Even If It Hurts Sam Mariano

The richest man in the country, Sebastian Vance, has a ring custom-made to my exact measurements, worth billions of dollars, for the woman who will be his bride. In the first life, my stepsister, the fake heiress Mia Lowe, slips on the ring and marries him. Sebastian claws her face, shouting, "She's not the one!" In the second life, my other stepsister, Lorraine Lowe, loses 30 pounds before marrying him. He shoves her down the stairs anyway and says, "She's not the one either." In the third life, my stepmother, Vivian Cole, grits her teeth and slices off a piece of her own flesh just to force the ring onto her finger. Sebastian sneers and pushes her under the bathwater, holding her down until her body goes limp. By the fourth life, out of options and terrified, they finally send me. I slide the ring on, and it fits perfectly. My entire family lets out a sigh of relief. But the second Sebastian lays his eyes on me, he draws a knife and stabs me to death. "Why is it still not her? Where is she?" In the last life, he has his assistant, Owen Hayes, deliver a ring to us. All four of us insist that it won't fit. Owen shoots us a strange look. "Mr. Vance said the rightful owner of this ring is among you."

After the hot sex, the boss asks the secretary to decide whether to be mistress or secretary. She liked him silently for a year, so decide the first. Everything's fine till the baby comes along.

My sister abruptly returns to the country on the day of my wedding. My parents, brother, and fiancé abandon me to pick her up at the airport. She shares a photo of them on her social media, bragging about how she's so loved. Meanwhile, all the calls I make are rejected. My fiancé is the only one who answers, but all he tells me is not to kick up a fuss. We can always have our wedding some other day. They turn me into a laughingstock on the day I've looked forward to all my life. Everyone points at me and laughs in my face. I calmly deal with everything before writing a new number in my journal—99. This is their 99th time disappointing me; I won't wish for them to love me anymore. I fill in a request to study abroad and pack my luggage. They think I've learned to be obedient, but I'm actually about to leave forever.

My mother is gravely ill and needs a million dollars for surgery. I run all over the city, desperately trying to borrow the money. Just when I'm at my breaking point, my childhood friend shows up, holding a check for one million dollars. His condition? He wants to marry me. Everyone's waiting for me to say yes, but I calmly refuse. Because in my last life, even after I married him, my mother still died. Her surgery failed. Later, I accidentally overhear a conversation between him and a doctor. "Christopher, you sabotaged the surgery just to transplant Alice's mom's kidney into Jennifer? Was it worth it? If Alice finds out, you’re done." "I just want Jennifer to live. And honestly, marrying someone like Alice? My life is already over." That's when I realize our entire marriage was nothing but a carefully woven lie. He did it all for the woman he truly loved.

Meet Emily Collins, the devoted secretary with a knack for mismatched fashion, and Oliver Sterling, the brilliant but enigmatic CEO. Their worlds collide when Oliver, facing an unexpected ultimatum from his grandfather, turns to Emily for an unconventional solution. While Emily dreams of saving a million dollars and bidding goodbye to her corporate life, Oliver's goal is to introduce his secret actress girlfriend to his family. Caught between family expectations and a reluctant girlfriend, Oliver proposes a daring deal to Emily: a six-month contract where she pretends to be his girlfriend. The offer comes with a tempting promise—enough money to fast-track Emily's savings goal. As the two plunge into their fake romance, cue the funny twist—Emily knows every quirk and detail about Oliver, right down to the size of his ring finger, but Oliver doesn't know a thing about Emily. With the lines between reality and pretense blurring, the stage is set for a romantic collision where one is poised to fall in love, and the other is destined to fall even harder.

Joana Alexa Claudiana, seorang mahasiswi yang sejak lahir sudah dijodohkan oleh orang tuanya pada cowok bernama Stiven mulai lelah dengan nasib bucinnya yang tak kunjung merdeka. Faktanya Joana menyukai Stiven yang kini menjadi calon dokter muda itu sejak puluhan tahun lamanya, namun Stiven tidak pernah menganggapnya ada. Meski lelah dan kesal dengan cintanya yang tak pernah dihargai, Joana tak pernah bisa menangis sama sekali karena trauma masa lalunya yang sampai saat ini masih belum ia sadari. Keaadan membaik saat seorang barista bernama Kelvin datang mewarnai hidupnya, ia lambat laun bisa melupakan Stiven. Berkat Kelvin juga Joana kembali mengingat sebuah trauma terberat dalam hidupnya sehingga ia bisa menangis lagi seperti orang normal lainnya ketika sedang merasa terpuruk. Sejak itu Joana mulai membuka hatinya untuk Kelvin. Namun disaat ia melupakan Stiven, Stiven datang untuk mengungkapkan perasaanya "Sorry, sorry if Im late to love you," ujar Stiven dengan suara halusnya dengan penuh penyesalan. Hanya saja, Kelvin bukan seorang cowok yang menyukai lawan jenis pada umumnya. Yah, menurut informasi dan banyak fakta yang Joana tahu, Kelvin adalah seorang gay. Lantas bagaimana nasib Joana seterusnya yang mulai menyukai Kelvin disaat Stiven mulai peduli dengannya?

Persephone Jade Velasco is the heiress of the great Venge Intelligence Org., a secret agency where the country's biggest and most dangerous undercover missions happen. Home of fearless and smart agents, Persephone's also a baddie herself. Meanwhile, Sidapa Aiden Delgado, the heir of one of the country's richest families that is not just that known, is a tall and handsome yet skinny soul that has been isolated all his life because of his very strict parents who just recently died. With his little to nothing knowledge about the world, he was overwhelmed when he was left with only one other female presence after Persephone captured him to get a rare gem off his possession. Considering that she's already the greatest agent to walk the earth, Persephone thought the job would be easy. But one look from the Delgado heir and she immediately knew that that mission of her might not be going... the way it should be.

One minute Scarlett is catching her fiance in bed with another woman and the next she's getting caught in a storm that ends up being the most passionate night of her life. That is until she finds out that her one night stand isn't just her bestfriend's brother, he's also super start footballer Jett Heathrow. She tells herself it was a one time thing and it's most definitely not going to happen again. What she never factored in is getting into a fake relationship with Jett. As the line between real and pretend starts to blur, Scarlett has to decide what's most important to her, protecting her heart or fighting for the man she loves.

Zoriana Gregory, a young woman of about 22 years, shares her secrets, dreams, her life experiences and desires about her future husband with her diary. Her fantasy of her ideal future husband soon turns reality when her diary somehow falls in the hand of someone she never thought she'd meet again after many long years. Her first love... Liam Whyte Liam visits his country again after closely 11 years, now a grown up and a successful young man. While on his quest to finding his childhood friends again, he came upon a diary during his meeting with an acquaintance of his brother. NOTE: THIS IS THE SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST BOOK IN THIS ANTHOLOGY. AND IT IS TITLED 'DIARY OF ZORIANNA' IT WAS, A BEAUTIFUL BREAKUP; Is simply a collection of several short stories, combined into one. Each book in the anthology is a standalone.

I was the perfect wife. Loyal, loving and patient. I gave him ten good years of my life— my inheritance, my body, my heart. I was beside him when he had nothing. I helped him build an empire he could call his. I treated his family like they were mine. And how did he repay me? With a mistress and a daughter I never knew existed. He thought I wouldn't find out— he thought I was too blind, too soft and too in love to see the cracks. But he's the one who made a mistake, he underestimated me. Now I'm done playing the fool and I won't leave empty handed. This time, I'm taking back everything— I'm done… I'll make him regret those ten years he spent deceiving me!