Casse-tête

On the day I get released from prison, Joshua Caldwell's adoptive sister, Madeline Caldwell, hosts a live stream to welcome me home. She makes sure to shove the phone right in my face. "This is my older sister, Victoria. Even though she has gotten violated by 13 people, she still has the courage to continue living in this world." The comment section explodes instantly. Joshua frowns slightly, but Madeline merely sticks her tongue out at him with a cute smile on her face. Instead of going hysterical like I did three years ago, I just smile at everyone. "A woman's body is never her weakness. The offenders are the ones who deserve to die, not me." After returning home, I don't stop Joshua from letting Madeline visit our parents' graves on their death anniversary on my behalf. I don't mind Joshua giving my room away to Madeline and telling me to stay in the storeroom. Even when Madeline pushes me into the water once again, Joshua chooses to save her despite her knowing how to swim. After I get rescued by a passerby, I just go home on my own silently. Mixed feelings swirl in Joshua's eyes as he looks at me. "That three-year sentence has changed you for good, Vicky." I just smile softly in response. All I've done is finally see reality for what it is and not harbor any hopes for him at all. Moreover, the system, which I've lost contact with, has finally returned three days ago. It told me that it could take me home in seven days. But why is it that Joshua loses his mind after I've left this world for real?

Knox Callahan, Crestwood High golden boy and hockey captain… my biggest tormentor. All it had taken was one clumsy spill in biology class to make me his favourite target. And there is no escaping him, no matter how hard I fight back. Then the decision that changed everything came. "Annalise, I got married. We are moving," mom said. And the new house? It turned out to be Knox's. Because somehow, while I was busy surviving him, his father had been out there and managed to steal my mother's heart before secretly marrying her. And now the boy who made my life hell was now my stepbrother but there is nothing remotely brotherly about the way Knox looks at me. Or even the way his hands would slide up my skin each time he was near me. It is quite hard… keeping up appearances and pretending the tension suffocating every room that we both happened to step into doesn't exist. The more we share the same space, the harder it becomes to remember why I should stay the fuck away from my new stepbrother. And Knox? He doesn’t even try.. He corners me and touches me at every opportunity in ways that can never be mistaken for anything innocent. The darkness I once feared resided inside of him begins to feel dangerously like something I really crave. But I am a good girl. And good girls shouldn't want their stepbrothers. Yet I am running out of reasons to resist.

As my due date approaches, my husband's precious mistress falls into the water at a banquet. After being rescued, she immediately accuses me of pushing her. To "avenge" her, he throws me into a modified stainless steel water tank. I beg him, pleading for the sake of our unborn children. But he only sneers. "Don't try to use the babies to guilt me! You've still got a week before you're due. I know exactly how vicious you are—any child of yours would be just as rotten. Stay in there and reflect on your behavior. I'll let you out when you finally admit you're wrong!" Five days later, my husband returns home from a night out with his mistress, calling for me to come downstairs and serve them, as always. He doesn't know that my babies and I have already rotted beyond recognition.

"I like that girl. And she is the girl I will marry."Nicholas said to his elder brother Andrew, as he eyed Eliza from top to bottom with a smile on his face. "No chance." With just two words, Andrew immediately smashed all his hopes. "But why?" Nicholas asked with confusion and suspicion evident on his face. "Because she doesn't like men".Andrew replied with a smirk on his face. Nicholas felt like his heart shattered into pieces, however he tried to calm down himself and asked," That means she likes women, right?" Andrew laughed and immediately denied his suspicion," No, she just hates man. I don't think she has involvement with women. And before you ask me the reason, I clearly want to tell you that I have no clue about that as well." Nicholas felt relieved and looked in the direction of the sky as he placed his right hand on his heart and said," Then you see how I will make her mine.

On the night before Match Day, it's 2:17 am when I find myself staring at the screenshot on my phone. For a long while, my heart refuses to calm down at all. Ethan Blake: "Let's have a bet, guys. If Leah doesn't get a spot at Redwood General Hospital tomorrow, this will mark the end of our relationship. The starting bet is two thousand dollars. Is anyone following up on this bet?" Already, more than a dozen people have responded to the message with various emojis. Someone even comments, "Count me in!" I feel my nails digging into my palms. "The end of our relationship", he says. To think that Ethan actually used this phrase. We've been dating for four years. This is the very same man who once told me that he wanted to marry me. Is it this easy for him to end a relationship? I take a deep breath and force myself to calm down. There are still other medical interns in the staff room with me. I mustn't lose my composure around them. I know that Ethan is waiting for me to react how I did in the previous times. I'd either spam his phone with missed calls, beg him to delete the message while crying, or apologize to him in an extremely humble manner. But now… Now, I'm really done with this relationship.

In less than 24 hours, I went from being all dolled up for my wedding to being sold at an auction like some animal. I didn't expect to be bought by a handsome stranger. He was an Alpha with Mafia ties. And now, I was his own personal plaything. Will I be able to get my pack back from the evil Alpha that stole it from me? Or will I remain a plaything until my buyer lets me go? Can we work together and defeat our enemies, or will those enemies tear us apart? Read to find out!

La vie de Sienna était parfaite. Son mari, avec son aide, venait de lancer son entreprise et sa famille était au complet avec la présence de leur fille, jusqu'à ce qu'un soir, tout s'écroule. Non seulement Sienna a découvert que l'enfant qu'elle avait élevé pendant cinq ans n'était pas le sien mais celui de sa sœur, mais aussi que son mari l'avait utilisée pendant tout ce temps. Blessée et trahie, Sienna a eu un accident qu'elle pensait avoir été orchestré par son mari, mais elle est revenue à la vie plusieurs années avant d'avoir eu un enfant et, cette fois, elle allait remettre les choses en ordre. Le passé ne se répéterait pas, car elle avait une longueur d'avance, du moins le croyait-elle. Que se passera-t-il lorsque Sienna devra se tourner vers l'ennemi pour obtenir de l'aide, l'homme qui était présent la nuit où elle a été tuée dans le passé ? Quel lien a-t-il avec elle et pourquoi semble-t-il obsédé par l'idée de la revendiquer ?

When my daughter, Ruth Jensen, says for the tenth time that she wants a different mother, I don't get angry. I just calmly ask her who she wants instead. She blurts, "Vivian." She means Vivian Green, her tutor… and also the woman my husband has never been able to forget. At Ruth's birthday party that day, she even openly thanks Vivian, saying Vivian takes care of her like a mother. Looking at Ruth's young, innocent face, I finally understand that she doesn't like me. So, I stop caring for her and my husband the way I used to. Instead, I turn around and join a classified national project. Rather than wasting time on people who aren't worth it, I'd be better off serving my country!

“I won't accept this Marriage”.. ”Why are you telling me this then?”.. Lisa's life takes a turn when she crosses paths with Damian Sparks, her worst enemy, and the last person she ever wanted to spend her life with. Her family had gone into bankruptcy, and an arranged marriage is the only way out. —--------------- Damian, a billionaire sweetheart, is destined to ruin whoever caused the accident that took his best friend’s life five years ago. The two meet, and a perfect marriage wasn’t what it seemed ought to be.

Five years ago, on her birthday, Joan Lancaster was served with divorce papers by the one man whom she had loved with every fiber of her being. The same man who had sworn to protect her, cherish her, and never betray her, Dean Armstrong. He cast her aside without remorse, replacing her with his secretary and stripping her of everything but her dignity. Broken, wounded, and abandoned, Joan disappeared into the night with secrets only she knew, only to return five years later as a different woman. No longer the trembling, forgiving wife Dean once knew, Joan stepped back into his world as the untouchable Ice Queen, a woman whose rise to power had struck fear in the hearts of the Chicago businessmen. But she wasn't just back, she was back for revenge. And she wasn't going to stop until she stripped her ex-husband of everything that made his name. Once a powerful man, Dean found himself begging the woman he once discarded. The woman who now had the strings to his life and could do with him as she pleased. In a world where love had once broken her, Joan would prove one thing: some women don’t come back to be loved. They come back to be feared.