How To Pick Locks

My name is Hazel Falken, and I am the only daughter of the Base Commander during the apocalypse. Even though it is the apocalypse, I am still spoiled left and right by my family and raised to be their little princess at home. My dad, Ernest Falken, is worried that I will marry into a family that will mistreat me. So, he decides to choose four husband candidates and bring them up in our own home for me to pick from when I'm older. In my past life, I chose Curtis Granger, whom I have liked for a long while, when Dad asked me to pick my husband. However, not long after our marriage, Curtis volunteers himself as a guard to be stationed outside the base perimeter. He never returns home after that, and I am left living as a widow in the safety of the base's inner district. 30 years later, when my hair has turned fully white, I decide that I can't wait for him anymore and go out to find him. I then realize that he has formed another family outside the base without my knowing. It then dawns on me that Curtis never liked me. He had also only married me because he wanted to repay Dad for bringing him up. Not long after that, a wave of zombies attacks us. Curtis pushes me down and shields me under his body. "Hazel, I know that I never should've lied to you. I'll give up my life to repay the kindness that Commander Falken has shown to me. "But if there is a next life, I hope that you won't pick me again." When I open my eyes again, I find out that I have travelled back in time to the day when Dad asks me to pick my husband. "Hazel, these four people are my right-hand men. Whom would you like to pick as your husband?"

Everyone in the mercenary group knew just how deeply Liam Smith loved me and feared losing me. He even suppressed his dark desires to make sure I felt truly safe. No matter how dangerous the mission, he made sure to check in every single day. Worried for his safety, I hid my identity and secretly became his team’s hacker. However, after one mission, I overheard the others joking over the radio: "Chief was in such a rush to pick that lock and go after Wendy. What's so irresistible about her?" Through an unattended monitor, I caught Liam glancing at the camera with a teasing smile. "Didn't I tell you guys that she nearly wrung me dry the last time we did it?" It felt like I had fallen into an ice-cold abyss. My heart shattered, and I summoned the system. [I want to leave this world.] The cold, mechanical voice replied without delay: [Once you leave, all traces of the host in this world will be erased.] [Starting the countdown: Seven days left.]

When the power meter in the house trips, Mom's foster daughter, Juniper Hawthorne, is trapped in the dark for five minutes. Even though I have claustrophobia, Mom locks me in an empty, pitch-black room. "You knew Juniper was terrified of the dark, yet you intentionally shut off the power just to frighten her! I'll teach you how to behave today!" I cry and beg her not to, but all I receive in return is a harsh slap. "Claustrophobia? That's just what happens when a kid grows up too spoiled." Late that night, I sense someone breaking into the house. The first thing I do is to call Mom, a renowned criminal psychologist, for help, only to be yelled at. "You're still really getting into this role just to fight Juniper for attention, aren't you? "Kidnappers, huh? Well, go ahead and die so you'll stop bothering me!" As she wishes, I'm brutally tortured and killed. My body is buried beneath Mom's favorite flowerbed. After I die, my soul is trapped in the body of a cat. All I can do is helplessly circle Mom until five days have passed. The police arrive with a mangled body and request her help in creating a portrait of the killer.

Aidan Allesia Moretti, the youngest daughter of the head of Moretti family was my key to revenge. Her parents had taken everything from me and now I was going to take everything right back. Starting with their youngest child, their golden girl. Only by the time I am finished with her she won’t be so golden. I plan on owning her, using her and leaving her broken. Let them pick up the pieces, just like they had forced me to but things are moving in the underworld and new threats are looming. Threats that not even the combined power of the Mafia and Bratva can survive. When it comes down to it, what side will I choose? To take down the Moretti family, how far am I willing to go? (This is a next generation story, but you don’t need to read the original 3 book series to enjoy!)

To fund my daughter's medical treatment, I consider reconnecting with my estranged family until an expected phone call changes everything. "Sir, your diamond necklace has arrived. You may come tomorrow to pick it up." After confirming the order is placed using my and my wife's contract information, my hope sparks. Perhaps the medical bills will finally be covered. When I arrive at the luxury boutique to claim the necklace, the sales clerk frowns, eyeing me from head to toe. "You're saying… you bought this necklace?" I nod, irritated by the condescension. "What happened to the service? Did all the luxury jewelers forget how to treat customers while I was away?" I said inwardly. The clerk flashes me a polite smile and turns to "retrieve" the item, but in reality, he radios the security. "Security, we have a suspected thief here."

It's 11:30 pm. Home alone, I decide to order some takeout. When the map shows the delivery guy is zero miles away, I receive a call from him. I pick up, only to hear unsettling silence from the other end. I hang up, annoyed. The next moment, the guy texts me, "Sorry, I'm hearing-impaired and unable to speak. I called to notify you to pick up your food as soon as possible. I can't explain things over the phone, and I apologize for that." Then comes another text. "You must've been waiting for a long time. I've left your order at your door, so please pick it up as soon as you can." Just as I prepare to open the door, I see bars of live comments—reminiscent of livestream chats—floating right before my eyes. "Don't open the door! That dude isn't a delivery guy at all! He's a murderer!" "He called you to check if you're a woman living alone!" "Seriously, why are all thriller story protagonists always so dumb? The delivery guy is obviously suspicious, yet she still wants to open the door."

He was my stepbrother. My Alpha. My curse. And I was the girl born to ruin everything. ****** Ember goes back to her pack, the ruthless Vale pack, forced to be betrothed by the one man she loathes, Alpha Lucien. But the moment she locks eyes with Zane, Alpha Magnus's heir and her cold, ruthless step-brother; the world comes to a halt. She feels the pull, violent, intoxicating and wrong. It's forbidden and threatens to go against the ancient rules that binds werewolves. They try to fight it, to make their love strife in a world where it's considered forbidden. But fate doesn't care about rules.

"The clothes you wear is mine. The house you live in, is mine. Even the air you breathe is mine. I will take away everything from you, even your name," ******* The life of Sienna Clairvoyant, a girl from a poor background gets bamboozled when she is abused by her boyfriend's brother and accused of theft by his mother. In the blink of an eye, the harsh reality that is her is thrown before her as she is locked up, beaten up again and left to die. Nine years later, she emerges from the ground as Sienna Williams, the wife of a deceased trillionaire, seeking revenge. Next to her, is a lovely set of twins that kept her going all those years and the eldest son of her deceased husband, who, secretly harboured feelings for her. With a meticulously crafted plan for revenge, Sienna Williams returns to the town that caused her doom, targeting all those who played a part in her demise. As soon as her gaze locks with her first love and the father of her twins, Sienna doesn't think she can go through with her plans. But seeing how greedy he and has family had become over the years, Sienna Williams decides that they deserve what she has in store for them. Miss Nobody Strikes Back!

Selene has spent her entire life as an outcast—a wolfless omega at the bottom of the Silver Claw Pack. Beaten down, used, and treated like nothing, she stopped dreaming of freedom a long time ago. Until the night she ran. With no pack and nowhere to go, she crosses into Black Oak territory, knowing it could mean her death. The Black Oak wolves are brutal, their Alpha even more so. But instead of being torn apart, she’s given a chance—a chance to fight, to survive, to become something more than the weak girl everyone saw her as. For the first time, she’s in control of her own fate. Until everything shifts again. Two months after her eighteenth birthday, the impossible happens—her wolf awakens. But the real shock comes in the dining hall, when she locks eyes with the last person she ever expected. Alpha Black. Feared. Ruthless. Untouchable. And now, her mate. But Selene has spent too long being unwanted, too long fighting for herself. She doesn’t know how to trust this bond—or the man fate has tied her to. Because belonging to the most powerful Alpha in the region doesn’t mean safety. It might just mean the most dangerous thing of all… giving someone the power to break her.

I went alone to my favorite singer’s concert. During the song selection segment, I was really excited and hoped that I would be lucky enough to be picked. But in the next second, I saw my husband, who was supposed to be on a business trip, appear on the screen. Next to him was Mia Louise, his first love. “I’d like to pick Back To The Past. I want to go back three years when I hadn’t broken up with Mia.” The entire stadium cheered and celebrated their love. I was the only one in tears. During the next song selection segment, I saw my teary face show up on the screen. “I’d like to pick Back To The Past as well. I want to return to the time when I never said yes to Samuel Gardner’s proposal.”