A Million Miles Away Lara Avery

My best friend's brother and I have been dating for half a year, and she has no clue. My best friend drags me out on Christmas for a singles' night out. Unexpectedly, we see her brother, Chris Lambert, holding hands and kissing a girl under the fireworks. "Damn, Chris finally got the school belle!" She looks thrilled and pulls me forward to say hi. Chris awkwardly rubs his nose and introduces me to his girlfriend, "This is my sister, and the one beside her is… sort of like my sister too." I smile silently. We have held hands and kissed, yet now, I am just sort of like his sister.

Ancient evils return to the lands of Mundillum. The races of Elves, Men and Dwarves need to put aside old grievances. Their survival depends on it.

On the night of the SAT exam, my childhood sweetheart, Walter Sterling, eagerly coaxed me into sleeping with him. At the height of passion, his wild and unrestrained motions hurt me. Later, thanks to a ten-points difference on the exam score, we ended up in a four-year-long-distance relationship. Walter spent all his allowance on flight tickets to see me. Whenever we got together, he would physically live out the words, “absence made the heart grow fonder.” On his birthday, I bought a flight ticket and carried a cake to surprise him. But when I entered his rental apartment, I saw him and a strange girl intensely doing the deed. The cake in my hand fell to the floor with a thud. Then, I ran out crying. Walter’s expression changed dramatically. He chased after me like a madman. To keep me, he deleted all her contact information in front of me and even dropped out of school. My heart softened, and I forgave him. After we got married, he treated me even better than before. The improvement was so drastic that I was constantly on cloud nine. But when I became pregnant, I once again saw the girl he had completely cut ties with. She was his new secretary.

Everyone knew I’d do anything for Lucius Falcone. I was his shadow, his most devoted follower… or, to be blunt, his lapdog. For three years, I trailed after him, indulging his every mafia-heir whim. When he went street racing at midnight, I was in the passenger seat, even when I was burning up with a 104-degree fever. When he was screwing some other woman, he’d call me to bring toys, and I’d show up, no questions asked. Finally, Lucius started to soften. Just when everyone thought I was about to finally get what I’d been working for… At the party celebrating his taking over as Don of the Falcone family, he showed up with some bombshell on his arm. He gave me a bored look and said, "You're dull in bed. Tina, on the other hand, knows how to get me off." The whole room was waiting for me to break down. Instead, I just gave a small smile. "Then congratulations to you both." Then I turned, walked out, and got on a plane to Paris. Lucius was already making bets that I’d come crawling back within three days. What he didn't know was that his mother had paid me five million dollars to do it all. The contract was up. The money was in my account. I was finally free to leave him and to finally chase my own dream in Paris.

She’s the Editor-in-Chief. He’s the CEO who destroyed her heart. A year ago, August Wilmer walked out on Remy in the pouring rain, leaving her with nothing but devastation and a promise to herself: never again. Now, Remy is the successful Editor-in-Chief at the Daily Chronicles, a master of control. But her meticulously built world crashes when August returns as the company’s new CEO—and he’s engaged to a powerful heiress. Enter Cory, August’s charming stepbrother, who has patiently pursued Remy since the day August left. When the competition between the two brothers reaches a boiling point, Cory proposes a shocking solution to help Remy save face and protect her heart: a fake engagement, complete with a binding contract. Their sudden, high-profile 'relationship' successfully throws August into a jealous tailspin. But in the shark tank of the corporate world, Remy's integrity is questioned, forcing her to ask if her career—and her heart—can survive the dangerous game she’s playing. As the fake relationship starts to feel dangerously real, the Wilmer family’s secrets begin to surface. Remy realizes the mysterious circumstances of August’s departure, Cory’s devotion, and even her own job, are all tied to a painful, decades-old corporate conspiracy. To survive this war, Remy must choose between the brother who seeks to prove his love and the one who is fighting to reclaim her—before a legally binding contract seals her fate forever.

On my birthday, Jake handed me two bucks and took me to a gas station to buy a lottery ticket. Then he dashed off, claiming he had an urgent work meeting. As I sat alone in the restaurant celebrating my birthday, I spotted my boyfriend, who claimed he had no time for me, having dinner with another woman. Without a second thought, I sent him a breakup text right then and there. Two days later, that lying jerk had the nerve to demand I return the lottery ticket. That's when I discovered it was worth $5 million. I cashed in the ticket and told him to get lost.

For six years, Catherine Kingsley has been invisible. She married Ryan Brook to repay a debt her blood saved the life of the woman he truly loved. But gratitude doesn't warm a marriage bed. Ryan has never touched her. His mother and brother have treated her as a servant. And now, after half a decade of silence and cruelty, Ryan is bringing Sarah home. He wants Catherine out. But for the first time in six years, Catherine doesn't bow her head. She doesn't beg. She doesn't cry. She signs the divorce papers, takes nothing, and walks away with her dignity intact. What Ryan doesn't know is that Catherine is done being invisible. With the help of an old friend Michael and a young artist whose life she once changed, Catherine begins the painful, powerful journey of remembering who she was before she became Mrs. Brook. But as Catherine rises, Ryan begins to fall. The cold, distant husband who never looked twice at his wife suddenly can't stop seeing her everywhere. And Sarah the woman for whom he destroyed his marriage may not be the innocent victim he always believed. Dignity Over Devotion is a raw, emotional story about what happens when a woman who gave everything finally decides to take herself back.

My mate, Alpha Ryan, started skipping my healer's appointments after I got pregnant. He always blamed pack business. But I found him at the clinic anyway. He was with another pregnant she-wolf—his childhood friend, Bonnie. He held her with a tenderness he no longer gave me. "I'll take responsibility for this child," he promised her. "He'll be safe." His words shattered my world. Their child? I stormed in to confront them and saw it: his temporary mark on her neck. He swore the pup wasn't his. He claimed a rogue attacked her and the mark was only for protection. His lie was a knife twisting in our mate bond. I was carrying his pure-blooded heir. But he let the pack brand my child a bastard, while hailing her half-blood pup as his true heir. To protect Bonnie, he locked me in a silver-laced cell. The silver was a living death. He didn't realize his mistake until I took the forbidden herbs, sacrificing our child and collapsing in a pool of my own blood. Only then did he cradle my broken body, begging for a forgiveness I would never give.

For five years, I was Carlos’s dirty little secret. In the light of day, I was his executive assistant, handling his legitimate businesses while he treated me with cold, professional detachment. In the shadows, I was the woman he claimed to love more than life itself, the one who warmed his bed while he whispered promises against my skin. That was until I found out I was pregnant. I was ready to tell him, to finally ask for a life in the light. But then, I discovered Carlos had purchased a secluded estate in the suburbs—a fortress meant for a wife. I followed him there, heart in my throat, only to watch through the window as his hand slid beneath a woman’s silk lingerie, his eyes burning with a raw desire I thought belonged only to me. "Sophie," he groaned, his voice rough with emotion. "I stayed unmarried all these years for one reason. I was waiting for you to come back to the States. Marry me." The sounds of their pleasure echoed from the room. The shock was a physical blow; my body revolted, and the stress induced a miscarriage right there in the cold. When I woke up in the hospital, empty and broken, I made a call I had been avoiding for years. I accepted the arranged marriage my family had set up for me—a political alliance with a rival syndicate. The next morning,I would vanish from Carlos’s life forever.

The most popular girl in school, Mona Culver, could only apply for the city's worst community college because of her poor school results. My childhood friend, James Holden, got our entire class to fill out application forms for community college too. It was his attempt to negotiate with Northrind University's admissions department to make an exception for Mona to study there. The top thirty students in the city shared pictures of their amended application forms to community college. Back in my past lifetime, I tried my best to talk them out of it. The application submission deadline was the next day, and no amendments would be allowed after that. If they wasted their time threatening Northrind by applying to community college, and the deadline passed, nothing could be done to change the results, even if they were the city's top thirty students. Their dreams of attending an Ivy League school would be quashed after ten years of hard work, and no one knew what their future would hold after that. James got angry and berated me, "You're just afraid Mona will be better than you once we start classes at Northrind. Stop pretending like you're doing this for us!" The rest of my classmates were also upset with me, and they turned their fury on me. "Our high school results mean nothing. With our abilities, we would still be able to attend Northrind next year if we repeat the year. You should just mind your own business!" We had been classmates for three years, and I could not let them compromise their futures. I informed our principal and their parents of their plans, and their application forms were amended. I managed to stop them from threatening Northrind's admissions department. All of them were accepted by Northrind in the end, and they became elites in their respective industries with bright futures ahead. Mona ended up getting pregnant with a thug's child while in community college, and she suffered from both physical and mental issues. She fell into deep depression and even attempted suicide several times. James broke down when he learned the truth, and he blamed it all on me. He worked with our classmates to fabricate evidence that I committed plagiarism, and they poisoned my drink. Even my parents were burned to death by a patient from a mental hospital. When I was reborn into this lifetime, I saw James change our group chat's name into 'Fight for True Love! Let's Go to Northrind Together!' I left the group without hesitation and blocked everyone's numbers.