Bitter Fruits

"Accept it! You cannot fucking run away from me. You can NEVER escape from me. It would be better for you if you just accept that your fate is with ME. You are mine!" She shut her eyes and sobbed quietly beneath him. She knew she could never escape from him; she knew he would never let her go. But that didn't stop her from trying. That would never stop her from trying. She swallowed her fear and looked back at him with her tearful big eyes. "I-I'm not yours! I can never be yours, master. I am just a maid who works in your house. Y-you have no right to claim me yours like this." She threw back. It didn't shock Alexander, it amused him. His fiery cat was finally able to open her mouth in front of him. They both stared at each other with an intensity that was hard to explain. "You are mine, Emma. You were mine the moment I laid my eyes on you. You were mine when I saw you for the first time when you opened the door for me. You were mine when I saved you from the guy at the party who almost raped you..." He gritted at the bitter memory. "You were mine since the first time my heart skipped a beat whenever I saw you...You are mine and you will always be mine." She heard the unbuckling sound of his belt and her eyes widen in fear. She pushed him as hard as possible but that didn't stop him. In a blink of an eye, he tore her dress and once again claimed her as his.

Rosé Willian discovers she has been dating a married man on their fifth year anniversary. This news doesn’t only destroy her heart, but her whole life too- her reputation and career alike. She loses her job due to the viral video of her going around in the small city of Ontario. Unable to move around freely in the city without whispering gossips and accusing fingers following her around, Rosé flees Ontario to Washington with her friend, Paula. Rosé’s life takes a new turn when she meets Navy Leonardo, a CEO of a luxurious clothing line, a company where she goes to seek a job as a Blogger of the company. On the first day of her employment, Navy Leonardo receives a message from his father, Mayor Alessandro demanding his presence at the family Thanksgiving, else he will be disowned and canceled from the family will. Meanwhile, his father’s threat is due to the fact that Navy has been absent from home in Italy for about five years following the betrayal of his girlfriend, Clarissa getting married to his brother, while the whole family watched. Receiving the message not only upset him, but it makes him bitter and vengeful. A sudden idea to make his ex-girlfriend jealous and his brother envious, occurs to him, a plus fun would be the panicking reaction of his parents to him, bringing home a low class woman as his girlfriend. Who is more perfect for the job than the down to earth Rosé Willian, the Blogger. Beautiful and younger than Clarissa, but poor enough to make his parents turn. Navy is overwhelmed by the pleasure of a silly revenge that he asks Rosé to be his fake girlfriend, just for a night, not knowing he is in for a twist of fate.

After eight years of love, Liz Smith went from being the woman Zac Lincoln once saw as the love he could never forget, to someone he couldn’t wait to get rid of. She had spent three years trying to hold on, giving everything she had. But once her last bit of affection ran dry, she finally gave up and walked away. On the day they broke up, Zac sneered coldly and said, “Liz, I’ll be waiting for you to come crawling back, begging me to take you back.” But what came instead wasn’t a plea—it was news that she was getting married. Furious, he called her. “Are you done with your little game?” A deep male voice answered from the other end. “Mr. Lincoln, my fiancée is in the shower. She can’t come to the phone right now.” Zac let out a bitter laugh and hung up. He convinced himself it was just another one of Liz’s tricks—playing hard to get. It wasn’t until her wedding day, when he saw her in a white gown, holding a bouquet, walking down the aisle toward another man, that reality finally hit him. Liz had truly let him go. Like a madman, he pushed through the crowd and rushed to her. “Liz, I know I was wrong. Please don’t marry someone else. Please.” Liz lifted her dress and walked right past him. “Didn’t you say you and Xena were perfect for each other? Why are you kneeling at my wedding now, Mr. Lincoln?”

Seraphina's world shatters the night she finds her beloved Kaelan, the future Alpha, in bed with her best friend. She ends their relationship without a second thought. But fate delivers a cruel blow when Seraphina discovers on her eighteenth birthday that Kaelan is her destined mate. Seeing a chance for vengeance, she publicly rejects their bond, ignoring his desperate pleas to save his face in front of the pack. Her vengeance is short-lived. Seraphina soon uncovers a devastating truth: her best friend, consumed by bitter jealousy; had drugged Kaelan and staged the entire scene. He was innocent. Shattered by her catastrophic mistake, Seraphina searches for Kaelan to apologize, but he has vanished without a trace, abandoning his pack and his old life. For ten years, Seraphina is shackled by guilt, while her pack weakens and crumbles toward ruin. As a last resort, her father secures an alliance with a mysterious and powerful pack rumored to be ruled by a ruthless Alpha known only as Lucifer. To save her people, Seraphina is forced to sign a contract, binding her fate to this feared stranger. Her doom is sealed when she comes face-to-face with the legendary Lucifer and finds the boy she rejected is gone, replaced by a cold, formidable, and terrifying man. Kaelan makes it clear he is back to claim what is his, and his intentions are laced with vengeance. Although, Seraphina is determined to atone for the past, Kaelan is a wall of ice she cannot melt. To survive, she must unravel the secrets he guards so fiercely. But the truth he’s hiding is more dangerous than his hatred, and her discovery of it will not just break her—it will destroy her completely and threaten to burn their entire world to the ground.

“You have no idea what you’ve done to me. I’ve been replaying every sound you made, every way you came apart for me.” His grip tightened. “I’m not letting that go. I’m not letting you go. Fuck the friendship. I want you.” I let out a little gasp. His thumb rubbed across my lower lip. “I don’t just want to fuck you—I want to keep you. You’re my favorite sin, and I’ll commit it again and again until you understand you’re mine.” His lips twitched a little. “You’ve always been mine, Savannah.” ——- Her sister is marrying her ex. So she brings her best friend as her fake fiancé. What could possibly go wrong? Savannah Hart thought she was over Dean Archer—until her sister, Chloe announces she's marrying him. The same man Savannah never stopped loving. The man who left her heartbroken… and now belongs to her sister. A weeklong wedding in New Hope. One mansion full of guests. And a very bitter maid of honor. To survive it, Savannah brings a date—her charming, clean-cut best friend, Roman Blackwood. The one man who’s always had her back. He owes her a favor, and pretending to be her fiancé? Easy. Until fake kisses start to feel real. Now Savannah’s torn between keeping up the act… or risking everything for the one man she was never supposed to fall for.

After a century of war between humans and the Otherkin, both sides finally agree to a ceasefire. To preserve peace and coexistence, an intermarriage pact is established—every hundred years, humans and the Otherkin must marry. The first Otherkin to produce an Otherkin child will become the chairman of the Otherkin Alliance. In my last life, I married Kevin Walker, the famously devoted Alpha of the Whitefang pack. One year after our wedding, I gave birth to a wolf pup, and Kevin ascended smoothly to the chairman of the alliance. My sister, Meredith Singer—driven by vanity and a thirst for power—married Simon Lynch, the leader of the vampires. However, she didn't expect his chaotic private life, overflowing with mistresses, to leave her with a disease that robbed her of her ability to bear children. Bitter over her ruined life, Meredith blamed everything on me. She drugged both me and my pup before setting a fire that burned us alive. "Annabelle, everything you have should've been mine! I should be the one married to the Alpha! I should be the chairman's mate! You're nothing!" As the fire roared around us, I clutched my pup tightly in my arms. He sobbed against my chest. "Mom... it hurts..." I couldn't do anything but watch as the flames consumed us both. In the final moments of my life, I saw someone I never expected—the zombie king, Landon Zeller. Without hesitation, he charged into the inferno, cradling me and my pup in his arms, trying desperately to save us. However, it was too late. We'd already taken our last breaths.

"You wanted me to fail," she yelled, her voice shaking with rage and desperation. "You wanted me to prove you right." "No." My voice was a low, feral growl. "I wanted to know if you'd stand your ground. And you did." You stood your ground, held my life in your hand, and chose to keep it breathing. That was all I needed to see. Her defiance was a thin wall, her trembling betraying her. "This doesn't make me yours." I leaned in, my lips a hair's breadth from hers. The scent of her… of wood smoke and sweat, and something wild and unmistakably Lyra… filled my senses. "You already are," I whispered against her lips. "Even in your hate." *************************************** Lyra, the last warrior-heir of Ravengarde, detests Kael, the cruel enemy alpha who murdered her family, burned her castle, and claimed her as his ruthless spoils. Imprisoned in his domineering Shadowfen Keep, her rage is a burning blaze, battling the forbidden, wild linkage that brings her closer with each bitter glance and each jealous touch. She promises to kill him, break free from his shadow magic, even as his control ignites a deadly, forbidden desire in her. But when Lyra learns the horrible truth… that the betrayal that had destroyed her clan was not schemed by Kael, but by her own ruthless bloodline in a lust for power… her world shatters. Every sadistic phrase, every brutal touch she endured under Kael's command now bears an abject truth: the enemy that she had sworn to kill was, in reality, protecting her, and is now very likely the only one who can save her from a much darker fate than his claim.

After a full week of night shifts, I make a fatal mistake—injecting my son, Ricky Lambert, with phenobarbital, mistaking it for an antibiotic. The injection stops his breathing instantly, and the hospital soon declares him brain-dead. My husband, Terence Lambert, completely falls apart when he hears the news. The only thing that calms him is holding his nephew, Ryan Lambert, who looks so much like Ricky. So, I give up my transfer to Harborstone to Wendy Larson, my brother-in-law's wife. I even agree to adopt her son. Because of that mistake, I work hard and endure Terence's coldness day after day without a word of complaint. Ten years later, when Wendy returns home a success, that's when I accidentally overhear her speaking with Terence. "Back then, to help me get residency at Harborstone, you swapped the medicine and killed your own son. Do you really not regret it?" Terence sneers. "Of course not. I promised I'd help you rise above the rest. And I know Rosalie too well. If she knows there is a chance to go back to Harborstone, she'll fight you for it to the bitter end. "I have to use Ricky's death to trap her for good. It also gives me the perfect excuse to make her raise our son, so you can focus on your career without any burden." I can't believe what I'm hearing. I run out the door and accidentally fall into a raging river. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the very day the hospital declares Ricky dead.

“The Rossellinis are to the Mahonnas what the Montagues are to the Capulets, sworn enemies bound by years of feud that fuels hatred and bitter rivalry. In summary, the man standing beside me, the man who I just said my vows to, is my father’s archenemy.” *** When Marco Rossellini, a ruthless Mafia boss, feared and respected in the underground world kidnaps Vienna’s husband-to-be on her wedding day, and forces her to marry him as an act of revenge against her father, she is trapped under the painful existence of being married to a man as cold as ice. As they navigate through the stormy waters of hate and the treacherous landscape of mafia politics, Vienna is torn between loyalty to her father and the growing feelings for the man who married her as an act of revenge. But can she trust Marco, or will his vendetta against her family shatter her into a thousand broken pieces beyond repair? *** All his life, Marco has only wanted one thing - vengeance against the man who wronged his family. What better way to get back at Daniello Mahonnas than taking away his most prized treasure, right underneath his nose in one calculated move? Marriage to the beautiful Vienna was supposed to be an act of revenge, a genius move that will bring the Mahonnas down on their knees, pleading for his mercy. But with every banter, with every smile she sends his way, every heated kiss and stolen passion, she chips away at his icy exterior, leaving him bare, vulnerable and worst – in love. Will he be able to move past his vendetta and love her the way his heart wants or will those eyes staring back at him remind him more of his past than he ever wanted?

"Who are you, Sebastian?" "I think I can ask the same. Where did you come from, Anastasia?" As soon as the last syllable escapes my lips, we find ourselves interlocked in a kiss. Knowing my full attention, I stop to ask, "Are you sure you want to do this, Anastasia?" "The only thing I'm sure of is the way you are making me feel." Unable to contain myself, I pull her into a fiery and passionate kiss. All my thoughts are obliterated. For the first time in over two hundred years, I am kissing a mortal woman. I can feel the hunger grow inside me, the pleasure building towards a peak. I pull her even tighter into my body. I can smell her arousal, and it only fuels me. The kiss is getting deeper and deeper with every breath that we take.......... For over two hundred years, the Vampire master, Sebastian Belmont, has been an intimidating presence, striking fear into the hearts of all who dare cross him. With an insatiable thirst for danger and supernatural power, he rules his empire with an iron fist, leaving a trail of bitter ex-lovers in his wake. But now, his path is about to cross with a young girl named Anastasia Santi, who, despite her strong will, always finds herself in need of rescue. One fateful night, Sebastian takes things too far, setting himself on a new path towards a destiny that will lead him to confront all things that go bump in the night. But at the end of it all lies the ultimate sacrifice...He must give up his immortality... Will he be willing to give up the one thing he values the most to achieve his legacy?