Tragic Love Short Stories & Bias Countdown Novels

Three nights before my wedding, our families played a “lucky key” game. Each woman drew a key to one of the gift cases. Everyone said the assignments were random. My key opened an empty case. Inside was a single card. THANK YOU FOR PLAYING. My fiancé, Damian Valenti, touched my shoulder. “Your luck has always been terrible.” My childhood friend, Luca Ferraro, lowered his voice. “Smile. Don’t let everyone think you’re a sore loser.” My half sister, Sienna, drew the grand prize. Her case held a vintage Valenti brooch, the Mediterranean vacation I had spent months planning, and a card Luca had written himself. Whatever happens, we will always protect you. I smiled for the photographs and returned my card to the empty case. It was only a game. Someone had to lose. Then I passed the club office and heard the coordinator checking the list. “Grand prize for Miss Sienna Russo. Empty case for Miss Alessandra Russo. Mr. Valenti, were those the correct assignments?” Damian paused. “Yes. Sienna would have cried if she had drawn the empty case. Alessandra can handle disappointment.” Luca laughed. “She always does. She’ll find a graceful way to explain it.” They had rigged the game because Sienna’s tears were inconvenient, while my disappointment was easy to ignore. I smiled, walked away, and decided to cancel the wedding scheduled for three days later. They could keep their rigged game. I was done playing.

A week before the wedding, Angela Spears receives an anonymous email in her inbox. As soon as she clicks on the link in the email, the jarring imagery that pops out before her makes it hard for her to breathe. The link leads to a porn website called "Animal World", and it is filled with videos of explicit sexual acts. All porn actors and actresses in the videos wear animal masks as they entwine their bodies in every way possible in front of a black backdrop. The videos are all disgustingly explicit, and Angela quickly closes the window. Yet, a fleeting memory lingers in her mind, and when the realization dawns on her, she freezes. The video trending under the livestream segment on the website features a man in a fox mask. His jawline, physique, and even the sound of his breathing are identical to those of her fiance, Daryl Carson.

When Reese, Alpha of the Blood Moon Wolf Pack, was pursuing me, he always said I was the moonlight that had fallen directly into his territory. I possessed ancestral vampire blood that resurfaced in my generation, leaving me naturally light-sensitive and unable to endure the sun for long. While others checked the temperature before going outside, Reese checked the UV index. He had the highest-grade solar tint installed on his car windows and never let me step out into the daylight without holding an umbrella over my head. While the entire pack marveled at his devotion, he would smile and reply, "She was born deserving the absolute best of everything." That was until he rescued a rogue wolf named Selena during a border patrol and brought her back to live with the pack. She hid my umbrellas and snatched my sun hats, but every time I voiced my grievances, Reese would just gently brush it off. "She doesn't mean any harm. She's just used to running wild out there and likes to play around. Don't take it to heart." So when she invited me up to the glasshouse conservatory to admire the flowers together, I didn't suspect a thing. Until the door locked behind me. Midday sunlight poured through the glass dome, and my skin immediately began to burn and swell. I called desperately for Reese again and again. It wasn't until my tenth call that he finally answered, his voice laced with gentle coaxing. "Just bear with it a little longer, okay? Selena sprained her ankle on the way down, and she's crying her eyes out. I'll be right back up as soon as I help her out. Try moving into the shade for now." Except that the sun was directly overhead, leaving nowhere to hide. I was nearly unconscious from the excruciating pain by the time the door was finally unlocked. As Reese scooped me up in his arms, Selena pouted. "You just spoil her way too much. It was only fifteen minutes. How bad could it actually be?" Reese's hands were trembling as he held me, yet he still made excuses for her. "Alright, that's enough. Fifteen minutes is a long time." Selena giggled. "I bet she'd tan, and you bet she'd stay just as pale no matter what." "So who actually won the bet?" In the end, he won that little wager, but I had already left his territory for good.

I was a mermaid fostered within the Silverwood Pack. By the laws of my kin, on the day I came of age, I had to swallow a Tide Pearl fed to me by a male. Only then could I fully shed my tail and truly join the wolf pack, remaining on land. And whoever fed me the pearl would become my mate. Miss that window, and my legs would turn back into a tail, forcing me to return to the deep sea. Before my mother died, she left behind three Tide Pearls, entrusting them to the three wolf boys I grew up with—each desperate to become my mate. But just as I was about to come of age, a lone wolf mother named Chloe arrived at the pack with her young pup, Leo. Alpha Lucas, Beta Kane, and Gamma Aiden became convinced that Chloe was the widow of the wolf who had saved their lives, and they showered mother and son with care. They knew full well what the Tide Pearls meant to me—yet choice after choice, they handed those pearls over to Chloe and her child, one by one. Their protection of Chloe was built on my sacrifice. With every pearl gone, I had no reason left to stay in the pack. At midnight on my coming-of-age day, the tide surged over the cliffs. I returned to the sea.

After five years together, my fiancée Selene—a surgeon—canceled our wedding forty-nine times. The first time, she was in the middle of makeup when Kaelen, her male intern, messed up a patient’s chart. She rushed back to the hospital and left me waiting at the altar all day. The second time, just as we were about to exchange rings, she heard Kaelen was being bullied by another doctor. She went back to rescue him. I stayed behind, facing a roomful of smirking guests. After that, every time I tried to reschedule, that intern had some new emergency. Always needed her. Always right when the wedding was supposed to happen. I finally decided to end it. The day I left New York, she searched for me like a madwoman. But I was already gone.

The day after my C-section, I had a divorce attorney come to the hospital. The person handling my case was my husband Daniel's younger sister, Emily Markham. She stared at me for a long time, disbelief written all over her face. "What are you doing? You just had my brother's baby yesterday!" My voice stayed flat. "Your brother didn't even wait for me to finish giving birth before he went out on a boat with Rebecca Lennox. "Why would I keep a husband like that?" Emily was quiet for a few seconds, but she still defended him. "Rebecca just got divorced, and her depression's really bad. My brother's a doctor. He couldn't stop worrying about her. "He only went to check on her because he felt responsible. Do you really have to take it as far as divorce? "The baby was just born. How can he not have a father?" My expression cold, I cut her off. "He does have a father. His father just decided he didn't want him first." Emily went pale. She reached for my hand, testing the waters. "I know my brother's always been way too invested in Rebecca, but that's only because they grew up together. "We all know he loves you. Please don't divorce him, okay?" I met her hopeful gaze, and the corner of my mouth twitched. I pulled my arm free and called the law firm. "Your attorney isn't very professional. I'd like a different one."

My wife, Clara Ellis, had just died. By law, I inherited her entire data archive. Among the files, I discovered an AI version of her that she had created so her surviving family could remember her after she was gone. My daughter asked, "What's the happiest moment of your entire life?" The Clara on the screen laughed. "Why, marrying your father, of course." Her friends asked if she had ever had any regrets. "Clara" shook her head. Then another question appeared, one the real Clara had prepared for herself. "If you could restart your life at 22, would you still choose to marry Darren?" For a full minute, Clara AI said nothing. Finally, she shook her head. "No. I'd rush to the airport and convince Logan to stay." Logan Pearce had left the country when Clara was 22. She never tried to stop him because, at that exact time, I was in a car accident that took both my parents' lives. At the most devastating moment of my life, she gave up on the man she loved and chose to stay by my side for the next twenty years. Everyone had always called it an act of love. Now I knew it had been an act of pity. The next time I opened my eyes, I discovered that I had somehow returned to the third day after the accident. Clara sat beside my hospital bed. Her phone showed that Logan's flight would be boarding soon. In my previous life, I had stopped her from going. It was the first time I had ever swallowed my pride and begged someone to stay with me. That night, I had spent hours trying to convince her not to leave. This time, I ordered an Uber for her. "Logan's flight leaves in 40 minutes. You can still make it, Clara."

Five years ago, on our third anniversary, I rejected Matteo's proposal in front of the entire syndicate. I pointed at my stomach. I sneered at the man who used to worship the ground I walked on: "Don't be naive, Matteo. You're just a stray dog from the gutter. I'm carrying the rival boss's heir." It poured that night. He was shattered. He walked away from everything. Five years later, he climbed over a mountain of bodies. He ruled North America as the new Don. He returned to New York and bought out every single debt my family owed. Then, he brought his pregnant fiancée along and kicked down the rusted door to my run-down apartment. He looked down at me with cold eyes. "What's wrong, Princess? Hiding out in a dump like this now?" He had no idea. My body was already in the final stages of transplant rejection. Every single day I stayed alive was just to see his face one last time before I died.

After three days of the silent treatment, my fiancé, the Capo of the Moretti family, took his assistant, Bella, on an island vacation. He expected me to be driven mad with jealousy, just as I always had been. But when he returned to Valmont a month later, he found a different woman. He made me give up my corner office. I didn't fight him. I just packed my things and handed it over. To prop Bella up, he discredited me in front of a key partner at the annual family meeting, just so she could shine. I didn't try to prove my innocence. I just accepted the family's reprimand and took my punishment. When Lucas wanted to put Bella in charge of the family's most profitable business, I didn't even get angry. I handed over all the necessary documents without a fight, letting him redistribute power as he saw fit. Bella was smug. "See? What did I tell you?" "A woman like her just needs a firm hand. One trip to the island and she's terrified of losing you. Look how obedient she is now." Lucas bought it, praising Bella for her insight. In a move he'd never made before, he promised me a wedding so grand it would become a legend in the Valmont underworld. But he seemed to have forgotten the dissolution agreement he signed, the one I slipped him right before he got into the car for their vacation. I had already severed all ties with him. I was leaving, but he had no idea.

My mate is Ryder Blackwood, Alpha of the pack. As the approaching bonding ceremony, he tells me that his "savior", Isabelle Morrison, is dying. She took a silver dagger meant for him three years ago. Now she is terminal, and her days are numbered. Her last wish, he says, is to leave behind a pup bearing the strongest Alpha blood. I tremble. "What about me? I'm your only mate." His voice is cold, emptied of feeling. "Don't worry. I'll always be your mate." Two days later, I receive the pregnancy test results. Isabelle is five weeks along. Turns out there was never a choice. All I get is a belated notice. What he doesn't know is that I'm the one who took the silver dagger meant for him three years ago. The healer tells me I have, at most, a month to live. I neither weep nor protest. I cancel the bonding ceremony I've dreamed of and quietly book a flight out. It leaves on the very day of the ceremony. Ryder stands at the venue of the canceled ceremony when my message reaches him. It's my unwavering rejection of him as my mate. That's when he finally breaks. For the first time, the Alpha who controls everything tastes a fear that tears the soul. He searches for me frantically, only to find every trace of me erased from his world.

The Black Wolf Pack and the Snow Wolf Pack had entered into a mating alliance. My father had only two daughters, Susan and me, so he decided our fate by drawing lots. When Susan drew the lot that would send her into the alliance, all the color drained from her face. Having been reborn, however, I turned to my father of my own accord. “I’ll go to the Snow Wolf Pack in Susan’s place.” Everyone was stunned. Logan, my fated mate, and I had been betrothed for years, and I had once even sworn that he would be the only man I would ever allow to mark me. The Snow Wolf Pack lay far to the north, where the land was bitterly cold and its Alpha was rumored to be ruthless and cruel. But I alone knew what had happened in my previous life. Only after Logan and I became bonded mates did I realize that the woman he had loved all along was Susan. By then, she had already gone to the Snow Wolf Pack, only to die there less than a year later, worn down by misery. Logan became convinced that I had switched the lots so I could stay with him, and from that day on, he hated me for the rest of my life. No matter how hard I tried to please him, he never responded. Yet when I fell ill with wolf-wasting sickness and was barely clinging to life, he stayed by my side and cared for me without leaving. Before I died, his eyes reddened as he fed me my favorite raspberries. “I’m the one who wronged you in this life. If there’s another life, please let Susan and me go.” After my death, he went to my grave and chose to leave this world with me. When I opened my eyes again, I had been reborn. This time, I would accept the alliance myself and give him the life he had always wanted.

I was Apollo’s most devoted follower, the lover he handpicked from a sea of worshippers. With me, he’d always shed his divine arrogance. He was so tender, so attentive. I actually thought he loved me to the bone. Until seven days before our Consort Ceremony, when I used my gift of prophecy to peek into our future together. I expected to see a lifetime of blinding love. Instead, I saw him violently tangled in the sheets with my adopted sister, Cassandra. Wrapped around him, Cassandra giggled. "You're so good to me, my Lord. Thanks to you, I'll finally get my sister's Sight and take her place as High Priestess." And Apollo—my god, my lover—smiled down at her with pure adoration. "Whatever makes you happy, little bird. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have played pretend for this long, let alone allow her to become a god's consort." In that split second, my heart turned to ash. My faith shattered into a million pieces. With seven days left until the ceremony, I didn't confront them. Instead, I fell to my knees before the altar of Hades, Lord of the Underworld. "I offer you my gift of prophecy. I will be your most loyal follower in exchange for your sanctuary." "Please. Take me away from here. Take me somewhere Apollo can never find me."

At my pre-wedding blowout, my sister Julia Gallo suddenly challenged my fiancé Lorenzo, heir to the next Don of the Bianchi family, to a "big bet." "Let me guess how many candies you've got in your hand." "Guess right, and whatever my forfeit is, you do it." "Guess wrong, and you're covering all the leftover booze." "I'm guessing... five." She said. Lorenzo opened his right hand. Three. Julia tipped her head back to down the rest of the wine. But then— "You win." Lorenzo pulled his left hand from his pocket. "There are two more. Right here." Julia smiled at him. But tears shimmered in her eyes. She unfolded the note she'd written in advance. "Then I'm sorry. I didn't think I'd actually guess it right off the top of my head." "Your wedding is postponed. Three years." The room went dead silent. Lorenzo just kept smiling. "We've been betting since the day we first touched family business. When have we ever backed out?" "A bet's a bet." This wasn't the first time Lorenzo used me as collateral. I looked up at the clock—past midnight. My phone buzzed. A message from a familiar number. "Happy birthday." "You're not married at twenty-seven, you marry me. Still on?" I replied: "A bet's a bet. Three days, and I'll honor our deal."

It was only on our first wedding anniversary that I realized the rubbers I bought before our wedding had long expired. No one would believe that my mafia husband, Andre Garcia, and I had never consummated our marriage. That night, I gathered my courage and bought a suggestive nightgown. After downing three glasses of whisky, I hugged Andre tightly and whispered in his ear, "Darling, let's do it today. I want you..." However, Andre shook my hand off indifferently as if he were handling a gun. "Danielle Lawson, do you have no shame? You've done such shameless things time and time again. If you're really that lonely, I'll order you some toys so you can play with them to your heart's content." My face turned deathly pale as I stood there, stunned. I could not understand why a wife begging for her husband's affection was considered 'shameless' behavior. I curled up on the couch, unable to help but ask on social media. Danielle: [My husband has no dysfunction. Why won't he touch me after marriage?] Someone replied: [Perhaps your husband has someone else.] Like a dagger, that comment pierced me awake. I suddenly realized—maybe the problem was not that I was unattractive but rather that he was never mine. The moment I deleted my account, I also made the decision to leave. Who could have imagined that Andre, who would usually not even glance at me, would frantically search for me after I disappeared? "Danielle, I can't get a hard-on after you left!"

“Shawn, Ethan and Wendy are engaged. Stop trying to come between them. We’ve already booked your flight. Stay abroad for a few years, then come back after their wedding.” Shawn Yates looked at his parents’ faces, at the way they seemed so sure they were doing what was best for him, and realized he had been reborn. He had returned to the day his parents forced him to leave the country and give up Wendy Stone for good. In his previous life, his parents talked him into leaving, but he couldn’t accept it. He told Wendy again and again that he was the one she loved. He begged his parents to tell her the truth and stop letting his brother, Ethan Yates, take his place. All it did was make Wendy despise him even more. When a car accident left him close to death, she even told the nurse on the phone coldly, “What’s he trying to pull this time? Tell him to stop trying to ruin my wedding with Ethan.”

In my seven years of my marriage with the Regent, I had risked my life bearing him five children. Every single one had died. My husband grieved so deeply that he collapsed. He knelt for three days and nights before the chapel in the bitter cold, praying for my well-being. He even spent a fortune to build a memorial tower in my honor. Everyone said the Regent loved his wife more than life itself. But the System's childbearing progress remained stuck at 90%. Then came All Hallows' Eve. I walked to the river alone to float a memorial candle for my fifth child, who had only just passed. What I found instead were four children carrying turnip lanterns, gathered around my half-sister, tugging at her skirts. "Mommy! Daddy said he's lighting a bonfire tonight!" Alaric Montague stood behind her, arms looped around her waist. His expression carried the same tenderness I knew so well. Even my father, as stern as he had always been, was chuckling beside them, more relaxed than I had ever seen him. My mother held a swaddled infant nearby, wiping the corner of the smallest child's mouth. "Odette is too frail to carry children. Thank goodness Alaric came up with a way to swap them." "Watch your words, Mrs. Devereaux," Alaric cut in at once, his gaze turning cold. "Laurel owed this to Odette. The debt is paid. I'll let her keep the next one." I bit down on my lip hard enough to taste blood. In my mind, an electronic tone stirred to life after years of silence. [Laurel, five registered offspring detected alive. Childbearing mission for the heirless Regent is complete.] [Portal activation imminent. Confirm departure?]

I'm the heiress of the Claremont family. Damon Johnson and I had a deal—we'd go to Oakwood High together. But the second my acceptance letter arrived, he and the rest of the guys in our class knocked me out cold. Why? Because Sophia Miller, the school's little princess, said she'd never seen a real mummy before. When I came to, I was wrapped head-to-toe in bandages, strung up at the front gate of the school. Students passed by—laughing, filming, some even spitting in my direction. I hung there for two full hours, on display for everyone. Finally, Damon showed up. Grinning, he untied the rope. "Sophia said she wanted to see a live mummy. It was just a joke. You're not actually mad, are you? We've known each other our whole lives. You get me." I just stared at him. At the group of guys still snickering behind him. At Sophia in the corner, covering her mouth with her hand. So this is what my dignity was worth to them. A punchline. I tore up my Oakwood acceptance letter and took the plane ticket the International Academy had sent me—three days to leave. The moment I stepped onto that plane, Damon lost it. "You're the one who always understands me—so why are you leaving?"

On our seventh anniversary, Damon, the Don of the Voss family, turned what should have been our wedding into a divorce ceremony for the seventh time. I did not scream or break down sobbing. I only stood in the middle of the hall like a clown while his friends laughed at me. "Evelyn, why aren't you laughing? Don't tell us you're actually mad." Damon came over with a frown and gently wiped the tears from my face. "Evelyn, stop crying." "I promise. This is the last time I'll make a joke like this." I looked at him and suddenly remembered what I had overheard outside his study the night before. "Don, this is the seventh time you've made a fool of Evelyn. Aren't you afraid she'll leave?" Damon was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. "She won't." "Everyone knows Evelyn can't live without me." "Selene once took a bullet for me. Her health has been poor ever since." "She wanted to see Evelyn fooled seven times. I'm only granting her one last wish." "After this, I'll marry Evelyn properly and make her my Donna. I'll give her the grandest wedding as compensation." I had already been humiliated seven times. No matter how deeply I had loved him, no heart could survive being worn down like that. Damon did not know I was the hidden heir of the Hale family. I had never cared about his title as Don. In three days, I would return to my family and accept the marriage alliance.

After Alpha Ethan’s older brother died, Ethan took responsibility for his widow, Vivian, and their daughter, Cora. Ethan brought them into our home at Blackridge Pack. Our daughter, Iris, was only one month older than Cora. To keep either child from feeling overlooked, Ethan declared that everything they both wanted would be decided by drawing lots. Cora won the bedroom Iris had slept in for six years, Iris’s favorite moon-rabbit doll, and even the evening Ethan had promised to spend with Iris on her birthday. Iris lost every time. Ethan always offered the same explanation. Cora had just lost her father, and Iris should be generous because she was the older girl. Then Blackridge Pack received a single place at the royal training academy. Ethan prepared another draw. Inside his study, I found a stack of folded slips waiting beside the bowl. I opened them one by one. All twelve carried Cora’s name. Iris had never been given a chance. I folded the slips again and returned them to the drawer without confronting my mate. There was nothing left to ask him. Ethan had already made his choice. This time, I would make mine. I was leaving Blackridge Pack, and I was taking our daughter with me.

On my fifth wedding anniversary with Rebecca Leavitt, I sign an organ donation consent form. My entire family opposed my decision. Mom sobs as she slaps herself across the face. "This is all my fault. I'm useless. I couldn't make enough to pay for your heart transplant…" Dad took an overnight train from our hometown. The moment he stepped inside, he knelt down in front of me. "I'll sell my kidney on the black market. Please don't do this!" he pleads. My younger sister, Winona Zander, tore the consent form to pieces, scattering the scraps across my face. "Will, just hold on for another six months. My scholarship will come through soon!" Only Rebecca said nothing. She sits calmly on the couch, painting her nails with the polish she just bought, its crimson shade resembling blood. "Do whatever you want," she said, blowing lightly on her nails. "The doctor said your heart wouldn't last more than three months anyway."