How Does Gene Betray Finny In 'A Separate Peace'?

When Levi Ezra and I got married, he had solemnly vowed he would love me for a lifetime. Seven years later, he got another woman pregnant — a woman he had so carefully tucked away in a luxurious estate, complete with everything money could buy for a perfect, pampered delivery. By the time I discovered the truth, his mistress's belly was already round and heavy. Her due date was just around the corner. Levi had hesitated — for barely a second — before instinctively shielding her behind him, as though I were some threat. He said, "Nikki, you're terrified of childbirth. Now that this baby is coming, the Ezra family will finally have an heir. You won't have to suffer anymore. We'll still be the same as before. Nothing will change." I clutched the freshly issued pregnancy report in my hand — the one confirming my own child — and let out a laugh so sharp and brittle that it shattered into tears. The day his mistress went into labor, I terminated my pregnancy. I left the divorce papers on his desk, packed my bags, and boarded the first flight to a foreign land.

Once upon a time, the blue of the sky fell in love with the calm of the sea, the clouds in between whispered "Alas." Farisha is the only child to billionaire Alhaji Shehu, she is spoilt, brattish and untamed. Having watched her mother suffer neglect and pain from her ever-busy nonchalant father for so many years, she develops in her heart, an unnatural hatred for all men, despising them all with a great passion. Risha (Farisha) hence makes it her full-time business to frustrate, ruin and destroy any unlucky prey she happens to pounce on. An insatiable frustration struggles within her leading to immoral habits, ever priding herself as the iron lady with a heart of stone, she is immune to love (or at least so she thought). She holds this notion of herself until she meets the calm, charismatic, humble, heart stopping ruggedly handsome and rather too "nice-quiet” Farhan, an upcoming lawyer in her father's company. To her out most disgust and anger, she finds her searching heart greatly attracted to this enigmatic character. For making her feel this supposed weakness, she develops what could be termed an “unnatural hatred and obsession”. In her own crazy way, she sets out to punish him in a way she had never punished anyone. And what better way than to trap him than in what she considered, the worst fate any could endure, “MARRIAGE". Will she succeed in her ruthless plan or will her searching heart betray? Find out in this heart stopping saga of love, hate and intrigue. "Risha is not evil, she is just mostly up to no good."

On the day I was supposed to get engaged to my childhood sweetheart, Noah Pratt, I escaped. As I flew out of the country, I deleted all forms of contact with him. Six years later, I had to return to oversee the moving of my parents’ graves. At the entrance to the cemetery, I bumped right into Noah. He gripped my wrist while gazing at me with red-rimmed eyes. “Why did you run away?” he asked. He had grown very thin. Heavy bags were under his eyes. It was as if haunting dreams had plagued his nights. “Because I didn’t want to marry someone I didn’t love,” I replied. He swayed on his feet as if the rug had been swept from under him. “Is there anything else?” I asked. But he remained silent. I waited patiently before walking past him. I had not lied. Indeed, I had burned out that love for him in the first three years I spent overseas.

On the day of our tenth wedding anniversary, my wife, Cara Dempsey, jumped from ten thousand feet in the air after hearing that her first love's plane had crashed. It was only then that I finally understood the only man she ever truly loved all these years was Luthen Waltz. When we were both sent back in time to relive our teenage years, she wasted no time making a grand, public confession to Luthen, completely cutting ties with me. I just stood there, watching the two of them kiss like they couldn’t bear to be apart, and in that moment, my heart felt nothing. From that day on, we were over, and we lived our separate lives. Ten years later, we crossed paths again at a five-star hotel in Harbor City. She, who had become a celebrity adored by the world, was wearing a gown, laughing in Luthen’s arms. When she saw me wandering through the hotel, searching for someone, she thought I had come looking for her. “George, stop wasting your time! Even in ten years, I will never choose you!” I didn’t respond. Instead, I looked toward the little girl running toward me, calling me Dad, and gave her the warmest smile. Cara’s expression froze. Tears welled in her eyes as she choked out, “You lied to me, didn’t you? You said you hated kids and that you’d only ever love me.”

I stared at the Vercetti marriage contract my father pushed across the table. Without hesitation, I wrote my half-sister’s name, Demi, and slid it back. My father froze. Then his eyes lit up with ridiculous excitement, like he’d just won the lottery. "How can you give such a perfect chance to your sister?" Last life, my marriage was a joke for everyone around me. I was the red-haired, untamed little witch who dared to climb into the orbit of Cassian Vercetti, heir and leader of the old-blood Vercetti crime family. I was never perfect nor obedient. He loved goddess gowns. I wore mini skirts and danced on tables. He demanded missionary, traditional, orderly intimacy. I wanted to climb on top, ride him, lose myself completely. At a gala, society wives laughing at my hair, my dress, my “wildness.” I thought he would at least pretend to defend me. He didn’t. “Forgive her. She’s not…properly trained.” Trained. Like a dog. I spent my entire last life suffocating under his rules, bending myself bloody to fit the shape he wanted, until the night our house caught fire. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment I learned of the arranged marriage. I looked at the contract in front of me. This time? I think the nightclub boys suits me better. But the moment Cassian realized the bride wasn’t me, he shattered every rule he’d ever lived by.

It was stupid…stupid for him to think that money gives everything which was absolutely true. But, then will it give him love?Girls and Love were something far corner in his world and he had no time for them at all. His ego was something he kept in his heart and brain. But, when a girl entered his life with a slap, he only wanted to prove his egoistic side. He did everything to prove that to her. But, he miserably failed to know that she was precious.On the other hand, when she thought she had lost everything, he entered. But she failed to realize that it was his gameplay and would only lead to heartbreak and it did. After years of the tragedy he created, when she thought she was planning something in her life…he entered again.This time not to prove anything but to show her what her presence was meant to be for him and in what she was successful years ago. He knew he lost her but with a little faith, he was going to strive hard to go behind her and make her his again…only his.Would she be able to forgive him and would he himself be able to forgive him?His Lost Peace is created by Priya Amour, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.