Dabda Grief Stages

“You’re just like a sister to me.” Those were the actual words that broke the camel’s back. Not after what just happened. Not after the hot, breathless, soul-shaking night we spent tangled in each other’s arms. I knew from the beginning that Tristan Maverick was a line I shouldn’t cross. He wasn’t just anyone, he was my brother’s best friend. The man I spent years secretly wanting. But that night… we were broken. We had just buried our parents. And the grief was too heavy, too real.... so I begged him to touch me. To make me forget. To fill the silence that death left behind. And he did. He held me like I was something fragile. Kissed me like I was the only thing he needed to breathe. Then left me bleeding with six words that burned deeper than rejection ever could. So, I ran. Away from everything that cost me pain. Now, five years later, I’m back. Fresh from rejecting the mate who abused me. Still carrying the scars of a pup I never got to hold. And the man waiting for me at the airport isn’t my brother. It’s Tristan. And he's not the guy I left behind. He's a biker. An Alpha. And when he looked at me, I knew there was no where else to run to.

Delilah thought she married the perfect man. Charming. Respectable. Devoted. But then she discovered the man she trusted was a fraud — cheating behind her back, controlling her every move, and secretly stealing from the people who once believed in him. Her marriage wasn’t love. It was a trap. And when she lost the child she was carrying, alone, abandoned, and broken in a cold hospital bed, everything shattered. That’s when he returned. Thorne Weston. The estranged, adopted brother her husband never spoke of. The boy who once made her college life hell — cruel words, wicked smirks and relentless taunts. He's her tormentor. Her shadow. The one who looked at her like he wanted to ruin her… and maybe always did. He disappeared after graduation. Vanished. Forgotten. But now he’s back — colder, richer, and far more dangerous. And he’s watching her. And when she breaks down in the hospital, barely breathing through grief, he corners her in the shadows and makes her an offer that freezes her blood — and sets her body ablaze. “You want revenge? I want you. Be mine… and I’ll destroy him for you.” She should scream. She should hate him. But hate doesn’t explain the fire curling in her belly every time he whispers her name. Hate doesn’t make her knees tremble when he steps too close, smelling of smoke, leather, and sin. And hate isn’t what makes her crave the rough, twisted salvation only he can give. Because Thorne Weston is no longer a cruel boy with a chip on his shoulder. He’s a man forged in violence. Obsessed. Possessive. Unhinged. And he doesn’t just want her — he owns her. Body. Soul. And every shattered piece her husband left behind.

Blurb: Emily was the perfect daughter until the real one returned. She was Adopted by a billionaire family in the shadow of their grief, Emily spent her life chasing affection that was never truly hers. At twenty-one, her world crumbled when the biological daughter, long thought dead, resurfaced taking Emily’s place, her parents’ love, and even her fiancé. Betrayed, discarded, and publicly humiliated, Emily is left with nothing but the ashes of a life she was never meant to have… until a mysterious man pulls her from the wreckage with a proposition that could change everything. A fake marriage. A powerful ally. One rule: don’t fall in love. But as secrets unravel, loyalties shift, and long-buried lies come to light, Emily discovers that nothing about her past is what it seemed not even her identity. Now, with the truth in her hands and two powerful men vying for her heart, she must choose between revenge and redemption, heartbreak and true love. “The Reclaimed” is a story of survival, scandal, and the quiet strength of a woman who refuses to be forgotten.

Emily Hayes was the perfect wife—until she walked away from her marriage without warning, leaving only a contract in her place. Now, George is left with Luna Ward, a beautiful stranger hired to fill Emily’s role. She was meant to be temporary. Emotionless. A distraction from heartbreak. But Luna has secrets of her own. And as grief and guilt give way to unexpected connection, George must face an impossible question: Can he open his heart to the woman sent to replace the one he still loves? And when the truth behind Emily’s disappearance comes to light… will it destroy them both?

Suddenly, I was slammed against a cracked pillar. A strong arm pinned me by the throat, not enough to choke me, just enough to let me know I could be. And then I saw him. Amber eyes. Fierce. Burning. Too wild to be fully human. Too focused to be feral. Face contorted in boredom. The strange yet familiar man.. His body pressed against mine, tall, muscled, furious. I felt the tremble of his restraint as if the beast inside him was clawing to get out. “Smells like blood,” he growled, breath hot against my skin. “Yours?” I smiled despite myself, excitement seeping into my veins much to my annoyance. “Disappointed it’s not?” He didn’t blink. Just stared at me with that maddening, unreadable expression, as if I were a puzzle he already intended to break. I jerked my knee toward his groin, fast and vicious. But his reflexes were faster. He caught my leg. Held it midair, balancing me with one hand as if I weighed nothing. And for a heartbeat, we just… looked at each other. His eyes weren’t just amber. They were gold. Like molten metal cracked open under pressure. He was beautiful in that brutal, savage way, the kind of man carved from war and grief, not born. And I hated him for it.

They thought breaking her would be easy. But from the ashes of betrayal, she rose stronger than ever. Mary Martel was the perfect wife—obedient, loyal, invisible. Until her husband, Alfred Martel, discarded her like trash for his pregnant secretary, Selena. Broken and humiliated, Mary Martel vanished from the spotlight, presumed defeated. But behind the silence, she was rebuilding herself—sharpening her scars into weapons, her grief into armor. Now she’s back. Not as the meek wife they used to mock, but as a powerful, enigmatic woman with one purpose: To destroy the man who broke her, expose the woman who deceived her, and prove that a wife may bend—but never breaks. Love, vengeance, secrets, and twisted redemption collide in this fast-paced, emotional rollercoaster that will keep you breathless until the last page.

In the coastal quiet of Baler, a studio is born—not of architecture, but of intention.* Founded by Yam, a poet whose words cradle pain gently, and Franc, an artist who paints tenderness into walls, the studio becomes a refuge for those learning to stay—with grief, love, longing, and themselves. As visitors arrive, they leave behind more than footprints: a sigh recorded in bamboo, a poem tucked into the “Found Letters” shelf, a mural painted in crooked lines. Through zines, tea, silence, and sketchbooks, the studio teaches softness as revolution. Ren creates the *Window of Soft Returns*, an installation of anonymous voice recordings—each whisper forming a community of echoes. Drew builds the *Staircase With No Wrong Turns*, inviting people to walk through emotions without shame. Franc offers brushstrokes as brave work, and Yam curates writing circles that map healing in half sentences. Together, they host festivals that feel like hugs, and they begin traveling their archive, letting softness cross oceans. Even those who once left—like Miguel—return, discovering that some doors never truly close. Others, like Tala, capture the studio’s sound and turn it into a podcast of breath and becoming. Over seventy chapters, the studio transforms into something larger than itself: a mural of memory, a sanctuary for second chances, a place where return is sacred and voice is proof of survival. In the final bloom, the studio stands not as a monument—but as a reminder: > *“Staying isn’t easy. > But chosen together, > it becomes home.”*

Natalie Grimaldi has always been a fighter. Rebellious, sharp-tongued, and unwilling to break under pressure, she’s spent most of her life enduring the cruelty of her uncle, Gideon Grimaldi , a greedy man who raised her only to use her as a pawn. When Gideon announces that she’s to marry Viktor Roman, a Russian billionaire twice her age, in exchange for a debt settlement, Natalie is furious, broken and frustrated. On the day of the wedding something unexpected happens she is claimed in a contract marriage by California's most feared Italian Mafia family, LORENZO DE LUCA. She finds herself being sold twice!! Lorenzo doesn't know her name, doesn't care about her except his own gains(the real reason he bought her) but something in her fire, her refusal to bow, stirred something long buried in him. He buys her for something much more deeper —nothing more. But Natalie refuses to break. Even as he claims her body, her life, she hides her heart, planning escape, revenge, and freedom. But the longer she remains under Lorenzo's roof, the more she begins to see cracks in his stone facade: his silence, his shadows, his haunting grief and most of all HIS SECRET. The real reason he bought her. And against every wall she’s built, Natalie begins to feel the tug of something she vowed never to give him—sympathy. Maybe even more. As Natalie secretly builds her own power, forging connections and learning the dark truths behind Lorenzo's empire, she must face the hardest question of all: Can she destroy the man who bought her, if he’s the first one who ever saw her? Or will she fall for the devil who was never meant to love?

"He rejected me in front of the whole pack but the Moon Goddess paired me with a monster more powerful than them all." Lyra was just an omega, weak, unwanted, and laughed at by the same wolves who watched her boyfriend become the next Alpha. He promised her love and power but on her 18th birthday, she walked in on him with the pack’s top bully. That same night, the Moon Goddess paired them but he rejected her publicly. Humiliated, heartbroken, and alone, Lyra runs and bumps right into Alpha Kade. The ruthless, feared, and gruesome man that everyone in her pack warned her about. The bond snaps between them, but Lyra flees before he can claim her. Locked in grief and confusion, she soon uncovers some truth: Her mother didn’t die, she was murdered but by who? Her father is alive. But he is a vampire king who wants her to take his throne. Her blood is not ordinary. She is half wolf, half vampire. As her powers awaken, she begins to fall for Alpha Kade but the past they say, never stays buried. Because the Alpha she loves was the one who killed her mother.

Zara Adigun never believed in fairy tales especially not the kind that involved arrogant billionaires and cold, calculated marriages. But when her father fell ill and her family is drowning in debt, she agrees to a one-year marriage contract with the most powerful and emotionally detached bachelor in Lagos (Dami Adeyemi). The deal is to pretend to be the perfect couple in public, live together under strict conditions that she must comply with, and leave when the contract ends with no strings and no emotions attached. But Dami’s icy rules begin to melt as Zara’s fire draws out the man he’s buried deep beneath his grief and guilt. The closer they get, the harder it becomes to stick to the rules, until secrets from the past threaten to destroy everything they were nurturing. Jide Adeyemi—Dami’s estranged brother and Zara’s first love came into the picture to reignite old flames and dark family secrets, Zara finds herself caught in a dangerous love triangle where trust is fragile, and the truth is a weapon. Now, she must decide: 1. To follow the terms of the contract. 2. Run back to the man who once broke her heart, or 3. Fight for a love that was never meant to happen. When hearts are bound by fate, will love survive the truth?