Cross Bracing Table Legs

When Scarlett's fiancé betrayed her in the ultimate way - marrying her best friend - her world shattered. Fuelled by a burning need for vengeance, she rises to the top, becoming the richest woman in her country. But at what cost? Her relentless pursuit of revenge led to a devastating tragedy: the loss of her own daughter. Now, consumed by grief and regret, Scarlett must confront the ruins of her life. Will she find a way to make amends, or will her thirst for revenge destroy what's left of her shattered world? Can she uncover the truth behind her daughter's fate, or will the darkness of her past forever haunt her?

On the day our son, Lucas Smith, turned one month old, my husband, Xavier Smith, learned that his precious childhood sweetheart, Wendy Xander, had been kidnapped. The kidnappers made an outrageous demand. They wanted him to personally cut off our son’s legs. He acted indifferent, as if it didn’t matter. But behind my back, he drugged my drink with a heavy dose of sleeping pills. Dazed and barely able to stay awake, I forced myself toward the nursery. That was when I overheard his conversation with his bodyguard. “Mr. Smith, there’s a good chance Miss Xander staged this whole kidnapping. Are you really going to do this? What if something happens to Lucas?” “It’s just a kid. If he dies, he dies. “Even if this is all fake, I won’t take a single risk when it comes to Wendy.” My hands trembled as I gripped the doorframe. So this was what I meant to him. Eight years together. His own flesh and blood. And none of it mattered more than Wendy.

Amanda Lucifer is the archmage of Time Cross Academy - the best school for all kinds of species. She oversees the best kind of education for her students who are future heirs to their clans or countries as the principal but more importantly, Amanda has a job to keep the population growing. The grand archmage of Time Cross Academy supports love in all forms and mating season is the best season to catch romance in action. Every year, clans and countries will send their sons and daughters to Time Cross Academy with their children's application form as well as an identification certificate that includes their second gender traits. This year is no different and the archmage looks forward to greeting her new students and tying a few red threads. Hormones will fly, clans will get allied, mates will be bonded. Everything that happens at Time Cross Academy happens for a reason and nobody shall question the archmage. Let the mating season begin! Note: As this is an anthology Collection, the focus will be around the ABO theme more than the actual couple. There will be many couple pairings so feel free to skip what you don't like and put in the comments what kind of pairings you would like to see. No females in the school seeing as the setting is purely BL. Also, no entry to those below 18, there will be adult scenes. Drama seekers, toxic bitches and overly-sensitive folks who cannot chillax not welcomed. Author also has indemnity to typo, grammar mistakes and English bugs throughout the story as no proofreaders are offered. You have been warned. Proceed with caution and enjoy. *** Cover Art by Krustallos. Support me and my works one: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/destinyaitsuji Join and stalk me on: Discord: https://discord.gg/UrtDMXn

On the day I attend the centennial celebration of my alma mater, I encounter my first love, Victor Whitmore. After he delivers a speech as an alumni representative, he publicly presents me with a diamond ring. "Back then, you said you wanted to use your 'Wild Roses' design to make me a wedding ring. Now it's my turn to propose. Claire Webb, will you marry me?" The auditorium erupts in excitement. Everyone waits for me to nod tearfully in agreement. After all, I once pursued Victor with such passion that it shocked the entire school. However, everyone has forgotten something. Back then, I was accused of plagiarizing Emma Palmer's work for my graduation project. Victor knew the truth, yet he slandered me as the plagiarizer. At the press conference, as the brand representative, he announced that they would cease collaboration with me and called for me to be blacklisted across the industry. On the very day my reputation was ruined, I moved abroad. Now that I'm back, his close friend keeps advising me. "He's been waiting for you all these years. Even though you embarrassed him back then, you're still the one in his heart. "He even made a scene at the principal's office just to get your graduation certificate. Claire, he truly loves you."

On the night before I'm set to officially marry Shawn Ford, he keeps losing to his godsister, Tiffany Lynch, at the poker table on purpose. "We're just playing for fun. Aren't we a family? Everyone here knows that Tiffany and I are as thick as thieves since young." Tiffany plays with a poker card absent-mindedly. "Surely you don't mind, right? Shawn told me that if I were to win this round, he'd give me the funds meant to renovate your marital home so that I can buy myself some bags." The other players begin to cheer on Tiffany at that moment. "Hell yeah! Tiffany is really lucky when it comes to poker! Joanna, there's no use saving that meager salary of yours. Why don't you just bet everything on the table to spice things up?" I don't bother speaking afterward. All I do is pull out a chair and sit across from Shawn. Then, I dig out a property deed from my bag. "You wanted to spice things up, right? I just bought this property at full price. Do you have the guts to put everything you have on the stake?"

“I love it when you touch me,” Callie's soft voice sent a wave of electrifying bolts down my spine. “Just the way I love to ruin your delicate pussy.” I retorted, flashing her a sinister grin and she bit her lower lip, spreading her cunt wide enough for me to eat her whole. She's Jake's daughter. My best friend's daughter. ~~~ Callie Monroe has strived to be the perfect daughter to her parents. However, when she finds her boyfriend screwing her bully in the restroom, she decides to be reckless for the first time. She storms into a bar. Finding her dad's boyfriend at the same bar, she confidently walked toward him and asked him to take her to his home. Dante Cross is the man of every woman's dreams. He has built an empire for himself, but he's quite unlucky with love. A night of passion with his best friend's daughter becomes something more. What happens when Callie falls deeply in love with her dad's best friend?

Although I was the second child in the family, my mother loved me the most. When Dad bought my sister a new dress, she stayed up late knitting a sweater for me. When Grandma took my younger brother out for burgers, she baked me a homemade sponge cake. Until the New Year’s Eve dinner. Dad placed the big chicken drumstick onto my sister’s plate. Grandma immediately stuffed the other one into my brother’s. My mother hurriedly picked the chicken wing from her plate and placed it onto mine, smiling as she said, “I saved this especially for you.” The relatives laughed and teased, “Your family really has a clear division of love. Everyone spoils a different child. What a loving family.” The next second, I suddenly flipped the table. Under everyone’s stunned gaze, I grabbed that chicken wing and shoved it straight into my mother’s mouth.

The supplementary card I've issued for my grandmother shows that an eight-thousand-dollar purchase has taken place in another city. But the transaction records show that the money is used on hymenoplasty. I'm shell-shocked, to say the least. Grandma is 84 years old this year. She's been bedridden and paralyzed for years. Why would she even get hymenoplasty done on her, to begin with? But when my investigation leads me to a plastic surgery hospital, I find out that my wife, Stella Watson, is actually the lead doctor of said clinic. So, I call her to demand answers from her. However, Stella refuses to answer my questions properly. "Don't worry, honey. Something's most likely wrong with the system. Betsy is already this old—why would she have her hymen repaired?" That's just a bullshit answer coming from her. She seriously thinks I'm gullible enough to believe her. I merely huff coldly in return before calling my dad, who works in the Department of Commerce. "Dad, Stella is most likely cheating on me. I want her plastic surgery hospital as compensation for my impending divorce!"

The moment I was born, I took her life. They called me a murderer. Marcus used to burn me with cigarette butts, and Dad would say it was my fate. “You’re a curse. If you had any conscience, you’d have gone to join Mom a long time ago to repay what you owe.” When Marcus was diagnosed with kidney failure, that same cold, distant father knelt in front of me. “Please… save him…” I put my hand on Dad’s shoulder. “Dad, I’ll do the surgery. But can you promise me one thing?” Dad performed the surgery himself. It was a success. He saved the son he loved most and took the life of the daughter he hated. But after I died, Dad turned himself in to the police, and Marcus lost his mind.

Summary: When The Tables Turn Amelia Hart has always believed she knew who she was — grounded, careful, loved. She's been with Colton for years, a relationship that started young and bloomed into the kind of comfort most people envy. But comfort can be deceiving. When Amelia leaves high school behind and follows her friends to a campus college in town, everything familiar starts to shift — especially when it comes to Micah Rivera. Micah was always part of the group, quiet but magnetic in a way that drew people without trying. He'd admired Amelia from afar, since she first stepped foot at Northridge high — harmlessly, quietly, always just on the edge of being noticed. But the harmlessness fades when his attention begins to linger too long, his compliments too pointed, his gaze too knowing. And then one day, he stops. The sudden absence sends Amelia spiraling, confused if the attention Micah ever gave her was real or was it an illusion in Amelia's head. "When The Tables Turn" is a psychological slow-burn romance that unravels the dangers of desire, the hunger for attention, and the haunting truth of what happens when being seen becomes an addiction. Following