Hypocrisy

The yacht I'm steering crashes into a huge wave, scaring my husband's junior, who has a heart condition. So, my husband orders someone to tie me up and dangle me in the ocean by a rope. He even tells the captain to head straight into the waves. "You know Wren has a heart condition, yet you still scared her! How can you be so evil?" I beg him to let me go and tell him that I was following a charted path; I didn't mean for anything to happen. However, he just mocks me. "You've been a yacht driver for so long. Haven't you experienced anything like this before? I'll make you go through what Wren did! Let's see whether you'll pull this again!" After a day and night of this torment, he relents and decides to pull me back up. It's too bad he doesn't know that the waves have already torn me to shreds.

On my wedding day with Jack Miller, he ran off with his first love As if to taunt me, he would send a photo of himself with her from every new destination they visited. I was getting a manicure and enjoying imported French pastries with my afternoon tea when I received their ninety-ninth photo. But after three years of absence, Jack suddenly returned. He pointed at my wedding photo with someone else and shouted, “How dare you fool around with another man while I was gone!" I couldn't help but laugh. "What other man? I've been married to my husband for three years now." "Jack, you didn't actually think I was waiting for you all this time, did you?"

My mother-in-law’s final wish was simple—she wanted one last trip to Hawaii, to bask in the warmth of the sun before her time ran out. But her son, Vincent, didn’t see it that way. He thought I was manipulating her, using her as an excuse to drag him on a vacation he didn’t want. So, out of spite, he refused to grant her dying wish. I begged him. Pleaded. Swallowed my pride and all the hurt his accusations brought. After relentless persuasion, he finally relented. I thought, at last, I could give Lucy the happiness she deserved. But on the day we were set to leave, Vincent was nowhere to be found. And that same day, Lucy suffered a heart attack. She passed away with only me by her side—never getting to feel the warmth of the sun on her skin one last time. And then I saw it. A picture. Vincent, tagged at a luxury resort with his ex. The caption from her read: Thank you for abandoning your job to take me on this trip. You’re the best. I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry. I didn’t even confront him. I just packed my bags and left. And this time? Vincent found out about the truth and begged me to stay.

In the seven years that I have been bound to my Alpha heir mate Garrett, he had slept with every single friend around me. I pretended I saw nothing. I kept fulfilling my duties as the future Luna. Until the day I gave birth, his new mistress led rogue wolves straight to me. Their claws pierced through my belly with cruel precision. My mother was even killed by them when she tried to save me. In that desperate moment, I used the mind link to contact Garrett and begged him to save us. "Aria, when did you learn to pull these tricks? Don't think your pathetic acting will make me care about you." After saying that, he shut down the mind link. But he did send a car—to pick up his new mistress. By the time the patrol found me and rushed me to the hospital, the baby in my belly had been clawed out. My mother died too. The rogue wolves' poison coursed through her wounds until her body gave up. When I woke up, I stared numbly at Garrett's grandfather, the current Alpha of the Shadowmoon Pack. "Let me go," I said flatly. "Whatever I owed your pack, I've paid it back with my life."

After my family went bankrupt, I begged my fiancé Ryan to pump cash into our business. He didn't just refuse. He turned around and got engaged to someone else. When I was at the end of my rope, Ethan Brooks stepped up, tossing all his savings into my family's mess. Sadly, we missed our shot, and our company crashed. My parents couldn't handle it. They jumped off a building. Even so, I was thankful to Ethan and married him to pay him back. Three years later, at Lily Carter's birthday party, I overheard her talking to him. "You tanked the Harper family so I could win that bid. Won't Kelly blame you?" "For you, I'd give up everything. I'll just make it up to her." My blood ran cold as I realized our marriage was all a lie. The one he loved was Lily all along. I turned and left. If he was that hooked, I'd set him free.

The day Noelle Rutherford finds out she's pregnant, she braves the rain to go to a club that Chester Gray frequents. She stands outside a private room and pats her soaked hair dry with some tissues, wanting to surprise him when his get-together ends. Through the ajar door, she hears laughter. "Chester, your wedding to Noelle is in a week. Is your surprise for her ready?" "Of course," Chester says, his usually cool voice laced with tipsiness. "I'll make it a memory she'll never forget." Noelle pauses, and her lips curve upward in a sweet smile. Throughout her three years with Chester, he has truly cherished her like a treasure and loved her with all his heart. "Ha! Do you think she'll have a meltdown and lose her mind on the big day when she finds out I've been toying with her while pretending to be you this whole time?" Someone laughed. "She'd never in her wildest dreams imagine that Chester has an identical twin brother! When she finds out her boyfriend's brother has been playing her for three years…"

At the Thorn Pack banquet, Jacob Mason carefully cut the steak on my plate. His gentlemanly demeanor and meticulous attention to detail drew envious glances from those around us. "Our Alpha is so good to our Luna," a voice murmured from across the table. "You won’t find a more devoted mate in all of Southspire." I glanced at Jacob, a sweet warmth unfurled in my chest. I silently tightened my grip around the Moonstone Ring—a ring my father had left me, the symbol of power in the Lotus Pack. I had planned to give it to Jacob when the banquet ended, when we were alone. But as the evening wore on, the noise and the clinking of glasses became too much to bear. I feigned a slight dizziness, excusing myself to return to our castle ahead of him. In truth, I needed the time to prepare a surprise—something special to commemorate this night. When everything was set, I silently slipped back into the banquet hall, ready to take Jacob by the hand and whisk him away. But as I arrived, I stopped dead in my tracks. There he was, holding Hazel Rhea tightly in his arms. "Chloe is so rigid," he said. "Always clinging to the dignity of being the Lotus Pack Alpha's daughter. How could she ever compare to Hazel's passion?" "Don't worry," he added, his tone light with mock reassurance. "Hazel and I are just friends. Chloe won't feel betrayed." He laughed softly. "But don't tell her, alright? She's so old-fashioned—if she found out, she'd leave me for sure. Honestly, the thought of spending the rest of my life with such a dull partner… It's exhausting." Just friends? Is that what he called the way his hand slid beneath her dress—being "just friends"? I didn't interrupt them. There was no need to disturb their lively conversation. Instead, I slid the Moonstone Ring onto my finger. Without a word, I turned and left. In the quiet of the night, Xavier Grey—who had been following me all along—waited. Together, we set off on the journey I should have taken long ago.

My sister and I are twins, and we both have kidney failure. After a long wait, we finally find two matching kidneys. The doctor is prepared to transplant one for me and one for her. However, she breaks down in tears in my fiancé's arms—she wants both kidneys for herself. When I object, my fiancé locks me up at home. He has my sister undergo surgery to have both kidneys transplanted. "You haven't been sick for as long as your sister has. She just wants to live like a normal person—how can you be so selfish? Can't you wait for the next matching kidney?" He doesn't know that I can't wait any longer, though. I'm going to die soon.

On the day of my wedding, my parents suddenly show up at my house with my fiancé, Yoseph Caldwell. They say they've decided the bride is going to change. "Your sister's terminally ill, and her only wish is to marry Yoseph. You're her younger sister, so be generous and help her out." Yoseph chimes in calmly, "Don't worry. It's just a ceremony. Once she passes, you and I can still get the marriage certificate." When I refuse, my parents tie me up. "We'll let you out once the wedding's over." But not long after they leave, an intruder breaks in and brutally murders me. By the time they finally remember me, all that's left is my rotting corpse.

My husband, Matthew Lorenzo, dies unexpectedly. Soon after, my in-laws come to me with an outrageous suggestion. "Why not let Matthew’s twin brother take you in and look after you? After all, your child needs a father." My sister-in-law, Felicia Dare, furiously calls me a shameless woman. I turn to look at Matthew's brother, Michael Lorenzo. It's like staring at Matthew's face all over again. The grief hits me hard. Just as I'm about to talk my in-laws out of this ridiculous idea, I overhear a conversation behind the door between them and "Michael". "Michael was the one who died. Why did you lie and let everyone think it was you?" Matthew sighs. "The one I love is Felicia. Faking my death was the only way I could be with her openly. And as for this nonsense about taking Luna in and looking after her—drop it. "As for Luna, I gave her a child and a respectable marriage. I don't owe her anything." I turn around and see my daughter standing there with her eyes red. She asks, "Mommy, does Daddy not want us anymore?" I kneel down, gather her into my arms, and hold back the ache in my chest. "Sweetheart, your uncle just wants to protect the person he loves. We shouldn't disturb him; it's time we start our new life."