Family Life Novel Novels & Stories

Emma, the fake heiress, and I were sold into an underground BDSM club. When my parents, the richest couple in the country, and my husband, Leo DeLuca, the feared Don of the DeLuca crime family, finally found us, I was bound with duct tape and covered in wounds. Emma lay beside me, heavily pregnant and unconscious. Three months later, doctors confirmed that her baby had died in the womb. She was the adopted daughter my parents had cherished for twenty years, and the girl my husband had never gotten over. My parents and husband went half mad, offering a nationwide one-hundred-million-dollar bounty for any lead on the person responsible. I was the only one who might have seen the culprit's face

I drove my car to a friend's auto repair shop for a routine inspection after my father, Nathan Ashley, finally returned it. He'd borrowed it for a month and even stuffed the trunk with boxes of local specialties from his hometown. A few minutes later, my friend slid out from beneath the car, his face drained of color. "Lyla, who did you piss off? Someone cut halfway through your brake line." A chill raced through my body as I pulled out my phone and called my father. "Dad, someone cut my brake line." The sound of poker chips clacking echoed through the phone. He answered without the slightest concern, "Oh. I had Lillian do it. That old junker of yours was falling apart anyway." My voice

"Did I seem magnificent? Because I felt like I was fighting for my life." "Sometimes fighting for your life is the most magnificent thing you can do." "Grandma Helen, can I ask you something?" "Of course." "Do you think I belong in this family?" "What kind of question is that?" "An honest one." Grandma Helen was quiet for a moment. "Jane, can I tell you a story?" "What kind of story?" "A story about family lies." "Okay." "When Christian's parents died, this family was destroyed by secrets." "What kind of secrets?"

"In the end, such a big family only had one daughter left." "This girl was ignorant and incompetent, and she was also arrogant and vain." "Her family had fallen, but she had relatives, which was the famous Ford family in South City. Therefore, she went to the Ford family and relied on them. She also lived a very comfortable life with them as well." "During that time, that girl had rarely been keeping contact with you." "At that time, you were already doing very well abroad. You had your own company and also your own hobbies. You had your own family, and you also had an adorable son who was as smart and as studious as you."

It is my story, but it is also every story of chosen family, of blended lives, of love that refuses to be bound by blood or convention. She stopped, read the words back, and felt a shiver run down her spine. This was it. This was the book. In the nursery, Gracie stirred, a soft murmur of infant dreaming. In her room across the hall, Emma slept surrounded by dinosaurs and fairy lights. In the living room, Marcus scrolled through his phone, waiting for her to come to bed. This was her family. This was her story. And soon, it would be a book.

A sleepy little boy wandered out and ran straight to him, all clingy. "Daddy, I wanna see my sister! Mommy said she's making potato salad and baked ribs tonight. She can't break her promise!" I stared at the kid. He looked just like Talia. All those late nights—I thought she was grinding for her career. Turns out, she was running a whole other family. And me? I'd never even had a single meal she cooked. On the table sat a fresh family photo—four of them. Talia in Danny's arms, their son beside them, their newborn in hers.

The two family’s had always been close. Bailey Everleigh never thought too much about it until the summer that everything changed. She had been raised with her own family, and theirs was always nearby as well. They did almost everything together. She had always thought it was because both were large families. They understood the way things were done in them that people who didn’t have eight-plus kids could never.

"A good wife brings prosperity to generations. A wicked one ruins an entire family. Choose wisely." As the night deepened, the family gathered to keep vigil beside the caskets. Kelly, unwelcome among them, shrank into a corner, her presence tolerated but barely acknowledged. I found her there later. "Zarrick's finished," I told her softly. "And when I leave him, I'll make sure he walks away with nothing. If you're willing to stay with him then, when he's broke and ruined, then maybe—just maybe—I'll believe your love is real."

As far as family goes, they’re all I have… and Tyler doesn’t know anyone else. The thought hits me out of nowhere. They’re my family—but is Tyler part of it now, just because we’re married? Even though the marriage wasn’t planned and I’m only staying here for three months? What do I even call him that doesn't sound strange? He’s my husband… but is he a part of my family? This wasn’t supposed to be so complicated. When I reach my room, I unlock my phone. Several missed calls from my uncle and aunt. Two messages from Max. One from Vanessa. A few emails—definitely work-related—so I ignore them.

It was simply the beginning of something new. My thoughts drifted back to that family trip—the day we were attacked. The surgery had been a success, and my life, once filled with pain and sorrow, finally ended.