Gecko Moria Laugh

When I go home for the holidays, I find out that my dad has installed a facial recognition machine at the front door. "You'll have to pay an entry fee of 50 thousand dollars. Will you be paying by card or payment code?" I thought my dad was joking at first. As I laugh, I attempt to walk through the front door while pushing my luggage forward. But my mom passes me a price list with an icy look. "That'll be 200 dollars for dragging stuff across the floor. You'll also be charged 1,000 dollars per hour for using up the air." I'm stunned by her words. "Mom, stop messing around already!" But when I walk into the house, I realize that the air inside has disappeared. Unable to breathe, my face soon turns bright red out of suffocation as I kneel down on the floor. My mom huffs coldly again. "If you want to live, then pay up!" With great difficulty, I dig out my phone and pay the fees. Once the transaction is done, I can feel air rushing through my nostrils and into my lungs. For a few moments, I pant heavily. As I stare at my cold-looking parents, I finally feel that something is off. So, I scramble up to my feet and rush for the door. But that's when I find out that the front door is already welded shut. There's a payment code pasted on the door as well as a message. "Exit fee. One million dollars."

During a family dinner, I, Ingrid Sutherland, bring up divorce. My husband, Samuel Ziegler, lets out a cold laugh in exasperation. "Are you mad just because I peeled a banana for Whitney two days ago? I can't believe you're still throwing a tantrum over that now! She's my sister-in-law. What's wrong if I show her a little bit more care?" He did the same thing in my past life. Ever since his older brother, Charles Ziegler, got seriously hurt, Samuel always put me last and prioritized taking care of the supposedly weaker Whitney Lovette. Whenever I voiced my dissatisfaction, he would criticize me while standing on an irrefutable moral high ground. He would say, "Why can't you be more understanding and cut Whitney some slack?" When it was Whitney's birthday, she proposed going on a skiing trip. But then, an avalanche hit us. Samuel protected her the whole time and led her down the mountain. However, he left me to die in the avalanche. It was then I realized that Whitney was not just his sister-in-law, but also the one he loved. When I remain silent, Samuel chuckles derisively. "You'd better not regret it." It's like he's sure I'm just throwing a tantrum. In one fluid movement, he glides a pen across the bottom of the page, confident and composed. But this time, I'm really giving up on him for good.

I've lived in a cage my entire life. The marriage was my father's idea, protect the company's image, secure the board's approval, play the role of the perfect son even when it was killing me inside. I never had a choice. Until Robin Maximus walked into my building, paint-stained and beautiful, and reminded me what freedom tasted like. I should've been honest from the start. But when his body pressed against mine in the backseat of my car, his breath hot against my neck as he whispered my name, I couldn't bring myself to care about anything else. His laugh became the only sound I wanted to hear. His touch, the only thing that made sense. For the first time in years, I remembered what it felt like to be alive. Then he found out I'd been lying to him. Now Robin's walking away, and I'm standing at a crossroads. My inheritance, my position as CEO, the empire I've spent my entire life building on one side. And on the other, the man who sees me for who I really am, not the title or the last name or the expectations. Choosing him means losing everything I've worked for. My family's approval. The board's trust. The company itself. But losing Robin means losing the only part of myself I actually recognize anymore. The empire or the man I love? Am I brave enough to choose?

All you need is love and trust to break a bad boy and change him. Isabelle -Belle - Baldwin is a sweet innocent girl who is trying to do the right thing by staying near her ill father and take care of him. In doing so, she puts herself aside. Shawn Grayson is gorgeous but arrogant as hell and he is becoming the nightmare that will bother Belle's every dream at night and every single minute during the day. Is it possible for them to live together a love story? Well, if you want to find out, you should start reading this novel. You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She's not perfect—you aren't either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break—her heart. So don't hurt her, don't change her, don't analyze, and don't expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she's not there.

My boyfriend belonged to the untouchables among the capital's elite, with a family fortune worth tens of billions. To "test" me, he spent seven years never buying me a single gift, never spending a cent on me. Even a stop at a convenience store for condoms had to be split down the middle. Then, my mother fell critically ill. I borrowed from every friend and relative I could, but I was still two thousand short to cover the surgery fees. No matter how much I pleaded, he refused to lend me the money. I arranged my mother's funeral on my own. When I went back to pack my belongings, I accidentally found a list of gifts he had bought for the young woman next door. A private luxury estate. Designer handbags. Jewelry worth hundreds of millions. There was also a voice chat with his friend. "Caleb, is it true Jessica actually humbled herself and begged you for two thousand?" Caleb Brooks let out a low, amused laugh, his tone lazy and indifferent. "Nevaeh wasn't wrong. Anyone who goes around begging over two thousand — what else is she if not a gold digger? "We've only been together seven years and she's already trying to get money out of me." So that was the truth. Seven years of so-called testing, it seemed, had been sparked by nothing more than a few manipulative words from a young woman next door. However, it no longer mattered. The moment my mother passed away, I had already decided to leave him.

Theo's back arches off the cold locker room floor, a thick silicone cock buried to the hilt inside him, his stepbrother's hand wrapped around his throat. "You wanted this," Hunter growls, squeezing tighter. Theo's vision spots. His cock weeps. He nods or tries to. The pressure on his windpipe is pure ecstasy. Every brutal thrust of the toy scrapes against that spot that makes him see stars. He's a masochist. He can handle it. He needs it. Hunter leans down, breath hot against Theo's ear. “Say you're mine. Say the contract doesn't mean shit." Theo chokes out a laugh around the hand on his neck. "Make me." --- That's how it started. A lie. A scholarship. A stepbrother he pretended to hate and date Theo had a plan, keep his head down, win games, land the scholarship. But his new sponsor only supports out-and-proud athletes and Theo isn't out. So he lied. Said he was already in a relationship. With Hunter. His tattooed, sharp-tongued, forbidden stepbrother. That was four years ago. Now Hunter is back not as family, but as Theo's team manager. Same smirk. Same hands. Same way of pinning Theo against office walls and reminding him that lies have consequences. "You wanted to be in a relationship with me?" Hunter whispers, shoving the toy deeper, cutting off Theo's air again, spitting on his own cock fists stroking from base to tip while biting on Theo’s earlobe. "Then bleed for it.”

The king orders me to spend three days in a trial marriage with four beastmen separately and pick one to be my consort. The first beastman is a naga, which means double the fun down there. The second beastman is a werefox who has the fluffiest tail. The third beastman is a lycan. His kind is known for having the strongest core strength. The fourth beastman, on the other hand, is Julius Lockewood, a cervitaur I've liked since childhood. After I'm drugged, I reject the other three beastmen and search desperately for Julius while tremors rack my body. However, I end up overhearing his friend laugh and say, "Julius, you rascal. I can't believe you drugged the princess just to win a bet that she would keep herself pure for you. Aren't you worried that she'll go to someone else instead?" Julius snorts indifferently. "She's crazy in love with me. Cervitaurs prefer virgins. If she loses her virginity, she'll have no chance of marrying me. She wouldn't dare. I bet that even if she were driven mad with lust, she wouldn't touch anyone else." Heartbroken, I follow the king's orders and enter a trial marriage with each of the other three beastmen. When Julius comes to my house, he hears me beg, "Don't put your tail there…" It makes him so angry that he loses his mind. When the royal decree is issued, he gets on his knees and begs me to stay with him.

When I'm seven months pregnant, my mate, Kayden Booker, brings me to a celebratory party hosted in the Darkwind pack. Vera Walker, a Beta warrior, purposefully splashes red wine onto my gown. She also accuses me of smelling like a Rogue. I shove her away, only for her to collapse to the floor. Kayden immediately picks Vera up before slapping me in the face. "You're just a plaything to warm my bed, and yet you have the gall to touch what's mine?" That night, the video of me doing a lap dance while heavily pregnant is projected to the pack's public monitor, all thanks to Vera. The comment section is filled with the wolves' lewd chuckles and mocking comments. As I hide outside the door, I listen to Kayden and his subordinates' conversation. "She's just a human being who's meant to carry my pup. I'm going to abandon her when I get sick of her." "Only the Moon Goddess knows if that pup inside her womb is a bastard pup or what." "Vera is right. Women like her should be groomed." The wolves laugh among themselves. "Alpha Kayden, that woman sure is hot! Will you give her to us and let us have a taste?" Kayden replies icily, "Once she gives birth to that wretched pup, you can do whatever you want to her." Laughter fills the conference hall once again. I pull out the silver dagger that I've been tucking under my pillow. Then, I scratch out the countdown timer on my calendar.

The room pulsed with heat as their bodies tangled in a mess of sheets and grudges, with their mouths meeting like clashing swords. “You kiss like you're trying to win,” she hissed against his lips as her nails dug into his shoulders. “Always turning intimacy into a competition.” He let out a low and cruel laugh, his hot breath grazing her neck. “Better than your usual performance. All drama, no delivery. You moan like you're auditioning for a role you'll never land.” She pushed him down on the bed and her blazing eyes locked on his. He grunted as her naked body pressed against his nudity. “Says the man who thinks grunting is seductive. You sound like a dying engine,” she whispered in his ear with a smirk. The corner of his lips slowly lifted. She gasped when his hands travelled down her hips and reached her ass. “And yet you keep coming back for the ride.” ***** When Alessandro Montrego demands a bride to settle a long-standing debt, the plan is simple: get married to the docile and sweet twin sister. But before the wedding, she vanishes into thin air. To fill the position, Sierra, a fiery and sharp-tongued twin, is forced to take her place. Sierra and Alessandro clash like fire and ice as they thrust into a world of power, secrets, and simmering tension. However, beneath the bickering lies a slow-burning passion that neither of them expected. The blade of fate sharpens as love blossoms in the shadow of duty. Loyalty is put to the test, secrets are revealed, and love may cost more than either of them can bear. Because in a world built on debts and deals, not every love story is meant to end happily ever after. Will their fate be changed?

I was Alpha Adrian's secret for eight years. It took his grandfather’s centennial birthday for him to finally bring our son, Gale, and me home to the pack. He swore the pack Elders had finally given us their blessing. Our son, buzzing with excitement, bounced on the bed, clutching the champion’s medal from his junior fighting tournament. He’d fought tooth and nail to win it, just to make his father proud. But the moment we set foot on the Blackwood Manor grounds, we saw him. Adrian, with his arms wrapped around a blonde she-wolf, kissing her deeply. Adrian introduced her with a smile. "My mate, Sophia" Our son, Gale, rushed forward to confront him, stabbing a finger toward the seemingly perfect bite mark on my neck. "That's the mark Dad gave Mom! You all see it!" But the pack’s Head Elder stepped forward. After a cursory glance, he let out a cold sneer. "A clever trick of blood magic," he said with contempt. "It can mimic a scent, but it lacks the soul-deep connection of a true mate bond. Any experienced wolf can see through it." I turned to Adrian, my body frozen stiff. He turned away from me, gently stroking the real mark on Sophia's neck, which glowed with a silvery, moonlit light. "The Blackwood pack will not accept a half-blood who can’t even shift" he said. "The only one fit to stand by my side is Sophia." I looked at him, and a bitter laugh escaped me. To think I had suppressed my own Royal Alpha blood for a man like this.