Name And I Or Name And Me

I've returned to the Ashcroft family for three years. All three homecoming parties have ended in failure. At the first party, I was accused of stealing a watch in front of the guests. Because of that, I became the entire elite society's laughingstock. In the second party, I was pushed into a swimming pool. As such, I suffered from a high fever and was comatose for three days. It almost killed me. In the third party, a forged paternity test was hurled in my face. My own mother announced that she had cut all ties with me on the spot. Every party ended with the fake heir, Everest Ashcroft, bursting into tears and admitting his mistakes. But the entire family kept telling me, "Everest is deathly afraid of you obtaining our love meant for him. That's why he threw a small tantrum. "You're already acknowledged as a son of the Ashcrofts. Why must you keep latching onto this matter so pettily?" In the fourth party held on the fourth year, Everest threatens to off himself. In order to save him, I fall from the rooftop, causing my right leg to suffer from a comminuted fracture. My entire family huddles around Everest, who's obviously shaken, and keeps showering him with love and care. The butler is ordered to pass on their message to me. "Know your place. Do not disturb Everest when he's in bedrest." As I caress my broken leg, I keep laughing until tears stream down my cheeks. It's not that Everest doesn't want the Ashcrofts to give away their love to me. It's just that the Ashcrofts don't want to acknowledge me as a part of them at all. In that case, I might as well leave this family permanently.

My fated mate, Riven, was the Alpha of a pathetic pack on the brink of collapse. For five years, I was his shadow, his strategist. I built his pack from nothing until the Alliance finally recognized us, and we were set to move to the fertile lands. Riven promised we'd have our mating ceremony once we settled in the new territory. But at the celebration feast, the night before the move, he threw me in a cell. He publicly announced that Jenna—the she-wolf carrying his pup—would be the pack's Luna. I couldn't believe it. I screamed at him, but he just sneered and pointed to a crystal pulsing with dark magic. "Jenna already has proof of your betrayal! Sleeping with Alphas for their support. You make me sick!" I begged him. But he just sliced my cheek with the silver-edged rejection letter, formally casting me aside. But he didn't know who I really was. I am the Alpha King's daughter. The strategies, the power, the alliances—they weren't his. They were mine. So I took it all back.

In the shadows of Italy's underworld, one rule reigns: 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.' Alessandro Morano, a Mafia Godfather, walks a thin line between loyalty and deception. When Amelia Cooper enters his life, Alessandro must choose: Protect his empire or risk everything for love.

After my husband, Brice Decker, gives me a cold shoulder, I end up dying after getting stabbed three times in a row by a robber who tries to rob me. My twin sister, Indigo Humphrey, specifically dresses up as me and gets close to Brice in order to clear her gambling debt. She begins kissing up to Brice like a total simp. No longer does she get jealous over Brice's first love, Amber Warner. Even when Brice and Amber are caught sleeping with each other on our bed, Indigo will deliver them a pack of contraceptives in time. Brice can't take it anymore. He asks Indigo where my jealous side has gone. That's when I laugh. Can't he tell that I'm already dead?

She was just a maid. He was the cold heir of a billion-dollar empire. One night changed everything. Fang Jia tried to run… but she failed. Because now—she’s carrying his child. And the man who should have let her go… refuses to let her leave. With a powerful finance, a cruel family, and a secret that could destroy everything— how long can she keep running? Or worse… what if she doesn’t want to run anymore?

After three years of marriage, Athena believed she had a happy life, until the night she caught her husband in bed with the one person she trusted the most. Her sister. Humiliated and betrayed, Athena signs the divorce papers and walks away with nothing but her shattered pride. But fate has other plans. Just when everyone thinks she has been discarded, a shocking proposal changes everything. The man standing before her is powerful, cold, and completely unexpected, her ex-husband’s father. Their marriage begins as a contract, a simple arrangement meant to protect her dignity and teach his disgraceful son a lesson. But the moment Athena steps into that mansion as the new Mrs. Whitmore, the rules change. Her ex-husband must now bow his head and call the woman he betrayed Mother. Her sister, who once mocked her, is forced to watch as Athena rises to the most powerful position in the family. What started as revenge soon turns into something far more dangerous. Because the man she married to settle a score is no longer pretending. And neither is she. What Athena doesn’t know yet is that she didn’t leave her old life completely behind. A secret is already growing inside her… one that belongs to the man who betrayed her.

Back when I was 15, I gave my extraordinary luck to Whitney Johnson. Six months later, her wealthy parents showed up at the orphanage and took her home. At 18, I stopped her from dating the school heartthrob, who later died in a car accident. Whitney blamed me for his death. She tore up my admission ticket for college entrance exam, made me miss the test, and completely ruined my life. I ended up homeless, yet it wasn't enough for her. She pushed me into the river and drowned me. Now, as I open my eyes, I realize I've been reborn and returned to when I was 18. This time, I'll never give her my extraordinary luck again.

I had just moved in when the young male model across the hall called the police. He claimed I had fallen in love with him, turned bitter when he rejected me, and had been harassing him ever since—banging on his door, threatening him, and even trying to sexually coerce him. When the police showed up, he pointed right at me and started yelling, “Pervert! You knock on my door every night! You even use binoculars to spy on me, and you’ve been posting my photos online! “I’ve seen you! Standing by your window, staring at me, always trying to get close. It’s disgusting!” The neighbors gathered around, whispering and pointing at me. Someone even shoved me, calling me shameless. “Women like this are trash.” “She looks normal. Who would've thought she's a creep?” Under everyone’s accusations, I slowly took off my sunglasses, revealing the hollow sockets where my eyes should be. “Officer, how exactly is a blind person supposed to peep at anyone?”

She’d built two years of walls and he dismantled them in one evening. He didn’t announce himself. He never had to. The last person she expected walked in like he was exactly where he was supposed to be. Halle hadn’t seen Adrian Vale in two years. Two years of carefully avoiding his name in conversations, his face on screens, and the memory of waking up in his bed, fully dressed, completely alone, and somehow disturbed by that, than if anything had actually happened. Then he showed up to her best friend’s wedding like he owned the place. He reached over her shoulder, lifted the glass of champagne from her hand without spilling a single drop, brought it slowly to his lips, held her gaze the entire time and had the absolute nerve to look good doing it. Adrian Vale didn’t do anything halfway. He never needed to raise his voice because the room already belonged to him. He never reached for things…things simply found their way into his hands. Including, apparently, her. On a moonlit dance floor, his hand slid warm and certain up her spine, his forehead dropped to hers in the dark, and he said the thing that short-circuits every rational thought in her head. “You’re the only thing I’d let ruin me.” He pulled her in for a kiss, close enough to feel his breath, close enough to lose her mind completely, and then he pulled away. Leaving her wanting. He calls her starlight like it’s a secret only he gets to keep. And Halle is so embarrassingly, helplessly gone for him. The ones who make you forget your own name? Those are the ones worth ruining yourself for.

I fumbled with the lock, my pulse hammering. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t want this. "Alaric," I breathed, but his name barely made it past my lips before his hands were on me—hot, demanding, unstoppable. "Tell me to stop," he murmured against my throat, his fingers sliding beneath my dress. "Tell me you don’t want this." I opened my mouth—to argue, to push him away—but all that came out was a soft, shuddering gasp as he found the one place that betrayed me. His dark chuckle sent a shiver down my spine. "That’s what I thought." __ Betrayed and humiliated at the altar. Isla never planned to ruin herself in the arms of another man. But heartbreak led her straight into the grasp of Alaric Voss—powerful, ruthless, and twice her age. One night. No names. No future. Or so she thought. Because when the sun rose, Isla came face-to-face with her new boss—the same man who had just claimed her in every sinful way possible. Now, resisting him is impossible. He’s everywhere—watching, teasing, owning her with every smirk, every touch. She swore it was a mistake. He swears it’s just the beginning. And the more she fights him, the more she realizes the truth: She was his from the moment he laid eyes on her. And Alaric Voss doesn’t let what’s his slip away.