Novel & Cerita It Catches My Heart In Its Hands

At another Sunday dinner at the Bellandi estate, Luca Bellandi's assistant, Ava Marino, was sitting in my seat. It was the first chair to Luca's right at the long walnut table, the seat everyone in Chicago's underworld knew belonged to Mrs. Bellandi. Ava sat there as if she had been born into it, her pale wrist brushing Luca's sleeve while she poured his wine. I stood in the doorway and looked at him. "She's in my seat. You don't have anything to say?" Luca raised his eyes. "You were late. Don't blame someone else for sitting down first. There are empty chairs over there. Sit if you want. If not, get out." The dining room went dead quiet, and before I could answer, his thoughts slipped into my ears. [Vivi, don't go. Come sit beside me. Tell them it's your seat. Tell me you still want to be my wife.] [Please get mad. Please care. Say you need me, and I'll give you the whole world.] In the past, those soft, trembling thoughts would have been enough. I would've swallowed the insult and stayed beside him like a loyal dog that didn't know when to leave. This time, I didn't. I slipped the wedding ring off my finger and laid it on the table. "If the Bellandi family can't even keep a wife's seat for me, then I guess this family doesn't need a wife anymore. Luca, let's get divorced."

"Look, chat! The rich guy who lives in this fancy apartment is secretly a pervert who gropes college girls!" As soon as I stepped out of the elevator, my neighbor Yvonne Shaw cornered me at the door. She tugged at her collar while crying to the camera. "Chat, this is where the guy lives! Just now in the elevator, he covered my mouth and groped me all over... If the elevator door hadn't opened in time, he would have dragged me back to his place!" The comments section exploded, the screen filled with curses aimed at my husband. But later, in court, when they saw my husband who had lost both arms saving someone five years ago... They were all dumbfounded.

My daughter accidentally scratched my husband's young mistress's face with her nails. For that, my husband had her fingers chopped off. Covered in blood, she came home seeking help, only to be assaulted by an intruder. I called my husband, crying, but his mistress's sweet voice answered the phone. "Stop using these lowly tricks to get Jack's attention. All you're doing is making him sick!" I begged my husband to take my call, but all I got in return was a barrage of insults. "Nothing is more important than Yvonne's face! I'm busy taking her to the hospital! I don't have time for your drama!" Later, my daughter's organs were removed by the intruder. Even in death, she was still tightly holding onto the birthday gift she had prepared for her father. My husband, a top lawyer, personally defended the criminal who assaulted our daughter. He let that man walk away scot-free after what he had done. On the day he celebrated his birthday with all our relatives, he finally knew that our daughter had died. He completely lost his mind.

I was the hospital's top surgeon. After three successful surgeries, Medical Affairs decided to reprimand me in front of the whole hospital and canceled my bonus for the month. I argued with the head of Medical Affairs. "I've been working for this place for ten years, and I've always been the first to do everything! I went through five surgeries nonstop last year and had to go through one myself for exhaustion! What did I do to deserve this?" Yes, I was the top surgeon, but the bills were stressing me out, too. My husband had just lost his job, and I had to pay for the car, the mortgage, and our kid's extracurriculars. The burden I had to shoulder wasn't an easy one. So, I was counting on that bonus to get my kid into a basketball club, and now it had been taken away from me. This couldn't be happening! I couldn't believe that they were blaming me for a successful surgery! I was high up in the hierarchy here, so the department head didn't start a fallout right away. Instead, he tried to calm me down. "You drank two bags of IV during the late-night surgery and charged the patients for it. Their family's complaining about unfair fees, and it went viral. We had no choice!" That reminded me. That surgery was a complex one, and it wasn't even supposed to be assigned to me. After all, I'd been working around the operating table for 36 hours prior to that. However, it was the deputy director who came to me and insisted that I take over. I had no choice but to go ahead.

Christian Knight was about to marry Andrea Donovan and start a fresh life. Andrea was a gorgeous and respectable woman. She liked Christian since her college days but couldn’t muster the courage to express her feelings to him, as she knew that Christian was interested in Diana Roger, the mute girl. Years later, destiny played cupid for Andrea and Christian, and their families fixed their marriage. Andrea was over the moon, and it was hard for her to believe that Christian was finally going to be her forever. *** To escape the haunting nightmares and hallucinations about one particular woman, whom he thinks he has never met before, Christian agreed to marry Andrea as she was beautiful, smart, and a generous woman, completely compatible with his status, but little did he know that meeting with a stranger at the Coffee House will change everything for him. *** What will happen when destiny plays its cards? Would Christian be able to accept that he had been married before? Will he choose his present over his past or follow his way back to his former wife? Would Mishka be willing to give another chance to Christian or she has already moved on in her life? Will their love pass the test of time and commitment to come out victorious or did their love story end long ago? Follow the other half of Christian and Mishka’s tale to witness if second chances really exist or if healing a broken heart is beyond repair. All Right Reserved © Author Anika 2022

“I’m scared,” I mumbled, standing in front of my mate as we stayed under the tree in the darkness. “You don’t need to be scared, mate; you are mine,” he hissed, grabbing onto my waist. I swallowed hard, my heart beating loudly. I stared into the eyes of my mate; he was angry at our situation.  “But I am his bride.” Valeria is the firstborn daughter of Down South Pack, married off to Alpha Adrain of Midnight Pack. Valeria has never received love in her life, her little sister has always been favoured above her. Married to one of the biggest alphas, Valeria knew her hopes of ever finding her mate were over. Until Alpha Damien came bursting into her life. Claiming another Alpha’s mate was prohibited, especially an Alpha of title stuck in between two Alpha males and enemies, Valeria was confused.  Would her mate go through all the odds of having her? Or would their enemy conquer them?

Recently, whenever I get physically intimate with my wife, Alara Golding, I can never get it up no matter how hard I try. Alara recommends me to get a massage at a men's wellness center in order to regain my ability to do so. Unexpectedly, when I visit the wellness center, I find out that my cousin-in-law, Hannah Rivers, is actually working as a masseuse there. What I don't expect even more is that the way she massages me is seemingly going down the erotic route…

I'm an Omega born without a wolf, the lowest existence in the werewolf pack. However, I can hear the voice of my Alpha mate's wolf, Jack. As an Alpha, Dante Wagner is steady and reserved, and he's not good with words. However, by listening to Jack speak, I know that he loves me deeply, along with many of his little secrets. I hear his wolf ask him, "Is the bonding ceremony the day after tomorrow ready? Remember to use blue roses for decoration at the bonding ceremony. She loves blue roses the most!" It's no wonder he has been working late so often recently. He's preparing for this. I'm overjoyed. But just two nights before the bonding ceremony, Dante brings his longtime friend back instead. Before I can even react to why he'd bring another she-wolf home, I already hear Jack roaring in fury. "What the hell are you doing? Isn't Ember supposed to be your mate in the bonding ceremony? Why is it Nova now? "Have you even considered Ember's feelings? If she finds out that you're bonding with someone else after years of you two dating, she'll become angry and leave! "Even if you mark her, I won't acknowledge it. Your fated mate and Luna can only be Ember!" Only then do I realize that I've been deluding myself. The surprise isn't prepared for me at all. In that case, there's no need for me to tell him that I'm with pup either. I pretend to know nothing. On the day of the bonding ceremony, I leave the pack completely.

Right before the SAT, our scatterbrained airheaded group favourite, the school belle, Priscilla Ashford, volunteers herself to safeguard everyone's admission tickets. My firm refusal of her offer earns me the displeasure of my childhood sweetheart, Justin Kylemark. "You're picking on her again," he says. I ignore his rebuke. On the exam day itself, I personally double-checked every single admission ticket to make sure nothing could go wrong. However, the moment Priscilla gets hers from me, she burst into tears, claiming that I lost her ticket. Justin snatched my admission ticket and tore it to shreds. I run until my legs give out, barely managing to get it reissued before the bus leaves. However, my classmates all kicked me off the bus together. "You lost Priscilla's admission ticket. Do you think you deserve to sit for the exam?" They carry with them the exam prediction I had prepared for them. Thanks to that, they each achieve excellent scores. I have no choice but to repeat the year and become the top scorer. By then, Justin and my other classmates, who are already in prestigious universities and colleges, all return together. They produce fake evidence, accusing me of cheating in the exam. Unable to defend myself, a candidate who flunked the exam poured gasoline on me and set me on fire. When I open my eyes once more, I see myself handing the admission tickets over to Priscilla… except for my own.

My executive boyfriend, Marcus Winters, had always wanted the regional president seat. Then his favorite protégée, Sophie Moresby, complained that I always got the spotlight, and he deliberately sabotaged my car. The crash broke both my hands, leaving me unable to compete in the design contest that could decide the board vote. He handed my entry slot to Sophie and expected me to accept it quietly. When I confronted him, he said it was only one competition and that, as design director, I should give younger employees a chance. To prove his "fairness," he stripped me of my director title and docked six months of my pay to compensate the team. Everyone waited for me to fight back. Instead, I nodded, calm and silent. Marcus was pleased. He promised that once his promotion came through, he would restore my position and publicly announce our relationship. I smiled coldly and told him we were done. I had already submitted my resignation. What Marcus did not know was that the board and I had made a private agreement: if I won the championship and secured the decisive vote, the person I named would become regional president. I had been preparing to name him. Now he had not only replaced me with Sophie, but also encouraged her to submit a fraudulent design. Once the contest ended, the only thing waiting for him was termination, a ruined career, and a bill he could never afford.