Love The Second Time Around

After my daughter was seriously injured in a car accident and suffered heavy bleeding, she was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. When it was time to sign the surgical consent form, the nurse suddenly snapped the medical file shut and pressed it down firmly. "Hospital regulations state that only immediate family members can sign the surgical consent form. What proof do you have that you are the child's father?" I was stunned. "She is my biological daughter. Do I still need to prove it to you?" The nurse retorted, "Birth certificates can be forged. How do we know the child wasn't abducted by you? If you cannot prove it, we cannot proceed with the surgery." Seeing the nurse's self-righteous expression, I trembled with anger. "I am signing the surgical consent form for my own biological daughter. Do I need to provide DNA evidence as well?" She curled her lip. "These are hospital regulations. We are being responsible for the patient. If you cannot prove the child is yours, we will report you to the police for child trafficking." After saying that, she actually called security to report it and loudly accused me of being a human trafficker. Report me to the police? I took out my police uniform from my bag and put it on. I'd show her what a split-second response was.

My widowed mother-in-law has an affair with a married man. Whenever she goes out to meet him, she uses me as an excuse and says I need her to run errands. Slowly but surely, my husband, William Sanders, thinks of me as a cruel daughter-in-law who orders her mother-in-law around. One day, my mother-in-law gets pregnant. She secretly uses my name when getting a checkup at the gynecology department and even wants to play the child off as mine and William's. Her lover's wife mistakes me for his mistress and strips me in public before beating me to death. When I open my eyes again, I'm back to the day when my mother-in-law's lover's wife finds out about her going to the gynecology department under my name. This time, I'm calm as I tell the woman what to do. "Let's get to the bottom of this. Let's ask the doctor who the actual patient was!"

The Alpha I loved and his powerful father, the Lycan King, were both drugged with a Heat Potion. Without a second thought, I climbed into the King's bed. In my last life, I was forced to be Damien's cure. To mate with him. To bear his pups. But he spent every night at her grave, mourning his "true love," Isabella. He never touched me again. Five years into our mating, after an argument, he shifted into his wolf form. He tore me and my pups limb from limb. He was convinced I'd used some dirty trick to mark him, keeping him from his true love. He believed it was my fault Isabella left, heartbroken, and died in an "accident." When I opened my eyes again, I was back. Back on the night they were drugged. This time, I will not be the cure. I will be the Queen.

Choices and chances… one decision or one of many that make us live a life of happiness and content…. one that makes us muddled and ordinary… or one that leaves us with regret and unwillingness…. Mira was just an ordinary girl who was loved and pampered. The two most important people in her life were Alina and Jason; Alina, her best friend and Jason, her sweetheart. Mira's peaceful life took a turn for the worse when her stepmother forced her to marry a simpleton whom she had never met. She hated her stepmother. She did everything she could to make life unbearable for the two people responsible for her misery- her stepmother and her husband.She succeeded in getting rid of both; one passed away and the other gave her a divorce. She finally got the life she wanted, a life where she married her sweetheart. But why was nothing as she imagined? Why was her husband who loved and waited for her to get a divorce never around? Why was her father about to be executed for treachery? With her last breath, she got her answers- Everything she knew was a lie; Jason whom she loved with all her heart hated her because of a lie; Alina, whom she trusted and cared for more than anyone else, was the cause of her misery. Her stepmother and her ex-husband whom she hated, loved her to death…. Literally! It was too late by the time she got the answers for her questions, or was it? Mira was one of those fortunate people, who got a second chance. What choice will she make? Will history repeat? Will she make amends to the ones she wronged? or…. Will she correct the misunderstanding with her sweetheart for her happily ever after?

Three years into my arranged marriage with the Valachi family heir, the one that got away came back. He left me for Julia eight times. The ninth time, he left me bleeding on the side of the road with a gunshot wound to go running to Julia, who’d called him because she felt a little dizzy. "She needs me. You get that, right, Leona?" This time, I didn't fight for him. He didn't know about the bet I’d made with Julia. The ninth time he abandoned me, I would be the one to leave for good. So on his birthday, I left a set of signed divorce papers on his desk and got on a plane.

️ Warning: This book contains mature themes, explicit content, strong language, sexual kinks and dark themes. Read at your own risk. Life was never easy for Liam. Being a top scholar at an elite high school already came with its own battles — the bullies, the gap between his world and everyone else's, and the constant pressure of holding everything together on his own. But when his scholarship falls short of covering his tuition, he is left with one option he never saw coming and never wanted. Which was…tutoring Ken— the most arrogant, mischievous, and insufferable guy in school — who also happens to be effortlessly hot and everything Liam was never supposed to want. But at the same time, everything he never knew he needed. One stolen moment leads to another, and before Liam can make sense of any of it, he finds himself realizing that this same guy — his worst enemy — gave him the first kiss of his life. And the first orgasm he had ever felt wasn't his own imagination. He told himself it was just one time, but the truth was that it was never just one time. Because wanting Ken comes with a price Liam never saw coming — and the more he tries to walk away, the deeper he gets pulled in. As forbidden as it all looks, Liam wants Ken all to himself. He is ready to risk everything for what his body desires and what his heart refuses to let go of. Because if their love is a crime — then he is willing to be ‘wanted.’

I had spent my whole life living in the shadow of my sister, Juliana, the woman everyone in the mafia's heir circle adored and protected. She had no idea that I had been reborn. Just like in my previous life, she smiled sweetly and gently, insisting that I pick my fiancé first, pretending to be thoughtful and gracious. However, this time, I refused. In my previous life, I naïvely believed she meant well. I married the man she recommended, Chester Kane, an heir who was said to have been paralyzed after an ambush. I gave up my right to inherit the family, becoming his caretaker, his crutch, the medicine he used to fight loneliness. However, no matter how much warmth I gave him, his heart remained frozen. The truth only came out during my sister's pregnancy celebration. When an assassin from a rival family raised his gun toward her belly, the man who had not stood in years suddenly rose to his feet. He shoved me toward the muzzle of the gun. All seven bullets tore into my womb. As I collapsed, I saw him pull my sister into his arms, shielding her with his own body and taking the final shot for her. Only then did I understand. He had never been paralyzed. His family had never abandoned him. He pretended to be sick because Juliana's heart belonged to another man, and he refused to be tied to me. "I'm sorry, Tania," he said. "I lied to you. However, I couldn't let Juliana lose the heir she's carrying. I'll repay what I owe you in our next life." When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day my father asked us to choose our marriage partners. This time, I chose no one. Yet back then, they were the ones who begged for my love.

I was born just one minute after Tiara, but the world treated that one minute as if it lasted a lifetime. She was the star. I was the shadow. She was flawless. I was the afterthought. She was loved. I was forgotten. Even by Reagan de Russo, heir to the wealthiest family in the country and the man I had secretly loved for the past ten years. But to him, there was only Tiara. And when he proposed to her, I knew my quiet little dream had finally died. Until that day came. The day Tiara left him at the altar. The day the world stopped turning for just a second. The day the man who had never even glanced my way, turned to me and asked me to take her place. I knew what I was. An escape. A damage control. A backup plan. And I... I was too tired of being strong. So I said yes. We married. Without love. Without a future. Just a one-year contract and a life of make-believe in front of flashing cameras and watching eyes. But the longer I stayed by his side, the harder it became to tell what was real and what was just part of the performance. Because for the first time... Reagan saw me. But can love truly grow from the ruins of lies, old wounds, and the shadow of a woman who’s always been his first choice? Or will I always be… only the second best?

Ellie Reigns is the only child of her father, a notorious Mafia Boss. She was raised under a roof of strict rules and regulations. She is his prized possession, his precious rose. When Ellie’s mother gave birth to her, something tragic happened: she died minutes later, not even getting the chance to hold her child in her arms. Ellie is now 19 years old, yet her father keeps her hidden from the world, afraid that he would lose her as he did her mother. Because of this, she has zero experience with love. She is deprived of the normalcy of a teenager. A day came when Ellie got sick of being locked away from the outside world, and that was when she met Dexter Mill. He is known as a bad boy and a player, but to Ellie, he becomes known as the guy that took her breath away; the one that raised goosebumps on her skin. Dexter becomes known to her as the boy with mesmerizing eyes. Maybe it was love at first sight, but it only took a second for Ellie to see eternity in those green eyes of his.

At my wedding, I was betrayed. My fiance made me into a laughingstock and left me to be mocked brutally by the guests.I was shocked, swamped and heartbroken when the Alpha of the enemy pack, the most powerful and desired man in the city came to me.“Are you here to humiliate me too?” I asked.“Amber Collins,” he replied softly, and his thumb gently caressed my cheek. “Will you take me as your husband?”However, not until a long time later, I found out that none of this was a coincidence.**He lays me on my side. “I’ve wanted to mark you for as long as I've known you...” he murmurs as he presses himself harder against my body.“Wa... Wait...” I gasp.But it's impossible. There's no way to stop it. It's a force of nature. A nature that I’m all his, body and soul.Marriage First, Mate Second is created by Reina Bellevue, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.