If Ever

I was raised to be invisible. In the kingdom of Avelaine, a maid’s life is meant to pass quietly—unnoticed and unchanged. I knew my place in the halls of Hawthorne Palace, until Prince Roman Davenport looked at me as though I was something more than a shadow. He belonged to the crown. I belonged to silence. What grew between us was never spoken aloud. It lived in careful glances, restrained words, and moments stolen where no one was meant to see. Loving him was dangerous—not because of scandal, but because it asked for something I was never meant to have. In a world ruled by duty and inheritance, some desires are not forbidden by law… but by reality itself.

Victoria Lewis was twenty-one years old, kind-heated, smart, and beautiful, her father and her late mother promised her that they will never interfere in her love life. However, when Victoria found her father trying to commit suicide, she agreed to an arranged marriage to James Johnson to save her father’s company from bankruptcy. James Johnson’s father Emmanuel Johnson arranged this marriage because he didn’t want his son to marry Serene Logan since she was not compatible with his son James Johnson. However, James Johnson was head over heels in love with Serene Logan, he threatened his parents that he would kill himself should they separate him from Serene Logan. Would James agree to the arranged marriage to Victoria Lewis? Will they be happily ever after?

Millicent Andrews never expected her life to collapse right before her twenty-first birthday. One moment she’s a wife, a best friend, a girl with a future… and the next, she’s staring at her husband Brian Vel in bed and tangled in her best friend’s arms, the betrayal slices her open in ways she can’t begin to stitch shut. The divorce is brutal and the humiliation is even worse. With nowhere else to go, Milli returns to her mom’s house with her sick son. She reopens her small, struggling photo studio, just in time to learn the entire building has already been bought by Damon Hale, a forty-seven-year-old billionaire with a reputation colder than the steel hotels he builds. Damon wants the land, but Milli refuses to give up the last piece of her life that hasn’t been stolen from her. Their fight become heated, and combustible, until he makes her an offer she should never accept: marry him for one year to soothe his mother, live under his roof, follow his every rule…and in return, he’ll save the studio, every shop on the block and her sick son gets the best treatment possible, but she does. They hate each other and they’re nothing alike. The contract is supposed to keep their worlds separated, but forced proximity has sharp fangs. Meanwhile, Brian returns, desperate and regretful, determined to pull Millicent back into his life. While she tries to outrun her past, she discovers a painful truth about her own bloodline that changes everything she thought she knew, all while discovering Damon's darkest secret. What happens to their paper tie, when he discovers she knows the truth who he really is?

I watched as my boyfriend put the ring that he had promised to give me on Sophie White's finger at her birthday party. When I questioned him, Mark Goodman shrugged nonchalantly. "I promised to marry Sophie. Since that's not happening now, the ring is compensation." I was left speechless from rage and so disenchanted that I decided to cut all ties with him. Everyone was cheering when Mark later showed up at a gathering with Sophie, both wearing a matching set of rings. But when they all thought I would make a scene, I smiled faintly. "You two really deserve each other. When are you getting married? Do send me an invite."

Hot-headed Cash Huxley is perfectly fine not being tied down. She lives her life the way she wants without having to answer to anyone. Which is why she's been the target of her family's constant pestering on the matter of marriage. While they want nothing more than to see her live her "happily ever after", Cash on the other hand would rather gouge her eyes out than fall in line with the countless women she's seen suffering because of the lies they believe in. Being unable to take it any longer, however, Cash's mother decides to take things into her own hands by setting up her stubborn daughter on a blind date with one of the most eligible bachelors she knows- Rio Asheton. Rio is the heir to the Asheton family conglomerate and more specifically the son of her father's boss. Will Cash be able to retain her sanity long enough to ensure her freedom or will Rio be the one to finally get her to give in and say "I do"?

The day she was forced by her parents to give up the man she loved to her own sister, Charlotte Dean realized her life had returned to its cruel beginning. After a fatal accident that left Nathan in a coma, she stood by him for two years, at the hospital until he woke up. Nathan Mills was once her refuge, her promise. “I will always love and protect you.” He’d once said. “Nothing will come between us.” But when he finally woke up, the first face he saw wasn't not hers. “Oh, thank goodness you’re awake, Mr. Mills,” Her mother cried. Then her expression hardened. “Charlotte? That useless girl ran off with another man just a day after you were admitted.” Her parents and her sister took everything Charlie ever shared with him at that instant. And he believed them. From that moment, Charlotte’s world collapsed piece by piece. When the truth finally came to light, Charlotte was gone. Filled with regrets and fear, Nathan was ready to give up his life to find her.

My CEO husband bribed the doctor to take the heart that was meant for our daughter and give it to his childhood sweetheart’s daughter instead. That same day, my daughter suffered a heart attack and died in my arms. Meanwhile, his sweetheart’s daughter’s surgery was a success. My husband was so overjoyed that he gave bonuses to the entire company. My rage and grief were too much—I coughed up blood on the spot. The doctor later confirmed my worst fear: I was already in the late stages of leukemia. I didn’t have much time left. Holding my daughter’s urn, I wandered home in a daze. My husband? He took his childhood sweetheart and her daughter on a trip around the world to celebrate a new life.

It was not until after I married Bennett that I found out he had a clingy little childhood friend who loved to play the victim. On the very first day of our marriage, at dinner, I simply asked Bennett to pass me a bite of food. She immediately exploded. "Holly, you're disgusting! Bennett already used those utensils, and you seriously asked him to serve you food? What, don't you have hands?" I froze, completely blindsided. Before I could even react, Bennett put down his spoon and went straight to her, wrapping her in his arms like she was the one who had been wronged. Then he turned to me and said I should just get my own food from now on. However, honestly, wasn't it normal for a husband to serve his wife a bite? What was so outrageous about that? I barely got a word out before Bennett shut me down in a low, firm voice. "That's final. If Rosie doesn't like it, then we're not doing it. End of discussion."

It's often said "If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it was meant to be." When you lose someone, sometimes they will find their way back to you. They'll find their way back into your life because maybe they have something else to teach you. Maybe they'll come back into your life at a time where they felt you need them the most. When they do, though, you will both no longer be the same people you once were. You won't understand each other in the same way. But, if they do find their way back, allow yourself to understand how beautiful your new bond with them could be and the new memories that can be made.

(COCOK UNTUK PEMBACA YANG MAU MENYAKITI DIRI. CERITA SEDIH, MENGURAS EMOSI JIWA RAGA!) Memilikinya tabu bagiku, mencintai dirinya membuatku semakin terluka dalam. Aku tidak akan pernah menjadi miliknya, karena sebuah kenyataan sial yang menimpa hidupku!