Finance

On the day we receive our bonus, one of the staff members of the finance department gives me 500 dollars worth of vouchers for the fast food restaurant downstairs. He tells me that my wife, Jillian Dunn, who is also the company's president, specifically ordered him to do so. In utter disbelief, I seek out Jillian and question her. "Didn't we agree that whoever secures the project will get a 50,000-dollar bonus? Stop messing around! I still need to pay for Freya's cochlear implant!" "I'm not messing around with you," Jillian answers seriously. "These vouchers can last you for a whole month. I wouldn't even give them to you if you were anyone else. "Money is tight right now at the company. Besides, Freya has been deaf for more than a decade now. She can survive being deaf for another decade." The next day, Jillian gives one of the interns a sports car that's worth 50,000 dollars. I look at the photo she uploads of her and the intern grinning widely as they sit in the car and give it a like. Jillian must assume that everything is proceeding smoothly since she has signed the contract. However, she misses the additional condition that's printed on the last page of the contract. I dial her rival's number, asking, "Ms. Swan, are you interested in Project Charlie?"

Debt collectors showed up at our doorstep when my mother's company went bankrupt. They said they would break one of my mom's legs if the money was not repaid within three days. I swallowed my pride and went to my girlfriend Jasmine, who had a net worth of over a hundred million dollars. I begged her to lend me $500,000 to get my family through this crisis. It was the first time I had ever asked her for money. She frowned but still agreed, saying she would have her finance department transfer it to me that afternoon. I waited by my phone, refreshing my bank balance over and over, from daylight until nightfall. However, she suddenly went completely silent, ignoring my calls and messages. Anxious and restless, I tried to comfort myself, telling myself she might just be busy with something urgent. Still, saving my mom's leg could not wait. In the end, I had no choice but to take the watch my father left me before he died and bring it to an auction. I did not expect to run into Jasmine at the auction house with her childhood sweetheart, Lionel. She was spending money like it meant nothing, bidding on an expensive painting for him. The final price of that painting was exactly $500,000. She had not forgotten about me. It was just that my desperate emergency meant less to her than the man she truly cared about.

On my way to the interview, my best friend—who had always warned me not to meddle in other people’s business—suddenly rushed toward the crashed luxury car without hesitation. That was when I knew she had been reborn too. In our previous life, she and I were known as the two top aces of the Finance Department. After graduation, we both made it to the final interview at one of the world’s top five hundred companies. On the day of that interview, we encountered a terrible car accident. The company’s president was inside the wreck. I gave up the interview to save him, while my friend ran straight to the interview without looking back. In the end, she got the offer, and I lost my chance at the prestigious firm. Everyone pitied me. However, the president held a grand wedding to repay me. I became the wife of my friend’s boss. I was admired and envied by all. She, on the other hand, struggled under endless performance targets. She got buried by work. At the company’s annual gala, I stood beside the president, dazzling under the lights, while she faded into the crowd—exhausted and invisible. Jealousy drove her mad. She grabbed a knife and stabbed me right there at the gala. When I opened my eyes again, she and I had both returned to the day of the president’s car accident.

A Forbidden Romance. Olivia has had it with love. Since her nasty breakup after college, she is only concerned with her career and giving her mother a happy life. But fate has other plans for Olivia when her mother suddenly announces that she's remarrying. Chad Steel, the ruthless rake and CEO of Steele Incorporated has been her boss and thorn in the flesh for so long. After bumping into him in the act with one of his many conquests, Olivia can't get the picture of her naked boss out of her mind. Little does she know that a drunken night and a heated kiss would be her undoing. Olivia's mother, Hilda is finally getting married to her second chance love, Matthew Steele and Chad Steele, the handsome, devilish rake is Olivia's step brother. Chad had sworn off love free losing his finance to his best friend. But meeting the innocent Olivia has stirred something in him he never wanted to feel. The days at work have been torture and each night he dreams of her in his bed wearing nothing. But what happens when he finds out that his father is getting married again and Olivia will be his step sister? Can the forbidden fire be tamed? Can Chad and Olivia overcome their passion and become a family or has Matthew Steele been hiding a chilling secret from his supposed son all his life, a secret that could give Chad and Olivia a shot at love.

Escaping from the grasp of her monstrous Alpha Father who intends to marry her off to an old fellow, 23 years old Celine runs into the arms of yet another powerful Alpha Kilhan Disregarding her hatred for his kind, she agrees to a One night stand with him in exchange for finance as her father had cut her off from the family wealth. It was supposed to be just one night, but Alpha Kilhan got obsessed, he knew he wanted her from the first sight, he had finally found his mate after years of searching and he wasn’t going to let go. Celine would do everything in her power to avoid fate, she wanted a new life away from evil power hungry Alpha wolves, but what if this fate was unavoidable? Alpha Kilhan would do everything in his power to have her, but first they needed to deal with the obstacles that stand in the way of their love story. Unending crises and family secrets threaten to break this union, dark pasts and evil motives. Can their love triumph against the storm? Or are they meant to never be? *** “Who are you?” He asked. His voice was thick but calm, and his eyes continually searched mine. Before I could answer, a woman spoke from beside him. “She’s a nobody. She isn’t part of the women we prepared for you tonight, boss.” She uttered, while we still kept our intense gaze intact. “I don’t care. I want her.”

I am heading to my job interview when my close friend, Thomas Lang—the same guy who always cautions me about meddling in other people's business—suddenly throws caution to the wind and sprints toward the wrecked limousine. I instantly realize that Thomas has been reborn, too. In my past life, Thomas and I were the top two graduates of the finance department, both making it to the final round of interviews at a Fortune 500 conglomerate. Yet, on the day of the interview, we suddenly came across the CEO, Ruth Gibson, who had just gotten involved in a car crash. I abandoned the interview to save her, while Thomas hurried off to the interview. In the end, Thomas landed the offer, while I lost my shot at working at the top conglomerate. I received sympathy from everyone around me. However, Ruth sought me out eventually, and in the spirit of profound gratitude, she presented me with an immediate proposal of marriage. I became the man who would marry Thomas' superior, achieving incredible status overnight. Meanwhile, Thomas stayed an ordinary worker, perpetually crushed by impossible metrics and corporate pressure. I was enjoying the heights of my privilege at the annual dinner, standing beside Ruth, while Thomas lurked in the background. He was a miserable face lost among the nameless guests. Consumed by jealousy, he brandished a knife and stabbed me to death right there. I suddenly open my eyes and realize we are both back at this single, pivotal day of Ruth's accident.

My cousin, John Anderson, always paid me in tens rather than in thousands. He owned a renovation company, and my team and I always worked hard for his projects. However, he only transferred me thirty dollars for sand and concrete that were worth three thousand dollars. Besides that, he only transferred me one thousand five hundred dollars to finance customized doors and windows worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I did not harp on that. Instead, I bore the cost in full, as he was my cousin. That was until his wife, Rory Anderson, scolded me in front of all the workers. “Peter’s a bloodsucker. He never informs us whenever he buys new materials. He must have scammed a lot of money from us! I saw that he got himself a new house and a new car. I bet these are all bought with money he took from us!” John smoked next to us and sighed, “Never mind. He’s family after all.” I was furious when I heard that. I paid more than six hundred thousand dollars’ worth of material fees for him, and he was accusing me of stealing his money? The next client had a mansion and wanted natural marbles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for his living room floor. John approved the request but only transferred me a thousand dollars to get it sorted out. So, I went to the brick factory located in the countryside and got a truckload of used red bricks from pigpens. Then, I used them for the client’s flooring.

During the Labor Day team retreat, I had booked out the entire top floor of the Grand Summit Hotel. Yet, when my fiancee, Serena Wagner, found out, she was enraged. "Matthew Grant, are you out of your mind? Spending over 800,000 dollars to rent a place for one day? Since you're so rich and have nowhere else to splurge, just let me help you spend it!" Then, she called over our intern, Dylan Foster. She pointed at him and started yelling at me. "He only makes 6000 a month as an intern. Why don't you give him this money instead?" I looked at my colleagues standing nearby, their faces clearly uncomfortable. I replied calmly, "His salary isn't low compared to industry standards. Besides, the team-building budget belongs to everyone. Why should I give it all to him?" However, the moment those words left my mouth, Serena exploded. "I'm your finance director and your future wife! Of course, I get to control where your money goes. If you don't agree, then let's call off the engagement!" With that, she stormed off with Dylan. I silently picked up a bottle from the floor and poured myself three glasses. The first glass was for her, for being with me through the first half of my life. The second glass was for me, for having a clear conscience in this relationship. The third glass was for both of us. I wished us well as we parted ways and moved on with our separate lives.

In the world of high finance, Melody Von Line is making a name for herself. She’s started working with the legendary Wolf of Bay Street as his associate, no less. There’re a few slight problems, okay, they’re huge. She didn’t know when they called him a wolf. They really meant it. He’s a wolf shifter. That wouldn’t be a problem if she were a human woman. She’s not. Melody is a fox, as in a fox shifter. Foxes are the prey for wolves, and it hasn’t changed. So, she desperately resists her growing attraction to the handsome wolf. But today’s the day he makes his move. Offering her a long weekend with him, no strings attached, anything goes, but they walk away at the end of the weekend and get on with their lives as it never happened.Things like this never go as planned. Malcolm wants to change the rules as the weekend winds down. But now he’s alone in the cottage, without a clue to where Melody has gone. Tuesday morning, he discovers she’s quit her job with no forwarding address. He wants answers. This has put him off his A-game because he wants her back. After a meeting over a year later, he sees her in a crowd. There’s no mistaking that fiery red hair, and she’s pushing a stroller with a child in it. A child who bears his distinctive blue wolf’s eyes. There’s no mistaking them. Now the hunt begins anew. No human could ever raise a shifter pup without their secret existence being revealed. This time he’s hunting two for keeps.

In my past life, right before sitting for the college entrance exams, my best friend, Lily Shaw, and I made a pact. We promised that once we got into college, we would study finance and make a fortune. But because my exam went smoothly and I was the first to leave the exam room, I ended up on camera for an interview. Somehow, I blew up overnight. Years later, I became a top celebrity, while Lily was sent to prison for financial fraud. When she got out, I gave her a million dollars to help her get back on her feet. She repaid me by quietly forging lies about me, whipping up a wave of online hate, and doing everything she could to destroy me. I traced the truth and confronted her, but she snapped back at me, "What gives you the right to stare down at me from your lofty throne and throw me scraps, Hannah Linden? I'm prettier than you, and my grades were better than yours. Why did you get the better life?" She laid out a plan to get back at me. She knocked me out and slashed my face. She also gouged out my eyes and cut out my tongue before stuffing me into a freezer, leaving me there to freeze to death. When I open my eyes again, I find myself reborn in my senior-year classroom. There's just over a month left for the college entrance exams. I look at Lily, who sits to my left and whispers to me. I smile at her, my eyes glinting with ice and venom.