Before We Knew It Novels & Stories

At the celebration where Lorenzo Alvarez is crowned the new mafia boss, his men arrange a few performances. A dancer in a backless top and short skirt twists around the pole under the lights. "Don't look," he murmurs, covering my eyes with his hand. "This kind of cheap entertainment isn't worthy of you." His men jump in immediately. "Lorenzo still spoils Ms. Valenti after all these years. That kind of devotion is rare. We're so jealous." "A man as loyal and single-minded as Lorenzo is hard to find." I rest a hand on my belly, planning to tell him tonight that I am pregnant. But when I return from the restroom, I see the same man who had just held me in his arms leaning back in his chair while the dancer straddles his lap. Lorenzo slips his business card and a thick fold of cash into the waistband of her skirt. He laughs, relaxed and unbothered. "Isabella is wonderful, sure, but life needs a little passion. This ragazza is just something new. A bit of fun. "Keep your mouths shut. Don't go running to Isabella and upset her. Otherwise, you'll have a problem." Cold rushes through me. I do not approach or confront Lorenzo. I simply take out my phone and answer the email I have been avoiding for days. "I agree to participate in the confidential experiment."

What do you do when the only safe place left belongs to the man who’s been lying to you? I’m twelve weeks pregnant with my abusive ex’s baby. He's been tracking my phone, controlling my life. And when I finally run, there's only one door left to knock on — his best friend's apartment. Jeremy took me in. No questions. No judgment. Just his bed, his quiet presence, and one reckless lie: at the hospital, he'll say the baby is his. For the first time in years, I feel safe. But I’m starting to realize: the man who saved me might be the reason I needed saving. Because Jeremy’s been in love with me for three years—and he never said a word. Because my best friend Reina has been sleeping with Ryan behind my back—and she’s not done destroying me yet. Because Ryan just found out about the pregnancy—and he’s coming for his child. The question is: can I survive the truth—or will it destroy me faster than Ryan ever could?

Dylan Edwards, a wealthy CEO, broke off his relationship with Cassidy Aarvi six years ago and pressured her into signing divorce papers. However, Dylan had mistaken Cassidy for someone else that day, and she could not correct the misunderstanding. Cassidy is now a single mother to two delightful five-year-old children who are curious about their father. Her primary aim is to uncover the truth about their parentage and possibly reconnect with the man she was mistaken for. Can the children discover the identity of their father? What creative plans will they come up with to accomplish their mission?

On our wedding night, Zach received a phone call and left my side. From then on, I knew that all of my efforts over the years had gone to waste. After all, the person he loved had returned. “Cassia, let’s get a divorce.” “But we just got married two days ago.” “You know that I don’t love you, and I never will.”

I was the stand-in who looked most like my husband's first love. He put me through countless plastic surgeries, both major and minor ones, until I became her exact likeness. But then, she came back from the dead. All it took was her saying, "I don't like anyone looking like me," and he sent me right back to the operating table once more. I begged him, telling him that my body couldn't handle it anymore. Alas, he only looked at me with irritation. "Seeing that cheap imitation of her face just disgusts me," he sneered. "No matter how close you come, you'll never be her." In the end, I died on that operating table. Yet, he went mad, trying desperately to recall what I once looked like.

Grace is forced into marriage with Damon Croft, the Rival Alpha who swore to destroy her father’s bloodline by entering what looked like a revenge marriage arrangement only to for it to become a curse-bound marriage. Where neither could leave. In a world ruled by Lycans, fated mates are rare…and even cruelly binding and what escalates things is that Damon doesn’t hide his hate for her. He doesn’t love her and he only wished to make her pay for her fathers sins, one day at a time but the moon goddess mark upon them complicates things and Damon swears he’ll never accept it. Grace, born mute and treated as a ghost in her own home refuses to beg for his mercy. Every time he tries to break her, she finds another way to defy him and every act of defiance blurs the line between hatred and obsession. Until everything is at stake and what they think they know is not what they know. Their whole lives have been someone’s needlework of manipulation and greed. She can’t stand him but he can't get enough of her.

In the day, Evelyn Jefferson is Warren Larkin's elegant and capable executive secretary. At night, she's his alluring bedfellow.After three years of such an arrangement, she thinks he loves her. But when she proposes to him, he says, "It's just a game—we fuck, not make love. Did you really think I'd take you seriously?"She loses hope in him and leaves without another word. From that day on, her life is transformed, and her career skyrockets. She becomes a renowned lawyer that no one in the industry dares offend. Countless suitors swarm her.He regrets his decision and pins her to the wall, his eyes bloodshot. "I'm yours in heart, mind, and soul. Will you marry me, please?"She smiles seductively. "Sorry, but you're standing in the way of my Mr. Right."

Ten years ago, they left her to die. Now she's back—with a new name, a new face… and a plan. Everyone thinks Kayla Serrano is just another rising actress—bold, beautiful, untouchable. But behind the fame is a woman haunted by betrayal. Once known as Mykayla Rae Jones, she was heir to a powerful empire… until her stepmother stole her name, her future, and nearly her life. Now, Kayla is ready to take everything back. She didn’t expect to fall for Rowan Hermoso—her former fiancé and the man unknowingly tied to her downfall. He doesn’t remember her. He doesn’t know he’s part of her revenge. But secrets never stay buried for long. And when love mixes with vengeance, someone always bleeds.

Maya Anderson, who was later named Mayla, was a girl who met an unfortunate fate of being switched at birth. Things began to sour as her family discovered she was not of their blood or their own. In a quest to find true love later in her life, Mayla ends up having a one-night stand with a man she later finds out is jake. He initially fails to recognize her because of the change in her name. But as time goes on, he begins to fall for her. This sparks jealousy in the eyes of her brother’s real sister, Maria. But a shocking revelation is made concerning Mayla and Maria switching during birth, someone close to them is orchestrating something sinister so they can have the Anderson properties, but who is this? And will they succeed?

Five years after I broke up with my childhood sweetheart, Jason Thorne, my ALS progressed to its terminal stage. Since I can't receive any treatment for my disease at all, I decide to fly back to my hometown and wait for my death to come. Meanwhile, Jason has been dating a woman named Freya Tyler for five years. In fact, they are about to get married. Freya is even pregnant with Jason's child. We bump into each other in the hospital's garden. When Jason sees the blanket around my shoulders, he scoffs at me. "You're already this weak, and yet you're here all alone. It seems that your doctor boyfriend isn't taking good care of you at all. Then again, you did cheat on me with that guy. It only makes sense that your new relationship won't end well at all." Freya smiles brightly at me. "That's enough, Jason. It's not like everyone is capable of taking care of me very well, just like you do. "Our wedding will be held at the base of a snow mountain in Selvaria. You simply must attend our wedding, Ms. Moyer." As I gaze at Jason's cold and arrogant expression, I do my best to suppress my feelings of longing and guilt. Instead, I reply calmly, "No, thank you. I'm not interested in my ex-boyfriend's life. I'm only staying here for a short while. In the future, I will never come back ever again." Jason merely huffs before turning on his heel and walking away. But when I depart from this world, he loses his will to live too.