Lie Again Seventeen Novels & Stories

"Come on Haidan." Antoine murmured moving forward so that his face was getting dangerously close to mine. "I'm not that bad of a choice, am I?" "You..." I whispered as I felt a small flutter in my stomach at our close proximity. "You're getting too close." "Does it make you uncomfortable?" Antoine asked, allowing his breath to tickle my skin. "Or is it turning you on?" Meeting Antoine's gaze, I tried to determine the answer to his question myself. Was I uncomfortable? Or was I actually becoming turned on by this? If it was the latter, then was it because Antoine looked so much like Ashton? "I don't know." I responded as Antoine's face began to block out my vision. His lips touched mine with a feather-soft lightness, sending a tingle running through my body. Pulling away, his eyes began to search my face for any sign of argument against his actions. Satisfied that there was nothing there, he pressed his lips to mine again, this time much more firmly. Haidan had always found Ashton, the elder of the Alpha twins to be her knight in shining armor, especially after a near death experience when she was young. So enthralled she decided on a whim, to confess. That was the day her entire world came crashing down. Suffering from rejection, Haidan's best friend and the younger Alpha twin Antoine, proposes a deal to help Haidan forget her heartbreak. What will she choose? And would she come to regret that decision or thrive because of it?

A seventeen years old Sera Calix was never meant to set a foot in Virelade Academy, the country's most prestigious elite all boys school. But a paperwork error gave her a chance to escape a life of serving the masters and she'll do anything to hold onto it. Even if it means disguising herself as a boy!. The plan was to keep her head down, graduate and disappear but the problem was Kael Ashbourne, her new roommate, her worst nightmare and on top of that he's the son of the president, the same man where her mom works for. As secrets build, Sera struggles to survive a world that was built to shut her out. But the biggest danger wasn't being caught but it's the way Kael looks at her like he already knows she's lying.

When I was five months pregnant, I was kidnapped by a group of thugs. They used my phone to call my brother, Jeremy Wirkola, and my husband, Grant Sanders, to demand a ransom of ten million, but no one answered. I was tortured and assaulted until I was barely alive. When I was finally rescued, Jeremy cried and promised to avenge me. Grant was in tears too. He vowed to get me treated. However, while under the haze of anesthesia, I overheard Grant's cold voice outside the door. “Jessie is waiting for a bone marrow, but don’t forget to remove Ashlyn’s uterus. Just tell her the injuries were too severe to save it. Oh, and get the best surgeon for her. She’s afraid of pain.” His assistant hesitated. He was clearly uncomfortable. “Mr. Sanders, isn’t this going too far?” Grant paused for a second before he replied firmly. “She refused to donate her bone marrow to Jessie and even used the baby as an excuse. She’s selfish. Besides, if we don’t do this, how can I bring back Jessie and our child into the family? As for Ashlyn, she’s my wife. I’ll make it up to her for the rest of my life. She used to bully Jessie with her status, which resulted in Jessie suffering from depression and almost killing herself. It’s time she paid the price for it.” As I listened to his heartless words, something inside me shattered completely. Since they had chosen to sacrifice me for Jessie, let them have what they wanted then.

One immigration application ended my marriage— and erased me from my husband’s world forever. I was Arabella Ashford— the wife of the man everyone wanted to marry. An Italian mafia heir—Born into power, wealth, and fear. A bloodline successor watched by international law enforcement, forbidden to cross borders, permanently barred from U.S. territory. They said he adored me— built me a private estate so I’d never hear the city, sent me flowers for no reason, just to make me smile, remembered every little thing I liked, every habit and quirk, No one saw the truth. And while the world called him perfect— he was putting another woman in my place, and another life in her womb. So I made my choice. I filed for permanent residency overseas. With that one signature, I erased myself from his world. From that moment on, he would never find me again. This was the price of his betrayal. He didn’t realize I was losing him that day. When he discovered the woman he betrayed was already beyond his reach. That was when he lost everything. He gave up his position. Walked away from his inheritance. Turned his back on a throne men would kill for— all to cross an ocean he was never allowed to enter.

I turned to Kaelen and said, "I need you to help me make a potion—something that can erase every trace of me, like I never existed. Like I'm already dead. "It's the only way I can leave Julian Blackwood for good." Everyone used to say he loved me like I was his own heartbeat. For me—a rogue with no pack to protect me—he even called off a planned union with the Silvermoon Pack. He built a whole new territory and named it after me. At the start of every month, he'd hunt down the rarest snow fox pelts just for me. He told his pack I was his only salvation. For years, he made everyone believe in our love story. But love isn't always loyalty. While I was busy believing in forever, he was quietly building a second life behind my back—a home filled with his twin pups' cries and toys. Their eyes were just like his. The night I vanished, I burned it all down. That once-loving den turned to ash. He searched every valley, put a bounty on every winged rider, and tore through half the borderlands to find me. But when he finally did, I was already gone.

Six years ago, a corporate acquisition deal I handled went up in flames, and 50 billion dollars vanished into thin air. Bankrupt investors spray red paint all over my front door for a year straight. Dad died from a stroke, and Mom lost her mind and disappeared. I ended up doing six years in prison for embezzlement. After I got out, I changed my name and started delivering food in downtown, running myself ragged for a few bucks per delivery. But then my ex-wife, Shirley Pearce, showed up, and the entire delivery station ground to a halt. She had become a financial powerhouse, a regular on the covers of business magazines. Reporters blocked my delivery scooter, shoving microphones in my face. "Mr. Marcus Quinn, Ms. Pearce has been single for six years, paid off all your debts, and she's been waiting for you to come home!" I stared at that perfectly made-up woman with her adoring eyes and felt nothing but disgust. That so-called "devoted" ex-wife of mine? Six years ago, she had forged company seals to help her boy toy short the stock market. Then, when everything fell apart, she threw me under the bus to save herself.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, my mother-in-law Mary came to visit us from Ohio. I took her to my husband Liam's new spa in Manhattan, Apropos. We enjoyed a basic facial treatment together, which I had purchased for $9.90 on an e-commerce platform. Right after the treatment, the beautician slapped a high-priced package down in front of us. She glanced at us contemptuously and said: "Do you really think you can enjoy our premium services with a $9.90 coupon?Stop kidding. You two look like you’re here to freeload. A single facial here costs thousands of dollars. This isn’t some free trial for cheapskates like you." I suppressed my anger and said coldly: “We have already paid for the basic treatment. How can you call this taking advantage for free?. Go get your manager.” A flashy woman walked over. Her arms were crossed. She looked down her nose at us. “I’m the Boss lady of this place.You and this old hag are just trying to get something for free, aren’t you? Let me be clear. You're buying this five-thousand-dollar hydration treatment today. Or you're not walking out that door.” A five-thousand-dollar hydration treatment? So this was it. This was why Liam suddenly got into the beauty industry. He didn't open a spa. He opened a scam shop to bankroll his mistress. I was about to call Liam, but she beat me to it, dialing a number. “Darling, you need to get down to the spa, right now. I've got a couple of hicks from the sticks making a scene, trying to get free services!”

Seven years into my secret marriage to Leon Ferrante—Don of the Ferrante Family—and he still wouldn't make it public. Before the vows, I was his Consigliere. Every arms deal went through me. After? Just another housewife. Swapped my holster for an apron. Kitchen counter became my war zone. He didn't want kids. Said he had to take care of his autistic little brother. I got it. So I gave it all up—for his Family, for that kid. The Family blew up fast. The kid? Went from blank stares to sharp comebacks. Even started talking. But Leon still kept me in the dark. His mother wouldn't quit. "Give him a healthy heir. He'll settle down." I thought maybe she was right. I clung to him for a few nights. I got pregnant. Came home with the results, ready to tell him— Then I heard his "autistic" brother ask, clear as day: "Papa, are you gonna divorce Anna and marry someone else?"

“Lou,” He called out before I could open the door to his office, “I have always wondered just how loud you would scream when I'm fucking you.” I stop in my tracks, unable to move or turn back to look at him, because if I do, he will see just how much his words affect me. Because this idiot man has not just said if, he said when. Years after I fled town with a shattered heart, trying to outrun the pain of a high-school romance that turned out to be nothing more than a cruel bet. But life brings me face-to-face with the last person I ever wanted to see again. The boy who broke me is now a man, and he is now the owner of the strip club I work in. I need this job to keep a roof over my grandmother’s and my head, and he knows it and he uses it tooo well. With a single sentence, he doubles my salary and pulls me right back into the gravity of his presence, like the years apart never happened. But everything changes the moment he finds out I have a boyfriend. The guilt I saw in his eyes hardens and darkens, then turn into possessiveness, something I remember all too well. He once walked away from taking what that stupid bet demanded… my virginity, and now, it’s painfully clear he intends to make sure I don’t give that part of myself to anyone who isn’t him. Because in his mind, no matter how many years have passed… I’m still his.

What happens when we are stuck in our past, unable to move forward with our lives. Veronica was kidnapped and raped when she was eighteen, the culprit was not caught. She moved out of town, and never came back because of it, leaving her family behind. Ten years after the incident, she's still being plagued with nightmares and fears intimacy to the point of hyperventilating. They prevent her from having a normal life. Her best friends decide to engage the help of a psychologist to help her move on. In comes Dr Hunter Fisher, a man with a past of his own, who challenges her and brings out a side in her she never thought she'd experience. In the bliss of having found love together, they try to move on from their past together. But the enemy is out there and peace can never be found unless he is caught; only then can they be happy.