Estuary Food Chain

The day my birth parents found me, the reunion banquet they threw turned into their funeral. My parents and their adopted daughter, Leila, died of food poisoning that night. The only one who survived was my older brother, Alpha Kian. He didn’t like sweets, so he never touched the cake. The cake that I handed to them myself. “So you want to take Leila’s place. “You’re just jealous because she got all our love! “She was the only one who ever accepted you, and you still killed her!” Those were Kian’s exact words as he shouted at me right outside the hospital room. From that day on, I became a sinner. To make up for it, I barely slept four hours a night and worked five jobs just to buy back the villa the rival pack seized during the chaos. However, the day I finally saved up enough, I saw my dead parents throwing a birthday party for Leila in that very villa. Kian stood among them, looking at her with a warmth I didn’t recognize. My mother said, “Isn’t today also Lily’s birthday? It’s been eight years. Maybe it’s time to forgive her.” However, Kian didn’t hesitate to refuse. “No. Even though Leila sniffed out the wolfsbane and saved you, we agreed that Lily gets ten years. “We can’t risk her ever trying to poison Leila again. Not even a day less.” I clutched the diagnosis paper from the clinic tightly and laughed through my tears. I knew I wouldn’t get to ten years. I was already dying.

"Please Daddy, fuck me like your little bitch!" and that's all it takes for Desmond to slide his cock into my already wet pussy and he started to fuck me faster. I moaned softly as his cock slammed into my pussy. "Oh fuck, yes," I said as I felt my pussy tighten around his cock. "Am gonna cum Daddy," I said between shaken breaths. "Then don't let me stop you," Desmond said and with that, I exploded all over his cock but he kept thrusting and after a few thrusts, he pulled out and came all over my ass. We both collapsed on the bed breathing fast, "I need to go now Tasha, I can't keep Mary waiting," Desmond said as he stood up from the bed and began to dress. "Oh come, Desmond, it's not like she can satisfy you the way I do," I said angrily as I pulled the blanket over my naked body. "It doesn't matter, she is my wife" "And what about me?" I asked, Desmond turned and looked at me before saying. "I don't know" In the beginning, his words were like sweet poison, luring her deeper into his web of manipulation. She longed for the love she thought he could give, but instead, she found herself trapped in a toxic embrace. Tasha a beautiful young lady finds herself entangled in a forbidden affair with her sister's husband, hoping to win his love and perhaps even lead him away from her sister. However, as emotions intensify and loyalties are tested, Tasha soon realizes that her misguided intentions have set off a chain of events that will forever alter the dynamics of their family.

Don't touch me!" She yanked his hand off, inching away from his reach. "Kath.." "What do you want from me?" She snapped, fighting the urge to tear up in front of this untrusting man she once called her husband. "You." he answered with so much authority and possessiveness. Katherine scoffed, what does he take her for? She wasn't ready when he drew closer to her, covering the space between them. He lowered his head until his warm breath fanned her face, "Marry me," he whispered to her, "again" ... Anderson Riecke is determined to do anything to legally secure his place as CEO of his father's chain of companies. But when his father's proposal was for him to get married, offering him only a very short time; it becomes a tug of war for him and his brothers. Anderson Riecke is willing to do anything to retain his position and inheritance, including remarrying Katherine Tetrazzini, his ex-wife whom he divorced out of her infidelity. Anderson is left with no choice than to invite her back into his life. No strings attached and on contract basis. The deal was to part ways, once he achieves his aim of being stated as CEO and rightful owner of the conglomerate; Katherine Tetrazzini felt the same way about him, all she wanted at that point was the benefit and then she'll be out of his life for good, before he finds out about his seed developing in her womb. But what happens when the feelings that both thought had died resurfaced, threatening to pull them back together? When Anderson Riecke took the risk of entangling himself with his ex-wife again, he was ready for anything but not for the weight of her secret and Katherine is determined to keep it away from him forever.

My younger fraternal twin brother finally gets a girlfriend. Our parents, who are overseas, entrust me with the task of welcoming her. I instruct the maids to prepare a feast to welcome her. As we sit around the dining table, my brother scoops a bowl of soup for me himself. After that meal, my brother's girlfriend pulls a long face at me. "Who gave you the right to eat the soup my darling scooped? How could you be so lazy? You can't even cook, yet you're not even embarrassed to stuff yourself with all that food!" I'm stunned by her outrageous words. I reply in annoyance, "What does that have to do with you anyway? I'll do as I please!" She glares at me with hatred written all over her face and yells, "Why aren't you married yet? The family's assets belong to me and my darling. Who do you think you are that you can spend our money? "Just look at you. You will never be able to get married like this. Perhaps it'll be better for you if you beg me to introduce my elder cousin to you. He doesn't mind that you're lazy. All he wants is for you to give him a son. He earns over ten thousand dollars a month!" I'm dumbstruck by her shamelessness. I storm straight to the bathroom where my brother is and bang on the door repeatedly. "Come out here right now! What is with your girlfriend? And since when have our family's assets become yours and yours alone?"

Charlie Wayne’s life is perfect. Or it was. As a VP who commands boardrooms and a playboy who elegantly ends every date at his door by 3 AM, Charlie’s world is built on control. But lately, his system has a glitch. A streak of bizarre, comically bad luck—flat tires at dawn, mysterious fire alarms, untimely food poisoning—keeps derailing his plans. His flawless exit strategy is in shambles. Carly Dorrington’s life is a lie. But a necessary one. After a blowout fight with her father over their family companies’ merger, Carly needs a place to stay. Where better than with her childhood best friend, Charlie? It’s just temporary. Just two best friends sharing a space. It has nothing to do with the two decades she’s spent loving him from the sidelines, or the quiet hope that maybe, just maybe, proximity will make the world’s most oblivious man finally see her. Now, under his roof, the "coincidences" multiply. Charlie’s chaotic love life grinds to a halt just as Carly’s presence becomes a permanent, comforting fixture. His sacred rules don’t seem to apply to her. His peaceful solitude feels warmer with her in it. As the lines of their friendship blur, Charlie is left to wonder: Is Carly the calm in the center of his storm… or is she the one who’s been stirring it up all along? Note: This is a slow-burn, dual-POV story about best friends, blurred lines, and the long game. If you find yourself wondering"where is this going?" in the early chapters... keep reading. Everything becomes clear in Chapter 4. The foundation is being laid for a reason. Thank you for trusting the process.

Jasamina Rutherford was forced by her parents to marry a politician who's so much years older than she is, because they wanted money and social influence. Ludale McCully is a beast in human form and a psycho. He abused her a lot. But, when she gave birth to her baby and he beat her so badly, Jasamina damned all the consequences and ran away with her new born baby. Out on the cold streets; bruised and battered, no food, money or supplies, and with a baby hidden inside her coat, she was at the end of her rope when she ran into him. ***** Tanner Dantes lost his family in the most brutal way a person would loose a lost one. It was so traumatizing and horrifying that he took to the streets. He drank himself to stupor, just to keep the memories at bay. Sober is not an option, because sober means remembering. Then, a woman ran into him one cold dark night. She was so bruised, there was no part of her body that wasn't 'occupied' with either a fresh or an old wound/bruise/scar. And, she has a baby strapped so protectively inside her clothes. She fainted in his arms. . . A woman on the run from her powerful psychotic husband and a man who'll drink himself to death than to go sober and let reality in. How will they heal? Was she able to escape her husband? With Tanner's state of mind threatened, will be help Jasamina? Can he stay sober long enough? Especially when she reminds him of everything he's trying to forget? With this two damaged soul trying to wrap their lives around each other, how did they overcome their greatest enemy of all? Why don't you go on this ride with me, let's find out!

To help my sterile Alpha mate Marcus Blackwood conceive an heir, I had used many hormone injections. My belly was covered with purple bruise marks from all the needle punctures. But after our son Connor was born, he was very weak and even ran much slower than the other pups. Marcus looked at Conner coldly and snarled at me, "It's all your rotten bloodline! You've brought shame to the Blackwood pack!" Later, he held his mistress Scarlett's pup—a three-year-old pup who was strong enough to beat an eight-year-old pup—and publicly rewarded Scarlett with a new Porsche. But when my five-year-old Connor accidentally knocked over his milk, Marcus kicked him in the chest and called him worthless. He even locked my son, who was afraid of the dark, alone in the drafty woodshed at the countryside estate during winter. Every day, Connor got only one bowl of spoiled food, until he starved to death. When I found Connor, his small body was already ice-cold, still clutching the family portrait I had drawn for him in his little hands. After that, Marcus tortured me to death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at our engagement party. Marcus publicly took Scarlett's hand in front of everyone. "I’m breaking off my engagement with Hazel Whitmore! She is just a foolish she-wolf who can only birth idiots! Scarlett is the one I love!" I realized that he was also reborn. He wanted to humiliate me in front of everyone again. But he didn't know that without my exclusive genetic healing technology, he would remain childless for this entire lifetime.

She underwent a death experience—at the hands of the family she cared for most, who then sold her off. At eight years old, Seraphina Valeza was adopted from an orphanage by the Hawthorne family, a run-down third-rate family in Lunada City. She lived for fifteen years there, always careful, thankful for a house that was not her home. She was an excellent student, kept her sufferings to herself, and obeyed them in return for their "kindness." When the Hawthorne family was on the verge of bankruptcy, they chose survival over conscience. Seraphina was forced to marry Julian Moreau, the heir of a second-rate elite family. The marriage was hell. Behind closed doors, Julian humiliated her, controlled her every move, and crushed her dignity. In public, she was paraded as a trophy wife; in private, she was nothing more than a disposable tool. Once Julian seized full control of the Hawthorne family, Seraphina lost even her last value. With no way out, she resorted to suicide. But destiny wanted otherwise and gave her another chance. She found herself in the same spot as she was on the day of her marriage. This time she did neither crying nor begging. Instead, she smiled and switched the groom. In front of stunned guests, Seraphina walked past Julian and stopped before a man sitting casually at the banquet table, dressed out of place and enjoying the food as if the wedding had nothing to do with him. Lucien Cross. The annoying guy she constantly quarreled with in college. The man who cried while carrying her dying body in her past life. The one whose love she came to realize onlqy when it was too late. This time, Seraphina will not let him go. And all those who wronged her will be punished, without exception.

All the relatives knew I had a "backward cousin." For my birthday, she gave me a grocery-store pound cake. When I ran a marathon, she presented me with a pair of worn-out canvas sneakers. At my graduate school acceptance party, she even sent a funeral wreath of white lilies with a sash that read "In Sympathy," wishing me an early departure to the afterlife. In my previous life, I slapped her so hard she tumbled down the porch steps. My brother took her side and plotted revenge, falsely reporting to the university that I had cheated on my SATs. My admission was revoked. "You're so modern. You know how things work," he sneered. "Plenty of people take a gap year. Just apply again." My father also defended her, cutting off all my financial support. "You've had so much schooling. You're so educated," he said coldly. "Support yourself." Alone in a city eighteen hundred miles from home, I fought to survive. I called my brother and my father again and again—only to be blocked. I delivered food while renting a room and studying to reapply. At my lowest, my hands were raw and cracked from frostbite, scrambling for delivery shifts at four in the morning just to earn a small bonus. Worn down by the cold and exhaustion, I suffered cardiac arrest at twenty-three and collapsed in a snowdrift in that unfamiliar city. No one ever came to claim me. This time, I chose to let it go and accepted the wreath with a gracious smile. To fully integrate myself into this family. After all, what is a moment of pride compared to a lifetime's inheritance?

A 20-year old guy, Lucas Monreal, has to cope with the hardship and trials in life after being abused, failed, and accused of a crime he did not commit when he was 18. He had a dark experience with women, which caused him to develop gynophobia (fear of women). Wanting to help a needy family, he ventured to Manila and worked in different fast food restaurants as part time. Until he met a regular customer, Mike, who took him as an office staff member of his company. In Manila, Lucas met Nathaniel de Guzman, 25 years old, a man who, little did he know, was a policeman who volunteered to spy on him due to the allegations of his ex-girlfriend’s family. According to their accusation, Lucas raped the woman, causing her insanity. As the investigation progressed, the young policeman confirmed that Lucas was innocent. In fact, he is the victim. The guy had trauma whenever he attempted a sexual scenario. He suddenly gets scared and ends up fainting. His affection for him grew exponentially, and he soon fell in love with the young man, Lucas. Nathaniel has a muscular body and is handsome, so he can attract women at a glance... and even a guy like him couldn’t resist him. This triggered Lucas’ identity crisis, questioning himself why he felt it for him. To help each other, Nathaniel proposed a sex adventure, a process to find out what their sexual orientation really is. Sex adventure confirmed that they are of the third sex — or, as it is more commonly known, LGBTQ — among bisexuals. The adventure also clarified their feelings towards each other. So in the end, they will stand together to reveal what really happened and to bring justice to both victims. Sydney and Lucas.