Familiarity Breeds Contempt

“Please, don’t marry him. I love you. How am I supposed to live without you?” Williams’s voice broke as he pleaded, desperation seeping into every word. Slowly, deliberately, Elodie slid the engagement ring off her finger. Without hesitation, she hurled it at him, the sharp metallic sound of it hitting the ground cutting through the air like a knife. “Get lost, Williams,” she spat, her tone icy. “I never want to see your face again.” Williams stared down at the ring, the very one he had chosen with so much love and care, now lying discarded like it meant nothing. Without another word, he turned and walked away, his steps heavy. He didn’t look back, and with every step he took, the distance between them felt insurmountable. As his figure disappeared from view, Elodie stood frozen, her body trembling. The tears she had been holding back finally spilled over, and she collapsed to her knees. The ring, still glinting faintly on the ground, caught her eye. With shaking hands, she reached for it and cradled it in her palm. Her sobs grew louder as she pressed the ring to her lips, her tears soaking into her skin. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice barely audible through the sobs. “I’m so sorry, Williams.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the struggle for dominance, Elodie Richards unknowingly becomes a pawn— an object of a cruel joke that shattered her once blissful life. Falling prey to an evil scheme, she let go of the one thing that mattered most in her life; Williams Storm. When the truth comes to light, will Elodie be able to right her wrongs and win back the heart she shattered into pieces, even when Williams' once–loving eyes are filled with nothing but contempt for her?

One year ago, my husband Killian came back home accusing me of poisoning him, with his childhood sweetheart in his arms. It was terrifying. Because what started off allegedly, became my cold reality with that awful text. “Have you gone through with it, Tamara? Our flight is at noon,” This made Killian even more hostile, he treated me with so much contempt, he broke my heart into shreds in his quest for vengeance. Fed up, I asked for a divorce but to Killian it was one big joke. He has every means to keep me in this marriage and I know it. But screw it, and screw him! I had plans, work, make money and get myself out unscathed. But then fate decided to throw me another curved ball… I got pregnant, and Killian was the only possible father. **** Damon had lived life with no emotions, no sentiments and he had always known two things, how to close huge business deals —- and how to make women squirm beneath him, until he met her. Hazel Simpson, insanely mouthwatering, and ridiculously beautiful, smart mouth and a gorgeous body. One glance and he was all in. But there's one huge problem, she despised rich, egoistic and arrogant guys, a hate that ran deep. He was all that in every sense of the word. So he set out to do the impossible, disguise to make her his, but at what cost? ***** “Have you forgotten that I'm just a divorcee, a broken woman incapable of love, Seb?” I ask him breathlessly, staring into his eyes. “I'm going to stitch your heart, Melanie. I'm going to make you want me,” Sebastian takes my ear into his mouth and nibbles it gently, sending shivers down my spine.

“Consider it your blessed day, Fake fairy. Don't dare to cross my path ever again unless you stop loving your dear life.” His aqua-blue eyes pierced my soul, forcing me to stay still as his fierce voice churned my inside. He casted me a look of pure contempt before giving me the warning which screamed pure death. Pearl Addison, the human girl, landed in New York to find her college sweetheart cum fiance Jordan who vanished into the thin air, without being noticed. But on the very first day she crossed the path of Andreas Ronan Sinfield who was a powerful and mysterious Lycan king and the monarchical bloodline of the Seinfeld lineage which has been existing since medieval times. He developed strong revulsion toward her on their first meeting and first touch. Pearl was terrified of him to the core, seeing his monstrous behaviour and inhumane sight as He scared her with his half Lycan face without realising her human nature. Her six months stay in the foreign land tangled her into ominous experiences among feral beasts in the city and fate tossed her in the arms of Andreas who despised her for a reason unknown to her. But what about the alluring scent she emitted around him which should only come from his fated mate who died years ago? Consipiries, Betrayal, killings, lies, battles and Revenge took the shapes in between the unexpected love between two different souls. Would Pearl manage to slip from under his puissant wings when she happened to see his real identity or would He bind her to himself forever? After all He had some plans for her which she wouldn't be able to deny. As He, himself is the law in the city known by the name of the “Lethal Senator”.

In the three years since I became Zander's mate, I've tried to kill myself ninety-nine times. Kidnapped by a rival pack in my youth, years of torture nearly destroyed me. I clawed my way back to the Crescent Moon Pack, only to find my place had been taken by an adopted daughter, Vivian. My Beta parents doted on her, and my fated mate—the Alpha himself—had eyes only for her. I begged them, told them my kidnapping and my suicide attempts weren't accidents, but all I ever heard was: "Ember, you're delusional. You just wandered off and got lost." "You tried to drown yourself in the river." The people closest to me, and not one of them believed me. Until the ninety-ninth time. Another "suicide." When I woke up three days later, I rubbed my aching head. My eyes were vacant, my own gaze foreign to me. I had forgotten who I was, forgotten the humiliation I'd endured, forgotten the desperate girl who had thrown away her dignity for a scrap of her Alpha's affection. At the pack ceremony, while everyone waited for me to fawn pathetically over Zander, a single tear slid down my cheek for reasons I couldn't comprehend. I wiped it away and, under the shocked stares of the entire pack, announced calmly: "Zander," my voice was steady. "I don't love you anymore. So I, Ember of the Crescent Moon Pack, hereby reject you as my mate." "This little act again?" Zander sneered, his eyes glinting with the same casual contempt they always held for me. But he didn't know. This time, I was leaving him for good. It wasn't until I vanished completely that the ones who'd never believed me were the ones who truly went mad.

When my best friend and I realized we had been reborn and traveled back several decades, we locked eyes, collapsed into each other's arms, and sobbed, shouting that we wanted to break off our engagements. The entire neighborhood whispered that we had lost our minds. But only we knew the truth. In our past lives, this was the day everything was sealed: she married a battalion commander, Ned Stark, and I became the wife of a high school teacher, Robbie Stark. My husband betrayed me. For the sake of that pretentious whore, Scarlett Wheaton, he stole my university admission letter and let her take my place on campus. The world mocked me as a failure, and Robbie stood by in silence. After we married, every time he touched me, he would immediately write another love letter to Scarlett—atoning for his supposed guilt. "Scarlett, even if I can't be with you in this life, my soul will always belong to you alone." Even my own child despised me, calling me an ignorant village woman, urging me again and again to divorce so that his father could be with his "true love," Scarlett. And my best friend, Rachel Croft—born the daughter of a factory director—was tricked by her husband, Ned, under the pretense of buying a house. He drained her savings and her wages for twenty long years. It wasn't until she fell gravely ill and went to sell the house that she discovered the deed he had given her was a forgery. The real house—the one paid in full—was in Scarlett's name. One of Scarlett's dresses cost more than my friend's entire monthly salary. When Rachel begged to reclaim what rightfully belonged to her, she was met only with contempt from Ned and her child. "All you ever care about is money. You're nothing like Scarlett, who isn't materialistic at all. Your illness is retribution," Ned had said. "Exactly. Only someone as noble and kind as Scarlett deserves to be my mother!" her child had said. Rachel and I both spent our lives working ourselves to the bone, only to end with nothing—dying bitter and broken from the injustice. But this time, fate has given us another chance. I will go to university. Rachel will become a wealthy woman. This time, without us paving the way, those shameless men and that wretched woman think they can still live happily ever after? Dream on.