Inheritance Of Silence

Grandpa died, and we immediately went for each other's throats over the inheritance. Then a blizzard hit, trapping us all in the family estate. An app appeared on our phones: [THE LAST ZOMBIE: FINAL RECKONING]. We had to pick a hiding spot. The last one standing—the last human standing—would inherit everything. I chose the dark, silent recording studio in the basement. Away from them all. When it was time to pick special powers, my family chose powerful weapons or pocket dimensions full of supplies. I chose Bio-Stasis. It slowed my cells to a crawl, and my body along with them. My stepbrother's fiancée, Chloe, called me an idiot. "Hiding from your family and picking a useless power? You're on a suicide mission." They threw a zombie-slaying party upstairs, already celebrating an inheritance they hadn't even won. Until, one by one, they turned. And started tearing each other apart. What they didn't know... was that I'd rigged the game from the start. The only way to win was to stay completely silent.

After transferring to an isolated private Academy on his best friends request, Jason steps into a world he never expected to be in. Dealing with flirty teachers and students is a normal occurrence and one he's been good at forever because all his life he’s distanced himself from the illusion of love. Until he meets her. The Aloof Mystery Student. Never before has his resolve been tested in such a way and he finds himself disturbed by her presence and the strange familiar calmness she brings him. Are the strings of fate being mischievous? Could a teacher x student relationship be his downfall? For as long as Atlas could remember, her life's been a series of hurdles and vast walls she had to overcome. After the death of her Grandmother, she's thrown into a game orchestrated by her selfish father. She must fight not only the hatred of her brother, but the disapproving adults all around her. Meeting the annoying Jason Fairchild throws everything off the rails and she finally finds herself. Together, they stand a greater chance to overcome all internal and external wars they've been fighting. Will they be victorious or succumb to the harsh fates that have been written for them? Only Silence will tell...

Three years ago, Ivy Valmonte married Julian Blackwood to save her family from ruin. The night before the wedding, she let Sebastian ruin her instead, on the marble floor of the wine cellar while the rehearsal dinner carried on upstairs. It never stopped. Stolen nights in hotel suites, quick and brutal sex in the back of limousines, whispered threats and promises while Julian slept down the hall. They hated each other for it. They lived for it. Now Julian is dead, the will has been read, and the empire is split: 60% to Ivy. 40% to Sebastian. Only one of them can gain interest. Only one of them can destroy the other. They declare war in boardrooms by day, and tear each other apart in bed by night, because some addictions are stronger than hate, and some secrets are worth killing for. Love was never the problem. It was the price.

Marry a stranger in thirty days. Stay married for one year. Inherit three billion dollars. Refuse, and lose everything. Elena Castellano is a broke art teacher in a dying Vermont mill town when a letter arrives that changes everything: she's the secret granddaughter of hotel empire matriarch Victoria Ashford. The grandmother she never knew has left her a fortune—with one impossible condition. She must marry Victoria's ruthless CEO grandson, Dominic Ashford, within thirty days. Dominic has spent fifteen years proving he deserves the Ashford legacy. He's built the empire into something even greater, sacrificed everything for the family name, and he's not about to lose it all to some small-town teacher who appeared out of nowhere. But Victoria's will is clear: marry Elena or lose everything. He'll do whatever it takes to secure his inheritance. Even if it means threatening everything Elena loves. Forced into a devil's bargain, Elena and Dominic enter a marriage that's pure warfare. She won't be bought. He won't be beaten. But as they're pulled deeper into the Ashford family's web of secrets and betrayals, the lines between enemy and ally begin to blur. Because Victoria's will wasn't just about money. It was a test. And someone in the family will do anything—including murder—to make sure they both fail. A forced marriage. A billion-dollar inheritance. And one year to survive each other.

Yvette Warren, personal secretary to billionaire Orson Cox, announced that the heiress who was accidentally switched at birth 20 years ago was living in this orphanage. Whoever could prove their identity would inherit a billion-dollar fortune. In my first life, the two-faced Laurel Marsh tricked me into giving her my keepsake to claim the family. The Coxes tore her mouth apart. "Fraud!" In my second life, my frenemy, Rebecca Vargas, tattooed a fake birthmark on herself to claim the family. The Coxes had her skin slashed to shreds. "Still a fraud!" In my third life, my sworn enemy, Vita Davidson, took out online loans to get plastic surgery, reshaping her face to resemble Orson's wife. She tried to claim the family and was thrown straight into a mastiff cage by the Coxes. By my fourth life, no one dared steal my identity anymore. They packed me up overnight and delivered me straight to the Cox residence. When the DNA test confirmed I really was the heiress, everyone thought the nightmare was finally over. But on my very first night back, the Coxes shoved me off a high-rise building. "Anyone who dares steal our real daughter's identity deserves to die!" When I opened my eyes again, Yvette was smiling as she asked who the heiress was. Everyone backed away in terror, insisting they weren't the heiress. Yvette's voice turned low and eerie. "But our investigation shows that the heiress is definitely in this orphanage."

After two years abroad in seclusion as I recovered, I received a selfie from my daughter, Lila Ashford. She was sitting on a bike, dressed in a work uniform. "Mom, you’ll be home soon, right? I miss you so much." My heart softened as I thought about how my girl had grown up. She understood that she needed to start from the bottom and work her way up. I was about to praise her when I noticed her skin seemed tanner, and her fitted shirt was the same one I’d bought her three years ago. It was frayed and worn thin, yet she still hadn’t thrown it away. As a child of the wealthiest family, Lila shouldn’t have to live like this, not even for "life experience". I zoomed in on the picture again. Her shoes were falling apart, the front gaping wide open. The more I looked, the more uneasy I became. The next second, I stumbled across Serena Ashford, my adopted daughter’s posts on social media. She was showing off male models, luxury cars, and on her wrist, the global limited-edition diamond bracelet I had given Lila. What shocked me most was the car that appeared in nearly every photo, the very one I had gifted Lila for her college graduation. How the hell had it ended up with her instead?!