Blaming Myself

“Kneel, Little thing,” he orders, his breath running down my neck. I find myself kneeling. It’s not like I have a choice. He’s going to hurt me if I don’t. And I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’ll enjoy every bit of it. My core throbs, and my mouth water hungrily as he frees his cock from his briefs. “You want it, don’t you?” He fists himself and my eyes follow the movement. I can feel the wetness dripping down my legs despite my position. The room is dark, and there’s no means of escape for me. Not that I want to. “Yes,” I whisper, my face coloring in shame. “Louder, Little thing. Don’t you hate me? Don’t you want to kill me—the man who killed your only brother?” He taunts. I don’t reply. The next moment, he grips my hair hard, and I gasp. “I want to.” I force myself to say. His face lifts up in a mocking smirk. “Good girl. Now, suck my cock like my pretty little toy.” He demands, slamming himself into my mouth and stealing my breath with one hard thrust. * Her life faces a brutal turn when a cruel Mafia Don breaks into her home, demanding the stash of diamonds that her brother supposedly stole. She tries to pick herself up and avenge her brother’s death, but falls instead into the trap Don Luca set for her. What is meant to be vengeance changes into something irresistible. Something dangerous. Something that might kill her if she gives in…

Three years ago, on the day I married Luca Moretti, he personally handed me a marriage contract with a fixed term of three years. His tone was casual, indifferent, as if he were discussing an ordinary business deal. "This marriage exists solely to serve the alliance of interests between the Morettis and the Vitales. Sign this agreement. After three years, the marriage will automatically dissolve. When that time comes, you can go and pursue your true love." I barely hesitated before signing. Ten years earlier, at an inter-family business gala, when I was ten and Luca was sixteen, I had already fallen hopelessly in love with him. What looked like a strategic alliance was, in truth, the outcome of my decade-long unrequited love. During the three years of our marriage, Luca was attentive and gentle toward me. Over time, I began to believe I was loved. I sank into that illusion, unable to pull myself out, forgetting entirely about the agreement. That illusion was shattered completely on the night of our third wedding anniversary. That evening, Luca arrived with Elena, who had just returned to New York, and attended what was supposed to be our third anniversary celebration together. She stood beside him with ease and composure, smoothly engaging with business partners. People praised her, saying she looked more like the Donna of the Moretti family. In that moment, even though Luca never mentioned the agreement again, I understood clearly that it was time for me to step aside. After breaking free from his control, crossing an ocean to rebuild myself, and becoming a brilliant leader in my industry, I would no longer wait for his love.

As the full moon hangs above the masquerade, Apollo Cadwell shows up with Bella Lohart. One is my Beta mate, the other his childhood sweetheart. Since she doesn't have a gown for the ball, he gives her my dress instead. It's a one-of-a-kind piece I've handmade myself—priceless, even—that I'm supposed to wear for our mating ceremony. "Bella has never been to a masquerade before," he says. "A beautiful dress will help her feel more confident." I calmly hand the dress over and watch Bella slip into the gown I've designed stitch by stitch. She clings to Apollo's arm, acting sweet. "You're the best, Apollo. Can I borrow the ring on your hand as well? That moonstone is too dazzling to miss." One of our friends can no longer stand it and speaks up. "Nora spent an entire month making that ring by hand. Are you just going to give it away like that? Have you even considered Nora's feelings?" He patiently slides the ring onto Bella's finger, then replies casually, "I'm just letting her wear it for a night. Nora won't mind. I'll just soothe her afterward, and she'll be fine." He's right about one thing. I will be fine. Slowly, I began erasing myself from his world. Before leaving, I keep my promise to the Elder that I'll personally travel to The Spine of the World on the Faron Continent to continue my research on the Moonshadow Herb Alchemy Research. From that night on, Apollo and I might never cross paths again.

"A week ago, if you had told me that the world as I knew it was all a lie, that all of the fairy tales that my father used to tell me at bed time were actually not fairy tales and that all these supernatural beings, such as vampires, shapeshifters, fairies and dragons, were actually real, I would have laughed at you until I had peed myself and then called the men in white coats to come and get you. Now, a week later, as I am in the middle of a forest standing by the most beautiful lake I have ever seen, surrounded by wolves in various sizes and colours, and a number of very large, very muscular and very, very naked men, I am starting to think that maybe it is I, who is in need of the straight jacket and padded room and a hell of a lot of medication and sedatives as i am pretty certain i have completely lost the use of all my faculties and you are soon going to find me sat in a corner, rocking back and forth and talking to myself as none of this is making any sense to my primitive brain." Kari Has grown up alone, Her father disappeared when she was 5 and her mother killed herself when she was 8. After a string of Foster homes, she finds her self working as a Research Scientist where her boss and Best Friend sends her to Norway to work for The Nordic Research Corporation. When she gets there she finds that she is in for a shock. Not only does she find out she does have a family, but everything she ever knew is going to change. Her life becomes more complicated than she could ever have thought it would.

The first thing I do after being reborn is secretly keeping six stunning male models behind my wealthy husband’s back. I seduce them and sleep with them for 999 days to get myself pregnant. I do all this because in my past life, my husband found out that he had asthenozoospermia and married me because I am known for being fertile. He wants to carry on the family line so that he will have a successor to inherit the family fortune. I try everything I can to get pregnant, but nothing works. Conversely, my infertile best friend gives birth to twins and triplets within two years after marrying a 70-year-old man. When my wealthy husband hears that my best friend is blessed with children, he is immediately captivated. They get together behind my back and even arrange for someone to run me over with a car when I find out the truth. After my death, I discover that my best friend has bound herself to the child switch system. Any child I am impregnated with is transferred into her womb. My best friend's infertility is transferred to me in return. When I open my eyes again, I find myself back on the day when my husband married me and brought me home. I smile happily when I think about all the things that took place in my past life. My best friend wants lots of children, doesn't she? If so, I will make her experience the joy of having 18 babies in one pregnancy!

I pushed the crown meant for the future Luna Queen to the center of the table. Right in front of my dad, Leroy Graham, I carved another name onto the cap of the crown. [Delia Graham.] My dad froze. He couldn't believe I would willingly give up the chance to become Luna Queen. Seeing the delight on his face, I smiled. In my past life, my engagement was the biggest joke in the entire northern territory's werewolf kingdom. I was rebellious, stubborn, and never relented to anyone. I loved short skirts, strong liquor, running under the moonlight, and coming back covered in dirt. If it weren't for the century-old mating rule, no one would have believed I was fit to stand beside Alpha King Lucian Kramer. For him, and for the Luna Queen's crown, I changed my ways. I put away my tight dresses, I gave away my wine collection, and I memorized royal etiquette. I learned to speak slowly at banquets, to lower my head in prayer in the Moon Goddess Shrine, and to train myself into a proper shewolf. In my past life, I tortured myself until I lost everything that made me shine. I died a little more every time I lowered my head. Now, when I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment my dad pushed the crown toward me. This time, I didn't want the crown. I didn't want Lucian, and I didn't want anyone telling me how a white werewolf should live. As for Alpha King Lucian, that arrogant and stubborn man? Whoever wanted him could have him!

I'm Caleb Jennings. When I announce my early retirement, everyone in the city cheers. Only Nathan Sloan, my junior from the police academy, who claims to be able to see things from the criminal's perspective, panics at the news. During the party organized in his honor, he openly states his intention to find me. "I owe my success to the guidance Caleb Jennings has provided me all along. I hope everyone can help me find him and bring him back into the police force." Scoffing, I choose to ignore that. … In my previous life, I was the celebrated captain of a criminal investigation team. Yet, whenever I uncovered a clue, Nathan, a rookie in the city police department, would announce it first, beating me to it. After multiple incidents like this, everyone started saying that I was past my prime. To prove myself, I worked myself to the bone for three months before finally locating the hideout of a human trafficking ring. However, when I arrived on the scene with my team, Nathan had already swept through the place. He was launched into stardom, becoming the rising star detective that everyone adored. As for me, the public mercilessly tore me apart, labeling me as incompetent and shaming me. Due to the pressure from work and the negative public opinion directed at me, my mind was distracted. I ended up getting killed while hunting down the remnants of the trafficking ring. When I open my eyes again, I find that I'd gone back in time—to the day we launch a raid on the human traffickers' hideout.

The hospital's latest intern, Lindsey Clark, is very pretty, but she's a total idiot as well. When my mom came to the hospital for a prescription, she swapped the vitamin C for potassium supplements, which were known to be very poisonous if misused. Mom, who was fresh out of surgery, suffered from heavy bleeding right after taking the medication. She died on the same night. Before I could hold Lindsey responsible for Mom's death, the latter quickly piped up with teary eyes, "I'm so sorry, Dr. Monroe! I just thought that potassium supplements can help your mother heal faster…" Even Michael Jones, my husband, who was the hospital director, took her side. "Your mom only had her idiocy to blame! She died because she took the wrong medication! How dare you drag Lindsey into this!" I was so furious that my cardiac arrest was triggered on the spot. Soon, I was sent into the operating room. Lindsey said she wanted to redeem herself by taking on the post as Michael's assistant in the surgery. But her hands kept trembling even when she tried to thread the suture needle. In the end, she took off her mask and picked up the suture with her teeth. Just like that, she used her saliva to wet the suture end. One day later, I died in the ICU due to a case of severe infection. When my spirit was about to fade away, I heard Lindsey crying sadly. "If it wasn't for my idiocy, Dr. Monroe wouldn't have died!" Michael just patted her dotingly on the head in return. "Having medical risks in a surgical operation is completely normal. You're still young, so stop blaming yourself already." Mom and I were cremated instantly, seeing as Michael intended to cover up our deaths. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day Lindsey has just gotten recruited by the hospital.

After my sister's death, I signed a five-year contract marriage with her mafia husband, Horton Falcone. I became the stepmother to my five-year-old nephew, Luca. On my birthday, I wore my late sister's diamond cross necklace, not realizing what it was. At the family dinner, Luca walked up to me with a glass of red wine and threw the wine in my face. The red wine dripped down my cheeks, its sharp scent stinging my eyes and staining my white dress. He tilted his head back to look up at me, his eyes as cold and cruel as his father's. "Don't think you can replace my mom just because you married into the Falcone family," he said with a malicious grin. "You're the reason she's dead." "I wish you were the one who died. Then I could smash your gravestone instead of celebrating this stupid birthday." "I swear, when I grow up, the first thing I'll do is dump you in the Hudson River myself!" The memory stung as sharply as the wine, and all I could taste was despair. I stared at the child I had spent five years raising as my own, a sharp pain pulsing in my chest. I had thought I could devote myself to the Falcone family, that I could win him over with my love. But now, I was just so tired of it all. It was a family with no love, a child who saw me as his mortal enemy. I stopped deluding myself. It was time to let go. But after I left, that arrogant father and son came crawling back to me like whipped dogs, begging for my forgiveness.

I signed the divorce papers on a Tuesday. No tears. No phone calls. No begging. I just picked up the pen, signed my name, and let Dominic Hartley go. For four years, I tried to be everything a good wife should be. I put my career on hold. I pushed my dreams aside. I made myself smaller so he could feel bigger. And somehow, it still wasn’t enough. He looked through me like I wasn’t really there. I loved him quietly while he built his empire, not realizing he was slowly tearing mine down. When he filed for divorce, I think he expected me to fall apart. I didn’t. I started over. A new apartment. A new job. A version of myself I hadn’t seen in a long time… maybe ever. And for the first time in years, I felt like me again. While he stayed in his perfect penthouse, surrounded by everything money could buy but nothing that actually felt real, I was finally learning how to be happy. That’s when he noticed me. Of course. Too late. Now Dominic Hartley, the man who never had to chase anything, is chasing me. Calling. Showing up. Saying all the things I used to beg to hear. But I’m not that woman anymore. And I’ve learned something the hard way… love isn’t enough to go back to something that broke you. He wants another chance. I just don’t know if he’s really changed… or if I’m the one thing he can’t get back.