Muddy Tree Arm

After my husband, Joseph Adams, hired thugs to smash my taco stand again, I pushed the destroyed remains to his company’s anniversary banquet. Joseph had his arm around his little secretary, Monica Martin, when he announced that she would soon be joining the company’s management team. I pressed the horn and called out, “Tacos for sale to support my husband’s mistress—three thirty a piece!” Amid the stunned and bewildered stares of the crowd, Joseph’s brows twisted into a deep frown.

I’d been dead a month before my family even noticed. It wasn’t concern that brought them to that realization. It was my silence after the so-called “dinner” with Adam Rossi, the infamous mafia boss. My father scoffed like always,“She probably shacked up with that bastard. Too busy spreading her legs to pick up the damn phone.” My sister texted me a photo of them smiling under the Christmas tree, ornaments twinkling like nothing was wrong. Bitch, she wrote. You better talk Mr. Rossi into working with Dad, or you might as well be dead already. And my mother—once the softer one—was now colder than the frost on their windows. “I told you, we should’ve sent Gia to charm Mr. Rossi. Serena always screws things up.” They didn’t think I would die. Not until they found my body—broken, rotten, and forgotten—in Adam Rossi’s basement.

"A Prince and a Peasant sitting in a tree K I S S I N G ." - unknown. "It's all false." The Prince stared straight into his father's eyes. "I have never laid my eyes on this girl in my entire existence, father." Prince added. "Very well." The King said thoughtfully. "Young lady you have to be punished for having spread falsehood on my son's name but I do sympathize with you considering you are with child." All the people of Acamas had been watching, as this had been done in public appearance. Everyone was in stitches of laughter after the Prince had denied the allegations but even more people who knew Lucia knew that she wasn't one to lie, cheat or even lay with a man before marriage. Lucia knew right there and there that her life was doomed and above all she was a fool. fool. doomed. que sera sera.

It's my seventh year of secretly dating Liam Ferguson, my brother's friend. We're about to have our marking ceremony soon. I happily prepare for it, wanting to surprise him. However, during a gathering with friends, I accidentally overhear something. "If you ask me, there's no denying Alpha Liam's good looks and charm. To think he managed to make the Silver Snow pack's Alpha's sister his stand-in lover and bed partner!" "What are you going to do with Maya now that Nina's back, Liam? Andrew won't let you off the hook if he finds out you've been fooling around with his sister…" The following day, Liam takes me to Nina White's welcome-back party. He's gentle, considerate, and affectionate with me. His love for me seems so deep that I wonder whether I'm imagining things. Then, Nina "accidentally" spills scalding soup on my arm and runs out in tears. I'm the injured one, but she feels wronged. However, Liam shoves me aside and runs after her in a panic. I return home with a burned arm and open the door to the basement—Liam has never allowed me in there. I see Nina's photos plastered on the walls. There are even photos of them doing the deed in various positions. He looks so wild. I call Andrew with a heart full of despair. "I've made up my mind about the marriage with the Alpha heir of the Storm Tribe. I'll do it!"

Everyone in Harbor City knows that the city's prince, Brandon Schmidt, is a devoted husband. Countless homewrecker wannabes are dealt with before they can even reach me. But one day, I see Brandon's text conversation with one of his mistresses. "You're going to open up for me tonight." "It's so embarrassing to be doing this on your wife's bed." Meanwhile, my arm is shattered from dealing with one of his competitors. The conversation makes my stomach turn. So be it, then. No one's getting off easy now.

“I… I can explain,” Isabelle stuttered as she started into the furious eyes of Andrew Sebriano, the Mafia Lord. Andrew grabbed her arm as he pressed her against the door, “Trust me honey, you cannot." A scared virgin, Isabelle Moner was set up by her own uncle to have a one night stand with Andrew, in place of his daughter, to pave the way for him in the business world. Would Andrew make Isabelle and her family pay for trying to trick him? Or, would he be her Messiah, saving her from the clutches of her evil Uncle?

With a bag of vegetables gifted by the previous tenant in hand, I was on my way to collect rent from the third household when I unexpectedly ran into someone at the entrance of the community. The man frowned, his eyes fixed on the vegetables I carried, as though he couldn't fathom how I had ended up like this after leaving him. Following his gaze, I instinctively shifted the vegetables behind my back. My eyes dropped to the muddy water on the pavement, and I never would have imagined bumping into my ex-boyfriend—the one who had grown up with a silver spoon—in this aging neighborhood. He noticed my movement, and for a moment, something flickered in his expression: a mix of pity and recognition. "Since you've already learned your lesson," he said, "come back with me." At his words, I instinctively stepped back half a pace. "Who said I'm going back with you?" My rejection seemed to sting, darkening his face. "I know you're still blaming me for giving Rachel a child," he muttered, "but it's been three years. Isn't it time to stop? As long as you come back, we can be the same as before." Three years, huh? How quickly time had passed. Thinking of my little girl at home, still babbling her first words, I couldn't help but smile and shake my head. "Let's leave it at that. Go home and live your life with Rachel. My daughter's waiting for me to go back and make her food."

My girlfriend was a police officer. One day, I got kidnapped, and the explosives on my body were ten minutes away from detonating when the kidnappers ordered me to call her. Instead of worry, all I got was relentless scorn and a tongue-lashing. "Caleb, are you seriously doing this right now? How could you be so petty and jealous when a life is on the line?! Lucas' cat is in danger. It has been stuck on a tree for three days, and that cat is as important to him as his own life! "If I don't save them in time, you'll be the one at fault!" Over the line, I heard the voice of a young man that sounded, to my ears, anything but genuine. "Thank you Jamie, you're the best!" That man was my girlfriend's childhood friend, Lucas White. Before the bomb exploded, I sent her a final message. [I hope we never see each other again. Not in this life, and not in the next.]

Set in a dystopian world, former soldier — Karina Agafonov, returns home to her town in Russia after being discharged from military service due to a disability that left her right arm amputated. Returning back to Russia was meant to be a joyful thing for Karina, but getting home she was left distraught to what was left of her town. It was now a ghost city. This would lead Karina to contemplate suicide, but before she could, she would be saved by someone mysterious. A lycan prince — a species that was written off as being extinct. Romance would soon spark between them as they both find themselves in an unfortunate circumstances while they also save humanity.

“Gale “ I whispered and now every thing started to get clear, I could see him now, my man. “ Why did you leave me ?” I asked but then got no answer as he started to disappear away from me. “ Gale “ I cried trying to grab on to his arm to stop him but then every where became bright and I couldn’t see him anymore. I cried for him, screaming his name so he could come back to me and be with me like it should be, he had to stay by my side even in moments like this. I wanted my Gale back.