Crowd Pleaser

When Cole Harrington ran away from our wedding for the seventh time because of his childhood sweetheart, the Harrington family personally came to apologize. "We'll add another five kilos of gold to the bride price. Three buildings in the Southwest. And nine prime-location storefronts in the city center. Consider it the Harrington family's compensation." Before the words had fully settled, a careless laugh from Cole came through the phone. "Grandpa, do you really think she's worth that much? Believe it or not, I could pick up a random rock off the street and still coax her into being completely obedient. "Instead of wasting all those assets on her, why not give them to me so I can invest them in Liv's gallery?" Henry Harrington hurriedly hung up the phone, then looked at me with an awkward expression. Soft snickers rippled through the crowd. Everyone was waiting for me to swallow the humiliation in silence, just as I had before. But this time— I had already received this kind of "compensation" six times. The novelty had long since worn off. The same was true for Cole himself. After a moment of thought, I raised an eyebrow and glanced toward the crowd—at the illegitimate younger brother whom Cole had always despised the most. A smile slowly curved across my lips. "The man that I marry becomes the heir to the Harrington family. That was our deal, right?"

"MATE!!!" The voice exploded in Amber's head, and for a moment she froze in place. Finally, she had her mate, and she could finally take her mother out of this DAMN HELL! She had waited TOO LONG for this moment! "Go to him!" the voice continued to urge, the sweet smell of her mate washing over her, and she pushed through the crowd, ready to cling to him, to hold on to her brand new happiness. But what she didn't expect was that the very next second, her mate would be unceremoniously killed in front of her. The killer turned out to be her father! Her father turn into wolf claws, quickly grabbing her mate by the neck and lifting him up mercilessly. Pfft... In an instant, blood began to gush from his neck and even splashed onto Amber’s face. "No!!!" Not only did she fail to save her imprisoned mother from her demonic father, but she also caused her mate to lose his life... *** All because she was needed to replace her stepsister, who was to marry her father's enemy, so that she could endure all the tortures in her stepsister's place. It was all ridiculous in the extreme! But for her mother's sake, Amber has to accept whatever is arranged. This time she won't be a puppet to be manipulated! She will do whatever it takes to become stronger and take revenge. Luckily, the Moon Goddess seems to have favored her this time...

I set fire to my painting in front of the entire academy. Thunderous applause erupts from the crowd as everyone thinks it's some kind of performance art. Unlike them, Willow Laurent is distraught. She rushes up and grabs my hand, questioning in a shrill voice, "Cassidy Seymour, have you gone mad? This is your only chance to prove yourself!" I shake her hand off me coldly. My only chance? No… What she means is that it's her chance. In my past life, I created this masterpiece with all my heart and soul. But she stole it from me and submitted it as her entry first. Whether it was the composition, the colors, or even my original dot-stippling technique… She replicated every detail flawlessly. Then, she won the National Young Artists Gold Award, signed with a top gallery, and became a rising star. And what about me? I was condemned as a shameless plagiarist. Insults and curses gradually drowned me. "You shouldn't be an artist!" "Plagiarists are scum! They should just die!" Her fans stormed into my studio, smashed my art supplies, and broke my right hand. As I saw no end to the hell that I was living in, I jumped down from the top floor of my studio. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the very day she first accuses me of plagiarism.

It was the holiday season, so I took my foster daughter, Megan Delgado, to our mansion for a vacation. However, I found out that the property had been occupied by someone else. The woman who opened the door looked at us with an impatient expression. “What do you want? You’re interrupting my daughter’s birthday party. Are you asking for trouble?” For a moment, I thought I might have the wrong house. That was until I noticed the clothing and jewelry the woman was wearing. Every piece was an exact match with what I kept in my wardrobe here. The timing could not be more telling. Just a week ago, my husband, Richie Delgado, said he was planning a surprise for me and Megan. He asked for the spare key to the mansion. I glanced past her at the crowd of party guests in the living room. “So, you’re saying you’re the lady of the house?” She sized me up and noted my simple outfit. “Who else if not me? You? You’ve ruined my daughter’s party. You’d better beg for her forgiveness now!” she said in a condescending tone. When I did not move, she warned, “My husband will be home any minute now. Do you know who he is? He’s the CEO of Beran Corp! A nobody like you can’t afford to cross him!” They were using my mansion to throw a birthday party for his illegitimate daughter. It was quite the surprise indeed!

My boyfriend is trapped in the mountains, and I head there alone to search for him. However, I don't find him despite a night of searching. Instead, I end up falling off a cliff and passing out due to severe blood loss. When I open my eyes again, I hear laughter coming from outside my hospital ward. "Sonya's such a fool! She fell for it again!" "This is our 99th time tricking her, right?" "When you pretended to fall into the water, she jumped into an icy lake to save you in the middle of winter. When you pretended to be poisoned, she went to dig up the herbs that you'd need for the antidote… "This time, you pretended to be trapped in the mountains, and she ran there without a care for her life! She's truly head over heels for you!" I struggle to sit up. That's when I see my boyfriend, Austin Miller, standing at the ward's door. He stands out among the crowd and has a bright smile on his face. He doesn't look like he's lost his way at all. His friends continue talking. "It's her fault for abandoning Austin when he was down on his luck!" "She deserves to get played like this! When this is all over, we can throw the invitation to Austin and Dion's engagement party in her face!" It turns out Austin is already engaged. Yet, to this day, he has no idea why I broke up with him in the first place.

Lucas Fenrir was the son of the Alpha of the Silvertail Pack, born as the pack's greatest pride. When his Luna and first love, Nara Boris, chose to leave, he married me in a fit of rage—the most unremarkable Omega in the pack. Everyone said I was just a substitute for Nara. They were waiting to see me abandoned, to see me cry, and to see me beg on my knees. Nonetheless, I always smiled and calmly fulfilled Lucas' every demand. I helped him stabilize the pack's morale, stood up for him in public, and even defended him against the rumors that he had rekindled his past romance with Nara. Until one day, I saw him on the streets during the Moon Goddess Festival. He was holding Nara, kissing her deeply. Meanwhile, I simply turned my head away in silence from behind the crowd and pretended I saw nothing. A few months later, I was diagnosed with wolfsbane poisoning that had spread to my nervous system. My condition was beyond saving. I was admitted to the ICU of the pack's hospital, with only a few days left to live. Lucas came when he heard the news. His eyes were bloodshot as he roared and grabbed my dying body. "Why didn't you tell me? Why are you trying to die alone in secret?" I looked at his unhinged expression, my gaze as gentle as it had always been. There was even a faint mocking smile curling at my lips. "Lucas, I've never loved you. "The one I loved… was actually your twin brother—Derrick."

"Traitor! Slave forever!" Today is my 18th birthday, the day I've been looking forward to. But now, I am being beaten, judged, humiliated and vilified... All because my brother, Benjamin, had quietly eloped with the Alpha King's fiancée. I, on the other hand, was left here, a target of the crowd, bearing all the guilt for them... *** Fortunately, I was not killed by those people, and even Alpha King interrogated me personally. "Is that you?" A low, sexy voice came from above me. When I looked up, I saw a magnificent creature walking towards my direction with his head up high and his Phoenix eyes were coldly looking at me. "MATE!!!" There's no doubt about it. He's my mate! Is he here to save me?!! It has to be! I knew my mate would save me. Hearing my enthusiastic voice, he stared at me for a moment and then approached my cell. I could feel my heart pounding the moment he drew closer and walked inside of the cell until he was close enough to me. I trembled from eagerness when his hand reached out and touched my face. But to my surprise, I felt his hand wrapped tightly around my neck. “You are not.” He coldly remarked as the hand that wrapped around my neck tightened, making my face pale as I looked at him in disbelief. He doesn't want me, my mate wants to kill me!

If you and his first love were in a car accident at the same time, who would your husband save? When Hunter Ford lifted his first love into his arms and walked away, Stella Spencer felt her life slipping away. Along with her unborn child, her heart died in that moment too. It began as a transaction, a deal that finally allowed Stella to marry the man she loved. But in the eyes of the world, she was the villain who tore Hunter away from his first love. Stella believed time would change everything. She believed devotion could soften a man’s heart. That if she waited long enough, he would eventually turn around and see her. She was wrong. It was not until she buried the child she had carried for three months that she finally woke up. “Let’s get a divorce.” One signed agreement ended everything between them. Three months later, beneath the glittering lights of an elite gala, Stella stood on stage to accept an award. In the crowd, Hunter froze. After a brief pause, he smiled calmly and said to those around him, “Yes. That’s my wife.” “Your wife?” Stella smiled and pressed the divorce papers into his hand. “Sorry, Mr. Ford. I’m your ex-wife.” The man who had always been cold and composed finally lost control. His eyes reddened. His voice shook. “What do you mean by ex-wife? I never agreed to that.”

After the college entrance exam, the school's reigning beauty dragged me into a wager over our scores. "Only the girl with the higher marks is worthy of being Eric's girlfriend." Eric Lowell scoffed. "That's enough, Jocelyn. My relationships aren't yours to dictate." Then, in front of everyone, he confessed to me. I mistook it for the answer to a long-held crush. With the crowd egging us on, I flushed and said yes. That night, he took me back to his place. From then on, we hardly spent a night apart. Before application season, I went to his house, hoping we would apply to the same university. Instead, I overheard part of a phone call. "Jocelyn, everything's ready: the photos, the videos. Just like you asked." Jocelyn's laughter drifted through the receiver, light and pleased. "You must've gone to so much trouble~ Then let's wait until the school assembly the day after tomorrow and stream it to the whole school. I'm curious to see how Tessa plans on applying to those top-tier universities after that." "Eric," she added casually, "you're not having second thoughts, are you?" He hesitated, then answered, "Why would I? If anyone's at fault, it's her for not knowing her place. What right does she have to keep scoring higher than you?" I set the custom ring down, opened my email, and accepted the Oxford offer that had been waiting for me for a week.

Athena is blind, and adopted by a merciful Alpha who takes her in. But being blind didn't do justice to her as she faced hatred and torment from those around her, especially the Alpha's daughter, Lorrie. Out of spite, Lorrie sets Athena up at her engagement party to have her deflowered by her best friend who has eyes for Athena. Unfortunately, Athena is drugged but the person who lays with her isn't the best friend of Lorrie, but Lorrie's own boyfriend, Ragas. Hell breaks loose as Athena gets accused of seducing her boyfriend and is severely punished. Just when Athena feels like her time has expired, in the crowd, someone takes her hand and pulls her up. To her surprise, it was Alpha Jeremy, the man everyone fears, but the strange thing is, he turns out to be her mate. At that moment, Athena, just like any other person at that moment, feels like the goddess is finally coming to her rescue. After being taken by Jeremy from the hand of her abusers, Athena expected to live in a bed of roses, but that dream was prematurely cut short when she turned out pregnant for Ragas. She yet again faces cruel mistreatment and is banished by Jeremy. In anger, Athena vows to take revenge on all those who hurt her and, as the goddess will have it, she meets a third Alpha named Tristan who sympathizes with her. What's in store for Athena and this third Alpha? Will he be the one to truly liberate her, or will he be just like the others who'll only treat her like trash and abandon her again?