Is The Forgiven Based On A True Story?

For years, the witches and vampires of Shadowbrooke co-existed secretly, without much incident. Until one winter evening in 2002. Luca Delacroix was on a hunting trip when the monthly court hosted by his clan turned disastrous. What began as a normal night for the residents of the sleepy town ended horribly when fledgelings in blood-lust took Shadowbrooke under siege. It took a small coven of witches, a powerful spell, the Chaos Star and a virgin's blood to end the terror. But in the aftermath, Julian Delacroix, Luca's brother, along with several of their clan members, were eternally bound to the manor's cellar, forsaken to wither and perish from thirst. It's 2022, and Luca's returned to Shadowbrooke after two decades. His sudden reappearance threatens to destabilise the peaceful town again. He'll stop at nothing to get his brother out, and the Youngblood Coven will not hesitate to destroy him. While the witches scramble to get the missing piece of the Star of Chaos, the rune they once used against Luca's clan, he has to fight hard to stay one step ahead of them. But, his plans go awry when he meets and falls in love with Cadence Youngblood, the same woman responsible for his brother's infernal prison. Cadence is everything he shouldn't want, but for her, Luca is willing to take the backlash from his clan and risk her coven's wrath. © 2022 Val Sims. All rights reserved. No part of this novel may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author and publishers.

I gave Dante Valenti eight years of my life. When I got pregnant by accident, he called off our wedding the night before the ceremony. I rushed to the hotel and found the venue I had spent months decorating transformed into a baptism reception for his illegitimate son. Liliana Moretti wore the reception dress I had chosen. The old Don put a gold chain on her baby and acknowledged him as the heir. Dante had already registered his marriage to her. That day, I made three decisions. I terminated the pregnancy. I booked a one-way ticket out of the country. I swore I would never look back. Months later, he showed up at my door on his knees with a ring. I burned my 800-thousand-dollar wedding gown right in front of him. In the end, he tried to atone with his own death.

If we psychologically damage an individual beyond repair, what will be the consequence of it? We all have a limit to the amount of mental and psychological stress we can take. Once the stress exceeds the limit, we’ll reach our breaking point. What happens after that is a mystery no one can solve, or is it? Lydia Johnson faces a similar situation. She is a complex young woman who faces a downfall stemming from the mental and physical abuse of her father and siblings, the negligence of her mother, and a chilling secret. From abused to loved, to abused again--that’s how life is for Lydia. Her family taught her only one lesson: emotions are for the weak and the weak don’t have a place in this world. With each kill, Lydia atones for the loss of her innocence by getting rid of another emotion and also rids the world of someone undeserving of her love and forgiveness. What lengths will she go to, for revenge, and prove her resilience? Will she ever be able to live her life like a normal person again? Or will she continue killing everyone until her own death?

Five years ago, my family died in a car crash. My parents. My adopted sister, Liz. Everyone but me. They left behind grief, an empty house, and a debt so large it swallowed my life. When the collectors came, I turned to the only person I had left—my husband, Adrian. He told me he had cut ties with his own family to marry me and had nothing left. I believed him. For five years, I worked every job I could find, paid every dollar I earned, and told myself love was worth the suffering. When the balance dropped to its final $18,000, I signed up for a paid drug trial at a private clinic. They handed me a waiver, warned me about possible delayed reactions, and promised fast money if I swallowed the experimental dose. I thought it would buy us a new beginning. Instead, I came home early and heard Adrian on the phone. “Let Liz use the card. Evelyn still doesn’t know. She took away Liz’s money five years ago, so she has to earn every dollar back herself.” Then he laughed softly. “One more year, and her punishment is over.” That was how I learned the dead were alive. The debt was fake. My husband had never been poor. And the life I had fought so hard to survive was only a sentence they had given me.

The city had always belonged to the rich and cruel. They knew this. But Elio had been naive, thinking he could do things by the book, believing in the power of the law. Until he was locked away for a crime he didn't commit and forsaken to rot. While Morrin, taken as a child, never had the luxury of naivety. And now, having fled from those who forged him into a weapon, he wants nothing to do with it all. When these two collide, both damaged, baring teeth, it doesn't go well. But they are forced together by plans of their revenge and escape respectively when it turns out that the same man stands in both their way. In the merciless wake of their shared enemy, they are confronted with harsh truths. They realise that Morrin may lose his freedom, and Elio’s pain-filled years may have truly been wasted. At a crossroads, they each realise that getting their goal comes with a devastating sacrifice and a heart-wrenching choice to give up the other. Who will do it? Will the destruction be mutual? Or will one be left loyal, damned, with a gaping hole in his chest?

I believed I had the perfect life. A successful career as a paediatrician. A beautiful home in Riverside Heights. A devoted husband. A son I loved more than anything. Then, I noticed a stranger's perfume on my husband's skin. What begins as a small suspicion quickly unravels into a nightmare. Hidden messages. Secret meetings. Endless lies. And a younger woman who isn't just sharing my husband's bed—she's carrying his child. Marcus Hale swears he never meant to hurt me. He swears our marriage still means something. But every new discovery reveals a deeper betrayal, and soon, I realize the affair is only the beginning. As our lives explode into divorce, custody battles, financial warfare, and public humiliation, I find myself fighting not only for my son and my future but for the woman I used to be. They thought I would break. They thought I would forgive. They thought I would quietly step aside. They were wrong. Because when a woman loses everything she once believed in, she has nothing left to fear. And I am done being their victim. --- The Wife's Reckoning is a gripping psychological domestic thriller about betrayal, revenge, resilience, and the dangerous consequences of underestimating a woman with nothing left to lose.