Dollar Store Fidgets

On the day we receive our bonus, one of the staff members of the finance department gives me 500 dollars worth of vouchers for the fast food restaurant downstairs. He tells me that my wife, Jillian Dunn, who is also the company's president, specifically ordered him to do so. In utter disbelief, I seek out Jillian and question her. "Didn't we agree that whoever secures the project will get a 50,000-dollar bonus? Stop messing around! I still need to pay for Freya's cochlear implant!" "I'm not messing around with you," Jillian answers seriously. "These vouchers can last you for a whole month. I wouldn't even give them to you if you were anyone else. "Money is tight right now at the company. Besides, Freya has been deaf for more than a decade now. She can survive being deaf for another decade." The next day, Jillian gives one of the interns a sports car that's worth 50,000 dollars. I look at the photo she uploads of her and the intern grinning widely as they sit in the car and give it a like. Jillian must assume that everything is proceeding smoothly since she has signed the contract. However, she misses the additional condition that's printed on the last page of the contract. I dial her rival's number, asking, "Ms. Swan, are you interested in Project Charlie?"

I was from a rich family. But after I finally returned home, my parents made me sleep in the store room and eat leftover food. Yet, they still felt like they had wronged their foster daughter. When the government introduced the Children’s Fairness System, my parents immediately bound the entire family to it. My father breathed a sigh of relief and said, “With this perfectly fair system in place, Annie won’t be treated unfairly anymore.” My mother gently held my hand and said in an unyielding tone. “Ever since you came back, you’ve taken everything that was meant for Annie. This is unfair to her.” My elder brother never showed a hint of kindness toward me either. “I only acknowledge Annie as my sister. You’ve gotten way more than you deserved already, so don’t push your luck,” he said. I looked down at the cheap clothes I had worn for five years. Then, I glanced at Annie’s lavish bedroom and countless luxury items. I found it all utterly ridiculous. However, when the system took effect, they all ended up breaking down.

For years, Venus has loved Alpha Bronze of the SilverFang pack, the boy who promised her that no matter what fate had in store, she would be his Luna. But on Venus’s twentieth birthday, everything falls apart when Bronze’s fated mate appears. Mallory, a royal wolf with undeniable power and status. Despite Bronze’s vow to reject his destined mate, Venus’s world shatters when Bronze publicly names Mallory as his Luna. Heartbroken and humiliated, Venus cuts the bond between them and throws herself into the annual training camp, determined to rebuild her life. But fate isn’t done with her yet. When the cold and ruthless Alpha King Rowan, Bronze’s uncle, arrives at the camp, Venus feels an irresistible pull toward him. Rowan, known for his icy demeanour and ruthlessness, is startled by the fiery young wolf who stirs something dangerous within him. When they discover they are fated mates, Venus is torn between the fear of another crushing rejection and the hope of finding true love. Can Venus melt the heart of the fearsome Alpha King? Or will Rowan’s dark past and his cold nature push her away forever?

"You asked me to save you!" "Because only you could." "Then why do you want to kill me?" "Because I need your blood to replenish." He said firmly. Mariah started dreaming about a strange man on her sixteenth birthday. For over a century, this very man kept appearing in her dream and when she was a hundred and seventeen years old, he finally told her where to find him. Filled with curiosity about this not so stranger, she went with her brother to find him but who would have prepared her for what was in store for her when she eventually found him? Not only did he almost kill her brother, he was hell bent on killing her too. King Alaric had been buried alive for over ten thousand years and he had spent the years hovering in people's dreams to find the one that can save him. When he eventually did, he was shocked that she was none other than his mate. However, knowing who his enemies were, he can't afford to dwell in romance and so wants nothing more than to kill her and use her blood to energize himself.

For a decade, my world had been measured in laundry cycles, grocery lists, and the ever-growing pile of dishes in the sink. I was elbow-deep in soapy water, scrubbing the remnants of another family meal, when it happened. A sudden, silent cascade of text flickered at the edge of my vision, like subtitles for a movie only I could see: [Gosh, the heroine is so tragic. Her husband's entire family has been feeding on her luck like parasites!] [Her husband stole her graduate school admission and her career!] [The in-laws are literally siphoning her health away. No wonder she's always sick.] [And the sister-in-law took her "romance" stat! No wonder her love life is a desert.] [Heads up! Her husband's about to give her another "gift." Let's see how much more he takes from her this time.] My hands, clutching a greasy plate, froze. Right on cue, my husband, Tristan, sauntered into the kitchen. A smug, self-satisfied smile was plastered on his face as he took my wet hand. He slid a flimsy, garishly colored plastic bracelet onto my wrist. "Look what I got for you, sweetheart," he announced, his voice dripping with pride. "I made a special trip after work. Found it at the dollar store. It's romantic and economical, just like you always say you want. You love it, don't you?"

In New York’s Upper East Side, there were two heirs. One was a speed-obsessed daredevil dominating the racetracks, the other was a brilliant actuary who controlled the flow of capital. Born into powerful families and polar opposites in temperament, yet they grew up side by side as each other’s only best friend. They had fought over girls and bickered endlessly over racing bets. However, at fifteen, there was one thing they did in perfect unison. They each put on the same roughly carved bronze badge. They were trinkets Mia had idly made during a craft class, marked only by a faint “M” scratched on the back. Back then, Mia was seated in the last row of the classroom. Her background was a complete mystery to everyone. Yet they wore that badge for ten whole years. Whether standing on the F1 podium or locking in billion-dollar trades at the exchange, the cheap little badge on their chests never changed. Until Ella showed up. She was the cherished daughter of a rising conglomerate family. She hand-stitched two gold-thread fabric patches and gifted them to them. The patches looked so ordinary they looked like the kind of trinket you would find three for a dollar at a flea market. And yet, they both replaced their bronze badges with her plain patches. Mia did not say anything. She simply folded away an old newspaper clipping with a photo of the three of them smiling together. That night, she called her father in Sicily. Her voice was emotionless. “Papa, I accept the marriage arrangement.”

I'm the top salesperson at a tutoring center. Payday comes, and my commission is 50 cents. I'm so furious that I march straight to my boss to demand answers, but his secretary, Sasha Watson, steps in front of me. She digs through her pocket, pulls out 50 cents, and flicks it straight at my face in front of everyone. "Here's your 50 cents!" My ears ring. Heat crawls up my neck and into my skull. "Ms. Watson, this has to be a mistake. I closed 1.5 million dollars on my own last month. My team pulls in over three million dollars. My commission should be at least 200 grand." Sasha rolls her eyes. She reaches into her wallet, pulls out a dollar bill, and slaps it against my cheek. "Stop barking! Fine, I'll throw you a dollar. Keep the change!" I'm about to lose it. "My mom is still waiting on that 200 grand for her surgery. Without it, she could die." The coworkers around us start whispering. "50 cents? For the top salesperson? That's insane!" "Lower your voice. She's the boss's niece! What she says goes. Unless you want to get fired, pretend you didn't hear anything." I turn away, pull out my phone, and dial our biggest competitor. "I'm in. Five million dollars a year."

“A desperate woman. A trapped billionaire. A crime empire that will kill to keep them silent. When Mia agrees to become a surrogate, she doesn’t realize she’s walking into a cage built by people who destroy anyone who tries to escape. But Damien Cross has his own agenda, and saving her might cost him everything.” To save her brother’s life Mia, a debt-ridden nursing student agrees to a five million dollar surrogacy contract for a powerful, emotionally unavailable and nonchalant billionaire together with his supposedly infertile wife. When Mia discovers she's carrying twins instead of one baby, the doctor tells her everything she needs to know and also about the DNA that actually created the babies. This was never a normal surrogacy. She found out that Victoria isn't infertile at all, she realizes she's walked into something far more dangerous than a simple contract. In a world where she’s beginning to have feelings for the billionaire, Mia must navigate a deadly game she didn't know she was playing. The stakes? Her life, her brother's future, the twins she's growing to love, and a chance at something she never expected: a real family with a man who she shouldn’t want. Can their forbidden love survive the shocking truth, or will the secrets they keep cost them everything Some contracts are signed in ink. Others are written in blood

"Let's get married. I'll pay you any amount you want," She spill those words to him like they were nothing, while he stares at her unbelievably wondering how she got the guts to ask him that. "This can't work, Alicia. You're older than me. I am not ready for marriage, and even if I am, you aren't expecting me to settle down with an older woman, right?" Hearing those words from him, her heart shattered into pieces as she tries to fight her tears back. She's only twenty-nine and he's twenty-six for goodness sake. How is she old? After her first boyfriend ditched her and ran away with her money on their wedding day, Alicia has spent the recent years of her life, hating on men and vowed to never get married. However, her life became a mess after her parents wouldn't stop pushing her to get married, and now she has only one week to bring home her boyfriend whom she lied to reside in Asia. Do you think she will be able to bring home a man when she have known in her life? What does fate have in store for her even if she eventually finds a man?

"Who are you to her?" "I'm her boyfriend and if you don't get out of here, I'll be the man who will be responsible for putting you six-feet underground," Zendaya heard Jayden say, shocking her. Zendaya's life unravels when she discovers her fiancé's infidelity two days prior to the wedding. Devastated and desperate to escape reality, she gets drunk and decides to have a one-night stand. But fate has a twist in store as her one-night-stand turns out to be Jayden Gerano, the man who hated her since their childhood, the one who made her life a living hell, yet the man she couldn't hate no matter how hard she tried. She decides to forget about her impulsive decision, but Jayden has other plans. With a charming grin and a determination that surprises them both, he refuses to let her slip away. He wants her back in his life—and this time, as his woman. He had let her go once, and he’d be damned if he made the same mistake. Will Zendaya embrace a future with the man she never expected to want, and let go of the past, or will her hatred for Jayden win? Find out in Entangled with my Childhood Enemy.