Showing results by narrator "Nikko Austen Smith" in All Categories

In Trill Land—better known as Da Trill—legacy is everything, and Pressure Mensah was born to carry it. Son of billionaires Kojo and Abeni Mensah, Pressure is a hood royal with gold in his blood and too much pride to chase anything that doesn't worship him first. He smokes the loudest, walks like money, and don't answer to nobody—not even the king who raised him. But behind all the diamonds and discipline is a man still stuck on a woman he lost.

At 36, I'm Brooklyn's Black fire chief—respected in the streets, feared in the shadows, and reckless enough to live up to my name. But Mianna? She's different. Sweet. Pure. Untouched. The kind of woman a man like me shouldn't even look at twice—but I can't stay away. The second I saw her, something in me shifted. My soul claimed her before my mind could catch up. Now I'll burn this whole city to the ground to keep her safe, even if it means hiding a secret that could rip us apart.

I was only four years old when I experienced the worst day of my life. When I watched my father take his last breath at the hands of someone else. Instead of letting the hate consume me, I found a safe haven in the arms of the only person who understood, our shared trauma bonding us in a way that taught my heart that I was incapable of ever loving anyone else. And over the years, our codependency transformed into something deeper. Something forbidden. Something no one would accept.

Publicly humiliated, Marisa Banks is blindsided by the news that the man she's been dating for months is married. Being called names she wouldn't wish on anyone in front of a room full of people by her boyfriend's wife is enough to shake her identity to its foundations. In an attempt to rebuild, she makes a few questionable decisions. Asher Blaine is one of them. He's intelligent and sexy, but the pedestal he's got himself up on is unshakeable. Or so he thinks. Marisa asks for the one thing he can't deny her, even if it's the craziest thing he's ever done.

It took five years for Aphrodite "Pretty Pretty" to experience her version of happiness, but one slip-up threatened everything she'd silently yearned for. What Pretty Pretty thought was her happy ending turned into the total opposite. Not all heroes wear capes but they do face demons. In this final installment of Exhilarated, the characters that we've grown to either love or hate all have one thing in common: their worst nightmares have come true.

Life's hardened me. A single mother to an autistic son, I learned early that love comes with lies and disappointments I can't afford. So I swore it off. Then a mistake at the doctor's office flipped my world upside down, and that's when Romari appeared. He's intense, reckless, and too sure of what he wants: me. I swore my walls were unbreakable, but somehow, he's kicking down every last one. I don't know if I should run from him or finally let myself feel again.

Azra A.Z. Matthews is a business major at Blake University and part of Phi Rho fraternity. A.Z. was raised in the suburbs by a successful father and doting mother. His sister also attends Blake University and is premed. Once A.Z. ventures off to college, he discovers a world vastly different from the one he was raised in. A.Z. discovers a sense of freedom and the ability to do him without being under the scrutinizing eye of his parents. Even though he enjoys his freedom, A.Z. doesn't do too much with the partying and living his best life because he still has his eyes on the prize.

McKenzie is doing all she can to move on from Malakai and what they shared. She is focusing on motherhood and enjoying the fruits of her labor while trying to make her family work with Chase. Although skeptical at first, McKenzie decides to officially give Chase a chance to prove he can be a faithful family man. With McKenzie giving him another chance, Chase finally lets Diane go and dedicates himself to being the man he knows Kenzie wants.

McKenzie is enjoying her pregnancy and working on getting her life back together in Chicago before her babies are born. A near-tragic car accident quickly makes McKenzie realize that life is too short, and she doesn't want to waste another moment not being with the man she truly loves. Giving birth to two healthy babies and beginning her relationship with Malakai, McKenzie feels better than she has in a long time. However, it's short-lived when Malakai is notified that his life and the operations he has left behind are in jeopardy, and he must tend to them immediately.

Regardless of learning about Kenzie's hectic life, Malakai refuses to give up. He sees something in Kenzie that he loves and refuses to take no for an answer, no matter how long it takes. When any other man would have run for the hills, Malakai buckles up to take the ride with Kenzie as she figures out where to turn. Whether in Miami or Chicago, Malakai is willing to wait for Kenzie. However, will unforeseen circumstances send Kenzie back into Chase's arms? Find out in the first installment of Movin' Different where the lies, betrayal, and deceit are ahead.

They are in the midst of wedding planning when a blast from the past returns, threatening to tear down everything they've worked so hard to build. They pray their relationship is strong enough to withhold the troubles, but are the actions too heartbreaking for them to bounce back one last time?

Aphrodite Greer is finally starting to see better days. She's slowly accepting that she can have a beautiful life despite her daughter being dead without feeling guilty. That beautiful life has a name and it's Goal Navarro—the persistent head of the Navarro Cartel. Goal Navarro sees what he wants and goes after it. Being a man who's always on the move, he's finally found the lady that keeps him grounded. Running the Cartel that was snatched from his father and handed to him by his Abuelo, nothing can stop the sexy Colombian.

When Audie wakes up after a devastating accident, her mind is a blank slate. The people around her—her devoted partner, her closest friends, even her own family—all claim to know who she is. But every version of her past is different. Contradictory. Suspicious. As Audie struggles to piece together the fragments of her life, a chilling realization sets in: the memory she lost may not be the worst part of her past. The real danger lies in what she is about to uncover.

Aphrodite Greer was born and raised in the bricks—projects in Jagoda Bay. She met the love of her life, Baguette, on that very soil. The ghetto goddess had her entire life mapped out for her, and just like most life plans, things took a turn for the worse. Infidelity, losing her baby girl Athena, and constant fights with her lover's mistress turned her from a rigid, dope boy's queen to a soft, put-up businesswoman. With five years between their failed relationship, Baguette and Aphrodite remain best friends, and since Baguette has moved on, his current girlfriend has also joined their circle.

As Valentino pursues Sade, his lethal instincts war with something far more dangerous—his growing obsession. She is not just a target; she is a force of nature, an intoxicating enigma that refuses to be controlled. Every encounter between them is a deadly waltz.

Valentino is a brutal assassin entangled in a dangerous hunt of cat and mouse. His target, Sade is the queen on this chessboard of darkness and an unexpected twist that turns the game on its head.

My corporate kingdom is vulnerable right now. This is the perfect time for the enemy to strike. My gunshot wound doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is my wife. I'm haunted by the knowledge that she could be next. Gwen might have come to me through a twisted game of corporate revenge. It might have started as an arranged marriage, but it's become real. The only thing I can do to protect her is keep her near me. Except the danger lurks closer than I ever imagined.

It was supposed to be cold-blooded corporate warfare, but somehow my heart got involved. My wife penetrated my shields until I could see nothing but her... and her safety. The game has only just begun. I'm going to claim her... along with my birthright. The stakes have never been higher. Manhattan is going to be mine.

Billionaire Atticus Price wants my father's struggling empire. Even worse, he wants me. Immediately. Irrevocably. He isn't a man who accepts no for an answer. This is a hostile takeover, and somehow I've become the price. I'll protect the people in my father's company, even as my father sells it to the highest bidder—along with me. That doesn't mean I'll be the meek bride he expects.

Rudy Rae is her name. She also goes by Minnie. She's a Southern girl, born and raised in Albany, Georgia. Strong women raised her, although some might challenge that statement and view the women who raised her as weak because of how they allowed their husbands to treat them. At the tender age of thirteen years old, she was taught how to sit up straight, fix a man's plate, and be the submissive wife that she needed to be. In her teenage years, Rudy wasn't interested in these teachings.