Echo Dress

I didn’t just lose my mate on the night of our Ascendance Ball. I lost my dignity. Standing in the center of the gilded ballroom, in a dress that cost more than my life, I watched Drail choose her. My best friend. He didn't just reject our fated bond; he laughed while doing it, his hand resting on her pregnant stomach. Cast out. Humiliated. Rogue. I ran into the storm and straight into the chest of a monster. Derek Montenegro. The Ruthless. The exiled Prince of the European packs. A man with tattoos crawling up his neck and a reputation for breaking bones as easily as he breaks hearts. He’s cold, commanding, and dangerously beautiful. He offers me a deal. A contract. "Marry me, Raya. Wear my mark. Become the Queen of the underworld, and I will give you the power to crush the people who broke you." I thought I was signing a deal with the devil to get revenge. I didn't know the devil had a twin. And I certainly didn't know that the rejection wasn't an accident—it was the first move in a war between brothers, and I am the weapon they both intend to wield.

"You can never run away from me Cristina, never," were his words. And she was ready to prove them wrong. So to save herself from a dog she sold herself to a lion. Cristina DeCarlo, a young actress, was living a life under the clutches of Vincenzo La Russo, a political leader who was anything but a dog. On a fateful night, she broke all his boundaries and ran away only to fall into the hand of a man who was none other than the biggest Mafia in the country. Roman Scuderi, a mafia lord who was hidden in the shadows yet just the initials of his name were enough to shake the world. A man feared by all. But she was ready to make a deal with him as long as he could protect her from Vincenzo. ###Excerpt### "Why did you cage me?" Cristina asked the man who was sitting in front of her, watching her as she stood in the sexy black dress holding the iron bars of the cage she was in. At her words, he stood up and walked up to her. "Because I'm afraid if I don't, you, my little dove will ascend too high in heaven where this devil can't reach you," he replied in his sexy voice and pulled her towards him to share a kiss.

"I'm willing to marry you." Jared Brooks and his brother, Shiloh, turned their heads. Standing before them was a woman in a wedding dress, but this was no ordinary bride. Her gown was stained with dirt and blood, her mascara streaked down her cheeks, and her makeup a ruined mess. Today was supposed to be Julia Watson's wedding day. She was set to marry her fiancé, Carter Ross, until her so-called best friend, Vivien Smith, announced to everyone that she and Carter were expecting a baby—and were in love. Shattered by the betrayal of her fiancé and best friend, Julia was ready to give up. That was until she spotted Jared Brooks, the CEO of Brooks Corporation, at the courthouse. "Who are you?" Jared asked, puzzled by the stranger's proposal. Jared had no intention of marrying a stranger, and even his brother found the idea absurd. He was about to leave when Julia made an irresistible promise: she could cure his brother's legs. "I'm Julia Watson of the Watson family," she introduced herself. Jared assumed Julia sought revenge against her ex-fiancé by marrying him. Little did he know, Julia harbored two dark secrets. First, she had a mission to complete. Second, she wasn't really Julia Watson.

The night before our 17th wedding attempt, my mafia husband, Rafaeal Holloway, looks at me and promises an uninterrupted wedding. He solemnly swears. "Gianna, I promise you. I told Natalia that even if the sky falls, she'll deal with it alone." I am five months pregnant by then. After three years of dating and five months carrying his child, we've never managed to make it down the aisle because he's canceled the past 16 weddings. Every single time, it's for his sworn sister, Natalia Sullivan. The first time, she claims she has a fever. I spend the whole night at the hospital, still in my wedding dress, just to find out she has a mild cold. The second time, she claims her chest hurts. Rafael abandons me mid-wedding and rushes to her side, while she's out laughing over afternoon tea with friends. The third time, she cries for fear of thunder. He bolts mid-vows and leaves me alone in a hall full of staring guests. But everything's different now. Three days ago, a letter arrived from Northern Silenzio. My father, the Don of the Rossetti family, has finally summoned me home. If Rafael walks away for Natalia one more time, I'll leave for good.

"What is it now? Are you chasing me? You just got home the other day. I need to spend more time with you." "I don't need any slut's company." Her heart seemed to stop at the outrageous word he used to refer to her and she regarded him with a long suffering expression. “What did you just say?" She was now offended. "You are crossing the line with these jokes.” “Do I seem like joking?” “Wha..what? You must be out of your mind. Why? What is going on? Are you throwing me away?” Becky wailed confused. Tears Of Agony traces the life of Becky a young beautiful woman recently married. Her dressing style sharply contrast that of those around her. She is encouraged to conform to the ways of the clan by changing her code of dress but refuses. She ends up being disliked by her husband's relatives and there is a campaign to cause a break in her marriage. The majority of the members of the clan are in favour. The disastrous end of her marriage leaves her dissolutioned and devastated. She is forced to leave the clan without her only child. She meets a kind man she like. The man is desperately in love with her but she rejects his proposal to be his wife.

Aria thought she had found her forever in Cassian—the campus golden boy, fated mate, the werewolf who promised her a better life. Until the night before their wedding she caught him in her wedding dress… with another woman. His cruel confession shattered everything: she was nothing but a stepping stone for his ambition. Humiliated and heartbroken, Aria publicly burned their future to the ground, slapping him in front of his pack and walking away with nothing but rage. Desperate to save her dying father and escape Cassian’s revenge, she turns to the one man who can protect her: Damian Hawke, the most powerful alpha in the state. The man she unknowingly kissed in a drunken haze the night before. Damian offers her shelter but only if she lives under his roof, works for him, and becomes… available. A maid by day. Something far more dangerous by night. Aria thinks she is trading one cage for another. She doesn’t know Damian is Cassian’s adoptive father. She doesn’t know the mate bond is already pulling them together. And she doesn’t know the secret buried in her own blood will change everything. Revenge was supposed to set her free. Instead, it bound her to the one man she should never want.

The night my husband, William Costello, was assassinated by his enemies was supposed to be a celebration—our wedding anniversary. I was dressed in his favorite red dress, waiting for him, when the phone rang. "Mr. Costello was shot at the harbor. The bullet went through the back of his head. He died on the spot." I collapsed to the floor. I clung to his belongings, mourning for a week straight. We even lost our unborn child during this time. Everyone said William and I were true love. Even the Don himself came to the funeral, resting a heavy hand on my shoulder with a sigh. He said, "All of Blackhaven knows you were the only woman he ever loved." Grief nearly destroyed me. I stood at the river's edge, ready to follow William into the afterlife. However, I overheard my sister-in-law, Emily Hawkins, leaning into my brother-in-law, Jones Costello, her voice dripping with a twisted affection. She purred, "William, I love you so much. Between Nina and me, who do you think is sexier?" "Of course it's you, babe!" came the husky reply. I stood frozen, my eyes wide and my body trembling. Why was Emily calling my brother-in-law by my husband's name?

I stand before the pack members, condemned by whispers and stares that cut deeper than any blade. Branded a killer, but I am no murderer. Yet, their accusations cling to me like a shroud, suffocating every shred of hope within me. “I’ll never reject you, Ivanna, but I’ll make your life hell.” His words echo throughout the hall. A cruel reminder of the torment that awaits me. “I’ll forever punish you for what you did to me and the pack.” My mate’s voice, once a source of strength, now drips with venomous hatred. “You’ll remain as my mate, and I’ll remain your nightmare.” “I didn’t kill her!” I protest, but he sees only a liar, a traitor to the pack. His fist hits my cheek, a brutal punishment for crimes I did not commit. “Liar!” He barks. “You killed her. And I’ll do the same to you. Slowly. Painfully. Until you’re choking on your last breath and desperately ready to tell the truth. That you killed her.” —---------------------------------------------------- When the Luna mysteriously dies before my eyes, everyone tags me as her killer. I go through hell and back. My life becomes an endless circle of misery. But I won’t break. I won’t give in to my abusers, no matter how brutally they try to break my soul. I’m determined to fight till the end. Until I’ve proven to them that I’m not the Luna’s Killer.

I shivered in the darkness, the air stale, damp and cold making goosebumps appear on my bare skin. The low rumbles and huffs which were coming from behind made me a little scared, and I knew the beast was still there, watching me with interest. I knew screaming and calling for help was futile since my voice was already hoarse for trying to scream the past few hours, but the only thing to be heard was my echo, and the snarl that followed next. I heard it shift and felt it's soft fur brush against my body and skin. I swallowed hard and held in my voice. The more it leaned in, the more my heart beat wildly, and I tried to move away from it. It's warm breath brushed against my cold skin making me shiver in response. I couldn't see but I had an idea what it wanted. I kept resisting but it was much stronger than I was, easily able to pull my thin legs apart. It showed it's dominance as a way to make me submit. I knew I wasn't strong enough to fight or escape it, but that didn't mean I was going to willingly do what the beast said, at least at that minute. But everything changed when I felt it's big head dip between my legs, easily parting them to the extreme, and a rough, yet soft , in my opening. I couldn't help the moan that left my lips. The was long, rough, and filled me to the brim, and that's when I knew I was in . The beast wanted to breed with me.

On the day of my birthday banquet, Grandpa asks me which of the Sterling family's daughters I want to marry. I choose the Sterling family's fifth daughter without hesitation, which surprises my family elders. After all, everyone in our circle knows that I, the eldest son of the Hamiltons, am deeply in love with the eldest daughter of the Sterling family, Violet, spoiling and indulging her to an outrageous degree. In my previous life, I did marry Violet. But after only three months, I discovered that Violet was having secret meetings with my illegitimate half-brother, Sebastian Hamilton. At the time, her eyes filled with tears as she looked at me pitifully. "Please, I'm begging you. This really was just an accident." My heart softened, but Grandpa still found out and ordered people to send Sebastian far away to another country. Violet assumed it was my doing and hated me to the bone. In the years that followed, the company's confidential information was stolen. I was killed in a car accident on the very day she discovered she was pregnant. Given a second chance at life, I decide to let the lovebirds be together. But unexpectedly, after the news of my engagement is announced, Violet appears in a wedding dress, crying and begging to marry me.