I Would Do My Best

"I won’t say it twice you’re mine, or you die like the rest of your family." *************** He killed her brother. Erased her name from the legacy she once called home. Now, he claims her like a prize. Isabella Russo never wanted a part in her family’s brutal empire. She escaped the bloodshed and betrayal, choosing a quiet life free from the shadows of the mafia. But her past catches up to her in the form of Damian Vercetti—the man who reduced her world to ash. He says her brother betrayed him. That her family deserved what came. Now they’re gone... and Isabella is the last Russo left. To Damian, she’s leverage. A pawn. A possession. To Isabella, he’s the monster from her nightmares and the boy she once trusted. But when vengeance collides with obsession, and hate begins to twist into something darker, Isabella is forced to face the man who destroyed her life… and decide if she can survive him—or if part of her doesn’t want to. Power. Pain. Passion. In a world built on blood, love might be the deadliest sin of all.

In the three years since I became Zander's mate, I've tried to kill myself ninety-nine times. Kidnapped by a rival pack in my youth, years of torture nearly destroyed me. I clawed my way back to the Crescent Moon Pack, only to find my place had been taken by an adopted daughter, Vivian. My Beta parents doted on her, and my fated mate—the Alpha himself—had eyes only for her. I begged them, told them my kidnapping and my suicide attempts weren't accidents, but all I ever heard was: "Ember, you're delusional. You just wandered off and got lost." "You tried to drown yourself in the river." The people closest to me, and not one of them believed me. Until the ninety-ninth time. Another "suicide." When I woke up three days later, I rubbed my aching head. My eyes were vacant, my own gaze foreign to me. I had forgotten who I was, forgotten the humiliation I'd endured, forgotten the desperate girl who had thrown away her dignity for a scrap of her Alpha's affection. At the pack ceremony, while everyone waited for me to fawn pathetically over Zander, a single tear slid down my cheek for reasons I couldn't comprehend. I wiped it away and, under the shocked stares of the entire pack, announced calmly: "Zander," my voice was steady. "I don't love you anymore. So I, Ember of the Crescent Moon Pack, hereby reject you as my mate." "This little act again?" Zander sneered, his eyes glinting with the same casual contempt they always held for me. But he didn't know. This time, I was leaving him for good. It wasn't until I vanished completely that the ones who'd never believed me were the ones who truly went mad.

The day I recovered from my mental illness and got discharged, my parents held me in their arms with tears of happiness. My sister gave me a teddy bear and said she had been waiting for me to come home. I comforted my parents who were crying and accepted the gift from my sister. I slowly got used to ordinary life and became the real daughter of the Schmidt family. To show their preference for me, my parents transferred the family business into my name on my sister’s 18th birthday. But I cruelly murdered the family of three who cherished me on this day.

On the third year of our anniversary, the cruise ship Louise York—my fiancee—and I were on sank. I gave her the only life jacket we had before getting dragged under the currents and losing contact with the world. Three years later, after I healed from my injuries, I rushed back just in time to see her getting married to my adopted brother. Since she owed me her life, she was forced to marry me instead. That caused her to start hating me, because I had separated her from the man she loved. Even my parents accused me of being immature. They said that I was ruining my brother’s happiness. Their coldness and rejection caused me to become obsessive, and I fell into despair. Then, my family’s enemy came looking for revenge. To save my life, Louise ended up being stabbed right into her heart. Blood gushed out of her as she tried her best to drag me to a safe place. “Nathan, I’m returning the life I owe you. I just hope that you won’t bother me again. I just want… to be with Stanley…” I felt my chest twist in pain as I died full of hatred. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back to the day I crashed their wedding.

Everyone loved my older sister. When the novel I wrote shot to popularity, she got jealous and suddenly proclaimed that she wanted to be a popular author too. My older brother, who was the editor-in-chief, immediately announced that I plagiarized my sister's story at my book signing and she ended up becoming the genius author while I got cyberbullied so much that I was too scared to leave the house. After I got married to a young heir from high society and lived a happy life, my sister told me that she had a crush on him for years and wanted to be his bride at least once in her lifetime. He did not even think twice about divorcing me and holding the wedding of the century with my sister. My family was afraid that I would sabotage their relationship, so they made me leave the country. However, my sister did not think that I was miserable enough. She came for me outside the country and pushed me down the stairs. I was lying in a pool of blood when my mother rebuked me, "Did you say something that made your sister unhappy again?" That was how I died in despair. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day my brother accused me of plagiarism.

The third year after I got diagnosed with intermittent amnesia, I happened to overhear my husband, Lucien Rook, chatting with his friends. “Lucien, Anneliese loses her memories every couple of months, and you keep making us impersonate you to live with her. Aren’t you afraid that one of us might take it all the way one day?” “What’s there to be afraid of?” Lucien laughed uninhibitedly, swishing the alcohol in his glass. “Annie is cold and distant. As long as you guys don’t tempt her, she won’t have any such desires. “But I’m warning you now. You can act all you want, but you can’t ever sleep with her. Once I’ve had my fun, I will be going home to her.” For three years, every time I lost my memories, Lucien was not the one who would hold my hand and embrace me, or even sleep with me in the same bed. In three years, I had lost my memories nine times, and nine men had pretended to be my husband. What they did not know was that my amnesia had been cured two years ago.

He chose his mistress on our anniversary. He didn't know I was already planning my funeral. For three years, I was the perfect wife. I swallowed the insults from his family. I bore the guilt of our daughter’s death. Everyone blamed me. Yet, I loved Mateo Santiago with everything I had. Until the day I found out the truth. On the same day I discovered I was pregnant again, I learned my husband was expecting a child with another woman: my own step-aunt, Valentina. And worse? I finally discovered that he was the one responsible for our first daughter's death, not me. I didn't scream. I didn't fight. I simply texted him: "Your birthday is in a month. I’ll prepare a gift you’ll never forget." Thirty days later, Mateo Santiago watched my car burn at the bottom of a cliff. He buried an empty casket and cried for a wife he thought he loved. But Isabella Romano didn't die that day. She just disappeared. I was not alone anymore. I had another life growing inside me but then I stumbled upon a stranger. A stranger shadows feared. Dante Galante.

She had always been a good wife and did every house chore and never for once did she complain even when she was poorly treated by her in-laws. One day her husband comes home with a divorce paper and she signed it after crying and begging. But soon her ex-husband and the whole world were about to know her hidden identity and what would be their reaction?

Passei toda a minha vida vivendo à sombra da minha irmã, Juliana, a mulher que todos no círculo dos herdeiros da máfia adoravam e protegiam. Ela não fazia ideia de que eu havia renascido. Assim como na minha vida anterior, ela sorriu de forma doce e gentil, insistindo para que eu escolhesse meu noivo primeiro, fingindo ser atenciosa e generosa. Mas, desta vez, eu recusei. Na minha vida passada, acreditei ingenuamente que ela tinha boas intenções. Casei-me com o homem que ela recomendou, Chester Kane, um herdeiro que diziam estar paralisado após uma emboscada. Abandonei meu direito de herança para me tornar sua cuidadora, seu apoio e remédio contra a solidão. No entanto, não importava a quantidade de carinho que eu desse, o coração dele permanecia congelado. A verdade só veio à tona durante a celebração da gravidez da minha irmã. Quando um assassino de uma família rival apontou a arma para a barriga dela, o homem que não se levantava havia anos subitamente ficou de pé. Ele me empurrou direto para frente do cano. As sete balas atravessaram meu útero. Enquanto eu caía, vi-o puxar minha irmã para seus braços, protegendo-a com o próprio corpo e tomando o último tiro por ela. Só então entendi. Ele nunca esteve paralisado. Sua família nunca o havia abandonado. Ele fingiu estar doente porque o coração de Juliana pertencia a outro homem, e ele se recusava a ficar preso a mim. — Desculpe, Tania. — Ele disse. — Eu menti para você. Mas eu não podia deixar Juliana perder o herdeiro que ela carrega. Vou pagar o que te devo na próxima vida. Quando abri os olhos novamente, estava de volta ao dia em que meu pai pediu que escolhêssemos nossos parceiros de casamento. Desta vez, eu não escolhi ninguém. Mas, naquela época, eram eles que imploravam pelo meu amor.

May isang araw na lang si Iris Celeste Delgado para bayaran ang utang ng kanyang ama—kapag hindi, mareremata ang tanging tahanan nila. Bilang isang utility staff, wala siyang sapat na pera, kaya sa isang desperadong hakbang, pumayag siyang ibenta ang kanyang pagkabirhen sa isang matandang mayamang kliyente. Ngunit nagkamali siya ng silid. Pagkagising, hindi matanda ang nasa tabi niya—kundi si Alexander Corañez Jr.: ang gwapong, tahimik, at misteryosong CEO ng kumpanyang pinagtatrabahuhan niya. At sa halip na kalimutan ang nangyari, inalok siya nito ng isang kasunduan—isang pekeng kasal. Walang emosyon. Walang tanong. Pero may isang kondisyon: Bawal siyang mapalapit sa kahit sinong lalaki... maliban kay Alexander. Habang pinipilit niyang itago ang damdamin, hindi niya alam na ang lalaking ito ay hindi lang basta umaarte. Dahil para kay Alexander—lahat ng ito ay totoo. At sa pagbabalik ng ex nitong si Brigitte, magagawa pa ba ni Iris na panindigan ang kasunduan—kahit posible siyang masaktan?