Gardner's Art Through The Ages: A Global History

Samantha Granger's daughter, Celine Hamley, was critically ill and urgently needed a bone marrow transplant from her biological father, Calvin Hamley. But the man Celine called Dad was busy building a castle for his first love's daughter and lighting up the entire city with fireworks for her birthday. Samantha made call after call, but when Calvin finally picked up, he said, "I'm busy." Then the phone went dead. In the end, Celine's hand went cold, and she died. Calvin didn't even see her one last time. Samantha walked out of the funeral home with an urn. Every LED screen downtown was playing a birthday celebration video. The three people who had trampled over Celine's life were smiling, singing the birthday song, and dreaming aloud of a beautiful future. Samantha had once loved Calvin with everything she had. Now, she hated him just as much.

Ses lèvres effleurèrent son oreille, sa voix basse et mortelle. "Je ne fais que commencer, Marissa." Le célèbre critique d'art et milliardaire Adrian Cross a tout, sauf la clémence. Alors, lorsque l'étudiante en art Marissa Hayes, pleine de défi, ose le défier, il jure de briser son sang-froid petit à petit. Mais le jeu qu'il commence les consume bientôt tous les deux, transformant la rivalité en quelque chose de bien plus dangereux. Entre fierté et passion, amour et vengeance, un faux mouvement pourrait les détruire tous les deux pour de bon.

Le jour du verdict, mon fiancé Alfred Fresnel m'a suppliée de renoncer à plaider non coupable et d'accepter l'aveu de culpabilité. « Je sais que tu es innocente, mais elle porte mon enfant. Je peux pas la laisser croupir en prison », il a serré mes mains en sanglotant, « Ségolène, c'est aussi pour ton bien. » J'ai signé alors l'aveu sans hésiter. Dans ma vie antérieure, j'avais obstinément refusé d'endosser le crime à la place de Romaine Jégou. Résultat : non seulement j'avais écopé de prison, mais Alfred, fou de rage, m'y avait fait torturer jusqu'à la stérilité permanente. Cette fois-ci, j'ai choisi de lui donner satisfaction. Le lendemain, les médias ont déversé des nouvelles sur mon « vol de secrets commerciaux ». La vraie coupable, Romaine, a joué même le témoin oculaire : « C'est bien elle ! Je l'ai vue s'introduire en catimini dans le groupe Thiers ! » Mais l'après-midi même, à l'audience, le plaignant Isaac Thiers a retiré plainte. Sous les regards médusés de l'assistance, il a sorti même une bague de fiançailles et a mis un genou à terre : « Ségolène, cette fois-ci, veux-tu m'épouser ? »

He was the embodiment of her desires, a dream man who had captured her heart at first glance. From the moment Trevor entered her life, Emma knew he was the one for her. For five years, she had been exclusively committed to him, never once questioning his love until her entire world came crumbling before her eyes. Emma realized that his love for her had all been an elaborate deception. His words, his actions, his smiles, his compliments, they were all carefully constructed web of lies. "I can't continue like this," Trevor's words resounded in the room, causing Emma's stomach to twist in knots of tension. Fear gripped her heart, crawling up her throat and threatening to escape in a scream of despair. "I never loved you." With one sentence, Trevor shattered Emma's heart into a million pieces without remorse. Her cries and pleas for a chance for them to salvage their five-year relationship and fairy tale ending fell upon deaf ears. As she realized she had been cheated on for five years, Emma became the outcast in her own story. Determined to make Trevor pay for his betrayal and beg for her mercy, Emma went after the most important person in Trevor's life. The moment her eyes locked with Mr. Ethan Maddox, Trevor's billionaire father, at a get-together party, Emma knew her revenge would be both delicious and swift. Not only would she bring down Trevor, but she would also topple his powerful father from his pedestal.

The tale of a widow's harrowing journey through grief and peril into the cold remnants of a dead world. Damon Sharpe had in part found victory, he believed, in his battle to unearth a truth obscured by time. By autumn, he was dead, leaving to his wife Anne a house of unfulfilled wishes, remnants, and the key to the enigma of his obsession, the Mourner’s Cradle. A journey through grief and peril delivers Anne Sharpe from her home in St. Charles to the faraway skeletons of a long-dead civilization where she will find the desperate answers she seeks…or die trying. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

"They said that secrets are meant to be kept within our notice but some mysteries are better off unveiled." Valencia Rhyss has lived a life of neglect and indifference ever since her mother left for another man. She continued to live in adversity despite being the only daughter of the world's most well-known billionaire CEO, Charles Rhyss, Valencia tried her best to be acknowledged by her father for her efforts, however, she will always remain a third-place medal because he's blind to her endeavours and only focused on her two brothers. But not Until she discovered a horrific secret kept by her family that made all her misfortunes make sense, and after she attained this appalling knowledge she plans to go against her father with the help of his business rival, Dion Nester.

Daciana's life is anything but ordinary. Believed to be the reincarnation of the most powerful primordial werewolf in history, she is being hunted by both werewolves and werewolf hunters. After her mother's death, she is forced to live with her biological father, who despises werewolves and trains her to become a hunter. But when Daciana meets the Donovan family, a powerful werewolf clan, she finds herself caught in a web of secrets and lies. As she grows closer to Elan, the black sheep of the Donovan family, she discovers a heartbreaking truth. As Daciana's 18th birthday approaches, her full powers as Azrael are set to awaken, and she must choose where her true loyalty lies. With her family, her kind or with the man she's falling in love with? But when her own father betrays her, Daciana must fight for her life and everything she holds dear. In this thrilling tale of love and betrayal, the stakes are high, and the cost of failure could mean the end of everything.

Mona and Lisa are twins. Being the eldest,Mona is chosen to marry the wealthy multi Billionaire Lore Cavannaugh, but on her wedding day,she elopes with her gangstar boyfriend. Lisa chooses to wed by pretending to be Mona in order to save their family's honor and reputation. Awaiting her sister's return,Lisa finds herself falling madly in love with the person who doesn't belong to her and who thinks she's someone else. What happens when Mona returns to get back what rightfully belongs to her? And what will be Lore's reaction when he finds out that the woman he married and has fallen in love with is not the one he wanted? Will he tolerate that he was tricked or will he burn the world to ash?

In a world where ancient curses and forbidden love collide, Avery Walter, an unsuspecting high school student, finds herself at the heart of a supernatural battle. Unveiling hidden identities, family secrets, and a thousand-year-old prophecy when an ancient Lycan warrior, Rayne, awakens from centuries of slumber. Avery, the reincarnated mate he's longed for, becomes both his salvation and the epicenter of an age-old conflict with a blood-thirsty hybrid foe who must awaken upon their mate bond - a curse meant to keep them apart. Will Rayne be able to save Avery from the fate she suffered years ago or will the emergence of his foe bring more misfortunes than the last time?

Raina Wycliffe thought the monsters were just stories, until she found the body. Torn open. Drained. Now vampires walk the streets of Windshade Hollow again, and one of them seems to know her. He’s fast, terrifying, and uncomfortably familiar. But when he tastes her blood and recoils in agony, Raina realizes she might be something else entirely—something even the undead fear. As more elders turn up dead and her town sinks deeper into darkness, Raina finds herself hunted by creatures that shouldn’t exist, protected by a vampire who doesn’t trust himself around her, and haunted by a past she can’t remember. Whatever she is, it’s waking up. And it’s hungry.