston Travis. Then my phone buzzed. Boston’s voic/0/48519/coverorgin.jpg?v=bbc3ff7154be9672e273703b77b5bbef&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rising from the Ashes of Her Past (A Lunas Tale)
Arina De Luca is the daughter of Shadow Borne Pack Alpha. Her life was perfect until the Alpha's sudden death, when she suddenly found herself treated like a slave. A seemingly unstoppable situation forces Arina to flee just as she is approaching her eighteenth birthday. For years, Lycan king Alex/1/102328/coverorgin.jpg?v=1c14d76582396f76fb80d60e731b6af8&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rising From Ash: The Mafia Queen Returns
To my husband, I was just a political bridge, a treaty with a heartbeat. While I sat alone in our cold estate, hiding the child growing inside me, Dante spent his days comforting his late brother's wife, Vanessa. He treated her like porcelain and me like furniture. The breaking point came the nig/1/102474/coverorgin.jpg?v=f4fe254a58a27990a20547453ffc7b50&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Born From The Ash
He rejected her under the moonlight. Now fate has thrown them into the same war... Aria Ashborne was supposed to be forgotten the castaway of a fallen pack, the daughter of a disgraced Alpha. But fate has a cruel sense of humor. When Alpha Kaiden Blackthorn the brutal enforcer of the Northern Terr/0/77877/coverorgin.jpg?v=520d2c7a79241b63273e251c93e837e5&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rising From Betrayal
Mirabella had built her life around love, trust, and devotion, believing that her marriage to Ethan was the very definition of a perfect union. Despite struggling with infertility, she held onto the dream of a future filled with happiness, willing to sacrifice anything for the man she loved. However/1/107953/coverorgin.jpg?v=6c19555783cf413b4540f8e117eb32c0&imageMogr2/format/webp)
The Rejected Burden: Rising From The Shadows
I liquidated every asset I owned for a single gala ticket, convinced that after twenty years, Grafton Blanchard was finally going to ask me to be his partner. My husband, Kingston Riddle, even hinted that the diamond "Eternity Lock" bracelet I’d been eyeing was gone from the vault, and I was sure it/0/72913/coverorgin.jpg?v=359f7227b82fb9558a6bba211d39f585&imageMogr2/format/webp)
The Phantom Heiress: Rising From The Shadows
Brenna lived with her adoptive parents for twenty years, enduring their exploitation. When their real daughter appeared, they sent Brenna back to her true parents, thinking they were broke. In reality, her birth parents belonged to a top circle that her adoptive family could never reach. Hoping Bre/1/106646/coverorgin.jpg?v=f3d2979a22229b7ade07ac36a3124145&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rising From The Deep: The Heiress's Wrath
I walked into the master suite clutching a positive pregnancy test, convinced this tiny plastic stick would finally mend the cracks in my relationship with Braeden Randall. I was ready to tell him we were starting a family, that our future was finally secure. Instead of a celebration, a heavy manil/1/103323/coverorgin.jpg?v=892208c3d81c389f1973a483b3f4af13&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Betrayed By The Don: Rising From Ashes
I was guiding the blade through a slab of A5 Wagyu for our seven-year anniversary when a burner phone vibrated against my knee. It was a photo of a manicured hand resting on the tuxedo I had bought for Dante three weeks ago. On the finger sat a massive diamond ring. The caption read: Mrs. Isabella/1/107483/coverorgin.jpg?v=70eacbab259c2ea839da57c2765289a0&imageMogr2/format/webp)
The Ghost Surgeon's Revenge: Rising From Ashes
I was the trophy wife of Wall Street’s golden boy, Spencer Elliott. For three years, I played the part of the perfect, silent spouse, enduring his coldness and his mother’s venom. I did it all because Spencer was the only person paying for the experimental medical care keeping my dying mother alive./1/101393/coverorgin.jpg?v=cc6dca3fdf81c4ad6b5ec532b3253f33&imageMogr2/format/webp)
The Blind Wife's Return: Rising From Ashes
I went to the Department of Vital Records to pick up my four-year-old son's death certificate, but I left with a birth certificate for my husband's illegitimate child. The date of birth was August 14th. My son, Leo, had drowned in October. While I was choosing a casket for our child, Eli had been/1/101982/coverorgin.jpg?v=418f00c93cc3f3887a5fb2d852f23b6b&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rising From The Grave As A Queen
I was tracing the gold paint on my own tombstone when a hand tapped me on the shoulder. It was Clayton. The same man who, five years ago, had left me bleeding out in a ditch because he didn't want to be late for my sister’s engagement party. "Die quietly, Ivy," he had said over the phone before h/1/107482/coverorgin.jpg?v=1f32b8965eaee174b14e07885f5f683e&imageMogr2/format/webp)
The Ghost Heiress: Rising From Shadows
I had served as the private medical counsel for the Huff family for five years, keeping their scandals buried and their blood pumping. But at the Cipriani gala, standing under a storm of camera flashes, I realized I was just a smudge of ink on their golden canvas. My twenty-year-old niece, Ainsley,/1/106474/coverorgin.jpg?v=9de41172160b7cc774cab30828035d27&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rising From Ruin: The Discarded Heiress
I woke up in a sterile hospital room, my body feeling like a hollowed-out shell. For fifteen years, I had been the "spare part" of the wealthy Kensington family, a foster child kept only as a biological resource for their golden daughter, Jenna. My adoptive mother, Kathryn, walked in with a cold-ey/1/104528/coverorgin.jpg?v=1016287b60835a541f3da7a52735f7ef&imageMogr2/format/webp)
Rising From Ashes: The Architect's Comeback
I woke up in a sterile hospital room with no memory of the lethal-looking man pacing outside the glass. My friend told me he was Dante Moretti, the Underboss of Chicago, and the fiancé I had supposedly worshipped for seven years. But the truth shattered me faster than the crash did. When our convo/1/105816/coverorgin.jpg?v=f1aeb8a5a033c91eedd0a96d9c9876b7&imageMogr2/format/webp)
The Jilted Heiress: Rising From Betrayal
I woke up in a sterile hospital bed with the smell of antiseptic burning my throat, having just had my stomach pumped six hours ago. Before the sedatives even wore off, my mother called, not to ask if I was alive, but to demand I show up at my sister’s birthday gala in two hours. To her, I wasn't a/1/106615/coverorgin.jpg?v=caa27118a3a3d478e7370eecf40f0eb4&imageMogr2/format/webp)
