Atone

When the flood hit, my husband, Patrick Holmes, who was part of the rescue team, stood between me and his first love, Victoria Clarke, torn with hesitation written all over his face. Without thinking twice, I shoved the only lifebuoy into Victoria's arms. In my previous life, Patrick had handed the lifebuoy to me instead and stayed behind with Victoria, choosing to die alongside her. Just before they both drowned, rescuers arrived in the nick of time and pulled him out, but Victoria didn't make it—she drowned that day. After that, he devoted himself completely to me, taking care of me in every moment of our daily lives. I had thought that the disaster made him cherish me more, but I was wrong—so terribly wrong. While I was hospitalized, Patrick unplugged my oxygen tank himself. He hissed, "If you hadn't insisted on going home to rest that day, I wouldn't have been torn on who to save, and she wouldn't have died. Now, you'll atone to her in the afterlife." I struggled helplessly as my vision blurred and death crept in. Then, everything went dark. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day the flood began.

Grant, the heir to the Bennett family, had been my protector for over a decade. He taught me how to fire my first shot and saved me from every attempt on my life. After someone slipped drugs into Grant's drink at the family gathering, he stumbled into my room, and his icy control shattered. His hands found my waist as he pulled me close, his lips brushing against my ear as he whispered my name. A single night of drugged passion left me pregnant with his child. When my twin sister, Claire, found out, she left a note and disappeared, heartbroken. After that, I was cast as the cold-hearted villain who drove her own sister away. Grant personally forced the contraceptive potion down my throat and exiled me to the lawless territories beyond our family's control. To make me atone, he abandoned me to fend for myself in that desolate land. I was eventually killed in the crossfire of a mob war. As I lay dying, my mind was flooded with memories of Grant. The troublemaker he always called me was finally gone. He must have been relieved. When I next opened my eyes, I had returned to the morning after that disastrous night. This time, without hesitation, I drank the contraceptive potion myself.

On the day of the United Nations meeting, I noticed a new electronic watch on my wife’s wrist. She said it was a gift from her first love to monitor her health. It was a veiled jab, which implied I was not as thoughtful or caring as an outsider. Something felt off, so during her lunch break I secretly checked, and found a bugging device. I reported it immediately, using my official title to cover her wrongdoing. Her first love, however, was now wanted by the authorities. While fleeing, he tragically died in a car accident. My wife said coldly that it served him right, yet treated me with even more care and attention. However, she deliberately leaked my translation files at work, which resulted in me being accused of espionage and taken in for investigation. “Miles, that bug was clearly planted by you. You were jealous of Ash and wanted him dead!” “I truly regret giving up Ash to marry someone as malicious as you. You should go to hell and atone for him!” When I opened my eyes again, I was back there once again on the day her first love gave her that watch. I did not interfere this time. I simply signed my name on the divorce papers.

As a zombie outbreak spreads across the world, my boyfriend insists on delaying our evacuation so his drama-queen childhood sweetheart can catch the last rescue chopper. However, this is the last evacuation after the outbreak, and our team's only chance to survive. When she still doesn't show up, I knock my boyfriend out and haul him onto the helicopter. In the end, his childhood sweetheart is devoured by the surging horde, while I seize the opportunity to escape and start a peaceful, quiet life with him in the safe zone. The night before I am to take command and lead a massive counterattack against the undead, my boyfriend laces my drink with a tranquilizer and dumps me into a swarm of zombies. Thousands of zombies tear me apart, and I die in excruciating pain. He stands on the fortress wall, a cold smile on his lips. "Had you not been so selfish, Esmeralda would've survived. Now, you'll experience her suffering and atone with your life!" Given a second chance at life, I wake up on the day my boyfriend refused to evacuate on time. Since he's so determined to stand by his childhood sweetheart through thick and thin, I'll make sure they both become zombie food!

The day I inherited Grandpa's "Peacemaker," I received a call from myself, ten years in the future. "Sienna, don't give that gun to Lorenzo." I obeyed without question. That night, forced to use his faulty Glock, Lorenzo was beaten into a vegetative state during a duel. Guilt nearly broke me, but my parents nursed me back to health. Or so I thought. "You idiot," my future self sneered. "It was a lie to get you on the operating table. They want your heart for your brother!" Finding a transplant agreement in my father's study, I publicly severed ties with the Morettis. Only later, after Lorenzo died from rejection, did I learn they just needed my rare blood, not my heart. I wanted to return and atone, but the phone rang again. "Your parents will kill you for honor. Don't go back." I waited. But instead of assassins, news arrived: the Morettis had been slaughtered by rivals. I bolted for home, only to be mowed down by a black sedan. As I died, I couldn't understand why my future self had orchestrated my end. Then I opened my eyes. I was back at the ceremony.

I am the woman who stays the longest by the side of mafia Don Jasper Shaw. I believe I hold a unique place in his heart. But when his beloved Rosie Hurley suffers violation and falls pregnant, everything changes. Accused of orchestrating Rosie's downfall, I become the venomous villain in their eyes. To shield Rosie from gossip, Jasper publicly claims her unborn child as his own. Meanwhile, I am branded a depraved woman, defiled and discarded. Desperate, I reveal my own pregnancy to Jasper, pleading for our child’s future. He dismisses it as a ploy for attention. When I confront him, his words cut deep. "This is the sin you must atone for. Rosie has always been raised like a princess, and she can't endure the whispers—not like you." For the first time, I realize I am nothing to Jasper but a tool for his desires. Rosie locks me in a cramped cellar, where I suffocate and die. My body lies undiscovered for a month. When Jasper receives the call to identify my corpse, he brushes it off, prioritizing Rosie's prenatal checkup. "Amara's lies are piling up. So what if she's dead? Cremate her and then talk to me." My body enters the furnace and is reduced to a handful of ashes. Later, the mighty Jasper Shaw kneels and sobs uncontrollably. He begs for just one glimpse of me.

Money. Guns. Revenge. And kisses that taste like sin. ALMA MARTELLI My sister died on her wedding day, and that same night, a ruthless mafia boss kidnapped me and dragged me to his manor. I didn’t even get a chance to grieve before my life was turned upside down. But what terrified me the most was how my body betrayed me when he touched me, how I wanted the monster who ruined everything. What happens when I discover his hidden plans to destroy my family and his wicked plan for me? One I couldn’t escape, even if I wanted to. LAZZARO VISCONTI They say a child shouldn't suffer for her father's sins. I say she should bleed for them. Alma Martelli will suffer. She’ll atone for every wrong her father committed. There’s no way out until I say so. I’d use her, strip her of her innocence, and return her to a fatherless home. That was the plan... until I found myself wanting to keep her longer than intended, and fighting her battles as if they were mine. Now I can’t stop thinking about her mouth. Her fire. Her goddamn eyes. Alma was supposed to be my vengeance. But she might just be my downfall.

I used to kill for the joy of it, and she would have killed to stop people like me. I lost my first mate through a wicked twist of fate. Now, I run the risk of losing my second chance mate as fate makes an enemy of me once again. I foolishly believed Adriana was my reward for leaving the life I lived before her behind, my means of coming out of the darkness and embracing a life of light. I was wrong. Among wolves, penitence will never be enough. The only way to atone for the blood I’ve spilled is through more bloodshed, and there are a whole lot of angry Alphas after mine at the moment. Adriana wants to stand by me and fight my battles, but I would rather die than have her fight for my misdeeds. What she deserves is a hero, a morally conscious man who can save the world, but what she got was me instead: a selfish, exiled Alpha who would bleed the world dry to protect her. Even if it means losing my own salvation along the way. ***This is the 3rd book in the Alpha's Guardian Series. Liam and Adriana. This can be read on its own or you can read the first two books to get more history about the Main Characters.

Right after getting reborn, the first thing I do is start a livestream with the equipment I've brought to the main entrance of a bank. There, I humiliate myself on purpose just to attract the viewers' attention. Immediately, tens of thousands of viewers flock to my channel. After that, I take off my high heels on the spot and throw them at the armored truck that's carrying cash with all my might. "Get down! Don't move!" As I listen to the guards' stern warnings and watch as they aim their guns at me, I just spread my arms with a smile on my face. "This is a robbery! Hand over the money!" In my previous life, my business partner, Zachary Leed, and the finance director of my company, Yvette Sanders, had betrayed me. They used the perks that came with their jobs to receive illegal loans while using my company as a collateral asset. In the end, they fled with the cash, leaving me with the shitty aftermath to deal with. I was given a life sentence in jail in order to atone for the crimes Zachary and Yvette had pinned on me. My brother went all over the nation and spent all of his fortune just to seek justice for me, but he ended up dying from depression. When I open my eyes again, I yell loudly to the viewers watching my livestream at the moment. "Everyone, you shall witness the most historic moment ever! Come with me as I rob a bank right in front of your eyes on this livestream!"

Adrian Cole thought he had hit the big time when world-famous sensation Damian Knight asked him to tour as the opener for his world tour. But just as his dreams were in reach, one phone call wrecked his future—he was accused of plagiarizing the songs of other people, branded a thief, and discarded. On the walk home from the recording studio, Adrian was ambushed, struck by a car, and arrested on false drug charges, betrayed by the person he most trusted: his husband, Ethan Cross. After being blinded, silenced, and forgotten, Adrian spends years behind bars until Sebastian Cross, Ethan's estranged younger brother, shows up as a messiah in the most unlikely of ways. Sebastian rescues Adrian, gives him a new identity, and sets him on the path to retribution using his wealth, power, and personal hidden agendas. Adrian's rage increases as he learns more lies, such as the fact that his former best friend Marcus Hale killed him to atone for their transgressions, that Ethan and Marcus were lovers in the closet, and that Marcus stole his music and called him a bully. But revenge comes at a cost. When Ethan finds Adrian still alive, an intense battle leaves Sebastian injured by a bullet meant for Adrian. Pinned down by love and loyalty, Adrian inherits Sebastian's business as he gets his own life back as a musician. They navigate betrayal, lying, and phantoms of the past. Adrian not only clears his name but also discovers love that eclipses the one which had nearly killed him.