Fake Friendship

I was the biological daughter of the Stone Family. With my gossip-tracking system, I played the part of a meek, obedient girl on the surface, but underneath, I would strike hard when it counted. What I didn't realize was that someone could hear my every thought. "Even if you're our biological sister, Alicia is the only one we truly acknowledge. You need to understand your place," said my brothers. 'I must've broken a deal with the devil in a past life to end up in the Stone Family this time,' I figured. My brothers stopped dead in their tracks. "Alice is obedient, sensible, and loves everyone in this family. Don't stir up drama by trying to compete for attention." I couldn't help but think, 'Well, she's sensible enough to ruin everyone's lives and loves you all to the point of making me nauseous.' The brothers looked dumbfounded.

I was a street performer with no name, a ghost hired to wear a dead man’s skin. My mission was simple: Become Alexander Blackwood. Marry his icy fiancée. Sign over the forty-billion-dollar empire. In exchange, my dying sister lives. But the woman waiting at the altar isn't the socialite I was trained to seduce. She’s a wolf in silk—a twin who murdered her own sister to take her place. She doesn't want my money; she wants my soul. She knows I’m a fraud, and I know she’s a killer. In the gilded halls of the Blackwood estate, we are two monsters playing house, waiting for the first one to blink. Every night is a battlefield. Every kiss is a betrayal. She pins me to the silk sheets with the cruelty of a Queen, but when she whispers my real name in the dark, the mask slips. I was supposed to be her puppet, but I’m becoming her obsession. And as the real killers close in, I realize the only thing more dangerous than the lie we're living... is the heat of the truth. He’s a fake heir. She’s a replacement bride. In a world of silver spoons and sharpened knives, love is the deadliest sin of all.

After my grandmother passed away, I returned from my countryside home to Oberis City, ready to tidy things up and prepare for my wedding. But no sooner had I arrived at the wedding planning company, ready to book an extravagant, luxurious wedding, than the staff there delivered a piece of news that struck me like a thunderbolt. The groom—my groom—had already gotten married. Three months ago, Cain Bassett, the eldest son of the wealthiest family's conglomerate, tied the knot with his childhood sweetheart, the daughter of the mayor of Lith City—Mary Schindler. Now here I stood, frowning in front of the grand gates of Cain's villa. But the thing is, I am Mary Schindler, the daughter of the mayor of Lith City.

While my sister was protecting me from the vampires hunting us, a blade coated with poison slit her throat. I hid in the bushes and watched the whole thing in silence. I even took the antidote from Sophia. Because of that, the poison had spread through her entire body. With her self-healing ability suppressed, she was going to die in agony. My parents found me and begged me, disregarding their dignity as leaders of the pack. "Anna! Please! Give the antidote back to Sophia!" "She needs the antidote to flush out the poison and live!" Even with my parents begging and swallowing their pride, I just held onto the antidote in my pocket tighter. "I didn't see any antidote."

Benedict Cole’s undercover mission had failed. Only his twin brother, David Cole, returned. I was devastated, nearly driven to madness over losing my husband. Holding Benedict’s police badge, I tried to slit my wrists nine times, but I was always rescued just in time. As my consciousness faded on my tenth attempt, I overheard a conversation between my mother-in-law, Helen, and David. “El has tried to commit suicide for you ten times now. How long are you going to keep this act up? This woman is head over heels for you. Just stop lying to her already!” David’s expression hardened as he flatly refused. “David took a bullet for me. It is only right that I take care of his wife.” “El’s from the countryside. She’s tough. Once Melissa becomes pregnant and has a child to live for, only then can I reveal that I am actually Benedict.” The bathtub was dyed red with my blood, but the pain in my heart was far greater than the sting of my wound. It turned out that it had all been a lie, a deception meant only for me. My grief-stricken suicide attempts for love were nothing short of a clown’s tragicomedy.

I grew up with the Vipera brothers. They have always considered me their younger sister and spoiled me silly. But after that car accident, my relationship with them changes completely. The accident leaves me with severe burns on my body, and I'm in constant agony. On top of that, my face is disfigured too. The moment I'm wheeled out of the ICU, I call the Vipera brothers to let them know that I'm safe. However, the only response I get from them is an impatient dismissal. "Sofia, Bianca hurt her fingers during the accident. We're taking care of her now. Don't bother us by throwing a tantrum." Soon, Bianca Rossi uploads a selfie of herself with the Vipera brothers in a luxurious hospital room. She's wearing three wolf fang bracelets on her wrist. I'd given those to the Vipera brothers as a Christmas gift last year. To get the fangs from the particular species of wolves they liked, I trekked through the jungle alone with a gun and battled feral wolves the entire night. I completely let go of any remaining feelings toward the famiglia that raised me and decide to leave them for good. When the Vipera brothers see me again at a grand banquet held by the Ferro famiglia, they are overwhelmed with regret.

My husband, an Army regimental commander, was killed in action. Before his body was even cold, I didn't hesitate. I filed for his death certificate and notified the Army, the Social Security Administration, and our bank. Then, three days later—on the very day his twin brother married his childhood sweetheart—I moved out, changed the locks, and remarried quietly at the courthouse, taking my son and the full line-of-duty death benefits with me. To everyone else, I was heartless. Cold. I let them curse me. I just looked into my “brother-in-law's” bloodshot eyes and felt a quiet, cruel satisfaction. Only I knew the truth. In my last life, I discovered the body sent home wasn't my husband's at all—it was his identical twin brother's. I ran to confront him, but by chance I overheard him and my mother-in-law whispering. "Mom, Sarah is strong. And we have our son. She'll be okay. The benefits will take care of her. But Amy has waited for my brother all these years. If she finds out he's dead, she might do something drastic." Their words struck me like lightning. I tried to expose them, but my husband knocked me out. He told everyone grief had driven me insane. He locked me in the garage apartment and, with cold detachment, married his sweetheart. And when that woman complained my son was too loud, my husband slipped sleeping pills into our boy's juice—right as my crying child was coming to look for me. My son never woke up. The day they buried him hastily, I ended my life in the garage, utterly broken. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day they delivered my brother-in-law's body to our home.

After the wolf packs clashed, my sister's mate, Jacob, returned safely. But my mate, Liam, lost his life on the battlefield. The entire pack mourned my misfortune. Yet deep inside, I knew the truth. The one who came back was not Jacob—it was my mate, Liam. They were twin wolves, equal in strength and nearly impossible to tell apart. No one noticed the difference. Not even my sister, who sensed the lie through the mate bond, chose to speak up. In my past life, Liam once told me, "Elena, I'm doing this for the future of our pack's territory. My brother is the Alpha's heir. If the pack finds out he's dead, it will cause chaos. Your sister is pure and gentle. She couldn't endure the pain of losing her mate. I'm only standing in as Jacob, looking after her for a while. Once the pack stabilizes, I will come back to you." And I believed him… until the night of the eclipse… when Liam branded me a traitor and executed me with his own hands. As I lay dying, I saw him standing close beside Isabella, and the truth finally hit me: it had all been his scheme from the very beginning. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of our victory—the day word spread that Liam had fallen in battle. Yet there he was—"Jacob"—holding my sister tenderly, while the pack looked my way with pity. This time, I chose differently. I severed the mate bond and knelt before the Moon Goddess, begging her to grant me a new mate. Liam believed that by pretending to be his brother, he could claim the title of Alpha of the Black Moon Pack. But he never realized—by abandoning me, he had already destroyed the only path that could lead him to the Alpha's throne.

Everyone in the city knows that Michael Shaw despises me to my core. He even takes pleasure in humiliating me in public at banquets. He sneers, "My family made its fortune through gambling. Nancy Jackson is just a pretty face who can't even recognize all the suits in a deck of cards. Marrying her would be worse than marrying an inflatable doll that at least reacts!" Still, the marriage agreement between our families comes first. On top of that, the fake heiress, who is his true love, can't have children. So, he forces me to gamble with him. "If you lose, I want your womb to bear me a child. You have to get a C-section without anesthesia," he demands cruelly. I've long had enough of him always giving me a hard time. A soft laugh escapes my lips, and I reply, "Fine. If I win, then I want your manhood, Michael." The crowd bursts into laughter. Everyone says that I'm overestimating myself. Everyone knows Michael is the best gambler in the city. I lower my eyes and say nothing. Indeed, he is one of the best. After all, five years ago on a stormy night, I was the one who held those hands and taught him how to cheat for the first time to stay alive.

All of Novatia knew that Sophie Rossi was the foster daughter Soren Lucas doted on the most. However, on her 18th birthday, he punished her according to the family's rules. It was because Soren discovered Sophie had stolen his most precious Browning pistol and inserted it into her body. Three years later, Sophie returned with her body covered in wounds. She no longer loved Soren. However, Soren's fiancée, Isabella Johansson, refused to let her off. "You slut! How dare you desire your own Don?!" Sophie tolerated the cursing and beatings, only to discover the horrible truth. She 'committed suicide' by jumping off the cruise ship during Soren's wedding. Soren went crazy as he hugged her corpse.