Lovesick Fool

When I pushed through the main door, covered in blood, I found my amnesiac husband right on top of my best friend. His arm was wrapped around her waist with practiced ease, and she was passionately reciprocating his advances. "Ada will be devastated if she finds out…" Camilla said in a sweet voice through bated breaths. "After all, she really thinks you've lost your memories." Lucio chuckled softly and said in a mocking tone, "It's not my fault she loves me that much. Then again, it's a good thing for me since I can just let her do all the tough and dirty work." He leaned down and planted a kiss on Camilla's lips, mumbling, "Right now, you're the only one I recognize as my wife. Just wait. Once I sign the deal with the Della Veras, I'll have her kicked out and pass everything she owns to you. After all, I no longer remember a thing." Only then did it hit me. My husband's amnesia was all an act, a farce to fool me. Moreover, my best friend conspired with him to stab me in the back. Too bad they didn't know that the Della Vera family, the most feared Mafia family in Ritelle, only acknowledged one person: Me, Ada Rossi.

"You take me for a fool?” He yelled, gripping my arms tightly, his fingers making sure to leave marks. “I would never lie about something of utmost importance, Diego”, I tried to convince him while earnestly trying to save myself from his strong grip. “No one dares to look me in the face and lie.” He said while gripping my arms more strongly than ever. “Yet, you stand here, lying to my face. You want to use me against my father as your revenge, isn't that right Adriana?” With that, he let go of my arms, shoving me aside angrily—whilst I hit my head against a door frame. _______________ A strong-willed yet vulnerable young lady from a mafia family finds herself stuck in a marriage with a rival heir arranged by both families as a means to stop bloodshed among them. Her husband, being the mafia heir, is a stern person who is feared by members of the syndicate. He hates negotiating and solves his problems on his own. But, when he falls in love with the daughter of the rival family, will it complicate his plans? What will happen when circumstances force them to choose between love and loyalty to their families? How will it affect their lives? A tale where love and vengeance intertwine and the hearts of two individuals are tested against the ultimate betrayal.

During my legal aid work, I run into a pitiful village girl. Her brother is abusing her, and she has nearly died from his fist. As a lawyer, I can't stand aside and do nothing. So, I help her. After she wins the case, I help her get a job as a janitor at my law firm. A few days later, she becomes pregnant and disappears. I assume she has found a family. However, she returns with a baby and accuses me of raping her. Then, she demands I compensate her. I believe she is just spouting nonsense. But the paternity test comes, and it states that I am the baby's biological father. From that moment on, I become a pariah. I am labeled a disgrace and treated as the scum of the Earth. My girlfriend breaks up with me. Meanwhile, my parents can't bear the shame and commit suicide. Then, a self-righteous fool pushes me off an 18-story building. Even as I die, I still can't understand how she became pregnant with my child. Using her identity as the baby's mother, she inherits all of my assets upon my and my parents' deaths. She then goes on to live the life of a wealthy socialite. When I open my eyes, I am back at the moment I see her getting beaten by her brother.

"Real men don’t fall in love. Love is for the weak and foolish, and I, Don Alessandro, will never raise a fool as a son." Kai Alessandro learned those words the hard way. Groomed by his father to be the mafia leader, Kai’s life is built on power, fear, and control. Love? That’s a weakness he can’t af-ford. Amelia Carrington is all about survival. By day, she’s a college senior juggling classes. By night, she’s a hacker-for-hire and part-time stripper, desperate to pay her mother’s medical bills. Men? They’re just wallets waiting to be emptied. Their worlds collide when Amelia hacks into Kai’s account, stealing $5,000,000 to save her mother’s life. Kai hunts her down, and instead of exacting revenge, he gives her an offer: work for him to repay the debt or face a fate worse than death. The agreement was to keep things strictly professional; work only. But they eventually had a one-night stand which was supposed to be a mistake since they were both drunk, what was a mistake eventually turned into an regular affair, blurring the lines between their hatred and a passion neither of them could control. Romantic feelings begin to intertwine with their shared hatred, feelings that they both weren't ready to admit to. But what happens when Amelia eventually realizes that she was pregnant for kai Alessandro, one of the most dangerous gang leader in the world and a man who was supposed to be her enemy?

“Do you think I’ll die a virgin?” I stuttered, the alcohol making me sway until I fell onto his lap. “No,” he murmured, his voice dark and low. “I won’t let that happen.” His hands slid beneath my shirt, stopping only when they cupped my breasts. “I’ll make you taste heaven while you’re still alive,” he whispered. “And I’ll make that fool watch me fuck you until you forget he ever existed.” ***** Dahlia Hayes, a successful and renowned lawyer, faced the ultimate betrayal when her boyfriend of two years sold her nudes to buy a diamond ring for her best friend. That single act destroyed her career, shattered her reputation, and left her homeless. She thought her life was over, until she met him. Alec King. He's the cold, arrogant, but irresistible multimillionaire CEO of King Enterprises. Unlike everyone else, he didn’t cast her aside or judge her for her past. Instead, he promised revenge served on a golden platter. He vowed to help her rise again and make those who betrayed her fall to their knees, begging for mercy. But Alec’s help comes with one condition: She must marry him for a year… and let him show her what it truly means to be worshipped.

So this is how the mate bond feels. A rush of energy, a pull like gravity tightening around us, and an almost maddening awareness of the other person. I wasn’t about to let it sway me though. Sure, the man in front of me is ridiculously perfect, but I wasn’t some love-struck fool who’d drop everything at the first spark of fate. I had a life, plans, and a fiancé waiting for me upstairs. I raised an eyebrow, forcing myself to stay calm even as my heart raced. “Take a number and get in line, sweetheart,” I said coolly, flashing the engagement ring on my finger in front of his gray eyes. “I’m otherwise occupied right now.” …Five years later, when I pushed the door open, my mate remained motionless on a leather couch, his piercing gaze boring into me with a cold detachment that sent shivers down my spine. He leaned back, the casualness of the gesture at odds with the intensity in his eyes. His arms rested lazily on the backrest, but there was nothing relaxed about him. His body was coiled tight, like a predator ready to pounce, and the air between us crackled with tension. “Is my number finally up?” he asks, his tone laced with bitter amusement. “My dear mate.” The words sting, but I can’t deny the truth in them. He is my last chance.

“Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” ~ William Congreve Aretha Hawthorne has loved and dedicated her whole life to her husband out of pure love and loyalty and to her foster family out of gratitude for having taken her in at her lowest. However, on a day that’s supposed to be the happiest one of her life, she never could have predicted that the same people she loved so dearly would plot such evil against her. Publicly humiliated, heartbroken and also suffering from the loss of her unborn child, Aretha is filled with a deep hatred and an immense rage when she discovers that she’d been played and made a complete fool out of for years by her husband and her foster family. Aretha seeks revenge but knowing that she can’t go against both famous families on her own, especially not with her name still being sullied by the media, she is forced to flee the country to recoup. However, no one expects the disgraced Aretha to return a year later with a fortune that greatly supersedes those of her ex-husband’s family and foster family combined. And even more surprising, she appears to have garnered the attention of neither one nor two but three of the most eligible billionaire bachelors of the United Kingdom, who appear to have become completely smitten by her. Let the game of vengeance begin…

I use a full decade just to be able to stand by Claude Thorne's side as an equal. In the past, I used to be an outsider who was often ignored by others, but slowly, I've transformed into Claude's most trusted Beta as well as the future Luna. But I decide to leave Claude one month before the Luna coronation ceremony is set to begin. It's because Claude has personally placed the Luna crown, which is supposed to be mine, onto Victoria Grimm's head instead. "It's just a crown. Victoria doesn't have anyone left in this world. What's wrong with letting her wear it? You're the future Luna, so you must be more magnanimous." I never bothered crying or throwing a tantrum. Instead, I've secretly dissolved the mate bond between Claude and me. Just like that, I've graciously given away the position as Claude's mate to Victoria magnanimously, like the way Claude wants me to be. But he goes nuts instead. He tracks me all the way to the human society in an attempt to patch things up with me. But what he doesn't expect to see is Silas Wulfric, the legendary Alpha King, getting down on one knee in front of me. "Heather, since that blind fool is incapable of crowning you as his Luna, allow me to make you the Luna Queen."

“What do you want, Aria?” I swallow hard, my palms sweaty. “I need to talk to you. About... us.” His look doesn’t alter, and for a second, I worry if he’s just going to walk away again. But he doesn’t. Instead, he straightens up, his gaze never leaving mine. “There is no ‘us,’ Aria,” he replies, his voice flat and cold. I feel a knot building in my throat, but I go forward. “You felt it, didn’t you? The tie between us. You can’t refute it.” He approaches closer, and for a minute, I think I see something flicker in his eyes, something that nearly seems like sorrow. But it’s gone as swiftly as it appeared. “You’re not my mate, Aria,” he replies, his voice tightening. “Don’t fool yourself.” The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I take a step back, my vision fading as the weight of his rejection slams over me. My heart feels like it’s being pulled apart, piece by piece. How can he say that? How can he deny what’s so painfully clear to me? “Damian, I...” I whispered, but he cut me off, his voice colder than ever. “I don’t want you, Aria. You mean nothing to me.” And with that, he turns and goes away, leaving me standing there, crushed.

At the family tea-tasting event, I openly admit that I am terrible at it. I also announce that I am cutting ties with the White family and giving up my inheritance rights. My father trembles with anger and points at me while furiously questioning, "Are you out of your mind?" My fiance, Liam Ford, holds the fake heiress, Laura White, in his arms. He snaps, "Juliana White, if you can't handle losing, then don't agree to compete in the first place. The way you are acting now is an embarrassment to my family and me!" Only I know that I am not crazy. In my previous life, at this very tea-tasting event that determined who got the right to the inheritance, they joined hands to drag me down in the most humiliating way. Laura beat me and uttered every tasting note I came up with first. Again and again, I try to prove myself, only to be refuted by her each time. She became the celebrated tea prodigy, while I turned into a laughingstock who made a fool of herself. In the end, I suffer a mental breakdown and run out of the house, only to be hit and killed by one of Laura's fans. No one bothered to claim and bury my corpse. When I open my eyes again, I am back at my first family tea-tasting event after being brought back to the White family.