Better Off Dead: A Jack Reacher Novel

‘Pinangakuan siya nito ng kasal at walang hanggang kaligayahan na sa ibang babae nito tinupad…’ Umasa si Quinn Autumn Gonzales na sa pagbabalik ng kanyang pinakamamahal na nobyong si Reon Nicolo Romanov, ay matutupad na ang mga plano at pangarap nila. Subalit isang araw bago makauwi ang lalaki, nabalitaan nalang niya na namatay ito sa gitna ng misyon nito bilang isang sundalo. Nagdalamhati siya ng labis pero pinilit niya ang sarili na magpakatatag alang-alang sa munting buhay na umaasa sa kanya. Limang taon ang lumipas, nakatagpo siya ng isang lalaking kamukhang-kamukha ng yumao niyang kasintahan—si Dmitri Sandoval. Iisang mukha, subalit ibang katauhan, kaparehong itsura, pero kakaibang pamumuhay at estado. At ang mas nagpaguho ng pag-asa niya ay ang katotohanang may pamilya na ang lalaki. Hanggang saan ang kaya niyang tiisin ngayong muling nabuksan ang sugat ng nakaraan? Tunay nga kayang namatay na ang lalaking minamahal niya o sinadya lang nitong iwan siya para tuparin ang ipinangako nitong kaligayahan sa kanya para sa iba…

Three years ago, Avery Thorne married Julian Sterling for love. Today, she found out she was actually a human blood bank. While Avery sat in a hospital bed, Julian was busy transferring her patents, her fortune, and her very name to his mistress, Sarah. By the time the divorce papers were signed, the legal system no longer recognized Avery’s face. To the world, she is a delusional stalker named Sarah Vance. To Julian, she is a loose end that needs to be buried. Arrested and erased from her own life, Avery is left with nothing but fifty dollars and the knowledge of every security flaw in the empire she built. But Julian made one fatal mistake: he left her alive. From the shadows of the city she once owned, Avery begins a cold and calculated war. She isn't just coming back for her money or her company—she is coming back for her soul. And this time, she won't be the one bleeding.

"I’m here for you, always, Leora." That was the promise Theron made before he stole her kiss. But promises can be broken. And in Crestwood, betrayal is deadlier than love. The Moon Pendant marked Leora as the rightful Luna before she could even walk. Hidden in the human world all her life, she is dragged back to claim her throne—only to discover that the crown comes with chains. To unlock her wolf, Leora must choose a mate. Every wolf wants her. Every elder demands it. But her heart keeps pulling toward the one man she cannot have—the warrior sworn to protect her. When her love awakens her long-buried power, enemies close in and Leora realizes the harsh truth. The man she loves most is the one fated to destroy her.

Ever since I lost my Alpha, Kael, in a brutal fight with some nasty rogues, I've been raising our young son, Finn, all by myself. My old pack has been pushing me to take a new Alpha, you know, so Finn and I would have protection. But I truly believed my Mate Bond with Kael was unbreakable. Then, on the Blood Moon ceremony, the fifth anniversary of Kael's “sacrifice,” I overheard Kael's father, old Alpha Marcus, tearing into Kael's quiet twin brother, Ronan: “Kael! You damn wolf! It was Ronan who went down on Blood Moon Cliff five years ago! He was the cursed one! You faked your death, lived as Ronan, all to protect Alina? You lied to the whole pack, to your sacred mate, and your own flesh and blood! Was it worth it?!” “For five years, Elara has raised Finn from a tiny pup all alone. You gave your so-called 'niece' a fake 'father,' but did you ever think? The day you put on Ronan's mask, Finn lost his real father for good!” I felt like I'd been struck by lightning. After Kael “died,” Ronan had been the dutiful uncle, “looking after” Finn and me. I never dreamed he was Kael in disguise. And he did all this just to protect Alina, Ronan's destined mate, who was already pregnant?! That night, under the bright moon, I snuck away and sent a message to my cousin, the Head Beta of the Silver-Moon Pack: “Tell your Alpha Lucian that I, Elara, accept his courtship offer.”

The underprivileged student I've been sponsoring suddenly shows up at my birthday party, swaggering in and waving around a pregnancy report. "Look—Pheebs is pregnant with my baby! You'd better be smart and divorce her already!" I point at the report, stunned and confused. "Are you sure it's Phoebe who's pregnant with your child?" Victor Thompson, my beneficiary, smirks proudly as he fiddles with the pregnancy report. "Duh! We conceived the baby last month on our cruise trip!" The entire room falls into a stunned silence. My ex-wife, Phoebe Jackman, has been dead for three years.

[WARNING 18+] This book contains descriptive intimate and violent scenes. There could be triggering content like self-harm, drug addiction, and depression. [TROPES] Billionaire. Revenge. Second Chance. Escape while pregnant. - When Mellow Fanning married Zeath Lupin, the cold chairman of Lupin Group, she thought their love was forever. But everything crumbled when he introduced his pregnant mistress at a family dinner. Angry, Mellow sought to make Zeath restless by kidnapping the mistress. However, that resulted in a tragedy that nearly claimed her life and that of the child growing inside her—a child Zeath didn’t deserve. She faked her death and ran away, bound to return as Zeath’s only means to remain as the chairman of Lupin Group. Would he recognize her? Would she accept his apology if he ever gave one? And what would happen when the threat she once fled from rekindled, endangering her and her child’s lives once more? >>>>> “Do you know how much I wished you wouldn’t come near me, or even... touch me?” Zeath drones on. “All those cuddles and kisses, all the affection, made my skin crawl—like a troll embracing its victim before gobbling them. One can only imagine how much it stinks. You are no different from that troll. You merely caught my attention because you were a self-absorbed twonk, and we needed to test if you even had the heart to love another.” “We?” I croak out. Then Zeath’s fingers trail gently along my face, his eyes glinting with pure poison, and his voice is no better. “Poor Mellow, it is all a dare, a gratifying one. Divorce or not, it’s your choice.”

The human traffickers were apprehended, and after DNA verification, the police returned me to my affluent parents. My parents gave a cold nod, thanked the officers, and instructed the butler to make me comfortable. Two months after returning home, the fake heiress, Irene Burrel, secretly signed me up for a wilderness survival course. My parents gently stroked her head. “Since you want to play, let her accompany you.” They did not care one bit if I died out there. Irene smirked triumphantly at me. “What does it matter if you’re the real heiress? I can still do whatever I want with you! “Survival training is my daily routine. I’ll make sure you leave that competition on a stretcher!” When we arrived at the wilderness training grounds in the mountains, I laughed. I grew up in these very forests. Did she think I did not know this place?

When the college admission notice arrived, I suddenly developed a high fever and was bedridden. My sister encountered a kidnapping on her way to help me collect the notice, and her life was uncertain. My parents hated me deeply. After tearing up my admission notice, they forced me to give up my studies and work in a factory. Later, I experienced a kidnapping as well. After narrowly escaping, I hid in an abandoned factory and sent them a message for help. My dad called me and shouted at me without restraint, “Lena, are you even human? How could you play such a joke on us on Jessica's memorial day!” “Do you have any idea how much your mom and I wished it had been you who died back then?” In my last moments before death, their insults echoed in my ears. I was tortured and killed, turned into a monster, and my body was thrown into a stinking ditch for three full days. Even my father, the most experienced forensic expert, couldn’t recognize me. When my sister returned home with the guy she eloped with years ago, my dad had just restored my appearance through technology. They knelt before my decaying corpse and cried until they fainted.

On my 18th birthday, my stepmother, Sheila Coleman, teams up with her secret lover, William Lynch, to kill me in cold blood. After that, she carves my femur into a bone sculpture and presents it to my dad as a gift. Dad loves the sculpture to no end. Thanks to Sheila slandering me in the past, he doesn't give a damn about me at all, even after finding out that I've gone missing. In fact, he even declares that he wants to cut off all ties with me. "Don't bring that brat up in front of me from now on! I hope that she dies out there!" But when he finds out that I'm really dead, he goes crazy from remorse.

After being humiliated by her fated mate, the Alpha’s golden son, and called a worthless omega in front of the entire Moonglow pack, Tiara’s world collapses. Even her favorite comfort, reading her beloved comic Hockey Star is Obsessed With Me, can’t save her from her pain. But one wish, saved through tears, changes everything. Tiara wakes up inside the comic’s story, in the body of the tragic heroine doomed to fail the one man who ever loved her: Luke Thorne, the immortal hockey star who hunts under the moon. She knows this story. Every twist. Every betrayal. Every heartbreak. But this time, she’s determined to rewrite the ending, to save Luke and maybe heal her own shattered heart. But Tiara soon discovers she’s not the only soul who doesn’t belong in this world… and some people will do anything to keep the story playing out as it was originally written.