Mutants At Table 9

大学院推薦入学が決まった後、自称インフルエンサーの従妹が、どうしてもお祝いに野外で写真撮影をしたいと言い出した。 指定された場所に着いた途端、飛び出してきた妊婦にいきなり平手打ちを食らわされた。 「この泥棒猫！夫を誘惑するなんて、許さない！」 説明する間もなく、妊婦はハサミを取り出し、私の唇を切り裂いた。 激痛が走り、血まみれの唇の肉片が地面に転がる。 私は痛みで身をよじり、痙攣した。そこに従妹が現れ、追い打ちをかけるように平手打ちを食らわされた。 「昔から男好きだったけど、まさか人の夫にまで手を出すなんて！最低！」 「このような人間が、どうして大学院に推薦入学できたの？不正でもしたんじゃないの？」 事件は瞬く間に拡散され、ネット炎上。私は大学を退学になり、顔に傷を負い、うつ病を発症した。 従妹は、私の不幸を利用して有名人になり、フォロワー数百万人を誇る人気インフルエンサーとなった。 そして、目を開けると、私はあの日――従妹が写真撮影をしようと企んだ、あの日に戻っていた。

My daughter was born with silver poisoning in her blood—passed down from me—which made it hard for her to sense her wolf, and even harder for her to shift. I worked tirelessly, taking on every job I could, to earn enough money to find a cure for her. One night during a late shift, I saw her. My daughter, dressed like a princess in an elegant, Silverlight-woven gown, sat at a table in a high-end restaurant. With her was my mate—supposedly bedridden and paralyzed—wearing a tailored haute couture suit. Across the table sat the famous she-wolf of our pack, the daughter of a respected elder. They had ordered a lavish dinner, the bill totaling over $500,000. After the meal, I overheard my mate ask our daughter, “You remember how to tell the story, right?” She nodded and replied, “Yes. I’ll tell Mom we were working as werewolf junk collectors all night, collecting waste paper crates, and in the end, we only earned enough to buy half a loaf of bread.” My mate smiled, pleased with the answer. The she-wolf then gifted my daughter an entire collection of newly released moonstone jewelry. Before they left, my mate tipped each waitress $5,000. I stood frozen, tears falling as the truth shattered my heart: my mate—and even my beloved daughter—had been lying to me. Even in dormancy, my wolf mourned. A colleague saw me crying and asked what was wrong. I forced a smile and said, “I’m just happy. I got $5,000 tonight. It would’ve been even better… if it hadn’t come from my mate, the one who’s supposed to be paralyzed and lying in bed.” No one knew what I had sacrificed to be his mate. I waited for an apology. But it never came. So I made my decision. I called my father—the one who had been waiting all these years for me to return as his heir. When I disappeared from their lives, just as they had always secretly wished... That’s when they finally began searching for me across the world.

My husband, Daniel Thompson, looked down on me. I was just a farmer's daughter in his eyes, and he never loved the son I gave birth to. It wasn’t until our baby turned 100 days old that he held him for the first time. Then, one day, his first love, Claire Matthews, came back to the city. That night at dinner, Daniel, who was always cold and distant, finally smiled. He even reached across the table and placed a piece of meat on Noah’s plate. Noah beamed all evening, clutching onto that tiny gesture like it was a treasure. Just before bed, he whispered to me, "Mom, do you think he likes me now… even just a little?" I wrapped him in my arms, tears blurring my vision as I gently shook my head. "No, sweetheart. It’s because the woman he truly loves is back. It’s time for us to go."

Every anniversary, Mark had some twisted surprise for me. Our tenth? He strutted into the ballroom holding hands with an escort wearing straight up lingerie. "Jenna, she's cold. Hand over your dress." Then, like that wasn't sick enough: "And the lingerie. She likes your vibe." I clutched my collar, trying to keep it together. He didn't care—just yanked it open. "Cut the act. Your dad sold you to me, remember? That slutty look you used to give me—I still see it." Everyone stared, waiting for me to break. So I did the one thing I could. "I want a divorce." Again. Mark just laughed and chucked a stack of photos on the table—me, covered in marks, curled in bed, a total mess. "You say that every year. And every year, you're back in my bed. Think your mom keeps that hospital spot if these get out?"

I just woke up one day with a handsome vampire by my side, offering me a contract marriage. I knew it was like being courted by the devil, yet like a foolish lamb who laid herself on the sacrificial table, I reached for his hand, not knowing that it would consume my reckless heart. Eve was caught in a fight between vampires and werewolves after her vampire boyfriend left her. With her family and friends killed by an unknown vampire group, she is left with no choice but to ask for Landon's help, the vampire lord who saved her for his personal interest. Landon was a scheming man who holds many dark secrets, a devil who won't hesitate to consume the souls of his victims. He wants to play with Eve, to consume her little by little, but when his dead heart starts to feel warmth for the first time, he realized he found someone he is willing to burn a whole city for.

Marie’s mum is dying, and her only bet at survival is an expensive surgery that they could never afford. Driven by desperation, she seeks her step mother’s help, a brothel owner who gives her the condition of sleeping with an old rich client of hers. Disgusted and unable to do so, Marie finds solace in a city bar and unexpectedly finds herself talking to a stranger. Their conversation is easy, and somehow they manage to get drunk and have a steamy night together. When Marie wakes up to leave in shame and quiet, she sees his expensive golden Rolex wristwatch on the side table and makes a quick and risky decision then and there. Eight years later, on her first day of work at Prime Telecoms, she bumps into the stranger from her one-night stand years ago. Not only is he the CEO of the company, he also the father of her daughter, and the man she stole worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from.

"I am pregnant," I say looking into his years intensely but his face is emotionless. "What?" He asked stunned, he paces around for a few minutes" I can't take care of a child right now" he snaps holding the table tightly. "We have to because I have nowhere to go," I say pleading for acknowledgment and understanding. "What do you mean?" He questioned eyeing me suspiciously. " my parents disowned me," I say looking down in shame. "I will take you in but don't expect me to care for you and your baby because all this means nothing to me" he glanced at me before walking out of his office. Tears run down my cheeks, feeling of embarrassment, and lost claws in my heart. I lost everything, my family, my self-esteem, I feel lost and worthless. Most of all I lost love.

"Remember the most important rule, don't get caught." *** I try to keep my expression neutral and give nothing away in my eyes, Eli is a smart man, smarter than he lets on and will know if something is different about me, "Everyone change, Eli, you definitely aren't the man you were when we first met, but the question is if the change is for the better or the worse." His hand reaches over the table and take mine in the gloves and though there is a barrier between our hands his touch is felt and the reaction sent to the rest of my body. "I love you, Anna and that's not going to change, but I have to admit that I like this side of you more. However, I am contented with whatever I get as long as I get to have you." These words are the words any woman wants to hear their man tell them and it is almost perfect to my ears... almost because I am not Anna...

It's my first time visiting my girlfriend, Jennifer Hayes' family for the holidays. At the dining table, her childhood friend, Duncan Foley, suddenly slams his cutlery down. "How could you bring a prostitute client home for dinner, Jenny?" The atmosphere becomes awkward immediately. Everyone initially thinks that Duncan is running his mouth because he's had too much to drink, but he continues to ramble in a matter-of-fact tone. "My buddy is a part of the anti-prostitution task force! As if I can get the person he's personally arrested wrong!" As he speaks, he tosses a copy of the public security administrative penalty notice onto the table. My name is displayed on it. The sight leaves me stunned. It's true that the anti-prostitution task force arrested dozens of offenders in the city last month. But I'm the one who gave the signature of approval as the newly promoted chief commissioner…

Just for brushing against the hem of Eva Lawson, the heiress’s custom couture gown, Lucy Quinn's mother had her limbs broken, then thrown into the sea to die. The day Lucy dragged the arrogant heiress to court she thought that justice might finally be served. Eva was declared not guilty. Why? Because the defense attorney representing her was none other than Wyatt Grant, founder of the most untouchable law firm in River City, and Lucy Quinn’s husband. When the trial ended, the elegant and aloof man stepped down from the defense table and placed an apology letter in front of Lucy. "Lulu, sign it. You don’t want to be sued for defamation and end up in prison, do you?" His tone was calm and coaxing, but behind the lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze was cold as ice. Lucy, tears stubbornly clinging to her eyes, looked up at him and said with a trembling voice, "Why, Wyatt, Why?"