Who Is The Protagonist In 'Ricochet'?

Maya Bennet came to college with one goal: survive. Keep her scholarship. Work enough hours to pay her bills. Graduate. Don’t make mistakes. Especially not the kind that come with a charming smile and a football jersey. The last thing Maya needs is Cole Ryder. The star quarterback has a reputation for breaking hearts, avoiding commitment, and never taking anything too seriously. He’s exactly the kind of guy Maya has spent years avoiding. But somewhere between late-night study sessions, stolen moments, and Cole showing up whenever her world starts falling apart, he becomes impossible to ignore. For Cole, it starts as curiosity. Then concern. Then something much more dangerous. Before he realizes what’s happening, the girl who never believed she’d be chosen becomes the center of his entire world. But falling in love doesn’t magically fix real life. Maya is still carrying the weight of family problems, financial stress, and years of believing she’s only worth what she can accomplish. As old wounds reopen and painful family secrets come to light, she’s forced to decide whether she can finally stop carrying everything alone. Because Cole isn’t the only one falling. The real question is whether Maya can believe she deserves the kind of love that’s willing to stay. Filled with laugh-out-loud banter, found family, emotional healing, college chaos, and a swoon-worthy quarterback who falls first and falls hard, The Rogue Next Door is a heartwarming slow-burn romance about learning that sometimes the strongest thing you can do is let someone love you.

Natasha Reese believed love could survive the end of the world. She gave up everything for Josh — her dangerous past as a special forces operative, her freedom, and her deepest secrets — to build a safe home with the man she loved. But when his childhood friend Evelyn stepped into their lives, Natasha watched her marriage slowly crumble. Her husband grew distant. Her mother-in-law turned against her. And when her hidden truth was exposed, the man she adored cast her out into the dead world to die. She should have died. Instead, Natasha rose stronger than ever, leading an elite strike team and carrying a power that could save what remains of humanity. The infected won’t touch her. The survivors look to her with hope. But when Josh returns, haunted by regret and desperate to win back the heart he broke, he finds Natasha in the arms of another man. Aaron Ross — powerful, dangerous, and willing to burn the world down for her. The only man who offers Natasha the kind of love and devotion Josh never could. Now torn between the husband who betrayed her and the man who wants to claim her completely, Natasha must make a choice that will decide not only her heart… but the future of humanity itself.

Raised from an infant in discipline, Reza Kelson has been trained to be a cold-blooded killer. Nothing has stopped him when he's been ordered to an assignment, and nothing probably will. An agent for a secret branch of government, he kills and incinerates anything with the discipline of a sharp knife. But even though he's the best at what he does, tables turn when the government dumps Reza from bureaucracy, albeit with a place to be hidden away in. Now Reza finds himself struggling to integrate into the sleepy town of Lonewood. Raised without any form of love or compassion, he naturally comes off as rude and abrasive, and therefore drawing attention. And with other dumped agents, with some bent on settling scores, the entire situation could not be more risible and outrageous. Not to mention the strange boy, Dane Rochelle, who seems strangely possessive of him, and with Reza balances the life he never should have had.

Emily Parker has lived her entire life in the shadow of Marcus Kane — the man who stole her mother, tortured her, and claimed her as his own. Escaping him cost her everything. Surviving him left scars too deep to count. When fate ties her to Rhett Maddox, ruthless president of the Vipers MC, Emily finds something she thought she'd lost forever: safety. Love. A chance at a family. But safety is a fragile thing, and Marcus Kane has returned to take back what he believes is his. As war ignites between the Serpents and the Vipers, Emily is forced to confront every nightmare she's tried to bury. Rhett will bleed to protect her. Ghost — the Vipers' most haunted enforcer — will uncover truths that change everything Emily thought she knew about her past. And when the dust clears, Emily will stand face-to-face with Marcus Kane one last time. But vengeance is never simple. It costs blood, brothers, and more than Emily ever thought she had left to give. This is a story of survival and scars. Of love found in the ashes. Of family forged in fire. And of one woman who refuses to belong to anyone but herself. By the time the final bullet falls, Emily Parker will no longer be the girl Marcus Kane broke. She'll be the woman who ends him.

Aiden, a skilled sniper who initially served in the border areas of the world's most conflicted, but was suddenly drawn to become the leader of the elite presidential guard, as well as to carry out a suicide mission that he never imagined before. In this mission, he must take care of a beautiful girl who is innocent, but dangerous because she is the daughter of one of the most well-known mafia in the world. Aiden's task is not only to protect the girl from those who want her life, he also has to keep the girl away from those who want all of her father's possessions in Cuba. Aiden's task to protect Calistha is getting heavier when sparks of desire between them begin to ignite. Aiden had never been with a woman before. And Calistha would be the first woman to be his weakness.

*Excerpt* My gaze met Sergio's. He didn't look away. I couldn't look away either. It felt like there was an invisible magnet pulling us towards each other. He looked away, breaking us from the trance. "Are you sure you're okay, Nicole?" "Come inside." He shook his head. "I was worried, and—" "Come inside, let's talk." He shook his head again, unyieldingly. "We're already talking." "Are you scared?" I asked in a challenging voice, my gazed fixed on him. "What are you so scared of?" "Nicole..." "To answer your question, no, Sergio, I'm not okay." "What's bothering you?" The vulnerability in his eyes towards me was palpable. It was my chance to act. I couldn't afford to waste it. "You," I replied, my gaze still boring into his. "And your fiancee. I couldn't bear watching you together." Sergio swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I was jealous, Sergio." • *Blurb* In a turn of events, Juliana bears witness to the brutal murder of her father—a sight she never thought she'd witness. Amidst the turmoil, she finds out she's their next target, but somehow, she manages to evade them. Determined to seek closure and justice for what happened to her father, Juliana takes on a new identity as Nicole and embarks on a quest for vengeance against the masterminds. With a heart hardened by grief, she takes on the journey. A journey that would test her limits and push her to do unthinkable things. Will she succeed? Follow her on this journey as she confronts the demon of her past.