Hothouse Flower Read Online Novels & Stories

My boss, Paul Cunningham, blew a major investment. When the board came after him, he shoved me out as the fall guy. After I got fired, I couldn't keep up with the mortgage. As if things weren't bad enough, my husband fell sick and needed money fast. I went back to ask for severance. Paul stayed in his luxury car and flicked a couple of hundred bucks at me. "Severance?" he scoffed. "Selene, you cost me billions. And you still have the nerve to ask me for money?" He smirked. "Take it. Use it to pick out a decent urn for your husband." I stood there, watching the car disappear down the street, my fists clenched so tightly that my nails dug into my palms. That night, I dropped a bomb in a large investor group chat. [Hi, I'm looking for new job opportunities. I have years of experience cooking the books, and my ex-boss loved my work!]

It was the third anniversary of my registration of a mate bond with Xavier Ashford, the alpha of Shadowcrest Pack. My gift to him was a positive pregnancy test, but his gift to me was a contract terminating our bond as mates. I froze, too distraught to reach out and take it from him. Xavier cleared his throat awkwardly. "A wolf tricked Talia into getting pregnant. A pup born out of mate bond can't get the rights to live in the pack. My plan is to terminate our bond as mates and become mates with Talia for the time being so that her pup can have a legal identity. After she gives birth to her pup, then you and I can become mates again. How does that sound?" He passed me a bond termination contract. It had clearly been prepared a long time ago. He noticed my hesitation and explained gently, "You're my one true love. I'm only helping her as a friend. Even after we split up, I can guarantee that you won't be mistreated." I looked up at him with a smile and stayed silent. Then, I reached into my pocket and felt the pregnancy test under my fingers. The two red lines on the screen were as clear as day.

The day I win the cheerleading championship, the entire arena erupts with cheers for my team. But from the stands, my brother, Nelson Locke, hurls a water bottle straight at me. "You injured Felicia's leg before the performance just so you could win first place? She has leukemia, Victoria! Her dying wish is to become a champion. Yet you tripped her before the competition, all for a trophy! You're selfish. I don't have a sister like you!" My fiance, who also happens to be the sponsor of the competition, steps onto the stage with a cold expression and announces, "You tested positive for illegal substances. You don't deserve this title. You're disqualified." All the fans turn against me. They boycott me entirely—some even go so far as to create a fake memorial portrait of me, print it, and send it to my doorstep. I quietly keep the photo. I'll probably need it soon anyway. It's been three years since I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Knowing I don't have much time left, I choose to become the type of person they always wanted me to be—the perfect sister who loves without question, the well-mannered woman who knows when to keep quiet, and the kind of person who never, ever lies.

Anathea Jacobson has had a crush on Gregory Sinclair for ten years. She thinks marrying him is a dream come true. Even if he's just a block of ice now, she'll surely be able to melt him over time. However, all she ever gets is his ice-cold treatment. He's gentle and tender to his true love, but he scorns and neglects her. He also mistreats and humiliates her… Anathea endures it all because they have a son. For his sake, she's willing to cling to her title of Mrs. Sinclair and cage herself in this loveless marriage for the rest of her life. This changes when she's abducted. Gregory spends the night with his true love, and even her beloved son abandons her—he wants to have Gregory's true love as his mother! That's when Anathea sees sense. Her husband will never love her, and her son will never appreciate her. If that's the case, she doesn't want them anymore. She wants to live for herself! … After the divorce, Anathea picks up floral art again. She sets up a company, makes big money, and wins various awards. She wants to give herself all the love she deserves so that she'll go back to being the lively, vivacious woman she once was. Gregory panics when he sees the men surrounding her and vying for her affections. He falls to his knees before her, his eyes rimmed with red as he pleads, "I love you, Nat. Please don't leave me." Anathea sneers. "Your love is too little, too late, Mr. Sinclair." Her son clings to her legs and wails. "Don't abandon me, Mom!" She pushes him away impassively. "Don't call me that. I'm not your mother."

Brielle Johnson's parents divorced and she decides to move to a small town to live with her grandparents. She starts a new school and meets new people and discovers hidden secrets. Her life changes drastically in more than ways she'd ever expected. Blake Grayson just turned 18 and looking forward to finding out that his long-time girlfriend is his mate. Both of them made a promise that if they are not mates, they would reject their mates and accept each other as chosen mates. Things take a turn when it appears that his girlfriend is his twin sister's mate. His feelings about everything change when he is unable to betray his twin sister and steal her mate from her so he decides to distance himself from the girl he once loved and break their promise. He soon finds his own mate who is a human and is caught trying to get to know his mate and his ex who won't move on from their past.

I was in a relationship with Quinn Lucas for five years and thought I had touched her with my sincerity. That night, I got a phone call from her when I was preparing to propose to her. "Kyle, come to the hotel." Then, she sent me the address. When I arrived, she told me to buy contraceptives from the supermarket next door. I thought we were close to our happily ever after, so I was excited. When I knocked on the door of her room again, I saw a man, who took the contraceptives in my hand and thanked me. I froze in place...

Jessica came to her senses under the bed of her fiancé and good friend’s, regaining her IQ, and couldn’t go back ever since. The douchebag: “Jessica, prepare a birthday gift to celebrate my dad’s birthday.” “Sorry, now I am the chairman, it is him who should pay tribute!” Jessica’s scum girlfriend: “Jessica, can you let me host the marriage show?” “You said that you haven’t experienced the pure love, so don't even think about it!” Jessica tore off the fake masks of the scumbags’ and turned to a pair of ink eye pupils: “It does feel cool to slap others, but don’t forget what your identity is!” “What identity?" Christian Maddox held her waist lightly, his face without missing a beat: “You should ask the little prince in your belly...”

I loved Adriano Ferraro—yeah, that Don—for five freaking years. He wasn't just my fiancé; he was my anchor in a world where loyalty got tested, and weakness got you killed. We had it all mapped out—dreams, plans, a future we actually thought we owned. Until I lost our baby. I reached for him, shaking, desperate for anything. But comfort never came. Instead, it was her. His stepsister, propped up. "Don't buy her act. She's just fishing for attention—again." That snake smiled like she just won a prize for emotional torture, dripping venom while fanning the flames. And Adriano? He bought it. He turned away. In that moment, it hit me—I wasn't just grieving. I was completely alone. The kid I carried, the future I built in my head? Gone. And so was I. I walked out. On him. On the Ferraro Family I was stupid enough to think I could belong to. All I left behind was silence. Empty space where we used to be. Now Adriano's drowning in regret, but it's too damn late. The life we should've had, the love we should've built? Dust. And her? The stepsister who ruined it all? She's paying for every lie.

The night the family’s don was attacked, my husband had abandoned his post to win back his misbehaving mistress. The first time I lived through this, I activated his communication device to summon him back. He thus saved the don and rose through the ranks. However, his mistress had died in the firefight, and he blamed it all on me. Thus, on my delivery date, he dumped me in an abandoned factory and had some stray dogs rip me and my baby apart. “There were so many bodyguards there that night. Why did you have to call me back? You knew that she would die! You did this on purpose!” Somehow, right before I died, I went back in time to that night. I did not activate the communication device this time. I threw it into the fountain and watched it sink. Then, although I was eight months pregnant, I shielded the don and took the bullet meant for him.

I was a pack slave but my identity wasn't normal. I chose to run away from my pack when the cruel Alpha of our pack discovered my identity. He was a nightmare. Another name for assault, abuse and torture. Women in his pack were just his fun thing, a toy for him to play with or tear apart and I refused to be one. I refused to be exploited by him. But to get away from him, I needed someone stronger than him. And then I met a stranger who could help me. I never thought that a destined mate did exist in this world. Until I felt his soothing scent, he was my destined mate. The one chosen by the moon goddess for me. However, I never thought that I couldn't even tell him that I was his mate when I heard his words. "Then what will you do if you ever find your mate?" his Beta asked. "I will strangle her to death with my own hands" he gritted bitterly. That's it...! I kept my body, my fragrance, and everything else from him, but fate had other plans for us. Regardless of the distance, we reconnected, and I heard something distinct from what I had heard previously. "You are mine...! Only mine...! I will never let you go..." Is he the same man I met before? I was confused as I thought about what he had said. Before I could think about it any further, he stepped forward, gripping me in his embrace and kissed me aggressively. Was that because he recognized me as his mate or it is because he discovered that I was the descendant of the legendary Divine bloodline whom he had been searching for, who could save his family? ****** Please do leave a review...