Dark – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

Dark – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:28:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 http://www.books2020.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png Dark – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com 32 32 Bonetide Read Online Karina Halle http://www.books2020.com/bonetide-read-online-karina-halle Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:28:30 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/bonetide-read-online-karina-halle Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Paranormal Authors: Karina Halle Advertisement

Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 146289 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 731(@200wpm)___ 585(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >153

"Don't let him in."

Widow's Bay meets Haunting Adeline in this standalone dark gothic horror romance from the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of Blood Orange, Grave Matter and Realm of Thieves.

When Iris Galloway inherits her great-aunt's cottage on a remote Scottish loch, the terms are live there one year, and it's hers.

She doesn't know about the disappearances yet, nor does she know about the handsome man who swims in the loch at night, who watches her cottage from the dark water, and who appears at her door very wet, very naked, and asking to come in.

Meanwhile, the locals warn her about a murderer on the loose, the police are in over their heads, and her aunt's letters say to keep the salt lines around the house and the doors locked after sundown.

And never, ever invite him inside.

But Iris has spent her whole life being careful.

And this wicked stranger is going to ruin her for it.

Bonetide is a dark gothic romance that’s tinged with horror. While this book starts off almost like a cozy gothic mystery, it does pivot later into darker territory. Which also gets a little weird. If you’re here for the cozy, know that it doesn’t stay cozy. If you’re here for the dark romance, know that it’s coming. Please see inside the book or author's website for the content warnings.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Playlist

Below are some songs that I either listened to while writing or songs that encompass the vibes of the book.

“Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn” - The White Stripes

“DNA” - The Kills

“Soothe My Soul” - Depeche Mode

“Initiation” - +++(Crosses)

“Castle” - Halsey

“Loverman” - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

“Fortress” - Queens of the Stone Age

“Vivien” - +++(Crosses)

“Kraken” - Florence & The Machine

“Bells in Santa Fe” - Halsey

“Ghost Ride” - +++(Crosses)

“Don’t Say You Love Me” - Depeche Mode

“Into the Void” - NIN

“Before We Drown” - Depeche Mode

“Drag Me Under” - Sleep Token

“La Mer” - NIN

Prologue

She comes in the late afternoon, in a dark jacket too thin for the weather, dragging a suitcase that catches every uneven stone on the path. She’s not alone, she has the solicitor with her—a portly man who smiles too much. It’s a smile that most give around these parts, nervous and wary, as if they believe all the sordid tales that abound in this region but don’t want others to know.

I’m used to those looks and those smiles.

They no longer bother me, if they ever did.

I’ve been waiting such a long time.

Neither of them can see me. I’m across the water—half in shadow—and she’s still looking at the cottage as if she can’t believe her eyes, perhaps thinking it’s bigger or smaller, more well-kept or less well-kept than she thought. Her hair is darker and longer than her great-aunt’s was, her face shaped like a doll, but there is something of the old woman in the line of her jaw. A stubbornness. A way of standing as if she is alone in the world and has decided that is fine.

I knew Eufemia Galloway for a long time. I know that jaw.

The new one, the one the people in town called Iris when I was last eavesdropping, sets her suitcase on the step and looks behind her at the solicitor. He had been standing there staring at the loch with a look on his face one can only describe as frozen, his mind perhaps torturing him with stories of the drowned wives. Then he snaps to it and hands Iris a key which she accepts with some reverence. It makes me glad to see that she already respects the cottage.

She fits the old key into the lock. She has to lean her weight into it. The door has always been stiff. Then she is inside, and I lose her to the windows for a while, only her shape moving room to room as she opens curtains and cupboards, learning the bones of the place that is now hers.

She comes back out at dusk—the solicitor long gone—and stands at the edge of the water with her arms wrapped around herself.

Now I let her see me.

Not all of me, though—not at first. Just enough that I’m a mere shape across the bay where there was nothing before. A stillness in the dark that her eye catches and holds. I watch her register me. I watch her go very, very still in the way a rabbit does when they know they’re being watched; that primal instinct that knows before the mind does.

Like the rabbit, she does not run unless she has to. I won’t give her a reason yet.

I want her in a way that will terrify her. I want my mouth on the soft place beneath her ear where the pulse runs close to the skin. I want to know what sounds she makes when she is afraid, and what sounds she makes when she is not. I want her on her knees in the salt grass with her hands fisted in my shirt, telling me to stay. I want—and this is the older want, the patient one, the one I have nursed through every long winter on this loch—to take her apart slowly, in the way only she will let me.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >153

Advertisement Dragon 7 – Tokyo Empire Read Online Kenya Wright http://www.books2020.com/dragon-7-tokyo-empire-read-online-kenya-wright Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:28:16 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/dragon-7-tokyo-empire-read-online-kenya-wright Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Mafia Authors: Kenya Wright Advertisement

Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >93

The war has come to the island, and all must sacrifice something.
Kenji has already lost more than most men survive. Hiro stands beside him now. Half a brother, twice the weapon. Together they walk toward the one reckoning no son is ever meant to face.

And Nyomi carries something none of them can see—a secret heavy enough to save everything, or take it all away. The question was never whether she would give. It’s how much, and whether she can survive the cost.

Everyone bleeds before morning.
Everyone gives something up.
The only question left is who’s still standing when the dust settles—and who actually gets to walk off the island

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Prologue

The Smiling Dead

Hiro

In the war room, six oni masks rested along the massive table between me and the Claws. Polished obsidian. Gold leaf. Crimson silk cords pooled beside them like spilled blood.

Every mask carried its own expression—wrath, sorrow, cruelty, and hunger.

Art twisted into violence. Will this be enough?

I sucked harder on the pink lollipop in my mouth. When I bought the gender reveal lollipops for Sora, I’d kept two extra boxes for myself—pink and blue.

Now. . .

My heart ached.

Now I would use them as fuel for my vengeance.

I looked away from the masks and even the Claws, and focused on the smiling dead people beyond them. Ghosts. They stood there, bleeding, watching me with smiles too wide for their wounds.

Sora had died in the clinic today, due to Kiko infiltrating my brother’s men. Now he stood in front of them. He held a pink lollipop in his left hand and a blue one in his right. His wide grin was proud, the way it had been the day he showed me the ultrasound photo.

Welcome back, ghosts.

My Tiger had helped them disappear after the Claws party, but Kiko had called them right back in that clinic.

I rolled the pink lollipop against the roof of my mouth and put my focus on the oni masks spread across the table.

Demon.

That's what oni meant.

The thing in Japanese folklore with horns, fangs, and skin the wrong color. The thing that waited in mountains and ate what wandered too close. The thing wicked souls became after death—murderers, tyrants, punishers in hell or the ones being punished. That's what the legends said.

But I had never believed the legends.

I believed oni were made—mountain hermits, starving women, abandoned warriors. People driven so far past the edge of what a heart could carry that the heart became something else.

What if the demon was the final shape of survival? The terrifying shell that grew when the human could no longer protect the wounded heart inside.

It didn’t matter anymore.

Tonight, I would become an oni to win this war.

I bit down on the lollipop.

The candy cracked between my teeth as I picked my mask up.

Hannya. The horned female demon.

She had been human at first, then heartbreak had consumed her until sorrow transformed her into a terrifying demon.

My tongue found the cracked bits of lollipop.

The mask’s horns had been polished smooth at the base and sharpened to lethal points. I intended to drive them through my enemies and spill their entrails across the battlefield. By sunrise, I expected blood to coat the front and intestines to be hanging from the horns.

Soon.

I twisted the mask to the side.

One angle revealed rage.

I turned it the other way and the new angle revealed mourning. I tightened my grip on the mask.

Perfect.

I flipped it over and in the dark gleam at the inside of the mask, I saw her.

Nura.

Beautiful dark brown skin. Lips parted. The smile she had given me in my father's hospital room a fraction of a second before the bullet found the side of her head.

I blinked.

When will I stop thinking about you, Nura?

I set the mask back down on the table.

Probably never.

My hands shook.

I placed them in my pocket.

Maybe. . .I’ll become a real oni one day.

Grief was already hardening my teeth into fangs. Betrayal was already growing my ears and sharpening them into horns. This unbearable rage had already wrapped around my soul.

I crushed the rest of the lollipop between my molars and lifted my view to my brother.

Kenji stood across the war room with a hardened expression on his face—his own real life oni mask made of his flesh and carved from so many years of doing brutal things to become the Dragon.

He stared at the phone as if contemplating something that would change all of our lives forever. His thumb moved across the screen and stopped.

Moved and stopped.

Moved and stopped.

What’s wrong?

My brother never hesitated. He had been making impossible decisions since he was young. However, the man across the room was doing something I had never seen him do before.

He was stalling.

What are you about to do, brother?

I set my mask down and looked at it.

After this war, which side of the mask would I be left wearing?

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >93

Advertisement Lovely Venom (Empire of Kings #3) Read Online A. Zavarelli http://www.books2020.com/lovely-venom-empire-of-kings-3-read-online-a-zavarelli Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:28:03 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/lovely-venom-empire-of-kings-3-read-online-a-zavarelli Genre: Alpha Male, Angst, Contemporary, Dark, Forbidden, Mafia Authors: A. Zavarelli Series: Empire of Kings Series by A. Zavarelli
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 143870 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 480(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >148

I’ve spent six years hiding behind a fake identity, too many deadbolts, and secrets that could destroy me.
Trust isn’t an option. Especially when it comes to the man who doesn’t know I’m rival blood.
In the Cosa Nostra, they call him Il Corvo—the Raven.
On the surface, he’s cold, controlled, aloof…and definitely not interested.
So I made a deal with a mysterious masked stranger instead.
It was supposed to be a simple arrangement. He would help me explore my desires and overcome my fears. No names, no attachments. But when it got too real, I ran.
What I didn’t know was that he had secrets of his own.
Because the man who’s haunted me for the last three years?
He might go by a different name…
But he and the Raven are one and the same

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PLAYLIST

“Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have” – Lana Del Rey

“Video Games” – Lana Del Rey

“Hypnotic” – Zella Day

“Bruises” – Lewis Capaldi

“Haunted” – Isabel LaRosa

“Heaven” – Julia Michaels

“More Than Friends” – Isabel LaRosa

“But I Am A Good Girl” – Christina Aguilera

“Happiness Is A Butterfly” – Lana Del Rey

“Feel Like Shit” – Tate McRae

“Ain’t No Other Man” – Christina Aguilera

“The Only Exception” – Paramore

“Dirty Thoughts” – Chloe Adams

“Middle Of The Night” – Elley Duhe

“Sorry” – Halsey

PROLOGUE

CHANTEL

Rough words. Steady hands.

A dark, addictive scent that wraps around me and doesn’t let go.

Those details are imprinted on me, and three years later, I still can’t erase the lingering ache of our final night together.

The memory lives inside me, haunting me in my dreams and loneliest hours.

It was supposed to be simple. No names. No attachments. Clear rules. But nothing about my time with him was simple, and when the memories come rushing back, they consume me.

“Do you remember what I told you, dea?”

The weight of his hand settles on my throat, tipping my head back as his voice brushes against my ear.

There’s something so possessive about the way he touches me. It sends lightning through my veins and makes it hard to breathe at times.

Of course he knows.

The efficiency with which he’s learned to read my reactions is as terrifying as it is fascinating. He’s observant, calm, composed, and he speaks with the quiet kind of authority a man can only be born with.

It makes sense that he chose Bran the Blessed as his alias because the watcher sees everything.

He knows when I need his control and when I need my own. He recognizes when to push and when to give. Nothing is forced. He leaves the door open and allows me to surrender on my terms.

And with him, surrender has become inevitable. My body reacts to him almost instinctively when he directs me now, and somehow, he calms the chaos inside my mind. It’s liberating, but also confusing.

A dynamic like ours can only work if I risk the free fall, knowing he’ll be there to catch me. But trust isn’t something I give easily, or in most cases, at all. I’ve spent years forging this armor around me, and it’s been impenetrable until him.

With every fear he strips away, he dismantles another piece of my defenses, leaving me exposed and vulnerable. Paradoxically, I can handle dysfunction because my nervous system recognizes it, but these moments of safety?

They unravel me.

Tonight, it’s so much more intense than anything else we’ve done. Beneath the blindfold, all I have to rely on are my senses. But even without sight, he’s there when I close my eyes.

Large, masculine hands. Dark hair. The smooth, well-carved lines of his jaw, and the steady pulse in his neck. The only mystery remains obscured beneath the matte black half-mask, but I know his eyes would be as devastating as the rest of him.

He’s all man—a fortress of muscle and bone, with the kind of protector energy that feels nothing less than primal.

That presence swallows me whole as I sit on his lap.

I’m familiar with the brush of his immaculate suit when he touches me, but tonight his chest is bare.

It’s become a ritual for me, drinking in the sight of him as he enters the room, methodically removing his cufflinks and loosening his tie.

When he takes off his suit jacket and rolls up the sleeves of his dress shirt, my mind conjures up the most unholy thoughts I’ve ever had. But seeing that broad expanse of olive skin for the first time, the ridges of muscle along his abdomen, and that faint dusting of dark hair that disappears beneath his trousers? My brain short-circuited.

“Peak male evolution” isn’t a strong enough description.

The pull of his masculinity triggers a primitive urge to lay myself bare for his pleasure.

If only he’d let me.

I often wonder what’s in this arrangement for him. He’s a man built to claim, and I’m certain he’d have plenty of willing subjects. But here he is with me, patiently working through these exercises in trust as he gives me pleasure and never takes any for himself.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >148

Advertisement Make Them Pay (Pretty Deadly Things #6) Read Online Logan Chance http://www.books2020.com/make-them-pay-pretty-deadly-things-6-read-online-logan-chance Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:28:00 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/make-them-pay-pretty-deadly-things-6-read-online-logan-chance Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Crime, Dark Authors: Logan Chance Series: Pretty Deadly Things Series by Logan Chance
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64044 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >69

She was the leverage.

Now she’s the only one who can save them.

When the entire Maddox vigilante crew gets kidnapped in one brutal strike, Enley Cameron becomes the syndicate’s final bargaining chip.

But the man sent to extract her isn’t just another rescuer.

Render James has been quietly obsessed with his best friend’s little sister for years. The brilliant, deadly hacker never planned on touching her. Until the moment he kicks down the door of her prison and finds the woman he’s always wanted staring back at him, terrified but unbroken.

Now they’re on the run together. One stolen car. One hidden safehouse after another. One impossible choice after the next.

Enley is fierce, clever, and far too tempting. Render is ice-cold and willing to burn the world down to keep her safe. But the closer they get, the harder it becomes to remember the she’s off-limits. He’s supposed to be the weapon. And the people hunting them won’t stop until every last Maddox operative is dead.

As secrets explode and the body count rises, one thing becomes terrifyingly

Render will make them pay for every second they kept her.

Even if it costs him the only woman he’s ever loved.

A high-stakes, forced-proximity dark romcom with a protective hacker hero, the forbidden little-sister trope, explosive tension, and the kind of dirty banter that only happens when you’re running for your life with someone you’re not allowed to want

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Prologue

SERAFINA

I walk the black-site corridor like I own every drop of blood drying on the concrete. The lights hum low and sickly yellow. The air tastes like bleach and sweat and the kind of fear that never quite washes off. My heels click in perfect rhythm. Every step is a reminder that I am still in control.

The fake hack sits in my pocket like a bad joke. I pull the tablet out one more time just to look at it. All those pretty progress bars. All those carefully layered dummy files. Poe Cameron thought he could feed me garbage and walk away clean. The entire Maddox crew thought they could play me.

They were wrong.

I stop at the first holding cell and nod once. My men drag them out one by one. Zip ties bite deep into wrists. Masks still cover half their faces because I like the theater of it. Blood drips from Arrow’s split eyebrow. Gage’s left eye is already swelling shut. Lark’s breathing is wet and wrong. Ozzy’s knuckles are raw from fighting back. Poe looks the worst of them all. Orchid hangs between two guards like she’s made of glass and fury.

I line them up against the far wall. Six of them. They’re all mine. My trophies.

I smile.

“It always works. You people spent years thinking you were ghosts. Masked little heroes playing at justice while I built an empire. You stole from me. You burned my men. You made me look weak.”

I stop in front of Poe. He lifts his chin even though it costs him. Blood runs from the corner of his mouth. I tip his face up with one red fingernail.

“You were supposed to break the system for me, darling. Instead you gave me theater. Dummy code. Pretty lies. And now your sister’s out there somewhere with that quiet camera boy who thinks he’s clever. Render James. I know his name. I know what he looks like.”

Poe’s eyes go murderous. Good. I want him murderous. Murderous men make mistakes.

I step back and address the whole line.

“Here’s how this works now. You are going to soften. You are going to break. And when the world watches you bleed on a live feed, every other little vigilante out there will remember what happens when you touch what belongs to me.”

One of my men shifts behind me. I don’t look at him when I give the order.

“Soften them. Make them scream. I want the audio clean enough for a public release.”

I turn and walk the line again, slower this time. I stop in front of Orchid last. Her eyes are pure hatred. I lean in close enough that only she can hear.

“You almost had me, sweetheart. Almost. But almost is just another word for failure. And failure gets examples made of you.”

I straighten and clap my hands once. The sound echoes off the concrete like a gunshot.

“Move them. Separate cells. No food until I say. Water only if they beg pretty. And someone get me a live camera feed set up by morning. The public loves a good show.”

My men scatter. The crew is dragged away in different directions. Arrow tries to lunge and gets a rifle butt to the gut for his trouble. Poe spits blood and promises me a slow death. I laugh because it’s adorable when they still believe in hope.

I walk back down the corridor alone. The tablet is still warm in my hand. I open the file one last time and watch the fake progress bars load and load and load.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >69

Advertisement Roped Read Online Saffron A. Kent http://www.books2020.com/roped-read-online-saffron-a-kent Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:27:53 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/roped-read-online-saffron-a-kent Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Suspense, Virgin Authors: Saffron A. Kent Advertisement

Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 159420 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 797(@200wpm)___ 638(@250wpm)___ 531(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >168

God of Malice meets Yellowstone in this stalker romance full of searing spice and featuring a college student being hunted by a cowboy utterly obsessed with her.

Nineteen-year-old Peyton Turner has a stalker. No, she doesn’t have a proof but she can feel him watching her every move. She can feel his intense stares through her bedroom window, and she can smell his intoxicating scent when he’s close. But every time she tries to catch him, he seems to disappear into the shadows. The only thing she knows for sure is that he wears a mask. A mask that hides a wicked scar running down his face but accentuates his startling green eyes.

She shouldn’t revel in his dangerous attention, but she can’t help herself. There’s something about him that calls to her. Until her best friend and the only person she’s ever been able to count on in her life, goes missing. Peyton has a feeling her masked stalker has something to do with it. After all, his sudden presence in her life can’t be a coincidence. But instead of staying away from him, she has a set a trap, draw him out of hiding and somehow bring her best friend home

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

Present

I KNOW HE’S here even though I can’t see him.

I also know he’s watching me because he always does. I wonder if he knows I’m wearing this dress for him. It’s white in color, but that’s the only thing innocent about it. It clings to me like a second skin, hits me a couple of inches above mid-thigh—so, basically, barely covers my ass—and its spaghetti straps are so thin, so fragile, that they’re practically a taunt.

For him.

To tear them off with one twist of his strong hands. With one snap of his sharp teeth, even. I imagine him standing in a darkened corner of this bar we’re in, flexing his fingers, clenching his teeth with the need to touch me as he watches me sip on the cosmo I got with my fake ID that shows I’m twenty-two instead of nineteen.

Good.

It means my plan is working. Or at least it’s off to a good start. Now on to the second part. Sitting at the bar, I eye the space, trying to choose my mark. It’s going to be between the guy in a white T-shirt at the other end of the bar, or the one in a Western-style denim shirt two tables behind me. They’re both drunk, obnoxiously so. They both look like they don’t take rejection well and think if a girl flirts with them, it’s her duty to put out. Not to mention, they both have on cowboy hats. Which isn’t that uncommon since we’re in the Wild West but which, in my experience, only bodes bad things. In short, they are both asshole cowboys that no decent girl should ever get involved with.

Perfect.

When I see the denim-shirt guy breaking away from his group of friends and making a beeline for the bar, my decision is made. I gulp down my cosmo in one go, feeling the burn of the liquor from my tongue all the way down to my chest, and spring up from the barstool. The moment I do, I feel a prickle at the nape of my neck. Not that it wasn’t there before—it followed me all the way through my apartment to this bar—but in this moment, as I make my way to the guy I’m about to pick up, that prickle has become heated, agitated. I ignore it, though, and put myself in the denim-shirt guy’s path, deliberately crashing into him. Pasting a demure smile on my lips, I look up at his face, lined with irritation. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bump into you.”

At my words, his irritation melts away and he flicks his drunken gaze up and down my body. “No worries, sweetheart,” he says, his voice carrying that cowboy-ish drawl, lazy and arrogant and totally disgusting in my opinion. “Ain’t every day I get bumped into by a girl as pretty as you.”

I want to smile in triumph; this is going to be easier than I thought. But I refrain and keep up the innocent act. Guys like him—and by that I mean bullheaded cowboys—like their girls sweet. They like them submissive and feminine, someone they can control and mold. While I can be feminine, I’m not anyone’s submissive. I love putting on pretty pink heels, but I’ll just as easily grind them into your balls if you mess with me.

“Well, I should really learn to watch where I’m going, though,” I say, batting my eyelashes a little bit.

His lips tip up into a smirk as he runs his eyes up and down my body again. This time, he pauses at my chest for a few seconds. Which isn’t all that generous—only 33B—but the built-in bra in this dress does give good cleavage. One of the many reasons why I chose to wear it for my mission tonight. Once he’s done checking me out, he looks up and licks his lips. “Well then, maybe I can teach you that. Don’t want you bumpin’ into the wrong sort of man.”

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >168

Advertisement Speak No Claim (The Graves Academy #1) Read Online M. Robinson http://www.books2020.com/speak-no-claim-the-graves-academy-1-read-online-m-robinson Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:27:45 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/speak-no-claim-the-graves-academy-1-read-online-m-robinson Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Suspense Authors: M. Robinson Series: The Graves Academy Series by M. Robinson
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90268 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >93

An all-new dark academia standalone romance from the USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author, M. Robinson.

I don’t do welcomes or charity cases. I definitely don’t waste my time on girls who don’t belong in my world.

Then I saw her.

She stood there like she had no idea what this place was capable of, like the wolves circling her were just guys in blazers instead of sinners raised on power and dominance.

I should’ve walked away.

I didn’t.

She’s living next door now, at her uncles house, walking my college halls and breathing my air. She’s sitting at tables she didn’t earn a seat at. My father’s best friend brought her here, like that makes her untouchable.

It doesn’t.

Nothing does.

She thinks I’m a monster.

She’s not wrong.

I break rules because I can. I take what I want because no one’s ever stopped me.

Legacy isn’t just a title here, it’s free rein and I’ve spent years proving it.

But her?

She’s the only thing I didn’t plan for. The only thing I can’t seem to leave alone either.

She doesn’t know what this place really is. What we really are.

The brotherhood.

The secrets.

The things no one admits out loud.

Our blood oath…

I was going to ignore her.

But now?

Now, I’m going to ruin her

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Prologue

2 Years Prior

Onyx: The Ritual

STAGE ONE: THE REBIRTH

* * *

The Brotherhood called it a rebirth.

I called it being buried alive.

At that moment, I expected my fear to feel louder than it was, though all I felt was the silence all around me. Maybe it was the weight of the dirt packed over my body from head to toe that left me no room to panic without suffocating to death. Or perhaps it was just the way my breaths felt like they were my last, making it difficult to swallow, piling more soil down my throat.

Or maybe, just maybe…

I finally found some peace for the first time in my life.

I always preferred darkness. A dark life. It was what I thrived in, nurturing the worst parts of me. Darkness had always felt like home to me, especially the thoughts that should’ve scared me. The ones I buried so deep inside they sometimes whispered back.

And sometimes I listened.

Maybe it was the reason being buried alive felt more comforting than terrifying, and I took refuge in that. I should’ve started clawing my way out of that grave, but there I was, contemplating my own demise. This wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.

Although maybe, I just wanted to piss off my father, fully aware he was somewhere nearby. I could feel him, anxiously waiting for me to make my presence known to his beloved Brotherhood. It was all that ever mattered to him.

Or maybe the reality of it was, I just wanted him to think I was dying or, better yet, I had died…

The humiliation he’d endure was almost enough for me to stay right where I was, welcoming death with open arms. At least then, I wouldn’t be just another pawn in an endless game of who knew best. I was never one to be told what to do, yet there I was, willingly following his orders on the road to hell. I couldn’t leave my sister Deja, there wouldn’t be anyone to protect her.

Little by little, the air in my lungs thinned, and I found myself wondering how many men before me died this way.

How many of them chose death rather than handing over their lives?

Survival wasn’t enough for these men. The Brotherhood didn’t just want your loyalty. They demanded your soul. Once they owned that, there was nothing left of you to reclaim.

You were there’s now.

The end.

At first, I thought I was hallucinating, and this wasn’t actually happening on my eighteenth birthday. There were always rumors of what the initiation would be. Nobody warned you. Not your father. Not your mother. Not your grandparents.

No one.

It was every man for themselves, which was the sole purpose of this ritual. They required sacrifice, and tonight, they’d see exactly how much of yourself you’d be ready to bury to belong to a world where rules wouldn’t apply to you, only your oath…

Everything the Brotherhood stood for came at a cost, and they made sure you paid in full. By the end of the ritual, the only thing that mattered was the Blood Oath Brotherhood.

Everything else was meant to die there. The boys they buried never crawled out of this grave. We weren’t even men. We were just another demon, wearing his skin.

* * *

STAGE TWO: THE BURIAL

* * *

As soon as the chanting started above me, something inside me knew what I had to do next. After all, this was my legacy. It was in my blood, whether I wanted it there or not. It was who I was born to be, and there was no denying it. No fighting it either.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >93

Advertisement Wicked Ruin (The McCarthy Family Legacy #3) Read Online Jane Henry http://www.books2020.com/wicked-ruin-the-mccarthy-family-legacy-3-read-online-jane-henry Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:27:24 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/wicked-ruin-the-mccarthy-family-legacy-3-read-online-jane-henry Genre: Alpha Male, BDSM, Contemporary, Dark, Erotic, Mafia, Virgin Authors: Jane Henry Series: The McCarthy Family Legacy Series by Jane Henry
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >91

Forbidden. Pregnant. And hopelessly in love with a man who belongs to someone else.

Bridget Kavanagh has loved Declan McCarthy in silence for years — a dangerous man, an engaged man, the last man in Ireland she's allowed to want. One stolen night changed everything, and now she's carrying his baby with no idea how to tell him… or whether telling him will get her killed.

Because in the McCarthy family, a secret like hers doesn't just end in heartbreak. It ends in blood.

And the only man who can save her is the one she can never have

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Part One

Prologue

Three years earlier…

BRIDGET

“I don't want to die a virgin, Erin.”

One sentence. Six words. And now I’m in a sex club, being led to a dance floor by a man in a mask, and my sister’s been practically confiscated.

“Just one dance,” the masked man says. His voice has a low, unhurried quality, the kind that makes you feel like you're being persuaded. It’s strangely off-putting. “Your sister's safe with McCarthy. Nobody else will touch her.”

Cavin McCarthy is my sister’s fiancé, but he’s also one of Ireland’s most feared. And didn’t he just get out of prison?

“Is safe really the right word?” I ask. I’m pretty sure it’s his family that owns the club we’re in.

A pause. “Well… no,” he admits. “But nobody else will hurt her. That much I can promise.”

Grand. Just what I needed to hear. Is that supposed to be reassuring?

His hand shifts to the small of my back, and his voice is close enough that I feel the warmth of it at my temple. I am… flattered. Curious. Someone who isn’t a doctor, a nurse, or a blood relative is paying attention to me. I haven't felt like anything other than a patient in so long—I find myself dancing with him, even though I’m not really into the gothic vibe this bloke’s giving off.

But two choruses in, and I am losing myself entirely because this man can dance, and there is nothing polite or restrained about it. His hands are on my hips. I am moving against him in a way I haven't moved against anyone in longer than I care to admit. I’m high on life and feeling good for once, and no one’s going to take that away from me.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before?” he asks. “Are you new here?”

“Wouldn't you like to know,” I say in a voice I hope sounds coy rather than breathless.

He laughs, like he's delighted with me. Then he goes still. Completely still. His hand comes up in a gesture almost like self-defense, and I don't understand what’s going on until I hear a voice behind me.

“Hands off her and find somewhere else to be. Now.”

I blink, then turn.

My mouth drops open. A candle on the table beside us flickers out, and I try very hard not to think about the potential meaning.

The man standing behind me is tall and lean and sharply dressed, with a predatory stillness that makes everyone around him stare. Including me.

Dark hair. Blue eyes that have no business being on a face that already has everything else going for it. A jaw with a few days of stubble, tattoos crawling up his neck, and a very expensive black shirt, open just enough to be a problem. And a frown that suggests he is deeply unimpressed.

“Who are you?” I whisper.

I turn to find my masked dance partner, but he’s already fled into the crowd.

“Your keeper for the moment,” the man says. His eyes are narrowed. His voice is soft in the particular way that can be dangerous. “And you're Erin's sister.”

It isn't a question but an identification. A filing-away.

I stand there, my heart doing something mad in my chest, and realize with sudden, total clarity that my sister is marrying into a family of men who look at a woman like… this. As if they're already calculating the most efficient way to rearrange her entire life.

I think I understand her a little more now.

He's older than I am, bigger than I am, and wearing a gold band around his arm that means something I haven't worked out yet. Why does that bother me? I don't even know his name.

And what does keeper mean?

“You’re Bridget,” he says, like my name is a minor inconvenience.

“Yeah. And you are?”

“The man sent to fetch you.” He reaches for me, and I back up.

“Who sent you?”

“Erin’s fiancé, Cavin.” He reaches for me again. “Come with me.”

I slap his hand away before he can make contact. His eyes narrow.

“I'm going to give you a choice, Bridget.” The same low, even tone. “You walk with me quietly, just a short walk, and you stay out of trouble until Mr. McCarthy's ready for you. Or,” he adds, the corner of his mouth pulling, “you make me choose for you. I wouldn't recommend it.”

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >91

Advertisement Craving Sin (Sinful Things #1) Read Online Riley Hart http://www.books2020.com/craving-sin-sinful-things-1-read-online-riley-hart Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:27:19 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/craving-sin-sinful-things-1-read-online-riley-hart Genre: Contemporary, Dark, M-M Romance, Mafia Authors: Riley Hart Series: Sinful Things Series by Riley Hart
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >107

Rian

As head of the O’Shea family, I don’t make mistakes.

I certainly don’t become obsessed with a guy. Stalk him. And then proceed to kidnap him to a secluded cabin when an attempt on my life is made.

But that’s exactly what I did.

While my family hunts down the men who tried to kill me, Doctor Preston Abbott is trapped with me, and I expect him to nurse me back to health before paying the ultimate sacrifice. Abbott…who is also the governor’s son.

Each day my interest in him grows. He cares for me, shares parts of his life with me, willingly gives his body to me and begs for more…even though he knows he’ll die by my hand.

I never thought I would want someone again this way, that I would crave another person the way I do Abbott. He’s too good for the violence of my world, and all the sinful things I revel in. I’m a monster but he’s mine until the end.

Mine to crave…mine to touch…mine to kill…

Craving Sin contains MCs dealing with grief, violence, darker themes, and morally gray characters with no redemption arc. This is still a Riley Hart romance, so you can expect a happily ever after for our guys

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PROLOGUE

Rian

Nine Years Ago

“I can’t do this without you.” I take Moira’s hand and kiss it. She’s lying in the hospital bed we have set up at the house, the machine that delivers her pain meds making a soft sound beside her.

How am I ever supposed to survive without my wife? The love of my life. The person who is somehow my rock, my strength, and my heart.

I have loved her since I was sixteen years old—for twenty-three years—and now I’m supposed to live without her?

“Yes, you can,” she says, her voice soft and rough. She smiles, and even now, with how sick she looks, with the weight loss and the way cancer has ravaged her body, staring at her still makes my pulse speed up. She is still the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.

I look down, gaze meeting our joined hands because I can’t handle meeting her eyes. She always had more faith in me than I deserved, always saw more in me than what is really here.

If you searched the word good in the dictionary, you’d see a photo of Moira there. She is the definition of love, of caring about others. I don’t know what she’s ever seen in me, but I’ve spent every moment since I met her trying to be worthy of her—despite all the terrible things I do—despite the drugs, guns, and murder.

And somehow, she has loved me regardless.

She has given me a son, who is more his mother than he is me, and I’ll never deserve him either.

How do I look her in the eyes when I know I’m going to ruin him? That, without her, I’m afraid of what I’ll turn into, afraid that I’ll kill the parts of him that are her.

“Rian,” Moira says, but I don’t reply. “Rian,” she says again. “Look at me.”

I do because I could never deny her anything. To some—like my brother, Sloan—my devotion to her makes me weak, but I never looked at it that way. Now though, I wonder if they were right, because I don’t know who I am without her.

“Do you remember the first day we met?” she asks.

“Of course.” We were in high school. She’d just moved to Boston, and the second I saw her, my heart had stuttered. I’d felt a tingling at my nape, and I’d known she was the one for me.

“You walked right up to me that first day of school and told me you were going to marry me.”

I smile at the memory. “And you hated me. You thought I was cocky…an asshole.” And she hadn’t been wrong.

“I did,” she says. “But I’ll tell you a secret…I thought you were cocky and an asshole, but I didn’t hate you—no matter how hard I pretended to, because I knew that first day too. One look and I knew, Rian, and it wasn’t because you were the most handsome man I’d ever seen.”

“But I was.” I wink, and she chuckles before coughing, the sound nearly ripping out my heart.

“You were…you still are, but I knew because I felt you right here.” She places her other hand over her heart. “Because I sensed how big your heart is for those you love, and I wanted to be that person for you so badly.”

My eyes flood with wetness, my vision blurring, and I quickly swipe at the tears, not wanting anything to keep me from seeing her—not even for one second. “You were. You always have been. You always will be. The only person I’ll ever love.”

The person who never deserved her. I can’t help thinking about that now, seeing her in this bed and knowing she’s dying…all the times I’ve hurt her come back to me, all of the things she’s given up in her life because she loves me, and now she will die without a second chance.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >107

Advertisement Midnight Curfew Read Online Penelope Douglas http://www.books2020.com/midnight-curfew-read-online-penelope-douglas Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:27:11 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/midnight-curfew-read-online-penelope-douglas Genre: Dark, M-M Romance Authors: Penelope Douglas Advertisement

Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 164910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 825(@200wpm)___ 660(@250wpm)___ 550(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >168

Two rivals from opposing families fight their forbidden attraction to each other in the brand new romance from New York Times bestselling author Penelope Douglas.

Summertime is off-season in southern Florida. Families leave their homes to escape the heat, the streets are empty, and the nights are quiet. Perfect time for a little mischief while the police aren’t looking.

As the middle Jaeger brother, Dallas was often lost in the shuffle growing up. Now a man, he’s prideful of his community on the wrong side of the tracks—Sanoa Bay—and aggressively protective of his land and his inner circle. He’s hungry and ready for a fight.

Callum Ames has a reputation in St. Carmen, the affluent neighborhood abutting Sanoa Bay. The hottest. The most popular. Rich. Powerful. Strong. The one all the women want. After four years away, he’s back, but for all his bravado, he’s got one major secret: he doesn’t want a woman.

Summer is also storm season. Heat, wind, rain…

And a lockdown.

In a desperate bid to impress his influential father, Callum suggests a curfew to hinder their rivals in the Bay.

Unfortunately, the Jaegers don’t like rules.

As Dallas and Callum face off and engage, out for each other's blood, they can't stop the consuming fire between them and the outcome they already see coming...

The storm of the century

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Playlist

On Spotify

“Die for You” by Ashes to New

“Do I Wanna Know?” by Arctic Monkeys

“Enemy” by The Plot In You

“I Know You Can Feel It” by Nine Inch Nails

“Just Pretend” by Bad Omens

“Lost in the Fire” by Gesaffelstein, The Weeknd

“myself” by Artemas

“Once Upon a December” by Christy Altomare

“Take Me Back to Eden” by Sleep Token

“Your Woman (The Ben Grosse Mix)” by White Town

In addition to playlists, all of my stories come with Pinterest mood boards.

Please enjoy Midnight Curfew’s board as you read!

www.pinterest.com/penelopedouglas/midnight-curfew

1

Dallas

My favorite brother got out of prison today. And where is he now? Pounding down drinks with friends? In bed, coming inside something other than his hand for a change?

No. I shake my head. He’s home, sleeping like a priest down the hall from my three other brothers, who all seem to have lost their edge, as well.

Five fucking men in the family, and only one is a proper functioning Jaeger anymore.

“Is he tied up?” I ask my friend.

“Good and helpless,” Rip replies as he secures Mr. Coldwell to a chair somewhere behind me. “Just the way you like.”

Yeah, I do.

And I like the sardonic taunt in Rip’s voice, telling me he’s all in.

I love my friends almost as much as I love my family. With Rip Rodriquez behind me and Tyson Alarcon at my left, I don’t lament that all my brothers are slumbering at home, bellies full and content in their docility now that a woman lives there. Pets.

Timothy Coldwell sucks in air, exhaling hard. “We have jewelry,” he says. “And my car. The keys are on the dresser.”

I stand at the end of his bed in his master bedroom, which smells fresh and clean with scents probably named dumb shit like white tea and purple sage. My house smells like leather and tires, no matter how many candles my brother’s wife burns.

Taking the bottom of the sheet in my hand, I tug it ever so gently, Mrs. Coldwell gripping the other end as she holds it up to shield her body. Moonlight spills through the sheer curtains, glowing across her young skin. “Yeah, Coldwell.” I grin behind the black bandana covering the bottom half of my face as I stare at his wife. “You got lots of pretty things, don’t you?”

Her blue eyes peer up at me, like a deer in headlights, her long blond hair blanketing her naked arms and back. A lock hangs over her left eye as she stares at me.

Rip falls in at my right, the three of us gazing down at a woman who barely looks like she’s had a single cock, much less three in one night. Twenty-four—maybe twenty-five, she’s at least two decades younger than her husband, velvet skin without a single tattoo, scar, or blemish that I can see. She’s not being properly appreciated by that balding fuck, that’s for sure.

Drinking her in, I trail my eyes down her smooth arms, over the toned curve of her hip peeking out of the sheet, the little string of her panties strapped over her supple skin. With feet flat on the bed, her knees are bent and parted under the sheet as she sits there, frozen since we burst in two minutes ago.

“Please,” Coldwell begs behind us. “My watch. Take it.”

“We’re not a pawn shop.”

“There’s a little cash in the safe,” he adds.

I snap the sheet, ripping it from her grasp. She squirms, looking left and right, but there’s no help and nothing else to cover her. “But not enough?” I ask her husband.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >168

Advertisement Beautiful Things Obey (Beautiful Things #1) Read Online T.L. Smith, Penny Dee http://www.books2020.com/beautiful-things-obey-beautiful-things-1-read-online-t-l-smith-penny-dee Sun, 16 Aug 2026 18:17:18 +0000 https://www.books2020.com/beautiful-things-obey-beautiful-things-1-read-online-t-l-smith-penny-dee Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Erotic, Mafia Authors: Penny Dee, T.L. Smith Series: Beautiful Things Series by T.L. Smith
Series: Penny Dee
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 97669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >102

Three authors. Two morally grey characters. One deadly world.

In the silence of the morgue, she fixes what violence ruins. Bullet wounds disappear beneath careful stitching. Evidence vanishes. Secrets are buried with the dead. Every crew in the city relies on her.

All except one.

The largest. The most powerful. The one even other criminals fear.

She has spent years avoiding them.

Until the night their leader walks through her doors.

He does not shout. He does not threaten. He simply watches her work, calm, immaculate, disturbingly intrigued. When he tells her she will be working for him from now on, it sounds less like a request and more like fate closing in.

She refuses.

He returns.

Again.
And again.
And again.

The more she resists, the more fascinated he becomes. He calls her extraordinary. Says her talent is wasted on small men with smaller ambitions. Says beautiful things belong in powerful hands.

He thinks she will bend.

He has no idea she has been surrounded by monsters her entire life and survived them all.

Written consecutively by three authors meaning every twist, betrayal, and obsession forced the next writer deeper into the dark

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

1

LEONORE

The dead never bothered me. It was the living who made a mess. It’s one of the reasons I chose this work. Above all things, I enjoy it. To the normal person, that sounds weird, but not to me. The music blasts through the speakers that I had installed when I took over this place more than four years ago. My assistant walks in with her noise-canceling headphones and her chocolate hair tied up in a bun on her head because she said she’s sensitive to sound, when in reality, Tori just hates my music. Her hands fold over one another as she stands on the opposite side of the stainless steel table. She looks at the body, chest split open, as I begin to stitch it up, humming to the music, in my happy place.

My music suddenly goes quiet as she presses a button and removes her headphones.

“Time of death?” she asks, her face slightly pale. She hates coming in here, but I pay her well. And despite how much she detests it here, or even working the night shift, she does it without fail. I went through two employees before finally landing on Tori. She has a smart mouth, which I appreciate and need, considering who I work for. Not only is she efficient but most importantly, she’s discreet.

“Two hours ago,” I tell her, looking over my handiwork so far. “Give or take.” I shrug.

She swallows hard, her gaze sweeping over the body again of a man who looked to be in his mid-fifties. “Give or take,” she repeats with a grim expression. I get it. For most people, looking down at a dead body is unsettling, but I’m the opposite. Each body that arrives in my morgue is like a new puzzle. “They’re waiting for you,” Tori says, visibly uncomfortable.

I sigh, annoyed that they’re already encroaching on my fun.

Tying off the final suture and wiping my hands, I peel off the gloves. Officially, the man lying on my table choked on his own blood during a robbery gone wrong. Unofficially, he was executed in the back seat of his car by someone who knew exactly where to aim.

After disposing of the gloves, I catch my reflection in the stainless steel bins as I walk out to where I know they’re waiting. My long, deep-plum hair is pulled back in a braid so it stays out of my way, and my scrubs are black, which is fitting, really. Glancing away, I push open the door to find four men in the receiving room, all dressed in black, guns hidden beneath their tailored jackets—the Hayes crew, the third strongest family in the city. I watch as Cian slides an envelope across the counter in greeting.

“You did good work,” he says with a smirk. Cian knows he’s attractive, and every time he comes in, he looks at me a little too long with rich brown eyes that are anything but kind.

Most women probably melt under attention like that. Maybe that’s why he does it, because he is used to people folding for him. But not me. His attention doesn’t make me nervous. It irritates me more than anything. The arrogance of it. The way he acts like every look is calculated, every word designed to chip away at me until I finally crack open for him.

“I know.” I don’t need him to tell me I do good work. When I don’t make a move to touch the money, he makes a point to lean his elbows on the counter so he is a little closer to me. I don’t back up. I stay exactly where I am. He always tries to unravel me, but it hasn’t worked yet.

His eyes flutter to the money, and he looks back at me.

“You don’t want it?” he asks.

Without a second thought, I open the drawer in front of me and slide the envelope inside without counting it.

He smirks. “You trust I gave you the right amount?” he asks as he pushes off the counter.

I don’t like Cian. He’s the kind of man who stares at himself in the window reflection a little too long. With his dark hair and custom suits, he looks like he should own the room when he walks in. But he doesn’t.

I don’t hide the contempt on my face.

Cian tips his head at me when I don’t answer. One thing I know for certain about men like Cian is that they like the chase and the game, so I simply don’t play. They’ll get bored trying soon enough.

A smile twitches at his lips, but he has the better sense to leave with his men. I watch them as they walk through the door and wait to see the headlights on the car disappear before I walk into the back room where Tori’s office is.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >102