House With Good Bones

Today was my birthday—the day Jason promised he would propose. Instead, I found him in bed with my cousin. My heart shattered into a million pieces. I had grown up in my uncle and aunt’s house after losing my parents, enduring their cruelty and coldness, and Jason had been the only light in my dark world. Now even he sided with the people who had tormented me the most. As if betrayal weren’t enough, my own family drugged me, planning to hand me over to some man to secure a business deal. I thought my life was over—until fate intervened. I ended up in the bed of Adrian, Jason’s untouchable, powerful uncle.  One night changed everything. I had decided to bury it forever in my heart, but he grabbed my wrist and said slowly, “If all you need is a marriage… how about we get married?”

I tried to die a hundred times to make him notice me. For two years, I was Shawn Scott’s wife in name only—an unwanted bride bound by a scandal, left to live in the shadow of another woman. My parents only saw my faults. My husband only saw my mistakes. As for me? I saw no way out. Every time I tried to end it, I’d wake up again, bruised and humiliated. I was greeted not with concern, but accusations such as "Why are you so selfish, Zoe Jennings?" or "Why can’t you be more like your sister Yvonne?" It wasn’t until my hundredth suicide attempt that I finally understood: I was the only one fighting for a love that never existed. So, I stopped. I walked away. I disappeared. I gave them what they wanted—my absence. However, when I left, the man who never looked at me twice started chasing the ghost of the woman he thought he knew. By the time he realized what he truly lost, I was already learning how to live again.

I chase after Dean Wagner for five years while Graham Ashford chases after me for seven. When Dean marries Emily Caldwell, I finally say yes to being Graham's girlfriend. Graham is over the moon. He treats me like I'm everything to him, like he'd do whatever it takes just to make me happy. But Graham doesn't believe in marriage. Even when our daughter turns four, he still hasn't married me. He won't even let her call him "Dad". One night, I overhear him joking around with his buddies. "Your daughter's already four. You still aren't bringing your wife and kid home to meet your parents?" Graham taps his knuckles on the table and laughs. "You know why I got with Nora and had a kid with her. I just want to make Emily jealous. "Nora's easy to fool. She won't ever leave me, even if I never bring her or the kid home." He thinks he has me all figured out, but he doesn't. I turn and leave without a word, then plan to leave him for good. A man like that doesn't deserve my love. And he sure as well doesn't deserve to be my daughter's father.

I find cigarette ashes on the passenger seat of my wife's car. She brushes me off, saying, "My new assistant left it there. He's not the most sensible." When I ask for a divorce, she stares at me in disbelief. "Just because of that?" "Yeah. Just because of that!"

"I, Grace Hawthorne reject Logan Harper,” I announced with steel in my voice. The hall fell into deep silence, I could hear the sound of sweat dripping from Logan’s forehead or my father’s increasing heartbeat. Logan's face contorted with a mixture of anger and disbelief. "Grace, what are you doing? This is our wedding!" “Not anymore. I reject you.” I announced once again. My father, Daniel, standing nearby, was seething with rage. He stepped forward, his face contorted with fury. In a fit of madness, he raised a hand as if to strike me, but before he could make contact, a commanding voice rang out, stopping him in his tracks. "How dare you lay a hand on my Mate?" Xander had appeared in a flash of power, his presence filling the room. His eyes bore into Daniel’s with an intensity that sent a chill down everyone's spine. Everyone’s face paled seeing the Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack, anger rushed through Daniel’s features and he roared. "Not your mate, she is my daughter." Xander cut him off with a wave of his hand. "You dare to touch what’s mine and I will show you what a real Alpha can do for his mate." Xander’s growl had an intensity that shook even The wolf council. His deep blue eyes bored into mine and a slow smile grazed his features, he gestured to me to come toward him and I did. “Miss me Darling.” he purred, and a chill ran down my spine.

After saving her from a fatal accident, he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her face close to his and licked her bleeding lips, "You knew I love babies and desire to have them. Yet, you dared to keep the news from me and leave my house with my baby in your womb. Aurora Collins, you'll be punished for the crime." He combined their lips in a toe-curling kiss, leaving her numb. ~~~ Damien Hunter was a billionaire alpha, who was rising in the business world. Aurora Collins— Aura for him, was his ever so impressive human housekeeper. She did everything as per his expectations and met his needs — except... His desires. His virgin housekeeper didn't leave any chance of teasing his hard-on with her innocent moves, and it was one of the same heated moments that they shared made him loose control and claim what he's been desiring to claim ever since. Alas, It wasn't supposed to be a bumpy ride ahead after that... But it did! Read 'Alpha's Housekeeper' by Chantinglove138 today!

On Valentine’s Day, my girlfriend Florence Higgins was rushed to the hospital after accidentally eating undercooked wild mushrooms. Half-conscious on the hospital bed, she murmured, “Michael… I owed you too much. If my family’s company hadn’t been on the brink of collapse, you wouldn’t have left, and I wouldn’t have ended up with Noah.” I am Noah Owens. As for Michael Connor, he was the love of her life. The one she cherished most during her youth. What she seemed to forget was that when her family’s company was about to collapse, Michael had been the first to walk away. During those seven years, I was the one who helped revive her company, the one who stayed by her side. I believed she might eventually have a change of heart, but I never expected her to abort our child for the sake of her first love. At that moment, I finally understood that you can’t force warmth where there is none.

I've loved Jonathan Pickle for half my life. I used my family's resources to help him attain success. However, in the third year of our marriage, he brought his mistress home to stomp all over my pride. That wasn't the worst of it—he even destroyed my family. … I open my eyes to see Jonathan in his university days. Unexpectedly, I'm not the only person who's been given a second chance at life.

When I received the news that my fiancé, Ellison Perez, had postponed our wedding for the 18th time, I happened to be walking out of the hospital, clutching my medical report. Once again, he had delayed our wedding for an entire month, all because of my adopted foster sister, Becky. I thought about what the doctor had told me. After hesitating for a long time, I finally dialed Ellison's number. "I can't wait until next month. If we can't get married tomorrow, there won't be another chance." However, Ellison only took my words as another fit of childish willfulness. "Don't be unreasonable, Lily. Have you forgotten how Becky took your place as the hostage? She was tortured for a whole month before being rescued." "It's because of you that she developed severe trauma. Now you can't even wait one more month for her to recover?" I could hear my parents' voices chiming in over the line. "Becky still suffers from extreme fear of men. Ellison is the only one who can calm her down. Isn't it your fault she ended up like this?" "You're being selfish, Lily. A wedding can wait, but Becky's condition can't!" I had known for a long time that ever since that incident, my entire family had chosen Becky's side. Even so, tears streamed down my face. "Fine," I said softly. "Postpone it." I clenched the medical report tightly in my hand. They did not know that just moments ago, the doctor had told me the truth— I was in the final stage of liver cancer. I only had one month to live.

For three years, we held a wedding in name only—my husband, Kit Rutgers, a pilot, canceled our marriage registration eighteen times. The first time, his female trainee, Katy Ferguson, had a test flight. I waited outside the county clerk’s office the whole day. The second time, he got a call from her mid-drive, made a sharp U-turn, and left me standing on the side of the road. After that, every time we planned to make it official, some crisis with Katy mysteriously arose. Eventually, I chose to walk away. But the moment I boarded a plane to Solara, he lost his mind—and chased me there.