Jules Hedgehog

For three consecutive years, Nate Jackel had a wedding dress customized each year and gifted it to the woman he loved most. When reporters asked me how I felt, I looked at the trending headlines filled with this so-called "true love" hype and sneered. “What’s there to praise about an affair between a cheating husband and his mistress?” That night, Nate rented out a rooftop restaurant and had ten thousand drones launched into the sky to celebrate Grace Lawson’s birthday. In his way, he was telling the entire world that he loved her. That was fine by me. As long as I stayed married, Grace would forever be a mistress.

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?

When I was in the terminal stage of renal disease, my wife gave the kidney that was most compatible with me to my brother. I rejected the doctor’s suggestion to continue waiting for a new kidney and got discharged early. My heart had frozen over. There was no point in holding on anymore. I gave the wealth that I had accumulated over the years to my brother, and my parents finally smiled at me. My wife tirelessly wanted to take good care of my brother. I did not get angry. Instead, I even asked her to be more attentive to his needs. Even when my daughter wanted my brother to be her father, I agreed with a smile. Everything had turned out exactly as they had hoped. Why were they feeling regret?

It was Christmas Eve. Once again, my parents left me alone at home, chasing triple pay at work. However, after twenty years of the same lonely holiday, I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to sit in the quiet house by myself again, so I packed up some sandwiches and went to them. What I didn’t expect was to see them stepping out of a luxury car, arms linked with a boy who looked about my age, laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world, heading straight into a five-star hotel. “Mom, Dad, is it okay to leave Suzie all alone at home like that?” My mom waved it off and said, “It’s fine. She’s used to it.” My dad just brushed it off with a chuckle. “She’s nothing like you. You're our real treasure.” Upon hearing that, I turned and walked away. They'd been pretending to be broke all these years, lying to me about working overtime, about scraping by. Well, fine. If they don’t want me, I’m done wanting them, too.

After my parents passed away, Uncle Mike took me in. When greedy relatives tried to snatch away my inheritance, he chased them off with a kitchen knife. “As long as I’m here, nobody lays a finger on this girl!” Aunt Rachel doted on me, calling me her precious baby and making me nutritious meals every day. My cousin Pete secretly slipped me pocket money and made sure to pick me up and drop me off at school, afraid I might get bullied. The neighbors all said I was lucky and to repay their kindness someday. On graduation day, I cooked them a lavish meal to show my appreciation. Every dish was laced with rat poison. I didn’t spare a single soul, not even the neighbors. I killed them all!

On a rainy day, I gave my pregnant neighbor a ride home since it was on my way. As a result, she became clingy and started insisting I drive her home every day. When I refused, she teared up and accused me of lacking compassion. Her husband even showed up at my door, demanding, "Why won't you take my wife to and from work? Are you looking down on us?" In the end, I sold my car and moved to a new place. If I couldn’t afford to offend them, at least I could avoid them!

Julian "Jules" Ashford was born to wear a suit, walk the shiny halls of power, and marry the perfect woman - even when he's lied his entire life to everyone, including himself. Closeted, bullied by father Stephen Ashford Sr., and stuck in a copycat marriage to political heiress Camille "Cam" Stratton, Jules has just one freedom: acting... until an ice-blue mess and a beat-up Dodge Challenger smash into his carefully built world. River Moreno is signed, shattered, and too occupied destroying Moreno Custom Garage with his sister Sierra and father Tomás to give a shit about billionaire dickheads in fancy suits - until one of them "accidentally" hits him from behind to get his attention. When Jules and River's worlds collide - quite literally - what begins as a calculated untruth sets something raw and magnetic in motion. One man's existence is constructed on silence and legacy; the other's on survival and truth. But when a brick comes through River's shop window and threats begin to escalate, Jules doesn't hesitate to defend him - even if it means putting himself at risk and exposing himself in ways he's never been brave enough to. As Jules utilizes his power to protect River from harm, something deeper takes root - deeper than lust, deeper than rebellion. It's real. It's risky. And it may cost them everything. In a city where Ashford & Co. Wealth and the Stratton political machine reign supreme, where love between two men puts more than reputation at risk - it puts power at risk - Jules must make a decision: Can the man who was trained to live behind a mask come to love - and live - in the open?

Mila Luna Blaine works as a supervisor for Unique real estates, a company owned by the son of the renowned pilot, Elise Cohen. Being a supervisor and head of her department automatically placed her at the board of directors level and a thorn in Bentley Cohen's flesh. He couldn't stand the strong, intelligent, and independent woman who always stood up to him and questioned his every order. He finds her disrespectful and so full of herself and she sees him as an incompetent, unnecessarily authoritative, unfriendly man who gives absurd orders and directives. She, therefore, objects to his rules which makes her an enemy to him. Things get heated when it turns out that their fathers are childhood friends and that they have settled an engagement for them without their consent. Will they continue to be enemies or will they look at each other in a different perspective other than hatred. It seems their hatred goes beyond their office

Have you ever dreamt of becoming your stepson's wife? Of course, Jules never expected it, until she met him. * “Who is she?” he barked staring at the woman standing beside his dad with a cold gaze. “Your stepmom, Jules. My newly wedded wife.” his father answered, drawing Jules closer. Hero's lips twitched. Stepmom? He took in the young exquisite woman and sneered. She's more like a gold digger and as long as he's here, he would never accept her as his stepmom. Never!

Calla Pierce has loved Miles Bennett, Blackridge High’s golden boy hockey captain for as long as she can remember. So when one reckless summer night finally gives her everything she thought she wanted, she mistakes it for the beginning of something real. She is wrong. By the end of summer, he calls it a fling. By morning, he is back with his perfect girlfriend and Calla is left with a secret that could ruin all of them. Then Ryder Monroe returns. The hockey team’s former power forward, the boy suspended after a violent incident that nearly destroyed Miles, the one everyone calls dangerous. No one expected him to be back at school, but here he is and closer to Calla than she ever imagined. Now she is stuck tutoring the one boy her best friend hates most, the one who watches her like he knows her, the one who doesn’t look at her like she is a second choice. Every challenge feels like a thrilling dare, every touch feels intentional, and every rumor about Ryder starts to feel less like truth and more like manipulation. Then suddenly, Miles wants her attention again, and the truth about last year’s incident is more complicated than anyone knows. Caught between the safe love she has chased for years and the dangerous connection she never saw coming, Calla must decide. Is love supposed to protect you, or ruin you in the best possible way?