Familial Bond Fake Death 단편 소설 & 소설

In my past life, my mate Marcus ran off to the forest to make love with my best friend Scarlett, who was eight-month pregnant. That’s when they'd be surrounded by a pack of rogue wolves. Scarlett, heavy with child, started bleeding heavily. Both of them desperately called for the Border Guard. As the Chief Warrior, I had risked everything to fight those rogue wolves. But Scarlett still died along with her unborn pup. My mate Marcus led others to accuse me of using my position for personal revenge. He personally severed both my hands with a silver blade. "A warrior without morals like you deserves to burn in hell!" he snarled. But I remembered clearly—when I drove off the rogues and got the pack healer to Scarlett, she barely had a scratch on her. Finally, Scarlett's parents arrived. I begged them to examine her body and investigate the truth. Instead, they reported to Alpha that I had neglected my duties. They claimed I was high on wolfsbane while guarding the border. Alpha exiled me for fifteen years. With both hands severed, I had no way to fight or shift properly. I survived by begging scraps from neighboring territories. Fifteen years later, I returned to the pack. I saw my mate Marcus walked through the airport's first-class terminal with Scarlett and their son. They were using my inheritance to fund their luxury vacation to the Maldives. They spotted me. Without hesitation, they pushed me into a silver pit to destroy all evidence. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day Scarlett faked her death. This time, I took one look at the scene and declared them beyond saving. I told my assistant to send them to bury them directly.

It was the third year of my secret relationship with Garrett, my Alpha brother's best friend. Marcus laughed and nudged Garrett playfully. "You've been with that little mate of yours for three years now. When are you going to introduce her to the pack?" I pressed myself against the doorframe, my heart racing. Had my brother figured out our secret? Garrett just laughed it off. "What mate? Just some crazy she-wolf who won't leave me alone." Marcus caught sight of me and grinned. "Sage, you see this? Never pick a mate like Garrett here." "Takes everything a female offers but won't even acknowledge the bond." Just then, more of Marcus's friends arrived, and they joined in the teasing. "Your brother's right, but Garrett's had his heart set on someone for years." "What was her name again? Oh right, Aria. She's returning to the pack soon." I'd heard that name before - Aria. But Garrett had never told me she was his true love.

We were on our way to the Elder Council to exchange our wedding vows when hunters ambushed our carriage. A pure silver crossbow bolt tore through the protective barrier. In that instant, my fiancé, Julian Mason, a high-ranking vampire knight, pulled Vivian, the orphan riding up front, into his arms. He left me exposed in the back seat. The silver bolt punched through the carriage and lodged deep in my back. Vivian and I were rushed back to the Howard family's Alchemy Sanctum. My mother, Victoria Howard, was the most respected alchemist in the territory. She barely spared my mangled back a cold glance before calling every attendant in the sanctum to Vivian's side, though Vivian had only a tiny scratch from a flying splinter and had lost just a few drops of blood. "Vivian is a low-ranking vampire with a delicate constitution," my mother said. "If we don't treat her now, she'll have dark marks that never fade! "Everyone knows we're mother and daughter. If I treat you first, people will say I'm abusing my position to play favorites!" The silver poison spread through my veins like wildfire, and the pain sent my whole body into spasms. With the last of my strength, I clung to Julian, who had just changed into an attendant's robe. "Julian... save me... the silver is eating through my organs..." Before I could finish, Julian shook off my hand, his face tight with irritation. "The hunters were aiming at the front seat. Vivian took the hit for you! You were in the back, where the barrier was strongest. How could you be hurt worse than she is?! "Aria, can you stop using these pathetic excuses to compete with Vivian for attention? When are you going to grow up and act like a real pureblood noble?" He hurried into the alchemy chamber without looking back. He had forgotten that when the bolts came, he was the one who shut off the shield over the back seat and poured all his power into the front. He'd left me to take the silver bolt meant for them. My mother had forgotten too, or maybe she simply didn't care. The medic traveling with us had examined my wound at the ambush site and reported my critical condition to the sanctum right away. Darkness crept into my vision. A searing pain spread from my back toward my heart. I knew my blood would run dry in less than half an hour.

Before I turn eight, I am the most spoiled little princess in our family. I love beautiful shoes, so my parents buy me the crystal heels that are the highlight of an auction. When I want to learn the piano, they hire the most talented virtuoso to be my teacher. Mom and Dad love me, and my older brother, Asher Sullivan, dotes on me, too. However, everything changes the year I turn eight, when Asher is killed by human traffickers while trying to save me. From that moment on, I'm branded as the sinner of the family. Mom and Dad forbid me from sleeping in my own room. Every single night, they make me kneel in Asher's room to repent for my sins. Every year on the anniversary of Asher's death, Mom and Dad whip my mouth with the soles of their shoes to make me remember the grave mistake I committed. Later on, Mom and Dad adopt a boy named Archer Sullivan, who's a carbon copy of Asher, and have him punish me in Asher's place. After nearly five years of torment, when I'm at death's door, a voice suddenly breaks the silence. "I didn't give my life to save you just so you could let them treat you like a punching bag, you idiot!"

After Emily Cross died in an accident, I went through three years of absolute hell. This year, on the anniversary of her death, I escaped from a rehab facility overseas just to see her one last time. Stumbling into the cemetery in a daze, I passed a couple walking the other way. The man's voice was laced with annoyance. "You're almost at your due date, and you still insisted on coming to the cemetery. What a hassle." The woman gave a soft laugh. "We agreed we'd come pay respects to your father. I couldn't just back out." That voice stopped me cold. Turning my neck stiffly, I saw the face that had haunted me for three years. Emily Cross, heavily pregnant. And beside her was my mother's illegitimate son, Jake. A chill ran through me. Shaking, I pulled out my phone and snapped a photo. Then I sent it to her forensic pathologist friend. [She's not dead, is she?]

I had been a copycat since childhood, but I only ever copied my older sister, Solana Darnell. When she took a liking to a strawberry cake from a particular dessert shop, I bought out every new product from that shop and kept eating it until my stomach hurt. When she took up equestrianism, I fell off a horse and broke my leg. The first thing I did after getting my cast removed was to go back to the stables with her. Whatever designer brand she wore, my closet would inevitably have the same piece the very next day. Later, Solana married the eldest son of the Creese family, Arthur Creese. I turned down every arranged marriage my father set up and instead married the Creese family’s second son, Alden Creese. Our friend group made fun of me for copying her even in marriage. She said to me angrily, “You’ve been copying me for over twenty years. When are you finally going to leave me alone? I can’t take this anymore!” That night, she left a suicide note and jumped off Harlow Bridge. Everyone said that I had driven her to her death. My parents forced me to apologize publicly in the funeral hall and admit to my fault. Alden lashed out at me, calling me so jealous of Solana that I wanted to steal her life too. Little did I know that the suicide was actually set up by my family, including Solana. The day Solana jumped, a rescue team was already waiting under the bridge. My family just wanted to scare some sense into me to force me to learn to be myself. But the only thing I took away from it all was the fact that Solana was dead. So I would copy her in that, too.

Three years after his wife died, Simon Radcliffe went to file the school enrollment paperwork for his daughter, Poppy Radcliffe. Instead, he saw Eleanor Marlow, the wife he had buried, alive and well. She had one hand holding Poppy's and the other hooked through the arm of his brother, Jeremy Radcliffe. Simon was about to rush over and demand answers when his best friend, Kevin Sutton, held him back. "You've seen it now, Simon, so I might as well tell you. Eleanor never died. She faked her death to get away from you so she could marry Jeremy. Everyone else already knows." All of it was because Jeremy had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and wanted to know what having a real family felt like before he died. Simon's best friend had lied to him just to give Jeremy that, and his wife and daughter too. Even his own mother had sided with Jeremy, her adopted son. Simon was left with nothing but despair. If this was what they all wanted, he would give it to them and disappear from their lives for good.

I am the last heir of the Eclipse royal line, and the only person in a hundred years who can carry Nyx, the first dark wolf. If I reached adulthood safely, I would become the Eclipse Queen, and every wolf alive would bow to me. But when I was six, rogues broke into the nursery. To save a baby lying in a pool of blood, I shifted into a black wolf in front of everyone, and showed a power that could swallow an Alpha command whole. The Elders were afraid I would lose control, and they wanted me put to death. Agatha Voss, the priestess, had no choice but to seal away my wolf and my memories. She gave me to the Ashbourne family to raise and warned them again and again, "Treat this child well, and never let silver or wolfsbane touch her." My adoptive parents never knew who I was. They thought I was a frail orphan girl with no wolf. Their own daughter was not with them, so they gave me all the love meant for her, and for years they treasured me. Then their biological daughter, Viola Ashbourne, came home. Everything changed. She cut herself and blamed me for it. She faked a pregnancy and took my mate and my place as Luna. My parents believed her. My brothers destroyed the evidence for her. Even Damian Blackwood, my fated mate, marched me into the Silver Cells himself. They knew the wolfsbane was killing me, and they still turned around and went to Viola's coronation, and left me to take my last breath alone. The moment my heart stopped, every memory taken from me nineteen years ago came back, and deep in my chest a second wolf heart began to beat. In the Forsaken Pit, I opened golden eyes, their pupils narrowed to slits. The adopted daughter they had despised until her death was gone. The queen they should have knelt to all along had awakened in her place.

After my parents died, the family went bankrupt, leaving my brother and me with a large sum of debt. To pay it off, he became a haunted-house test sleeper, while I acted as a corpse on film sets. For five years, we worked tirelessly, not daring to rest a single day—and still, the debt wasn't cleared. By the end of the year, only 13 thousand dollars remained. Gritting my teeth, I signed up as a clinical trial volunteer. When it was over, I dragged 13 thousand dollars in cash, brimming with joy, to show my brother. But I found him frowning, on the phone. "Dad, Mom, Lily's doing well. Have fun abroad," he said. "She's stopped spending recklessly. The punishment ends next year." What? Our parents weren't dead? Our family wasn't bankrupt? The five years of hardship, every ounce of struggle—I'd endured it all as punishment for my love of spending. My smile froze on my face. My stomach churned violently. A mouthful of fresh blood spilled out.

Three years after faking my death, my Alpha mate Caius appeared before me with our pup. My seven-year-old pup, Marcus, held a silver sword dangerously close to my mom's chest. Caius stood in front of me and looked at me affectionately. "Come back, Natasha. Marcus can't live without you, and neither can I. Do you really want to stand by and watch your mom die right in front of you?" I looked at my mom's weary expression and finally agreed to Caius's demand. From that day on, I became known as the Luna of the pack. When Caius went out late at night, I no longer stopped him from going to his lover, Elena. When Marcus threw a tantrum and refused to eat the food I cooked, I would call Elena and tell her to cook for him at her place instead. At one of Elena's parties, she glanced at the moonstone around my neck. Without hesitation, I gave it to her. Caius grabbed my wrist. His eyes were red with anger. "Natasha, that symbolizes our love! How could you give it to someone else?"

My dad collapsed from a sudden heart attack and died. The shock hit my mom like a freight train, and she blacked out cold. By the time I raced home from college, his body had already been reduced to ashes in the crematorium. Grief barely had a chance to sink in before the debt collectors pounded on our door. That was when the ugly truth emerged. My dad had secretly racked up billions in loans, saddling my mom and me. A year later, the relentless harassment from those goons drove my mom to despair. She ended her life, and I was forced to drop out of school, scavenging dumpsters just to scrape by. But fate had a cruel twist in store. I spotted my "dead" dad, alive and thriving, hosting an extravagant birthday bash for his secret son. I stormed in, desperate for answers, only to be hurled out by security. My head cracked against the pavement, and everything went black. When my eyes fluttered open again, I was inexplicably back on that fateful day of my dad's heart attack.

Every year on Dante Moretti's birthday, they played a game. Whoever drew the ace of spades could order anyone to do one thing. The first year, Sofia Cavarro poured red wine over my head. She was the Cavarro family's precious princess, and no one had ever dared to cross her. So that night, she smiled and told me to kneel and lick the wine off the tips of Dante's shoes. The second year, she hung a price tag reading "three million dollars" around my neck and let everyone guess whether Dante's purchase of me had been worth it. Dante sat on the sofa with his glass of wine, watching them jeer with a smile. Because everyone knew I was the woman he'd bought at an auction seven years ago. And I loved him, so I endured it, time after time. This year, Sofia drew the ace of spades again. She didn't make me kneel. She didn't give me a new punishment. She simply handed me a ring and told me to put it on her finger myself. That was how I found out. In one month, Dante was going to marry her. For the first time in seven years, I asked to leave. Dante laughed. "Elena, have you forgotten? I paid for you. "No matter who I marry, it doesn't change the fact that you belong to me." He was certain I had no family, nowhere to go. He was certain that as long as he didn't let me go, I would never be able to leave his side. But three days later, twenty black sedans surrounded the Moretti estate. The man who made the entire Sicilian Mafia tremble stormed in and knocked Dante to the floor with a single punch. He held up the price tag, his eyes red. "My precious daughter, the one I've spent twelve years searching for... "How could she have ended up here, a slave for seven years?"

My son, Leo Mancini, went missing in a fire 18 months ago. My husband, Enzo Mancini, held a funeral for him but would never let me see the body. When I kept asking where my child was, he said I needed rest. When I asked for a divorce, he refused to let me leave the estate. So I turned to the people closest to me for help. But one by one, those who promised to help me leave turned on me after watching a video my husband showed them and attacked me.

I let Gideon mark me again. Then, I put my Alpha mate up for rent. The fragile widow of his dead Beta, Civian, always found excuses to drag him out of our bed. I stopped crying over the possessive pull of our Mate bond. Instead, I just charged her by the hour. 100,000 an hour during the day. 200,000 at night. Triple on full moons. In just three months, my offshore account grew by nearly twenty million. He had promised to take me to the werewolf auction to buy some rare herbs. But that woman called, crying that her wolf was out of control and desperately needed soothing. I didn't even blink. I just pulled out my phone and started the timer. Midnight. Burning up with fever from the pills I took to suppress my heat, he was driving me to the Pack hospital. That woman called again, shaking because she had a nightmare about Civian’s bloody death. I calmly signaled him to pull over and drop me at the next intersection. Seeing the flicker of struggle in his eyes, I just smiled lazily. "Just don't forget to pay." Then came the day of our daughter Mia’s checkup at The Pack's Gene-Therapy Center. The woman called again. "Toby's first shift is coming up. He really needs a strong Alpha to guide him through this dangerous time..." Gideon hung up the phone. He turned, guilt flashing in his eyes, and started to kneel before our daughter to explain. But Mia just held out her little hand, copying me exactly. "It's okay, Daddy. Just pay up. It's a full moon today, so that’s triple."

My older sister, Jovina Valenti, catches the eye of the cold and ruthless mafia Don, Carlo Laguardia. However, she fears the danger that arises out of his identity and wants to go abroad to pursue a passionate romance. On the day Carlo sends his men to retrieve her, she drugs my drink and sends me to Carlo. After that, she leaves the country and disappears completely. I, Nerissa Valenti, am forced to become Carlo's wife. He treats me as nothing more than a pet. Despite being married, I ignore Carlo's existence and treat him as if he were invisible. He, on the other hand, continues to make me his pet. When he's pleased with me, he shows me affection. But when I upset him, what awaits me is either cold neglect or harsh reproach. After eight years of this, one day, Carlo suddenly orders that I be locked inside the freezing ice house. I tremble from the cold. When I see Jovina at his side, I realize belatedly that she has, for some reason, decided to return to the country. The first thing she does upon her return is seek Carlo out and lie to him that I drugged myself back then to take her place. Consequently, she was heartbroken and decided to go overseas. Jovina stresses that because of my interference, they spent eight long years being apart from each other. From that moment on, there isn't a trace of emotion left in Carlo's eyes when he looks at me. Under the excuse of visiting me, Jovina comes to the ice house and tampers with the settings. She puts the cold air on full blast at the lowest temperature. "Don't blame me for this, Nerissa. As long as you're alive, my lie will be exposed sooner or later," she says ruthlessly. I don't even last half a day before freezing to death miserably. When I open my eyes again, I return to the day Jovina first catches Carlo's attention. This time, I take the initiative to say, "Jovina, go abroad and look for your true love. I'll marry Carlo in your place." This time, the one Carlo loves will be me.

After a car accident leaves my older brother, Cedric Horton, fighting for his life, he asks to see me. The sight of his bloodless face sends me into tears, and I swear that I'll take good care of his newborn baby, only for Cedric to shake his head. "You won't have to. Benjamin, the baby is Helena's." For a moment, the world falls silent. My wife, Helena Grant, steps forward and clasps Cedric's hand. Her eyes are red as she drops to her knees before me. "We kept it from you because we never wanted to hurt you. Now that Cedric is dying, all he asks is that you give us your blessing." Still numb, I pick up a pen and sign the divorce papers. Three days later, I bury Cedric myself beneath a headstone that identifies him as the beloved husband of Helena Grant. Mom and Dad are so furious that they disown him. They refuse to recognize his child as family, choosing instead to devote all their time to staying by my side. Yet, five years pass, and my depression worsens. On the day I plan to end my life, I take a bottle of Cedric's favorite liquor to his grave. Instead, I find him standing there, very much alive, holding Helena's hand with his left while carrying a little boy in his right arm. Mom and Dad stand beside them, their eyes filled with concern. "We never would've asked you to fake your death for five years if we weren't afraid Benjamin might hurt all three of you. "He's doing so badly now that he constantly gets his memories mixed up. When we get back, we'll convince him you and Helena were married all along. Then, the three of you can finally stop hiding and live as a family." The bottle hits the ground and shatters, the liquor disappearing into the earth. I pull out my phone and change Helena's contact name to "Mrs. Cedric Horton". They don't need to lie to me anymore, because I'll give them exactly what they want.

The morning after my wedding, my wife disappeared. I gave up my right to inherit the family business without any hesitation. I even sold my shares in the company I had built myself. After eight years together with three years of a long-distance relationship, we finally exchanged rings yesterday in front of our family and friends. But when I woke up, the ring was gone! My wife was gone too! I searched for her like a maniac, and everyone said no one named Sophia Wellington existed. They said I had lost my mind! I won't believe that! I had held a wedding with her at the hotel just yesterday! I rushed back to the hotel and found the lobby manager, but he said, "Mr. Leon Gomez, you checked in alone. Besides, the banquet hall on the second floor was under renovation yesterday. We didn't host any weddings. Are you sure you… Weren't dreaming?"