I'll Try Anything Once

All the relatives knew I had a "backward cousin." For my birthday, she gave me a grocery-store pound cake. When I ran a marathon, she presented me with a pair of worn-out canvas sneakers. At my graduate school acceptance party, she even sent a funeral wreath of white lilies with a sash that read "In Sympathy," wishing me an early departure to the afterlife. In my previous life, I slapped her so hard she tumbled down the porch steps. My brother took her side and plotted revenge, falsely reporting to the university that I had cheated on my SATs. My admission was revoked. "You're so modern. You know how things work," he sneered. "Plenty of people take a gap year. Just apply again." My father also defended her, cutting off all my financial support. "You've had so much schooling. You're so educated," he said coldly. "Support yourself." Alone in a city eighteen hundred miles from home, I fought to survive. I called my brother and my father again and again—only to be blocked. I delivered food while renting a room and studying to reapply. At my lowest, my hands were raw and cracked from frostbite, scrambling for delivery shifts at four in the morning just to earn a small bonus. Worn down by the cold and exhaustion, I suffered cardiac arrest at twenty-three and collapsed in a snowdrift in that unfamiliar city. No one ever came to claim me. This time, I chose to let it go and accepted the wreath with a gracious smile. To fully integrate myself into this family. After all, what is a moment of pride compared to a lifetime's inheritance?

I've returned to the Ashcroft family for three years. All three homecoming parties have ended in failure. At the first party, I was accused of stealing a watch in front of the guests. Because of that, I became the entire elite society's laughingstock. In the second party, I was pushed into a swimming pool. As such, I suffered from a high fever and was comatose for three days. It almost killed me. In the third party, a forged paternity test was hurled in my face. My own mother announced that she had cut all ties with me on the spot. Every party ended with the fake heir, Everest Ashcroft, bursting into tears and admitting his mistakes. But the entire family kept telling me, "Everest is deathly afraid of you obtaining our love meant for him. That's why he threw a small tantrum. "You're already acknowledged as a son of the Ashcrofts. Why must you keep latching onto this matter so pettily?" In the fourth party held on the fourth year, Everest threatens to off himself. In order to save him, I fall from the rooftop, causing my right leg to suffer from a comminuted fracture. My entire family huddles around Everest, who's obviously shaken, and keeps showering him with love and care. The butler is ordered to pass on their message to me. "Know your place. Do not disturb Everest when he's in bedrest." As I caress my broken leg, I keep laughing until tears stream down my cheeks. It's not that Everest doesn't want the Ashcrofts to give away their love to me. It's just that the Ashcrofts don't want to acknowledge me as a part of them at all. In that case, I might as well leave this family permanently.

On the day I was trying out my wedding gown, a stranger dashed into the VIP room and pushed me hard onto the ground. "I'm the real Mrs. John Curtis. Someone like you, with no money or a strong family behind you, should serve me instead." She looked down on me before kicking my pregnant belly with her sharp heels. The pain blurred my vision and made me break out in a cold sweat. Jolene Nostra crouched next to me and slapped me with the back of her hand. "You were only a jilted lover without wealth or influence, trying to wed into a rich family by getting pregnant." As blood flowed heavily from between my legs, a realization hit me. My fiancé, the person I'd been with for four years, was seeing another woman. "What's this? How dare you give me that look? I could kill you, and nothing would happen to me because I'm Mrs. John Curtis!" As she lunged towards me, I pulled out my phone with trembling hands to call my brother. "Come get me, Anthony. And tell our guys I want the Curtis family gone from South City."

She was once his wife. Now she’s his biggest secret and maybe his only chance at redemption. Five years ago, Bella Quinn walked away from a toxic marriage and a powerful man, broken but resolute. She found solace in Boston, raising their daughter alone, shielding her from the world and the painful truths of the past. But when fate, in the guise of an anonymous commission, throws her back into Jason Reed’s orbit, the carefully constructed walls around her heart begin to crumble. Buried secrets erupt, and the unfinished love that once burned so brightly smolders hotter than ever. Jason, a cold and formidable CEO, unknowingly haunted by the love he lost, now wants answers, a closure he never received. Bella, fierce and independent, desperately wants to protect her secret and finally lay the past to rest. But the past has teeth, a venomous history of lies and betrayals and someone far more dangerous is out to destroy them both. As their lives irrevocably intertwine again, amidst corporate scandals, hidden agendas, and shocking revelations, can a love scarred by deceit survive the truth that will change everything they thought they knew?

I once thought I had the most dangerous yet the most perfect love in the whole world. My lover, Dante Costello, is the Underboss of the Costello family. He carries himself with grace and nobility. Everyone fears and respects him, yet he only shows his gentle side to me. I used to think that the man who keeps lurking in the shadows and has once left humiliating marks on me while gazing at me with cold eyes is his brother, Luciano Costello. Luciano is a Capo who lives in the shadows. He's also a madman whose hands are stained with blood. Everything changes when I smell the unique scent of gunpowder and blood that only Luciano has from Dante's custom-fitted suit. Only then do I realize that I have never just belonged to one man all this time. During the day, Dante plays the role of my perfect lover. He showers me with jewelry and deadly romance. At night, Luciano transforms into a devil who satisfies his twisted, possessive urges in the roughest way possible. Both brothers have set up an elaborate trap to lock me up in this gilded cage and admire my struggles from afar. When I find out about the truth, I don't cry or bleed over it. Instead, I'm filled with eerie calmness. The brothers want to watch me break down. Instead of doing that, I'll ruin them. I flutter effortlessly between the brothers, using their only weakness against them. Apparently, both of them think that they are the only hunters in this game. This time, it's my turn to weave them a trap.

Kyden qnd Alessa are two children who have seen it all.Their parents got divorced when Kyden was just 10 years old and Alessa just a month.The two kids are left in their mother's custody who later on becomes are drug addict. Join their adventure as Kyden and Alessa are reunited with their father and five older brothers after five years.Read as Kyden struggles to bond with his family while trying to protect his little sister after being told by his mother that their father left them because they were burdens. Join their journey of love and hate as they are reunited.

We all know about the year 2996, when the vampires were in charge but what happened before that? How did the vampire end up taking charge of the whole world? The year was 2886, and the vampires are taking over the whole world, but what about the humans who refused to obey? This is the origin of Dom and Littles Academy story, the humans have ruled for a long, but it's now time for them to step down, to be controlled and ruled. They are submissives, all of them, but what type of submissive are they? A little? A slave? A regular submissive? Or maybe a pet? Humans are getting classified, changed, and ruled, it's time for the submissives to take their position in the bottom. Warning this story contains little, ddlg, ddlb, violence, and fluff. Apologies for any misspelling or grammar mistakes.

Dimitri. Pria pemilik ekspresi sedatar tembok itu punya satu prinsip dalam hidup. Gonta-ganti pacar boleh, gaya pacaran bebas bukan masalah. Satu yang pantang dilakukan. Tidur dengan seorang gadis. Sera. Gadis sederhana yang punya mimpi ingin membuka sebuah toko buku. Demi mencegah keluarganya ditendang ke jalanan, ia terpaksa menjadi teman tidur satu malam Dimitri. Ini kisah tentang Dimitri dan Sera. Yang bertemu, kemudian jatuh cinta dengan cara tak terduga. Benarkah cinta mereka sekali dan selamanya? Sampul: Foto oleh Asad Photo Maldivesdari Pexels Edit by Canva

“Just stay married to me for three years. After that, we divorce. In return, I’ll help you destroy your husband and the woman who took your child.” I agreed. Not because I was weak. But because I survived. I was once a devoted wife. Obedient. Loyal. Pregnant with a child I believed would save my marriage. Then his first love returned, and everything I trusted turned to blood and betrayal. We were rushed to the same hospital. I was bleeding. She was crying in his arms. There was only one operating room left. He chose her. He wheeled his mistress, his first love, into surgery and left me behind to miscarry alone. I lost my baby on a cold hospital bed while my husband held another woman’s hand. I divorced him. But some wounds do not heal. They sharpen. Now I have a contract marriage, a man with no love to give, and a plan written in patience and pain. I will take everything my ex-husband values, piece by piece, and make him beg for what he threw away. Forgiveness is for the dead. And I am very much alive. Watch out, husband. I will ruin you.

Three days before our engagement, Zach Jefferson called me. “We’ll need to postpone the engagement party by a month. That day is Sienna’s first concert since she returned, and I need to be there. “It’s just a postponement. It’s no big deal.” He had postponed our engagement three times that year. The first time was because Sienna Lynch had been hospitalized with appendicitis. He said he had to take care of her and rushed over. The second time, Sienna said she was feeling down. He was worried she might get depressed and immediately booked a flight to see her. It was the third time. I simply said, “Okay.” After hanging up, I turned to the good-looking and refined man beside me. “Are you interested in marrying me?” Later, during Sienna’s concert, Zach left her without hesitation. With red, teary eyes, he rushed to my engagement ceremony. “Yulia, are you really getting engaged to this man?”