Gwen Counter

Before Grandpa passed, he left behind two things: a billion-dollar fortune and three matches. He said, "Each of you gets to pick one. Renee, you're the oldest, so you go first." I did not hesitate for even a second and chose the fortune. That left my adopted sister, Vera Gallagher, with nothing but three matches. What none of us could have known was that those three matches were no ordinary matches. Each one, when lit, could make any wish come true. Vera resented our parents for favoring me, so she immediately cursed them a terrible death. Sure enough, Dad suddenly suffered a heart attack and died on the spot, and Mom was hit by a speeding semi-truck on her way to the hospital. I grabbed a kitchen knife and went straight to Vera to settle the score. I growled, "Didn't I tell you that once you turned 18, I would split Grandpa's inheritance with you? Our parents opened their home to you and gave you everything I had growing up. All these years, you ate the same food and wore the same clothes as I did. How could you betray them?!" Vera's face was filled with greed. "Since they chose to adopt me, they should have thrown you away and given me all the good things instead! I don't want your handouts. Once you're all dead, the money will be mine anyway!" With that, Vera sneered and lit the second match. "I wish Renee would be trafficked to some remote backwoods town, forced to carry and deliver eight babies at once, and die from complications!" I was horrified. I emptied my savings and hired over 1000 bodyguards to protect me day and night, making sure there was not a single weak spot. However, one night, every single bodyguard suddenly passed out at the same time, and I was kidnapped and sold deep into the mountains. I was tortured, abused, and forced to endure things no person should ever have to survive. I did not know how much time had passed before I finally swallowed my last breath in agony and humiliation. When I opened my eyes again, I had been reborn on the very day the inheritance was divided.

Ivana Florentina harus merasakan patah hati ketika Gwen—cinta pertama suaminya kembali. Pernikahan yang sudah berjalan lima tahun benar-benar seperti tidak ada artinya di mata Arga. Pria yang selalu bersikap dingin itu mulai mencair dan selalu memperlakukan Gwen dengan baik. Bahkan di depan Ivana sendiri, Arga tidak segan-segan memanjakannya. Sedih, patah hati dan kecewa. Ivana memilih untuk melarikan diri. Dia benar-benar melepaskan Arga sepenuhnya setelah perjuangannya untuk mempertahankan pria itu. Tapi, siapa sangka, ada hal yang tidak diketahuinya. Rahasia besar yang disembunyikan Gwen dan juga Arga. Keputusan apa yang akan diambil Ivana setelah mendengarnya? Apakah dia akan kembali pada Arga atau tetap menjauh dan membiarkan semua berjalan seperti keinginan sang suami?

For five long years, Gwen believed she was living a life of love, marriage, and family. But her reality was a carefully constructed lie, manipulated by a cruel narcissist and a vengeful enemy. Forced to embrace false memories, she married Mason Burkely, a man whose obsession and violence left her bruised, both in body and soul. Even her daughter, Kayla, suffered at the hands of the very man she was supposed to call “dad.” When Adrian Salvador, the love Gwen thought she had lost forever, reenters her life, the truth begins to surface. With the help of the wise and enigmatic Doctor Liang, Gwen starts reclaiming memories stolen from her, uncovering the horrors she endured and the manipulations that defined her supposed life. But remembering comes at a cost. Gwen is haunted by betrayal, abuse, and the knowledge of the child she carried and lost because of Mason. As darkness and fear threaten to consume her, she must confront her trauma, face her abuser, and navigate the complex emotions of love, trust, and desire, especially with the man who truly belongs in her heart. A Kiss For Every Bruise is a story of survival, resilience, and reclamation. A journey through pain, lies, and heartbreak toward healing, justice, and the rediscovery of love that was never truly lost.

They caught my fiancé with my sister on the night of our engagement party. Tangled in a private wine cellar. My family name was dragged through the mud. We became the laughingstock of the Chicago Outfit. Then came Don Lorenzo Falcone. He proposed in front of all the Families, saving my honor and forging a more powerful alliance. For four years, he put me on a pedestal. But an old injury left him unable to father an heir. This year, through the family’s private doctor, I finally got pregnant. After that, his devotion became absolute. I thought this powerful man was my savior. My only protector. Until I heard him talking to his right-hand man. “Boss, Arabella worships you. How could you do it? You had the doctor switch the vials, made Arabella the surrogate for the Moretti heir. Just 'cause Isabella couldn't handle the pain? The kid’s due in two months. What’s the plan?” He was silent for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was ice. “When the child is born, it goes to Isabella. It's the only thing that guarantees her future with the Morettis.” “And Arabella?” “I’ll tell her the baby didn’t make it.” “She’ll still be Mrs. Falcone. She’ll have everything she could ever want.” So that was it. My great protector. All of it… for another woman. This tainted bloodline? I don’t want it in me. And this sham of a marriage? I’m done.

I was ready to leave the Vampire Academy's main campus with Liam, my childhood sweetheart. All because he told me he was being bullied. He was the unrecognized bastard of the Vance clan. Born with a fraction of the power we pure-bloods commanded. So I promised him. I would go with him to Duskfall Academy. A campus that didn't care about bloodlines or power. A place where he could finally belong. But the night before we were supposed to seal the transfer scrolls with our blood signets, he betrayed me. I heard his friend's sneering voice. "You drank beast blood and faked the whole abuse act just to dump Isabella Thorne? Damn, Liam. That's cold-blooded." Liam just shrugged. "I'm sick of her pure-blood, high-and-mighty attitude. And this is cleaner than having her clinging to me forever." My world shattered. I turned and walked away. On the ancient transfer scroll, I took my dagger and slashed through the name of Duskfall Academy. Then I wrote the name my family always intended for me: Crimson Fortress Academy, in the Evernight. It seemed everyone had forgotten. Even as fated blood-bond mates, I, Isabella Thorne, am the sole pure-blood heir to the Thorne clan. Once I sever our ties, he can crawl back to me on his knees, and I wouldn't let him have a single drop of my blood. He'll be nothing.

I used to work as a model, but not the typical kind. In our profession, everyone had a benefactor, someone who supported them financially. I dedicated myself to my benefactor for a year and a half, tending to his needs diligently. Despite my dedication, I was eventually abandoned. Just when I gathered my courage and decided to start afresh, he showed up again, "Do you want to date me? Officially."

At nine months pregnant, I was in the final stretch of my term, and my body heavy with a baby due any day. But my husband, Vito Falcone, underboss of the family, had locked me away. He held me in a sterile underground medical room and injected me with a labor suppressant. As I screamed in agony, he coldly told me to endure it. Because his brother's widow, Scarlett, was expected to go into labor at the exact same time. A blood oath he'd made with his late brother declared that the firstborn son would inherit the family's lucrative West Coast territory. "That inheritance belongs to Scarlett's child," he said. "With Daemon gone, she is utterly alone and destitute. You have my love, Alessia. All of it. I just need her to deliver safely. Then it's your turn." The drug was a constant, agonizing torment. I begged him to take me to a hospital. He grabbed me by the throat, forcing me to meet his icy gaze. "Stop the act! I know you're fine. You’re just trying to steal the inheritance." "To get ahead of Scarlett, you'll stop at nothing." My face was ashen. My body convulsed as I managed a desperate whisper. "The baby's coming. I don't care about the inheritance. I just love you, and I want our child to be born safely!" He sneered. "If you were really that innocent, if you had an ounce of love for me, you wouldn't have forced Scarlett to sign that prenup, waiving her child's inheritance rights." "Don't worry, I'll be back for you after she's given birth. you're carrying my own flesh and blood, after all." He kept a vigil outside Scarlett's delivery room all night. It was only after seeing the newborn in her arms that he remembered me. He finally sent his second in command, Marco, to release me. But when Marco finally called, his voice was shaking. "Boss... the missus and the baby... they're gone." In that moment, Vito Falcone shattered.

In this gripping werewolf tale, Gwen finds herself heartbroken after her lover chooses someone else as his Luna. Seeking solace in a bar, she has a one-night stand with a human, only to discover she's pregnant with his child. As the child's powers pose a threat to the supernatural world, Gwen must team up with the child's father, a warlock, to protect their family and prevent a dangerous prophecy from coming true. Amidst the chaos, their relationship blossoms, but can their love survive the pressures of their new reality?

“I never loved you, Gwenevier. You were only a means to an end, you’ve given me what I wanted and I don’t have any need for you again,” Damien spat out in anger. ************************ Gwendolyn Silverfang was once an Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack, betrayed by those she loved and left to die. But death was only the beginning. Reborn by the Moon Goddess into a new body with a powerful secret, Gwen has been given a second chance. She has three months to find her true mate and avenge her past life—or face an eternity lost to darkness. But when the mysterious Lycan King, Lucian, recognizes the body she now inhabits as that of his late beloved, Gwen must navigate a treacherous web of past loyalties and present dangers. As she unravels the truth about her resurrection and the forces that conspired against her, Gwen discovers that the greatest threat to her mission might be the very man she is destined to save—or destroy.

'Gwen pushed him back, trying to create enough space between them. "I do not love you." Alexander smirked. "You do. You just don't know that you do." Gwen moved back. "Do you know the ways of my heart." "Yes, I do. And it tells the truth. You are only too stubborn to acknowledge it." He moved closer, pressing her against the wall. "When you decide to tell yourself the truth, I will be waiting." He kissed her forehead. "But don't make me wait long. I am not as patient as people think." This time he kissed her lips and staked off, leaving Gwen in a complete daze.' Marriage and a family is all life is to Gwen and she would see to it that she is not humiliated before then. A wife, and not a mistress is what she plans to be, but what can be done when the king of her country makes a proposal to put her by his side? Alexander is used to getting what he wants and getting his way, after all, he is King. But when he sets his eyes on the young and beautiful Guinevere who is just as stubborn as he is, will making her stay at the castle earn him her love, or will it be the beginning of his undoing? (Hating Her King is the sequel to Loving Her Duke and is also the second book of the British Blood Trilogy.)