Dog Scratching Until Bleeding

Dakota Stelter and I tumbled down that steep ravine together. I lay there bleeding and broken, only to watch my boyfriend scoop her into his arms and walk away without a backward glance. He left me. In that moment, in every way that mattered. While everyone fussed over Dakota's scratches, no one even checked if I was still breathing. When I was finally rescued and recovering at the hospital, my boyfriend didn't even visit. I was hurt. So I moved on. Piece by piece, I rebuilt myself without him. But then he became distraught. Suddenly, he was sobbing, telling me he had always loved me.

I'm playing hide-and-seek with my son when he locks me on the balcony. It's freezing outside, and my face turns blue from the cold. However, all he does is laugh at me while I call for help. He makes ugly faces at me through the glass. "You look like the stray dog downstairs, Mom! You're so ugly!" I die a frosty and terrible death. Before breathing my last breath, I see my son excitedly give my husband a video call. "Mom has frozen to death, Dad. Can you take Ms. Cole home to be my new mom now?" When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to the moment my son wants me to play hide-and-seek with him.

As I fought a stray dog for a loaf of moldy bread, distinguished guests arrived at the orphanage. They'd come to find the long-lost heir of a wealthy family. After confirming their choice, they donated $100 million to the orphanage and handed out chocolates to every child. My mouth watered as I reached for a box, but glowing messages flashed before my eyes. [Lawrence, show your locket! They're here to bring you home!] [Don't let that impostor steal your birthright. It's yours!] They revealed the truth: the elegant couple were my biological parents, and the poised girl beside them was my fiancée. Yet I clutched my chocolate and ran, aware of their true purpose: they'd come here just for the fake heir. Even if I revealed my locket, they'd not pay me any attention.

"They say the rich live beyond consequence. That no one bleeds behind a billion-dollar smile. They've clearly never met Rico Zane." Aria Lane didn't mean to sleep with a total stranger. Especially not the battered, bleeding man she pulled in off the sidewalk outside of an elite Manhattan nightclub. He had haunted eyes and a tempest brewing behind them. They had one night of weakness. One unforgettable mistake. And by morning, he'd vanished. Months later, she's now pregnant and swimming in secrets, Aria's life takes another sharp turn when stumbles into the father of her child again. This time, he's not bleeding in the shadows, he's standing in light and power. Rico Zane is not just anyone. He's the cold, brilliant CEO of Zane Industries. A billionaire who built a dynasty from the ruins of treachery and smashes anyone who gets in his path. And Aria? She's unfortunately the daughter of the one man who tried to ruin his family. To make matters more complicated, Rico's brother, who was presumed dead for years, returns to take the company and exact revenge on a past Aria is tied to by blood. While corporate wars rage and enemies loom in designer suits, Aria is swept up in a war of secrets, seduction, and strategy. She's both a pawn and a prize in a game of power where love is a liability… and trust a slow poison. Now forced into Rico's dangerous world for the sake of her unborn child, Aria must make a decision: does she stay with the man who sees her as both his weakness and his salvation? Or does she become the woman capable of rewriting her fate one secret at a time?

For another girl, Lex Hamilton—my fiancé of several years—dumped me in the middle of nowhere and left me to fend for myself. Three years later, he showed up with her to bring me back. "It's been three years," he said. "Even a dog would've learned its lesson by now. I did this for your own good. If you don't fix that attitude of yours, don't expect to ever become my wife." They thought I'd crumble. They thought I'd beg, cling to him, and unload all the pain and humiliation I'd carried for the past three years. Instead, I smiled. "Sorry, Mr. Hamilton. I'm already married."

Betrayed. Broken. Stripped of everything she once called hers. Elysia Sinclair thought she had already lost it all—until she lost the one thing that truly mattered. Her baby. Left bleeding and abandoned in a cold hospital room, she swore revenge. But what could a woman with nothing do against the man who destroyed her? Enter Adrian Blackwood. Ruthless, calculating, and as dangerous as they come. He doesn’t do charity. He doesn’t do kindness. But when he looks at Elysia, he sees something more—something raw, something familiar. "Sign these papers, leave him, and marry me," he says, his voice a dark promise. "I'll help you get your revenge." It’s a deal with the devil himself, but Elysia is too shattered to refuse. One signature, and she goes from the discarded ex-wife of a billionaire to the new bride of a man even more powerful. But Adrian didn’t just want a wife. He wanted her. And as he slides his ring onto her finger in front of the man who betrayed her, a shiver runs down her spine. Because in Adrian’s eyes, this isn’t just a contract—it’s possession. Now, tangled in his world of power plays and whispered threats, Elysia must ask herself— Is she using Adrian to destroy her past? Or is he using her to rewrite his own? One thing is certain: when you strike a deal with the devil, there’s no turning back.

On the day Fiona Starr and Mark Zimmer tied the knot, his childhood friend jumped off the Starr family's thirty-story apartment and was reduced to pieces. The wedding wasn't called off, but in the ensuing three years, Mark's poker face became even more creepy, even though he would do everything Fiona asked. Then, when Fiona was three months pregnant, she was told that her father had gone missing. But instead of taking her to file a police report, Mark took her up the peak of the mountain, where Fiona saw her father. His whole body was swollen and bleeding everywhere, and he was barely alive as he lay on the ground. There were puddles of his blood everywhere, after someone tied him to a car trunk and dragged him up along the mountain road. That was when Mark gave Fiona the same treatment, even though she was pregnant with his child. As his car dragged her up and down the mountain, her legs were reduced to bloody stumps, but she didn't die there. So she locked her up in a basement in the company of rats that nibbled and devoured her legs. She despaired, her mind breaking until she eventually stopped breathing too… But she opened her eyes again and found herself returning to the day before she married Mark, whom everyone called the Starr family's live-in son-in-law. Smiling through her tears, she told herself that she wouldn't choose him again in this life.

Tiarra Alcazar's mother works as a servant to the Villareal family, and it was that moment where Tiarra first encountered the young master Luxious, who immediately became obsessed with her for unknown reason. Tiarra accepts the obligation to stick at Luxious' side and obey its commands as a dog would for its owner due to Luxious' manipulation. As the days went by, they became more inseparable to the point where Luxious' affection for her also grew intenser. Unexpectedly, Luxious vanishes without saying anything, leaving Tiarra's heart shattered. To let go of her evolving affection for the young boy, Tiarra severed her ties with Luxious. If one of them keeps evading when they meet again, how can their relationship be fixed? Considering that the person he's chasing doesn't want to be chased, would the heart get weary of the never-ending chase?

The lab blew, and my girlfriend—Beatrice Whitmore—didn't even glance my way. She bolted straight for Joseph, wrapping herself around him. When the dust settled, she climbed into the ambulance with him. I was still on the ground, bleeding out, and she didn't spare me a look. Eighteen years raising him, and apparently, that was all the space her heart had left. My coworkers dragged me to the hospital. ICU, barely breathing. When I finally clawed my way out, throat raw, I called my advisor. "Prof. Beaumont, I'm in. I'll go. Even if it means disappearing for five years, I don't care." That was supposed to be my wedding month. Not anymore.

He inched closer to where I stood, his eyes ablaze with something entrancing. His breath warmed the edge of my ear as he growled possessively," You're mine, Maddy. Every limb of your body, every smile on your face, every bleeding scar in you; Mine," *** Hunter wanted nothing but to lay low, survive for another day and then take rides on his Harley every now and then. All it took was the wounded Luna of White Moon pack and before he knew it, he was running across the country, trying to save both their lives. But how far can you run when an Alpha as unforgiving as Rowan, is after you for allegedly stealing his mate who he rejected?