Novel & Cerita My Smile Was Taken Long Ago

My best friend, Maya, flew in from Miami for my bachelorette week. My last days of freedom. She insisted on a girls' night in to celebrate, ordering all my favorite takeout. She asked me to hold her mobile phone and wait.Then her phone lit up. A message from some guy. A shirtless pic. Text: I need you tonight. Another photo buzzed through. Sex toys. Bondage gear straight out of a movie. My face burned. My heart hammered against my ribs. I’d just stumbled into her secret life. But the next image made my blood run cold. A close-up of the man's chest. A jagged scar I knew better than my own reflection. It belonged to my fiancé, Luciano Carbone.

"I want you... right here... right now." I breathed. His lips hovered over mine, his breath mingling with my own as he spoke. "Once I start, there's no turning back." I swallowed hard and nodded. My gaze dropped to his lips, full and tempting. I watched, craving, as his tongue swept across his bottom lip "How could I possibly want you to stop when my body is aching for your touch?" The words slipped before I could stop them. For a second, I thought he would push me away again, but then something in him snapped. His lips inched closer to mine, and his fingers lightly stroked my cleavage. The touch made my breasts push higher against my dress, my nipples tightening, my chest heaving as my heartbeat raced. It was all getting too intense, and I was tempted to run and pretend this never happened. But the ache between my legs was too strong to ignore. I wasn’t about to let this moment slip away. “Kiss me," I whispered, pressing my body closer to his in a slow, seductive tease. “Make me forget him....” A dark and intense forbidden love story about a good girl gone bad, Clairessa Hartwood thought she had it all—until heartbreak drove her to revenge. After catching her boyfriend, Adrian Storm, cheating, she seduces his powerful father, Gabriel Storm, while withholding the truth about her previous relationship with his son. Gabriel finally gives in, and they begin a passionate affair, even as Adrian tries to win Clairessa back. Clairessa wants more from the relationship, but Gabriel, still haunted by past betrayals, refuses to commit and ultimately breaks things off. Clairessa navigates heartbreak, desire, and love, she finds herself trapped in a dangerous love triangle between father and son.

"There's a foreign object lodged in the patient's lower region. Due to the unique circumstances, we need the patient's next of kin to sign the consent form for an extraction procedure." My body stiffens when I see the name on the consent form. "I'm Renee Becker's next of kin." It's Liam Cassidy who says that. He's the first love of my wife, Renee Becker, who has been away for a month, claiming she's off on a business trip. Liam doesn't recognize me. He takes the pen and signs the consent form. In the section to mark his relationship to the patient, he writes the word "husband". After passing the pen back to me, he grips my hand tightly and beseeches me, "Doctor, you must do everything you can to help her. She's carrying my baby." As I wrench my hand back from him, my wedding ring slips off and falls onto the floor.

Rejected by her true mate and humiliated in public, Danielle Nolan's life is turned upside down when powerful Alpha Andres claims her as his own. But as their fiery attraction ignites, Danielle uncovers a shocking truth— Andres‘s desire for her is rooted in desperation, not love. Amidst growing feelings and external threats, Danielle must decide where her heart truly lies.

Five years ago, Carla left her soul mate in their rumpled bed in a rented house in Mykonos, convinced she doesn’t deserve him, and he comes back to her life the secret lover of her best friend. Carla’s childhood friend Thera is visiting Greece after ten years, bringing Jake Winters with her, her boss whom she has been a long time secretly in love with. But Jake turns out to be Tom Sawyer, the pseudonym he used as a male escort five years ago – and he is still hotter than sin. It did not take long to see that the passion that drove them that blissful whole week together drives them still. He remains the only man who makes her feel that happiness is possible, but giving in to him means betraying her best friend, even though it’s evident that they aren’t lovers. That Thera made it all up. Billionaire programmer Jake Winters took over a gigolo trip for a friend once five years ago and that changed his whole life. But the culprit in doing so left him without a goodbye. When he finally finds Carla again, she turns out to be the childhood friend of his sweet secretary. As fierce as she is in bed, she is as loyal to people she cares about and he has to clear the air between him and Thera because the only thing he’s thinking about is becoming Carla’s gigolo again. For life. And as soon as possible. Like yesterday.

The student I once sponsored, Lillian Pegg, jacked my identity, slapped on the "rich heiress" title, and started tossing out houses and cars like she was some fairy godmother for "underprivileged" students. Her big mission? Making sure everyone had a roof over their head. My in-laws? Wrapped around her finger. They swore up and down she'd saved their lives. Even Liam—my son with my late husband—acted like she was the only mom he'd ever had. Meanwhile, I was puking blood from ulcers, and everyone treated it like a bad improv act. Liam bought every word out of her mouth. Thought she and my husband were some kind of twin-flame couple and labeled me the evil baby snatcher. Fast-forward: I got locked in a bedroom and left to bleed out. Then I woke up. It was the exact day Lillian was playing Santa Claus. The crowd around her practically worshipped her. "You're the kindest boss in the world! You care about our food, clothes, housing, everything. We'll support you and your company forever!" Yeah, not on my watch. I shut down all her privileges right then and there. This time? Lillian and that backstabbing son of mine were gonna eat regret for the rest of their lives.

Michaela Ferguson had tears streaming on her face and she had blood in the corner of her lips. She shook her head and replied, “It wasn’t me. When I arrived at Shalom shopping mall, your mistress was already injured.” Her husband, Thorne Ferguson didn’t believe her and said, “Pray that Paula will not die because should she die, I will bury you and your family alive.” Then he pushed her hard, and Michaela staggered and fell to the ground. Michaela was in a sorry state. She cursed the day she first met Thorne Ferguson. She had been nothing but a good wife to him. However, her husband had been cold and cruel towards her. Her heart was overwhelmed with bitterness. Thorne looked at his wife with icy-cold eyes and said sternly, “I will never forgive you for touching the love of my life. Paula is my bottom line. I will make sure that you get a life sentence. Please pray hard for her not to die, because should she die I don’t know what I will do to you and your family.”

At our first anniversary celebration, my wife publicly announced that she was divorcing me to marry her true love. My past mission targets coldly watched me, thinking I would cause a ruckus and trouble Ivan Lowe like I always had. However, I merely walked over to a nearby lake and jumped into it. Unbeknownst to them, Serena Gale was my very last mission target. If I failed, I was supposed to go home. So, why did they only begin to regret their choices after I finally died?

Tess let a stranger claim her. He touched her like she was worth everything, then walked away when he learned something about her he swore never to get involved with. Now he's her boss, and he pretends she doesn't exist. Donovan has rules. But Tess almost made him break them. He touched her, almost claimed her, but had to force himself to stop. Now she sits outside his office every day, and he's haunted. He avoids her like a disease, becomes crueller than ever to suppress his own desires. Because if he lets himself feel anything, he won't ever be able to stop. His addiction had a face now, and she's destroying every defense he's built.

She was the good girl, the kind who went to church, held onto hope, and believed love was patient, kind, and safe. He was the golden boy, a charming athlete with a dangerous edge and a past full of secrets. When their worlds collided, it wasn’t gentle. It was wild. All-consuming. Addictive. From the very beginning, he swept her off her feet , with compliments, promises, and intense affection. She fell hard. He changed her, slowly pulling her away from her values, her friends, and herself. But behind the sweet messages and stolen kisses was something darker: cheating, manipulation, and obsession. When she made one mistake, one moment of weakness, he unraveled. Possessive. Cold. Punishing. Their love turned into a battleground of blame, silence, and control. She finally found the strength to walk away. Two months of no contact. Healing. Distance. She went overseas to find space from the chaos. But just as she began to breathe again, he messaged her. They reunited. Briefly. Just long enough for her to realize the truth: he hadn’t changed. But she had. This is the story of a girl who lost herself in someone else’s world, and slowly, powerfully, found her way back. It’s about love bombing, heartbreak, emotional survival, and becoming your own safe place. She meets other men, learns new lessons, and begins to understand that what she really wants isn’t chaos disguised as passion… It’s peace. Wholeness. Companionship built on truth. He was never her forever. But he was the lesson she needed to meet the love she deserved.