Masking Grief

I'm dying at seven months pregnant, and the one behind it is my husband. Hearing that a premature baby's blood can save my sister, he conspires with a shady clinic to take the baby out through surgery. After draining the baby's blood, he walks away—leaving my fragile preemie to die. Later, my parents say, "You owe Yvie. It's time to repay her." My husband says, "We can always have another child. A baby's life can't possibly be more important than Yvie's, can it? The overwhelming rage and grief cause me to bleed to death. My soul floats above them as I watch them prepare my sister's surgery. They don't even bother to change me into clean clothes. No one mourns me. No one loses their mind over my death. Without a care, they wheel me into the morgue and celebrate Yvonne's recovery. When I open my eyes again, I've gone back three months earlier—to the day my whole family forced me to divorce.

I was four months pregnant when I discovered that my husband had fallen for our young family helper. He dropped to his knees and started slapping himself repeatedly with such force that blood rolled down from the corner of his mouth. He sobbed, swearing it was just a drunken mistake, swearing to me he'd never see her again. Thinking of the baby growing inside me, my heart softened, and I tore the divorce papers. The day I went into labor, I suffered serious complications. The baby was stillborn, and the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. He didn't even get the chance to cry. I was drowning in grief, but then my husband walked into the delivery room holding the family helper's baby in his arms. "Don't be sad, Kelda. She's willing to let you raise her child." My anger ran so deep that I bit my lip until it bled. It was all my fault! I had been treating him too well all these years. He had completely forgotten what I, Kelda Shaw, was really capable of.

Esteria, the queen of the northern human kingdom, was finally getting married to the vampire prince of her dreams. What began as a treaty between their two kingdoms had blossomed into a courtship where she had truly fallen in love. Life was perfect until darkness cast its shadow over her happiness. Her beloved vampire betrayed her, delivering a fatal blow. With her last breath, she made a desperate deal with a Demon God. "You will have to become my mate to gain the power to exact your revenge," he whispered in her ear, sending a shock through her dying body. This Demon God was not only breathtakingly gorgeous and immensely powerful, but he was also dangerously seductive. Now, he was offering her a deal that promised both vengeance and peril. Esteria’s mind was a storm of grief and fury. Could she handle the Demon God’s insatiable desires and the deadly power that came with their pact? Or would she be consumed by the chaotic demands of this new, dark world? "I will kill both of them. I will draw their last breath with my sword and burn their bodies with my fury," she vowed, her determination as fierce as the hellfire she now wielded.

Paige Aviva thought she had it all love, stability, and a marriage others admired. But everything falls apart on her fifth wedding anniversary when anonymous photos reveal her husband, Ethan, in an intimate act with her best friend. Her heartbreak deepens when she discovers her younger sister is pregnant with his second child only weeks after Ethan coerced her into aborting theirs. Crushed by betrayal and grief, Paige tries to end her life. But a mysterious, powerful stranger named Raymond stops her at the cliff’s edge, offering her an unusual bargain: he’ll give her the power to make everyone who hurt her suffer if she agrees to his terms. Paige signs a contract, unknowingly stepping into a world of werewolves, mate bonds, ancient curses, and dangerous secrets. As she becomes entangled with Raymond and later discovers he has a vengeful twin, Ryan, Paige learns she is no ordinary woman. She’s a cursed wolf with rare powers, a prize everyone wants to control or destroy. Torn between love, revenge, and survival, Paige must choose who to trust, embrace her true nature, and fight for her life and the life of the child she never expected to carry.

Two wonderful tales! My Beloved Alpha: Alissa has always been physically and psychologically abused by her stepfather, all she wanted was to get out of his clutches and run as far away as possible, where he couldn't find her and hurt her anymore. After his mysterious death, she is free to live her life fully and leaves for a small town that goes unnoticed by naive eyes, she wanted to start over and leaves in search of a new beginning. What Alissa still doesn't know is that this city is different from all the others and that she will encounter beings she thought never existed. *** Double dose: Amelina's mother made a request to her daughter before dying: That she live and not give in to grief, her mother wanted to see her happy and fulfilled. And that's what Amy did, she answered her mother's last request after cancer took her. Amy left Seattle and moved to Washington, she was willing to start over and leave all the years of suffering in Seattle behind. The first thing she did upon arriving in town was looking for a job, and it was at the Balzer Company that she found love, but love came in the form of two spectacular men.

"He rejected me in front of the whole pack but the Moon Goddess paired me with a monster more powerful than them all." Lyra was just an omega, weak, unwanted, and laughed at by the same wolves who watched her boyfriend become the next Alpha. He promised her love and power but on her 18th birthday, she walked in on him with the pack’s top bully. That same night, the Moon Goddess paired them but he rejected her publicly. Humiliated, heartbroken, and alone, Lyra runs and bumps right into Alpha Kade. The ruthless, feared, and gruesome man that everyone in her pack warned her about. The bond snaps between them, but Lyra flees before he can claim her. Locked in grief and confusion, she soon uncovers some truth: Her mother didn’t die, she was murdered but by who? Her father is alive. But he is a vampire king who wants her to take his throne. Her blood is not ordinary. She is half wolf, half vampire. As her powers awaken, she begins to fall for Alpha Kade but the past they say, never stays buried. Because the Alpha she loves was the one who killed her mother.

Natasha has been through more grief than a person experiences, in their entire life. She carries baggage that no kid should entail. She lives a pain filled life but hides it all beneath a fake smile. Behind that smile, she is truly hurting. When you look into her closely, then you can see the Pain within. She has Hidden Scars that she prefers to stay hidden in her closed heart and nobody had ever been let in not even once. But of course, she must be loved and love comes when two of them can depend on each other, cherish each other and have no secrets. Her Hidden Scars are soon to be explored by mysterious and popular bad boy, Reece Worth. . . . Reece Worth is the school's scandalous bad boy who acts on impulse and blinded rage who is known for breaking every single rule. He only has his best friend and his cousin by his side. . . . Driven by a whirlwind of secrets, Natasha and Reece are thrown together despite their differences. . Can Natasha open her heart to be loved despite the pains buried within her? Will that be possible when her abusive stepbrother lurks around.

My daughter was violated and killed, yet her death was ruled a suicide. After seven failed appeals, I kidnapped the chief prosecutor’s daughter. I tied the chief prosecutor’s daughter to an autopsy table and publicly addressed the prosecutor’s office in a live stream. “I performed the autopsy myself. My daughter didn’t kill herself. She was murdered. “I’ll give you seven chances. Release the actual evidence and name the murderer publicly. Each time a chance runs out, I’ll remove one of her body parts.” The chief prosecutor and his wife knelt on the floor. They begged me desperately to spare their daughter. “The evidence proves your daughter took her own life. Stop this madness now and let my daughter go. She’s innocent.” Viewers in the live stream called me insane. They said I had lost my mind with grief and was taking it out on an innocent person. I ignored their contempt. With a sneer, I picked up a scalpel and pressed it against the judge’s daughter’s abdomen. “The clock is ticking. Hurry up and reveal the true murderer now.” I knew perfectly well the real murderer was watching the stream at that very moment.

Rose, is a young girl destined to be the first female Alpha and is the daughter of the current Alpha, Marcus. In her community, it is believed that people will find their mates and get claimed on their 18th birthday. However, things take a devastating turn for Rose when her boyfriend, Brandon, claims Mia as his mate, leaving Rose heartbroken. In her grief, Rose begins engaging in reckless behavior, leading to her losing her virginity to a stranger while drunk. When the time comes for her mate to claim her, Luke, the Alpha of a neighboring pack, claims Rose as his mate, leading to a catastrophe as Rose hates Luke. On her wedding eve, she's announced pregnant and caught in a mess when she is currently mated to her mate, Luke, in a scandal with her ex-boyfriend, Brandon, and a one night stand with the stranger, hottie. As Rose struggles to untangle the web of lies and deceit surrounding her, she realizes that her fate and the fate of her unborn child may be in grave danger. With time running out and enemies closing in, Rose must make a difficult decision that will change the course of her life forever. Will she be able to find a way out of this mess, or will she be trapped in a never-ending cycle of heartache and betrayal?

My son spiked a sudden high fever, scorching like a flame under my touch. I frantically dialed 911 for help, but the dispatcher on the line kept repeating questions, dragging it out. By the time the ambulance siren finally wailed in the distance, my son had already grown cold and still in my arms. Less than a year later, my husband and I split up amid endless grief and finger-pointing. I dragged on like an empty shell until one day I got an e-invite to his wedding. The moment I clicked the voice message, my blood ran cold. The bride's voice echoed exactly like that sluggish dispatcher from back then. In a breakdown, I bolted out of the house and got caught in the path of a speeding subway train, plunging me into darkness. When I opened my eyes again, my son's cries pierced the air from the next room, his forehead blazing hot against my palm. My husband thrust the phone toward me. "Quick, call 911! I'll grab a cold compress." My hands trembled as I dialed, and a chillingly familiar voice answered, "Hello, 911 emergency services."