Showing results by author "J.L. Beck" in All Categories

I didn't plan to ever attend an event, but I needed the money. I thought it was nothing more than an adult version of hide-and-seek. I had no idea how wrong I was. Nor did I know I’d meet my worst nightmare that night: Andrew “Drew” Marshall, popular-as-hell football star and a Greek god among mere mortals. To anyone else, he would appear to be normal, a good guy. But that night I saw the cruel, dark monster hidden underneath. He was the epitome of evil, the leader of the Disciples, and I was his newest obsession.

After breaking my heart and publicly humiliating me, I vow to forget his existence. He has other plans, though, and vows to make certain I don’t. The only one I can turn to for help is a man I thought to be my enemy. Drew’s best friend Sebastian who claims to be my brother. He promises me security and protection. But no one can protect me from Drew. The faster I run, the more he chases. The harder I struggle, the tighter his grip becomes.

I’ve spent years trying to be someone I’m not. Controlled and humanized. Still, the darkness lurks inside me, waiting for a chance to break free. As the headmaster at Corium University, I must maintain professionalism and keep myself in check. I manage to do that until the day I discover I have a daughter and all the carefully constructed walls I’ve built around myself start to crumble.I know I need an outlet, a way to shut it off, and then she lands in my lap. Delilah. I want to punish her, humiliate her, and hurt her in the best ways.

Golden boy. Party king. Trust fund brat. That's what they call me—Lee Sterling, Oakmount University's favorite disaster. Everyone thinks they know me, but they only see what I let them. I’m the guy who can charm his way out of anything and never takes life seriously. But it's all a ruse. They don't see the mask I wear or the cage of family expectations slowly threatening to suffocate me.

I knew running from Adrian wouldn't be easy. That there was a risk I would be caught, but I never anticipated he would go to such great lengths to find me. Now that he knows what I've done, I wonder if there will ever be love between us again, or if we were always meant to be enemies?

The moment Blair Jensen sneered jock at me, I was captivated. Then she poured a beer over my head and walked away like I was nothing. Nobody turned down Cage Wilder, nobody, and I knew then that I had to have her, no matter the consequences. She bruised my ego and embarrassed me in front of my football buddies, turning me into the laughing stock of the team, so I made a bet with them. They claimed there wasn’t any way I could melt the heart of Blair the Ice Queen; after all, she had shown her disgust for me.

Money. It’s the root of all evil and I need it bad. You could call it the wrong place, wrong time. To me the day I met Enzo was the day the old me died. When he kidnaps me thinking I’m the daughter of his enemy, the only thing I can do is pretend to be something I’m not. But the more I pretend, the deeper I fall. Enzo is dark, cruel, and menacing, but he’s protective, fierce, and determined. Soon he wants to forge a contract between our families, making me his bride, but he has no idea I’m not whom he thinks I am and when he finds out … well, I know I’m as good as dead.

Deranged and violent. Gorgeous but frightening. I’m a businessman, so when one of my debtors offers me his fiancé in exchange for a debt settled, I figure why not? The woman will be a quick sell. Repayment comes in the form of a beautiful but haunted young woman. The light in her tempts the darkness inside of me. Teases it, tortures it. I want to hurt her. I want to break her. I want to keep her. Luckily for Celia, she fails to see that there is no goodness in me.

They say the truth will set you free. That’s a lie. The truth got me locked in an ivory tower, a victim of my new husband’s rage. If I’m going to survive, I’m going to have to make Enzo fall back in love with me.

She was a tiny little lamb who claimed my heart with one fearful look. I was her captor, the man responsible for breaking her, for preparing her for auction. She was taken, plucked right off the street, and brought to me to be sold at the next auction. Rescuing her from my men was never part of the deal, and neither was bringing her up to my room. Yet, night after night I did this, refusing to give up the way she made me feel. When I’m with her I feel less like a monster. I can remember the man I used to be before the mob got to me, before all the bad tainted my soul.

After losing her mother to cancer a few months prior to graduating, Bree Forbes was finally able to take some time away and enjoy her college days. That all changed in the blink of an eye the moment Bree came home for break. She didn't expect to find her dad strapped to a chair, a gun pointed at his head.

She was a tiny little temptress of a woman that made my blood sing for vengeance. I should be punishing her, breaking her from the inside out after finding her in my father’s clutches. But when I discover the truth that she is just as much of a victim of my father’s wrongdoings as I am, I can’t follow through. I know then that I can’t break my little mouse. Not after she’s lured me in with her big blue doe eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and those pink painted lips that beg to be kissed again and again.

Everything I knew was a lie. Everyone I loved betrayed me. Everywhere I go someone wants me dead. I’m no stranger to being alone. Even in my darkest hour, I knew I could count only on myself. Now, I have nothing and for the first time in my life I have to let someone else save me.

Shattered. Broken beyond repair. I’m the shell of the woman I used to be. The deeper I fall from reality, the worse things get. Only there’s one person who refuses to let me derail. Romero Pierce. Calloused. Sinister. Lethal. He’s my father's second in command, and so goddamn handsome it’s disgusting. Assigned the duty of being my babysitter, aka personal bodyguard, he thinks he can protect me, but I don’t want his protection. What I want is security, safety, freedom. Everything changes when I choose to leave and find myself in the very town where my father grew up.

They call me a monster. Murderous and hateful. Beautiful but broken. Nothing can calm the ever raging storm inside of me. As the ruthless leader of the Doubeck family, there is a certain standard of brutality, I have to uphold. Then I meet her. Beautiful, innocent, and so very afraid. Valentina is a rival family's daughter, and the little temptress has purposely tangled herself in my dark web. She seeks me out, needing my help, but the price for what she wants will be steep.

The bet was simple. You draw a name from the hat. That's the girl you have to seduce. The girl you have to make fall head over heels in love with you. It wasn't hard for him to do, in fact, it was something he did all the time. He was known for breaking hearts. Sex was just that, sex. And it didn't take him very long to get a woman on her back. And then he drew her name: Jules Peterson. His former best friend, first kiss, and first love. She shattered his heart into a million pieces three years ago. She left him right when he needed her most.

Grace was his first love, his forever, and then he lost her. He’d spent years watching from afar, knowing he could never have her again. The violence, the hate, and pain owned him. It took all the good away. It took her away. The mafia was the only thing that could curb his violent tendencies. Choosing to let her go was the hardest thing in his life, but he wanted her to be happy, safe, protected. Then everything changed. The moment someone tried to hurt her he knew he had to step in. Grace might not have been his, but she would always be under his protection.

He promised me one night and I took it, never expecting anything in return. Then a few months later, I see something I shouldn’t have and fate brings us back together again. I didn’t mean to see it and I wasn’t snooping. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that doesn’t matter to them. I’m a liability. Now Lex is everywhere I am. Following me, watching me, and making sure I don’t tell anyone what I saw that night.

Rivals since before birth, there has never been a time when my family hasn't hated the Lockwoods and their daughter Harlow. But she made it personal, no longer just a rivalry between our parents. Now she's here, at Bayshore University, without her family's protection. There's nothing to stop us from getting our revenge on her, no one to tell us enough is enough. And so my brothers and I have devised a plan. We'll break her, have her falling at her knees for us in no time, and then we'll send her back to her family with a warning: Cross the Bishops again and you'll pay.

Dark raven hair and piercing green eyes, sweet and naive Eleanor Romero would make a beautiful bride. Ten million dollars and a forced signature later and she was mine. Like a thief I came in the dead of night and stole her away from her protected castle and placed her in a gilded cage made of gold. The deal had been made. She would become my wife. She would bear my children. She would bend to my will. But most importantly, she would help me destroy the man she loved most, the man who took everything from me: her father.