Crystal Shoes

There were rules to their marriage. Lily was given the life of luxury and everything she could possibly want to live while her husband held the power and control over her fairytale life. It was a game of beauty and dominance. Lily Blakely: I had no other option but to do the unthinkable. I sold my soul to a billionaire heir, rich and spoiled. My dignity held under the heels of his shiny leather shoes and my heart in his hand. And I had done it all to save my father's life. He didn't know that. For him, I was the gold digger of highest order, one he despised the most. And yes, I didn't expect him to fall in love with me ever. He swore that he wouldn't. Daniel Rutherford: She was as beautiful as cunning. The kind I hated the most. A young, independent girl who sold herself for a life of riches and standard. I wanted nothing more than to stay a thousand miles away from her. But I seemed to fail in doing so the moment she got close enough to touch. I wanted her to repel me, yet every time she was near me I got attracted to her in a way I dreaded. I wanted to push her away, but to my utter disdain I wanted to fuck her even more.

It is the third year of my marriage when the video of my bodyguard, Julian Sutherland, holding an umbrella over me in a downpour goes viral. Overnight, the internet becomes obsessed with the "Icy Protector and his Forbidden Heiress." Netizens are relentless; they dig through the archives until they unearth a ten-year-old clip. In the video, a girl was holding a pair of high-heeled shoes while sprinting through the Folander airport. My friend teased, "No way, Ms. Serina Brown. Are you really flying back home to confess to that poor man? What could you possibly see in him?" The camera shakes, capturing my youthful face. I was just a reckless 20-year-old. "I love Julian. I love everything about him." That night, after seeing the video, Julian loses his composure and bursts into my room. "I didn't know you loved me back then. I thought… I thought… God, it was never supposed to end like this." I pull my coat around me and stand rooted on the spot, remaining silent. Suddenly, a mocking laugh echoes from behind me. Someone places their hand firmly on my waist and says, "Are you trying to reminisce about your love with my wife right in front of me? Do I look dead to you?"

While her husband stayed in the hospital beside his mistress, Alessia was in his enemy’s bed—naked, breathless, and moaning his name. Alessia never planned to be the woman who used sex as revenge. But when fate shoved the truth in her face that the man she loved was sharing his heart and bed with someone else, she didn’t cry. Instead she made a plan. She walks into the office of his coldest rival, Miguel Smith, and make him an offer no man expects. “Sleep with me,” Miguel has a rule; no married women. Especially not the wife of the man he hates most. But the moment he sees Alessia, something shifts. She’s fire wrapped in ice, and one night isn’t nearly enough. Now he’s hooked—on her lips, on her body, on ruining her husband, and making her his. Again and again. And when her husband tries to crawl back into her life, Miguel makes one thing crystal clear: Alessia is his now… and he doesn’t share.

My husband's childhood friend says she wants her crystal beads to soak up some of the good luck in our home. Because of that, he scatters the beads on the floor, making me slip and miscarry. I'm in agony as I lie on the operating table. I call my husband incessantly, but all he does is block my number. I lie in the hospital ward after the operation. I see my husband's childhood friend's social media update—a photo of him worshipfully holding out a certificate while getting down on one knee. It's captioned, "He loves me so much! I said I'm interested in running a business and he actually set up a company for me!" On the day of the branch company's grand opening, my husband's childhood friend wears an expensive custom-made gown. Meanwhile, I wear her discarded goods. I'm barred from even entering the building. I suppress my bitterness and call my lawyer. "Are the divorce procedures done?"

The night before our wedding, Jason Scott receives the cancer diagnosis of my adopted younger sister, Helena Sanderson. His expression falters, and he says indignantly, "We'll cancel the wedding tomorrow, Victoria. Helena is very fragile now. I can't risk upsetting her at this point in time." I reply, "I don't agree with it! Why would my wedding upset her?" Jason doesn't show any displeasure after my rejection. He even thoughtfully prepares a glass of milk for me. … When I wake up the next morning, I realize the house that should be full of excitement is eerily quiet. Anxious, I dial Jason's number 99 times. He only picks up the call on my 100th try. "Where did my wedding dress and shoes go?" I ask. Jason falls silent for a moment. His tone is apologetic when he replies, "I'm sorry, Victoria. Helena wants to experience being a bride once. I can't let her leave with regrets. Please bear with this for now. I'll make it up to you once she passes away peacefully." As the line goes dead, I sit frozen on the bed, unable to recover for some time. … A month later, while Jason is on his honeymoon, I send the livestream of my wedding announcement with his rival, Frank Lawrent, directly onto his phone. Jason regrets it bitterly.

I had just won the Hawthorne Scientific Laureate on the international stage when my father called me back home. "Bring the betrothal gifts to the Hayes family. That childhood engagement should finally be fulfilled." Afraid of getting stuck in traffic, I took my modified motorcycle, carried the national heritage porcelain obtained through generations of the Keane family's military merits, and headed toward their house. Just as I arrived at the community gate, a Porsche suddenly cut across the lane, nearly knocking me over. A heavily made-up woman, Zoey Mercer, stepped out of the car, raised one sharp high heel, and kicked the top box off my motorcycle. "You rode this junk motorcycle yet dared block my way? If you dent my car, your whole family won't be able to afford the compensation!" My heart sank. I quickly opened the case, only to see the entire box of celadon porcelain shattered. "So you’re just some delivery guy. Think this pile of trash is worth even one of my shoes? "You even know whose neighborhood this is? It belongs to Kingshore's Hayes family! My best friend’s family developed this place! Believe it or not, I can have you thrown out right now!" Right then, my fiancee, Lauren Hayes, called me. "Where are you? My friend just messaged me saying there’s a delivery guy causing trouble at the entrance."

Jade Warring is a brilliant interior designer committed to her faith and craft. Her friend Blake Duffy, who works at the prestigious Black Corporation, boasts of her expertise to the company's CEO, Tristan Black, who quickly hires her to decorate his new home. Upon meeting Tristan, Jade is surprised as he's young, handsome, and charming. His mesmerizing crystal clear, teal-blue eyes were enough to sweep anyone off their feet. Then he asked, "Have we met before?" Those three words heightened her curiosity even more because she had seen Tristan once before, in a dream. Despite various unexplained women and their relationship hanging on by a thread, Jade agrees to marry him. Soon he reveals he is far from the ideal husband, man, or even human. Clinging to the hope that love will conquer all, Jade begins an emotional rollercoaster with Tristan. His fetishes and unfaithfulness ultimately wear on her heart and mind. She is far from crazy, but everyone has their limit, and amidst all the drama, chaos, and confusion she struggles to determine what's real or merely a dream.

I know that I don't have much time left after getting poisoned by wolfsbane. I don't want to have any regrets, so I travel to the Sacred Crystal Lake, a place I have always wanted to visit. I don't tell anyone that I plan to end my life there. I didn't expect to run into my ex-mate there. We haven't seen each other in ten years. He has become the Alpha that he has always wanted to be, and he's wearing a ring that has another she-wolf's name engraved on it. As for me, I've already thrown away our token of love and erased him from my heart. We're exchanging pleasantries when he suddenly asks, "Do you still hate me, Giselle?" I shake my head. My life is about to end, after all. I don't need to hold on to anything anymore. In the last moments of my life, I just want to see the sea of irises that the Moon Goddess has blessed.

"I never imagined that in my new environment, I would feel at ease, much less like I would fit in. Although I don't know where I'm going or how long I'll walk, I just want to live my life by reaching out to the people who matter. I've always thought the journey is long and exhausting, but as I wear these shoes, I feel strengthened "— Kiara Michaelson. "I've come to understand that, despite our best efforts, life often presents us with unexpected twists that we are forced to deal with. I had to accept and experience this twist because it was mine "— Ian Calloway ******** Meet Kiara Michaelson, a typical person who only wants to live peacefully and in the moment with the people she loves the most. But for some reason, she was trapped in a society where everything she did was watched, and everything she had ever worked so hard for could go in a matter of seconds. Ian Calloway is everyone's dream boyfriend and the nation's hero. Despite the advantages of his job, he longs for privacy and the ability to live quietly like everyone else, yet that goal in and of itself is unattainable. What happens when fate decides to play a tragic game with these two people after they encounter. Will they stand up for what they have each worked for and value, or will they give up? Join Kiara and Ian as they fight through life's ups and downs and discover what its true plan is for them.

Grace Summers had always been the ‘Mrs. Goody Two Shoes’ always doing what’s right or what’s expected of her by her family and high maintenance friends. She’s now 21 and had just graduated yet another special school her father had sent her to, she’s fed up with her ‘angel’ persona. She hops on a bus, rides to the furthest stop available and lands a job at the most popular place in the city of Bakersfield, California: Dale’s Ladies, a gentlemen's club, or at least that’s just the front it uses, people from all over come to use this club for their addictions or to take care of unfinished business. You can do anything in this club: murder, sex, drugs, you name it you can do it. With only one rule, you have to do it within the walls of the club. Jett Lynch is the oldest of the twins, his younger twin Dale Lynch, owns a club and helps bring in some heavy cash from the ladies he has, the drugs he sells and the gruesome murders that he’s allowed to happen and not say a word about to ANYONE. Jett is popular in a bad way with the media, and the police; he’s the head of the mafia in the city of Bakersfield. He does things to people the police won’t when it’s deserved. What happens when someone who wants to overthrow Jett, gets wind of his new prize? Will Grace be caught in the crossfire or will she be taking the heat of it?