Lovesick Fool

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.

I saved the life of Don Stefano Marino of the Marino family. The moment a bullet was about to strike him, I was the one who shielded him from it. Because of the life debt he owed me, Stefano decided that I would be the one marrying him instead of my older sister, Anna Costa, in the marriage alliance. But on our wedding night, Stefano would rather drink himself into a stupor somewhere in the city than consummate our marriage with me. Like a naive fool, I thought that I'd be able to melt his heart of ice someday with my love. But it had been less than five years when Stefano brought a kid, who resembled him, and Anna back. "Anna has suffered tremendously during her time overseas while trying to raise her child on her own. I need to make it up to her." Then, Stefano passed the divorce agreement to me. "You've hogged the position as the Donna for so many years. It's time for you to give it back to her." Only then did I find out that Stefano had actually spent the night with Anna on the night of our wedding. I pulled out the pregnancy report that I had meant to surprise Stefano with, only for him to rip it into shreds. "I don't need another child." Once those icy words fell, I was sent into the operating theater by force, where I suffered from heavy bleeding afterward, resulting in the deaths of me and my unborn baby. When I woke up again, I saw Stefano, who was about to get shot. This time, I shoved Anna in his direction.

Forced into a Slavery life by virtue of the weak pack she found herself in. On her 18th birthday,Drea decides seek for solution. Her pack ,the Vintage pack is the weakest. Drea goes on a fool hardy mission all by herself to steal the moon beam from the Agamemnon, with the believe that they get their powers from the moon beam. She is captured alongside betas from the Mahogany pack. She gets into a tuff with a guard, and ends up in the custody of the Alpha, Ramirez. When he sees her pack tattoo on her, he gets curious and interrogates her, but her failure to come clean with him leads to a tussle between them. Alpha Ramirez is caught in a dilemma. For the first time, he feels unwitting to hurt someone. There is just something about Drea’s innonence. There is sexual tension between the both of them, and several sizzling scenes. They soon fall I’m love with each other, but are unwitting to tell themselves. When it is discovered that Drea has a super power giving her by the moon, the power to join twenty people in a telepathic conversation, and her pack learns that she is still alive, they offer to sell her to the Alpha, not knowing that she is already in his custody. Alpha Ramirez seeing that she has no one in the entire world to protect her, since even her pack chose to sell her, he vows to protect her even with his last breath, however, she knows nothing of this and sees him as the ruthless Alpha that promised to destroy her. Alpha Ramirez must now make Drea trust him fully and completely – even though he still doesn’t trust her, and still believes she is working against him.

" No one wants to kiss chubby cheeks or sleep with a girl covered in rugs," Vince smiled as the corners of his mouth went up in a smirk. " Now get off your high horse and stop fantasizing about my perfect chest," he growled. My name is Perez, but the bullies call me Fatrez because I'm fat, not that I like being fat, their is nothing I can change about it, unless the angels decided to work out a miracle. But everything that has a beginning has an end, I could do the bullying, not that I can't. But the head of bullies is sinfully handsome, he leads as they follow. Always throwing the first comment before the rest come along. Even if he is sinfully handsome, I could never dream of me with him, the fact that am fat, call it obesity and dumb in class with extra front teeth. No one wants such a girl. Even if I was a boy I wouldn't date me. Why would he look at me twice without laughing so hard and crumbling down. The best I can do is disappear and never come back or kill myself to stop the bullies from finding other victims, they would probably die of guilt, that's my plan. But Vince is such an arrogant jerk, he could never crack, let alone feel guilty. I've got to stay alive to pay back, make his life miserable, perhaps I'll sleep at night satisfied that he is suffering because of me. But maybe the bully isn't strong like I thought, is his heart made of stone or it's all a mask to fool the world and make him feel better. His heart bleeds after all and I can injure it.

He was infamous for changing women like they are clothes, trying them on for a day and once he lost interest, be will throw it away. However, you can only count in one hand the women he loved. Precisely one. His first love, first pain and first and last heartbreak. While he had never fucked anyone, almost but not quite, until he met Luna. For him, love is a waste of time, women isn't a necessity and they only want him for his wealth, looks and power. They never wanted who he truly is and it's absolutely fine. Alas, when someone drugged him and ended up rolling in the bed with a woman he thought was paid to fool him, he was enraged. But the first thing the woman demanded wasn't to marry her, instead, she wanted him to stay away after the one undeniably satisfying night he ever had. Soon he learned that she was not a cheap woman, but the illegitimate daughter of a powerful family and people wanted to get rid of her. It was no secret that the last woman who tried to climb on his bed almost died and so no one dared to do it again. He was a tyrant and had a licentious behavior but it didn't mean he was stupid. Thinking of a way to solve his problems, he straight up went to her and proposed a contract. He was rejected at first but soon after being reasonable, they reached to an agreement. It was a huge surprise when the hot tyrant and the licentious rake announced his marriage. But it was all just the beginning. They never had an idea that a simple deal would change everything and she had never believed that she could reform the hottest rake alive. TBC

"Where I'm I?" I asked myself as I looked around to see I could see any form of life around me. I began walking back, I tried to retrace my steps and go back to the pack, back to Orion, Elijah and Henry. I was a fool to let Liam's words get to me like that. I have heard of what other packs do wolves without packs, mostly females. The warriors at the pack gate had gotten a whiff of my scent; they howled to inform the others that there was an intruder. I kept running, I was so focused on escaping the fangs of my pursuers, that I failed to pay attention to my environment. I tripped on a rock and fell to the ground, I was terrified. The wolves were already over me, I was about to be killed. I heard another howl. The wolf was outnumbered three to one, but he managed to overpower the other three. I saw an opportunity to run and I did. “What is the problem? we would get killed if we stayed there a bit longer!" "Mate, don't let them kill mate." My wolf cried, I was a bit lost. I clearly know that my mate is Liam despite him rejecting me. As the wolves prepared to attack, we heard someone yell; "Enough!!!" The three wolves stopped dead on their tracks. I turned to see that it was a member of their pack, and it seemed that he was the beta of their pack. "Don't fight him, Never in my life would I have killed one of Orion Blackthorn's sons." The beta said as he transformed into a huge brown wolf. "Now, Liam Blackburn, let's dance." Did I just hear Liam? Why did he come to save me?”

Ernesta, the daughter of a wealthy family, had lived like an orphan for over a decade after being separated from her parents as a young child. At sixteen, she was finally found and brought home. Ernesta believed her life was starting anew, that she would finally be surrounded by her family's love. But she had no idea what awaited her: her brother's judgmental gaze, her father's disdain, and her mother's feigned affection. This was because someone had completely usurped her place in the family. Her foster sister, Kiera, though unrelated by blood to the Merediths, had been raised in luxury and had become a true lady. Ernesta, the real daughter raised in a less fortunate environment, wasn't considered noble enough, elegant enough, and was treated like an outsider. On the night of Ernesta's 20th birthday, also the night her engagement to Ryder was announced, he coldly stated, “The only one I've ever loved is Kiera.” Why hadn't he said it sooner? Why did he have to say it today, in front of so many guests, making her look like a fool? To make matters worse, her father, mother, and brother all turned their backs on her to protect the deceitful Kiera. Ernesta turned and walked away. This time, she was determined to let go of the family love she had always craved. She wanted to prove to the Merediths and Ryder that her life would be even better without them. But a serious car accident nearly claimed Ernesta's life. When she awoke, a mechanical voice echoed in her ears, “Ding! Congratulations, master, on successfully installing the Life-Altering System. Your brain is severely damaged, and your body is in a vegetative state. If you want a chance to wake up, you need to complete the mission assigned by the Life-Altering System.”

My sister, Bella, had a baby in a back-alley shithole. Then she disappeared. A midwife tracked me down using an address Bella left behind. She shoved the newborn at me like a sack of garbage. My parents fell to their knees. Crying. Begging me to take her bastard. Just like that, my future as a promising artist was gone. The neighbors, the priest, my landlord… they all called me a whore. A sinner who had disgraced God. They ran me out of the neighborhood . My life was over. Eighteen years later, Bella waltzed back into my life. A cheap thug with a fake Rolex dangled from her arm. She held my son, crocodile tears streaming down her face. She called me jealous. Accused me of stealing her flesh and blood. Of keeping a mother from her child. And my son? The one I bled myself dry for? The son I poured every last cent into, turning him into a brilliant painter? The son I starved for, so much that I ended up in a hospital bed? The moment he saw his "real" mother, he cast me aside without a second thought. "You pathetic, broke bitch!" he spat. "You stole everything from us! All the happiness that was supposed to be ours!" My parents threw me out like a dog. Bella's thug husband had his men corner me in the red-light district. They pinned me against a wall, their threats vile and clear: Never come back. I had no way out. I threw myself off the Brooklyn Bridge. Then, I opened my eyes. I was back. Eighteen years in the past. Then came the knock. Hell had found my door. I wasn’t going to be the fool who gave everything and got nothing. This time, I took control.

I'm Viper. I had a drunken one night stand. Or so I thought until I got served divorce papers after a meeting gone bad and my wife was the potential client. That meeting almost destroyed my club because I was a fool. I have two choices sign the papers and let her walk away forever but I also fix my mistakes. Or work my ass off to fix my mistakes and make my wife fall in love with me. I chose option two. But there is someone else that wants my wife for himself. I will fix my club and get my wife and this other guy better stay out of my way. I'm not going to stop until I get what is mine. I'm Sabine, everyone calls me Pixie because of my size. I'm barely over five feet tall. I made the mistake and married a man I barely knew during a weekend of fun. He left me the next morning and I didn't see him for months until I went to a meeting about hiring a body guard with the Reckless Renegades. Imagine my surprise when I see my long lost husband with a skank on his arm. I fired him and had him served papers the next week. I cut off anything to do with the club. Business, friends, you name it. I wasn't going to be made a fool of. He left me so he should have just signed and let me move on with my life. I'm a champion ice skater but I need more. I want love and a family of my own. I thought I found it. Boy was I wrong. Now he is back and says he wants to win my heart.

As I walked through the dimly lit hallway, my heart was still racing, my breath uneven from the whirlwind of emotions that had consumed me in the last few hours. Then, my eyes flickered up, catching sight of the metal plaque bolted to the doorpost "Wing 1." A cold chill ran down my spine. My body went rigid as Otto’s letter flashed vividly in my mind, the words echoing as if he said it directly to my face "Room 316. Wing 2." No. No. No. No. Oh, God. A sickening wave of realization crashed over me, leaving me breathless. The man in the grey suit… He had smiled, nodded, and gestured me down this hallway. So confident. So sure. And like a fool, I had followed. I had made a mistake. A colossal, irreversible mistake. My stomach twisted violently as the truth settled in, thick and suffocating. I had entered the wrong wing. The wrong room. The wrong bed. I had given myself to a stranger. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, drowning out everything else. The world tilted, my vision blurred. What had I done? How far is too far? In this encapsulating masterpiesce, Sucre is down for whatever gets him closer to taking revenge on Otto - his twin brother's killer. But, would he really do all that is necessary? Would he chose his ambition over that of Luca the cartel’s underboss and his lover? Can he stop the knife and gun violence on campus and win the five million dollars prize money? Dive into a story of love, betrayal, romance and suspense. The Cartel’s Forbidden Love is a gripping and intriguing read that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.