a crime of passion mary higgins clark

While the criminal was brutally killing me, my dad, the head of the criminal investigation division, and my mom, the chief forensic pathologist, were attending my sister Lily Lambert’s match. In a bid for revenge, the criminal, who had once been captured by my dad, cut out my tongue and used my phone to call him. My dad only said one thing before hanging up. "No matter what’s going on, Lily’s match is the top priority today!" The criminal sneered, "Seems I’ve kidnapped the wrong person. I thought they would love their biological daughter more!" At the crime scene, my parents were shocked by the brutal state of the body and condemned the cruelty of the killer. However, they did not realize that the horrifically mutilated corpse was their own daughter.

Betrayed by her stepbrother Edward and left to die with nothing but regrets, Celeste Welsh gets a second shot at life. This time? She's playing for keeps. Revenge against Edward is at the top of her list—but things get complicated when love unexpectedly walks in. Now, she's juggling payback and passion, determined to live this life with no regrets. Sweet, fierce, and unstoppable, Celeste is rewriting her story…

Stella was destroyed by the man she loved and his mistress. Her family, her name, her life were all gone. But fate rewinds the clock. Back at the husband-selection gala, she ditches her ex and shocks everyone by choosing Adrian, the ruthless mafia king no one dares to cross. Adrian gives her power, protection, and passion — until she discovers his secret: he wasn’t her weapon… he was her shield, all along.

College student Charlotte Sharp encountered with Ryan Church, a successful older man. After a night of unexpected passion, Ryan developed feelings for her and helped with her troubled family. When Charlotte was humiliated on a blind date, Ryan stepped in to protect her. As their bond deepened, Charlotte discovered Ryan's deep affection and responsibility. Despite the challenges of her secret pregnancy and family debt, Ryan remained by her side. Their love strengthened through these trials, culminating in a romantic wedding that proves their unbreakable bond.

In Part Two of GoodChat, Alexa Reddy and Fulop Budavari turn up the fun with games that test their quick wit and sense of humor: from decoding movie titles using only three emojis to a hilarious round of “Kiss, Marry, Kill” featuring Alexa’s former co-stars. The laughs soon give way to reflection as Alexa opens up about her passion for acting, the lessons she’s learned, and the heartfelt advice she’d give her younger self.

Ruby Joyce accidentally crosses paths with the cold Mason Steele. After one night of passion, she vanishes without a trace. Ten months later, a baby is delivered to Mason. Years later, while raising his son, he hires a girl named Bella Joyce—unaware she is the daughter he shares with Ruby. It turns out that six years ago, illness stole Ruby's chance to reunite with him.Though bound by blood, their family's reunion is painfully hard-won.

Seven years ago, a night of passion entwined Evelyn with GT CEO Xavier. Now a single mother, Evelyn seeks a father for her son William and to escape a twisted teacher, Richard. When she rescues Xavier's mother from an attack, she enters a contract marriage with him—unaware he is the man from that night and William's biological father. As school bullying, Richard's revenge, and dark family secrets emerge, Xavier's true identity is on the verge of being exposed.

When Lilian Grey is forced into marriage with notorious mafia boss Adam Steel, her life becomes a dangerous game of passion and deception. Her status as a bride turns into that of a maid when Adam’s secret marriage to another woman is revealed. Living under the same roof with Adam’s wife and enigmatic brother, Lilian uncovers family lies, a masquerade ball mystery, and false illnesses, all while navigating forbidden desires. But every step toward love reveals hidden enemies closer than she could ever imagine.

After a night of passion, Dana Seth, a woman who had sworn never to get married, left the man but kept the child. She then found herself embroiled in the internal strife of the Lucas Group. One moment it was about the father trying to snatch the son's shares, the next it was about the boss's son not being his own. She was constantly caught in the midst of these high-society dramas. Just as she was about to make her escape, the aloof tycoon's eyes turned red. "Run away after sleeping with me. Who taught you to do that?"

In their first life, she cast him aside like trash. When they met again, he ruled the criminal underworld — and was dangerously obsessed with her.After a fatal gunshot reset everything, he became her bodyguard. She was now a young lady. Passion and cold distance collided.Betrayed and broken before, she now plays the seductive Black Swan, locked in a twisted romance with her fiancé.Through the shadows, he protects her at all costs.She is his obsession.His faith.And he'd sacrifice everything to keep her alive.

On her anniversary, Annabelle received proof of her husband Xavier's affair, the final straw after a decade of silent endurance. Shattering her gilded cage, she forged an alliance with cold CEO Fletcher for vengeance. When impostor Rebecca's identity exploded at the gala and design theft schemes unraveled, Annabelle rose from the ashes as the true successor. With Xavier behind bars and his mistress in ruins,Annabelle and Fletcher sealed their hard-won love amidst corporate warfare. Ten bitter years distilled to sweetest victory. On the rise to glory, passion aged into forever.

Emergency physician Charli Spencer dies suddenly from overwork and wakes up in the body of her namesake in the Republican era.There, she shares a night of unexpected passion with Stephen Dawson, the formidable Warlord of the capital. But fate soon pulls them apart. While Stephen becomes obsessed with finding her again, Charli discovers she is pregnant and chooses to raise their son,Kevin alone.Five years later, Stephen finally uncovers the truth about Kevin. Determined not to lose them again, he proposes to Charli and begs her to enter the Marshal's Mansion as his wife...

Tracy Brown moves through the world as the daughter of Ben Brown, one of Ariston continent's most feared crime lords. The truth is darker. She is his captive, kept close and controlled, her life never fully her own. When she watches her mother die at his hands, something in her hardens into purpose. She wants revenge, and she intends to use her assigned bodyguard to get it. What Tracy doesn't know is that her bodyguard isn't who he says he is. Henry Jones is undercover, working to build an airtight case against Ben from the inside. Two people with hidden agendas, orbiting the same dangerous man, each using the other to get what they came for. Somewhere in the middle of the deception,the lines begin to blur. When Henry finally reveals the truth, it doesn't end them. It frees them. Together they dismantle Ben's empire, settle debts older than their partnership, and pull each other out of the darkness they both came in carrying.

Trapped by her adoptive father, Lynette was forced to live under the name Aerith,the hidden hand behind her sister Colette's fame. Her brilliance fed the family's vanity while she remained a shadow.Just as the Shermans prepared to ruin her for their own gain, fate led her into the arms of Asher Herring, the city's most powerful man. One night of unexpected passion marked the beginning of her reckoning.From that moment on, Asher was no longer a distant figure. He tore into the chains that bound her, shielding her from the Shermans' manipulation and exposing the family's twisted schemes.Together, they reclaimed her name, her freedom—and built a love strong enough to last a lifetime.

To save her father's life, Alicia Bennett is forced into a dangerous game of deception, swapping places with Sabrina Knight to "pretend" to be intimate with Sabrina's powerful husband, Ethan Clark. What begins as a desperate bargain to secure money for surgery soon spirals into a deadly web of secrets and manipulation, with Alicia trapped as a pawn in the ruthless Knight family's control. By day, she's Ethan's dutiful assistant; by night, she's a "stranger" in his bed, caught in a whirlwind of passion, power, and betrayal. As their complex, forbidden connection deepens, Alicia is drawn into a world where nothing is as it seems—until the shocking truth is finally exposed… Will Alicia escape the tangled web she's been caught in, or will the Knight family's plans destroy everything she's fought for?