Leaving Him To His Own Devices

"This year, there's only one spot available–and I fought hard to secure it for you. "If things don't work out with Baron Cole, I'll talk to him. You two have a strong relationship. Waiting a few years won't matter." As I stared at the application form my professor handed me, my hands would not stop trembling. In my previous life, I spent forty years married to Baron. We raised a son and a daughter. I thought that was what a complete, fulfilled life looked like. However, after he died, while sorting through his belongings, I found a box filled with letters and photographs. That was when I learned the truth–he had always loved someone else. She was his first love… and the biological daughter of the family that raised me. Back in 1984, he hid my study-abroad application, giving the opportunity to her instead. From that moment on, I became a housewife. And he devoted himself to helping the woman he loved rise–until she returned from overseas as a celebrated professor. Even my own son later turned their story into a drama, glorifying their restrained, enduring love. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day I first received that application form. This time, I did not hesitate. "Professor, I'm going abroad."

My Mate, Alpha Ronan, locked me in our penthouse. All for his childhood sweetheart, Jessica. It was her birthday. That was the night fire consumed our home. I clutched my five-month pregnant belly. The pain was too much. I couldn't shift. I desperately called the pack guards. "Help me... I'm locked in. The apartment's on fire—" Silence. Then a cold voice. It was his right-hand man. "Amelia, the Alpha gave an order. Any alarms from the penthouse tonight are just you having a meltdown. Don't waste the pack's resources." The line went dead. I tried the pack's medical team. The operator hesitated. "Luna, I'm sorry. The Alpha has declared the penthouse off-limits. We can't enter without his direct order." Then the call was rerouted. To my Alpha. To Ronan. I heard his ice-cold voice. "She's losing it. My Mate loves to make a scene. Ignore her." Smoke filled the room. I shattered the balcony's glass door and jumped. From the 30th floor. I survived. But the doctor told me the fall and the shock had been too much. I’d gone into labor. My pup, our heir… was gone. And I could never have another. That same night, my Alpha was clasping the Luna's moonstone necklace around another woman's throat. A birthday gift for her.

At 20, I became known for two things. First, I weighed over 200 pounds, yet I still ended up dating Christian Fairmont, the coldest and most unattainable man in our circle. Second, I turned down Christian's proposal, changed my name, left the country, and became the one woman no one dared mention around him—the forbidden, unattainable love he could never let go. For the next five years, Christian shut himself away in a church and refused to see anyone. Just when everyone thought he was about to become a priest, he suddenly announced his engagement. He made such a spectacle of it that even I heard about it all the way in Goldridge. That alone showed how much he valued his bride-to-be. I booked the first flight home that same night. Everyone who saw me reacted the same way. First, they stared at how completely I had changed, how much weight I had lost, how I looked like a different person. Then they sighed. "Juliana, you came back too late." Even Christian looked at me with cold, distant eyes. "When you walked away and left me behind, did you ever think that five years later, you'd regret it?" Regret? I shook my head. "I don't regret it." I was already married and had a child.

I no longer recognize myself. Not recognizing who I have turned to. Maybe it was meant to be this way. I don’t know how within the space of five years I and Noah turned into something that was never in my imagination. We turned to strangers. At this time four years ago, we were the newest couple, the Hollywood upcoming celebrities that everyone was rooting for, our relationship was the envy of the whole Hollywood… then everything changed. Then I threw it all away… even though I knew that he was ’it’ for me. I got greedy. I tried to match up his fame which was silly. You can’t compare a god and a prodigy. I was a prodigy but Noah…. He was a god.

New York’s youngest bestselling author at just 19, India Seethal has taken the literary world by storm. Now 26, with countless awards and a spot among the highest-paid writers on top storytelling platforms, it seems like she has it all. But behind the fame and fierce heroines she pens, lies a woman too shy to chase her own happy ending. She writes steamy, swoon-worthy romances but has never lived one. She crafts perfect, flowing conversations for her characters but stumbles awkwardly through her own. She creates bold women who fight for what they want yet she’s never had the courage to do the same. Until she met him. One wild night. One reckless choice. In the backseat of a stranger’s car, India lets go for the first time in her life. Roman Alkali is danger wrapped in desire. He’s her undoing. The man determined to tear down her walls and awaken the fire she's buried for years. Her mind says stay away. Her body? It craves him. Now, India is caught between the rules she’s always lived by and the temptation of a man who makes her want to rewrite her story. She finds herself being drawn to him like a moth to a flame and fate manages to make them cross paths again. Will she follow her heart or let fear keep writing her life’s script?

Lily's desperate plan was simple! One night with a stranger and her father's life would be saved. Out of the blue, she agreed to a mysterious proposal. She had no idea her life was about to spiral out of control. What began as a fleeting encounter turned into a marriage contract, sealing her fate for a year. The promise of a luxurious life, a hefty paycheck, and a peaceful existence seemed too good to be true. And it was. Without having a second thought, Lily jumped at the offer. A year of supposed bliss transformed into a chaotic descent, shattering her every hope of having a better life!

My son, Andy, had a sudden liver failure and needed a liver transplant. The only compatible match was my wife, Vivian Grant. I had begged her for 20 days to give Andy a liver transplant. Finally, she caved in. I waited the entire day in front of the operating theater, but she didn’t appear. On the same day, her first love, Jason Sanderson posted on his social media. [20th day of traveling around the world. Dr. Grant had given up her career to help fulfil my son's dream of traveling the world.] Only then did I find out that Vivian had been travelling the world with Jason and his son, Luke, since day one. That night, I received a call from Vivian. "Charlie, Luke had gotten full marks on his exam. His wish was to have his Daddy and Mommy travel around the world with him. As you know, he doesn't have a Mommy. I couldn't bear to watch him not get his wish. "We'll return in three days. We can have the surgery for Andy then." She had no idea that what awaited her at the hospital was Andy's lifeless body.

First love is supposed to fade. Yours became an obsession. Liam Thorne was everything to you—his warmth, his kindness, his adorable quirks. You risked it all and confessed, only for him to break your heart with three devastating words: "This is my girlfriend." Ten years later, you've painstakingly rebuilt your life, securing a prestigious job at the Aethelgard Corporation in the gleaming city of Aethelburg. But on your first day, your past walks through the door. There he is, your first love, now your cold, demanding boss who treats you like a total stranger. Blinded by a decade of pain, you unleash your fury on him… until a shocking revelation changes everything. The man in front of you isn't Liam. He's his older brother, and your fresh start just became a beautiful, complicated nightmare.

Desperation to have a better life. The greed to swim in wealth. The thirst for wealth led a naive young lady to make a deal she had no idea of. As it seems to her, it was simple. All she had to do was get married to a gangster until he was ready to divorce her. Little did she know, it was more than that. What could be the use of a naive lady to a gangster?

My nephew, Jason, came to live with my family for three years while he went to high school in the city. I took care of him the best I could, never once thinking it was a burden. The day he got accepted into a top-ranked university, he went live online. He told thousands of strangers about his miserable life living under someone else's roof. "I know I shouldn't say this, but I really suffered through it. "Those days of depending on others… I never want to think about them ever again. "I just want all parents to know this. No matter how poor you are, keep your kids with you. Even eating scraps together is better than watching another family of three enjoy a feast while you sit alone in the corner." He became an overnight sensation, so did I. The people on the internet dug up everything about me. My name, my job, my address. I was doxxed. I died depressed from the online bullying. However, I somehow got to do it all over again. This time, I was not going to be the saint anymore.