A Poem For Your Daughter

A week before summer break, my boyfriend’s childhood sweetheart threw a fit, insisting on going to Tanond to watch a strip show. She even convinced our entire class to go with them. I kept warning them that it was not safe, that it could be some kind of new scam, and begged them not to go. When they refused to listen, I secretly reported it to the police. On the day of their departure, the police stopped them right at customs. A few days later, a male stripper suddenly went viral overnight. When she found out about it, she got so furious her eyes turned red. “It’s all Zoey’s fault! If it weren’t for her, we could’ve seen an international superstar's strip show!” On the first day we went back to school, they drugged me and made ten men teach me how to dance. “Didn’t you stop us from watching a strip show? Then you can perform one for us yourself.” The next day, my photos of strip show were all over social media. After that, I jumped off a building out of despair. When I opened my eyes again, it was once again the day his little sweetheart demanded that trip to Tanond.

My wife, Celina Buckley, is a violinist. I've wooed her for five years before she finally agrees to date me. After our marriage, Celina insists on staying child-free for the sake of her career. Left without a choice, I can only poke a few holes in the condoms. Finally, Celina gets pregnant, and with twins, too! Delighted, I make all preparations to welcome the new members of my family into my life. But I accidentally stumble across a photo of a pregnancy report posted on the social media feed belonging to Leo Kolcheck, Celina's senior at work. "Thank you for fulfilling my wish to become a father, Celina. I can't wait to meet my twins!" I feel as though I got struck by lightning. At that moment, I feel like a complete joke. While Celina is at Leo's birthday party, I begin packing up. I make sure that I've taken all of my belongings with me. All that's left is the divorce agreement on the table.

Damien and his ex-wife got divorced five years ago, and then he married me. When I married him, he had a 13-year-old adopted daughter named Lily. After our marriage, Damien treated me exceptionally well and I always treated Lily like my own daughter, even when she occasionally showed hostility towards me, I didn't mind. That's normal for a teenage girl. Until my father was accidentally hit by a car and left in a vegetative state, I accidentally overheard a conversation between Damien and his assistant. "Boss, I don't get it. Why block the craniotomy?" the assistant asked, sounding confused. "The doctors say there’s a high chance he could recover. Why are you insisting on conservative treatment?" "He can't wake up," Damien’s voice was suppressed with pain. "He saw Lily's face." I clamped my hand over my mouth, my fingernails digging deep into my flesh. Lily is the adopted daughter of Damien and his late ex-wife, Sarah. Sarah died saving Damien, so he has always treated Lily with a mix of guilt and utter indulgence. Damien continued, his tone incredibly conflicted. " But Lily didn't do it on purpose! She is only thirteen... If she gets a criminal record, her life is over. Sarah’s only dying wish was for me to take care of Lily and see her grow up safe and sound. I can't give up on her." The assistant fell silent for a few seconds. "And what about your wife?" "I’ll make it up to her," Damien’s voice softened. "I’ll provide her with the most prosperous life, and secure the largest private ward along with the best caregivers for her father who’s suffered from the car accident. I don’t care how much it costs." My heart sank completely. Just because you feel guilty towards Sarah and Lily, you're going to sacrifice my father? With trembling hands, I saved the recording and had my lawyer prepare the divorce papers. But when I completely disappeared, the once powerful CEO went mad.

Esther Davenier has spent her life proving she belongs—first to the elite family who raised her, then to a society that values bloodlines over loyalty. But when a long-lost “real” daughter is found, Esther is discarded like yesterday’s scandal—her name erased, her face mocked, her engagement stolen. They thought they could bury her. But Esther doesn’t go quietly. Armed with multiple powerful hidden identities and a dangerous new ally—CEO Evander Westvale, the man they said she could never have—Esther steps back into the limelight not to reclaim what was stolen, but to take what was never offered. Now she’s more than ready to turn the game upside down.

My mother marries into the Patterson family with me after her divorce. She marries Thomas Patterson, the dean of a veterinary hospital. Meanwhile, I marry Walter Patterson, a firefighter captain and Thomas' son. On this day, there's a huge storm. I'm almost due for labor, but I still head to the hospital to pick my mother up after an operation. We head to the subway, but it ends up being flooded. I endure the labor contractions and call Walter with trembling hands, wanting to ask for help. He finally answers after hanging up on me 18 times. "What the hell do you want? How stupid can you be, calling me in such a huge storm? "I'm saving lives here! Tracy's foot was cut by glass while being saved, and I've just bandaged her wound. Now, I have to take her dog to Dad's hospital so he can save it. The dog is hanging by a thread; if you need help, get some other firefighter to do it! Don't pester me!" Later, the rescue team arrives. My mother and I are pushed to the back of the crowd, and people won't stop shoving us around. The floodwater rises, and I have no choice but to carry her on my back while trudging along the corridor. This continues for three hours. When we're finally rescued, my mother is already unconscious, and I end up losing my child, who's almost to term. My mother and I look at each other tearfully in the ward we share. I say, "Mom, I'm getting a divorce." She says, "It's not a big deal, sweetheart. I'll do it with you. I've done it once before—I know how this goes."

Fernando Laureti is the black sheep of the family; a cheerful, cocky and seductive young man who is used to taking the women they like to his bed. His father, Demetrio Laureti, tired of his promiscuity, decides to put him in charge of the company he has in Paris, with the simple purpose of keeping them away from their women and BDSM, but it will not be easy, he meets Samantha Mercier, a strong-willed, beautiful and determined woman who will not make it easy, making the CEO obsessed with taking her to his bed and make her his submissive, an act that she will not give in, because she will scream in his face as many times as necessary: I will not be your submissive!

"I, Scarlett Monica Hathaway, promise to be nothing but everything to you, and if it is a loving wife you ask for, then a loving wife, I shall be..." Scarlett's life felt like a dream on a random frigid Friday night. It was intended to be a night she spent under her covers, in her warm bed, after getting ditched by her friends at a club she had utterly invited them to. But one minute Scarlett is fleeing a pervert at the clubhouse, and the next minute she's learning about a confusingly cryptic secret, and the next minute she's making a promise that was being dangerously sealed.

"Is that pussy still aching for me?" Roman breathed, his thumb tracing dangerously close without landing. "Two years of being ignored and one touch from me has you soaking through your pretty little underwear." "I hate you," I whispered, even as my hips chased his hand. "No you don't." His eyes locked on mine, dark and certain. "You hate that your husband never once made you feel this way. You hate that it's his brother who knows exactly how to ruin you." He was right and I hated him for it. ********** It shouldn't have been Roman touching me, consuming me and making me scream things I couldn't take back. He was reckless, unapologetic and completely wrong for me. He was also my husband's brother. Yet one look from him dismantled two years of careful composure. One touch and every reason to stop dissolved into nothing. I should have walked away the night he found me on that couch. Instead I said yes. And Roman Clarke never stopped collecting on that answer. This is not your normal spicy, I am here to remind you that some cravings are worth every consequence.

My adopted sister, Rita Lawson, and I get ambushed by a rival family at the same time. But she pushes me away at the most critical juncture, leading to me getting kidnapped. After my kidnappers feed me poison, they leave me to rot in the wild. When I finally get home, I find out that Rita pretends to be poisoned, so my dad has already given her the only antidote. With tears streaking down her cheeks, Rita tells my parents that she's chosen to ingest poison for me, and yet I abandoned her and fled on my own. Of course, everyone believes her. My parents tell me, "Rita got poisoned just to protect you. You must transfer your businesses to her." My husband, Enrico Fulci, says to me, "Someone needs to take care of Rita. Let's get a divorce, Elisa." Even my own daughter, Ivana Fulci, asks me, "Mamma, when are you going to be as gentle and understanding as Zia Rita?" Faced with everyone's accusations, I drink a serum that I've bought from the black market in order to suppress the poison in my system. It can allow me to live like a regular person. But in return, the poison within me will erupt three days later, causing my instant death. Using the three days I have left, I hand my businesses, my husband, and my daughter over to Rita. Everyone is pleased, thinking that I've finally learned my place. But what they don't know is that Death will come for me after 72 hours.

I listened to my mate fuck my maid for five years. Right here beside my hospital bed. “When you stand by her bed,” Frost gasped beneath my mate’s thrusts, “are you thinking of your Luna… or how you fucked me here?” “Don’t.” Caleb answered, his voice low, his rhythm never slowing. “She’s always my Luna. I need her.” Frost laughed, breathless and soft.“Sure, Alpha. But when the lights go out, only I know whose name you really moan.” No. I knew it. I heard clearly for five years. My fated mate, the father of my twins, the man I fought for and nearly died for, betrayed me while I lay unconscious after childbirth. But what I never expected was that my puppies would choose her too. I was done listening to betrayal from the shadows. It was time to take back what was mine. The thought of their faces when they realized I was awake made me smile. I reached for the phone by my bed when they left and pressed the button. “I’m awake.”