I Was Born As The Second Daughter

“It’s payback time. Now that your sister needs to study abroad, you have to help the family. Marry Mr. Morrison.” The words were nonchalantly spoken while I was being thrown into a room. What doubles the pain is to hear these come from my own father, the person whom I never imagined slapping me with the truth that I am as valuable as an economic insurance. I am an investment daughter; my parents have groomed me to be their insurance in the future. I am their economic plan B if things go wrong… Should I obey or run? This is my life, and I have control over it!

I have tried to persuade my wife, Sandra Kimmel, to go to AnthoNIX's music concert with me 99 times now. On the 100th attempt, Sandra finally agrees to go with me. She then buys us two front row tickets. But during the concert, I am stopped outside the venue by the guards because I didn't have my ticket on me. I am then left standing there all alone, immaculately dressed as I am. None of my calls manage to go through to Sandra, not even when the concert comes to an end. News of Sandra and her sidepiece attending the concert and asking AnthoNIX to perform his hit song 'Night Blossom' then starts trending online. My heart shatters into a million pieces. I begin mourning the loss of my marriage.

How could I have imagined that the myths and legends that I loved since childhood, with the move to a foreign city, would come true and that I myself would turn out to be one of these legends. And the giant wolf with bright green eyes from my amazing dreams will come true, taking on the appearance of not only an animal, but also a man. I perceived him as someone unreal, even though the fame of this lugar went ahead of him. But what do you think I should do when he appears before me, protecting me from his own bloodthirsty relatives? Prepared to attack, protecting the one he cherishes. He will kill, brutally tear apart anyone who dares to approach her. He will kill without hesitation for a second. For the sake of the one that was given to him by fate. He will die without a moment's hesitation For the sake of the one born of his enemy.

The death of two powerful Mafia Dons. The birth of two innocent children. Brought up away from the brutal Mafia lifestyle but forever linked. Dante was spirited away by his father's best friends to be brought up in the rainy city of Manchester England. He longs for the sunshine of his boyhood and cannot wait to grow up and have his revenge on the man who brutally murdered his father and take his rightful place as Don. Gabriella, brought up in the leafy suburbs of rural England by her mother's sister, is a spoiled Princess who mixes with real royalty and knows only luxury. She is kept in a bubble of seclusion away from the horrors of the Mafia but it is her birthright too. Two lost Mafia children forever linked by that deadly organisation and destined by fate to meet. Can they survive the lies they have been told? Is their attraction to each other love or hate? Or will the Mafia destroy them both?

After three years of gathering herbs, I finally returned to Green-Pouch Valley. But my master, Mr. Gu, was not there. On the ground, only a dark red pool of blood remained, soaking his cloth robes. My senior brothers and sisters, usually so lively, were nowhere to be found. My master's wife, Auntie Qin, sat collapsed beside the pool of blood. Her once-black hair was now mostly white, her voice a hoarse whisper as she called to me. "Shuang'er, your master traded his life for the valley's ascension. You must go to the Nine Heavens and offer your thanks." It was only then I understood. The Celestial Lord, Jun Che, in his quest to forge an immortal body for his mortal wife, had coveted my master's rare Celestial Bones of Healing. He used the promise of ascension for everyone in Green-Pouch Valley as bait, then brutally tore the bones from my master's living body. I was born with a strange affliction, a void where joy and sorrow should be. The others in the valley secretly called me a cold-blooded monster. Now, as I stared at the blood-soaked robes of the man who had saved me and treated me like his own daughter, my expression remained blank. "Auntie Qin, did Master do this willingly?" Auntie Qin's eyes instantly reddened. "Jun Che is the Celestial Lord. His word is heavenly law. How could we ever defy it?" I gave a faint nod. "If it was not what Master wanted, then Jun Che deserves to die." Auntie Qin's face went pale with fright. She lunged forward and clutched my arm. "Shuang'er, your master's last words were for you all to protect yourselves, not throw your lives away fighting an unwinnable war against the heavens." I pried her fingers off one by one and looked up at the glittering, golden Celestial Realm beyond the clouds. A faint smile touched my lips. "Auntie Qin, Master taught me that a healer's heart must be compassionate." "But he never taught me that gods can't be killed."

On my 50th wedding anniversary, I took my worn, crumbling marriage certificate to City Hall to renew it. The clerk glanced at it—and froze. “This certificate is fake. Our records show you’ve never been married.” I stared. “Impossible. I’ve been married to Damien Slater for fifty years.” The clerk pulled up his file. “Well…Yes, Mr. Slater is married—but his wife’s name is Vanessa Grant.” Vanessa. His widowed sister-in-law. A military doctor who’d spent decades living among the troops. My hands shook as I returned home and confronted Damien. He didn’t even try to deny it. “I’ve treated you well all these years. Isn’t that enough? Vanessa is my true love. I only ever wanted her—our children, our life.” My son counseled me and said, “To spare your feelings, my parents kept it a secret their whole lives. You’re getting old now. What more do you want?” Only then did I learn the truth. The child I had raised with my own hands was never mine by blood. Decades ago, Vanessa and I gave birth on the same day. To ensure her child would grow up with intellect, privilege, and a future that I could provide, Damien switched our children. My own son? Damien drowned him in the pond the moment he drew breath. And I—fool that I was—raised Vanessa’s boy as my own. I even got him all the way to Claremont University. The truth broke me, and I collapsed. When I opened my eyes again—I was back. Back to the day I went into labor.

Isabella was born in the mafia, but she wasn’t born of royalty. All she knew was pain and ran away from a life of chaos and destruction before it could kill her. Now, she’s older and a defense attorney living in New York City. All was going well until she received a letter from the one person who has always looked out for her. She was getting married and wanted Isabella to come home and witness her union. Isabella wanted to refuse, but she knew she had to do it. Now that she’s back home, she’s thrusted back into the flames of Mafia life. A certain man has his eyes on her and won’t let her leave. What will happen when Isabella learns that the very man who sets her body ablaze, is a man who runs the same Mafia she’s running from? This is a story about finding love in all the wrong places, and how forgiving the past can open you up to a beautiful future.

My child-free husband went back to his hometown for a funeral, and after he returned, he suddenly wanted me to have a baby. He was one of the best obgyns in the state, so he handled my IVF procedure himself. After more than 160 hormone shots, we finally heard the baby’s rhythmic heartbeats for the first time, which made my usually calm husband tear up. Soon, he tightened every part of my routine, from a strict diet to my schedule, and once my belly started showing, he barely let me get out of bed. I thought he was just being overly protective. But then, right by my ear, I heard a nasty little boy’s voice. [Which player starts their mission inside the womb? And she’s not even my mom!] [Just four more months. My dad will make sure she dies on the operating table so he can keep only his son.] [After that, he’ll bring my real mom back, and my mission will be complete!] I canceled my afternoon checkup immediately as soon as I heard this. Did the system forget to tell him that he wasn’t the only player in this world?

My neighbor's daughter is sick, and my mother forces me to donate a kidney to her. I've been malnourished since childhood—just drawing blood is enough to cost me my life. However, my mother says, "What does your death matter to me? Rhea is my actual daughter!" Only then do I learn that my mother switched me and our wealthy next-door neighbor's daughter at birth! I glance at my neighbor's daughter, but she's calm and unaffected. I watch as my mother signs the consent form for the operation. My father ties me to the operating table, and my brother performs the surgery. I have no strength to retaliate, so I make one last request—a DNA test with my mother. She agrees—she wants me to stop holding out hope. Later, I forget everything after the surgery, but she breaks down.

Gillow, the formidable Alpha of a powerful pack of werewolf-vampires, is fated to marry Arda—a human girl marked by the moon, yet unaware of her true significance. Her blood is as irresistible to him and his kind as his instinct is to protect her from those who seek to claim it, all in fulfillment of a prophecy that could determine the fate of mankind. --------- EXCERPT --------- PS: If any male asks you out, tell him that you're already taken because, you belong to me and I will mate you at the right time. I am The Alpha you will soon get to know. Can she run away from her destiny?