In Another Life

My twin sister, Ruby Stone, and I split up after our parents' divorce. She stays with Mom, while I went with Dad. Since the divorce, he's sunk into a deep depression, gambling away every penny we have. We move into a dark, damp apartment, and life becomes an endless struggle. Every day, I go to school and quietly work a part-time job to keep us afloat. Then, out of nowhere, Ruby—whom I haven't heard from in forever—sends me a link to a live stream. "Check this out, Aria. There's a surprise waiting for you." I click it, and my jaw drops. I'm the one topping the trending live streams. The screen splits in two. On one side, I sit in my dingy apartment, hunched over homework under the dim light. On the other side, Mom and Dad cuddle with Ruby on the fancy couch of their sprawling villa. The comments came pouring in. "Let's see what happens when twins are raised on opposite sides of fortune all the way to 18." "Aria still doesn't know, right? Her parents never divorced. They're loaded and perfectly happy. Ruby's life has been like a dream too." "Poor Aria. She's always starving and never has anything decent to wear. Isn't that basically abuse?" "She's the more sensible one, so her parents decided to raise her poorly."

Everyone in the Wandering Wolf Gang knew that Ash Blackwood loved me desperately and feared my disappearance most. To give me a sense of security, he drank a loyalty potion in front of me. He said that this magic potion would ensure that he would only desire me, get an erection for me alone, and that he would always report his whereabouts through our mate bond, even when he was on a dangerous mission. I worried about him, hiding my identity as the pack's tactical commander, I was worried that he would feel inferior, so I hid my own abilities and did not want him or the gang members to think that he had risen to power through my short-term precognitive abilities. Yet after a mission, I overheard pack members joking: "Alpha rushed so eagerly to meet Scarlett after taking the antidote, was she that amazing?" So after today’s battle, I quietly kept my mind link with Ash's group, and blocked his perception. In an unmuted mind-link, Ash's thoughts were filled with dirty desires and lascivious content, "Little slut, last time we went through seven vials of enhancement elixir, what do you think?" My heart turned to ice. In despair, I called upon the Moon Goddess: [I wish to leave this world.] The Goddess's ethereal voice echoed in my mind. [Once you leave, all traces of you will be erased from this realm.] [I know, please go ahead.] [Countdown begins: seven days.]

After silently contributing to his marriage for three years, Frederick York's wife demands a divorce, citing that she can't stand him. Then, when his true identity is revealed, his ex-wife and her family are filled with regret.

On the day of our wedding, Hansel Lennox's childhood sweetheart, Nara Sullivan, threatens to jump off a building. He ignores her and proceeds with the wedding. Then, he panics when she really jumps off the building. From then on, he goes to the church more and more often, turning into a pious believer. He even forces me to copy scripture and kneel while praying in the name of repenting for my sins. He makes me lose my child. The day I miscarry, I ask him for a divorce. However, he says we both owe Nara this, so we have to repent together. He uses my family to threaten me and keep me by his side. I waste my whole life for his sake. When I open my eyes again, I'm taken back to our wedding day. This time, I'm going to push Hansel to Nara. I want to be the one who forces him to convert.

In her past life, Kelsey turned Tyler’s marriage proposal down, which was brought on by one of the many manipulations by her cheating man and half-sister. Eventually, Tyler tragically breathed his last while protecting her. Despite his noble act, Kelsey lost her life and her family. Granted a second chance at life, she returned to the time she and Tyler were first intimate. Kelsey decided to tie the knot with Tyler and stand at the height of power to get even with the deceitful couple. The only way forward was to hold onto her dear husband. Alas, the man, who loved and catered to her every whim in her previous life, built walls around his heart. Yet, he was open to intimacy. “I want to share a bed with you tonight, babe,” Kelsey expressed.Tyler grabbed her fidgety hand. “Are you sure?” He would not give her another chance to back out once the decision was made. Tyler would always and forever stand behind her in every life.

Just when Claire thought she had it going good for her; the perfect job, perfect man and perfect life, tables turned and Nathan stan broke her heart the night they'd had sex for the first time, leaving her world crumbled with unanswered questions. Her long time close- now billionaire friend, Damon Ice, shows up out of the blue,he's always loved her but wanted to do more than that. He asks her out but she declines, not ready to give her heart out for ruin again, and to her friend.... Ice finally made her his, he devoured her sexually and mentally, they bonded nicely and for the first time in Claire's life, she felt being loved, adored and prioritized. All was perfect until Nathan Stan showed up, ready to answer the questions he left behind and to start anew with her, he was after all her first love. She had to choose........ And she chose.

I was in the late stages of kidney failure, but my husband, Calvin Quayle, gave the kidney that was the best match for me to my younger sister, Louella Lassiter. The doctor urged me to wait for another donor, but I refused. I checked out of the hospital early. I had stopped caring long ago. What was even the point of fighting anymore? I transferred all the assets I'd accumulated over the years to Louella, finally pleasing Mom and Dad. I didn't even get mad when Calvin hovered over Louella like he was some kind of devoted nurse. Instead, I told him to take good care of her. And when my son, Nathan Quayle, said he wanted Louella to be his mom? I smiled and said yes. They got exactly what they wanted, so why were they suddenly regretting it now?

In my seventh year of dating Elliot Sheppard, he pulls every string to save the exiled daughter of his imprisoned mentor—Margot Fairgrave—and gives her a wedding that makes headlines. "Professor Fairgrave was my guiding light and a man of integrity, who'd never yield to corruption. I owe it to him to protect his daughter," he declares. The Sheppard family, with their billion-dollar empire and strict family rules, will never accept a daughter-in-law like Margot. So, to secure her place, he demands that our son call her "Mom" and tells the world that I am just the nanny. He promises. "Just wait. Once I collect enough evidence to prove that Professor Fairgrave was framed, I'll return everything to the way it was." For three years, I waited and watched their picture-perfect family of three. My son no longer knows me as his mother, yet I remain their lowly nanny. Since I can't possibly wait forever, I've decided to stop waiting.

The day I find out I only have three days left to live, my mate comes home with a mate termination contract. He wants to break up with me and form a new bond with another she-wolf who's pretending to be dying—just to fulfill her so-called final wish. "Sweetheart, I don't have a choice," Caleb Lowe says, holding me in his arms. "Ruby's been poisoned with silver. She's got about a week left. Her dying wish is to marry me. But don't worry. You're the only one I love," he adds, looking at me with those sincere eyes. "Once the bonding ceremony is over and she's gone, we'll get back together—just like before." I look down and give a small laugh, then sign the termination contract. Forget it. I'm dying anyway. Who he ends up with doesn't matter anymore. I might as well let him have what he wants.

Her name was Cathedra. Leave her last name blank, if you will. Where normal people would read, "And they lived happily ever after," at the end of every fairy tale story, she could see something else. Three different things. Three words: Lies, lies, lies. A picture that moves. And a plea: Please tell them the truth. All her life she dedicated herself to becoming a writer and telling the world what was being shown in that moving picture. To expose the lies in the fairy tales everyone in the world has come to know. No one believed her. No one ever did. She was branded as a liar, a freak with too much imagination, and an orphan who only told tall tales to get attention. She was shunned away by society. Loveless. Friendless. As she wrote "The End" to her novels that contained all she knew about the truth inside the fairy tale novels she wrote, she also decided to end her pathetic life and be free from all the burdens she had to bear alone. Instead of dying, she found herself blessed with a second life inside the fairy tale novels she wrote, and living the life she wished she had with the characters she considered as the only friends she had in the world she left behind. Cathedra was happy until she realized that an ominous presence lurks within her stories. One that wanted to kill her to silence the only one who knew the truth.