Anastasia Flower 소설 & 이야기

On the day of my twenty-first birthday, I posted online: [I want a lollipop.] My childhood rival, who was overseas, dropped everything there and flew back. He showered and showed up at my doorstep. I vowed to savor lollipops more carefully from then on—they were simply too sweet. From that moment, even after I was exposed as a fake heiress, everyone in high society knew: Jonathan Chase wanted to marry me. When the Sterling family carried out their harsh punishment, the hundred lashes meant for me were almost entirely taken by him—ninety-nine of them, borne by his own body. When they locked me in the basement, with darkness closing in from all sides, his shouts each day became my only light. "Chloe, don't be afraid. I'll get you out," he promised. And he did. He really saved me. He also made me witness, with my own eyes, his magnificent wedding to the true heiress. The man who once couldn't bear to make me wait had, "for my sake", told me to wait three times. The first time was on his wedding day. Pain was etched into every line of his face. "Chloe, if I don't marry Eleanor, they'll never let you go. Wait for me for three years. Three years from now, I'll marry you." The second time was three years later. He looked at Eleanor's rounded belly, hesitation written all over his face. "Chloe… she's carrying my child. You'll have to wait a little longer." The third time was just yesterday. I was just a step away from his kid. He pushed me violently to the floor, his face tight with warning. "Chloe, can't you just wait? Why do you have to take it out on a kid?" Sunlight fell across the face that once loved me, now stripped of all its former warmth. "If that's how it is… then maybe it's time for me to leave too." I said inwardly.

I loved Alpha Lucien Grey with all my heart. From the moment I first saw him, I was drawn to him. However, I always knew the one Lucien loved was someone else. Her name was Summer White. I thought I’d be like one of those tragic side characters in romance stories—forever on the sidelines, watching the man I loved build a life with another woman. However, everything changed three years ago when Summer ran away on the night of the marking ceremony, saying she wasn’t ready to be claimed. Lucien had to make a decision and announced he would find a new partner. So, I stepped forward. Wearing a dress that didn’t quite fit, my hands trembling, I stood in for Summer. That day, Lucien and I formed a bond as mates. For the past three years, Lucien had treated me with warmth and kindness. He was gentle and thoughtful. He took care of me in every way. However, just over a month ago, Summer came back to our pack. On the night of our anniversary, she got drunk and called Lucien in tears, sobbing that she regretted everything. Lucien’s hands were shaking so hard he almost dropped his phone, but he didn’t hang up. He just stood there, torn. When his eyes met mine, full of confusion and pain, I took his hand—still trembling—and said softly, “Go to her.” The moment he left, I filed the mate-bond termination papers at City Hall, requesting to break the bond. After all, these years of stolen happiness were never really mine to keep. It was time for me to leave, too.

In the seventh year of my marriage, I accidentally discover a document in the study. Upon flipping it open, I realize that it's a will left behind by my husband, Luca Bernadi. The will clearly states that if Luca were to die someday in the future, all of his assets and his mafia kingdom would be inherited by a little boy named Nico Bernadi. The one next in line for the inheritance is my half-sister, Angela Fasano. I, his legally-wedded wife, am the last one in line. At first, I refuse to believe the legitimacy of this will. After taking it to the notary's office, I'm informed that the will is notarized and in effect. At that moment, I feel as though my blood has turned into ice. I never expect that this marriage I once took pride in had left me with only betrayal. In that case, I no longer need to cling to this marriage.

I went through 100 hormone shots for him—just to finally get pregnant. Five years begging those shots to work—all for Rafe Morello. The Don with ice in his veins... but also the guy who used to wipe sweat off my forehead in the middle of the night. Everyone thought we were goals. Then I handed over my lab results, and the nurse paused, blinking up at me. "Sorry, what's your relationship to Rafe Morello? There's already a pregnancy under his wife's name." I froze. Carmela Vitale. His dead brother's wife. Spouse listed: Rafe Morello. Breathing? Suddenly optional. No tears. No drama. I just slid off my ring and tucked it into my bag. Then I called the number buried at the bottom of my drawer. My voice? Freakishly calm. "Yeah. Three days. Pick me up." It wasn't about revenge. I left because I finally got it—some people, you gotta cut loose if you ever wanna stop bleeding. Three days later, he walked into a silent bedroom. On the nightstand: my wedding ring, the signed divorce papers, and a copy of the ultrasound. He sat on the floor and just... kept rubbing that ring. Regret doesn't knock. It floods. And that night, it drowned every lie he thought he could get away with. That was when he finally figured it out—love could wreck a person worse than hate ever could.

James, my promised soulmate, shattered his vow of eternal loyalty on my eighteenth birthday. He forged a bond with another, the High Elder's daughter, a union that secured his ascension to Alpha. Yet, he craved more, demanding I become his mistress, his threats aimed at my mother's fragile health. Then, fate, in its cruel irony, thrust me into the path of Michael, the formidable Alpha King. Our encounter was a night of raw passion, a moment that felt destined. When my mother's illness worsened and I and I desperately needed funds for her treatment, I sought him out. I found myself driven to him. Stripped of all pride, I knelt before him, pleading. "Please, Alpha King, help me..."

When I submit my resignation letter, my boyfriend, Daniel Carter, happens to have an arm around the new intern, Kimberley Lester, while teaching her how to secure a deal that's worth ten million dollars. After he's done with his lesson, he finally spares my resignation letter a glance. "What are you on about this time, my dearest sales champion?" I reply calmly, "I've already transferred all details of the company's clientele to others. I don't want any bonuses and commissions of this quarter. In fact, I've already had the finance department recall the funds and list it as the company's funds." Daniel is stunned for a moment. But he still thinks that I'm trying to gain his attention by sacrificing my own benefits. "You don't want money, huh? Then what do you want? You want me to fire Kimmy? Or you want me to give you some of the company's shares?" He passes a cup of coffee to me, thinking that I'll act the same way I did in the past—that I'll endure everything and keep working my ass off for the sake of my sales team. But I just shake my head. Now, I just want Daniel to watch his company fall into bankruptcy.

On the seventh Valentine's Day after our bond was formed, my Alpha, Ethan Carrillo, goes on a business trip with a female Beta. When he returns, he gives me a blue sapphire necklace worth millions of dollars as an apology. Everyone thinks he loves me to the core, but I discover the female Beta wearing something rarer—a full set of blue sapphire jewelry. She has a necklace, earrings, and a bracelet. I act like I don't know anything and continue playing my part as the perfect Luna. The two of them go wild in the study at home after I fall asleep, wanting to add some spice to their lives. The following day, Ethan gives me a rare blue fox-fur shawl. Only then do I realize that each blue gift he gives me is a sign of his diffidence. My wardrobe is full of the blue things he's given me over the years! I start preparing a gift for him, too. He'll never know that I'm getting ready to leave him. I'll never let him find me.

Lucien sent me onto the transplant table with his own hands to save the foster sister he treasured most. “Elara, this is what you owe Sylvie.” “Give her your kidney, and I’ll let you remain the Luna of this pack.” He did not know that five years ago, when the northern wolf keep caught fire, the one who carried him out of the flames had never been Sylvie. It had been me. He knew even less that I had long since reached the final stage of soul-wolf collapse. I had only forty-eight hours left. This kidney was the last thing keeping me alive. On the day of the operation, he stood outside Sylvie’s healing chamber, speaking to her softly and refusing to leave her side. Meanwhile, in the transplant room next door, my heart stopped. When news of my death reached him, he only sneered and called it another one of my tricks. Not until much later did he unfold the blood-soaked rescue record from the northern fire and see the photograph attached to it. Mine. Alpha, your Luna left one final message before she died. “She says this life is returned to you.” “In the next one, may you never meet again.” So why are you losing your mind now, Lucien? Isn’t this exactly the ending you wanted?

Lexy is the 24 year old woman who recently graduated doctor school, wanting nothing more than to come back home to her father and work at his hospital in Los Angeles. Yes, she was finally going to be with her father after the long years of medical school. While Lexy thought all she ever wanted was working side by side with her father, she's challenged with a world she knows nothing about. The werewolves. Werewolves was merely myth but her world starts to crumble when she gets mated to a werwolf, An Alpha of one of the prestigious werewolf pack. Little did she know who she was destined to be, having to struggle between the human life she used to know and the werewolf life she never believed. While she fights to refute this destiny of hers, she starts to fall head over hills for her Alpha mate, Luth. Is it a love doomed from the start or it was a destiny meant to be?

I was slowly dying from Silverthorn Wolfsbane, and there was only one cure—the Miracle Elixir. But my mate, Leah Ashford, bought it and gave it to my adoptive brother,Jason Smith. She did it because she thought I was faking my illness. I gave up on the treatment and swallowed a potent painkiller instead. It would kill me in three days by shutting down my organs. In those three days, I gave up everything. I handed over the fur manufacturing business I built from the ground up to Jason, and my parents praised me for caring about my brother. I offered to sever our mate bond, and Leah praised me for finally being sensible. When I told my son he could call Jason "dad", he happily said that his new dad was the best! I transferred all my savings to Jason, and no one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. They were just pleased with my "better behavior". "Victor is finally not so bad." I wondered—would they regret it after I was gone?