Bias Drawing

I secretly invite my in-laws over for the New Year, hoping to surprise my husband, Huxley Carlson. But the moment my father-in-law steps through the door, Huxley's secretary shoves him out. He slams into the shoe cabinet, throwing out his back. She sneers. "Who do you beggars think you are, strolling into Mr. Carlson's villa like this? You're this broke and still have the nerve to call yourself his father-in-law?" I immediately call for the housekeeper to help him, but the secretary blocks her. She even shoves my mother-in-law. "You really think you're the lady of the house?" she snaps. "Mr. Carlson hired the housekeeper to serve him, not to waste time on you or your useless parents." My mother-in-law is so enraged that she suffers a heart attack on the spot. I call Huxley in a panic, begging him to come to the hospital. But he sounds utterly unmoved. His voice is cold and mocking as he says, "Jen told me what happened. The nerve of you, bringing your parents to my house! Now you want me to rush to the hospital because your mom's pretending to be sick? "Tell them to get out! If she dies, she dies. Hell, maybe it's a blessing—just in time for the New Year!"

My car was passing by the entrance of the office when I saw both my sisters 'wrestling' vigorously with a bum. I wasn't surprised, however, even recording a video of it and sending it to the biggest news outlet of the country, saying, "I want it seen across the world before 7pm." After all, in my last life, those two sisters were so keen to please Harold Langford that they allowed him to steal my birthright all he wanted. I bore with it because they were family, and ended up resting in pieces. But now that I had a second chance, I would return the favor. At the company gala, Harold once again took my seat as he snorted at me haughtily. "Hmph! If Ellie and Jennie didn't insist on showing you how the world works, a poor college student like you wouldn't even make it through the front door!" "Know your place and don't cause me trouble, or they will have you beaten to a pulp!" Seeing that he was still running his mouth, I kicked him three feet away as I chuckled. "Who do you think you are? How dare you strut when you're just a gigolo who only knows how to please hags!"

I was Alpha Adrian's secret for eight years. It took his grandfather’s centennial birthday for him to finally bring our son, Gale, and me home to the pack. He swore the pack Elders had finally given us their blessing. Our son, buzzing with excitement, bounced on the bed, clutching the champion’s medal from his junior fighting tournament. He’d fought tooth and nail to win it, just to make his father proud. But the moment we set foot on the Blackwood Manor grounds, we saw him. Adrian, with his arms wrapped around a blonde she-wolf, kissing her deeply. Adrian introduced her with a smile. "My mate, Sophia" Our son, Gale, rushed forward to confront him, stabbing a finger toward the seemingly perfect bite mark on my neck. "That's the mark Dad gave Mom! You all see it!" But the pack’s Head Elder stepped forward. After a cursory glance, he let out a cold sneer. "A clever trick of blood magic," he said with contempt. "It can mimic a scent, but it lacks the soul-deep connection of a true mate bond. Any experienced wolf can see through it." I turned to Adrian, my body frozen stiff. He turned away from me, gently stroking the real mark on Sophia's neck, which glowed with a silvery, moonlit light. "The Blackwood pack will not accept a half-blood who can’t even shift" he said. "The only one fit to stand by my side is Sophia." I looked at him, and a bitter laugh escaped me. To think I had suppressed my own Royal Alpha blood for a man like this.

Scott Maynard and I were in love for eight years. I once believed he was my soulmate. We joined Doctors Without Borders together and ventured into war zones side by side. But everything changed the day Piper Ellison appeared. To protect her, he shoved me into danger during a rebel siege, using me as a scapegoat. Then, he fled the country with Piper, and left me to rot in the prison. Three years later, Miles rescued me. Yet upon returning home, the first thing I saw was Scott staging an elaborate proposal, surrounded by nine thousand roses. He twisted the truth about what had happened in Asternis, and those around us believed him. I revealed my wedding ring, and Miles stepped forward to shield me. Despite that, Scott still refused to let go. He became obsessed and relentless, even threatening his own life to force me back. This love, riddled with betrayal and cruelty, finally came to a complete end with his death.

After being reborn, I didn't stop my Alpha mate, Caden, from bringing home his childhood friend—Lilith. She was carrying a pup, and he wanted to take care of her. I didn't fight it. I broke the mate bond myself. Handed him exactly what he wanted. Set up every private moment between them. Then slipped out of their story. Because in my past life, even as I lay dying, Caden hated me for not letting Lilith stay with us while she was with pup. She lost it on the way out. Couldn't carry again. And Caden? He said once I was gone, he'd make it right. Be with her. Protect her. So this time, I let him. Gave them everything. Gave them everything they wanted. So why did Caden lose his mind searching the world for me—begging me to come back?

If it was my sister being bullied, Mom and Dad would have believed her right away and fought for her without a second thought. However, it did not matter anymore. In my next life, I would pick parents who really cared about me.

The powerful Will Hudson, Bardou City's untouchable kingmaker, was set to marry my sister. Everyone said he was a monster, a man broken in body and mind, that marrying him was no different from stepping into hell itself. My sister, Carrie Wheaton, wept as if her heart would break. I pulled her aside and said, "I'll marry him for you. But in return, you'll stay in the countryside and guard the safe buried beneath Mom's grave. For three years, you mustn't open it." She thought it held a fortune—billions, perhaps—and joy lit up her face. She agreed without hesitation. I watched her greedy expression twist with excitement and couldn't help the cold smile that rose within me. 'Carrie, guard it well. Let's see if you can handle the kind of fortune that can destroy you.'

Bethany Cole and Shane Stafford were supposed to get married in two weeks, but Shane was thinking about postponing the wedding again. It was all because his stepsister, Yelena White, had another episode and was crying for him to drop everything and take her to Maldivea to see the ocean. The wedding had been planned for two years, and Bethany had had enough. If Shane did not want to get married, she would find someone else to take his place.

The Moretti Family's Thanksgiving party was in full swing downstairs—crystal clinks, fake laughs, classic mafia gloss. Meanwhile, I was curled up in a servant's room on the third floor. Jackson Moretti's wife. Legally, anyway. My hands were ice. I gripped the ultrasound report like it could anchor me. Three heartbeats. Strong, steady. It was supposed to be a surprise—his big Thanksgiving gift. To the outside world, Jackson was a polished Stanford grad, running a top-tier consulting firm in San Francisco. But behind the scenes? He ran the Moretti empire—cold, calculated, pulling strings in the West Coast's darkest corners. Three years of marriage and we barely spoke, but I still clung to the hope that maybe... maybe there was something real left. Then I heard him downstairs. "You really not letting your wife come down?" "Isabella?" He laughed. "She'd kill the vibe." Another voice chimed in. "Lina's back, right? Wild you married her twin. Which one do you actually like?" Jackson didn't miss a beat. "Isabella's just a stand-in. Quiet. Predictable. I could tell her to drop dead and she'd say 'okay.'" "So when are you ditching her?" "Dunno. She thinks she matters. I'm just playing her." I slapped a hand over my mouth to muffle the sob. A minute later, I was heading downstairs, numb. I brushed my fingers over my belly. "Sorry, babies," I whispered. Triplets. His. He thought I was blind. Weak. Stuck. What he didn't know? A quiet woman, once she snaps—she can burn it all down.

After my mother shot down my pleas to cover my medical bills the 100th time, I clutched my bone cancer diagnosis papers and trudged to the crematorium. "Hi, I'd like to reserve a cremation slot ahead of time," I muttered to the clerk. Half an hour ticked by before my parents and adopted brother arrived in their car. My dad, a forensic pathologist, cracked me across the face. "You're pulling a fake-death stunt now, just to steal the spotlight from your brother?" My mom, a hospital director, snatched the papers from my hands and shredded them into confetti. "Faking records using my credentials and tying up hospital resources? You've crossed the line!" My brother cried, tugging at their sleeves. "It's all my fault. I'll skip the amusement park forever. I don't need a thing. Just quit riling up Mom and Dad." I spun around, my hand pressed against my throbbing chest, and begged the crematorium staff. "Please, when it's time, cremate me and scatter the ashes in the river. I've got no family left in this world."