Levi Crying

I took a shortcut through the alley and watched Dante Marchetti put a bullet in a man like it was nothing. He saw my face. That was the end of my normal life. Within an hour I was in the back of his car being driven to an estate I had never seen before with gates that locked from the outside and a wardrobe full of clothes in my exact size waiting like someone had known I was coming before I did. He told me I wasn't a prisoner but a guest. He said people who wanted to find me were considerably worse than him and that his walls were the only thing standing between me and a conversation I wouldn't survive. Maybe he was right. The problem is the longer I stayed the harder it became to remember which one was true. Because the man who caught me in that alley wasn't the only version of him. There was another one that nobody else seemed to get to see. The one who stood alone in his dead mother's library looking tired in a way that had nothing to do with sleep. The one who had my cat brought to the estate because he heard me crying through a closed door and didn't know what else to do about it. The one who almost smiled when I threw a glass at his head. That version of him was the one I couldn't stop thinking about. I came here as a witness. I stayed as something else entirely. Somewhere between the locked doors, the candlelit dinners and the secrets we started sharing in the dark I stopped wanting to leave. The question was whether a woman like me could survive loving a man like him. I was about to find out.

Ever since we were kids, I'd always known how to make use of my gentle childhood friend for things like sending him on errands, and borrowing his allowance. He never complained. Just silently indulged me. Things continued the same way until the day we got engaged. That's when everything snapped into place. That was the day we both woke up. I was just a throwaway character in a novel. He was the male lead—fated to fall in love and end up with the novel's heroine. I was stunned. Ready to walk away. But he was furious. Jaw clenched, eyes wild. He grabbed my hand and dragged me straight to City Hall. "Screw the novel. Screw the plot. The only thing I know is that I love you, and I want forever with you." After we got married, he treated me like I was made of glass. Gentle. Meticulous. We worked side by side, building a reputation as a power couple in the business world. The events of the novel faded into the background. I fell deeper in love with him. Three years later, the youngest daughter of a real estate tycoon started her internship at our company. That day, there was a fire in the office. In the chaos, the girl stumbled into a shelving unit. It came crashing down, headed straight for my husband. I didn't hesitate. I threw myself in front of him. Pain exploded in my skull. Blood poured down my face. The girl, in her panic, had fallen to the ground, crying out, "Aaron, help me!" My husband's face went pale. His expression—pure terror—as he ran toward her without a second thought. "Grace!" he cried. Lightning split through me. My face drained of color. The heroine in the novel—her name was Grace.

Warning: This book contains explicit sexual content, but does not condone rape. "What happened, Father? What happened?" I asked anxiously, feeling restless. "He challenged me to a game and used his mansion as a bet," Father explained. I looked at Mother, who was crying, and suddenly understood what was going on. "Father, did you use this house as a bet and lose?" I asked, anger welling up inside me. “How could you, Father? How could you do this? Where do we go from here?" I yelled, overcome with pain. But my voice got stuck in my throat as I heard Dad's next words. "I didn't bet the house, but I used you," he declared, leaving me speechless and stunned. ***************************** "Do not even consider falling for me because, like the others, you are just a toy. Just give me an heir, and I will set you free," he said, pushing her onto the bed while his words continued to echo in her mind. Zoey, wagered by her father to the cold-hearted Alpha Ethan after a foolish gamble, finds herself reduced to a mere plaything. Ethan takes pleasure in emotionally tormenting her, believing women to be worthless due to being cheated and rejected by his first mate. Little does he know that Zoey is his second chance mate. Zoey is framed, and Alpha Ethan discovers her in bed with his cousin. Heartbroken and filled with anger, he sends her away, unaware that she is already carrying his child. Five years later, their paths cross again, and he realizes that she is his second chance mate and the mother of his child. But how can he win her back? She is no longer the naive girl he once knew; instead, she is a single mother sought after by many Alphas and Lords.

Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and just barely recognizing yourself in the reflection? Well that is me, I have loved and lost. Survived and thrived, screamed and cried into my pillow tears nobody else got to see. But I never gave up hope, never lied down and never let them see me cry. Until him, he could see past the facade and see the real me. He wanted to love me, concole me and protect me. But I have lost hope in humanity, men, true love because life just arent a fairytale right? Its hard work and nothing comes easy even if you would like to believe it does it just doesnt. He is my mothers new husbands son and 10 years older than me. His blue eyes keep staring at me, it should warm me to the core right. Make me feel something anything. But it doesn't he makes women run after him and beg on their knees. But me, I have been down this road before. The charming smile, arrogant cocky attitude. It always ends the same, me covered in bruises crying on the bathroom floor. Thinking its all my fault, all me. But he just wouldn't let go. He wouldn't give up. And the more I turn him down the more it turns him on. I am only that strong before I give in,and even though I know how this is about to end. If he keeps staring at me with desire in his eyes as if I am the reason he is breathing. I know I am about to take the leap this can go down to damn ways. But the question is do I or dont I. Because fear can be your anchor or it can be your wings

CAN BE READ ALONE!! Growing up, at a younger age my mom would tell me her romantic story of how she and dad met. I fell in love with their love story and would beg her to tell me every night before going to bed. I love her story so much that I could not wait to one day be old enough to find my one true mate; that every full moon, I would stare through my bedroom window and watch excitedly wolves being wandered off into the dark, having only the full moon to guide them. Seeing them, I was even more anxious to turn eighteen and to too meet my mate. The wolf, the moon goddess has blessed me with to spend my entire life with. Before my mom was taken from me, she used to tell me, a one true mate is like an alpha, and that the only difference is that he may not have a pack he's destined to rule and protect, but a single wolf he's destined to love forever. I kept that quote with me and impatiently waited until I was of the rightful age, searching under the beautiful moonlight for my one true mate. It was the most beautiful night and even more beautiful when I lay eyes on a dark hair and blue eyes handsome wolf. I could hear my wolf crying inside telling me that he was mine; that night I thought I found everything that I was looking for and ever wanted, but the next day after my one true mate mark me as his own and took my innocent. Everything wasn't going the way I thought it would be. My mate mostly. His sweet behavior towards me suddenly changes into something terrifying; something I'd never wish upon anyone.

When Astrid is kidnapped and shipped off as a gift for a king’s coronation, she becomes resentful of her life and resigns herself to death at his hands. Spared by her new captor, she must find a way to navigate the turmoil of harem life. Pitted against the other girls of the harem, and the king's favorite, she must survive attempts on her life, societal upheaval, and, most dangerous of all, a budding romance. Is she just making the good of a bad situation? Or is love truly blooming with her tyrannical owner? "Do you know who you're talking to?" He asks both angry and amused, with a dangerous flame in his golden eyes. "Loras." "Loras is a king, Astrid. A king doesn't give explanations in front of anyone. And if you don't learn that, this palace will kill you." He doesn't sound like he's scolding her, nor does he sound arrogant. He tells it as it is. And Astrid was aware of that. But still, it's not something that her heart could just accept. She didn't realize she was crying until his hand dries her tears. And before realizing it, he pulls her closer. "N..." She tries to oppose it, but it's too late. His lips are pressed on hers and all breath leaves her chest. His lips are soft and full, embracing her mouth entirely. "Open your mouth!" He whispers an order and she can only obey. Her knees are melting so she grabs his neck. He puts his arms around her and lifts her up, pressing her body into the wall, trapping her. And then, suddenly, just when she was starting to get used to the maddening sensation of his touch, he steps back. "Don't you want to finish the conversation about Lysa?" He asks.

My adoptive parents' long-lost daughter came back. She's a wellness influencer. She eats from crystal bowls she "cleansed." Sleeps with a white noise machine. She will only ride in a custom, climate-controlled car. That's not all. She filled our family's Manhattan law firm with Himalayan salt lamps and energy crystals. The espresso in the conference room? Replaced with gluten-free, organic dandelion root tea. "The energy here is so murky," she'd say. "We need to cleanse the world with love and light!" My guilt-ridden parents gave her everything she wanted. Even my fiancé told me, "Ava, you stole twenty years of her Upper East Side life. Can't you cut her some slack?" The day of the final hearing for our firm's biggest case, the entire court had to wait for her to finish her "emotional cleansing meditation." The judge was furious. I stood up. Delivered a flawless closing argument. I won our client $500 million and secured the future of the firm. But at the party, she had a drunken breakdown, fell into the pool, and drowned. My parents and my fiancé blamed me for everything. "You always have to win, don't you? It was a simple, open-and-shut case. You couldn't even let her have that?" They had me committed to a psychiatric hospital. They destroyed my law license and my reputation. They even had me injected with a fatal overdose of sedatives. I died full of hate. The next time I opened my eyes, I was back. Back to the day she was crying on her Instagram Live, begging for the case. This time, I walked straight into our rival's law firm. This "sure-win" case? I'm going to make you lose everything.

Tahimik ang mansyon. Tahimik… maliban sa mahinang iyak ni Princess sa bisig ko—isang buwang gulang, walang alam, walang kasalanan. Pero siya ang unang nasaktan sa lahat ng ‘to. Siya ang naiipit sa pagitan ng dalawang taong hindi na alam kung paano magmahal nang sabay. Nakaluhod ako sa harap ni Elise. Mahigpit ang hawak ko sa laylayan ng bestida niya, parang batang takot na maiwan sa dilim. Nanginginig ang labi ko, pinipigilan ang mga luhang ayaw na sanang lumabas—pero hindi ko na kayang kontrolin. “Please, Elise…” garalgal kong pakiusap. “’Wag mo kaming iwan. Hindi ko alam kung paano palalakihin si Princess nang wala ka. Hindi ko alam kung paano mamuhay kung wala kayo…” Pero wala. Wala siyang emosyon. Wala siyang luha. Matigas ang titig niya, parang ako pa ang mali. Bitbit niya ang maleta niya—hindi lang punô ng damit, kundi punô ng lahat ng alaala namin. Lahat ng pangarap. Lahat ng ‘akala ko tayo.’ “Hindi ko ‘to pinlano, Levi,” mahina niyang sagot. “Pero kailangan kong piliin ang sarili ko. Pagod na akong umasa. Pagod na akong maging pangalawa sa trabaho mo, sa mundo mo. Hindi ko kayang maging ina habang ako mismo’y hindi buo.” Gumuho ako. Literal. Napayuko ako habang yakap ko si Princess, habang nararamdaman ko ang init ng iyak niya sa dibdib ko. Halik ako nang halik sa noo niya, para bang kaya kong takpan ng pagmamahal ang kawalan ng ina niya. “Anak mo ‘to, Elise. Anak natin…” pabulong kong daing. “Kung hindi mo na ako kayang mahalin… kahit siya na lang. Kahit siya. ‘Wag mong iwan ang anak mo…” Pero wala. Ni hindi siya lumapit. Ni hindi siya tumingin. Tumalikod siya, dala ang katahimikang mas malakas pa sa kahit anong sigaw ng pagtanggi. "Ayoko na" mahina niyang sabi at hinila ang maleta palabas ng mansion.

Extract. " Why are you here?" She asked, staring out the window. She has refused to face him since he entered the room, treating him as if he were a ghost. She was a ghost to everyone but not to him and she wondered why. " Came to see you. Did I come at a bad time?" He asked. With a crooked sigh, she finally turned to face him, revealing a tear streaked face. Anger rose in him. Moving towards him, she muttered through gritted teeth. " Every time is a bad time Ray, don't you understand that?" " I understand if you're angry, I can always come see you tomorrow..." She cut him off. " I don't want you to come see me tomorrow or the day after that! I need you to leave me alone! Stop trying to help me Ray, we both know it's not going to work. I wonder why you even bother. Just go away!" " Why do you keep pushing me away?! I want to help you, why won't you let me?" " Because it's of no use. No one can help me Ray, not even you. And you trying is going to hurt the both of us! Even more than we can ever imagine." She spat, tears clouding in her eyes again. She was always crying and frowning. Never smiled. He never thought she knew what it felt like to smile. " But I love you! I freaking do! Why can't you understand and let me stay?" He yelled, shaking her, tears forming in his eyes at the one girl he loved but keeps pushing him away. " Then hate me. If you truly love me Ray... You would hate me." She growled, staring deep into his eyes. Giving him a choice, to hate or love her...

I used to be the one and only girl spoiled by my family. But everything changed on my 18th birthday, when my father adopted a she-wolf orphan named Sophia from the Werewolf Charity House. My elder brother, Alex, started to love her more and began to look down on me. My mate, John, who had grown up with me, liked her and ignored me. Even my father said that Sophia, an orphan, was ten thousand times better than his own birth daughter. It was my graduation day from Werewolf University. But instead of celebrating with me, they broke their promise because of Sophia.The 101st time. I counted. And it hurt worse than all the hundred before. I couldn't help crying out, "Am I really part of this family?" My father looked at Sophia—whose eyes turned red because of my words—with pity. Then he slapped me across the face. "You're still fighting for affection? I wish I had never given birth to you," he shouted. Alex snapped at me too. "You make me sick. I'm ashamed to have a sister like you. Get out of this den!" I didn't say a word. I simply packed up my things and left in silence. After I left, the den fell into a strange quiet. They took Sophia to the South Pole to see penguins, as if nothing had happened. No one contacted me or showed concern, because they assumed I would eventually come back—just like before. They never planned to do anything for me. They never had. But this time, they didn't know I was leaving for real. I called my mother, who lived in another pack far away, and told her I'd finally agreed to go live with her. Because this time, the family… Was no longer a place I needed.