Romans & histoires Invincible Gifts

After my son was abducted, my husband took me to an adoption center to bring home a baby boy born the same year as the child we'd lost. I poured every ounce of love I had into raising him. He had a sensitive stomach, so I pushed through my chronic back pain to cook him special meals every single day. When he spiked a fever in the middle of the night, I carried him twenty miles through the rain to the nearest hospital. When he couldn't focus in school, I was constantly at his classroom door, flattering his teachers and bringing them gifts, just to get them to pay a little extra attention to him. Fifteen years of grinding sacrifice, and it all came down to one moment at his college acceptance party. "I couldn't have gotten into Harvard without my mother's love and hard work," he said into the microphone. He raised his glass, eyes drifting toward where I was sitting. The cameras flashed as I started to rise from my seat, matching his silent lip movements. And then I heard a name I didn't expect. "She is Rachel Lynch." I froze. That was my best friend's name.

She didn't have a perfect life, abandoned by her mother and not knowing who her father was, but her life wasn't bad either. She lived with her aunt and her husband who were well-to-do and took care of her, but they never mentioned her parents. She grew up being loved by them, so she didn't need anybody else. So when she graduated from college and was given a ticket for a solo vacation trip in Mareco, it was one of the best gifts yet. She would go for the trip and return to start her internship in a big media company. That was her dream, and the vacation would be the beginning of a wonderful life after college. But it wasn't just that, it was when her life turned around, she met him. He was the best thing she'd ever experienced. No one likes a relationship built on lies and deceit, so did she. She was lost in love, but she had to pull herself out when she discovered all his secrets and when she realized she could be sharing a lover with her own sister, or she could be leaving the love of her life who was also a rich billionaire by heredity, she just wanted to run away from all the mess.

My mate, Luther Evans, had spent 20 thousand dollars on two first-class tickets for the Moonlight Express to Vespera Coast. Just as we were about to board, he pulled me aside and gave my seat to my foster sister, Zoey Turner. He explained, "There's only one empty seat left on the train, and Zoey's son has never seen the ocean before. This is the perfect chance. Kids can't be separated from their mothers, so I'll take them first and get them settled, then come back for you." I nodded and stepped off the train, watching it disappear into the distance. Once they reached the beach, a friend asked Luther why I hadn't come along. He was busy inflating a pool float for Zoey, answering casually without looking up. "The Moonlight Express runs every three days. Avery Smith can just buy her own ticket and come later. I'll pick up some gifts to make it up to her. She's really understanding and won't stay mad at me." A bitter smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. The whole family had always favored Zoey, and now even my own mate was no different. Since nobody wanted to see me anyway, I decided I would leave in three days.

"Alexia, don't take any of the company's holiday bonus boxes. You're not one of us—there's nothing for you." My manager, Kevin Davis, delivered the notice coldly, as if he were commenting on the weather—routine, impersonal. My hand stilled on the mouse. "The rest of you, come with me. We're heading to the company gala to collect your million-dollar bonuses!" My colleagues filed out in high spirits. I watched their retreating backs and answered with a bitter, "Okay." I was a contract worker. For seven years, I had always been the odd one out in the department. Our ID badges said it all—blue for full-time employees, gray for me. Time off was no different. Full-time employees had weekends; I got one day off a month. As for pay and benefits, they enjoyed meal allowances, housing subsidies, team outings, afternoon snacks, holiday gifts, year-end bonuses… I received a fixed salary of three thousand dollars a month. I sat down, opened my computer, and returned to the candlestick charts of my stocks. They didn't know that I was the company's largest anonymous individual shareholder. And they certainly didn't know that tonight, at the company gala, I would step onto the stage as the new Chairman—and my very first proposal would be to lay off their entire department.

When Elena Hart meets billionaire Adrian Vale, her whole life changes fast; he showered her with gifts, love, care, and attention, and soon they got married,Elena thought she had found the perfect man. But on her wedding night, strange women began to call her with unknown numbers each of them said the same words “Do not marry him. Run before midnight.” Before she could even check her phone, the calls had disappeared from her phone history. After moving to Adrian's home, the Blackthorn Manor, she began to notice disturbing things. There's a locked room where no one is allowed to enter and Adrian keeps disappearing by midnight, she will hear women crying inside the walls, the workers in the house hardly speak to each other, and mirrors are covered. No one is allowed to pray in the house. Elena searches for answers and she discovers the most horrible truth The portraits hung inside the locked room were of Adrian's former wives All of them are dead but somehow they still exist inside the manor watching. Elena is trapped inside a house filled with dark secrets that she must fight to survive, expose the curse surrounding Adrian, and escape before she becomes the next woman trapped in the walls forever.

“Are you reading my mind right now?” he asks me while coming closer. “No, I am not.” “I wish you were. So that you can know how you have consumed my mind, how much I think about you. How I want to hold you and care for you. This is what has been going through my mind from the first day I saw you at our border with a protruding belly.” *** Lyra thought marriage to the Alpha would be her salvation, a chance to escape her father’s suffocating control. But when she overhears a deadly plan—one that marks her and her unborn child as pawns in a sinister power play—she makes the only choice that can save her life. With nothing but a cloak to hide her secret and no one to trust, Lyra runs. In a world where loyalty is tested and alliances shift like shadows, Lyra finds refuge in a rival pack, only to uncover gifts she never knew she possessed. But as her powers grow, so do the dangers lurking in the dark. While Damian, her estranged husband, searches for answers about his missing wife and child, and the truth behind his parents’ deaths—an even greater threat looms over them all. Yet some secrets refuse to stay hidden.

During the holidays, I specifically go home to spend quality time with my family. Mom brings out a bowl of persimmons and says in a half-teasing manner, "This is for the Sherman family. Once you eat a persimmon, you'll be blessed with good luck. Outsiders aren't allowed to take from this bowl." Everyone begins fighting for the persimmons. I decide to grab one for myself as well. The next thing I know, the living room goes eerily silent. Dad drags me to the corner before he starts berating me. "You didn't get to eat any fruits when you were living with your in-laws, huh? Must you steal from our family? "Didn't you hear your mother saying that outsiders aren't allowed to take from the bowl? So why did you still take one? "Because of you, Vivian doesn't get anything at all!" I look around my surroundings. It turns out there are only eight persimmons when in reality, there are nine of us in the living room. Mom has been hinting at me the whole time that I'm the actual outsider here. So, I pass the persimmon to Vivian Andrews, my parents' goddaughter. Then, I dial my husband's phone number. "Kevin, there's no need to bring the holiday gifts over."

“You rejected me,” I spit out, pushing his hands off me. “You humiliated me. You said you already loved someone else. So why are you doing this to me now?” Fire dances in his eyes. “That wasn’t love. What I feel for you now is love.” “And why do you think I can still love you after all that?” “Because I’ll earn it,” he growls, towering over me, cornering me against the wall. He pins me flat with his body, letting me feel his raging hardness. “Day by day, little by little. I’m going to make you love me.” *** Monica Redding works in the world of passion, but she’s never known true desire until she was being actively pursued by someone she doesn’t know. From leaving cryptic messages to elaborate gifts, her admirer elevated his game to manipulating her life… and killing anyone who dared to hurt her. Cornered, she has no choice but to face him. Only to find out that it’s the man who rejected her a long time ago. None other than the Alpha King. Monica is the Alpha King’s regret… and now, his obsession. And he will stop at nothing to take her back.

My name is Rayne and I've always been alone in life. Except for him… The Demon that watches me in the night. Reavers are ruthless, blood thirsty creatures. Disguised as distinguished gentlemen in suits and ties, the brothers will kill without rhyme or reason. Everything about them is made to attract you, make you forget that you should be fucking running the opposite direction. And it works. I live in the most powerful pack in the world. But even my Alpha is afraid of the brothers. The Reaver with eyes of molten gold, hunts me like it's a fucking game. He follows me, watches me in secret, and makes himself known if I do something he doesn't like… It's been 7 years since he laid his claim on me, but he should have let me fucking drown. He tries to control every aspect of my life, but I will do what I want, when I want, and I would like to see him try and fucking stop me. In fact, I'm counting on it… I refuse to be anyone's puppet. Not the Demon who watches me, not my Alpha's, and sure as fuck not the Demon's younger brother. I've heard the whispers. I know there's something different about me... But that gives exactly no one the right to think they fucking own me. How much am I willing to give up to prove that point? I ask myself this question, and then make a choice… A choice that nearly destroys me. Lucky for me, The Darkness would never let me face this trauma alone… With The Darkness on my side, I feel fucking invincible, and I'm going to go out of my way to make sure that everyone knows exactly where I fucking stand. (Book 1 in The Reaver Chronicles Series)

Isabella Dean was uprooted from her life north of Atlanta at the beginning of her senior year of high school after a tragic accident that killed her father. Her mother took her to live with her aunt, Linda, in Asheville, NC where she was welcomed immediately by the school bully. This encounter got Isabella immediately recognized by a group of girls who befriended her and took her in as one of their friends. As she adjusted to her new life, she continued to have to protect herself from the bully, Lucy Upshaw, and recover from a hidden brain injury sustained in the accident. While in the hospital, she died and returned changed and with gifts she had to learn to live with. She discovered along with her new friend, Amber Collins, that her house was haunted by a mysterious girl. She and Amber also rescued a group of girls from sex traffickers and helped the victims flee. She and her friends helped get them adopted by local families, but they also had to deal with the bigotry of some people who didn’t like that some of the girls were transgender and genetically modified by their assailants. Isabella, meanwhile, had to deal with her own problems with her mother and recover from her surgery while still being attacked by Lucy. This is just the beginning for these girls who learn how to fight ghosts and demons with the help of their Native American friend, Winona. They learn to use their talents to help others deal with things that go bump in night.