Short Stories & Novels

Eight months pregnant, I had every bank card frozen by my husband’s female secretary. Over the phone, she laughed coldly and said, “From now on, every cent you spend needs my approval. Jack works too hard to waste his money on a useless woman who only knows how to shop.” That same day, I was rushed to the hospital with contractions. Every card I tried was declined. And as if that wasn’t enough, she had also moved my parents out of their private senior suite and into the cheapest room available. Her reason? Two ordinary old people had no right to waste Jack’s money. I laughed. She had no idea those “ordinary old people” were the Don and Donna of the Bellandi family, the couple who had controlled Italy’s underworld for decades. She had no idea Jack’s company, his reputation, his fortune—everything he owned—had come from the Bellandi family. My parents had already planned to retire completely after my child was born. They were going to hand the entire family over to me. And to Jack. Too bad. Jack had allowed her to humiliate the only real power he would ever have the chance to stand beside. Three days later, Jack held a welcome party for his mysterious investor. In front of everyone, his secretary dialed the investor’s number. The next second, my phone rang.

After eating a poisonous, hallucination-inducing mushroom, I genuinely thought I’d woken up inside a spicy erotica novel. I was the heroine—a live-in housekeeper working for a rich heir, the kind of impossibly handsome, impossibly wealthy man who only exists in fiction. When I opened my eyes and saw him standing there, I felt… oddly disappointed. I muttered under my breath, “Only six guys? What, do I need to take Sundays off?” The heir let out a short, disbelieving laugh. A slow, dangerous one. “If I’d known you were this bold,” he said, “I wouldn’t have bothered being gentle.” The moment the hallucination faded, I grabbed his sleeve and practically burst into tears. “Honey, I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t mean any of that.” He loosened his tie with maddening calm and murmured, “Relax. No one here takes Sundays off. And if you’re that eager to follow the plot of your little erotica novel… we can start right now.”

Kael and I, Bella, grew up side by side in the Silverclaw Pack. We were bound by the unbreakable thread of fate. Just as we reached adulthood and dreamed of our future together, I was diagnosed with Wolf Soul Degeneration: a rare, incurable illness that would drain my life force completely in just one week. Our Marking Ceremony had been scheduled for exactly one month later. Kael, the rightful Alpha heir, was scheduled to depart for the three-year Northern Trials, the only path to earning his place as leader of our pack. Knowing he would abandon everything to stay with me, I made the unbearable choice to break his heart and drive him away. Three days after I staged my betrayal, he appeared before me, his arm wrapped around a soft-spoken she-wolf from the Blackstone Pack. I forced myself to stand tall and pretend nothing was wrong as he stared at me for a long, heavy moment. Then he pulled out an official pack decree and said, "Ella and I will be mated in three days. I want you to officiate the ceremony." Without another word, he turned and walked away with his new Luna-to-be I stared at the decree in my hands until my vision blurred. "I'm sorry. I hope you're happy forever."

After days of torture at the hands of my family’s rival gang, they offered me one last phone call. I called my brother, Matteo. I just wanted to say goodbye—while I still had the chance. “What is it now?” he snapped. “Matteo, I—” He didn’t let me finish. “Fix your own mistakes. Until then, don’t call me again.” Death didn’t hurt as much as those words did. I felt my heart slow to a stop as my brother’s words echoed in my ears. I guess you’re finally at peace now, Matteo. I won’t bother you again. And you’ll never have to see me again.

I called my husband while I was bleeding out, but he rejected all my calls. Later, I discovered he had been reconnecting with his first love while I lost our baby and almost died. “Who's she to you?” the news host asked him. “She's just someone very special,” he said with a smile. I realized I would never be first in his life. So I left. Until he found out who I really was: the only daughter of the wealthiest family in the country. Then he began chasing after me and begging at my feet. My brothers wanted to destroy him but I stopped them, because I had better plans. “Leave him to me. I'll show him what regret means.”

The Fullerton family, which has dominated the business world for a century, abides by the rule that the strong prevail and the weak are eliminated. Thus, as the adopted son, I've spent 26 years clawing my way to the top. But during the succession ceremony, Dad takes Simon Fullerton, his biological son, by the hand. He declares, "Simon will become the rightful heir of the Fullerton family!" In that instant, every high-society guest in the banquet hall turns to look at me. After all, it is no secret that I gave my all to prove I could inherit the family business. I adhere to a brutal, cutthroat education regime from the very beginning. Simon gets suspended for getting into fights and acting out, while I skip grades and breeze straight through a bachelor's, master's, and doctorate at a top university. Having been given 50,000 dollars to start a business, Simon gambles his way into one million dollars of debt, while I exceed my business targets. He ends up going bankrupt and liquidating his company, while I expand mine into overseas markets, driving its market value well past ten million dollars. I believe I have earned the title of being the strongest between the two and become the one to inherit the family business. I even look at Simon—a hopeless piece of work—and shake my head. Dad, however, stands firm in picking Simon over me. I bite my tongue lightly as I look at Simon's taunting grin, the metallic taste of blood snapping me right out of it. I suddenly realize that I have spent 26 years proving myself for nothing. Dad will still choose Simon to inherit the family business, no matter how impressive my achievement is. I sneer inwardly, thinking that since they want to play dirty, they'd better not blame me for not showing them any mercy.

The fake principessa of the Italvia's mafia had accidentally discovered that I was the long-lost true principessa of the Esposito family.

I worked overtime until the early morning hours and called my driver to pick me up. She frowned the entire ride. "You go home so late every night, and you always have me pick you up. You have no consideration for others." I found her comment baffling. "Wasn't all of this made clear when I hired you? The job requires you to be available at all times, and your salary is generous." "What exactly are you trying to say?" Chloe Morrison's tone turned reproachful and condescending. "I'm concerned about you, obviously. What good man goes home at dawn every day? You're probably fooling around outside. A man should conduct himself properly. You should get off work earlier and go home to do housework and cook. That's how you win a girl over." Her words irritated me, and my tone turned sharp. "Ms. Morrison, you're just a driver. You're not anyone to me. Don't overstep."

When my ex-wife, Blaire Sutton, rushes her childhood friend, Malcolm Pierce, who has suffered from a papercut, into the emergency room, I'm in the middle of saving a patient, whose heart has stopped beating. Upon noticing that I'm not rushing to treat Malcolm's cut at once, Blaire lashes out at me furiously. After that, she lodges a complaint about me intending to get revenge on her due to our relationship problems, which means I have very poor ethics as a doctor. I don't even bother explaining myself to anyone. Instead, I just take off my white coat and accept the suspension and investigation notice that the hospital has issued to me. Soon, Blaire uploads a photo of Malcolm's finger, which is taped with a plaster. The caption absolutely reeks of her smugness. "Only narrow-minded men tend to get revenge for the pettiest things at work. His white coat should've gotten ripped off him a long time ago. That way, he'll definitely learn his lesson." Five days later, Malcolm suddenly suffers from a ruptured aortic dissection, leaving him in critical condition. The thing is, I'm the only one capable of performing this surgery in the entire state. Blaire keeps sobbing to the point that she's suffering from an emotional breakdown over the phone. She begs me to save Malcolm's life. I merely cut her off coolly, "Sorry, but I'm serving my suspension notice and reflecting on my mistakes at the moment. I don't even have the right to prescribe Malcolm any medication. You should find someone else to save his life."

When I was 14, I ran away from home and met Rosalie Burke, the real Burke heiress who had been living on the outside. After her family finally brought her home, I was the one who helped her turn their business into a success. I spent ten years at her side, and on the day they named her heir to Burke Group, she shoved me into the sea. "My fiance is the next heir to Swain Group. You have no power or influence. You're beneath me now." I blink awake, and suddenly I'm back at the moment Rosalie returns to her family. I watch her shamelessly flirt with my enemy's son, then turn on my heel and head back to my own family. I'm not helping her in this life. This time, I'm going to watch her fall off that pedestal.

I spend a decade as the woman behind Corey Larson. I help him save his company from the brink of bankruptcy and turn it into a public-listed company. He's on the cusp of success, and I'm about to propose to him. That's when he brings his childhood sweetheart into the picture to take my place. He thanks me for my decade of hard work. Then, he tells me I'm no longer a good fit for the company as it's about to embark on a new journey. I stare at him. I've loved him for ten years and given him my everything, but he brushes me off with a bank card. My blood turns to ice. The decade I've spent with him has ultimately gone down the drain. He doesn't seem to realize the consequences, though. Once I quit and leave, his company will cease to exist… just like my love for him.

I gave up a vast fortune to be with my boyfriend Terrence. In our poorest days, we didn't even have a single grain of rice at home. Terrence went out to fight in underground rings, never surrendering once even when he was beaten black and blue. With his blood and sweat, he paved the path to our future brick by brick. In the present, his name was uttered with an undeniable tone of respect, while I was known far and wide as his missus, the woman he treasured above anyone or anything. One year, when I left the country because of a family emergency, I learned that he even started seeing a therapist due to separation anxiety. Everyone said that Terrence loved me more than life itself, and I had believed it too, wholeheartedly. Until I stood on our balcony, watching him tightly embracing another woman in the villa next door. "Even though Tanya is back, the very thought of losing you makes me lose control… I can't live without you, Mia… "If any other men ever appear by your side, I might just end up killing them…" His voice was a low rumble, tinged with a sort of unconscious madness. "B-But what about your wife? Didn't you say that she means more to you than your own life?" "Well, we just have to keep this hidden better, don't we? I want to always be with you…" My hand trembled, and I accidentally cut my hand with the fruit knife I was holding, but I felt no pain at all. To think that just one year apart was enough to shatter thirty years of love and mutual support… With trembling hands, I picked up my phone and called my mother. "Mom, I'm feeling homesick… Can you get me a new identity and a one-way ticket out of the country?"

During a team-building event, we are playing King's Game, a game where anyone who draws the King card gets to order another player around. The company's new intern, Daniel Zugler, draws the King card. His eyes narrow as he sweeps a glance across everyone present. At last, his gaze lands on my fiancee, Sharon Solt. "Then how about… Sharon, feed me a grape using your mouth." There is an immediate uproar, with people slamming their hands on the table, wolf-whistling, or even holding their phones up in preparation to record the moment. Their loud jeering is almost deafening. I initially think that Sharon will refuse coldly, yet to my surprise, she actually blushes and playfully scolds them, "You guys are seriously too much!" Following that, she plucks a grape from the fruit platter, bites it gently between her teeth, then leans closer to Daniel. Daniel smoothly wraps an arm around her shoulders and brings his lips close to hers, almost brushing against them. However, his eyes aren't focused on her. Instead, he gazes past her to shoot me a provocative look. I immediately jump to my feet, my hand snapping out to seize her wrist. Silence descends upon the room at my action. Yet, Sharon yanks her arm out of my grip. "It's just a game. Why are you making such a huge deal about it? Danny's new here, and this is his first team-building event with us. Are you trying to make things difficult for him and humiliate him?" Subsequently, I don't bother stopping them again, allowing their lips and teeth to clash together. That night, after we return home, the phone she left on the coffee table suddenly vibrates. A WhatsApp message appears on the screen, sent from someone she saved as "Sunshine" in her contacts. "Sharon, the grape was quite sweet. Are you going to feed me again next time?" I lock her phone screen and don't ask any questions. One week later, Sharon goes on a work trip and has to bring an assistant with her. She chooses Daniel, who has zero experience. Still, I say nothing, but I do hand in my resignation letter to the HR department. This time, I won't look back again.

For seven years, I destroyed myself trying to give my mate an heir. Thirty-six pregnancies. Thirty-six miscarriages. Thirty-six tiny lives were buried while my husband held me in his arms and promised me it wasn’t my fault. I believed Alpha Cassian Blackthorne loved me. I believed the Moon Goddess had blessed our bond. I believed every painful miscarriage was a tragedy we suffered together. Until the day I discovered the horrifying truth; Cassian never wanted my children. For seven years, the man I loved has been secretly poisoning me with wolfsbane, slowly destroying both my body and my wolf as punishment for the death of the woman he truly loved. And when I finally become pregnant again, Cassian murders both me and our unborn child without hesitation. Broken and full of regret, I died praying for one thing only: a second chance never to love Cassian again. When I opened my eyes, I found myself back seven years in the past on the night everything began. But this time, something is different: Cassian has returned, too, and, unlike before, he chooses to save his first love and abandon me to die in her place. Fine. This time, I will no longer beg for his love. I will reject the mate bond, protect my family from the tragedy waiting ahead, and rewrite my fate completely while taking my revenge. But the more I pull away, the more the cold Alpha who once destroyed me begins to look at me with emotions I have never seen before and suddenly he's scared of losing me forever.

Silas Kendrick is half a dozen beers deep in a private room, ears flushed. The bottle lands on "truth", and the whole table erupts. He lights a cigarette, watches me through the smoke with a lazy grin, and says, "Let me go with something bold." He leans in until his lips almost brush my ear. "Have you ever doubted, even for a second, that I love you?" Everyone laughs. "That's your truth?" I laugh too. "Never." He pulls back half a step, the smile still hanging on his lips. "Good. Because my fiancee asked me the same thing, and I gave her the same answer." My smile freezes. "What do you mean?" He reaches over and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his voice breezy, almost bored. "Natalie's been with me for three years. She never once asked for a title. Now she's pregnant, and I can't exactly let the kid be born illegitimate." My voice quivers. "Then what am I?" "Call it bad luck. You showed up right when I needed someone on the side." He lifts my hand and presses a soft kiss to my fingertips. "Your mother used that pretty face to claw her way from mistress to wife. I'm just helping you follow in her footsteps. "Being a mistress is a craft. Your mother passed it down, mother to daughter, so you'd better live up to it."

The whole world knows that Rachel Saffron is Matt Quillon's and Sean Coal's true love. My best friend, Winnie Hamilton, and I are merely substitutes for Rachel. It seems like I'm the love of Matt's life, and Winnie is the only woman Sean has ever had eyes for. However, we both know this is nothing but an act.

After my sister-in-law Lydia had my brother Caleb's kidney removed and spent three years draining his blood, he escaped back to our hometown barely alive. He lay on a bed at the clinic, holding my hand tight as he said, "Noah, don't go after them. You can't afford to cross Lydia's family." Three days later, he died in my arms. I buried him on the hillside behind the town, under the old oak tree he had loved to climb as a child. On the seventh day after I buried him, a black Maybach stopped at the edge of town. Lydia got out with a frail man who looked like he could fall over at any time. She stood outside my house's door and looked at me. "Noah, where's your brother? Tell him to come out. Evan needs bone marrow this time." I wiped the dirt from my hands and raised my head as I smiled. "You want to find Caleb, right? Then start digging."

When I'm about to apply for medical insurance for my son, Connor Sawyer, who's about to start his first year in kindergarten, I'm told that I'm not his biological father at all. "Are you sure this is your son? The system shows that his father is an entirely different person." I don't respond at all. Instead, I secretly take a photo of the unfamiliar-looking address before tracking it down. It turns out that it's actually a residential area right by my own. The moment my wife, Giselle Lambert, sees me, she freezes momentarily. At the same time, she blocks the door subconsciously with her hand. "In the end, you still found out about the truth. But there's no use kicking up a fuss, you know. I never mistreated you in any way over the past three years, after all." When I notice the familiar figure standing behind Giselle, I feel my limbs going cold. That person is actually my younger brother, Vincent Sawyer, who has just graduated from college. Vincent hands Giselle a glass of water before smiling at me apologetically. "Don't blame me, Hayden. The doctor says that I'm severely depressed, so I can't handle hearing a child's cries at all. I'm really thankful to you for raising Connor on my behalf in the past few years." At that moment, Connor, who's supposed to be waiting for me in my car, rushes into the apartment. He runs into Vincent's arms happily before turning to look at me. "Don't cry, Uncle Hayden. Daddy says you're a good person, so he's asked you for help. Mommy tells me that if I call you 'daddy' in your home, I'll get to visit my real daddy during the weekends."

After recovering from breast cancer, my fiancé started making excuses to stay out all night. On my birthday, I finally tracked him down on a yacht where he was joking with his friends. "I figured once she died, the engagement would be off the table. Who knew she'd be so hard to die.” "But I've got a brilliant plan—I'll fake my death at the wedding. We can livestream it and watch how this woman who worships me to the core breaks down in tears." I couldn't help but smile to myself. If Travis Luther could play dead, so could I. In the end, he was the one who broke down sobbing, begging me not to walk away.

Joanna Shaw saved me when I was lying by the road close to dying. Because of a serious injury to my head, I had lost all my memories. Joanna brought me home and took me in. However, she also made me sign a contract that had no expiry date. "Sign it. You'll be my bodyguard from now on and you'll take orders only from me." For the next five years, I stayed by her side and stopped countless assassination attempts on her life. I was her bodyguard by day, her lover by night. Everyone said the heiress had fallen for her bodyguard. But when she heard that Allen Clarke, the heir of the Clarke family in Oceanton, was going to marry her bitter rival Tina Jackson, she chose to destroy the contract. "Find a way to get close to Tina and make her fall in love with you. Consider it repayment for saving your life. Only after Allen gives up on her will he marry me willingly." I nodded and agreed, and I gave up on Joanna for good. She didn't know I had already recovered my memory. The "Allen Clarke" she was so desperate to marry was nothing but an impostor.