John Lie Margaretha Dharma Angkuw

At sixty-five, I got served divorce papers. The same day, my husband Sebastian — decked out in his wedding suit, of all things — popped a handful of sleeping pills in a suicide attempt. For years, we were the perfect couple. The kind of pair neighbors whispered about with envy. I couldn't wrap my head around it. The divorce. The pills. None of it made sense. Not until I found the photo and letter in his pocket.

Shortly after we said "I do," the Family sent my husband, Dario, down to the Mexican border. He told me it was a meat grinder down there—cartel territory. where guys were zipped into body bags every day. He said he had to go—to expand the territory, for the glory of the Family. He claimed it was too dangerous and that his enemies would paint a target on my back, so he wouldn't take me with him. I believed him. I stayed behind in his old, rot-infested house in New Jersey, taking care of his bitter, spiteful parents. I spent my days and nights in the Family's moldy laundromat, washing bills stained with blood. He told me he sent every dime he made down there to the widow of a brother who took a bullet for him. He asked me to be understanding. I never complained. Day after day, I pressed expensive suits in that humid laundromat, waiting for him to come home. It wasn't until the eighth year that a mobster came back drunk. When I asked about Dario, he froze, then sneered at me through a haze of alcohol. "Dario? Are you kidding? He’s been a King in Manhattan for years. He’s the youngest Underboss of the Corleone family." I stood frozen, the iron in my hand burning a hole right through a shirt. "And he got married seven years ago. Biggest cathedral in New Jersey. Half the mob was there to toast the groom..." He pulled a crumpled photo from his leather jacket. Snuggled up against my husband was a woman in a high-end couture gown—the very same "poor, widowed sister-in-law" he had told me about. The next day, I contacted a fixer who specialized in fake IDs. On the application for a one-way ticket to Europe—a ticket to vanish off the face of the earth—I filled in the fake name I had prepared long ago. He trapped me for seven years with a sham marriage. From now on, I’d be done with this damn loyalty.

My mom is a pathological liar who enjoys making herself seem like the victim. Unfortunately, I'm always the scapegoat. When I was little, there was one time when she went out to play poker with her friends. As a result, she forgot to go home and prepare dinner on time. After that, she slapped me in front of the entire family. "This brat ran off to god knows where earlier! I went out looking for her, which is why dinner got delayed!" Because of that lie, I had to kneel in the courtyard throughout the night. When I was studying, I had to take an extremely important exam. My teacher repeatedly reminded the parents to prepare all materials required for their children. But my mom didn't even prepare anything for me. After that, she even said in front of everyone, "I've already prepared the materials for her. She was the one who threw them away when she was on her way to school because she didn't want to take the exam at all!" Since then, all of my classmates ostracized me throughout my entire school life. After I came of age, my mom kept crying to me in the middle of the night. "Your father has been abusing me for so many years. I had to endure everything for your sake, you know!" I advised her to get a divorce, only for her to tell an exaggerated version of what I said to my father. "Your daughter egged me on to divorce you! She said she doesn't need a useless father like you! I couldn't stand it anymore, so I'm telling you this!" He flew into a fit of rage on the spot, which led to him accidentally pushing me down the stairs. I died on the spot from the fall. When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day my mom cries to me about my dad for the first time.

I always knew that I had to rule. It was written in my blood, as well as my father’s. And my great grandfather. For centuries, my family has been responsible for the monarchy of vampires. Our powers allowed us to drink human blood and then eliminate that memory. In fact, at the time of biting them, we could see some memories of that human. The most relevant of their life. Humans would only wake up the next day in their bed, with a mosquito bite on their neck, not remembering and without even suspecting anything. Although of course, exceptions existed. Wolves had their mates, the sorcerers their connections, and even the sirens had their other half. We were not different, not at all. For each existing vampire, there was a special blood. The donor with only a drop of blood that could keep us active and strong for weeks. In most cases, those people became a couple of vampires. However, not in my family. The lineage should remain pure, so even if I managed to find my donor, as we used to call them, I could only keep it as a lover. Did I want to be a monarch vampire? Of course not. Did I have another option? Of course not. I should not worry about getting my donor, because the statistics of finding them were so small, that even some vampires believed that it was a myth. The only way to find that special blood was drinking from it. And it was impossible to try the blood of all the humans of the world. So many didn’t bother looking for it. Me included. However, I did not expect to meet her in a somewhat peculiar situation.

J'avais été mariée à Alexander pendant trois ans. Tout le monde craignait sa cruauté, mais avec moi, il avait toujours été d'une douceur incroyable. Mais depuis qu'Elena avait pris une balle pour lui lors d'une fusillade il y a six mois, tout avait changé. Il répétait toujours qu'elle avait été blessée en le sauvant, alors je devais me montrer compréhensive. Lors du gala le plus prestigieux de la famille, mon mari — le Don, Alexander — est arrivé avec sa secrétaire, Elena, à son bras. Sur sa poitrine était épinglée la broche en rubis qui symbolisait la position de la Donna de la famille. « Elena a pris une balle pour moi. Elle aimait cette broche, alors je la lui ai prêtée pour un moment. Quoi qu'il en soit, tu restes la seule Donna ici. Essaie de montrer un peu de classe. » Je ne me suis pas disputée avec lui. J'ai simplement retiré mon alliance et j'ai sorti les papiers du divorce : « Puisqu'elle l'aime tant, elle peut l'avoir. Y compris cette place à tes côtés. J'y renonce aussi. » Alexander a signé sans la moindre hésitation, un sourire froid aux lèvres. « Quel genre de stratagème manipulateur es-tu encore en train de jouer ? Tu es une orpheline, séparée de ta famille ; tu ne survivras pas trois jours en Sicily. J'attendrai que tu reviennes me supplier. » J'ai sorti un téléphone crypté que je n'avais pas utilisé depuis trois ans. Alexander ne savait pas que j'étais en réalité la fille de la plus ancienne famille mafieuse d'Europe. Mais ma famille et celle d'Alexander avaient toujours été ennemies. Pour l'épouser, j'avais changé de nom et même avais rompu tout lien avec mon père et mes frères. L'appel s'est connecté. J'ai pris une profonde inspiration et j'ai murmuré : « Papa, je regrette. Envoie quelqu'un me chercher dans deux semaines. »

Mein Jugendfreund hatte mir versprochen, mich zu heiraten, sobald wir alt genug wären – doch an meinem Hochzeitstag steckte er meiner Stiefschwester, Summer Hugh, meinen Ehering an. Damals war es Victor Lowell, der gefürchtete Mafia-Erbe, der mich rettete, indem er öffentlich erklärte, er liebe mich schon seit Jahren. In den fünf Jahren, die wir verheiratet waren, erfüllte er jeden meiner Wünsche, selbst die, die ich nur beiläufig erwähnt hatte. Ich glaubte wirklich, ich sei der Mittelpunkt seiner Welt. Alles änderte sich, als ich beim Putzen seines Bücherregals auf eine streng geheime Mappe stieß. Gleich auf der ersten Seite war eine Akte über Summer mit fettgedruckten, roten Worten: „Höchste Schutzpriorität“. Darauf folgte ein Einsatzbericht, den ich nur allzu gut kannte. In jener Nacht hatte es einen Anschlag auf mein Leben gegeben. Ich hatte fast mein gesamtes Blut verloren, bevor man mich rettete. Als ich im Krankenhaus erwachte, erfuhr ich, dass ich ein Kind verloren hatte – ein Kind, von dem ich nicht einmal wusste, dass ich es in mir getragen hatte. Ich weinte bitterlich in Victors Armen, doch ich erzählte ihm nichts von dem Baby. Ich wollte nicht, dass er sich noch mehr Sorgen um mich machte. Jetzt wusste ich endlich – auch Summer war in jener Nacht angegriffen worden, und Victors Befehl hatte gelautet: „Rettet zuerst Summer.“ Meine Tränen tropften auf das Papier und ließen seine Handschrift verlaufen. „Gut“, sagte ich leise, aber fest in die Stille. „Wenn meine Ehe von Anfang an eine Lüge war, werde ich aus deinem Leben verschwinden. Für immer.“

Emerald, a compassionate pediatric doctor, is trapped in a toxic marriage with Myron, the violent alpha of the Crescent Pack. Myron’s brutality has cost her two pregnancies, and his coldness leaves her yearning for love—particularly from Eli, her enigmatic godfather who stirs forbidden feelings she can’t shake. When Emerald uncovers Myron’s secret son from an affair, her world unravels. An attack leaves her waking up beside a mysterious stranger, only for Myron and Eli to reveal a web of secrets tying her to the pack’s true lineage. As Emerald grapples with betrayal, her growing bond with Eli ignites a dangerous passion that could either save her or destroy the pack entirely.

(Trios Legacies, Book 5) The battle may have been won, but the war is far from over. In Make Believe, the fifth explosive installment of the Trios Legacies series, the next generation of wolves, witches, gods, and hybrids must face the fallout of a broken magical world—and a rising evil that refuses to stay buried. When Josefina delivers a dire prophecy in the midst of childbirth—Lucifer is back—it sets off a chain reaction across realms. Three elite teams are dispatched to the fae courts to secure alliances before it's too late: Sebastián and his sharp-tongued witch partner Phoenix navigate Seelie politics and discover Sebastián’s mate is the king’s outcast granddaughter; Jai and the fiery Violet are ambushed en route to the Unseelie Court, only to discover Jai's fated mate is a guarded selkie with secrets of her own; and Aubrey, dropped into the Shadow Court with a witch she can't stand, ends up hunted by the Wild Hunt and entangled with its dangerously magnetic leader. As magic warps reality and the gods remain trapped in their realms, old enemies and unhealed wounds surface. Portals are failing. Alliances are fraying. The Wild Hunt wants blood. And Lucifer is building an army. With mates to protect, realms to defend, and fate itself unraveling, the heirs of Arcadia must fight like never before—not just to save the world, but to find where they belong in it. Because some wars are fought with weapons. Others, with love. And the hardest ones? Those are fought with truth.

The day I agree to marry James Hunt, he is eager to announce our love to the whole world. Later, when I get pregnant, he even acquires a hospital so that I can rest easy and focus on the baby. But during a checkup in my sixth month, I overhear a chilling conversation. "Mr. Hunt, the baby's developing well, but it's too large. The delivery could put the mother's life at risk." James only laughs, cold and unbothered. "So what if she dies? I only married her to give me children." The smile on my face freezes, and it feels like I have been plunged into ice. His next words cut me even deeper. "She pushed Natasha into the water, and now Natasha can never have children. This is nothing but her retribution." The perfect happiness I think I have is nothing more than a lie. So, I quietly register at another hospital and schedule an abortion. James, I hope you live to regret this.

Complete! - Jet likes being alone. Alone with her ship, taking care of herself.But then she's tricked into Frentin space. And the genetically modified humans don't take tresspass lightly. With her freedom now forfeit, Jet is taken captive by a Frentin and threatened with slavery to the hottest alien race in the galaxy.Icaan is an ex military trader, down on his luck after he was betrayed. He finds a wayward human woman on the edge of Frentin space and does what any good Frentin would, takes her in to face her punishment. But he didn't bargain for the independent and brave human he's taken captive.Can two aliens burned by their pasts find healing and hope together? Or will one really condemn the other to a life of slavery for one little mistake?Join the steamy romantic adventure of a lifetime as Jet thaws her alien captor and their spaceship really turns up the heat.