The Slow Goodbye

After achieving everything he ever wanted, Jacob Coleman's life took a traumatic and unfortunate turn. Now, isolated in Red Falls, a small town in Oregon, he´s dedicated into rescuing abused and distressed animals, so Jacob has neither the time nor the intention of pursuing any romantic interest. Who would want to be with a bitter man that is physically scarred by life? Or at least that's what he thought until the new veterinarian arrives to The Eden. Veterinarian and mother of a precocious seven-year-old girl, Vivienne Sweet, had only one thing in mind since she was little. That was to work with farm animals. So, what´s better than a small-town animal shelter where she can spend her free time with Taylor? Or the spectacular and reserved man who runs The Eden? Vivienne never thought she would find such perfection in that place, but what she did know was, that she would not miss the opportunity to get to know Jacob Coleman in depth. No matter how much Jacob resists, Vivienne has already made up her mind, and she won't give up on it until she achieves her goal: to have him for herself.

My name is Jasmine Vale and my story began when I moved my little Pastry shop right across the street where The Den, a dark wall of velvet sin, displayed its darkness. And when I get an order to deliver tiramisu to someone in the Den, I bet that was the moment I signed my life away. Now I'm in a beautiful mansion, locked far away outside the City with no one except a man, I now call my husband. He's beautiful, a Handsome Devil I find hard to ignore and he wants me............ •| A dark mafia romance about innocence, obsession, and the kiss that could ruin them both.

Having an Awakenist as my wife meant enduring her monkish attitude toward sex. We could only be intimate on the sixteenth of every month. Every detail—my position, rhythm, even my expression—had to follow her rigid rules. If I showed too much pleasure, she would immediately rise and leave. We had been married for five years. Was I ever tired of this? Yes. Still, I always gave in. I accepted these limitations because I loved her. "The Saintess loves me too," I told myself. That faith shattered the day I was sent to extinguish a hotel fire. Amid the flames, I found my wife pressed close to a man in disheveled clothes. Between their arms was a young boy.

It was my birthday. I thought he would take me to see the fireworks by the sea, but he showed up with another woman and her child. “Vera has a kid with her, and it’s inconvenient for them. Be a little understanding. She doesn’t know her way around here, and she has a lot of luggage. I’ll just drop them at the hotel.” He said it so casually, as if he were just explaining some trivial, everyday chore. It was that very gentleness of his that made me feel like I was so unreasonable getting angry over it. He helped them into the car. He leaned down to buckle the seatbelt on the child. Then, he turned to me with a smile. “I’ll be right back. Don’t overthink things.” I stood by the roadside and watched them drive away like a picture-perfect little family. As night fell, the sea breeze turned sharp and biting. Still, I waited until a notification of Vera Cannon’s social feed update lit up my screen. He was holding her daughter in his arms. They were watching the fireworks by the beach. It was a surprise I had planned for my own birthday. The comments poured in. [What a perfect match. What a beautiful little family!] Someone asked him why he was not picking me up. He just smiled and said, “Indy is very patient. She won’t be mad.” At that moment, my birthday cake melted into a puddle of frosting. I finally realized that he had not done that to be cruel to me. He was certain that I would always wait for him. However, even the warmest heart grew cold when neglected too many times. The waves crashed against the shore, over and over. With each crash, another shred of my hope washed away. This time, I was not going to wait for him to come back.

I had been in a relationship with Harry Chalamet for ten years. He stood up for me and even ended up in the hospital after a fight. He financially supported me in my education by laboring on construction sites. Even my friends could tell that he was madly in love with me, and I believed it too. Just when we were about to get married, I noticed he often secretly stared blankly at a photo. But the person in that photo wasn’t me…

My mother is hospitalized due to a terminal illness. She's in urgent need of a kidney transplant to save her life. I'm the only one who can perform the surgery, but I give the kidney to a stranger. My father and husband get on their knees before me on the day of the surgery. They beg me to save my mother. However, I shrug and say, "I can't do anything about this. A life is a life, regardless of who the person is. This is what she gets for coming late—death is waiting for her."