Me And My Professor

My cousin, John Anderson, always paid me in tens rather than in thousands. He owned a renovation company, and my team and I always worked hard for his projects. However, he only transferred me thirty dollars for sand and concrete that were worth three thousand dollars. Besides that, he only transferred me one thousand five hundred dollars to finance customized doors and windows worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. I did not harp on that. Instead, I bore the cost in full, as he was my cousin. That was until his wife, Rory Anderson, scolded me in front of all the workers. “Peter’s a bloodsucker. He never informs us whenever he buys new materials. He must have scammed a lot of money from us! I saw that he got himself a new house and a new car. I bet these are all bought with money he took from us!” John smoked next to us and sighed, “Never mind. He’s family after all.” I was furious when I heard that. I paid more than six hundred thousand dollars’ worth of material fees for him, and he was accusing me of stealing his money? The next client had a mansion and wanted natural marbles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for his living room floor. John approved the request but only transferred me a thousand dollars to get it sorted out. So, I went to the brick factory located in the countryside and got a truckload of used red bricks from pigpens. Then, I used them for the client’s flooring.

On the day my boyfriend gets engaged, I'm locked in the bedroom even though I'm supposed to be with him. By the time I make it to the venue, I see him passionately kissing his first love. When I confront him, he scoffs. "Kirsty’s a wealthy heiress who can help with my career. Isn't being my girlfriend enough for you?" With my answer loud and clear, I turn and call home. "Mom, Dad—about that arranged marriage you mentioned... I'm in." The day he marries Kirsty Bainbridge is also the day I marry my alliance partner. And the moment he sees me in a wedding dress, he completely loses his composure.

I can understand Wolfish, but I've never told my Alpha mate, Felix Grayback, about it. In public, he's the mate who dotes on me the most. He even declines a pack trading contract that's worth billions of dollars just to celebrate my birthday with me. As Felix holds me in his arms, he declares in front of his pack, "Bankruptcy is nothing as long as you're happy." I'm so touched that I'm about to burst into tears. So, I embrace Felix's huge, wolf-like body tightly in return. At that moment, I hear him emitting a low growl from his throat. It's a language that only wolves can understand. "This woman is finally plump enough to eat. Tonight, I shall share her flesh with my pack members."

I was dragged online by one of my own employees. According to her post, I was a stingy boss who refused to give out holiday gift boxes for Memorial Day weekend. What the internet did not know was that my company already had a long-standing tradition. Every holiday, and even every employee birthday, each person received a $300 gift card without fail. But once the whole internet started tearing me apart, I decided to give everyone exactly what they claimed they wanted. I issued a company-wide notice. To respect everyone’s demand for a more “thoughtful” holiday gesture, this year’s Memorial Day gift cards would be canceled and replaced with holiday gift boxes for all employees. The moment the notice went out, the entire company exploded. Employees crowded outside my office, begging me to bring the gift cards back.

Five years ago, I lost my memory in a car accident. Eira Jones had claimed she was my beloved. She saved me, cared for me, and we naturally got married. For five years, I managed every aspect of our home for her. As I tended to her every need with unwavering devotion, I was convinced I was the happiest husband in the world. But as I was about to tidy up the study, I overheard Eira and her childhood sweetheart talking. “Eira, these past five years, Vedran Clarus has been utterly devoted to you. He just hasn’t chewed your food for you! I’m getting jealous.” Eira kissed his cheek affectionately. “Silly boy, those chores are his responsibility. I’d never let you do them.” Furious, I burst through the door and accused Reed Harris of being a shameless homewrecker. But to my shock, he showed his marriage certificate to Eira. He declared that I was the third wheel in their relationship. As we shoved each other about, my head slammed into the bookshelf, and my memories returned. Apparently, I was the sole heir to the city’s wealthiest, the Grant family. I watched as Eira ranted accusations at me, and the fair-faced, pretty boy in her arms feigned hurt. I turned and dialed my childhood sweetheart’s number. “Elena Gibson, your fiance is being bullied!”

After being forced to go to rogue wolf territory to exchange my mate's kidnapped childhood sweetheart while three months pregnant, I was tortured to death. Before my death, my eight-year-old daughter begged her father three times. The first time, my daughter took her father's hand and said, "Daddy, mommy is pregnant with my little brother. She can't go to the rogue territory." The alpha wolf let out a cold laugh: "How dare your mother teach a pup to lie." Then he had his beta guards drive my daughter out of the pack house. The second time, my daughter grabbed his sleeve and told him the rogue wolves were torturing me with silver. The alpha frowned: "These rogues were hired by your mother to kidnap Willow. How could she really be tortured?" The guards stepped forward and once again pulled my daughter out of the room. The third time, my daughter lay on the floor, desperately clutching his pant leg, crying that I was dying in the rogue wolf territory. The alpha finally lost his temper. He slapped her away with force. "I told you, Ava won't die. She's strong. If you come running back here to disturb Willow's rest again, I'll definitely throw both of you out of the pack territory." To save me, my daughter gave her most precious possession to the most powerful warrior in the pack—the healing gemstone I had given her for her birthday. "Please, can you use this to help save my mother? I don't need protection anymore. I just want my mother to live." The warrior took her healing gemstone, but before he could leave to rescue me, Willow stepped in his way. "Sorry, little pup," she smirked. "The warrior needs to stay here to protect my dog. Your father was afraid I would be sad if anything happened to my pet."

Three years ago, My husband Thomas brought me the divorce paper with his girlfriend Sarah by his side. He had lost all his memory in a car accident, when I woke up from my coma, he had already moved on. I lied to myself that somewhere deep inside, the man I loved was still trapped inside and his warm eyes and gentle spirit were just overridden by anger and amnesia… but I could no longer believe in that lie. He was gone. Forever. Now, I am waiting in my dressing room to go on stage. The young girl who had fallen in love with Thomas had been bright and pretty but this woman who stared back at me in the mirror … She is beautiful, strong, and supported. She has two beautiful kids, even though their father don't know their existence. She had suffered and survived. The me now is the best version of me. I could not wait to show it to the world. However, after I finished my performance, I found, front and center, Thomas is giving me a standing ovation. For the first time in years, he seems to recognize me. Then, the producer Richard found me backstage and inform me that my ex-husband just bought the theater company. What does he want? Can my life ever go back to normal?

On the day we were supposed to get engaged, my fiance, Christopher Vittorino, slid the ring—that was supposed to be mine—onto Lina Sorenzo, my stepsister's finger, right in front of the entire family. Christopher's uncle, Don Mark Vittorino, was the one who had specifically ordered his subordinates to deliver the ring that symbolizes the wearer's status as the future Donna of the Vittorino family to Christopher himself. I could only stare at Christopher's deep blue eyes in disbelief. Just as I was about to question him, he just gazed at me with a stony expression. Even his tone was cold and rigid. "The Don intends to send me to Maravena for the next five years to develop my own business there. Once I return, I'll take over the family business. "You don't have any skills at all, Isla. If you stay with me, you'll just be a hindrance to me and cause me unwanted trouble. "Lina, on the other hand, is fluent in Maravenese. Not to mention, she knows how to expand the family business overseas. She will serve as a brilliant assistant for me." After that, Christopher took Lina's hand and left the venue with her, not caring about the fact that the leaders of the other branch families as well as the elders kept murmuring among themselves. Because of that, I ended up becoming the laughingstock of the entire family. Five years later, Christopher and Lina return to the country. When he spots me showing up at a family gathering held by Mark with a ruby ring that signifies my status as the Donna on my finger, his expression changes instantly. "I can't believe you learned to steal, Isla!" I just ignore Christopher's accusations in favor of looking for the Black Rose Medal that my son, Toby Vittorino, has lost. That medal is a gift he received on his fourth birthday from Mark. Poor Toby has been sobbing for a long time because of its disappearance. I need to hurry up and find it as soon as possible.

All my life I lived in the shadows. A daughter of our pack’s Alpha confined to servitude in my own household, unfairly treated and punished for a wrong that didn't make sense. The night of my eighteenth birthday, my mate rejected me and took my twin sister as his mate. Having been on my wits end and not knowing where else to go, I fled away from our pack, but it was a wrong move because I was captured by a pack of rogue wolves whose leader turned out to be my second chance mate. He took me captive. Even knowing that we're mates, he kept on rejecting me. He considers my father his sworn enemy, making me, the spawn, his enemy, too. Until when could I endure the hatred he has for me?

Rumor had spread through the Vittori family that the daughter they had lost years ago had finally been found. The moment I heard, I left the family branch and rushed back to the main estate. My car had barely stopped when a young woman hurried over and grabbed my hand. “So you’re the Vittori family’s adopted daughter,” she said with a smile that looked painfully sincere. “Your dress is so beautiful. It must cost tens of thousands of dollars. You can tell you’ve never really had to worry about anything before. Unlike me. I grew up in places where even finding my next meal was a problem.” For a second, I didn’t understand what she meant. Then her eyes lowered to the only necklace around her neck. “This is the only thing I have from Mother,” she whispered. “Please don’t hate me for wearing it.” The next second, she suddenly grabbed my hand, dragged it up toward her throat, and yanked hard. The necklace snapped. Pearls scattered across the marble floor. “Why would you do that?” she cried, staring at me in shock. “If you hate seeing Mother’s gift on me, I’ll take it off right now. I won’t stay and make things difficult for you. Just please don’t tell Father and Mother. I don’t want them caught in the middle, and I don’t want this family fighting because of me.” She curled into herself on the marble floor, shaking as she cried, while the guests around us immediately turned to stare. I stood there completely stunned. I had imagined a thousand ways I might meet my daughter again. I never imagined she would look me in the eye, mistake me for someone else, and frame me before I had even spoken. Because I was not Valentina. I was her mother.