A Silent Voice Shouko

WE'RE BACK! Yes, your favorite cousins are back at it again, but this time it ain't about me. So, buckle up and grab your wine glasses, because it's gonna be crazy! Mina’s POV: Wait a damn minute. Am I in hell? Because if I am, I need to speak to HR. I didn't even get a chance to plead my case, give a reference or something. I'm about to start freaking out because, I'm not a “go to hell” and mean it type of person. I can't do heat for five minutes let alone an eternity. I feel like giving my life to save a baby and a man should have gotten me at least joint visitation six months in heaven and six months in hell. “Mina, are you awake?” I heard the voice quietly say next to my ear. I tried opening my eyes, but it felt like I had sand in them. I decided to try speaking, but only let out something that sounded like a sick animal. "Wait right there let me get you some water.” I heard a voice whisper again. Who the hell is that? I have heard that voice before but couldn't figure out who the hell it was. “! We need to move; they've found us.” The voice came again. Wait, what? Who the hell are they? I tried opening my eyes again, this time I managed to get them open enough to see the figure picking me up bridal style. Then the stranger turned his head to look directly in my eyes and I knew instantly who it was. “Blaze? You gotta be shitting me.” I said, obviously shocked. “Hey, can we join the party? I hope you are serving food because we are famished.” I heard a man say.

At 3:00 p.m., Rose Jenkins, the new hire who had barely been here a few days, suddenly tagged me in the company group chat with a few hundred people in it. [Hi, can you stop hammering your keyboard? The noise is making my stomach hurt! The baby I'm carrying is sleeping. If you shake it into a concussion, I swear I'll make your whole family pay for it!] I rushed to explain. I was racing to finish a proposal that was due soon, and I was using a silent keyboard. But she wouldn't believe me, no matter what I said. I kept my patience and explained it over and over. To avoid any more trouble, I even asked if I could move out to the hallway to work. What I didn't expect was that a week later, she would storm into the break room with a kettle of freshly boiled water and dump it straight over my head. I collapsed in a pool of scalding water, my skin blistering and tearing open. She kept screaming as if she had lost her mind and smashed my head with her high heels, over and over. "It's all your fault! I lost the baby! Your keyboard noise shook my son to death!!" My vision blurred. By the time everything went black, I still couldn't understand how a silent keyboard could possibly kill someone. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day she first went off on me in the group chat. This time, faced with the same insults, I didn't back down. I went straight into the chat and fired back. [Stop pretending you're pregnant. You've got more going on down there than your dad does!]

I never imagined selling myself to a stranger, but desperation changes everything. “My offer is simple,” he said, leaning back in his leather chair, his voice colder than the iced whiskey in his glass. “Help us track down those people you overheard last night and act as bait for a few months” His eyes were steel—sharp, unreadable. I swallowed hard. I was a waitress. He was a billionaire. We lived in different worlds. But my mother was dying, and I needed money fast. “And in return?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. “You get two million dollars as well as protection from the criminal organization looking for you,” he said flatly. My hands trembled in my lap. This wasn’t a proposal. It was a transaction. And I was the product. But I nodded anyway. “Deal.”

On my way to a meeting at work, I call my daughter, who is at home. Instead, I hear a voice identical to mine over the phone. She claims that she is me three years in the future. "Dezarae, go home to Liv right now. Your daughter is in danger." I am stunned. I argue in disbelief and question who is behind this prank. When I step on the accelerator, she stops me sternly. "Do not drive ahead any further. There will be a traffic accident at the intersection where Peace Street is." In the next second, at the intersection that is less than 30 feet away from me, two cars collide. Cold sweat starts to trickle down my back when the woman with a voice identical to mine says, "Liv will fall off a building and die in three hours. This is your only chance to save her."

As I took my newborn daughter from the nurse, I heard the voice of the baby in the next bed echoing in my head. “Don’t take her, Mommy. I’m your real baby!” The doctor and nurses did not seem to hear a thing. I thought I was hallucinating due to my fatigue, so I continued nursing my baby girl. “How dare you cry, you burdensome wretch? I’ll pinch you if you keep crying!” The baby’s grandmother picked him up and walked outside, but the voice came again, crying, “The mean old lady is taking me away. Mommy, look over here quickly! Look at the birthmark on my left ear!” I froze. My first child, who had died in an accident, had a birthmark on his left ear.

“You want me to pretend to be your fiancée?” Paige’s voice trembled quietly. Leonardo D’Angelo, her boss, the man she’d spent way too many nights secretly pining over, was holding her by the shoulders. His eyes beseeching. Paige, I know this might come as a surprise to you,” Leonardo’s voice was softer, almost hesitant. “But I need you to be my fake fiancée.” Her heart slammed against her ribs. This had to be a joke. “I—what?” she stammered, staring at him like he’d grown another head. “It’s only for three to four weeks,” he pressed, his grip tightening slightly on her shoulders. “I’ll pay you double, or a vacation, whatever you want. Just say yes.” Paige opened her mouth to refuse, because this was insane, but the look in his eyes stopped her. For once, the arrogant, self-assured Leonardo D’Angelo looked… vulnerable. “Please,” he added, his voice barely above a whisper. She should have said no. She should have walked away. Instead, the word slipped from her lips before she could stop it. “Yes.” The relief on his face was immediate, but Paige’s stomach twisted with nerves. What had she just agreed to? And yet, somewhere beneath the chaos, was the dangerous thrill of being the woman by his side.

"you will abort the baby" Anthony's voice was cold and rough. "I don't want a child" "I can't abort it" Avery's voice was small, fear hidden beneath it. Her hands went to her stomach instinctively and wrapped around it protectively. "It's not a request." Anthony's voice was calm but threatening and it stirred a warning inside Avery. A warning that he wasn't to be messed with. "It's an order. I own you for the next one year and you will do as I say" Avery wanted to yell at him but she couldn't. Even as he sat in a wheelchair, he still looked powerful and threatening. There was just something about him that scared people. "Now get lost" he rumbled and Avery's chest tightened. She couldn't bear to get rid of her only reason to hope. Her father kicked them out of the house months ago with no apparent means of survival and her mother had become gravely ill, bills piling up, and no one left to turn to, she agrees to the unthinkable. An arranged marriage to a dying billionaire she barely knows. He’s cold and cruel. And he makes it clear he wants nothing more than a convenient end to this marriage. But Avery’s not giving up that easily. If she’s going to sacrifice everything, she’s determined to make him fall for her, for hope and for the future neither of them planned

"So, were you able to test the ? Did you test it on a toy or a person?" Her voice rang with laughter. She was feeling so bold. "You seem different tonight... Uninhibited." His voice was soft as he ignored her jokes. "You don't know how I usually am. This morning was your first time seeing me. At my workplace." Her voice grew lower and softer with each word. Because the mood in the room started to shift. A sweet, strange feeling registered.  Solana felt like something more intense than the earlier flirtiness had taken over. The sound of the music from the bar downstairs grew more distant. She became wholly aware of their proximity. He was now only two feet from her. His rich male scent mixed with tobacco made her want to move closer and fall into his arms. It felt like they were alone in the world at that moment. *********** After years of searching for a suitable , Solana lands an offer in a rundown motel that could solve her immediate housing issue and kick off her career. There's just one tiny problem - She has to work for her former one-night stand. Mark Daniels must revive his mother's motel or lose all his inheritance. He struggles to navigate the blurred lines between an overwhelming attraction and his responsibility. The problem intensifies when his friend, Phil, starts to pursue a romantic relationship with the woman who plagued his wildest fantasies.

“…How dare you do this to me, Conrad? How dare you sleep with my sister right next to my bedroom?” I scream at the top of my voice. My voice breaks in two halves. My hands won't stop shaking. My forehead is beaded with sweat. "Ashanti, please I can explain!" Conrad begs as he tries to step down from the bed, but he can't because he's stark under the comforter. "Ashanti, what the are you doing in my bedroom?" Rhea screams at the top of her voice and I drag my eyes from Conrad and plaster them on her face. She doesn't look scared or guilty like Conrad. "And what the are you doing in bed with my boyfriend?" I ask, raising my voice as well. "I just him. What are you going to do about that" …. After red handedly catching her boyfriend in bed with her step-sister, Ashanti thought things couldn’t get any worse for her until the Lycan Beta showed up at her father’s pack and picked her together with her step-sister as for the Lycan Harem who will stand the chance to be chosen as a mate for the ruthless Lycan King. On the same day she arrives at the Harem, she finds her mate… Read to find out the identity of her mate and how things pan out for her in that Harem.

Sara's legs straddling Austin's lap, their lips clashed in a fierce, passionate kiss. The sound of their lips meeting was like a spark, igniting a flame that threatened to consume them. "Mmm," Sara murmured, her lips vibrating against Austin's. "I hate you," Austin growled, his hands grasping her hips, pulling her closer. His fingers dug into her skin, sending shivers down her spine. Sara's hands were just as busy, her fingers tracing the lines of Austin's face, her thumbs brushing against his lips. "I hate you too," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of their kissing. Their lips parted for a moment, and Austin's tongue darted out, tracing the curve of Sara's lower lip. She moaned, her hands tangling in his hair, pulling him closer. Sara's hands began to roam, her fingers tracing the contours of Austin's chest. She reached for the hem of his shirt, pulling it up and over his head. As she exposed his chest, Austin's eyes locked onto hers, a warning flashing in their depths. "You'll hate me tomorrow," he said, his voice low and rough. Sara's eyes flashed with defiance, her hands continuing to explore Austin's chest. "We don't like each other anyway," she said, her voice husky with desire.