After The Storm Comes The Calm

Franchetti Xerene Covry - maangas, palaban, astig, at walang inuurungan. She's careless and reckless, lahat na ata ng kalokohan ay alam na niya. Aakalain mong tomboy ito dahil sa paraan ng kaniyang pananamit. But don't underestimate this small thing because she's insanely strong and terrible. Dress her up and she's actually a bad-ass chic. She may live in an apartment but trust me, she can afford to buy islands, perhaps, an entire country. SHE'S THAT WEALTHY. But it was not hers, she said. All those wealth and everything, it was not hers. It was for DEATH.

On the day of the company’s annual meeting, Victoria Quinn brought a man onstage and publicly announced that he was the newly appointed vice president. All eyes in the room instantly turned to me. Mr. Lane looked at me with undisguised mockery. “Ms. Quinn, Mr. Cabell has been with the company for so many years. How did this promotion skip over him?” Victoria smiled casually. “Mr. Cabell is a pillar of the company. He’s most effective staying at the grassroots level.” I knew she was certain I would not object and that I would not leave her. When I glanced at the new vice president, I understood why. He looked exactly like her first love from college, the one who had died in an accident. Suddenly, I felt exhausted. I ripped off my ID badge, tossed it in front of Victoria, and said, “Ms. Quinn, I quit.”

At our engagement party, my sister said she saw my fiancee at the hospital for a prenatal checkup. Inga Lane looked at me nervously, then smiled and handed the test results to our parents. “I’m one month pregnant.” Both families were over the moon. I was the only one who could not smile. After everyone left, Inga said, “I’m sorry. I’m pregnant. I was drunk that night. The baby is Xion’s.” I clenched my fists and tried to stay calm. “Then, why did you come to the engagement today?” She leaned toward me and said, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to marry Xion. He has cancer. He doesn’t have much time left. “We grew up together. He’s the only child in his family. I just wanted to give him a child to carry on his family line.”

On the twelfth anniversary of our mating ceremony, my Alpha mate gave me a ten-million-dollar Moonlight herb. Fresh from the healing clinic after my miscarriage, I calmly dialed his number to request the severing of our mate bond. On the other end of the line, his secretary—also his childhood sweetheart—apologized through tears: "Sage, Moonlight herb is a sacred healing herb for most werewolves. I didn't know your mother died from Moonlight herb poisoning. I didn't know you despised it most. It's all my fault for making the decision myself. Please don't be angry with the Alpha." Marcus spent a long time gently comforting her, only saying to me: "If you want to sever it, then sever it. Don't regret it later." But when I really cut off the mate bond, the powerful Alpha went crazy.

"Sign the papers, Damien. Set us both free." For six years, Elara Blackwood endured a gilded cage—playing the perfect wife to a billionaire who married her out of duty, his heart forever claimed by another. Their daughter Lily was the only light in her lonely world. But that light was snuffed out by the cruelest betrayal. When their dying daughter needed him most, Damien was embracing his past love. Lily cried, "Mommy, does Daddy not love me?" Elara couldn’t bear to tell her: it wasn’t that Daddy didn’t love her—he just didn’t love Mommy, and by extension, couldn’t bring himself to care for her. After Lily’s death, Elara confronted him: "You chose her over our dying daughter—how could you?" Her decision to leave followed, but Damien dismissed her departure and accusations as a dramatic—even laughable—ploy for attention, refusing to believe their daughter could truly be gone. Yet when the truth dawns, everything shifts: Lily’s death, Elara’s broken smile, and her departure with their newborn. Drowned in regret, Damien finally confronts the love he’d long denied. The billionaire tycoon scoured the city, proclaiming her his one true love—all for a second chance.

It's been five years since I started trying to win over Zachary Pierce. I even went so far as to have a child through IVF, hoping it would finally make him care. But no matter what I do, I can never reach 100 percent affection from him. It always stays at 99 percent. Sometimes it even drops lower. One day, exhausted and aching, I go looking for him. As I reach his room, I hear laughter coming from inside. "She still hasn't figured out the egg wasn't even hers. The moment the baby was born, Zach's affection score for her dropped to zero." "So what if she finds out? She should be grateful that her face looks so much like Yvonne's. Honestly, I'm done entertaining her. It's exhausting." At that moment, everything clicks. All the hope I've held onto, every sacrifice I've made, they were all just a joke. I turn away and say to the system, "End this for me. Send me to another world."

Five years after my death, my daughter, Emma, dialed Xander Green’s number. She cautiously asked, "Do you like my mom?" She was trying to get an answer to the question I once wrote in my diary. "Xander, do you like me?" Unexpectedly, the voice on the other end sneered, "Did your mom put you up to this? Using her own daughter like a pawn? What an unfaithful woman! She’s already with your dad, yet still trying to rekindle things with me?"

When Matteo Ricci threatens to end our engagement for the 100th time unless I take Lydia Capone's place in the famiglia's drug trial, I don't cry or make a scene. I just sign my name on the engagement termination agreement and calmly hand over the man I've loved for eight years to my twin sister. A few days later, Lydia storms the mafia summit like she owns the room, insulting the Pirelli family and daring anyone to stop her. I'm forced to step in and bear the full weight of her chaos. And now they're saying Lydia's body can't handle the trial after all, so they want me, the older sister, to take her place. The moment I agree, my parents smile at me for the first time in years. Even Matteo, who barely notices me, hovers nearby and murmurs, "Don't be afraid. The trial isn't lethal. When you get out, I'll take you for your favorite spaghetti alla Napoletana." But he has no idea that there's a late-stage stomach cancer diagnosis tucked inside my pocket. No matter what horrors the trial holds, he will never witness me walk out alive.

Layla Hayes is used to surviving. Raised by adoptive parents who treated her like a burden, she learned to keep her head down, keep quiet, and dream of escape. When her long-term boyfriend cheats and leaves her with nothing, one wild night in a bar is supposed to be her only rebellion — a kiss of freedom before going back to hell.But the stranger she gives herself to isn’t just anyone. He’s Colden Frost. Elusive tech billionaire. Ruthless CEO. The media calls him the Ice King for a reason.So when he offers a flash contract marriage—cold, clinical, and signed in ink—Layla says yes. She wants out of her old life, and she doesn’t care if her new husband has a frozen heart.Only he’s not the monster the tabloids claim. He’s just… never home. Never warm. Never hers.But slowly, walls begin to thaw. And Layla realizes the man she married may be the one thing she never thought she'd find:Safety.

Five years had gone by since my death. The cops called my mom and told her they got news about me. My mother and brother marched to my grandmother's home and kicked her door down. "Where's Charlie? That shameless woman has been hiding from us far too long. Her brother needs her cornea, and she's giving it to him!" "Charlie's dead," said my grandmother, sobbing. My mother sneered. "As if. The cops called us. They said they had her news. Hand her over or get out of the house, you hag." My grandmother looked at her daughter, tears streaming down her cheeks. With trembling hands, she took my photo out. "I wonder if you've ever regretted saving your brother, Charlie."