Before We Drowned

My brother-in-law had a sudden heart attack. The doctor said only my wife could perform the specific surgery he needed. It was a critical situation. By the time I finally managed to get through to her, her childhood sweetheart answered the phone. "We're just about to head out camping," he said casually. "We won't be coming back tonight." My heart sank. "Ryan had a heart attack. He needs surgery immediately. Tell her to come back to the hospital—now." Instead, my wife's irritated voice cut through. "Are you done? How dare you make up a lie like that and curse my brother!" Before I could explain, she hung up. When I tried calling back, her phone was already off. In the end, my brother-in-law died because the window for surgery closed. And my wife lost her mind.

"This is so wrong. I shouldn't be here with you. I should avoid you if I want to survive." He drawled in a hoarse as sniffed down her neck. "I should but I can't." ***** Anastasia Nelton, a single mother with a painful past finds a new chance at life when she is given a job at Kade Inc. Her hope that had just begun to take shape gets shattered when she runs smack into the president of said company. He is her past, her bane and the father of her child. She does not want anything to do with him, but a wolf cannot outrun it's mate. Betrayal, Attraction, Dark secrets, Curses and Untold Truths. Will Anastasia be able to navigate chaos that is her Cursed mate, Tristan Connor? Or will she get drowned with no way to survive?

Love is the most complex feeling ever. It gives you joy like you've never had before; it brings you pain like you've never felt before. We follow the tale of a young Cameroonian girl who's world gets intercepted and turned upside down by an Italian foreigner with deep, dark and dangerous secrets. Jasmine "Loving you is so hard it feels like I'm BREAKING LOCKS." Marcelo "But even the most screwed locks still break open, don't they?"

Today was supposed to be my wedding day. The D-day, the big day—whatever people liked to call it. For me, it was meant to be the happiest day of my life. Our life. But to the likes of me, happiness was nothing but a cruel illusion. The groom, Clyde Monroe, wasn’t waiting for me at the altar. Instead, the ruthless, calculating billionaire—known for his icy demeanor and unmatched power—was on one knee before someone else. Someone who was supposed to be dead. His ex-girlfriend. As the truth unraveled, so did the fragile threads of the life we were building. Betrayal, grief, humiliation—I felt it all. Clyde’s haunted past, one I had only glimpsed, was now ripping apart the fragile illusion of the bond I thought we shared. The truth? I was nothing more than a pawn, a random babymaker caught in a game I never signed up to play. My name is Margaux Olsen, and I am his unwanted bride.

The night my father collapsed, I learned some men negotiate with money… but Noah Thorne negotiates with lives. I never planned to marry a billionaire CEO, especially not the man my father owed $50,000 to. But when the hospital demanded an $80,000 deposit before surgery, life made the choice for me. While my mother sobbed in a cold hallway, Noah’s bodyguard arrived with an offer, an arranged marriage, a contract marriage that would clear the debt and cover every medical bill. When I confronted Noah, he presented the terms without cruelty: one year, no intimacy, public appearances only, and freedom after. He believed he was offering mercy but I felt like beautifully packaged captivity. Desperation crushed pride, and I signed. Our “marriage” was a seven-minute formality, no vows, no meaning. Moving into his penthouse was like stepping into a museum built to contain silence. Publicly, we were the perfect romance. Privately, we were strangers navigating a fragile arrangement thick with unspoken tension. Complications followed us: Noah’s elegant, smug ex who treated me like a placeholder, and my own ex-boyfriend, whose sudden reappearance triggered jealousy in Noah he couldn’t hide. Arguments, silences, and late-night moments softened something between us. Slowly, painfully, the man behind the empire emerged, the lonely boy shaped by loss, abandonment, and guarded walls. We began to care. We tried to deny it. Feelings weren’t in the contract but feelings don’t read contracts. Near the end of the year, Noah pulled away. I thought he wanted freedom. He signed the release papers with steady hands and a breaking heart. I was almost gone when he whispered the truth: “Please don’t go.” We tore up the contract. A year later, we married again, this time for love, not survival. This time, I chose him

I check on family businesses in the countryside with my girlfriend, Mildred McClure, in tow. At noon, we stop by my uncle, Barron Cortez's, place for a simple lunch. Just as we are getting ready to leave, his new wife, whom he married just six months ago, Hilda Ross, rushes out and demands that we settle the bill. "Elden, you two just had the Supreme Farmhouse Set Meal, which is 1,888.80 dollars, and your girlfriend picked three organic, pesticide-free tomatoes in the garden. That's 199.80 dollars. "With an 80% service charge, your total comes to 3,800 dollars." Mildred is stunned. "Elden, do we have to pay to eat at your uncle's place?" I start to feel embarrassed, and my expression darkens as I look at Hilda, my supposed aunt, who's barely any older than me. "I've grown up eating at my uncle's place and never paid a single penny. Besides, your prices are downright outrageous!" Hilda calmly whips out a price menu and righteously declares, "That's all ancient history. Now, we're running a farmhouse business where all prices are clearly marked, so everyone pays the same rate. "Barron said you're some big boss in the city. Surely you're not going to stiff us over a little bill, are you?" She steps in front of the gate to block the exit with her body and shoots me a contemptuous look. "Even family settles their accounts. If you don't pay up today, don't even dream about stepping through this door!" While Mildred panics, I laugh in disbelief before taking out my phone and dialing Barron's number. "Uncle Barron, Hilda wants to settle accounts between family, so don't you think it's time we settled our accounts too?"

The night before I was supposed to marry the heir to the Moretti family, I found a string of ninety-nine filthy texts on my fiancé Leo’s phone. A woman named Ava Collins, telling him she loved him. Shameless. Desperate. She was begging him to call off our wedding, threatening to kill herself if he went through with it. I didn’t waste a second. I shoved the phone in his face and demanded an explanation. The silence stretched for an eternity before he finally broke. “Her brother was Liam. My underboss. He took a bullet for me. My bullet. I promised him I’d look after her.” "Jennifer, we grew up together. You know it’s you. It’s always been you. I swear, I’ll handle it. I’ll cut her off." I searched his eyes, hunting for the lie. I swallowed the acid in my throat and chose to believe him. The wedding was on. This was bigger than us. It was a treaty signed in blood between two families. And God help me, I still loved him. But on our wedding day, as we stood at the altar, vows on our lips, Leo got the call. It was her. Ava. On a bridge, threatening to jump. Demanding he come. Now. The diamond ring, a breath away from my finger, clattered to the stone floor of the church. Not a word. Not a single explanation. He just left. Left me, our families, our future... left me standing alone at the altar. Through a blur of tears, I screamed after him, "Leo, if you walk out that door, we are done!" His only reply, tossed over his shoulder, “She needs me.” He never looked back. Carrying his child, I vanished from his world and never looked back.

I took my gun beside the table and playing it with my bear hands. I'm eager to kill the assh*le who is now kneeling in front of us but my dear brother said that he should suffer first before we gonna kill him. "Now assh*le, I'm going to ask you for the last time. Who ordered you to kill us?" My Brother said while he pointing his gun on the forehead of the assh*le. "I WILL NEVER ANSWER YOUR QUESTION EVEN IF YOU KILL ME." The assh*le shout right on the face of Clay, which cause Clay to get mad and give him a hard punch on the stomach. "Ouchie! If I we're you I'm gonna tell him who's behind of killing us before my dear husband get angry." Suzanne Medina the wife of Clay. "You don't know me when I'm angry." Clay get a dagger and slice the face of the assh*le. "ARRGGHHH!" The assh*le keep screaming everytime Clay slice every part of his body. I smile a devilished one. That's my dear brother wants. Torturing his prey. But I have a short temper. *BANG!* "Sharp shooter, baby." I'm pointing my gun to Suzanne. I don't want to call a baby. "Easy dear sister." She hang her two arms in the air. She surrender. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Anger is written all over the face of Clay as he turned to me. "Tss." The damaged has been than and we could do nothing to turn back the time. "Short tempered as always, my dear sister." He about to put his arm when I grab it and put it on his back. "Easy dear sister. I'm kidding." He said.

I have always been treated as an outcast by my father and even the lowest ranking members of my pack. My name is Skylar, I am from the Crescent pack and my father is the Alpha. I have never shifted before and this has been a major stigma in my life. People see me as weak, shameful and unworthy to be a member of my pack, and even more on worthy to be the Alpha’s daughter. I keep trying my best to prove myself but it’s never good enough. When it seems like things couldn’t get worse for me, everything spiral’s out of my control, not like I had any control over my life anyway. After a masked one night stand with the Alpha of a rival pack, who is known for being ruthless, things become more tormenting for me. I keep trying to beat all odds but it seems like they’re never in my favour, I keep trying to survive but it keeps getting more and more difficult. My only chances of survival are to escape with the little I have. I’m lucky enough to meet other outcasts like myself but like always I am drowned in waves of problems. I keep wondering when I will ever have peace and if destiny has anything good in-store for me. My journey is long, painful and tedious but it will make me discover who I am and how much I am needed to bring stability, not just to my pack but the world. Life may beat me down repeatedly but it can’t break me and I will take my rightful place and everything that belongs to me. I will do everything I can to fulfill the prophesy about me.

Everyone has gathered around to play games together. The current game requires all players to transfer red wine to each other via our mouths. Before my fiance, Teodoro Lamperti, is able to transfer the wine to me, his female best friend, Cristina Ghedini, shoves me away before kissing him on the mouth right away. "What are you doing? Today is Serafina's big day, you know!" Teodoro might be complaining on the outside, yet he's patting Cristina gently on the back. The atmosphere in the villa becomes eerily silent. Everyone stares at me as I sit on the floor in a wretched manner. Cristina merely smiles nonchalantly. Then, she leans against Teodoro's shoulder. "Don't be so petty, Serafina. Teodor and I are as thick as thieves since we were kids. We're used to sharing everything together." Teodoro begins advising me as well. "It's just a game, Serafina. You've always been gracious, haven't you? Don't act like a sore loser." Everyone thinks that I'll explode into rage and flip the table of food over, like I had done in the past. But this time, I just draw to my feet and take off the engagement ring. Then, I slide it onto Cristina's finger. "This ring is yours now. Congratulations on your marriage. Remember to invite me to your wedding."