Bias Tragic Love Short Stories & Novels

My fiance, Adrian Hale, and I had planned to go snorkeling on Valentine's Day. The day we landed in the south of France, I discovered that his first love, Vivian Clarke, had come with us. They insisted on heading into unpatrolled waters. "But those waters are dangerous, shrouded in strange rumors..." Adrian frowned at me. "Sophie, do you have to ruin the mood right now?" Vivian smiled and hooked her arm through his. "With you here, nothing is going to happen to us." Once we were in the water, Vivian recklessly swam toward the deeper channel. A swell shoved half her body into a narrow opening. I swam over to pull her free, but she thrashed and drove her heel hard into my knee. Her elbow knocked my mask crooked. Before I could straighten it, Vivian kicked me into the opening. Adrian came up behind us, grabbed Vivian, and held her hand tight. The voices over my underwater headset were muffled, but I still heard Adrian's cold warning clearly. "Vivi doesn't know these waters. You do, don't you? "You led her into deeper water on purpose. Who exactly were you trying to hurt? "Figure your own way out. Consider it the lesson you've earned!" Briny seawater flooded my throat. My aching legs kicked uselessly. My body was wedged fast in the opening. I closed my eyes in despair. My last thought was this: if I died, they deserved to pay with their lives.

My Alpha Female, my mate, had been gone a week surveying her territory. The moment she got back, I rejected our bond. "Just because I forgot your little trinket?" She laughed, blue eyes careless as ever. "Yes." I stared at her, face a mask. Seven days ago, Rowan, Alpha Female of the Silvermoon Ridge Pack, took her core warriors to inspect a newly acquired mining territory. When she returned, she had gifts for everyone. Even the border patrol got aged liquor. She forgot the only thing that mattered. The pure Moonstone I needed to soothe my burning Alpha blood. I'd waited two months. Then her new Omega scribe, Finn, posted a selfie on the pack network—showing off a wolf-fang necklace carved from raw Moonstone. [Thank you to the most powerful Alpha Female in the world! My loyalty will never fade!] Rowan's comment sat right below: [You deserve it.] I stared a long time. Then I deleted the message I'd been typing to her: "Waiting for you to come home, my Alpha." Rowan and I grew up together. Twenty years intertwined. When we came of age, she became the Alpha Female, I became her Beta. Once, I was the only one by her throne. Then, slowly, the entire pack got in line ahead of me. Just like now. We were breaking our bond—the most serious thing imaginable. But her phone lit up with Finn's message. "Need your guidance on the territory resource files." She didn't even look up. "Stop making a scene, Caleb. It's just a rock. I'll get you one before next month's ceremony. Finn has something urgent. Drive yourself back." She hurried away. I didn't stop her. I pulled out my phone and replied to the Alpha of the Blackpeak Pack. He'd invited me seven times. "I'm in. Flight's tomorrow night. See you in Blackpeak." I pulled the moonstone bracelet from my wrist and left it in the drawer of her office desk. Rowan. From now on, you have your throne. I'll get mine.

I shared a joint covenant account with Antonio De Luca. We had agreed that we would get married once the account reached ten million euros. When it reached 9.99 million euros, I scheduled a wedding rehearsal at the church. But it wasn’t until dusk that Antonio finally sent me a message: “The new adviser was ambushed and lost too much blood. The surgery requires absolute security. I have to stay with her.” At that very moment, fifty thousand euros were withdrawn from the covenant account. I scrolled back through the transaction history. Before that, there had been opera tickets, custom leather goods, and a bracelet—the same one I had seen the new adviser wearing on her wrist—all paid for in smaller installments. I clenched the pregnancy test report in my pocket and suddenly let out a bitter laugh. Since he had been secretly favoring someone else, there was no need for him to know about the child growing inside me.

For three years running, Matteo always had a reason to push the engagement date back, all because he was certain I could never want anyone but him. The first year, his parents refused to let him marry a poor girl like me, and the engagement was shelved. The second year, he lost the engagement rings I had made myself. No rings, no ceremony. The third year, he "forgot" to tell his parents the date and only told them at the last minute. There was too little time, they could not get there, and the engagement was shelved again. This year, though, none of those earlier "accidents" happened. There was only one exception. On the day of our engagement, the gown my mother had sewn for me stitch by stitch before she died somehow ended up on my stepsister, Capucine. She let her cat climb up the skirt and bite and claw at it until the lace was full of holes. Matteo did not scold her. He soothed her in a gentle voice instead. "It's fine. If it's ruined we'll just have another one made. It's an old dress, it's not like it's anything special." He ignored my red, swollen eyes. "The gown is gone now, so it looks like the engagement will have to wait until next year." I let out a cold laugh and stepped forward to strip the gown off Capucine. "Three times is enough. There won't be an engagement next year either." What he did not know was that before she died, my mother told me a secret she had kept for twenty years. I was never some poor girl. I was the only daughter of a Sicilian mafia family. My real father had found out where I had ended up, and he was already on his way to bring me home himself. Since this engagement was not going to happen, I had decided to go home with him.

For five years, I let my husband’s fated mate take whatever she wanted. My place beside him. His time. His attention. The tenderness that used to belong to me. I even told myself I could survive watching my own son choose her over me, because a broken family had to be better than no family at all. It wasn’t. On the tenth anniversary of the bond my husband and I chose for ourselves, he canceled our ceremony and told me his fated mate would be taking my place beside him. Then my son gave her the Luna necklace his father had once given me and told me she was his real mate. That was the moment I finally understood something I should have learned five years ago. No matter how much of myself I gave to that family, I would never be the woman Adrian chose. So I filed for the dissolution of our bond. None of them believed I could really walk away. My husband thought I was bluffing. His fated mate thought she had won. My son didn’t even look back. Then, three days later, a call came from Moonfall Island: Adrian Blackwood’s Luna was dead. This time, I left them with nothing but my ashes.

The music at the Full Moon feast was deafening. I bent down, fumbling with the strap on my heel. When I looked up, they were already gone. My fated mate, Callum—the feared Alpha of the Red Maple pack—and Freya, my once-best friend. I started to follow. To lift my dress and run. But the space by his side—my space, the Luna's space—was already gone. Their bodies were pressed close. Whispering about pack politics. Things I'd never understand. It was like I wasn't even there. An outsider. I always knew we'd have an arranged marriage. Callum and me. Finding out we were Mates was no surprise. Our wolves were made for each other. A fatal attraction. Until Freya proved herself as a lethal fighter. She used to be the one I told everything to. Now, she was Alpha Callum's sharpest claw. His most trusted Beta. To everyone in the Alliance, they were the Red Maple pack's power couple. They shared the glory, the blood, the battles against rogues. And me? I spent every waking hour in the pack hospital, healing our people, pulling them back from death's door. But to him, I was just a fragile healer who needed protecting. Forever locked out of his world of blood and instinct. Callum loved to run his thumb over the back of my neck, right over the spot he'd only partially marked. The possessive scent made my knees weak. "My sweet Tessa," he'd growl. "You don't need to see the ugliness. Your innocence is what I love." Then he'd turn. And he and Freya would disappear into the smoke and darkness to handle the pack's violent "business." This time, watching them walk away, a bone-deep exhaustion washed over me. I was done. Done chasing a man who would never turn around.

I'd been in a secret relationship with Nathan for six years. He said we couldn't go public because of his career. So we always split the bill, and anniversary gifts never cost more than fifteen dollars. The night before our anniversary, I asked him for the sixth time when he'd come home with me to meet my family. He turned me down again. "Ivy, I just think things are moving a little fast. Marriage is a lifetime commitment, after all." So I went home alone, carrying the expensive cheese and wine he'd bought for my mom. I pushed open the door and found the living room trashed. My stepsister Chloe stood there with a smug grin on her face. "Mrs. Mercer, you owe my family a million dollars. You've been stalling long enough. Time to settle up, don't you think?" Years ago, my father had an affair, and Chloe's mother orchestrated the whole thing. My mom ended up saddled with a mountain of debt, and my father took the easy way out with a divorce. When I said nothing, Chloe scoffed, "What's wrong? Don't want to own up to it? "That's fine. My husband happens to be the best lawyer in the city. He's never lost a case. "This is his first year coming home with me for the holidays. Perfect time to show you what 'pay what you owe' really means." I crouched down to shield my mother, the words of protest dying on my lips. The next second, a familiar figure stepped out from behind Chloe. It was Nathan.

My husband, Lucien Moretti, had some last-minute trouble at the docks to deal with, so I had to attend the underground auction alone. I didn't expect to run into my ex, Damon Vesper—the man I was supposed to marry five years ago. The man who chose the woman who put my mother in a coma over me. The moment I raised my paddle for my mother's emerald brooch, he raised his against mine. The room laughed, whispered, sneered. They thought I was the same desperate fool chasing a man who'd never loved me. But I wasn't there for him. I was there for the truth—the truth hidden inside that brooch. The truth that would expose the accident that destroyed my family as the murder it always was. And when his fiancée Serena had me dragged to the basement, Damon let it happen. He stood there and watched as they beat me, humiliated me, and threatened to carve up my face. Silent. The way he always had. But he had no idea who he was really messing with. They thought they could break me again, just like before. Too bad. I'm not that girl anymore.

How much did my wife once love me? The year we graduated from college, she spent two whole years trying to convince me to marry her. She proposed three times. The first time, I said no. The second time, I said no again. It wasn't until the third time that she gathered all our closest family and friends, then got down on one knee in front of everyone. She looked at me with a determination that left no room for hesitation. In the end, she won me over. On our wedding day, I gave her a small wooden box. Inside were exactly one hundred black metal tokens, neatly arranged in rows. I gave them a name. Second Chances. Whenever either of us did something that hurt our marriage or broke a promise, we would spend one. One mistake. One chance to choose each other again. For the first three years of our marriage, she never used a single one. Until Ethan Blake came along. Her young assistant in his twenties. Young, handsome, charming, and very good at making her smile. More importantly, there were parts of him that reminded her of me when I was younger. And Olivia seemed increasingly fascinated by that younger version of me. In just two years, she had used ninety-six chances. Tonight would be the ninety-seventh. SECOND CHANCES REMAINING: 3 She didn't know. She thought we still had plenty of chances left. In reality, there were only three. And after tonight, there would be two.

When I was eighteen, my brothers, the bosses of our mafia family, brought home an adopted sister. And so, naive as I was, I became the biggest nuisance in the family. When Vivian's dress was torn, they blamed me. When Vivian was frightened by the gang violence, they still blamed me. Later, our turf was attacked, and Vivian was kidnapped by our rivals. My brothers, who used to adore me, looked at me with desperate, tearful eyes and broke down. "Piper, we are begging you. Please take Vivian's place, okay?" I quietly looked up at them and softly said, "Okay." So, on that stormy night, I walked alone into the enemy camp and took the place of their beloved princess. As for me, I was thrown off a cliff into the raging sea. I thought I would die just like that, but I didn't. I met Hunter. At that time, he was just a street soldier chased into a dead alley by his enemies. I pressed my last piece of food into his hands. Later, he became the Don. He treated me like a queen and spoiled me for six whole years. I thought he was different from my brothers. But on a rainy night in our seventh year together, Hunter walked through the pouring rain and brought back a woman covered in blood. I heard she was his first love, Sadie. She was the woman who set him up, sending him to prison to be tortured before skipping town.

My six-year-old son fed me the cake that triggered my allergy and killed his unborn sister. He was smiling when he confessed, as if he had done something wonderful. “Aunt Vivienne said the baby would go back to the Moon Goddess. Then you and Daddy could break your mate bond, and she could stay with us instead. That way, Aunt Vivienne would have more time to play with me!” My heart clenched. I couldn't hold back anymore. “But Mommy and your sister can play with you, too. Can't we?” “Yeah, but…” He hesitated, searching for the right words. “But it's boring when I'm with you, Mommy. Daddy and I have more fun with Aunt Vivienne.” The words hit me like a blow. For a long moment, I couldn't say a word. My mate, Adrian, stripped Finn of his heir badge, suspended his Alpha training, and sent him to a pack therapist. But when I asked him to investigate the adult who had given our son the cake and taught him how to deceive me, Adrian stepped between us. “Vivienne chose her words poorly. She couldn't have known Finn would actually do it.” Our six-year-old son was old enough to be punished. My sister was too innocent to be questioned. That was when I finally saw the favoritism Adrian himself didn't even realize he was showing. So I stopped asking him to choose me. I removed my Luna signet, left behind divorce and mate-rejection papers, surrendered custody of Finn, and accepted an assignment outside Blackwood Territory. By the time Adrian and Finn understood what it truly meant to lose me, they were already begging me to come back. Only this time, I was the one who no longer wanted to return.

My twin sister, Bianca, tried to kill herself because I was better than her at school. Apparently, my success triggered her. So my parents sent me away from the Bellini estate. “Only until the college decisions come out,” Mother promised. “Then you can come home.” Behind her, my brother, Dante, helped Bianca choose her new armored Bentley. My boyfriend, Luca, stood beside them, holding Bianca’s favorite white roses. “If anything happens, call us, Valentina.” I did. A month later, a drunk man showed up at my door and wouldn't stop pounding. I locked myself in the bathroom and called my family again and again. Every call was declined. Near dawn, Mother finally texted. Sorry, sweetheart. We were celebrating Bianca’s birthday. Seeing your name might have upset her. After that, I stopped asking for help. The last college decision arrived, but they still wouldn’t let me return. Then, at our eighteenth-birthday gala, the Bellinis presented Bianca to New York as their beloved and only principessa. Mother sent me another message. Your sister still needs time. Please wait. This time, I was done waiting. They didn’t know I had already accepted my offer from MIT. I was leaving the Bellini family behind.

Five years ago, Sophie Bennett and I had a lavish wedding. But for five years, she kept refusing to make our marriage legal. Every time, the reason was Daniel Pierce. He'd been born with a heart condition, she said. He couldn't handle the shock. We'd have to put off the paperwork a little longer. One day, I looked at the wedding photo on our table and finally asked, "His condition isn't going away. Does that mean you'll never legally marry me?" Sophie pointed at the photograph, disappointment written all over her face. "Ethan, I never knew you could be so heartless. Daniel and I grew up together. I can't just abandon him! Besides, we've done everything a married couple does. Is that piece of paper really so important?" I told myself our wedding had been more than enough. A missing certificate couldn't change what we meant to each other. Then, on our fifth anniversary, I saw the marriage certificate Daniel posted online. His and Sophie's.

Three days before my wedding with Adam Wayman, his childhood friend, Diana Smith, came up to us. She ignored me and said to Adam as if it were only natural, “Adam, I know you’re about to get married, but I need you to spend five days with me.” Adam took me by the hand and led me away, just like he always had. Right when I thought our wedding would proceed as scheduled, he sent me a message. [Grace, I’m sorry, but let’s postpone our wedding for five days.] Later, he placed his suitcase by the door and pulled me into his arms. “Grace, I’m sorry. I’m the only one who can handle this project. Wait for me to get back, and I’ll make it up to you properly.” I held him tightly and said, “It’s okay. When are you coming back? Do you want me to pick you up at the airport?” Adam gently kissed my forehead and said, “Don’t worry about it. Just get some rest and enjoy being a bride-to-be.” Not long after he left, I saw a notification pop up on his spare phone. He had left it on the couch. The notification was about flight tickets to Marisol Bay. On the tickets, I saw Adam and Diana’s names. That was when I knew it was not a business trip at all. He was going on a vacation with her. I recalled how thrilled he had looked when I said “yes” to his proposal. Oh, well. Rotten fruit got tossed, and so did rotten people. I took out my phone and sent a message to the wedding planner, Felicity Feathers. [Cancel my wedding.]

On the day my fiancé, Raphael Moretti, and I were supposed to get our marriage license at city hall, I dressed with care. But by noon, he still hadn't shown up. Aurelia De Luca video-called me. "Sofia, where are you? Raphael's been waiting for you all day." Panic hit me. "Weren't we signing in Palermo?" Aurelia frowned. "It's Taormina, Sofia. Everyone's been waiting for a long time." I drove straight to Taormina. When I arrived, no one was there. When the video connected, Aurelia was crouched on the ground, laughing hard. "Sofia, don't tell me you actually went. We're already on Lipari. Raphael's setting up the wedding venue to surprise you." I left my car at the port and took a boat to Lipari. The water was rough. I threw up the whole way, and my makeup ran down my face. But when I arrived, no one answered my calls. I waited alone outside city hall until it closed, not knowing what else to do. Aurelia suddenly appeared behind me in a straw hat and smacked me hard on the back. "You really chased us all the way here? The underboss and Raphael only came to keep me company on vacation." I spun around with a yelp. My heel caught on the step, and I fell. Raphael stood there holding Aurelia's shopping bags and purse. "Didn't we agree to get our marriage license after the trip? You couldn't wait? You had to chase us all the way here?" My uncle, Vincenzo Ferraro, saw my pale face and frowned. "Lia is the cheerful one. You've been timid since you were a child. How are you ever going to take over the family?" Seeing Aurelia's smug smile, I didn't even feel like confronting her anymore. I wasn't angry. I wasn't sad. I just wanted to escape a home that had never felt like mine. I only had to stay away from the people and places that made me miserable. For good.

A group of thugs dragged me into an alley. In a panic, I called my boyfriend thirty-nine times, only to have him decline every single call. My whole body trembled as I struggled desperately to break free. Just as they were about to strip me naked, laughter suddenly erupted around me. One by one, they removed their masks and caps. I looked up stiffly and saw that every one of them was someone close to me. My younger brother, Caleb Bennett, scoffed. "This is hilarious, sis. You should've seen the look on your face. Did you seriously think someone was stalking you?" My older brother, Adrian Bennett, teased, "How are you still this easy to scare after all these years?" My best friend, Maya Grant, smiled at the girl beside her. "See, Jenna? I told you she was a coward, but you didn't believe me. Do you believe me now?" I followed her gaze to Jenna Gale, the woman Blake Carter had always carried a torch for, who had just returned from abroad. She stood behind Blake, looking at me with feigned innocence. "I had no idea you were really this easy to scare, sis. "No wonder you guys do this every year, Blake. It's actually pretty fun." Blake remained completely indifferent, never once looking at me. "If you like it, we'll do it again next time." I stood frozen, my entire body went cold. Only then did I realize that this was yet another one of their pranks meant to toughen me up. Two years ago, they locked me in a pitch-black room and told me ghost stories, leaving me plagued by nightmares for an entire month. Last year, they put dead snakes and rats in my bed. I was so terrified that I collapsed and went into convulsions. Today, one more person had joined them in tormenting me. It suddenly occurred to me that it was time to put an end to this farce once and for all.

I'm ridiculously easy to fool. I trust every word that comes from others. One particularly awful year, an older student scams me out of all the money I have to live on. Dustin Emerson gives me half of what he has. He's the one person I know won't lie to me. He tells me, "You're not stupid. People are just awful, so stop trusting them and trust me instead." An hour before my grad school entrance exam, Dustin texts me. "I got into a car accident. I'm at the hospital. Come quick." I rush to the hospital, only to find Dustin and my best friend, Emily Levine, sitting at a convenience store eating nachos. Emily bursts out laughing, slapping her thigh. "See? I told you she'd fall for it. One text, and she came running instead of going to her exam." Dustin picks up a chip and holds it to her mouth. "Alright, you win. A bet's a bet. I'll take you to the theme park today." I stare at them in disbelief. Dustin pulls out a tissue and wipes the sweat from my face. "You're about to graduate, and the real world can be brutal. This is your first lesson." My voice shakes. "My entrance exam is today!" Emily purses her lips. "Okay, okay. Sharon's so upset she's about to cry. Let's get her back before she fails and blames us for it." The moment Dustin sees me crying, he gets worried too. He floors it and gets me to the exam center with just one minute to spare. I'm just starting to relax when a proctor stops me. "This exam ID is fake. You need to leave." When I look down at the paper in my hand, I realize someone has swapped out my real exam ID. There's a huge doodle of a pig's face on it, with a message written beside it. "Sharon, you dummy! I'm keeping your exam ID safe for you. Surprise!" Underneath is another message. "Don't make the same mistake twice. This is lesson number two." I recognize Emily's handwriting and Dustin's. I may not always know when I'm being lied to, but now I know who truly means well and who doesn't. I won't be so quick to trust anyone again.

After five years of hurting each other, I was finally tired of Aiden Russell. Five years ago, I finally brought down the biggest drug lord in the Walled City and avenged my father, Paul Chadwick, who had died in the line of duty. But Aiden refused to let the drug lord's daughter, Naomi Siddall, die. He even threatened to take his own life just to force me to agree. After the operation, Aiden brought Naomi back to our home. From that day on, we never stopped hurting each other. Once, I held a knife to Naomi's throat. Aiden immediately pointed his gun at me without hesitation. When I threw away Naomi's medicine, Aiden stripped me and threw me out into the freezing snow. Then one day, Naomi timidly hid behind Aiden while holding a positive pregnancy test. I watched the way Aiden protected her. And suddenly, I felt completely hopeless. Right in front of him, I removed all five bullets from my revolver. Then I pressed the gun against my temple. "Aiden, let's make a bet. Russian roulette. One chance in six. If the first five chambers are empty, you let me walk away. From that moment on, we have nothing to do with each other. But if one of those first five chambers has a bullet, then consider it the life I'm giving you. And a birthday gift for your unborn child."

I've been married to Joel Hoover for three years. But whenever we go out with my best friend, Cynthia Marsh, people assume they're the couple. At the mall, sales associates hand them the gifts meant for couples. At restaurants, servers ask if they want to take part in the couples' promotion. When we travel, strangers compliment them on what a great couple they make, then hand me a phone to take their picture. At first, it makes me uncomfortable, but Joel never corrects anyone. Cynthia always laughs it off. "Maybe we just happen to look like a couple. Don't read into it." She says it so casually that every time, I tell myself not to make a big deal out of it. Then Joel tells me he's finally taking me to meet his family at a holiday dinner. I spend three whole months getting ready. But the moment we walk in, his mother grabs Cynthia's hand, beaming. "Just look at these two. Don't they make a perfect couple?" The relatives immediately start teasing them too. "You two must kiss a lot. You're even starting to look alike!" The whole room erupts in laughter. I stand there, watching Joel. He doesn't correct anyone. He just reaches over and tucks a loose strand of Cynthia's hair behind her ear. That's when it finally hits me. Joel isn't staying quiet because he can't be bothered to explain. He just doesn't want me to be his wife.

After we got married, my husband gave every piece of jewelry he bought me its own name. "This watch is Renee. This four-leaf clover bracelet is Phoebe. This diamond ring is Shannon..." My best friend looked puzzled. "Why do those all sound like women's names?" I smiled. "Because they are. "They're all named after women Derek Shaw cheated on me with. Every time I caught him, he would give me another piece." There were ninety-nine pieces in all. The first time I discovered his infidelity was the day after our wedding. I'd trashed our new home then. Derek simply wrapped his arms around me from behind, took my hand, and asked if it hurt. That night, he slipped a bracelet I had had my eye on onto my wrist. "I was just having a little fun. If you don't like her, I'll get rid of her." Over the three years we were married, some version of that scene played out almost every day. My heart went from twisting in agony to slowly being worn numb. I opened the box in my hands. Inside was a pearl necklace named Jenny. I used to tell myself that he was only fooling around and that, deep down, he still loved me. But this time was different. Derek had truly fallen for her. He took her to Tayhollow to see the ocean and laid the groundwork for her future after graduation... I ran my fingers over the pearls without the slightest flicker of emotion. "This is the hundredth, and I just don't have it in me to keep doing this anymore…"