Brazen

Just one week before my marking ceremony with Lucien, I discovered his heart already belonged to someone else. His secretary, Anika, walked out of his office with a smirk that was a little too knowing. Her blouse was askew, her usually neat hair a tangled mess, and only the faintest trace of her crimson lipstick remained. My heart seized in my chest, and my fingers went cold on the doorknob. Two years ago, she had been a timid girl fresh from the countryside. All that pretense of innocence had vanished, replaced by a brazen ambition written across her face. Her relentless eagerness around Lucien had always grated on my nerves, and I had asked him more than once. "Lucien, can't you replace her?" His smile would always fade. "Anika saved my life," he'd say. "I can't be so heartless." Now, that single triumphant smirk was all it took for me to understand. What others once envied in me had already been trampled beneath her heels. My phone vibrated. It was a new proposal from the event planner. [The marking ceremony plan is nearly perfect. Can we finalize it?] I refused to be consumed by sorrow. I wiped a tear from my cheek and made one last adjustment to the document.——Replaced the bride's name withAnika I didn't want a false love, or a fake Alpha Lucien. Let them have the marking ceremony. Let Anika stand at his side as his Luna, his chosen mate. In seven days, I would be gone with my pup.

"Why did you poison my drink?" Yelled a woman, her gaze glaring daggers at the man who stood with a brazen look as he placed both his hands in his pocket simply watching her. His steps echoed his movement as he entered the room, his presence filled the air. "Because you want to leave me" he said, his words angering the woman who reached out to strike him but stumbled in the process, her body swaying to the ground but right before she could fall, she was pulled into a firm sturdy chest. "I hate it when you run from me. I hate it when men linger around you. I hate it when they touch what's mine" he said stroking her head. "You lost the right to call me that Mr DONOVAN. I don't belong to you" With a smirk playing on his lips he said. "If I can't have you, then no one can" *** Never did Lilly realize her peaceful life could turn into her worst nightmare when she fell in love with her childhood crush. 15yrs ago she had brought him into her home. 15yrs later, he reigned down chaos, destroying her peaceful home. He blamed her for the death of his parents, treated her like a slave and left her for dead. But 5yrs later, she returned. She was no longer the weak being she once were. But all hell broke lose when after so long, she crossed paths with him. In her heart she despised him but in his heart, a sudden sense of obsession emerged. A dark desire to keep her with him. Will Lilly be able to forgive him? What happens when she harbours a great secret from him? "Mom, who is that man on the television?" "No one dear. He's your worst nightmare"

[Is it wrong to fall in love with someone who already belongs to another?] One day, a post I stumbled upon caught my eye. The most liked comment was a brazen boast from a self-proclaimed mistress: [Dating isn't marriage. If you can steal the heart of someone taken, you deserve to keep it. If they don't love their partner enough to stay loyal, their partner is the real outsider in the relationship.] [I took my husband from another woman. He was just a broke college student back then, but I knew who he really was. He's the only son of the country's wealthiest man!] [His ex only knew how to study and work. She had no idea how to keep a man. How unfortunate! I heard she never even got her diploma. Her life must be miserable now.] I stared at the comment for a long time because I recognized the woman who wrote it. Her name was Camila. She was talking about me. Miserable? I was now a famous attorney, renowned for never having lost a case, and I had also adopted a sweet daughter. My life was anything but 'miserable'. I blocked the author of the comment and assumed our paths would never cross again. However, fate had other ideas. While taking my daughter for her passport application, I ran into some people from my past in the most dramatic way possible. Camila used her position to make things difficult for me. My ex-boyfriend Alexander stood by her side and even threatened me, phone in hand. "Apologize to my wife, or I'll have my father hire that so-called 'Victory Queen'. We'll sue you until you lose everything!" I smiled and said, "Go ahead and call that lawyer." The next second, my phone rang.