Loving You Too Much

Inside the tattoo studio, Seth Jones let his fingertips trace the dip of Rita Searle's waist and move slowly up her spine. With a soft rustle, her dress slipped to her ankles. He stood over her, taking in the blood-red rose inked across her chest. They had been married for three years, and this was the anniversary gift he'd be giving her—999 roses tattooed into her skin. A broken sob scraped up Rita's throat. "Seth, it hurts… Please, stop…" Her tears splashed onto the back of his hand, but he only pressed the needle deeper, dragging it along until angry red welts marked her body. "Victor wanted those damn roses so he could give them to another woman, and that led to Tara falling off that cliff and ending up in a vegetative state. I'm just giving him what he wanted. You should be grateful." Lying on the cold tattoo table, Rita felt the chill spreading through her. Her eyes stung, weighed down by grief churning behind them. "Isn't it enough? You bought out Searle Group, you hung Victor over a cliff, and left him for the vultures. What else do you want from us?" Seth grabbed her by the throat and forced her chin up. "And isn't Tara innocent in all this? Rita, you and Victor destroyed her life. Don't you owe her for that?"

On New Year's Eve, I returned home. At the welcome party, my boyfriend, Grayson Caldwell, suddenly appeared, holding a bouquet of red roses and a diamond ring, dropping to one knee. "Although this proposal comes a full three years late, our love will never be late," he said. "Alexa, marry me!" Friends cheered from the sidelines, all expecting me to nod through tears and say yes. But they had forgotten that three years ago, on New Year's Eve, he had promised to propose. That night, I dressed to the nines and waited until dawn—but he never showed up. Instead, there was only a cold phone call. "Tanya is sick. I'm busy taking care of her. You'll have to wait a little longer for the proposal." And so, on New Year's Day, I left the country alone, bound by a family-arranged marriage. I had already married someone else three years ago.

My peace shattered when my daughter found a used condom in our family car. I knew my husband, Derek, never loved me, but I never thought he was the kind of man to leave the disgusting evidence of his betrayal for his daughter to find. I thought this was the worst part, but life was always harsher than you could imagine. When I followed an anonymous text to Derek’s office, I saw him, my husband, kissing a woman in front of the windows. It was Savannah—my sister, Derek’s first love, who had died seven years ago.

Sophie, who deeply loved Dylan, had been enduring constant pain because Dylan was in love with a lowly maid. Dylan believed the maid was his lifesaver, and he forced Sophie to donate a kidney to her. Only then did he realize he had mistaken the wrong person—but by that time, Sophie had already left him forever.

For six years, my stepbrother Draven, the heir to a mafia family, and I have been in a secret relationship. Every night, his hands would trace every curve of my body with desperate hunger. The way he would look at me in those intimate moments made me believe I was the only woman who could ignite such passion in him. Until a month ago, when I found out I was pregnant. The day before Valentine's Day, I snuck into his study, planning to surprise him. Through the crack in the door, I heard him talking to Nico, the family's consigliere. "Aren't you tired of your little stepsister, Jasmine? The engagement is right around the corner. You haven't actually fallen for her, have you?" A cruel smirk played on his lips. "Fall for her? She was an easy target who fell right into my lap. It would've been a waste not to take a bite." "Her mother drove mine to an early grave. These six years have been her penance. And she's deserved every moment of it." "Besides, I've said it before. My wife will be Bianca Tyler, and no one else." "Marrying her secures the Tyler family's port smuggling routes. That's all that matters." So, what I thought was love was nothing more than an elaborate act of revenge. Every one of his embraces was a calculated lie. Fine. It was time for me and our unborn baby to disappear from his world completely.

"Why is it that everytime I met you, you were busy running from me?" He asked me, his hand still holding mine captured above my head. I felt powerless. I couldn't do anything. I hate being vulnerable. No matter what I've always loved to have a sense of power in me but with Michael Milan it just seems impossible. He was like hard drugs mixed together in my system. No matter what I do, I just couldn't get away from him. "Because I'm saving myself from you, Micheal." I whispered softly. "You will destroy me if I get too close." A love at first sight. A love that was so wrong and so right at the same time. Aisling was torn between protecting what she loves and surrendering.

It's my husband, Niall Luther's birthday. I take my son to the hospital to visit Niall since he's working late; I want to surprise him. However, we get into an accident on the way there. When I rush to the hospital with my bloodied son in my arms, I see Niall holding his first love's daughter. He coos at her and says, "This might be a small wound, but there's a risk of infection if it isn't handled well!" His first love, Chelsea Blanc, gives him a chiding look. "You treat Lulu so well that I'm getting jealous." Niall wraps an arm around her. "It's only because I love you. You're the one I love the most." I pull out my phone and call him. He keeps his arm around Lulu White and rejects my call. So, I text him, telling him our son is injured and has been taken to the hospital where he works. I tell him he needs to attend to our son. However, he berates me for lying. I have no choice but to take my son elsewhere for treatment. Before leaving, I see Niall kiss Chelsea tenderly and tell her he wants to take her to an amusement park. That's when I know he and I are over.

Katherine Harrison swore one night with Dorian would be nothing more than a reckless mistake. A secret to bury. But when her father drags her into a summer of forced family bonding with her new stepmother, Katherine finds herself under the same roof as the one man she can’t stand and can’t stop craving. Dorian lives to provoke her. Every smirk, every filthy word, every brush of his body against hers feels like a dare she’s seconds away from losing. He knows exactly how to get under her skin, and the line between hate and desire blurs more with every stolen glance. She tells herself to ignore him. To remember he’s off-limits. To keep her distance. But Dorian has other plans…plans that could expose their darkest secret and burn their world to the ground. This summer, Katherine will have to decide, fight the fire or let it consume her whole.

My fiancé’s first love Chloe had returned. Rumor had it she’d been overseas, treating some rare disease. I hadn’t believed it—until the day she showed up at my engagement party. And I watched as the man I’d been hopelessly in love with since I was sixteen left our party with her. “Wait for me,” Nathan said, “She is fragile. I need to make sure she is well.” He ignored me, but accompanying her to everywhere. I threw away the rings, trashed the wedding gown. When I was pale and trembling from a heart failure later. Nathan finally showed up. “Don’t you dare die on me, Emily,” His hands were shaking. His voice cracked. “We still have a wedding.”

Emma believed she had it all—a dream marriage to the charismatic and wealthy David Lawson. Life seemed perfect, and their love story felt like something out of a fairytale. But on their second wedding anniversary, Emma’s perfect world crumbled. A shocking discovery unraveled the web of lies her husband had spun, leaving her questioning everything she thought she knew about him. As if betrayal wasn’t enough, the person threatening to destroy her marriage turned out to be her husband’s old flame—a woman from his past who was none other than Emma’s own sister. Torn between love, loyalty, and betrayal, Emma must make a choice: fight to save her marriage and confront the devastating truths or walk away to rebuild her life on her own terms. Dive into Emma’s captivating journey of heartbreak, resilience, and self-discovery in a story where love and betrayal collide.