Laughing Outside Crying Inside

I was a mafia princess, sick of the life. After my father died, all I wanted was a normal life. I helped my husband, Marco, take his company public. I fought his battles. I took care of his mother. I paid for his sister’s tuition and her addiction to luxury. Then, at our tenth-anniversary party, he gave my mother's bracelet to his childhood flame, Isabella. He even fucked her in our bed. I hired a PI. Found out he knew who I was from the start. He used me. Planned to be a Wall Street hotshot, then toss me aside. He thought my family was wiped out. That no one had my back. That he could walk all over me. He didn’t break until his company was bleeding partners and staring down bankruptcy. He got on his knees, crying and begging me to forgive him.

On the day I miscarried and suffered from haemorrhage, my husband posted a photo of a newborn’s tiny feet on his Instagram Story. The caption read: “Welcome, little angel. Daddy will always protect you.” With trembling hands, I called him. “The baby’s gone. Can you come to the hospital?” On the other end, I heard a baby crying, followed by the man’s impatient voice. “In that case, take good care of yourself. Louise just gave birth and needs someone to care for her. I can’t leave. “Besides, the dead shouldn’t compete with the living for affection. Got it?” He hung up right after. I broke down alone on the hospital bed, and when I finally wiped away my tears, I dialed the number of his sworn enemy, Levi Snow. “Marry me, and the entire Wright Corporation will be my dowry. All I want is for you to bring Finn Yeaton down. Do we have a deal?”

Clarissa suddenly woke up with a start. Her head hurt… she was crying over what happened to her. She slowly got up, picked up her scattered clothes, and got dressed. She glanced at the man who was the first to take her virginity and quickly left before he could wake up. "I’m not a virgin anymore! Huhuhu… I’m really so stupid!... What’s worse is that I don’t even know the man!" She remembered begging the man to claim her last night… she felt like banging her head against the wall. She wasn’t raped, but she lost her virginity—she gave it away willingly to a man she didn’t know! She was drugged last night! What kind of drug did the man put in her drink?… why did it make her so horny… huhuhu… so embarrassing! She was even the one insisting with the man!

At the wedding I've spent months planning, my usually stoic fiancé, Anthony Scott, is about to run off with his assistant, Erica Jones. To top it all off, she is wearing a wedding gown. Out of nowhere, his younger brother, Christopher Scott, grabs my hand and plans to pull me straight to City Hall. He disregards my panicking eyes. "Let's get married," he says, as if it's the most normal thing in the world. Then, the stage decorations suddenly collapse, revealing a room full of guests mocking and laughing at me. The two men who once swore to love me forever do all just to make Erica smile. The three of them clink glasses and drink a love toast on stage, completely lost in their own moment. "The wedding you planned was way too outdated. You should thank Erica for turning it into a bachelorette party!" "The real wedding will be this Sunday. Isn't Erica's idea amazing?" Anthony and Christopher were confident that I wouldn't dare leave them. But I quietly pick up my phone and type a message. "Let's set the wedding date for this Sunday, Levi."

I only went out to work but got pushed to bed by my crush. "Help me," He said. His icy blue eyes bore into mine, and his breath hit my ear, sending chills down my spine. My body grew hot. Both his action and the drug making me wetter... I gave in. He pourer into me, earning himself two little ones inside me. I thought it was the beginning of a better life. I believed his promise of taking responsibility but all I got was torture and disappointment. With his babies inside me, Alpha Xavier made my life hell.

"Miss Hudson, we have prepared a corpse identical to you, just as you requested. It will be delivered to your wedding with Mr. Warhol in ten days." Hearing the voice on the other end of the line, Violet Hudson felt a small knot of tension unwind inside her. "Alright. Thank you." "You're welcome. This is our job. Please rest assured—no one will ever suspect a thing." With that guarantee, she exhaled, the weight on her chest easing just a little. After confirming the final details once more, she ended the call and pushed open the door to the private room. The noise inside had been a constant hum, a mix of voices overlapping, but the moment she stepped in, silence fell like a curtain.

In the ruins outside the Citadel, survival is a daily gamble. When 18-year-old Tunde finds a rare adrium shard on a dead man, he sees a way out—or at least, a way to save his sick mother. But trading it draws him into a dangerous world of mercenaries, drones, and double-crosses. To reach the walled city where hope still lives, Tunde must outsmart the very system built to keep him out. And in a place where everything is for sale, the real cost may be his soul. "He found the shard. Now the city will find him."

He was slipping...slowly and ever so surely, he started letting go of his sanity. Inside the Willow Tree, you will find a man in slumber, and you would wish it had stayed that way.

Kasey always found herself outside the social order; her only friend being a ghost. A friend who has a dark and dangerous secret, one that threatens to kill her. After being forced into the realm of hell and attacked by a demonic creature, Kasey has to adapt as she fights with herself and the demons she found herself surrounded with. The powers that are awakening within her have the potential to make her all-powerful but can also render her insane. The question now lies within which side is stronger: Her will to keep her humanity or the will of her inner-darkness to dominate the battlefield...

Jaxon Steele is the ruthless CEO of Steele Enterprises—commanding, arrogant, and always in control. Riley Lawson, his quiet and sweet assistant, has learned to keep his head down and avoid his boss's temper. But when an unexpected encounter outside the office ignites a fiery attraction between them, the lines between power and passion begin to blur. As Jaxon’s dominant nature clashes with Riley’s soft demeanor, they both find themselves struggling to resist a desire that could consume them. In a world where control is everything, who will submit to love, and who will command the heart?