Life Monster

On my 50th wedding anniversary, I took my worn, crumbling marriage certificate to City Hall to renew it. The clerk glanced at it—and froze. “This certificate is fake. Our records show you’ve never been married.” I stared. “Impossible. I’ve been married to Damien Slater for fifty years.” The clerk pulled up his file. “Well…Yes, Mr. Slater is married—but his wife’s name is Vanessa Grant.” Vanessa. His widowed sister-in-law. A military doctor who’d spent decades living among the troops. My hands shook as I returned home and confronted Damien. He didn’t even try to deny it. “I’ve treated you well all these years. Isn’t that enough? Vanessa is my true love. I only ever wanted her—our children, our life.” My son counseled me and said, “To spare your feelings, my parents kept it a secret their whole lives. You’re getting old now. What more do you want?” Only then did I learn the truth. The child I had raised with my own hands was never mine by blood. Decades ago, Vanessa and I gave birth on the same day. To ensure her child would grow up with intellect, privilege, and a future that I could provide, Damien switched our children. My own son? Damien drowned him in the pond the moment he drew breath. And I—fool that I was—raised Vanessa’s boy as my own. I even got him all the way to Claremont University. The truth broke me, and I collapsed. When I opened my eyes again—I was back. Back to the day I went into labor.

On the day of my birthday banquet, Grandpa asks me which of the Sterling family's daughters I want to marry. I choose the Sterling family's fifth daughter without hesitation, which surprises my family elders. After all, everyone in our circle knows that I, the eldest son of the Hamiltons, am deeply in love with the eldest daughter of the Sterling family, Violet, spoiling and indulging her to an outrageous degree. In my previous life, I did marry Violet. But after only three months, I discovered that Violet was having secret meetings with my illegitimate half-brother, Sebastian Hamilton. At the time, her eyes filled with tears as she looked at me pitifully. "Please, I'm begging you. This really was just an accident." My heart softened, but Grandpa still found out and ordered people to send Sebastian far away to another country. Violet assumed it was my doing and hated me to the bone. In the years that followed, the company's confidential information was stolen. I was killed in a car accident on the very day she discovered she was pregnant. Given a second chance at life, I decide to let the lovebirds be together. But unexpectedly, after the news of my engagement is announced, Violet appears in a wedding dress, crying and begging to marry me.

My pathetic older brother embezzled millions of dollars from the most ruthless billionaire in New York City, and the absolute only way to save my last remaining family member from a federal maximum-security prison is to physically sign my entire life away on a legally binding marriage contract. I foolishly thought I was simply surrendering my family's massive shipping empire to Damien Sterling to pay off a corporate debt, but the psychotic, golden-eyed monster had a completely different, terrifying obsession from the very beginning. Damien did not just want to conquer my company; he wanted absolute, permanent ownership of my body trapped securely inside his penthouse, and he was completely willing to orchestrate my father's fatal car crash three years ago just to force my inexperienced brother into a corner and corner me into his bed. When I discover the horrifying truth about my father's brutal murder and steal a loaded silver revolver to escape his heavily guarded estate, I accidentally drive straight into the territory of the bloodthirsty Russian mafia who want to use my life as physical leverage against my ruthless new husband. Now Damien is actively slaughtering his way through an entire warehouse of heavily armed men just to drag me back to his gilded cage, and I am terrifyingly forced to realize that the dominant monster who completely ruined my life is the exact same man who will brutally butcher anyone else who dares to touch his legally contracted wife.

Kali once said, "be careful who you trust. Remember, demon was once an angel." ... Manuel Kagura Anastacio is a simple and family oriented guy. His fate in mortal world which is the earth was a big misfortune, because first, when he was born, his father died. Second, he became the center of bullying because of his physical appearance that called ugly. Third, he confessed to his best friend then, he was rejected by his best friend. After that rejection, accident happened and cause him to die. Then, he went to the place called Purgatory - where all the soul being judge whether they go to Paradiso or Impyerno. As he wake up, he met his guardian angel named Guardian Toki, and find out to be his attorney in Purgatory. As the destiny start to play with him, Manuel Kagura Anastacio was given a chance to live again and reincarnate to Mundo da Fantasia where magic(Hold) exist. Together with Guardian Toki, they will fight against the creatures with evil intentions and eliminate them. But before they reincarnate, the ruler of Purgatory, which is Supreme Dea Justo, was given a new name for Manuel Kagura Anastacio into Sephtis Kali, also given a new name for Guardian Toki into Vita Guia and given a title The Twins of Purgatory and became the Life and Death Holder. What adventure awaits to Kali ang Guia? How they manage to fight and eliminate evil deeds? How will they encounter love in the midst of their adventure?

On the day the rich girl bullied me, my own mother just stood there, indifferent.But when she learned I fought back, my mother suddenly got angry and slapped me, saying, "How dare you hit Laura? Do you really think you can mess with her?"In that confusing moment, I suddenly realized something incredible!The rich girl and my mother looked remarkably alike...

Of the five boys who'd been raised to marry me, Lance Riverford was the one who hated me the most. And yet, he was the one I loved the most. Three times I was reborn, and three times I forced him to be my husband. Each time ended the same way—he and his childhood sweetheart killed me. When I opened my eyes for the fourth time and met that same look of loathing in his eyes, something inside me finally let go. I turned away and chose his rival, Jace Elden, as my husband instead. But at the wedding, Lance demanded with tears in his eyes, "Why did you choose someone else this time? Are you doing this just to spite me?" That was when I realized… he'd been reborn too.

The day we submitted our college applications, the school beauty, Hayley Law, suggested we all go rafting to unwind. Every single person in class raised their hand in agreement. In my previous life, as the class monitor, I did everything I could to stop them. Wild rafting was far too dangerous. Without any safety measures in place, accidents could easily happen. In the end, everyone made it back safely and got into the colleges they wanted. But before the semester even started, news came that Hayley had gone rafting alone, slipped into the water, and drowned. When Terry Vargas, my boyfriend and the most popular guy in school, heard what happened, he took the lead in organizing a memorial at sea. Then, when the waves were at their worst, he shoved me into the ocean. Later, when the police questioned them, they all told the same story as if they had planned it. "Katrina insisted on a sea burial for Hayley. During the storm, she got swept away by the waves and disappeared." They even produced fake evidence to clear Terry's name. My parents were shattered. They went to Terry again and again, desperate for the truth, but he had them set up and locked away in a mental institution, where they were tormented to death. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Hayley first suggested the rafting trip. I stood there quietly, watching my classmates pile into the bus she had rented, heading off to that same reckless trip. This time, I would just look out for myself.

At the very moment Phoebe Stanton miscarries, her husband, Connor Russell, is celebrating the return of his first love. To him, her three years of devotion and companionship mean nothing more than being a live-in maid and cook. Phoebe gives up on him and decides to divorce. Everyone in their circle knows that Phoebe is clingy and impossible to shake off. "I bet she'll come crawling in a day." Connor sneers. "A day? That's too long—half a day at most." But the moment Phoebe signs the divorce papers, she decides never to look back. She throws herself into a new life. She revives her career, which she once abandoned, builds new connections, and meets new people. As time goes on, Connor no longer sees even a trace of Phoebe at home. He begins to panic. At an industry summit, he finally spots her, surrounded by admirers. Desperate, he pushes forward. "Phoebe, haven't you had enough of this tantrum?" But Gideon Blackwood suddenly steps in front of her, shoving Connor aside, his very demeanor chilling the air. "Don't touch my woman." Connor has never loved Phoebe. But now that he does, it's already too late. There's no longer a place for him in her world.

On our 40th wedding anniversary, I discovered that my beloved husband, Derrick, had been cheating on me. Even our marriage certificate had been forged. The woman he cheated with was his foster sister, Jasmine. I confronted Derrick with the evidence, but he only looked irritated. "I've already treated you well enough in this lifetime. Jasmine is my true love. I will marry her and have children with her." Even my son tried to convince me. "Just be grateful. My real parents never went public with their relationship all these years for your sake. You are old now. What else can you do?" That was when I learned the cruel truth. The Mafia heir I had raised with my own hands was not even my biological child. Back then, Jasmine and I gave birth on the same day. To make sure Jasmine's baby would inherit the Mafia family my father left to me, Derrick secretly switched our children. Because of their negligence, my biological child later died from a simple cold. The cruelest irony was that I had raised Jasmine's son as my own and helped him reach the top of the Mafia hierarchy. When the truth finally hit me, I coughed up blood and fainted. When I opened my eyes again, I had gone back in time to the very day I gave birth.

Alex is the young master of the richest family in the world, a man whom many princesses want to marry. However, he’s treated worse than a nanny by his mother-in-law