More Than A Mom

I was twelve when Henry Shaw took me home from the orphanage, gave me a new name, put me through school, and gave me a good life. Ten years later, his first love returned from abroad. Her name sounded like mine, and her face looked like a mirror image. I quickly realized I had been a stand-in all along. Crushing the diagnosis in my pocket, I decided that I was going to live the rest of my life for myself, even if I did not have much time left.

While we're having our dinner on Christmas Eve, my mom suddenly asks me loudly, "Do you have your chastity?" I look confused. "What?" My mom just smiles very smugly. "I knew you were the adventurous type! You must have lost it because of someone else!" After that, she shoots my husband, Louis Hartson, a knowing look. "You don't know about this yet, right? Before Yvonne married you, she was an absolute player in the dating pool. Her father and I couldn't keep her under control at all!" I widen my eyes in shock. "What are you talking about?" My mom is even happier when she sees how angry I am. "Oh? You have the guts to do it, yet you're too cowardly to admit to it?" I can only clench my fists tightly under the table after hearing my mom's slanderous accusations. Since she likes spreading baseless rumors about me this much, I'm not going to keep her secret for her anymore.

I married Don Matteo in secret. Every time he fucked his childhood sweetheart, he promised me a real wedding，in front of the Five Families. For five years, Matteo promised me ninety-nine times. And ninety-nine times, he left me at the altar. The first time, Cecilia’s prize-winning show cat died. To comfort her, he postponed the wedding for three months. I stood at the altar alone, eyes red, trying to calm down the family elders. The second time, Cecilia threw a tantrum at a casino and shattered a hundred-million-dollar antique vase. He diverted the private jet meant for their wedding and rushed through the night to clean up her mess. And every time, right before our wedding, his childhood sweetheart would have some kind of emergency. I cried. I screamed. I even held a gun to his head. But Matteo would just pin me against the wall and shut me up with a cold, hard kiss. “She’s just a fuck. You are Mrs. Falcone. Have some goddamn class.” After the ninety-ninth time, I was finally done. I slid the papers across the table. The ink was still wet, the Falcone family seal stamped at the bottom. “Our marriage, our alliance—it’s over.”

I was born broken. My Alpha mother was the one who branded me. She said emotion was a sin. A weakness. Especially for a werewolf. Especially for an Alpha’s heir. The day we were born, she clamped emotion-suppressing collars around our necks. Mine and my twin sister's. The slightest flicker of emotion, and the collar flashed red. My mother would then push the button, injecting me with a diluted "silver solution" to suppress my feelings. But my sister Cassia's collar? Always a calm, steady blue. Even when she shattered Mom's precious moonstone, it just pulsed gently. And me? I’d just whisper, "Mom, the thunder scares me," and my collar would erupt in a violent red. Then came the sting of silver poison burning through my blood.. I used to argue. But Mom always said the same thing. "The data doesn't lie. Pain is a teacher. This is for your own good." After thousands of these injections, I started to believe it, too. That I was born out of control. The night of the alliance's Moon Goddess Festival, Mom was taking my sister to the rooftop party. Something scared me during the day. The collar flashed red, and my mother started the punishment. But this time, the collar malfunctioned. It shot a dose a thousand times stronger into my neck. I collapsed on the carpet, begging, "Mother, the collar... it hurts so much... help me." My collar was flashing a frantic red. My mother just looked down at me, drenched in a cold sweat, and pressed the button for the maximum dose. "You'd lose control like this just for attention? You're a lost cause." She turned, took my sister, and slammed the door. I couldn't help but think, Mom must be right. The collar is red. It doesn't really hurt. I'm just being dramatic, looking for pity again. I'm sorry, Mom. In my next life, I'll be the perfect daughter you always wanted.

Blurb: Crystal isn't really mute—she's just been forced to act that way for years. At her new elite secondary school, life only gets harder. David, the senator's son, won't stop noticing her. And every time he does, Queen, Zeenat, and the newly-returned Keisha make her pay for it. Hated by the girls, cornered by secrets, and weighed down by her stepdad’s control, Crystal can only count on Asher, the troubled boy who sees her as the sister he never had. But how long can she hide the truth? Will she survive the jealousy, the betrayals, and the endless drama? Or will her silence destroy her before her voice is ever heard?

In order to take care of my father, who got hurt from a fall, I gave up on my chance to get promoted and even took a week's leave. On the day he gets discharged from the hospital, my dad hands me a mysterious envelope with a wide smile on his face. "Thank you for your trouble over the past few days, Luther. This is a little token of appreciation from me. You can buy yourself a nice pack of smokes." I rub my hands together, feeling warmth surging into my heart. But when I open the envelope, all I see is seven dollars. Still, I comfort myself in thinking that the sum isn't important at all. It's the thought that counts, after all. But the next day, I come across a social media post of my younger brother, Felix Grayson, who never showed his face around the hospital during Dad's hospitalization. It features a photo collage of a luxurious villa, with a photo of the purchasing contract smack dab in the middle of collage. The caption writes, "I bought the top-tier riverside villa for seven million dollars! Thank you so much for your support, Dad!"

Most kids want toys, candy, or a new puppy. Pearl Reed wants a dad. And not just any dad—she wants Detective Alex Ramos. Ava Reed is perfectly happy as a single mother. By day, she’s a world-class surgeon, running the most prestigious private hospital in the city. By night, she’s The Godmother, ruling one of the most dangerous mafia syndicates in the country. Saving lives on one end. Taking them on the other. Romance? Not on her agenda. But when her too-clever-for-her-own-good daughter pulls off the matchmaking stunt of the century, Ava finds herself sitting across from a man who is as charming as he is infuriating. Alex never saw it coming. One second, he was working a case. The next? He was being blackmailed by an eight-year-old into dating her mother. One fake date? Fine. One viral post announcing their engagement? Not fine. Being summoned for dinner by an eight-year-old with a five-step plan to make him fall in love with her mom? …Yeah, he’s in trouble. Ava has no interest in love. Alex has no interest in marriage. But Pearl? Pearl has other plans. And when Pearl sets her mind on something, not even a mafia war can stop her.

Leo never pretended to love me, but I fell for him all the same. The day I lost my daughter - our daughter - because of him, and I followed after her, I was given another chance. A chance to right my wrongs and make sure history wouldn't repeat itself. I might have been scorned by him once, his wife only because duty dictated it, but now I would rather drink acid than have his child again... Leo could be with Aurora or whoever he fancied. I thought I had it all figured out: the cunning woman he loved and her minions who never failed to try to trap me weren't much of a problem if I played my cards right... the real issue was that Leo began to take notice of me, and I wasn't sure I liked it. I was desperately trying to forge my own path and walk out of his life, but it seemed he was having none of that!

Steph is a single mother. Kaya todo kayod siya sa buhay para lang tustusan ang pangangailangan ng kanyang anak na si Michael. Lahat ng trabaho ay pinasukan niya na. At sa pagtatrabaho niya sa club ay nakilala nito ang isang Hot CEO ng Kompanya na may lihim na pagtingin sa kanya.

In my previous life, my younger sister, Amy Lockwood, was sexually assaulted. When I wanted to file a police report, she adamantly refused to let me do so. She even stroked her belly lovingly and said something that blew my mind. "H-He was drunk. He didn't mean to do it. What if his life gets ruined because you reported him to the police? You shouldn't be so heartless!" Later on, Amy poisoned my food and nearly killed me just so she could run off with her assailant. However, my mother kept telling me not to hold it against her. This time around, I decide to be as heartless as I can possibly be.