Familiarity Breeds Contempt

"Look at me properly and try to remember." He implored her, his silvery eyes boring into hers. Maya raised her nervous eyes to meet his. Searching her head, she tried to remember where she may have met this man before. As she stared at him, a sense of familiarity began to settle. Those eyes... she'd seen them before. Where has she seen them? One by one, the images came. The pictures from a time she had forgotten. She had helped someone with eyes just like this. Still in his embrace, a daunting realisation began to set in. She'd met this man before. Long before he even dreamed of being a king... **************** A tyrant king conquers a kingdom so he can get married to her forgotten princess. People expect a marriage filled with strife and everything but none of that happens. Instead he treats her right, worships her and kisses the very ground she walks on. Why is that? People wonder. The reason is quite simple. Years ago, the same princess had saved his life from the bitter hands of death when he was betrayed by his half brother, the crown prince of Madonia.

In the biggest bar of Gryndon, my younger sister, Evonne Bradford, is tossed onto the middle of the stage like a plaything. The men beneath the stage keep arguing with each other. At the moment, Evonne's complexion is as pale as a sheet. She can only stare at her fiance, Simon Scottman, in disbelief, who's sitting in the middle of the bar. "Simon, I'm your fiancee! How could you treat me like this?" Simon leans over to kiss the dainty-looking woman in his arms on the lips. Then, he shoots Evonne a cold look. "You don't even know who took your virginity, yet you still have the guts to question me?" The woman in Simon's arms just titters delicately, but the contempt in her eyes is plain to see when she looks at Evonne. Meanwhile, I sit in my booth, my gaze already icy. All it takes is three years of my absence in this country, and already someone dares to harm a member of the Bradford family.

She has a debt He needs a bride; They hate each other, but they will marry; Harper Ross's life has never been easy. Raised by an absent mother and a violent stepfather, Harper knew pain before she even understood what the feeling meant. However, even in the face of all the difficulties, the talented and determined pastry chef never gave up on achieving her goals. And when everything seemed to be falling apart, an arrogant and powerful man entered her life and radically changed her fate. Liam Specter is a wealthy and powerful businessman who runs one of the largest construction companies in the country. He is an arrogant and unscrupulous man who is willing to do anything to maintain his empire, even if it means marrying a woman he barely knows to keep up appearances. At first sight: hatred, contempt, and incompatibility define the relationship between Harper and Liam. But living together will make them see each other differently. However, a lie will put everything at stake. If love can endure all, is it capable of overcoming rejection?

I was a Beta werewolf, destined to never have a mate. Alongside my best friends, I supported Leo Petroff in his rise to become the Alpha Leader of the Mystic Vale pack. Those under Leo’s command—the Jackson family, to name a few—always looked down on me because I was a Beta, accusing me of dragging their Alpha Leader into a ragtag group. And because I am a woman. I didn't care; perfection often breeds enemies, and that was just my lot in life. I had other wonderful friends, like my girls. I had powerful allies, including Leo, Alpha Warrior Ray and Alpha Guard Frank. I had Beta Bill, whose head was filled with knowledge. And I had Neville, a shy boy who flushed easily and always appeared whenever my spirit was exhausted. Because of them, I believed that even if I was forbidden from having a mate, having them by my side was enough. Fate decided to play a cruel joke on me by turning all the men I trusted most into my mates. Fine, mates. Since they went from the people I wanted to be with to the ones I wanted to stay away from, I decided to grant them one last privilege, the chance to play with me for the final time.

I secured a big deal for the company and was promoted to manager. However, I overheard my boss' secretary gossiping in the pantry, saying that I was brainless and only got where I was by using my body. I was so angry that I wanted to report it to the police. Surprisingly, her husband stopped me and forced his wife to bow and apologize to me, begging for forgiveness. Things got worse on the next day. Someone shared my inappropriate photos in the company group chat along with records of me supposedly checking into a hotel with a man. My colleagues looked at me with contempt, as if they all knew what was happening but refused to speak up. Even my boss fired me, saying I had moral issues. My husband immediately divorced me when he found out, took our daughter away, and left me with nothing. Neighbors pointed fingers and whispered about me. I was so overwhelmed that I lost my senses and was killed by a car crash. When I opened my eyes, I returned to the day I was promoted.

Yasmin has survived five years of Cole Martinez’s cruelty—his icy contempt, his mother’s vicious words, and the humiliation of watching him parade his mistress around town. She’s learned to stay quiet, stay small, and never fight back. But two pink lines on a pregnancy test change everything. Cole made it clear he never wants children. If he finds out about the baby, Yasmin knows exactly what he’ll demand. Yet for the first time in years, she feels something stirring inside her that’s stronger than fear—a fierce, desperate love for the tiny life growing within her. Now she faces an impossible choice: stay silent and risk everything when her secret shows, or find the courage to run from the only life she’s known. In Cole’s world, defiance comes with a price. But some things are worth fighting for, even if it means losing everything else. Can Yasmin break free before it’s too late, or will her secret become the final chain that binds her forever?

"I rather get dragged in the mud with chains by moving horses or be beaten with a club with nails on it than lose my virginity to you," she spat, looking at him with hate in her eyes, hoping her eyes conveyed the degree of contempt she felt when she spat out the words. Anger and disbelief flashed in his eyes. She was going to be the first woman that would ever reject him, and in such a preposterous manner. He stood up and went over to her while she gummed her back to the wall, having no other room to step back. He gripped her chin with his strong palm, forcing her to look at him, his wicked grey eyes bore into her hazel ones. "What if it's your only ticket to freedom?" "As I said, I rather die." He quickly shoved her onto the bed and she scooted away as he moved towards her. "I am Eros Castillo, leader of the El dragon gang, you dare not reject me, nobody rejects me," he said in a low husky voice, his eyes five shades darker, his countenance grim and dangerous.

Rosalia Marina was eighteen when her father sold her to clear his debts. By twenty, she was no longer just another girl trapped in a trafficking house, she was chosen. Auctioned into a marriage she never consented to, Rosalia becomes the wife of a powerful mafia patriarch who believes ownership is the same as salvation. In his home, she learns how to survive by silence, patience, and control, even as her body is treated like a debt that must be repaid. A year later, everything changes when his son returns to claim his place as heir. Cold, judgmental, and determined not to become his father, he sees Rosalia as a woman who traded herself for power. What begins as contempt slowly fractures into something far more dangerous, desire neither of them can afford. Torn between guilt, longing, and the quiet mission she has carried since the day she was sold, Rosalia must decide whether survival is enough, or if destroying the system that enslaved her will cost her the only man who ever truly sees her. In a world where loyalty is currency and love is betrayal, wanting the wrong person can be fatal.

My sister, Cherry Nicholson, called me nine times before she jumped into the sea. But I didn't pick up once. Now everyone says it's my fault she's gone—even my fiance, my Alpha mate—Samuel Carver. He used to stay by my side through every painful treatment for my wolfsbane fever. Now, he shoves me to the ground like I'm nothing. His once gentle face is now twisted with contempt as he looks down on me and warns, "You don't deserve to be happy!" And truth be told, it isn't just them who believe that. Even I do. Since then, I've stopped going out, stopped dressing up, and stopped meeting anyone's eyes. Even when I run into Samuel holding hands with another she-wolf, I lower my head and walk past silently. But when the wolfsbane fever comes back, I drown in agony and despair. I decide to give my life to atone for what happened to Cherry. That's when they all start to regret it.

My father kicked me again, and again. “No daughter of mine would've been so completely useless. All you have brought us is shame and embarrassment. Enough. I've arranged your marriage with the Lycan King. He'll come for you tomorrow and I'll finally be rid of you” “W-what? The Beast Lycan?” I stuttered, my fathers words hit me like a block of ice. “Precisely. He could kill you like his other wives for all I care. Good riddance” My father looked at me one last time, his eyes filled with disgusted contempt before he walked out of the house. ~~~ Iris is hated on by her pack and her father. She gets rejected by her mate and her father arranges her marriage to the Lycan king. The Lycan king has a terrible reputation for killing his brides. Now sucked into his world, Iris is determined to survive and win him over. And things get more complicated when her mate wants her back. Stuck between two men and an origin she knows nothing about, what decision will she make?